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Chapter 509: Have You Heard of Amway?
If you were expecting a spectacular Duel between Hayato and Yusei Fudo, you might be disappointed, because Yusei Fudo, who went second, conceded before his Turn even ended.
"My Turn, Draw!" Yusei Fudo drew a card from his Deck, looking at the Red Dragon coiled on Hayato's Field as if facing a formidable enemy.
[Hayato: 4000 LP, Hand 2]
[Slifer the Sky Dragon] [ATK 2000]
During the previous Turn, Hayato used Graceful Charity to discard Ojama Magic to search for Ojama Yellow, Ojama Black, and Ojama Green from his Deck. He then used a combo of Polymerization and De-Fusion to assemble the three Tributes required to Summon a God in a single Turn, performing a classic six-for-one Summon of Slifer the Sky Dragon, one of the Three Egyptian Gods.
In his previous Duel against Paradox, Yusei Fudo had witnessed the power of The Winged Dragon of Ra. It was as sacred as the Sun and integrated the power of Yugi, Judai, and Yusei Fudo to defeat Paradox at once. Now, it was his turn to face a "God".
"Just like The Winged Dragon of Ra's power depends on the total power of the Tributes, Slifer the Sky Dragon's ATK depends on the number of cards in my Hand. This means if I want to maintain its power, I have to keep a certain number of cards in my Hand unused."
Hayato explained Slifer the Sky Dragon's effect to Yusei Fudo. "Furthermore, the Three Egyptian Gods have common resistance. They are unaffected by Trap Card effects, only Spell Cards that take effect during the current Turn and Monsters with Level 10 or higher can affect a God for one turn, and they cannot leave the Field due to effects from Attributes other than Divine Attribute, among other various resistances."
"Hmm, it's most suitable as a practice target for you, Yusei Fudo, for the future... No, never mind."
Hayato remembered the three "God" cards other than the Three Egyptian Gods that Yusei Fudo would face in the future, but Yusei Fudo didn't know what Hayato was referring to. However, this didn't stop him from starting to think about how to defeat Slifer.
'With so many resistances, it basically means trying to bypass the God with effects is almost impossible. Only pure power will work.' Yusei Fudo glanced at the Harmonic Gum he had just drawn and the other few cards in his Hand, getting some ideas. 'If it's only 2000 ATK, it feels like I might be able to do it.'
"I activate the effect of Junk Changer from my Hand, sending it and the Tuner monster Harmonic Gum from my Hand to the Graveyard. Then, I add Junk Synchron from my Deck to my Hand."
Yusei Fudo searched for Junk Synchron from his Deck and immediately summoned it to the Field. "Next, I Normal Summon Junk Synchron!"
"Because of Junk Synchron's effect, I Special Summon Junk Changer, a Level 2 monster in my Graveyard, in Defense Position. Then, because I Special Summoned a monster from the Graveyard, I can Special Summon Doppelwarrior from my Hand!"
By only summoning one monster, Yusei Fudo managed to summon three monsters to the Field at once through the synergy of Junk Synchron and other monsters, and among them were already a Tuner and Non-Tuner monster.
Level 3 Junk Synchron plus Level 2 Doppelwarrior. These two monsters could Synchro Summon Level 5 Junk Warrior. Then, using Junk Warrior's ability to increase ATK, it could gain a total of 1200 ATK from the two Doppelganger Tokens Special Summoned by Doppelwarrior's effect and Junk Changer.
In that case, Junk Warrior's ATK could reach a full 3500 points, which would be completely sufficient to defeat Hayato's Slifer the Sky Dragon on the Field.
Yusei Fudo's idea was excellent, but he didn't know that Hayato had only just explained Slifer the Sky Dragon's most inconspicuous basic ability. Hayato hadn't mentioned Slifer the Sky Dragon's strongest and weakest ability, "Thunder Force".
Just as Yusei Fudo was about to Synchro Summon using his three monsters that had just appeared on the Field, before he could even speak, Slifer the Sky Dragon on Hayato's Field suddenly acted on its own without Hayato's order. One of its two mouths opened, and it instantly spat out three lightning orbs!
"Boom!" X3
Like lightning falling from the sky, the three lightning orbs accurately struck Junk Synchron, Junk Changer, and Doppelwarrior, the lightning symbolizing penalty instantly stripping them of their power!
[Junk Synchron] [ATK 1300→0]
[Junk Changer] [DEF 200→0]
[Doppelwarrior] [DEF 800→0]
And as the ATK or DEF of Yusei Fudo's three monsters on the Field each dropped to zero, their bodies suddenly shattered into dust and were sent to the Graveyard!
