The opening announcements this morning included a special address from Konami’s Vice President in charge of Card Business, Yumi Hoashi. She had an important message for the thousands of attendees here in Edison, and the hundreds of thousands of Duelists across the globe: “As you may know, this is the biggest SHONEN JUMP Championship of all time.” The collected Duelists exploded into cheers and applause, and Hoashi continued. “This is also, the last SHONEN JUMP Championship, as we are relaunching as the Yu-Gi-Oh! Championship Series! The first Yu-Gi-Oh! Championship Series event will be held next month in Virginia!” The statement was met by more cheers, but left attendees wondering: what did it all mean?
We asked! On one hand, the shift from SHONEN JUMP Championships to the Yu-Gi-Oh! Championship Series is a change in name. But it’s also a lot more than that. “The biggest change is that the Yu-Gi-Oh! Championship Series is going to be a global program.” That means Duelists from Latin America and Europe won’t have to travel nearly as far to compete in YCS events.
But that’s not all. There will also be a subtle adjustment to the prize cards. Over the years, the prize distribution for prize cards has changed. Originally, only the winner got a copy of Cyber-Stein. These days, prize cards go to the winner, the runner-up, and the victor in the 3rd place match, as well as to the winners of the 2 side event play-offs on day 2. Beginning next month, at the Yu-Gi-Oh! Championship Series, there will be a new distinction. The prize cards for the main event winners will be Ultra Rare, while the other prize cards will be Super Rare. This will create a greater level of distinction for the victors’ cards, while still allowing other top finishers to have playable Super Rare copies for their Decks. And that’s just the beginning of the new prize lineup.
More details will follow over the few short weeks between now and the YCS in Virginia, but for now, that handful of details will have to tide us over. Today may be the end of SHONEN JUMP Championship tournaments, but it’s also the beginning of an awesome new chapter in the history of Dueling, and Duelists across the globe are in for an amazing year!
