It’s March 6, and seven days have passed since Christopher “Ivan” Flores scored a huge upset for Team Rampage at Shonen Jump Championship Durham!
Shonen Jump Championship Orlando Looms Imminent
Just scant days after the exciting conclusion to Shonen Jump Durham, our next Shonen Jump Championship is drawing near. Shonen Jump Orlando is less than two weeks away, and the changes to the Advanced format card pool are going to make this an event to remember!
Shadow of Infinity becomes legal for premiere-level tournaments on March 15, and with Day One of Orlando following just three days later, duelists are pulling out all the stops and testing new cards. Though Treeborn Frog is being regarded as the next sure thing, debate rages on about which is the best way to use the little amphibian. I’ve seen everything from Soul Control to Dark Dust Spirit decks over the past few weeks, and once the smoke clears, it’ll be interesting to see just what the Top 8 ends up looking like.
If you’re considering going to the event but haven’t investigated all the details, check out the event profile over on Unity Entertainment’s website for all the info. The site has plenty of information on event times, entry fees, directions to the venue, and lodging in the area!
Hundreds of duelists will swarm the Osceola Heritage Park Exhibition Building a week and a half from now, but if you won’t be one of them, be sure to check out our live coverage of the event as it’s posted. As always, Metagame.com will be on-site to bring you the news on the newest decks, hottest tech, and killer play-by-play feature matches! Will Shadow of Infinity make the impact that many duelists are predicting? Or will a lot of Frog and Insect enthusiasts find their hopes crushed, along with their squishy little monsters? Be with us here on March 18 and 19 to get all the answers the moment they emerge!
Duelist Pack Special Edition Boxes Release This Week
Check out your local hobby stores on Wednesday, because that’s the official street date for the upcoming Special Edition Duelist Packs. Each Special Edition pack comes with three Jaden packs, three Chazz packs, and one of three new, never-before-seen promo cards.
While speculation ran rampant as to what promos we’d see, the wait is over. Treasure Map, Hero Spirit, and Blockman are sure to please duelists. I’ve personally been waiting for Treasure Map for what feels like ages, as it’s the type of card that opens up new possibilities without shutting down previous cards or ruining any deck types. Expect Map to pop up in One-Turn KO decks as soon as it hits stores—its potential in any deck that already runs Giant Trunade is incredibly high. As for me, I’ll be slapping three into my Byser Shock deck once I remove the inch-thick layer of dust from it. Good stuff.
Target to Receive Exclusive Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Multi-Pack!
In a surprising turn, sources at Target revealed that the company would start selling Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Multi-Packs. Each pack contains one booster of The Lost Millennium, one booster of Cybernetic Revolution, and one booster of Elemental Energy. Not only is this good news for areas where these sets have sold out (if you’ve noticed very little Yu-Gi-Oh! product at your local store, that’s the reason why), it’s also great news for collectors and Elemental Hero fans.
The reason? Each Multi-Pack will come with an exclusive promo card that’s limited to Target locations. The new promo is an ultra-rare holographic version of Elemental Hero Wildheart, meaning that the most popular and most playable non-fusion Elemental Hero also just became, pardon the term, “the blingin’est.” With Wildheart seeing play in plenty of Warrior, Return, and Last Turn decks, this new promo should be a great way to add a little shine to your strategy.
Like the Duelist Pack Special Edition boxes, the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Multi-Pack will hit store shelves this Wednesday.
Shadow of Infinity Now Available
Shadow of Infinity launched to retailers last week, and should be available in all hobby stores and mass-market retailers. Packed with hot cards for both collectors and duelists, it’s bound to sell out in venues across the continent.
You’ve probably followed our preview coverage of the set, and seen us use some of the new cards in decks featured on the site, so odds are good that you’ve got an idea of what you want from Yu-Gi-Oh!’s latest expansion. Hosting a swarm of new Insect monsters, popular new tournament powerhouses like Treeborn Frog, and Yu-Gi-Oh! GX’s Sacred Beast cards, Shadow of Infinity is the most anticipated Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG expansion ever to be released!
This Week On Metagame.com
This week on Metagame.com, the wake of Shonen Jump Durham is felt, and we welcome a new writer to the fold!
Mike Rosenberg opens our week with an in-depth look at Apprentice Magician. Inspired by Shonen Jump Durham, Mike touches on the Apprentice’s “second” effect, its versatile potential, and some awesome combos. With special attention paid to the card’s role in MPT (the innovative Merchant Pot Turbo deck), Mike hits all the bases and shows you why Apprentice Magician is a tier one card.
Jerome McHale looks at the end of an era as duelists ready themselves for the addition of Shadow of Infinity to the Advanced format’s premiere-level play environment. Jerome looks at Merchant Pot Turbo, Cyber-Stein One-Turn Kill, and the deck played by Paul Levitin and Dale Bellido at Shonen Jump Durham, speculating on the future of the format.
On Wednesday, I’ll take a look at a deck that abuses synergy between Marauding Captain and Inferno Reckless Summon. Reckless Summon has been one of my favorite cards as of late, and while that Proto-Cyber Dragon combo is awfully tempting, the deck I look at takes a far more conservative and sustainable route. Ever been bombarded by three copies of Don Zaloog at once? How about three Spirit Reapers? This deck can do that, and much more!
Curtis Schultz continues last week’s investigation into the rulings for Chazz’s news cards when he examines the remaining four new cards in Chazz’s Duelist Pack. Magical Mallet is seeing a lot of testing, but when do you decide how many cards you'll return to your deck with its effect? If you chain Ring of Defense to your opponent’s Magic Cylinder, will your monster's attack still be negated? These questions and many more are answered here on Thursday!
Julia Hedberg recounts her Shadow of Infinity Sneak Preview experience this Friday, and shows you the strategies and processes that brought her success (and royally kicked my butt). She covers some of the finer aspects of Sealed Pack play, showing you move-by-move how she built a 5-0 deck in the challenging Shadow of Infinity Sealed Pack format. Dealing with less useful cards, spotting the gems in the rough, and making use of everything in between, Julia accounts for it all, making this article a must-read.
On Saturday, Jae Kim creates a deck that he calls Brave and the Bold. Exploiting the synergies between a group of Light and Warrior monsters, it uses Freed the Brave Wanderer to gain card advantage and fuel Return from the Different Dimension. Will the deck get the thumbs up, or will it be relegated to a dusty card box? Check out Jae’s article to find out.
Finally, Metagame.com welcomes its newest feature writer this week. Hailing from the UK, James Pennicott has made a name for himself in the European metagame and now he joins us to spread the gospel of Blue-Eyes White Dragon. After this cool article, he’ll settle into a regular spot on our schedule, focusing on teching the current environment and highlighting play trends and duelists from the other side of the pond. Welcome aboard, James!
That’s it for regularly scheduled material this week, but keep reading as we ramp up to Shonen Jump Championship Orlando. Keep checking back too, because we’ll have interviews with Team Nexus’s John Jensen, Team Comic Odyssey’s Ryan Hayakawa, and another State of the Game in coming days!
As always, thanks for reading!
—Jason Grabher-Meyer
Contributing Editor, Metagame.com