Seeing Yusei Fudo's confused and shocked gaze, Hayato put his hands on his hips, looking quite proud: "When the opponent successfully Normal Summon, Flip Summon, or Special Summon a monster, Slifer the Sky Dragon's effect called 'Thunder Force' will forcefully activate, decreasing the monster's ATK or DEF by 2000 points based on its Battle Position. If this effect decreases the corresponding value to 0, that monster is destroyed."
"Although it's easily countered and can become a liability, it's most suitable for dealing with your Junk Archetype, Yusei Fudo."
Yusei Fudo fell silent after hearing Hayato's supplementary explanation of Slifer the Sky Dragon's "Thunder Force" effect. After a brief moment of thought, he helplessly lowered his raised Duel Disk and said with a bitter smile, "My Deck is completely countered. What a terrifying monster."
Yusei Fudo wasn't someone who liked to give up easily. If he were, he wouldn't have been able to leave the Satellite, would have stayed in a dilapidated place like Scrap Heap with his friends his whole life, and wouldn't have obtained Stardust Dragon.
The reason he decisively gave up was that after reviewing the cards in his Deck in his mind, he realized that even if he had the entire Deck in his Hand, there was no possibility of defeating Slifer the Sky Dragon. Knowing that the rest of the Duel would only be a useless struggle, he chose to end the Duel.
Yusei Fudo's Deck certainly had strategies that could be used against powerful monsters, but his opponent was Slifer the Sky Dragon, which had strong resistance. Direct Destruction cards simply wouldn't take effect.
On the other hand, the Deck Yusei Fudo used was a Junk Archetype he picked up from a garbage heap. Although it sounds ridiculous, not only did he find cards for the entire Archetype, but it also included powerful cards like Effect Veiler. But it was indeed a Deck he picked up from a garbage heap.
The strength of the Junk Archetype lies in its extremely smooth synergy and continuous recycle and reuse. Although individual Junk monsters lack powerful monsters capable of delivering a decisive blow, they can Summon powerful Boss Monsters through Synchro Summon.
The problem lies here. Yusei Fudo found that Slifer the Sky Dragon's "Thunder Force", which could be activated an infinite number of times, countered the individually weak Junk Archetype too severely. His Deck was built around Synchro Summon and Field Setup. The strongest individual monster was only Junk Giant with 2000 ATK. Not a single other monster could withstand "Thunder Force".
Unable to destroy it, unable to assemble Synchro Material for Synchro Summon, what was the point of continuing the Duel?
"Slifer the Sky Dragon is indeed very powerful, but powerful cards often come with risk. If someone not qualified uses the Three Egyptian Gods, people can die," Hayato said with a smile as he also put away his Duel Disk.
At the same time, he saw a dropped card appear in the system's settlement of the battle results, something he hadn't seen in a while. It was a card Yusei Fudo had used that hadn't been given a real card adaptation, the Continuous Spell Card Future Battle.
This card's effect was very similar to Berserker Soul, also having the ability to make one monster attack continuously. However, the difference was that the one who drew the card was the opponent, not the user.
Regardless of the effect, for Hayato, who had a slight collecting habit, drawing a card he didn't possess was a good thing. His inner thoughts were filled with joy, and he smiled as he looked at Yusei Fudo.
In a good mood, Hayato looked at Yusei Fudo, who was deep in thought, and asked, "Are you thinking about how to deal with Slifer?"
"Yeah, I actually have a habit of adjusting my Deck based on information about known opponents. Only by learning from every failure can I become stronger," Yusei Fudo nodded. "However, I can only think of one way: using certain monsters with high ATK to forcefully break through Slifer the Sky Dragon while its ATK is low."
After thinking, Yusei Fudo realized that no matter how he modified his Deck, it would always follow the approach of "a collection of many low-ATK monsters". It was too severely countered. If it were the Blue-Eyes Archetype used by Kaiba Seto, the counter would be much less severe.
A High-Level opening hand plus Fusion Summon, Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon would still have 2500 ATK even after its ATK was decreased by 2000 points. Defeating Slifer wasn't impossible.
But his own Deck truly had no way against Slifer the Sky Dragon. Its ability to interfere with Field Setup was too strong.
Seeing that Yusei Fudo couldn't think of a way to counter Slifer the Sky Dragon, Hayato gave a mysterious smile and proactively offered Yusei Fudo advice, telling him to find a way to defeat Slifer the Sky Dragon without Synchro Summoning.
