JaeLove

• Pojo Home Page
  
• Message Board
  
• Contact Staff
  

JAELOVE's Smooth Journey
Article 36: Gearing Up for the Nationals Championship
July 1, 2005

It's been a while since I've checked in last with an article, finals and traveling with Team Savage across the coast have made me quite a busy (and deathly ill) individual. As everyone gets ready to check in for the U.S Nationals Championship, I thought it would be a good thing to check in with all the readers of Pojo.com about my experiences at the Charlotte Shonen Jump and my predictions for the metagame.

This past weekend in Charlotte were both the second Shonen Jump Championship and the second regional of next year's qualification process. Needless to say, with Charlotte's relatively close proximity to Ohio, many duelists took this event as a training ground and ideal testing locale for the Nationals. Nearly 600 players combined showed up to take place at the Shonen Jump and regional, and some of the best teams in the nation were present.

The metagame was expected to have evolved, providing a far worthier challenge than the New Jersey event. There were numerous reasons for such expectations, but most could be attributed to the fact that Jersey was the first event with the new position changes, meaning only expert players truly exploited the new advantages. Charlotte, of course, provided ample opportunity for players to both net-deck and experiment on their own, creating a more level playing field. The fact that Nationals looms only a week away as well undoubtedly drew more players to the playing grounds.

General trends in the environment were plainly obvious. Almost every deck ran multiple copies of Scapegoat, and defenses were shifted between the Quickplay chainables (Book of Moon, Enemy Controller), and different traps (Sakuretsu Armor, Bottomless Trap Hole, Magic Cylinder). Instead of attempting to adapt to the metagame, many duelists chose to simply take the easy way out and take a form of goat control or net-deck. These players were subdued in short order, many falling to lower rankings because of their lack of skill compared to Ryan Hayakawa or Wilson Luc.

The decks in the top eight were an inspiring mix of cookie cutter, inspiration, and tech; where one player ran Peten the Dark Clown and Nimble Momonga, yet another decided to experiment with Marauding Captain and the old Warrior supremacy. Other instances of nifty tech, such as Kyle Duncan's Newdoria and Taylor Brasswell's Wave Motion Cannon propelled them to the top eight.

Yours truly took part in the tournament, losing in the first round to a Ben Kei deck (surprise, surprise), then winning eight matches in a row to make it to the top eight. I was running a deck with zero Scapegoat, no Black Luster Soldier, no D.D Warrior Lady, instead choosing to make an original "Zombie Structure Deck" that could be purchased at a local Wal-Mart.

While my bid for a championship fell short to a continuous stream of "god luck", Mr. Anthony Alvarado, clearly exhibited the skill and fortitude required to win the event. The game's format is constructed in a way where skilled players can be defeated simply on the basis of better draws; the deck I constructed faltered in the end but the mark has hopefully been made. Tournaments can be won by attempting to counter the metagame, not simply conforming to it. Take a look! Shining beacons of originality at Houston, Pomona, Charlotte such as Soul Control, Spell Canceller, Tsuku Lock can be found everywhere; it seems shameful that decks are continually belittled in the face of the rampant Scapegoat control cookie cutter hordes.

After losing the main event, I took part in a few side events to pass my time, meeting many great people from Pojo.com. I had the chance to have a few friendly duels with some of them, and then entered a side event where I was once again matched up against Anthony Alvarado. The lack of coverage on the event has obscured the sheer significance, but Anthony now had a chance to become the first person in the history of Yu-Gi-Oh! to win two Cyber Steins in the same day. He needed just one more side event tournament win to take the Cyber Stein; losing would ensure that the winner of the Sunday regional would take the prize instead. In yet another duel between the two of us that decided a Cyber Stein, I managed to prevail through more appalingly bad luck. While other members of different teams pleaded for me to forfeit the match for cash bribes, I respectfully declined and, more impressively, so did Anthony. This person who had the courage and skill to win the main event, speak with me after and apologize about it, also had the power to refuse a shady bribe.

Clearly Team Overdose has proven themselves to be one of the best teams in the nation, and definitely has the right to hold themselves up to the pantheon of any team in the world. Congratulations to every team that took place in the event and every player as well; this was a great tune-up before Nationals. And while Team Savage did manage to defeat Team Odyssey in a team battle at Pomona to "determine the crown", it might be conducive to see the results of more matches between all of the teams.

In impressive fashion as well, Eric Wu from Team Odyssey arrived at the regionals a round late (having played in the top 4), and took an auto loss. He then reeled off six straight wins in a row to make it to the top eight, then won the entire regional to take home the side event Cyber Stein. Perhaps this article doesn't provide as much strategy, or insight, as previous works. Perhaps this one is more of a recollection of the events that took place and an opportunity to congratulate those who deserve it. In a realm where everybody is constantly bickering, where teams constantly feel the need to belittle and bash one another, perhaps giving due praise to those who've earned it isn't such a bad thing after all.

E-mail me at JAELOVE@gmail.com for feedback, suggestions etc. I’ve been busy lately, unable to follow up on COTD or the Blue Eyes/Exodia decks, but once finals is done I’ll be ready to do lots and lots of work over the summer!