It’s Tuesday, May 29th 2007, and a recent announcement in Shonen Jump Magazine has left duelists anticipating an unexpected surprise!
Premium Packs Debut At The World Championships!
The Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG World Championships go down this July at Comic-Con International, and this month’s issue of Shonen Jump made a shocking announcement. Attendees showing up in San Diego to witness the year’s grandest dueling spectacle are going to get an extra treat: they’ll be the first duelists in the world to get their hands on all-new Premium Pack boosters!
Premium Packs are a new type of booster pack. Each has five cards, and they’re all either super rare or ultra rare—no commons or regular rares! The first Premium Pack to be released stateside will include much-desired tournament-level cards like Shield Crush and Marshmallon, plus long-awaited classics like Dark Magic Curtain and Magician of Black Chaos. The Premium Pack set consists of fifteen cards total, and each booster has five random cards.
If you make it to Comic-Con International, you’ll be able to pick up Premium Packs at Shonen Jump’s booth on July 28th and 29th. If you can’t get there, then you’ll still be able to get Premium Packs at stores in your area this fall.
Shonen Jump Championship Minneapolis
The Crystal Beasts have been tearing up a lot of local tournaments, and in just four days we’ll see their Shonen Jump Championship debut!
Force of the Breaker will be legal for play at Shonen Jump Minneapolis, so if you’re interested in competing but still haven’t made your travel arrangements, be sure to check out the official event listing right here. Sky Scourges, field-searchers, and a host of tournament-worthy cards are getting high praise going into this event. Will they stack up against the strategies that have dominated the format thus far? That’s just one of the questions we’ll answer with our weekend-long live coverage.
Duelists teched hard against Demise, King of Armageddon in Philadelphia. The result was a resounding flop, as the Demise OTK strategy fell on its face and qualified only one duelist for Day 2. Its impact at Minneapolis will be difficult to predict, but competitors certainly won’t be taking their eyes off it when it comes time to build side decks. The trends established in Philly are sure to continue at Minneapolis, with the disruptive Trap Dustshoot and Mind Crush engine leading the pack.
Destiny Hero Beatdown and Perfect Circle Monarch exploded out of the Regionals scene to take a whopping five combined spots in Philly’s Top 8. Will Destiny Hero - Disk Commander dominate the Day 2 field again, or will new hotness from Force of the Breaker reign supreme? We’ll know once the smoke clears this weekend!
This Week on Metagame
Meanwhile, we’re back from the long weekend with another set of topnotch dueling articles. Mike Rosenberg started things off yesterday with an in-depth look at Card Trader. Powerful upon its release, Card Trader only got better with the addition of a key card from Force of the Breaker, and Mike examined both the past and present value of the card.
Jerome McHale harnesses the power of Zeradias, Herald of Heaven today, creating a heavily-metagamed Counter Fairy build. Taking advantage of Meltiel, Sage of the Sky and pulling off some smooth tricks with The Sanctuary in the Sky, Jerome’s newest build is a seminal version that multi-tasks to frightening extents. If you’re a Counter Fairy enthusiast or have been considering picking up the deck, this one’s a must-read!
Then in School of Duel, Jerome discusses three new groups of high-impact cards from Force of the Breaker, and makes some predictions about their impact at Minneapolis. Raiza the Storm Monarch, Sky Scourge Norleras, and the Crystal Beasts are profiled, and Jerome’s got plenty of important play advice that you can use to improve your dueling.
Demise, King of Armageddon has garnered a huge amount of attention as of late, but in the face of a more prepared metagame, Demise OTK will have to take on a new form if it’s to survive. Crellian Vowler heeds the call on Wednesday, as he fixes up a Demise variant that features an oddball twist—Exodia.
The new secret rares from Force of the Breaker have generated a lot of discussion, and much of it has been about rulings. Curtis Schultz swings open the doors to his Duel Academy on Thursday to discuss some of the most confusing questions! Diabolos, King of the Abyss versus Convulsion of Nature? Lich Lord, King of the Underworld working with Ectoplasmer? Curtis will talk about those interactions and more, including info on Mist Archfiend and Sword of Dark Rites, with some play tips thrown in for good measure. Don’t miss it!
On Friday, Bryan Camareno teaches tricks and techniques you can use to prepare for your tournaments. With the proper preparatory measures, you can create your own success, and that’s exactly what Bryan’s going to teach you to do in this week’s Practical Duelist. If you’re thinking about making the 2007-2008 season your breakout year, this article’s an awesome place to start.
Finally, Matt Peddle breaks down the successful Big City Elemental Hero variant used by Jeff Jones at Philadelphia. A trade of big fusions for potent tech cards allowed Jones to get all the way to Day 2, and the hands-down star player was Elemental Hero Ocean. What made the deck so good? Matt’ll show you this Saturday.
That’s it for this week, but head on back in six days for another week of dueling action: we’ll be ramping up for the Canadian and U.S. National Championships!