It’s Tuesday, November 11, 2008, and in just five days we’ll kick off the first in another string of Shonen Jump Championships!

Thunder King Rai-Oh makes its Shonen Jump debut this weekend. Will it be enough to drive Little City back to Day 2? Will Gladiator Beasts battle back with new innovations, or will Lightsworn remain the lone holdout against Teleport Dark Armed Dragon? And speaking of TeleDAD, will the creative builds that made Day 2 in Charlotte have an impact on this tournament?

We’ll have those answers and many more as we bring you coverage all weekend long, live from the tournament floor at the O’Hare Crowne Plaza! If you can still make it to compete, then check out the official event listing to get started making your travel plans.  Then, hit up the website for this weekend’s Premier Tournament Organizer, Pastimes, for more info.  Definitely check out the latter, because there’s a lot more going on this weekend than just the main event!

The first-ever Dragon Duel Series tournament will be held this weekend. It’s the first event in a new tournament series for duelists twelve and under. Pastimes is also holding another of their wildly popular Mid-West Team Challenges on Saturday. Got a team of three duelists who want to prove they’re the best? Follow in the footsteps of groups like Team Xtreme and prove it at one of North America’s biggest team tournaments.

It’s going to be a huge weekend, and one week later Shonen Jump Championship Atlanta will bring even more competition! It’s a huge month for dueling, so get ready, and be sure to join us here at Metagame.com to read all about it

I think everybody who pulled Black Garden at their Sneak Preview had the same reaction I did: "Someone’s probably going to break this card, but not me—that’s way too much text." Well, that "someone" might just turn out to be Jerome McHale. He’s laid the groundwork for what may grow into a hugely competitive archetype: Plant control. In a format where a slow pace of play can win matches and tournaments, Black Garden is a kingly card, and Jerome’s going to show you how to abuse it. You have to check this out.

Next up, Curtis Schultz joins us Wednesday to continue his discussion of event-specific chains. This week he tackles the most complicated part of the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG’s game engine, the damage step, and he explains timing details of tricky cards like Ehren, Lightsworn Monk, Injection Fairy Lily, and Honest.

Thursday, Matt Peddle discusses process of elimination techniques and how they can help competitive players make accurate reads. Ever wondered how the best of the best seem to know your moves before you make them? Ever wanted to have shockingly perfect answers to your opponent’s moves? Matt’s going to break down the simple thought processes that the top players use, so you can use them too.

Jerome McHale’s School of Duel column makes its return to Metagame.com on Friday! After a long hiatus Jerome is back, and his focus this week is a surprisingly simple one: identifying good cards. It’s a basic skill, but peruse enough online forums for a few minutes and you come to a quick conclusion: a lot of duelists just can’t tell what’s a good card and what isn’t. Jerome’s going to discuss the topic in-depth and explain how you can keep your decks (and your trade binder) on the cutting edge.

Saturday, Matt Peddle returns with another installment of The Champions. With so many great new builds of TeleDAD in Day 2 at Shonen Jump Charlotte, Matt’s shifting gears to look at the one deck that really defied the trends: Arthur Rogers’s Lightsworn deck. Rogers made it all the way to the Top 8 with a ton of fine-tuning and some very noteworthy innovation, making new choices that are certainly worth copying in future builds. Matt’s going to show you the precise decisions that made Rogers so successful.

That’s it for this Seven Days, but don’t forget to join us this weekend for live coverage of Shonen Jump Championship Chicago, plus an all-new budget deck article from Ryan Murphy on Sunday!