Team GG is in a unique position here today. On one hand, they’re one of the most widely recognized teams among the Internet communities. At the same time, though, they’ve still never managed to break through into the spotlight of a Shonen Jump Championship Top 8. This weekend they’re determined to change that.

Created in late 2004 by Brent Delpino, Ronshawn Williams, Elizabeth Silva, and current team leader Ricky Riles, Team GG was founded in New Orleans, Louisiana. Starting off their high-competition dueling careers by making an impact at Regional tournaments in Texas, Alabama, and Louisiana, they were quickly recognized locally for their skill. “Which wasn’t much then” admits Riles, “but at the time not many else in the South were too hot either.” Right off the bat, the team distinguished itself through innovation. Elizabeth, no longer with the team, used to be a massive spectacle at Regionals because she played a stall deck with three Tournament Pack 3 Needle Worms.

“When you have a girl playing Deck Out with original Tournament Pack ultra rares, a crowd gathered,” Riles grinned, telling the story of the team’s early days. “Soon enough we got very popular in the South, very popular because at the time, this was before everyone and their mother had a team. The first member to get qualified for 2005 Nationals was me. We sent out four members to our first Regional in the 2005 season, Shawn Toups, me, Glenn S., and Ronnie Lem. [Shawn and I] both placed third and ninth, respectively, and both Glenn and Ronnie placed in the Top 32 for their first regional.”

As the team gained a reputation they continued churning out innovative ideas. You might remember Glenn S.’s PwnDas deck, which we featured in the coverage from Shonen Jump Houston last year. Competing in Shonen Jump Championships exposed Team GG to a higher level of competition, and that gave them the experience needed to improve their own skills. Pretty soon, they were sweeping local competitions whenever they returned home.

Deck building is a huge focus for the team: virtually every member is playing something interesting today, eschewing the standard build of Chaos Return for stuff like Skill Drain and a Bazoo strategy fueled by Lady Assailant of the Flames. It’s something that Riles takes a lot of pride in. “Among the team, we have alot of great deckbuilders, and some amazing players on a National scale. In fact, personally, most of the time I just sit back and let someone from the team build me a deck to run at the events, because they never cease to amaze me with what they crank out. Ryan Goff is one of the most popular Internet duelist ever, and makes some of the innovative decks I've ever seen.” He’s not kidding. You might know Ryan Goff better as Kill Switch, one of the most acclaimed deck builders ever and an active member of tons of online Yu-Gi-Oh! communities.

So far the team’s accomplishments have been decent, but they’re still lacking that big breakthrough Shonen Jump showing. While they’ve managed to crack the Top 32 and Top 16 repeatedly, their big successes are still dominating Regionals, where they’re an imposing presence. “It’s pretty common for us to send people to Regionals in our area and get three of them into the Top 4.”

The team’s active roster is over a dozen duelists strong. Check it out: you might know a lot of these guys by their online aliases.

Glenn "Smooth" S.

Ricky "Nut" Riles

Duy "BlueD" Bui

Ronshawn "Archfiend General" Williams

Tabatha Riles

Shawn "Fat Boi" Toups

Ryan "Kill Switch" Goff

Jake "Scorpian" Campbell

Jimbo "JimRob" Robinson

Kevin "Death's Savior" Donnelly

Justin "Napoleon" Warren

Shawn "IAmExodia" Kelly

Nicolas "Master-of-Disaster" Walker

Friendship is a strong element of the team, and the fact that three of their members, Ronshawn Williams, Justin Warren, and Glenn S., couldn’t make it today was a fact that Riles requested for inclusion in the article. “They all couldn’t make it due to work or money,” explained Riles, giving them a shout-out. While some teams, like Rampage, are a collection of top-notch duelists, many others are built off of close personal relationships. Overdose is perhaps the best known of these types of teams, and authentic friendship plus an incredible amount of innovation are GG’s two big strengths.

Right now most of the team members are 2-0. You’ll be seeing more of their decks today as the tournament wears on, and the ideas they’ve created will change the game if they make it to Day 2. While I’ll look at some of their deck lists individually in separate features, I have to say here that it’s nice to see a team that values their deck builders. Flat out, the best deckbuilders usually aren’t the best duelists. But that doesn’t mean that your team shouldn’t appreciate its members who are stronger in the strategy department, rather than tactics. A team needs to utilize all of its resources in order to stand out from the pack, and Team GG is aware of that. In addition, their deck builders operate on a basis of strong fundamentals. If a deck runs a good card, they tend to run the maximum amount. These are competitors who understand the game and the basic mathematics behind it, and the result is focused strategies that do what they’re meant to do when they hit the table.

Team GG is a strong bet for at least one Day 2 appearance this weekend. Don’t be surprised if they place even more.