(Slifer: You call me a liability all the time, but you're the one who sold me out?)
"Yusei Fudo, your Deck basically revolves around the Synchro Summon strategy for Field Setup, right? If you encounter a battle like today, where Slifer the Sky Dragon restricts you from summoning monsters for Synchro Summon, your Deck will be in big trouble."
"Even if we loosen the conditions a bit, not restricting monsters but just targeting your Synchro monsters, the battle situation would still become very difficult." Hayato paused, thinking about how to describe it. "For example, the opponent could even take control of your Stardust Dragon during their Turn or something."
Actually, compared to the Yu-Gi-Oh! DM Era where Hayato currently was, his deepest impression was actually of the Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's Era where Yusei Fudo was. Although he had mostly forgotten the details of the plot, he still remembered some of the main arc developments.
And if Hayato's memory wasn't mistaken, the current time period in Yusei Fudo's future seemed to be after Yusei Fudo and his team had just defeated someone who called himself Kami and used Earthbound Immortal Wiraqocha Rasca... Wait, something seems off?
In short, Yusei Fudo and his team had just saved the future New Domino City, and after being saved, New Domino City seemed to be about to host a large team Riding Duel match called "WRGP". In this match, Yusei Fudo's "5D's" team would encounter the three members of the "New World" team, who, like Paradox, were from the future.
Or rather, it was the triple despair of the same person, Aporia, a survivor of the doomsday future who split himself into three artificial humans of different ages sent from the future to the past.
The three members of the "New World" team, like Paradox, not only had an information advantage over "ancient people" like Yusei Fudo because they were from the future, but with their ability to time travel, they could even actively modify history.
Of course, although it sounds amazing, this is the world of Duelists. In the end, what matters is the Dueling ability. However, the "New World" team was also very strong in Dueling skill, or rather, the Decks they used were highly targeted.
The Archetype they used was Meklord. Their specific ability was like a Super Sentai team, a Deck where four monsters acted as pieces, assembling around one monster to form a giant robot for battle. Its strength lay in the ability to freely replace pieces to become stronger, while its weakness was that if the Core was destroyed, all the pieces would also self-destruct.
However, the most powerful aspect of the Meklord was that they all had the ability to "Equip the opponent's Synchro monster to themselves as an Equip Card", liking to take control of other people's monsters just like Paradox. Although this effect was just an effect for normal monsters and Fusion monsters and purely targeted Synchro monsters, the era Yusei Fudo and his friends were in just happened to be obsessed with Synchro Summoning.
Hayato remembered that Yusei Fudo would encounter Meklord next, and that Yusei Fudo's Stardust Dragon was taken control of, which is why he specifically used Slifer the Sky Dragon to help Yusei Fudo simulate how vulnerable his Deck would be after losing Synchro Summoning.
"For this kind of situation, the best method I recommend to you is this." Hayato reached into the Card Box at his waist and took out a large stack of spare cards stored in the Warehouse.
Mysterious Chinese Pot, Cannon Soldier, Spiritual Energy Entity, Mass Driver, Ring of Destruction...
Hayato's face showed a proud smile: "As long as you squeeze the remaining value out of your own monsters one step ahead before they are destroyed or taken, wouldn't that be fine?"
Yusei Fudo's eyes lit up when he heard Hayato's words, and he seemed somewhat moved as he looked at the cards in Hayato's Hand.
However, because of Hayato's "squeeze out usefulness" remark, when Yusei Fudo inadvertently looked at Hayato, due to Hayato's identity as an Industrial Illusions Shareholder, he suddenly had a hallucination of Hayato wearing a monocle and a top hat, and even saw a noose seemingly hanging from the lamppost behind him.
End of Chapter
Chapter 509: Have You Heard of Amway?
If you were expecting a spectacular Duel between Hayato and Yusei Fudo, you might be disappointed, because Yusei Fudo, who went second, conceded before his Turn even ended.
"My Turn, Draw!" Yusei Fudo drew a card from his Deck, looking at the Red Dragon coiled on Hayato's Field as if facing a formidable enemy.
[Hayato: 4000 LP, Hand 2]
[Slifer the Sky Dragon] [ATK 2000]
During the previous Turn, Hayato used Graceful Charity to discard Ojama Magic to search for Ojama Yellow, Ojama Black, and Ojama Green from his Deck. He then used a combo of Polymerization and De-Fusion to assemble the three Tributes required to Summon a God in a single Turn, performing a classic six-for-one Summon of Slifer the Sky Dragon, one of the Three Egyptian Gods.
