Take a group of strong Yu-Gi-Oh! players, combine them with a sense of group purpose, and you’ve got the start of a team. Add in practice, pooled knowledge and strategy, and it becomes a force to be reckoned with. The additional strength that a good team can bring to its members is already well established, so it’s not surprising to see teams becoming more popular. Team Savage has some well-known members who have already made names for themselves on their own, so pooling their talents might give them the edge to rival previously established teams. Sponsorship is a real boon to a team, providing the extra support to get them out and about, and Team Savage has found that in José Cintra, of The Gathering Place in Casselberry, Florida.

Comic Odyssey can’t have it all their own way forever—eventually someone was going to step up and challenge their claim to all those Cyber-Steins. Team Savage is new to the tournament scene, but they believe that their streamlined lineup of some of the best players in the country, along with their focus on innovation in deckbuilding, is the right formula for success. They’re quite confident, and as the rounds progress, we’ll see how they perform. Are you ready to meet the team?


Name: David “f00b” Simon
City of Residency: Phoenix, Arizona
Current Occupation: I’m a full-time student at Arizona State University, double majoring in Music and English.
Previous TCG tournament achievements: I picked up Yu-Gi-Oh! in the summer of 2003, and qualified for Nationals, placing second and fourth in the two Arizona Regionals this past year. I stopped playing for a while, this time because of college, then barely got back into the game in time to go to the first Shonen Jump Championship in LA (where I actually showed up for Vs. System), and I got ninth again, off of tiebreakers. I seem to be pretty good at placing ninth in big events. But that rekindled my interest, and now I’m back and serious about the game. I also play Vs. System, and have made Top 8 in some Pro Circuit Qualifiers, and although I’m usually not one to care about ratings, it says I’m ranked #1 in Arizona for Vs. System.
Why you joined the team: I love the competitive aspect of it. Just thinking about being able to travel on weekends, taking a break from hectic everyday life, to go have fun challenging other great teams at high-profile tournaments is great. Also, my teammates are the best—they’re the tightest friends and the most skillful players I’ve seen in a while, so this just seems like the perfect opportunity.
How many SJCs have you attended: I went to the first one in LA where I actually played, but then, as interviewed by Metagame’s Mike Rosenberg already, I traveled to the Las Vegas SJC to have fun and support my friends—even though I had to make it back that Sunday to Phoenix for a rehearsal. So, in returning to LA, this is technically my third SJC of what I hope to be many more!
How many Regionals for this year’s season have you attended: I went to the only Arizona Regionals so far this year, and I didn’t quite get a Nationals invite from it. Admittedly, I was trying to prove that you could be original in a field resplendent with cookie cutters and net-decking, and I ran a savage tribute deck that could just “go off” and win in one turn after gathering its resources. It played really well, and it wasn’t a bad choice for the metagame, either. However, I’m almost positive I would have done better with a more consistent deck, and my play skill would have shown through a little more. Every once in a while it’s fun to flex your deckbuilding muscle, so I’m not disappointed in my choice to take a fun deck and almost make Nationals with it. Then, at the Las Vegas regional last month, I got my National invite anyway, so I guess it all worked out.
Are you focusing on the SJCs, Regionals, or both equally: Right now, it’s all about challenging Comic Odyssey (yeah, that one team . . . ) at the SJC’s for some of those Cyber-Steins. They have a great group of players, but I don’t like the thought of them just walking into tournaments and walking out with the Steins. Some friendly competition is much anticipated.
Your favorite card and why: Sengenjen, because his flavor text says he’s an unstoppable savage with Millennium bling! Naw, I’m just kidding. For me, there will always be two favorite cards—Magical Scientist and Metamorphosis. I remember way back when I went to my first Regional tournament (Las Vegas, Nov 2003). Magician’s Force had just come out and the Scientist was still unrestricted! I brought what was then the unheard-of Fusion deck, and I had three copies of every fusion in the game. That’s when I first started getting some recognition, and people were relating me with the usage of Scientist. Then along came my idea to run Metamorphosis (and its broken combo with Scientist, by the way) at the Arizona Regionals, especially because Dark Balter and friends simply owned the metagame. I qualified with the deck, and then it exploded into an entire archetype. Jae may joke around about me being the “Pioneer” [of Metamorphosis] and it’s a good laugh, but it does mean something to me and hopefully, along with the creative minds on our team, we can keep coming up with innovative decks and combos that continue to storm the metagame. Until then, even when Scientist is banned, his memory will live on in all those Fusion decks. I’m just happy people started realizing how good he was, and now he’s banned—hopefully not simply because of the potential to kill on the first turn, either.
What do you think are the top three decks in Yu-Gi-Oh! and why: Although I think a lot of the original decks that creep under the radar, especially from my team members, are simply better than the “cookie cutter” decks; based simply off of the results from testing the past month and tournament results, I would say Warrior/Chaos and Zombie control seem to be the more popular decks. Popular doesn’t necessarily mean they are better—ingenuity almost always pays off because people aren’t ready for it or haven’t tested against it, and I wouldn’t have played the deck I did today if it wasn’t, in my opinion, the best.
Deck you played today and why: Anyone who knows me understands one thing, and that’s that I am completely obsessed with drawing cards . . . lots of them. I also hate losing to a godly top-deck . . . you know, the kind where there’s only one draw that can even give your opponent the chance to get back into the game, and they rip it, sometimes even for the victory. With the combination of these two factors, I made a deck that could seemingly draw “infinite cards.” No crazy loops like Tsukuyomi to reuse a Magician of Faith every turn and no silly deck thinners like Upstart Goblin, Jar of Greed, or Good Goblin Housekeeping, just all the good stuff that results in me drawing lots of cards. And lots of cards equals lots of options, which means your opponent can’t topdeck you out of the game, meaning you can control the game and then you win. This is pretty basic theory, and I actually believe I perfected the first version of Draw.dec in the first Advanced format, especially where I could abuse Mirage of Nightmare, Painful Choice, and have Scientist control the field for me. But with those gone, and the recently added Graceful Charity and Delinquent Duo in their place, the deck will adapt and continue to try and win games where I am fanning myself with a mitt of ten or more cards in hand at the end of the game. Just don’t Heavy Slump me.


