Shonen Jump Championship - Los Angeles

Aki, Riku, and I had the unique opportunity of going to this Shonen Jump Championship, which explains why I couldn't post/upload this past weekend.

This was probably the wrong one to go to for my first (and probably only) Jump. It left a pretty terrible impression, seeing as how it started four hours late and they were severely understaffed. Not to mention it was the biggest Jump ever.

So, the first day was pretty terrible. Both Riku and I scrubbed out X-2, figuring that with so many people, even people with a 10-1 record could miss out on the Top 16.

What was cool was that we could try out the new video games that are going to be released. It still wasn't that cool, though, since the games generally become obsolete as soon as they come out. World Championship 2010 was pretty neat, though.

Day 2 was a lot better. Aki and I were able to enter the Pegasus League flights twice each.

I ran a deck I dubbed "Core Control." It's a Ratbox/Koa'ki Meiru deck that uses all of the amazing Trap support Koa'ki Meiru have, like Iron Core Luster. Reckoned Power was especially amazing in a format where Heavy Storm was nonexistent, netting me multiple +2's.

The deck, though it worked as I expected, did not interact with other decks as I expected. Against a Gadget deck, the first duel took up the whole round and ended with me winning in time. Burden of the Mighty can do that, especially since he got rid of my Maximus.

All of the matches I won were due to time, which is kind of sad. After my first match against the Gadgets, I think one judge thought I was stalling. It was fine by me, since I was stalling. Stalling's allowed, slow play is against the rules; there's a difference.

After the judges started watching my duels, they realized I wasn't slow playing, and some of them even took a liking to my deck. The neat Traps you can use are completely worth having an Iron Core in your hand for. However, one of the judges "insulted" me by calling my deck "Rock Stun." I've got nothing against Rock Stun, but Koa'ki Meiru cards are so much cooler.

Sadly, Aki and I didn't get any additional Turbo Pack 2's, but our pulls completely made up for it. In his first two packs, Aki pulled a Super Rare Foolish Burial. I traded him a mess load of cards for it and the Rare My Body as a Shield he pulled from his second pack. I basically traded him all of the cards in his Shining Debris deck that I was letting him borrow.

After the first flight Aki and I entered, we had the opportunity of meeting Satoshi Kato, the Japanese National Champion. He was a really cool guy, and we talked for quite a while. I traded him an AbZ and a Tragoedia for two Duelist League Krebons, the "Rare" ones with colored foil.

Riku and I also had the chance to duel Satoshi. Riku misplayed and lost. Yeah...

As for me, I think I did pretty well. I was playing my Zombie deck with the Rai-Ohs and Teleport engine, and Satoshi was playing his Lightsworn/Zombie deck. I was happy with how I played, even though I lost. I think I played very well, with some pretty nice reads and a lucky Trap Dustshoot.

Aki was going to play Satoshi next, but we (Satoshi, Aki and I) had to go compete in another Pegasus League flight. Satoshi lost his first round, Aki's first round opponent dropped, and I won through time. Aki and I both lost in the second round.

We all got nice pulls. I think Satoshi pulled an Ultimate Rare Gladiator Beast Heraklinos, Aki pulled a Super Rare Beckoning Light, and I pulled the Ultra Rare Chaos Sorcerer. The pulls completely made up for not getting the extra packs. Wanting to make our money back before the price of the Turbo Pack 2 cards depreciated, Aki and I sold the holos. Aki got $20 for his Beckoning Light and I got $50 for my Chaos Sorcerer.

I got some X-Saber cards and Aki received some Japanese Absolute Powerforce packs, not to mention my getting a play-set of Northwemko and Aki getting a play-set of Superancient Deepsea King Coelacanth, so expect to see some new decks soon. Maybe when Absolute Powerforce comes out for the TCG, I'll be able to get more Koa'ki Meiru cards to make a better (non-"Rock Stun") deck.

I also decided to retire my Zombie deck, as was discussed before. So, I traded Riku my English Mezuki for one of his Blackwing Armor Masters. Now I'll be using more creative decks at locals, as it once was. Now I just have to decide what to use...