In his previous Duel against Paradox, Yusei Fudo had witnessed the power of The Winged Dragon of Ra. It was as sacred as the Sun and integrated the power of Yugi, Judai, and Yusei Fudo to defeat Paradox at once. Now, it was his turn to face a "God".
"Just like The Winged Dragon of Ra's power depends on the total power of the Tributes, Slifer the Sky Dragon's ATK depends on the number of cards in my Hand. This means if I want to maintain its power, I have to keep a certain number of cards in my Hand unused."
Hayato explained Slifer the Sky Dragon's effect to Yusei Fudo. "Furthermore, the Three Egyptian Gods have common resistance. They are unaffected by Trap Card effects, only Spell Cards that take effect during the current Turn and Monsters with Level 10 or higher can affect a God for one turn, and they cannot leave the Field due to effects from Attributes other than Divine Attribute, among other various resistances."
"Hmm, it's most suitable as a practice target for you, Yusei Fudo, for the future... No, never mind."
Hayato remembered the three "God" cards other than the Three Egyptian Gods that Yusei Fudo would face in the future, but Yusei Fudo didn't know what Hayato was referring to. However, this didn't stop him from starting to think about how to defeat Slifer.
'With so many resistances, it basically means trying to bypass the God with effects is almost impossible. Only pure power will work.' Yusei Fudo glanced at the Harmonic Gum he had just drawn and the other few cards in his Hand, getting some ideas. 'If it's only 2000 ATK, it feels like I might be able to do it.'
"I activate the effect of Junk Changer from my Hand, sending it and the Tuner monster Harmonic Gum from my Hand to the Graveyard. Then, I add Junk Synchron from my Deck to my Hand."
Yusei Fudo searched for Junk Synchron from his Deck and immediately summoned it to the Field. "Next, I Normal Summon Junk Synchron!"
"Because of Junk Synchron's effect, I Special Summon Junk Changer, a Level 2 monster in my Graveyard, in Defense Position. Then, because I Special Summoned a monster from the Graveyard, I can Special Summon Doppelwarrior from my Hand!"
By only summoning one monster, Yusei Fudo managed to summon three monsters to the Field at once through the synergy of Junk Synchron and other monsters, and among them were already a Tuner and Non-Tuner monster.
Level 3 Junk Synchron plus Level 2 Doppelwarrior. These two monsters could Synchro Summon Level 5 Junk Warrior. Then, using Junk Warrior's ability to increase ATK, it could gain a total of 1200 ATK from the two Doppelganger Tokens Special Summoned by Doppelwarrior's effect and Junk Changer.
In that case, Junk Warrior's ATK could reach a full 3500 points, which would be completely sufficient to defeat Hayato's Slifer the Sky Dragon on the Field.
Yusei Fudo's idea was excellent, but he didn't know that Hayato had only just explained Slifer the Sky Dragon's most inconspicuous basic ability. Hayato hadn't mentioned Slifer the Sky Dragon's strongest and weakest ability, "Thunder Force".
Just as Yusei Fudo was about to Synchro Summon using his three monsters that had just appeared on the Field, before he could even speak, Slifer the Sky Dragon on Hayato's Field suddenly acted on its own without Hayato's order. One of its two mouths opened, and it instantly spat out three lightning orbs!
"Boom!" X3
Like lightning falling from the sky, the three lightning orbs accurately struck Junk Synchron, Junk Changer, and Doppelwarrior, the lightning symbolizing penalty instantly stripping them of their power!
[Junk Synchron] [ATK 1300→0]
[Junk Changer] [DEF 200→0]
[Doppelwarrior] [DEF 800→0]
And as the ATK or DEF of Yusei Fudo's three monsters on the Field each dropped to zero, their bodies suddenly shattered into dust and were sent to the Graveyard!
Seeing Yusei Fudo's confused and shocked gaze, Hayato put his hands on his hips, looking quite proud: "When the opponent successfully Normal Summon, Flip Summon, or Special Summon a monster, Slifer the Sky Dragon's effect called 'Thunder Force' will forcefully activate, decreasing the monster's ATK or DEF by 2000 points based on its Battle Position. If this effect decreases the corresponding value to 0, that monster is destroyed."
"Although it's easily countered and can become a liability, it's most suitable for dealing with your Junk Archetype, Yusei Fudo."
