Konami Announces Nationals Prize Support

Who	Prize	Special Prize
Winner	Travel & Accomodation to the European Championships	Dark End Dragon
Top 4	Trophies	Binder
Top 16 (Open)	WCQ Gamemat
Top 32 (Invitation only)	WCQ Gamemat
1/8 Participants	Qualification to the European Championships
all	WCQ Sleeves

As many of you may already know, the European Nationals season is well under way. Konami have recently announced a brand new Infernity prize mat to be given out to at least the top 16 of each National. Find more information on prize support on the Konami website here.

YuGiOh National Championships Confirmed!

The location and dates for the majority of 2010 National Championships has just been released! For more details, check out the Konami website here.

	Country	Event Type	Event Date	Event Location
	Denmark	open	May 01st/ 02nd	Vamdrup
	Austria	open	May 02nd	Wien
	Switzerland	open	May 08th	Basel
	South Africa	open	May 08th	Johannesburg
	Norway	feeds into Sweden	May 08th/ 09th	Stockholm
	Finland	feeds into Sweden	May 08th/ 09th	Stockholm
	Sweden	open	May 08th/ 09th	Stockholm
	Greece	invitation-only	May 09th	Athens
	Malta	open	May 09th	Msida
	Germany	invitation-only	May 15th/ 16th	Kassel
	Estonia	open	May 16th	Tallinn
	Netherlands	open	May 22th	Utrecht
	Lithuania	open	May 23th	Kaunas
	Turkey	open	May 23th	Istanbul
	France	invitation-only	May 29th/ 30th	Paris
	Ireland	feeds into UK	May 29th/ 30th	London
	United Kingdom	invitation-only	May 29th/ 30th	London
	Italy	invitation-only	May 29th/ 30th or June 05th/ 06th or June 12th/ 13th	TBA
	Latvia	open	June 5th	Riga
	Portugal	open	June 5th	Coimbra
	Belgium	open	June 05th/ 06th	Etterbeek
	Spain	invitation-only	June 05th/ 06th	Madrid
	New Zealand	open	June 6th	Auckland
	Australia	open	July 10th	TBA
	Bulgaria	invitation-only	TBA	TBA
	Croatia	open	TBA	TBA
	Slovenia	open	TBA	TBA

Shonen Jump Championship New Name Confirmed!

“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!”
Konami's Vice President in charge of Card Business, Yumi Hoashi.

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.

It's confirmed, the new name for Shonen Jump Championships is Yu-Gi-Oh! Championship Series. However it is more than just a new name - Shonen Jump Championships are being completely relaunched, and Yugioh Championship Series are now scheduled to take place in Europe and South America. Find more information on Yugioh Championship Series on the Konami website here.

"We love Shonen Jump and they love us. You'll continue to see coverage of Yu-Gi-Oh! in Shonen Jump, as well as cards inserted in the magazines and graphic novels."
Kevin Tewart on Pojo.

There's more good news - according to Kevin Tewart, Yu-Gi-Oh!'s relationship with Shonen Jump and Viz is still very strong, meaning the name change will not alter the release of Shonen Jump promo cards or the appearance of Yu-Gi-Oh! manga in the magazine.

The Shining Darkness Sneak Preview Mat

Click to enlarge image

The mat for The Shining Darkness Sneak Preview is confirmed, and looks remarkably similar to the Win-a-mat unveiled a few weeks ago. See the full details of the Sneak Preview on the official Yugioh website here.

Check out the Shonen Jump Championship win-a-mat here.

Shonen Jump Championships Have a New Name?

Following Shonen Jump New Jersey, it appears the name of Shonen Jump Championships will change, possibly to Yu-Gi-Oh! Premier Tournaments beginning with Yu-Gi-Oh! Premiere Tournament Chantilly, VA (Washington DC) coming up in mid-may. This could be due to a conflicting name with a new series of tournaments in the Naruto TCG also named Shonen Jump Championships. Naturally this raises several questions, for example does this mean Yugioh is dropping out of the monthly Shonen Jump Magazine? Will this put an end to Shonen Jump promo cards? We will have to see in the near future.

Konami Announces New Mats

Click above to enlarge images

Q: Will there be anything new and exciting at the 75th SHONEN JUMP Championship - Edison, NJ?

Yes! There will be some new and exciting things to see, win, and do at this event. Take a look!

*UPDATED 4/12*
Get new Game Mats, available at the 75th SHONEN JUMP Championship – Edison, NJ!
At this event, you can be among the first to earn the newest Regional 2010 Game Mat and the newest Win-A-Mat Game Mat. You can also receive a 75th SHONEN JUMP Championship Game Mat just for participating in the SHONEN JUMP Championship main event. You don’t want to miss that.

Konami have just announced four brand new mats - a new Regionals Mat, a new Shonen Jump Championship Top 32 Mat, a new Win-a-Mat and a Shonen Jump Championship New Jersey Participation Mat! It looks like Konami did a great job with the mat designs, and I look forward to seeing even better designs in the future!

