Hello everyone, I’m back from Atlanta to tell you all about my experiences at the latest Shonen Jump Championship.

The Judging Experience

I was assigned to assist the Head Judge, Frank Debrito, as his Head Floor Judge. I have to admit that it was a difficult job to do; being a Judge isn’t as easy as most people think it is. This is also considering at I didn’t sleep the night before the event (Due to the fact that I arrived in Atlanta at 3 A.M. Saturday driving there). I had to work on reserves for 12 hours straight.

The event itself was a blast, making sure over 400 people are sitting down and playing is no cake-walk; neither is getting 300 of those people to step outside into the lobby while enforcing the “No Spectators” rule. Despite all of the hardships and my aching feet, it was truly an event to remember. I got to chat with hundreds of players, make a ton of rulings, and I even got to sit down to play a couple games after the event. Among the many players that I met, I talked to Roy St. Clair, Quincy Gordon, Ameen Bahar, Tony Lee, Evan Vargas, Wilson Luc, John Jensen, Paul Lyn, Miguel Garcia, Franky Cook, Franky Duprey, Donald Kiss, Glenn Jones, Isaac from OB, Jonathan Barber, and many…many others.

I did manage to get that awesome Judge’s mat after the event. It has Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon and Vampire Genesis on each side of the mat with a giant YGO symbol in the middle of it. Very cool. While judging I was informed that I would get 6 tin promo cards straight from Upper Deck. Alex Charsky from Upper Deck was there evaluating our judging staff’s performance at the Shonen Jump Championship. I find funny how he can do that while playing World of Warcraft the entire time. How did the research go Mr. Charsky? Oh by the way, thanks for last year’s tin promos. Real stellar compensation from Upper Deck, I’ll make sure to send a nice “thank you” letter real soon. On a side note, I just love bustin’ UDE’s chops. Can’t you tell?

The Decks

As for the competition, I wasn’t very impressed. The metagame at SJC Atlanta was extremely stale with little difference in between decks. It seemed like everybody copied off of everybody. 1-2 Cyber Dragons thrown into every deck, with a couple Lights and Darks plus one “teched” Chaos Sorcerer. It seemed as if no one knew what to expect, thus the lack of focus in decks.

I saw quite a bit of Horus decks running around abusing the Horus LV6/Royal Decree lock. Warrior decks were literally everywhere and Warrior monsters were splashed into nearly every deck they could fit in. A single Reinforcement of the Army can get you a Don Zaloog, D.D. Warrior Lady, D.D. Assailant, Exiled Force, or Zombyra the Dark from your deck consistently. Heck, even I’m doing it.

I barely saw any Tomato Control decks. I expected Tomato Control to be more popular than Chaos. I did see one or two Tomato Control decks running Dark Scorpion – Meanae the Thorn and Cliff the Trap Remover and performing rather well. In Round 9 there was a Tomato Control deck at Table 2 that lost to Chaos. Gravekeepers also made a showing at the event.

The most surprising thing to me was that Zombies were SEVERELY underplayed. I saw 3-4 Zombie decks maximum, one of which was played by Team Savage’s Tony Lee. 3-4 Zombie decks out of 387 players?! Ludicrous. Zombies have everything they need to compete on an even level with the popular Aggro decks and Warrior Decks. Apparently, the majority of you don’t see this. I expect to see a larger showing of Zombie decks at SJC Los Angeles.

The Top 8 Decks

I have to say…I wasn’t impressed. It doesn’t take a deck genius to notice that these decks lack some solid structure. This is indicative of unprepared ness for a new metagame; which is fine. Only 1-2 Cyber Dragons per deck, whereas 3 is optimum, 1-2 Don Zaloogs/Spirit Reapers per deck, and an overwhelming similarity between trap sets. It seems that Chaos still wins, which isn’t surprising, but I’m personally appalled by the lack of diversity at the event. Just can’t let go of Chaos eh? The Soul Control deck was interesting twist though. The high monsters counts signaled that players recognized that this metagame is highly aggressive and monster intensive. Congratulations all of you for making Top 8 and congratulations to Florida’s own John Jensen for claiming victory in SJC Atlanta.

The Cards

Here is a list of the most popular cards at SJC Atlanta:

Monsters
• Mobius the Frost Monarch
• Cyber Dragon
• Don Zaloog
• Legendary Jujitsu Master
• Spirit Reaper
• Airknight Parshath
• Jinzo
• Kinetic Soldier
• Mystic Tomato
• D.D. Assailant
• Exiled Force
• Steamroid
• D.D. Survivor
• Drillroid
• Morphing Jar
• Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys

Spells
• Soul Exchange
• Scapegoat
• Confiscation
• Enemy Controller
• Lightning Vortex
• Creature Swap
• Smashing Ground
• Book of Moon (Obvious choice.)
• Reinforcement of the Army
• Swords of Revealing Light

Traps
• Sakurestu Armor
• Widespread Ruin
• Torrential Tribute
• Dust Tornado
• Royal Decree

The Regional Top 8 Decks

The following day, I was awarded the opportunity to Head Judge the Regional event. The Regional Decks were excellently built and surprisingly diverse. There were 4 Aggro decks, 1 Phoenix/Chaos deck, 1 Tomato Control deck, and 2 Toolbox Warrior decks.

The metagame at this Regional was FAR more impressive than the SJC; perhaps because the players knew what to expect from the new metagame. I saw Gravekeepers, Horus, Chaos, Aggro, Phoenix, Burn, Toolbox Warriors, Zombies, Tomato Control, Silent Magician/Silent Swordsman, and more. Tony Lee was running a new version of Nate’s deck “The Answer”; an excellent deck that nearly made Top 8 if he hadn’t shown up late and taken a Round 1 Match Loss.

The deciding match-up at this tournament was between Jonathan Barber (Aggro) and Jason Zigander (Phoenix/Chaos). I expected the Aggro deck to win, but two crucial mistakes allowed Jason to drop a Phoenix on the field without contention to go 2-0 against Jonathan. Congratulations to all of you in the Top 8.

My Match with Ameen

I didn’t get to finish my match with Ameen after the Shonen Jump Championship. We started and he was up on me 3-0 before I started coming back in Game 4 and 5. We were playing best out of 7. So the record ended up being 3-2 in his favor. We were going to continue after the event hall closed but I went to my hotel room and fell asleep after my 13 hour day…I was told that he knocked on my door at 2:30 a.m.; No answer. That’s what you get! I’ll remember that! Just kidding…

I’ll be going to the Shonen Jump Championship in Maryland and I will try to make it to the one in L.A.; or I’ll just go to the SJC in Orlando in January/February. Be there!

A Little Reflection

After spending the majority of my time watching YGO being played rather than actually playing it, I learned a great deal and had a lot more fun than I expected. I had a first-hand view of the metagame in action and I was able to adjust my playing style and my deck accordingly. I can say that I’m fully prepared to compete and face the format head-on. I can also say that I LOVE this damn game. YGO does have a ways to go before it becomes a flawless game, but it’s taking a step in the right direction by emerging into a static, but diverse metagame.

Until next time, remember to play hard, think about your moves, and most importantly…have fun!