Yusei Fudo fell silent after hearing Hayato's supplementary explanation of Slifer the Sky Dragon's "Thunder Force" effect. After a brief moment of thought, he helplessly lowered his raised Duel Disk and said with a bitter smile, "My Deck is completely countered. What a terrifying monster."
Yusei Fudo wasn't someone who liked to give up easily. If he were, he wouldn't have been able to leave the Satellite, would have stayed in a dilapidated place like Scrap Heap with his friends his whole life, and wouldn't have obtained Stardust Dragon.
The reason he decisively gave up was that after reviewing the cards in his Deck in his mind, he realized that even if he had the entire Deck in his Hand, there was no possibility of defeating Slifer the Sky Dragon. Knowing that the rest of the Duel would only be a useless struggle, he chose to end the Duel.
Yusei Fudo's Deck certainly had strategies that could be used against powerful monsters, but his opponent was Slifer the Sky Dragon, which had strong resistance. Direct Destruction cards simply wouldn't take effect.
On the other hand, the Deck Yusei Fudo used was a Junk Archetype he picked up from a garbage heap. Although it sounds ridiculous, not only did he find cards for the entire Archetype, but it also included powerful cards like Effect Veiler. But it was indeed a Deck he picked up from a garbage heap.
The strength of the Junk Archetype lies in its extremely smooth synergy and continuous recycle and reuse. Although individual Junk monsters lack powerful monsters capable of delivering a decisive blow, they can Summon powerful Boss Monsters through Synchro Summon.
The problem lies here. Yusei Fudo found that Slifer the Sky Dragon's "Thunder Force", which could be activated an infinite number of times, countered the individually weak Junk Archetype too severely. His Deck was built around Synchro Summon and Field Setup. The strongest individual monster was only Junk Giant with 2000 ATK. Not a single other monster could withstand "Thunder Force".
Unable to destroy it, unable to assemble Synchro Material for Synchro Summon, what was the point of continuing the Duel?
"Slifer the Sky Dragon is indeed very powerful, but powerful cards often come with risk. If someone not qualified uses the Three Egyptian Gods, people can die," Hayato said with a smile as he also put away his Duel Disk.
At the same time, he saw a dropped card appear in the system's settlement of the battle results, something he hadn't seen in a while. It was a card Yusei Fudo had used that hadn't been given a real card adaptation, the Continuous Spell Card Future Battle.
This card's effect was very similar to Berserker Soul, also having the ability to make one monster attack continuously. However, the difference was that the one who drew the card was the opponent, not the user.
Regardless of the effect, for Hayato, who had a slight collecting habit, drawing a card he didn't possess was a good thing. His inner thoughts were filled with joy, and he smiled as he looked at Yusei Fudo.
In a good mood, Hayato looked at Yusei Fudo, who was deep in thought, and asked, "Are you thinking about how to deal with Slifer?"
"Yeah, I actually have a habit of adjusting my Deck based on information about known opponents. Only by learning from every failure can I become stronger," Yusei Fudo nodded. "However, I can only think of one way: using certain monsters with high ATK to forcefully break through Slifer the Sky Dragon while its ATK is low."
After thinking, Yusei Fudo realized that no matter how he modified his Deck, it would always follow the approach of "a collection of many low-ATK monsters". It was too severely countered. If it were the Blue-Eyes Archetype used by Kaiba Seto, the counter would be much less severe.
A High-Level opening hand plus Fusion Summon, Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon would still have 2500 ATK even after its ATK was decreased by 2000 points. Defeating Slifer wasn't impossible.
But his own Deck truly had no way against Slifer the Sky Dragon. Its ability to interfere with Field Setup was too strong.
Seeing that Yusei Fudo couldn't think of a way to counter Slifer the Sky Dragon, Hayato gave a mysterious smile and proactively offered Yusei Fudo advice, telling him to find a way to defeat Slifer the Sky Dragon without Synchro Summoning.
(Slifer: You call me a liability all the time, but you're the one who sold me out?)
"Yusei Fudo, your Deck basically revolves around the Synchro Summon strategy for Field Setup, right? If you encounter a battle like today, where Slifer the Sky Dragon restricts you from summoning monsters for Synchro Summon, your Deck will be in big trouble."
"Even if we loosen the conditions a bit, not restricting monsters but just targeting your Synchro monsters, the battle situation would still become very difficult." Hayato paused, thinking about how to describe it. "For example, the opponent could even take control of your Stardust Dragon during their Turn or something."
