It’s Tuesday, May 27, 2008, and the race is on! Shonen Jump St. Louis has changed the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game playing field, and with the American National Championship just four weeks away, duelists have a limited amount of time to adapt.
Steven Harris Wins Shonen Jump Championship St. Louis
Turnout to this past weekend’s Shonen Jump Championship was lower than expected, as hundreds of duelists are saving up for their trips to the U.S. Nationals next month in Columbus, Ohio. Competition was fierce nonetheless, and the result was an unforeseeable Day 2 metagame dominated by Gladiator Beasts. The field of sixteen decks (which included Counter Fairies, Big City, and a Jinzo – Returner strategy) narrowed to a Top 8 that included all of Day 2’s six Gladiator duelists. Then, it became an unprecedented Top 4 of nothing but Gladiator Beasts. At the end of the day, Harris dueled his way past a near-impossible Lightsworn matchup with Dale Bellido, a mirror match with Shane Scurry, and two more mirrors against Joseph Rechis and Danny Magnin before capturing title gold.
With seven different strategies represented in the Top 16, St. Louis was a unique tournament that’s going to set big trends heading into the U.S. and National Championships. Didn’t catch the coverage live? You can catch all the action right here on Metagame.
U.S. and Canadian National Championships Just Weeks Away!
Speaking of, if you haven’t finalized your travel plans to attend the U.S. or Canadian National Championship, then now is the time to do so. U.S. Nationals will take place in Columbus, Ohio, on June 21–22 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center, while Canuck Nationals goes down one week later at the Metro Toronto Convention Center in Toronto.
You can check for your name on the Qualified Player Listings and find extra information about prizes and player information over on the official National Championships page. If you’re going to the U.S. National Championship, book your hotel ASAP, because convention season often makes it difficult to get a hotel in Columbus.
Champion Pack—Game Six Now at Tournaments The latest
Champion Pack booster set started hitting sanctioned-tournament stores last week, and it should be available at local tournament venues across North America. Super Rares in this set include
Old Vindictive Magician,
Destiny Hero – Fear Monger,
Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, and
Blaze Accelerator, while the Ultra Rare is Rigorous Reaver, the all-new import from Japan. It’s got some really exciting non-foil reprints too, including a Rare version of
Elemental Hero Stratos with updated text and a Common reprint of
Cold Wave, which loyal readers will know I’ve been wanting for ages, as
Cold Wave hasn’t been reprinted since its release in
Pharaoh’s Servant.
Boosters of Champion Pack – Game Six are meant for use as tournament rewards at the local level. So if you want to get your hands on some of these exclusive cards, you’ll have to compete to earn them. Check out the Local Tournament Locator over on the official Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG website to find tournaments in your area, and get ready to throw down for some high-demand foils!
This Week on Metagame
I kicked our week off yesterday with a look at a card that really delivered this past weekend in St. Louis: Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter. With a starring role in both Jerome McHale’s Counter Fairies, and Dale Bellido’s Lightsworn deck on Day 2, Ryko may be a top pick heading into the upcoming National Championships. I’ll tell you why, and discuss the huge variety of decks this card can be played in, so click on over and check it out.
Today, Jerome McHale tries his hand at building one of the more insidious casual decks from Light of Destruction: World Lock. Arcana Force XXI - The World is the only card in the game that can stop your opponent from ever taking another turn, but achieving the necessary combos isn’t easy. Jerome will show you his build for accomplishing just that, and he’ll demonstrate some clever tactics to make the lock easier to attain. If you’re looking for a really fun, unique deck to take to your next local, then Jerome’s got you covered.
Tomorrow, Curtis Schultz will finish up his series on the intricacies of special summons. This time, he’ll finish things with a look at the mechanics of bringing a special summoned monster back from the graveyard, including fusion monsters—a big issue that came up in Day 2 of Shonen Jump Championship St. Louis. With fusions taking a starring role in competitive metagames now, thanks to Gladiator Beasts, and Six Samurai still seeing a lot of play, this article’s got must-know information.
Matt Peddle returns to the Battlefields this Thursday, taking a retrospective look at the bait-and-trap move and how it came into play in his feature match at Shonen Jump Championship Nashville. The best players in the game are the ones willing to dig to find their own mistakes, and that’s exactly what Matt does this week. He’ll show you examples of how to avoid killer traps set by your opponents and how to set your own.
Friday, Bryan Camareno ducks out of his Practical Duelist threads into the white and black of the Practical Judge for a week. A lot of players are starting to judge a bit (Jeff Baumgartner was judging in St. Louis), supporting the game they love, so Bryan’s tips are going to be valuable whether you’re considering a new judging career or just moonlighting at a few events. He covers everything from deck checking to judge-player relationships, so there’s something for everybody.
Dark Armed Dragonwith
Light and Darkness Dragon is the clear future of the Dark Armed Return deck, and one of the defining builds at Shonen
Jump Championship Nashville was carried to the top tables by Fili Luna and Chris Bowling. Team Face2Face had a huge showing in Nashville, and this Saturday, Matt Peddle is going to analyze their
Dark Armed Dragon build to show you what made it so good. With Dark Armed Return and Gladiator Beasts sitting on top after St. Louis, this article is a must-read.
In the Advanced format, "Twilight" decks are ones that combine Judgment Dragon and Dark Armed Dragon for explosive OTK power. But in the Forgotten Format, the definition is a bit different. This Sunday, Ryan Murphy is going to show you a super-aggressive Chaos build that packs Lightsworn monsters, and the result is an incredibly fast, incredibly deadly Chaos variant. If you play Traditional on a regular basis, then this is another can’t-miss deck.
That’s it for this week! Join us next Monday as we sort through the aftermath of Shonen Jump Championship St. Louis.
—Jason Grabher-Meyer
Contributing Editor, Metagame.com