This is it. Today is the day. For twelve duelists, this day represents the end of the 2007 season and the conclusion of a year’s worth of hard-fought dueling. For four more duelists, today is not an ending, but a beginning of preparations for the World Championships in August.

And for one final duelist, today is the day that he earns the respect of a nation. One competitor here this morning will leave as the US National Champion. It just doesn’t get any bigger.

Emon Ghaneian’s unique “E-Mon Heroes” deck took him to an undefeated finish in the Swiss rounds yesterday. A Trooper Monarch build with Crush Card Virus, powered by Gravekeeper’s Spy and Gravekeeper’s Guard, it sides into a minimalist Destiny Hero build that completely changes the deck. His experience, strategy, and hunger to redeem himself after last year’s disappointing finish makes him a deadly competitor.

But he’s up against Alfonzo Yamakawa, who’s also playing a Trooper Monarch build. Though Yamakawa doesn’t have a Crush Card Virus, he is packing three copies of Trap Dustshoot, and they could be integral to this matchup. A couple timely Dustshoots can lay out any duelist, and they could be Yamakawa’s ticket to success here today.

Bryan Rockenbach will take one of the riskiest decks here today against Tom Cafaro, who’s running one of the most consistent. Cafaro is playing a relatively standard Perfect Circle build, the Destiny Hero Monarch deck that has become such a defining force in this format. It’s strong and reliable, and sometimes that’s all you need to capture a National Championship—stability.

Rockenbach’s strategy is different. He’s playing 12-Gauge Monarch, with . . . well, a thirteenth Monarch. And Jinzo. And no Card Troopers, or any other way to search out his Treeborn Frog. It looks bad on paper but is amazing in action, kicking out killer effect after killer effect and creating a wave of devastation that never stops. This one is going to be interesting.

Kyle Hintze is one of the more renowned duelists in the Top 16, and he’s packing another of the surefire bets in this format, T-Hero. Destiny Hero beatdown has fast become the Thousand-Eyes lockdown deck of this format, creating amazing control in the hands of an experienced player. Hintze could do very well today.

But he’s facing a mirror match. Travis Odle is also running T-Hero, and he’s doing it with teched copies of Machine Duplication. Hintze demonstrated an incredibly aggressive play style yesterday, but Odle might be able to beat him at his own game. If Odle draws well, this match could be over very quickly.

Justin Womack has the distinction of playing the most unique deck in Day 2. An aggressive near-OTK strategy, he’s running three copies of Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World; three Injection Fairy Lilys; three Brain Controls, and three Machine Duplications. He’s even maxed out on Dimension Wall and Magic Cylinder, and he won plenty of his duels yesterday through deflected damage. It’s the fastest, most unpredictable deck in Day 2, and it might just be Championship worthy.

He’s up against Ian Slobodianock, another duelist running T-Hero with Machine Duplication. It’s another matchup that pits a high-risk deck against a more consistent one, and the results are impossible to guess. Consistency brought Slobodianock success yesterday, but Womack’s only loss yesterday came when he sat in the wrong seat during one of his rounds . . . and he still won that match.

Augustin Herrera is running Magical Explosion, which is capable of going off almost instantaneously in any matchup. Armed with seven monsters, Herrera’s commitment to his theme blended with immense skill and experience to bring him this far. He’s another top choice for the Championship.

But again, a high-risk, offbeat deck is matched with a consistent format favorite. His opponent, Jeffrey Paura, is another T-Hero player, and is also running Machine Duplication in the main deck. Herrera is well prepared for the matchup, but if Paura plays everything tightly and both duelists get average draws, the match may go to Paura.

Our own Matt Peddle had a profound influence on this tournament, with many duelists running new spins on his Machine beatdown deck from last weekend’s Canadian National Championship. Now, Michael Bueno and Darren Sago are locked in a Machine beatdown mirror match! One will go to the Top 8, but it’s impossible to predict who.

Returning U.S. National Champion Max Suffridge is back to recapture his title! Running a very different Machine beatdown build, Suffridge has set himself aside from the pack by running cards like Mystic Tomato and Raiza the Storm Monarch. His choices demonstrate an incredible knowledge of his own skills and play style; it’s possible that no duelists in this tournament understand their own strengths as much as Max.

And he’s playing against the weirdest deck in the Top 16. Javier Gutierrez is running something that’s hard to describe from my perspective. A tech-heavy pseudo-beatdown with Neo-Spacian Grand Mole, Night Assailant, Iron Blacksmith Kotetsu, United We Stand, Future Fusion, and more bizarre picks, he too seems to understand his own style very well. To an outsider, the deck is a jumble of mismatched cards. But results speak for themselves, and there’s no doubt that to Gutierrez, the deck is a well-oiled machine.

Finally, Fili Luna takes Machine Beatdown against Adam Corn, who’s running Trooper Monarch with Trap Dustshoot. These competitors are two of the most proven, road-worn duelists in contention here today, and as always, it’s anybody’s guess who will emerge victorious. Luna is due and has been near unstoppable this weekend, but again, Trap Dustshoot is a debilitating, fearsome card that makes and breaks victories.

It all goes down today, and as the deck checks come to a completion, each competitor is preparing himself for the battle of his life. Twelve will go home. Four will go to Worlds. And one will emerge victorious.