Actually, compared to the Yu-Gi-Oh! DM Era where Hayato currently was, his deepest impression was actually of the Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's Era where Yusei Fudo was. Although he had mostly forgotten the details of the plot, he still remembered some of the main arc developments.
And if Hayato's memory wasn't mistaken, the current time period in Yusei Fudo's future seemed to be after Yusei Fudo and his team had just defeated someone who called himself Kami and used Earthbound Immortal Wiraqocha Rasca... Wait, something seems off?
In short, Yusei Fudo and his team had just saved the future New Domino City, and after being saved, New Domino City seemed to be about to host a large team Riding Duel match called "WRGP". In this match, Yusei Fudo's "5D's" team would encounter the three members of the "New World" team, who, like Paradox, were from the future.
Or rather, it was the triple despair of the same person, Aporia, a survivor of the doomsday future who split himself into three artificial humans of different ages sent from the future to the past.
The three members of the "New World" team, like Paradox, not only had an information advantage over "ancient people" like Yusei Fudo because they were from the future, but with their ability to time travel, they could even actively modify history.
Of course, although it sounds amazing, this is the world of Duelists. In the end, what matters is the Dueling ability. However, the "New World" team was also very strong in Dueling skill, or rather, the Decks they used were highly targeted.
The Archetype they used was Meklord. Their specific ability was like a Super Sentai team, a Deck where four monsters acted as pieces, assembling around one monster to form a giant robot for battle. Its strength lay in the ability to freely replace pieces to become stronger, while its weakness was that if the Core was destroyed, all the pieces would also self-destruct.
However, the most powerful aspect of the Meklord was that they all had the ability to "Equip the opponent's Synchro monster to themselves as an Equip Card", liking to take control of other people's monsters just like Paradox. Although this effect was just an effect for normal monsters and Fusion monsters and purely targeted Synchro monsters, the era Yusei Fudo and his friends were in just happened to be obsessed with Synchro Summoning.
Hayato remembered that Yusei Fudo would encounter Meklord next, and that Yusei Fudo's Stardust Dragon was taken control of, which is why he specifically used Slifer the Sky Dragon to help Yusei Fudo simulate how vulnerable his Deck would be after losing Synchro Summoning.
"For this kind of situation, the best method I recommend to you is this." Hayato reached into the Card Box at his waist and took out a large stack of spare cards stored in the Warehouse.
Mysterious Chinese Pot, Cannon Soldier, Spiritual Energy Settle Machine, Mass Driver, Ring of Destruction...
Hayato's face showed a proud smile: "As long as you squeeze the remaining value out of your own monsters one step ahead before they are destroyed or taken, wouldn't that be fine?"
Yusei Fudo's eyes lit up when he heard Hayato's words, and he seemed somewhat moved as he looked at the cards in Hayato's Hand.
However, because of Hayato's "squeeze out usefulness" remark, when Yusei Fudo inadvertently looked at Hayato, due to Hayato's identity as an Industrial Illusions Shareholder, he suddenly had a hallucination of Hayato wearing a monocle and a top hat, and even saw a noose seemingly hanging from the lamppost behind him.
End of Chapter
If you were expecting a spectacular Duel between Hayato and Yusei Fudo, you might be disappointed, because Yusei Fudo, who went second, conceded before his Turn even ended.
"My Turn, Draw!" Yusei Fudo drew a card from his Deck, looking at the Red Dragon coiled on Hayato's Field as if facing a formidable enemy.
[Hayato: 4000 LP, Hand 2]
[Slifer the Sky Dragon] [ATK 2000]
During the previous Turn, Hayato used Graceful Charity to discard Ojama Magic to search for Ojama Yellow, Ojama Black, and Ojama Green from his Deck. He then used a combo of Polymerization and De-Fusion to assemble the three Tributes required to Summon a God in a single Turn, performing a classic six-for-one Summon of Slifer the Sky Dragon, one of the Three Egyptian Gods.
In his previous Duel against Paradox, Yusei Fudo had witnessed the power of The Winged Dragon of Ra. It was as sacred as the Sun and integrated the power of Yugi, Judai, and Yusei Fudo to defeat Paradox at once. Now, it was his turn to face a "God".
"Just like The Winged Dragon of Ra's power depends on the total power of the Tributes, Slifer the Sky Dragon's ATK depends on the number of cards in my Hand. This means if I want to maintain its power, I have to keep a certain number of cards in my Hand unused."
Hayato explained Slifer the Sky Dragon's effect to Yusei Fudo. "Furthermore, the Three Egyptian Gods have common resistance. They are unaffected by Trap Card effects, only Spell Cards that take effect during the current Turn and Monsters with Level 10 or higher can affect a God for one turn, and they cannot leave the Field due to effects from Attributes other than Divine Attribute, among other various resistances."