Name: Vijay “SomeGuy” Seixas
City of Residency: Gainesville, Florida
Previous tournament achievements: None recently. I had been playing solely Vs. System for the past year, although I haven’t played in any major events for it since PC Indy . . . and let’s not talk about that.
Why you joined the team: I wanted to start playing Yu-Gi-Oh! again, and this was the perfect opportunity. Seeing as I had been great friends with both Evan Vargas and David Simon in the past, I was a shoo-in as the fifth. Oh, and let's not forget to mention that I had the sponsorship hook-ups. Thanks Jose!
How many SJCs have you attended: Only one, the Orlando SJC. I was there for the Vs. System $10K on Saturday, but I had nothing better to do Sunday so I borrowed a deck and gave it a whirl after being inactive for quite some time. Wow, D.D. Assailant is some good!
How many Regionals for this year’s season have you attended: None as of yet, I’ve been doing a lot of internal playtesting for this SJC.
Are you focusing on the SJCs, Regionals, or both equally: Well, now that we are officially sponsored, primarily the SJCs. Don’t count us out for the occasional local Regional event, though, as we have many friends outside of the team.
Favorite card and why: Dream Clown! He's always been a pet card of mine, ever since I pioneered the first version of Clown Control in late 2002.
What do you think are the top three decks in Yu-Gi-Oh! and why: As much as I would love to say, I honestly believe our team has some of the most innovative and explosive decks in the current environment. We’re trying to keep them under wraps for as long as possible. Don’t worry, though, they’ll be out in no time.


Name: Evan Vargas
City of Residence: College Station, TX.
Previous tournament achievements: Twentieth at U.S. Nationals 2004, third at Houston Regional with a Fairy deck, won Regional at Gen Con Indy to qualify for this year, and sixteenth at SJC LA are the main ones, I guess.
Reason for joining the team: We were all friends, and excellent Yu-Gi-Oh! players, so we decided to make a team. Plus, we wanted to challenge Comic Odyssey as an official team, and now we have a sponsor, so it all worked out.
How many SJCs have you attended: LA and Vegas.
How many Regional tournaments have you played in: I’ve only been to the Regional that was at Gen Con Indy, as well as a Waco Regional. I also judged at a Plano Regional.
Are you focusing on SJCs, Regionals, or both equally: Since I’m already qualified for Nationals, I'm just focused on SJCs.
What’s your favorite card and why: Well, I really like King Tiger Wanghu, since it's an original card that's now caught on in the metagame. Plus, I love killing those Scapegoats. Airknight Parshath is a close second, and Breaker’s third.
What do you think the top three decks are and why: I think Chaos Warrior Control, Zombies, and my deck are the best. But sometimes it’s just that the high quantity of those cookie-cutters makes the actual best decks not seen as the best.
Deck you played today, and why: I’m keeping it secret.


