It’s December 11th, and as the year winds down, duelists are getting ready for the final Shonen Jump Championship of 2006!
Shonen Jump Championship San Jose This Weekend
The world has had plenty of time to reel in the wake of last month’s showdown in Anaheim, an event that knocked the North American metagame for a huge loop. Strategies like Dark World, Strike Ninja, Dimensional Fissure, Creature Swap Control and many more all had significant success, and now the field is so open that it’s impossible to guess what the next Shonen Jump might have in store.
But we’ll find out in just five days, because the last big tournament of the year is this weekend! Hundreds of duelists will travel to the San Jose Convention Center to compete, before we all get a bit of a break for the holidays. With groups like The Syndicate, Team Enigma, and members of Project D already confirmed to be in attendance, competition is going to be fierce!
San Jose is also the first SJC to permit the use of cards from Cyberdark Impact. The Cyberdark monsters have impressed some of the game’s best players, and Chain Strike Burn has been making impressive showings in some parts of Europe. Will either of these decks see successful play so soon after their release? Shonen Jump Championships are always packed with surprises, and a new deck might just steal the show.
If you’re interested in heading out to compete this weekend, but haven’t finalized your plans, you can find all the info you need at Upper Deck Entertainment’s official event listing. And if you can’t make it out to San Jose? Then be with us here bright and early Saturday morning, because we’ll have two days of live coverage straight from the tournament floor!
New Shonen Jump Championships Confirmed for 2007
In further Shonen Jump Championship news, two new listings on the Upper Deck Entertainment website have cleared up some of the rumors that have been circulating regarding upcoming SJCs. Two events for next year now have official listings!
SJC action returns to Illinois on February 24th and 25th, as duelists flood the Gateway Center Convention Complex. Then one week, later the Shonen Jump Circuit crosses the country to return to Texas. The Clarion Hotel will play host to what may be the first big tournament of a new Advanced format, and we’ll be there to bring you all the new trends.
Jump forward July 14th, and duelists will be throwing down at the Rock Financial Showplace in Novi, Michigan. Finally, the last SJC currently confirmed is on the weekend of October 13th in Durham, North Carolina.
With so many gaps in the calendar so far, there are sure to be some more announcements in the coming weeks. As new tournament info is released you’ll find it here on Metagame.com!
Hobby Leagues Receive New Promos!
Got a Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG Hobby League in your area? Then you’re in luck, because local Leagues are being buried under a deluge of new and exclusive promo cards!
Depending on ordering decisions made by the League organizer, your League might be offering as many as four new parallel ultra rares this month. Kits containing promo versions of Spear Dragon, Mystic Tomato, Royal Decree, and Dark Balter the Terrible have all shipped to stores over the past couple of weeks, and should be available now across the United States and Canada! Not a regular League attendee? You can find a Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG Hobby League location near you right here at UDE’s League locator.
This Week on Metagame.com
It’s our last regularly scheduled week here at Metagame.com before the holidays, so get ready for some great articles to send out the year with a bang!
Mike Rosenberg opens things up when he takes a peek inside The Binder. Today’s subject? It’s Brron, Mad King of Dark World! With all the attention Dark World has been getting lately, several of the deck’s best support cards have been overlooked, and this week Mike sets the record straight on one of the deadliest support monsters ever printed.
Speaking of cards that have garnered attention recently, Jerome McHale takes Deck Devastation Virus in a new direction this week. The concept? Beating up on the little guys! Jerome mixes the Virus with King Tiger Wanghu and a surprising supporting cast to create a strategy that is utterly brutal to defensive monsters—check it out on Tuesday! Also, be sure to read the year’s final edition of School of Duel. This week, Jerome challenges you to tackle the tricky topic of strategic conflict.
On Wednesday, I take a look at one of the most unique decks that’s come around in months: Bubbleman Burn. The plan? Drop your entire hand in the early game thanks to a ton of burn cards, then reload with Elemental Hero Bubbleman. His effect nets you two more cards, letting you turn up the heat even more. A turn or two later, you can finish the opponent off with (you guessed it) more burn! Sounds fun, but can it work? I’ll try and answer that question this week in The Apotheosis.
Class is in on Thursday, as Curtis Schultz showcases one of the hottest cards of the year. Satellite Cannon is the sought-after ultra rare from the new Champion Packs, and it’s caused quite a stir amongst duelists and collectors alike. Want to use it yourself? Curtis will show you all the important rulings you’ll need, as well as offering some helpful play tips and combos!
Friday, Julia Hedberg will take on an issue of mounting importance in Solid Ground. We all want to go to big events like Nationals and Shonen Jump Championships, but how do you get there? Unless you’re an experienced globetrotter, arranging a cross-country trip to a card tournament can be an imposing (and expensive) task. Julia’s got almost a decade’s worth of experience with TCG events, and she’s going to share some tips and strategies for making no-hassle travel plans. If you want to hit up a big event in 2007, this is a must-read!
Also on Friday, I’ll take one last look at the state of the game before SJC San Jose in another edition of Trends ‘N’ Tactics. With the new addition of Cyberdark Impact to the premier tournament environment, where do new decks like Chain Strike Burn and Cyberdark Machines stand? What might we see in San Jose, and why might we see it? I’ll explore those questions and more as we head into the weekend.
Matt Peddle rounds out our week with a look at Kevin Wang’s deck from Shonen Jump Seattle. In all the hubbub surrounding Anaheim, Wang’s innovations to the Lazaro/Spicer Monarch deck were easy to overlook, but they’re worth some serious investigation. Matt’s going to dissect Wang’s strategic intent and show you why a pair of Threatening Roar cards made all the difference.
That’s it for this week, but be sure to head back in another seven days when we take a look back at some of the best articles of the year, complete with writer commentary!
—Jason Grabher-Meyer
Contributing Editor, Metagame.com