See the full details on the Konami website here.

Gold Series 3

Gold series 3 is confirmed, with cards such as Infernity Archfiend, Judgment Dragon, Thunder King Rai-Oh, Plaguespreader Zombie, Blackwing Armor Master, and Blackwing Armed Wing all being reprinted! See the news on the official Konami website here.

Gold Rare Cards are back for another round, with Gold Series 3! Gold Rares are the shiniest, rarest, and most blinged-out cards you can get. And Gold Series 3 brings some flash and flair to more of your favorite cards.

This time around, you can get your hands on Gold Rare versions of cards like Infernity Archfiend, Judgment Dragon, Thunder King Rai-Oh, Plaguespreader Zombie, Blackwing Armor Master, and Blackwing Armed Wing.

As a super-special bonus, Gold Series 3 is the first place you can get a hold of Jack Atlas’ Vice Dragon monster – available for the first time, AND as a Gold Rare!

If you’re looking to hop on board the latest and hottest Decks, Gold Series 3 can help get you started. The 32 Common Cards in Gold Series 3 include most of the Blackwing monsters from 2009, so it’s easy to get your Blackwing Deck together just with Gold Series 3 and the new Blackwing cards available in The Shining Darkness packs.

Gold Series 3 also includes most of the Amazoness cards, originally released way back in 2003, so you can take advantage of the new Amazoness monsters in August’s Duelist Revolution booster set.

Other Common Cards in Gold Series 3 include Destiny Hero – Malicious, Goblin Zombie, Destiny Draw, and many more.

Each box of Gold Series 3 contains 25 cards from this elite 50-card set.

Gold Series 3 Contains:
18 Gold Rare Cards
32 Common Cards

New Local Tournament Mat

Konami have started handing out mats at local tournaments, as confirmed by Julia Hedberg on Pojo.

This is available as an incentive to tournament stores, to be used in local level events. It isn't fake.

For those interested, the mat is being sold on ebay here.

Yugioh Italia Cossy Banners Suspended

The highly popular Cossy statistic banners have been shut down due to issues with Konami, regarding the use of Cossy passwords on their site.

See more details and how to help on the Yugioh Italia website here.

Service Suspended!
Unfortunately after few days since its release, Yu-Gi-Oh! COSSY Statistics Banner service shuts down.
I've been contacted by Konami last days, telling me that I can't ask people their COSSY passwords to generate the banners as there could be privacy issues. Furthermore, they don't want that services such these are "community-maintained".

I'm forced, then, to shut down the service.

If you want that this service becomes official or you just want to ask Konami to take this service open, send a mail to one (or both) of these addresses:

us-cardsupport@konami.com for Konami America

yugioh@konami-europe.net for Konami Europe
Thank you for supporting me!

Yours faithfully,
Jerry Beans Man

March 2010 TCG Ban List on Konami Website

The official TCG ban list is now up on the official Yu-Gi-Oh website. It is identical to the leaked list previously posted, other than 'Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Boundary' which is now limited for the TCG. Check this link to check out the list on the Konami website, and I wish everyone the best of luck for the upcoming format!

Yugioh Italia Cossy Statistic Banners

Yugioh Italia have come up with a great new set of statistic banners for use with Konami's Cossy software, similar to the highly popular banners they created for UDE. Above are a few of the designs available at the moment, I look forward to seeing even more great designs in the future.

Get a banner for your own Cossy account on the Yugioh Italia website here.

March 2010 OCG Ban List Confirmed!

Now confirmed on Shriek

Banned (0 per deck)
N/A

Restricted (1 per deck)
Chaos Sorcerer
Tragoedia
Necro Guardna
Necroface
Mezuki
Lightlord Summoner - Lumina
Burial from a Different Dimension
Foolish Burial
Destiny Draw
Charge of the Light Brigade
Allure of Darkness
Mind Crush
Magical Explosion

Semi Restricted (2 per deck)
Honest
Cyber Dragon
Demise - King of Armageddon
Dandelion
Treeborn Frog
Black Whirlwind
United We Stand
Royal Decree
Royal Oppression
Skill Drain

Unrestricted (3 per deck)
Mask of Darkness
Smashing Ground

[FAKE] 'Leaked' Ban List

Rumours have been swirling around about a supposed 'Leaked' Ban List. The story seems pretty legit, claiming it was leaked by Hatoshi, and the list has been removed from most major websites such as Pojo. Hatoshi is a japanese player who leaked the ban list last format during the World Championships, so he has some credibility. It's up to you to decide whether it's real or not.

Banned:
Elemental Hero Stratos
Brain Control
Necroface

Limited:
Judgment Dragon
Burial from a Different Dimension
Tragoedia
Magician of Faith
Beckoning Light
Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Boundary

Semi-Limited:
Gladiator Beast Bestiari
Solemn Judgment
Cyber Dragon

Unlimited:
Chaos Sorceror
Bottomless Trap Hole
Allure of Darkness
Gold Sarcophagus

Here's the original youtube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvIPJevkZOU&feature=sub