"Hmm, it's most suitable as a practice target for you, Yusei Fudo, for the future... No, never mind."
Hayato remembered the three "God" cards other than the Three Egyptian Gods that Yusei Fudo would face in the future, but Yusei Fudo didn't know what Hayato was referring to. However, this didn't stop him from starting to think about how to defeat Slifer.
'With so many resistances, it basically means trying to bypass the God with effects is almost impossible. Only pure power will work.' Yusei Fudo glanced at the Harmonic Gum he had just drawn and the other few cards in his Hand, getting some ideas. 'If it's only 2000 ATK, it feels like I might be able to do it.'
"I activate the effect of Junk Changer from my Hand, sending it and the Tuner monster Harmonic Gum from my Hand to the Graveyard. Then, I add Junk Synchron from my Deck to my Hand."
Yusei Fudo searched for Junk Synchron from his Deck and immediately summoned it to the Field. "Next, I Normal Summon Junk Synchron!"
"Because of Junk Synchron's effect, I Special Summon Junk Changer, a Level 2 monster in my Graveyard, in Defense Position. Then, because I Special Summoned a monster from the Graveyard, I can Special Summon Doppelwarrior from my Hand!"
By only summoning one monster, Yusei Fudo managed to summon three monsters to the Field at once through the synergy of Junk Synchron and other monsters, and among them were already a Tuner and Non-Tuner monster.
Level 3 Junk Synchron plus Level 2 Doppelwarrior. These two monsters could Synchro Summon Level 5 Junk Warrior. Then, using Junk Warrior's ability to increase ATK, it could gain a total of 1200 ATK from the two Doppelganger Tokens Special Summoned by Doppelwarrior's effect and Junk Changer.
In that case, Junk Warrior's ATK could reach a full 3500 points, which would be completely sufficient to defeat Hayato's Slifer the Sky Dragon on the Field.
Yusei Fudo's idea was excellent, but he didn't know that Hayato had only just explained Slifer the Sky Dragon's most inconspicuous basic ability. Hayato hadn't mentioned Slifer the Sky Dragon's strongest and weakest ability, "Thunder Force".
Just as Yusei Fudo was about to Synchro Summon using his three monsters that had just appeared on the Field, before he could even speak, Slifer the Sky Dragon on Hayato's Field suddenly acted on its own without Hayato's order. One of its two mouths opened, and it instantly spat out three lightning orbs!
"Boom!" X3
Like lightning falling from the sky, the three lightning orbs accurately struck Junk Synchron, Junk Changer, and Doppelwarrior, the lightning symbolizing penalty instantly stripping them of their power!
[Junk Synchron] [ATK 1300→0]
[Junk Changer] [DEF 200→0]
[Doppelwarrior] [DEF 800→0]
And as the ATK or DEF of Yusei Fudo's three monsters on the Field each dropped to zero, their bodies suddenly shattered into dust and were sent to the Graveyard!
Seeing Yusei Fudo's confused and shocked gaze, Hayato put his hands on his hips, looking quite proud: "When the opponent successfully Normal Summon, Flip Summon, or Special Summon a monster, Slifer the Sky Dragon's effect called 'Thunder Force' will forcefully activate, decreasing the monster's ATK or DEF by 2000 points based on its Battle Position. If this effect decreases the corresponding value to 0, that monster is destroyed."
"Although it's easily countered and can become a liability, it's most suitable for dealing with your Junk Archetype, Yusei Fudo."
Yusei Fudo fell silent after hearing Hayato's supplementary explanation of Slifer the Sky Dragon's "Thunder Force" effect. After a brief moment of thought, he helplessly lowered his raised Duel Disk and said with a bitter smile, "My Deck is completely countered. What a terrifying monster."
Yusei Fudo wasn't someone who liked to give up easily. If he were, he wouldn't have been able to leave the Satellite, would have stayed in a dilapidated place like Scrap Heap with his friends his whole life, and wouldn't have obtained Stardust Dragon.
The reason he decisively gave up was that after reviewing the cards in his Deck in his mind, he realized that even if he had the entire Deck in his Hand, there was no possibility of defeating Slifer the Sky Dragon. Knowing that the rest of the Duel would only be a useless struggle, he chose to end the Duel.
