Three weeks ago, the biggest Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG tournament ever to be held in North America went down at Costa Mesa. More than a thousand duelists gathered to compete for the biggest prize pot of all time, and at the end of the weekend it all came down to two of dueling’s greatest; Lazaro Bellido defeated Kris Perovic to capture his first Championship title.

Three weeks have passed, and the times, they are a’ changing. Lazaro and Kris are now on the same side, united under the Overdose banner as two parts of an all-new super team! The new Overdose is here in full force, and after huge showings at the last two Shonen Jump Championships they may take back-to-back titles.

It’s still early in the day, but after the domination of Dark Armed Dragon Return at both Shonen Jump Championship Houston and Costa Mesa, duelists don’t seem to be giving up on trying to beat the biggest deck in the format. Turbo Plants, Gadgets with Protector of the Sanctuary, Allure Zombies, and Macro Cosmos with Jowgen the Spiritualist are just some of the strategies floating around this morning, and the number of creative ideas engineered to beat the Dragon are numerous. Will they pay off, or will we see yet another event smashed by Dark Armed Dragon? It’s the question on everybody’s mind, but we won’t know the answer until we see the results tonight.

It seems that no matter who wins or loses, tech will be the make-or-break factor for the day. Gone is the era of the standard Dark Armed Return: new builds innovated by players like Dale Bellido are generating a ton of buzz this morning, and all the players here seem to have at least one trick up their sleeves. They’re going to need them. With competitors like Matt Peddle, Jeff Baumgartner, Chris Flores, Anthony Alvarado, and many more in contention today, mere skill won’t be enough to take this tournament. The level of resourcefulness that we’re seeing this morning is mind-bending. While cards like Jowgen and Protector seemed inevitable, picks like the oft-maligned Goe Goe the Gallant Ninja are making surprising appearances. Seriously — go look up what that card does and imagine it hitting Armageddon Knight on turn 1. Ouch.

Registration is still open and the tournament has already cracked 600 players, so we’re locked and loaded for ten rounds of fierce competition. Will creativity triumph, or will Dark Armed Return rule supreme once more? We’ll find out, right here at the Franklin County Veteran’s Memorial center.

Welcome to yet another massive Shonen Jump Championship — welcome to Shonen Jump Championship Columbus!