It’s September 9, 2008, and after an incredible showing from the new Teleport Dark Armed deck, Gladiator Beasts have edged out one more victory!

Jupiter’s path through to Sunday was not an easy one—he battled three Teleport Dark Armed decks and a mirror match to make it to the top of the heap, taking down Yugioh ETC’s Chris Flores and Team Overdose’s Paul Levitin along the way. Packing two copies of Gladiator Beast War Chariot and one copy of Gladiator Beast Equeste from The Duelist Genesis, Jupiter’s build was perfectly teched to approach the burgeoning new metagame.

There was a ton of creativity on display at the event. If you checked out the live coverage over the course of the weekend, then you witnessed more deck profiles on new, innovative strategies than we’ve had in months. While most of the profiled decks didn’t make it all the way to Day 2, a lot of them exemplify some important talking points about the new format. They’re really worth checking out. You can find the coverage right here on Metagame.  Baltimore was a blast! Everybody was really excited to see just how many new ideas were being played—and with the clash between Teleport Dark Armed and Gladiator Beasts just getting started, the energy seems likely to carry over to future events.

Speaking of future events, Shonen Jump action hits Oklahoma for the first time ever later this month at Shonen Jump Championship Tulsa! Hundreds of duelists are expected to flood the Tulsa Convention Center on September 27 and 28. As the war rages on between Gladiators and Teleport Dark Armed, we’re sure to see more representation from Lightsworn and Monarchs, as well. Will things go differently this time around, or will Gladiators adapt yet again?

You can find the official event listing over on Upper Deck’s website. If you haven’t checked out the website for the event’s Premier Tournament Organizer, you should definitely do that. The good folks at JDS Events put on quite the show, and this time around, they’ve negotiated a really killer rate with the neighboring Doubletree Hotel. If you’re heading to Tulsa to compete in the Jump, you can stay at the Doubletree for $89 a night, which is insane for a Doubletree hotel room.  Don’t hesitate to take advantage of that opportunity..

See you there!

After making private screening debuts at Comic Con International in San Diego earlier this year, plus its international debut at the Yu-Gi-Oh TCG World Championship in Berlin, the first episode of 5D’s is ready to hit the airwaves this weekend. Tune in to the CW at 10:30 am on Saturday to catch all the action.

Today, Jerome McHale brought us a very different type of Synchro deck, as he told us how to take advantage of Machine Duplication. Duplication fell out of favor when the Dimension Fusion loop was essentially Forbidden back in March, but with Nitro Synchron in the mix, it’s a great way to play multiple copies of a Synchro that can reach 3800 ATK, while drawing cards in the process. Jerome’s deck is full of tricks, and it focuses on drawing out copies of Solemn Judgment and Gladiator Beast War Chariot. It’s really worth reading just for the latter.

On Wednesday, Curtis will dive back into his mailbag, plucking out questions on Bountiful Artemis, Light and Darkness Dragon, and even one more query about Stardust Dragon. Light and Darkness Dragon is seeing some testing in Teleport variants from some top players right now, so you should definitely check this one out.

As a TCG player, your local gaming store is an important part of your gaming experience—without it, where would you play your favorite game? But as we all know, the quality of your experiences at your local gaming store can vary: some stores are fantastic, while others can be cringe-worthy. The good news is that you can take a proactive role in your relationship with your local store, and there are often tons of services they can offer you that neither you nor the store manager were aware of. The more your local store does for you, the more you can do for them, so knowing the possibilities is really important. Check out The Practical Duelist on Friday, because Bryan Camareno is going to be digging deep to discuss what your local store could be doing for you, and how you can get them to do it.

On Saturday, Matt Peddle will dissect one of the most intriguing decks of the year: Korean Champion Jung Ho-Ahn’s Skill Drain Fusilier build from the 2008 World Championships! Ahn was a favorite for the win heading into Day 2, but he fell short in the first round of the Top 8 to some amazing plays from Japan’s Takeru Norihama. That one faltering step didn’t invalidate Ahn’s strategy, though, and Matt’s going to show you what made it so good.

Finally, Ryan Murphy will finish out our week with an absolutely brutal Traditional – Chain Strike Burn deck in the Forgotten format. This one looks like it might convert pretty easily to the Advanced format, and the theory behind the deck is universal. Whether you’re an Advanced or Traditional duelist, this is a pretty interesting read.

That’s it for this week, but don’t forget to join us in another seven days for more articles. And remember: Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s debuts this Saturday at 10:30 am—don’t miss it!