It’s Monday, June 9, 2008, and only twelve days remain until the American National Championship!

Duelists Count Down to American Nationals

The decklists are piling, the coverage requests are rolling in, and one thing is for certain—some of the dueling world’s greatest stars are bringing all-new A-games. We need to keep hush for now, but you should expect big things from some of the year’s talked-about players. New strategies abound, and it looks like everyone’s been saving their best for Nats.

Still figuring out your trip? There’s still time to book your travel—just be sure to start with a look at the official National Championship page. There, you’ll find venue information, lists of prizes, and qualified players, plus a player information packet with important information about the weekend.

For those of you getting into town on Thursday night or early Friday, there are plenty of Last Chance Qualifiers and Team Dueling side events on offer all day on Friday. If you don’t have your invite yet, this will be your last chance to get it before the main event. Plus, starting on Friday and continuing through the weekend, there will be Advanced Format win-a-box and iPod tournaments as well.

The American National Championship is just a few days away, so get ready, because the best of the best are pulling out all the stops!

What do you do when Shonen Jump Championships don’t come to your country? You run your own. That’s basically the gist of what this year’s organizers have done. They’re offering a big spread of prizes to Top 16 finishers and a copy of the Shonen Jump prize card Doomcaliber Knight to the tournament’s winner.

Other prizes include the much-sought-after Dark Armed Dragon playmat from Hobby League, a wealth of Ultra Pro products, and tons of boosters of Champion Pack: Game Six. The tournament takes place on Sunday, July 27, and it should be an absolute blast! You can find more info (albeit in Spanish) right here on the GamerShow official website, so if you’re in the area, be sure to make it to this awesome event.

This Week on Metagame

On Tuesday, Jerome McHale joins us with yet another deck design in Almost There. This time Jerome tries his hand at Destiny End Dragoon, creating a Chain Material build capable of dropping all three copies of the mighty fusion monster in one turn. It’s fast, it’s surprisingly resilient, and it can turn the tables in ways your opponent won’t see coming. If you’ve been looking to play Destiny End Dragoon, but couldn’t come up with a build (which describes my situation perfectly), then Jerome’s got what you need.

Wednesday, Curtis Schultz addresses some rulings for three of the TCG’s newest exclusives. Nimble Musasabi, Magical Exemplar, and Super-Ancient Dinobeast get full rulings profiles, and Curtis will show you some scenarios that put these cards into interesting situations. Like always, Curtis’s column is a must-read for serious competitors.

Matt Peddle’s Battlefield Legends series has gotten some major interest lately, giving you a chance to learn tricks and tactics from one of dueling’s best. This week, Matt’s going to tell you all about a move you may have seen in a handful of feature matches: the attack-and-pass. Ever seen a veteran player refuse to develop his or her game position in favor of making a simple attack? Matt will show you why someone would do this, and why it’s something you may want to consider doing at times.

A few weeks ago, Bryan Camareno started a two-part series on the ten things he’s learned during his years as a duelist. This week, he hits us with Part 2 in The Practical Duelist. His list this time includes issues like responsibility, treating your body right, setting goals, and managing expectations for your performance. This is many years’ worth of information in five tiny bites, so be sure to check it out.

Edgar Flores made a big splash at Shonen Jump Championship Saint Louis as one of two duelists who made it to Day 2 with Monarch variants. Flores’s build does some very interesting things and involves intriguing decisions, so Matt Peddle’s going to break it down this Saturday in The Champions. What made Flores’s deck so noteworthy, especially for the future of the format? Matt’s going to tell all this weekend.

Finally, Plant decks have been slowly gaining popularity ever since the release of Lonefire Blossom and Gigaplant in Phantom Darkness. This Sunday, Ryan Murphy is going to take the theme to a whole new level, as he brings Plant OTK into the Forgotten Format. What does a Traditional environment Plant OTK look like, and what can we learn from it to apply to Advanced competitions? Read Ryan’s latest work to find out.

The American National Championship is right around the corner, and we are counting down the days! Join us next week for the final stretch, as we get ready for what’s shaping up to be an explosive tournament.

Thanks for reading!