It’s Monday, August 21st, and, as the current Advanced format comes to a close, duelists across North America are getting ready for the final Shonen Jump Championship of the Chaos era!
Shonen Jump Championship Hamilton in Five Days
North America’s best will show up to throw down at the Ramada Plaza in Hamilton, Ontario this coming weekend. Just outside of Toronto, the Plaza was the venue for the Canadian National Championships, and now it will be flooded with duelists from all corners of the map! Expect some surprises at this event, as several major duelists are set to attempt the last SJC of the format with brand new decks that might guide the next format. Hamilton is easily accessible to thousands of duelists in the Northeastern region of the United States, so get ready to see some of US’s best clash with the greatest competitors Canada has to offer. Still on the fence about attending? It’s easier than you think, and you can check out all the info on event start times, entry fees, directions, and more right here at the official Premier Tournament Organizer’s website.
As always, Metagame.com will be live on-site to bring you the best in decks, tech, and feature match action. Plus, Julia Hedberg will be in attendance, bringing you the Metagame.com blog, including up-to-the-minute metagame info, interviews, playmats, and, of course, the Scrub Brush Challenge! Be here bright and early Saturday morning, because you won’t want to miss one minute of the action!
New Format Lists Announced!
And once Hamilton has come and gone, that’s it for the invasion of Chaos! After more than two years of Light and Dark tyranny, the game has finally been cracked wide open, and duelists will be remembering that there are four other attributes in this game. Hate Chaos Sorcerer, Tsukuyomi, and Spirit Reaper? Want to see a bunch of balanced cards return to the game? Then check out the official September 1 format lists at the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG website. The future is certainly bright, and the field has never been so wide open for creative deck ideas.
Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Season 2
If you’re a GX fan, then today is the day you’ve been waiting for! Season 2 of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX will hit US airwaves today, and the new season begins with the shocking arrival of Aster Phoenix. If you’ve been itching to see the new Elemental Heroes and Destiny Heroes from Enemy of Justice and Power of the Duelist in action, then you’re in luck: Aster is going to hit the ground running when he arrives at Duel Academy, shattering the records of some of the school’s best duelists.
Yu-Gi-Oh! GX airs on Cartoon Network at 5:30 PM EST, every weekday. Check your local listings to see when it’s on in your area, and get ready for a whole new chapter in the adventures of Jaden Yuki and his friends.
This Week on Metagame.com
Mike Rosenberg starts off our week with a look at a card that is bound to become a hot pick for the upcoming format. A lot of duelists are getting ready to square off against Cyber-Stein come September 1st, but Ceasefire has always been one of the best answers to the Stein threat. I know my side deck hasn’t been without a copy since the card was released: it punishes the headstrong Stein duelist with losses after the fact, and often prevents Stein from being any use whatsoever. Today, Mike will show you how you can use it to stymie a variety of opposing strategies.
Also today, Jerome McHale examines the new Advanced list in-depth, hypothesizing which decks will benefit, which will take a dive, and what the face of the new North American metagame might look like. Want to know how your favorite deck will fare over the next six months? This one is a must-read!
On Tuesday you get even more Jerome, as he reveals the deck list for the Counter Fairy strategy he ran at SJC Philly and SJC Indianapolis. He’ll take you behind the scenes to discuss the deck’s development, how to use it, and the cards that didn’t make the final cut. The best part? Swap out two cards and you’ve got a tourney-legal deck list for the new format that’s ready for just about anything.
I’ll be up next, and on Wednesday I’ll be doing a fix on an aggressive Return/Fiend deck. This deck wasn’t quite up to par in the last format, but I’ll bring the submitted build into the next format and show you why it can be a top contender. Dark Necrofear becomes far more powerful in a format devoid of Snatch Steal, and where Deck Devastation Virus ousts Cyber-Stein. If you’re looking for decks to add to your testing gauntlet for the next format, this one’s ready-made for your convenience!
On Thursday. Curtis Schultz will give you a lesson on all the ins and outs of the new Vehicroid monsters. Submarineroid, Rescueroid, Decoyroid, and Ambulanceroid get the hardcore rulings treatment this week, as Curtis answers all your pressing Vehicroid questions. Does Submarineroid turn to defense when it attacks against an open field? If you combo Ambulanceroid with Rescueroid, are the special summoned monsters vulnerable to Torrential Tribute? Curtis will answer those questions and many more this week!
One of the big things that sets the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG’s good duelists apart from its excellent ones is testing. The best players are trying out new ideas all the time, and many maintain a testing gauntlet to do so. What is it, and how can you build one yourself? Julia Hedberg will take you through the process of creating a successful deck-testing resource this Friday, and whether you’re a casual duelist or a serious vet, you’re going to want to check it out.
Robert Morgan made his fourth Shonen Jump Championship Top 8 last week at SJC Indianapolis, and he did it with an innovative Cyber-Stein build. This weekend, Matt Peddle will break that deck down to its component parts and study its influences. He’ll show you what made it so successful, and discuss some of the individual card picks that made it so strong.
Finally, Simon Sangpukdee will round out our week with a look at some of the best Dinosaur monsters ever printed. Power of the Duelist has brought new hope for Dino fans across the globe, and highlights like Babycerasaurus, Miracle Jurassic Egg, and Ultimate Tyranno are making them a tempting pick for duelists in search of a theme deck in September. Simon will examine the combo potential of each card, and some of his ideas might surprise you!
That’s it for this week here at Metagame, but don’t forget to be here at 10 AM this Saturday for the current format’s last hurrah. We’ll be bringing you all the live coverage you love to see starting at 10 AM, and you won’t want to miss the slobber-knocker in Steel Town, as Shonen Jump Championship action comes to Hamilton!
As always, thanks for reading Metagame!
—Jason Grabher-Meyer
Contributing Editor, Metagame.com