Name: Tony “sHecKii” Lee
City of Residence: Laguna Hills, OC
Previous tournament achievements: I placed fourth at Regionals in Costa Mesa, California in 2004. I was the only one to qualify with Freed the Matchless General in the Traditional format.
Why you joined the team: The team was started because we were all friends and amazing Yu-Gi-Oh! players. We were sick of losing to, as Evan would put it, “God Luck,” and decided to start a team with what Jae calls us, “The Legends.”
How many SJCs have you been to: I’ve been to one, which was SJC Anaheim, and I placed thirteenth.
How many Regional Tournaments have you been to: I’ve been to many Regionals. I’m infamous for losing to First Turn Kill decks when I could’ve made Top 8 if I didn’t play one of them.
Are you focusing on SJCs, Regionals, or both equally: I focus on all forms of Yu-Gi -Oh! tournament play.
Your favorite card and why: My favorite card in Yu-Gi-Oh! is Return from the Different Dimension. To me, the card says: “Pay half your life: A) you win the game; B) If you have Jinzo removed from the game, you just played ‘negate target opponent’s trap and win the game;’ C) If you have Dark Magician of Chaos, it brings back Pot of Greed or other important magic and then you win the game.”
What do you think the top three decks are and why: The top three decks in Yu-Gi-Oh! are Black Luster Soldier-based decks, tribute monster decks, and Removed From the Game control decks using D. D. monsters and Return from the Different Dimension. Black Luster Soldier decks are amazing because Black Luster Soldier is amazing. Evan’s Soul Control deck focuses on one of the fundamental principles of TCGs, which are two-for-one situations. Personally, I love the deck. I also believe Return from the Different Dimension, using all sorts of D. D. monsters, Strike Ninja, Chaos monsters, or even Bazoo, is amazing. Return from the Different Dimension is too good not to run sometimes. I’ve played cookie-cutter Chaos/Warrior with my own twist because it was the best deck in the format during the SJC. I'm known for working the Strike Ninja deck focusing on Return from the Different Dimension as the win condition. I've been playing this deck for the past two Regional tournaments, but since I am very unlucky, I lose to all sorts of interesting “god luck” as Evan puts it. I’ve also played a Discard Control deck using cards like Raigeki Break, Divine Wrath, Magic Jammer, and Monster Reincarnation. It’s a deck based on getting cards in hand to discard cards in hand to achieve board position and sometimes hand advantage.


Name: Jae Kim
City of Residency: Berkeley, California
Previous tournament achievements: I made Top 4 at the Gen Con So Cal Regionals with a Zombie Control Deck. I played Strike Ninja and got a Top 8 berth at the San Mateo Regionals. Also, I made the top fifteen at Shonen Jump Las Vegas. You guys showed some love and had me on the featured table of metagame.com. I’m also a Featured Writer at Pojo.com.
Why you joined the team: I can’t help but be drawn to the allure of Team Savage. You look at such beautiful faces in such beautiful places, and it’s like, wow! I’m in a room with legends!
How many SJCs have you attended: Two.
How many Regionals have you attended: Four, if you count the two Shonen Jumps as Regionals events.
Are you focusing on the SJCs, Regionals, or both equally: I try to show love to all areas.
Favorite card and why: My favorite card is Vampire Lord, mainly because I loved the Zombie theme way before they got cookie-cuttered to death, and I gave a copy of mine to Miguel Flores when he made the finals of the first Shonen Jump championships. It’s got some sentimental value.
What do you think are the top three decks in Yu-Gi-Oh! and why: I think the top three decks are anything you make them. I experiment with lots of different decks including Zombies, Deck Destruction, Strike Ninja, and Exodia, and I’ve found that many deck types can win effectively against the “cookie-cutter” metagame. I don’t like typecasting decks into tiers, effectively limiting those decks that can win big tournaments. I also delight in proving those lollygaggers, naysayers, and disbelievers wrong.