​Who doesn’t love an underdog?

First, he overcame Canadian star Matt Peddle. Then, he defeated Comic Odyssey’s Juan Cardenas. Finally, he conquered the same team’s Michael Fukuyama. Nareg Torossian has broken out of obscurity and gone straight into the spotlight—he’s the Shonen Jump Indy 2005 champion!

​410 duelists came down to this: two competitors remained, one from a barely-known team from Massachusetts and one from Team Comic Odyssey!

Fukuyama won the die roll and opted to go first, setting one card to each of his zones. Torossian summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior, broke the face down, and then attacked the face down monster, revealing Tsukuyomi! That was a quick two-for-one for Torossian. Fukuyama got him back though, by using Delinquent Duo next turn and then clearing away Breaker with D. D. Warrior Lady. He set another spell or trap and passed.

Torossian won the roll. He opened with a single spell or trap set and quickly ate an attack from Sangan. Cardenas set a spell or trap himself, and it was Torossian’s turn yet again.

Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer smashed into Sangan, and Cardenas took a copy of Tsukuyomi into his hand. Torossian set one more spell or trap and passed. Cardenas blew away his original set—Ring of Destruction—with Dust Tornado. He then drew for his turn, took out Kycoo with Tsukuyomi, set a spell or trap, and passed. Torossian set one too, passed back, and Cardenas looked to press his advantage!

Jesse Twohig traveled from Nebraska for this Shonen Jump Championship, but he had me completely thrown off when he laid a Comic Odyssey playmat on his side of the field.

“I’m not on Comic Odyssey. I just really want to be on the team,” he said with a smile.

He played against Chris Marck, a new name to the Shonen Jump Championship scene, in a battle of the unknowns.

“I’m 75 percent sure that I’m going to the semis,” said Cardenas, in a rare show of self-confidence before Gessler arrived at the table.

Gessler introduced himself as part of Team Royal Nightmare, a local team. Cardenas is a headliner from Team Comic Odyssey, and needed no introduction. Both competitors shuffled their decks thoroughly, and Gessler won the die roll.

​In game 1, Nareg went first. He summoned Sangan to the field and set a spell or trap. Matt’s first monster was D. D. Warrior Lady, but she drew the ire of Nareg’s set Torrential Tribute. This allowed Nareg to use the effect of Sangan to add his own  D. D. Warrior Lady to hand, which he summoned on his following turn to begin assaulting Matt’s life points. Matt went on the defensive, setting a monster that was revealed to be D. D. Assailant when Nareg attacked it the following turn. Nareg set one monster and then passed the turn to Matt. Matt tried to attack with D. D. Assailant, but it was driven off by Nareg’s Magic Cylinder.

​Check out the Top 8 decklists from SJC Indianapolis here!

Judge Ken Jackson placed the match slip onto the feature match table, prompting Bryan Coronel to examine the one in his hand. “Oh. This isn’t mine.” He blinked, and the judge scurried off to run the match slip back to a very confused table 12.

Both of these legendary competitors were on the “bubble.” With 6-2 records, the winner would stand a chance of making Day 2, while the loser would most certainly not. Luc won the die roll and opted to go first. He opened with a set card to each zone and Coronel was up.

Evan Vargas, of constant Internet community fame and infamy, is the very vocal mouthpiece of Team Savage. Chad Justice is the creator of the Armed Samurai - Ben Kei deck. A Top 8 finisher at Shonen Jump Championship Houston, his deck building ingenuity has earned him a quick reputation."

Justice won the coin flip and opted to go first. “42 cards?” asked Vargas as he counted out Justice’s deck in a pile shuffle. “It’s too good to cut anything!” grinned Justice from below the brim of his white cotton Sundevil cap. He opened with two set spell or traps and passed.

​Every big event has a few pieces of tech—splashable, single cards that people are experimenting with either to expand and protect their own options or to hinder the opponent’s. Sometimes, the single card trends at major events carry on and become accepted parts of the global metagame. Other times, they fade straight into obscurity, and these articles are the only record of their existence. Either way, they’re always fascinating and often highly indicative of player attitudes. The magic number usually seems to be four, and sure enough, four major pieces of tech have emerged from SJC Indy.