SJC History: The Gold Sarcophagus Age (2007-2008)
GenCon 2007 ushered in Gold Sarcophagus as the top Prize Card. Here’s a look at some great SHONEN JUMP Championships from the age when “Sarc” was the top prize!
SHONEN JUMP Championship #43
Location: Indianapolis, Indiana
Date: August 18th, 2007
Competitors: 514
Winner: Kenny So
1st Place Deck: Skill Drain Burn
Runner-Up: Darelle Reese
2nd Place Deck: Monarchs with Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive / Gravekeeper’s Spy
Prize Card: Gold Sarcophagus
Gold Sarcophagus made its Championship Prize Card debut at this event, as hundreds of Duelists swarmed Gen Con Indianapolis to show off “The Best Four Days In Dueling”! A field packed with effect monsters and slow-paced Decks left the field ripe for the plucking, and Kenny So answered back with a Skill Drain Burn, winning the tournament with a strategy no one was ready for. Belgium’s Guy Israel also became Europe’s first-ever SHONEN JUMP Championship Day 2 finisher.
SHONEN JUMP Championship #46
Location: Durham, North Carolina
Date: October 13th, 2007
Competitors: 545
Winner: Philip Anthony
1st Place Deck: Zombies
Runner-Up: Levi Yoder
2nd Place Deck: Zombies
Prize Card: Gold Sarcophagus
With the rise of Il Blud from Tactical Evolution, and the popularity of Moanrchs, this tournament came down to Zombies versus Monarchs in Day 2! The undead hordes won out, as Philip Anthony and Levi Yoder went head-to-head in a Zombie mirror match in the finals. Anthony clinched his 2-0 victory by activating Creature Swap to send his Attack Position Pyramid Turtle to the other side of the field, attacking it for the last bit of damage he needed to win the tournament!
SHONEN JUMP Championship #47
Location: San Mateo
Date: December 1st, 2007
Competitors: 472
Winner: Fili Luna
1st Place Deck: Destiny Hero Monarchs with Light and Darkness Dragon
Runner-Up: Jerry Wang
2nd Place Deck: Destiny Hero Monarchs with Light and Darkness Dragon
Prize Card: Gold Sarcophagus
In one of the biggest stories of the year, Fili Luna successfully defended the same SHONEN JUMP Championship title he’d won 2 years prior, marking the second time he’d won a SHONEN JUMP Championship in the city of San Mateo. In Round 1 on Saturday morning, Luna was defeated by Jerry Wang in a fierce mirror match, but when those 2 Duelists faced off again in the Finals things went differently – Luna scored a 2-0 victory, and became a 3-time SHONEN JUMP Champion.
SHONEN JUMP Championship #49
Location: Houston, Texas
Date: February 23rd, 2008
Competitors: 542
Winner: Jonathan Moore
1st Place Deck: Six Samurai
Runner-Up: Adam Corn
2nd Place Deck: Dark Armed Dragon Return
Prize Card: Gold Sarcophagus
With all eyes on the landmark 50th SHONEN JUMP Championship just two weeks away in Costa Mesa, Duel fans around the globe were shocked when Houston became one of the most talked-about tournaments in history! With Dark Armed Dragon just released, many Duelists made Day 2 packing 3 copies, along with Return from the Different Dimension, a Deck that would go on to change the game forever. Houston also heralded the competitive arrival of Gladiator Beasts.
But the biggest news came in the Finals, where United States National Champion Adam Corn took the Deck of the format, Dark Armed Dragon Return, against Jonathan Moore’s Six Samurai – and lost. In a 3-Duel knock-down drag-out war, Moore defeated Corn with Lightning Vortex and a parting shot from Grandmaster of the Six Samurai, scoring a win for the ages!