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Article 20: The Shonen Jump Championship 12.06.04
Yes I realize I promised a wave of deck-building,
but our progress is
interrupted by the most exciting Yu-Gi-Oh event since the
World Championships. The Shonen Jump Championship was
conducted this past weekend at
This article attempts to do a number of things in sequential order; first it’ll assess the caliber of play, the environment, and the metagame. There will also be a very short report on how well my deck did. The final part of this will be a tribute to some of the best players in the nation that I had the time to analyze and acknowledge at the area. 1. The Shonen Jump Championship represented the metagame of the most competitive tournament in the nation. The caliber of play in the latter rounds was on par with the National Championships, and even the Worlds (I was there). The environment was absolutely overrun by Warrior Chaos (in the sense that everyone ran it). I attended both the Friday regionals (consisting of about 100 people give or take twenty), and the Shonen Jump Championships (consisting of about 300 people, give or take twenty). As one of the top players at the tournament, I had the unique chance to witness the environment first hand, see what the top players were running, and analyze. First of all, nearly 80% of the top-tier duelists showed a reprehensible lack of originality; by giving or taking anywhere from 1-5 cards, you could construct an exact replica of 80% of the top players’ decks. This had several ramifications for the environment; the two huge ones were the luck factor and the importance of the side-deck. When dueling a player of equal skill, the two x-factors are luck and the side-deck. A proper side-deck greatly increases the chance of winning against certain deck types, and luck will always play a role. Hand in hand with the explosion of the Warrior overrun meta were several counters; Quick-play spells saw heavy play in nearly every player’s deck and managing the flow of Scapegoats, Books, and Enemy Controllers became the most important aspect of the environment. Standard operating procedure was Enemy Controller + Scapegoats + Creature Swaps for almost every competitive deck, so most of the creative players brought out numerous counters to the annoying quickplay spells. It could almost be argued that the entire metagame was devoted to the control of Scapegoat tokens. Skillful players utilized Airknights and other laudable counters (which will be enumerated upon later on in the article). Most decks were filled to the brim with tech support, including Book of Moon and Compulsory Evacuation Device, so taking down those decks was a very tall undertaking. As a side-note, one of the most interesting aspects of the environment was the insistence of a key portion of the elite duelists on using Mirage of Nightmare replete with Emergency Provisions. This was hell-bent on capitalizing upon draw power, and also countering against the omnipresent Fiber Jar. The approach had mixed results, mostly due to the luck factor of Mirage of Nightmare. 2. My deck was designed to destroy the dominant Warrior form, and did. The other 20% of the highly skilled duelists opted to forgo the typical Warrior Chaos route, instead opting to put their skill and poise to the test. I was one of them. My deck was a form of Zombie Control, designed to destroy my opponent’s options then pound them with the three best monsters versus an opponent with limited options: Vampire Lord, Airknight Parshath, and Injection Fairy Lily. My sole two losses in both tournaments came to the eventual Shonen Jump Champion’s Warrior deck and a finely tuned Gravekeeper deck. The Zombie deck refused to run Black Luster Soldier, instead choosing to run some of the most unique common cards ever brought forth, Trap Dustshoot and Mind Crush. The deck swept to a 7-1 record on Friday, culminating in a third place showing, and cruised to a 6-1 record at the Shonen Jump Championships before forfeiting to allow other friends the chance to reach Nationals. Details are vague because the deck will re-emerge at Nationals. 3. The caliber of play was incredible. The comment about originality was not meant to disparage the expert players who chose to go that route; typically the most dominant form of deck exists because the most skilled players are using it. By using a more consistent, “cookie-cutter” deck, those with confidence in their dueling skills gave themselves the best chance to win. Nevertheless, certain players’ decks shined, and here is my tribute to them. f00b: D.
Simon Most pojo users have heard of the this man; he single-handedly PIONEERED the usage of Metamorphosis, and can even be CREDITED with INTRODUCING the versatility of Magical Scientist to the metagame! This man was dominating the competition with a draw engine deck capitalizing on (among other things) Masked Sorcerer, Reckless Greed, and other unique cards. A sole error made the INVENTOR OF THE METAMORPHOSIS DECK lose his perfect record. He faced me next, and barely lost a very close duel. f00b proved that good deck-building usually accompanies good playing skills. Brodie
H. (TEAM 3J’S) This was a sign that Burn could, and would, compete with the big boys of the Shonen Jump Championship. By finishing twelfth (and receiving the scraps of Nationals Invites hopefully thrown at him), Mr. Heinrichsen showed he could create an effective deck to counter the meta. Sand
Trap: E. Vargas Sand Trap actually ended up playing my buddy Brodie, making me cringe while watching them play. They’re both two of the best duelists in my opinion, and Sand Trap proved it by walloping nearly all the top players in side events over the course of the event. His deck ignored Black Luster Soldier, and the King Tiger Wanghu’s were fabulous counters to the environment. He didn’t place ninth 5 times either. Me: Jae
Kim I played in the Friday regionals, eventually losing to a highly skilled duelist in the semi-finals because I had already qualified for nationals (I made three bonehead plays of tremendous magnitude). Congratulations Patrick, the Wu family is a dynasty. In the Saturday Shonen Jump Championships, f00b, Sandtrap, and I were breaking down the competition until f00b and I were paired up and Sandtrap lost a tough one. At 6-1, I eventually encountered one of my best Yu-Gi-Oh friends, the legendary Miguel Flores. Miguel
Flores Miguel chose to run the Scientist FTK deck on Friday, and he eventually made it to the top 8. I should have been ranked one or two (I faced the only undefeated player in the last round and won), but was ranked 3. So I had to play my best buddy for a chance at regionals. I won but the victory seemed rather hollow. The next day, Miguel brought an Earth-themed beast deck, and we looked over his deck list and worked on the deck together while playtesting. This stud went 6-1 as I did, and eventually I had to face the man. Well folks, there’s more to dueling than prizes, glory, or even a Cyber Stein. We’d played so many times before in casual environments, and here we were again dueling for a chance at top eight in the SHONEN JUMP CHAMPIONSHIPS. He asked me to bow out for him as a favor, and so I said let’s play it out and see what happens. We were knotted at the third duel and eventually it came to a crucial juncture where he had no hand, no options, and misplayed his only hope for survival. It came down to friendship or glory, and I signed the slip in his favor. Losing would have knocked him out of the tournament and any shot at Nationals, and even as I handed over the slip there was a chance for me to claim the match victory. But I will never regret giving up the win, and Miguel began one of the most remarkable streaks in the history of Yu-Gi-Oh!. Taking his earth-themed Beatdown deck! Complete with a tech Axe of Despair and Dark Driceratops, he proceeded to thrash his 7-1 opponent to make it to the final top 8. I gave him my Vampire Lord for good luck; it was straight out of Yugi and Joey in the anime. He then defeated a great Dark Magician/Chaos deck and a great FTK Scientist deck to play in the finals, where he lost a close heartbreaker. As we left, he gave me a Needle Worm(!) in gratitude for my scoop, and I was touched by the sincerity. Miguel still has his Gencon pass, it still has my lucky 1st edition Vampire Lord and Legendary Jujitsu Master (don’t ask) safely tucked inside. The Needle Worm gift is wrapped in notebook paper (that I jotted life points with). What a fabulous day! These duelists I have named should give everyone the hope that originality, creativity, and deck-building can overcome the multitude of cookie-cutter dominance; schmoozing with true legends of the game was an experience I will never forget. Above all I learned that even the very best players of the game, and even the Upper Deck staff, are people just like you and me. Players of all abilities and ages enter the pages of pojo.com to enjoy the game they love; even feature writers, level 3 judges, and nationals qualifiers are regular every day people with fears, concerns, fits, and bathroom breaks. There were plenty of Pojo members at the site, including the legendary Kenjiblade, Tony the Matchless General, and Dawn Yoshi (who I did not meet unfortunately.) So the next time you look at your fellow Pojo members, the next time you stand in awe of the best player at your store/school/regional, know they came to love what you do too: The beautiful game of Yu-Gi-Oh! We will construct the Legendary Ocean deck next. Send all e-mails to JAELOVE@gmail.com
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Gen
Con So Cal, and I headed down there to cover it for pojo.com
and test my deck against the best competition in the world.