Yusei Fudo's Deck certainly had strategies that could be used against powerful monsters, but his opponent was Slifer the Sky Dragon, which had strong resistance. Direct Destruction cards simply wouldn't take effect.
On the other hand, the Deck Yusei Fudo used was a Junk Archetype he picked up from a garbage heap. Although it sounds ridiculous, not only did he find cards for the entire Archetype, but it also included powerful cards like Effect Veiler. But it was indeed a Deck he picked up from a garbage heap.
The strength of the Junk Archetype lies in its extremely smooth synergy and continuous recycle and reuse. Although individual Junk monsters lack powerful monsters capable of delivering a decisive blow, they can Summon powerful Boss Monsters through Synchro Summon.
The problem lies here. Yusei Fudo found that Slifer the Sky Dragon's "Thunder Force", which could be activated an infinite number of times, countered the individually weak Junk Archetype too severely. His Deck was built around Synchro Summon and Field Setup. The strongest individual monster was only Junk Giant with 2000 ATK. Not a single other monster could withstand "Thunder Force".
Unable to destroy it, unable to assemble Synchro Material for Synchro Summon, what was the point of continuing the Duel?
"Slifer the Sky Dragon is indeed very powerful, but powerful cards often come with risk. If someone not qualified uses the Three Egyptian Gods, people can die," Hayato said with a smile as he also put away his Duel Disk.
At the same time, he saw a dropped card appear in the system's settlement of the battle results, something he hadn't seen in a while. It was a card Yusei Fudo had used that hadn't been given a real card adaptation, the Continuous Spell Card Future Battle.
This card's effect was very similar to Berserker Soul, also having the ability to make one monster attack continuously. However, the difference was that the one who drew the card was the opponent, not the user.
Regardless of the effect, for Hayato, who had a slight collecting habit, drawing a card he didn't possess was a good thing. His inner thoughts were filled with joy, and he smiled as he looked at Yusei Fudo.
In a good mood, Hayato looked at Yusei Fudo, who was deep in thought, and asked, "Are you thinking about how to deal with Slifer?"
"Yeah, I actually have a habit of adjusting my Deck based on information about known opponents. Only by learning from every failure can I become stronger," Yusei Fudo nodded. "However, I can only think of one way: using certain monsters with high ATK to forcefully break through Slifer the Sky Dragon while its ATK is low."
After thinking, Yusei Fudo realized that no matter how he modified his Deck, it would always follow the approach of "a collection of many low-ATK monsters". It was too severely countered. If it were the Blue-Eyes Archetype used by Kaiba Seto, the counter would be much less severe.
A High-Level opening hand plus Fusion Summon, Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon would still have 2500 ATK even after its ATK was decreased by 2000 points. Defeating Slifer wasn't impossible.
But his own Deck truly had no way against Slifer the Sky Dragon. Its ability to interfere with Field Setup was too strong.
Seeing that Yusei Fudo couldn't think of a way to counter Slifer the Sky Dragon, Hayato gave a mysterious smile and proactively offered Yusei Fudo advice, telling him to find a way to defeat Slifer the Sky Dragon without Synchro Summoning.
(Slifer: You call me a liability all the time, but you're the one who sold me out?)
"Yusei Fudo, your Deck basically revolves around the Synchro Summon strategy for Field Setup, right? If you encounter a battle like today, where Slifer the Sky Dragon restricts you from summoning monsters for Synchro Summon, your Deck will be in big trouble."
"Even if we loosen the conditions a bit, not restricting monsters but just targeting your Synchro monsters, the battle situation would still become very difficult." Hayato paused, thinking about how to describe it. "For example, the opponent could even take control of your Stardust Dragon during their Turn or something."
Actually, compared to the Yu-Gi-Oh! DM Era where Hayato currently was, his deepest impression was actually of the Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's Era where Yusei Fudo was. Although he had mostly forgotten the details of the plot, he still remembered some of the main arc developments.
And if Hayato's memory wasn't mistaken, the current time period in Yusei Fudo's future seemed to be after Yusei Fudo and his team had just defeated someone who called himself Kami and used Earthbound Immortal Wiraqocha Rasca... Wait, something seems off?
In short, Yusei Fudo and his team had just saved the future New Domino City, and after being saved, New Domino City seemed to be about to host a large team Riding Duel match called "WRGP". In this match, Yusei Fudo's "5D's" team would encounter the three members of the "New World" team, who, like Paradox, were from the future.
Or rather, it was the triple despair of the same person, Aporia, a survivor of the doomsday future who split himself into three artificial humans of different ages sent from the future to the past.
The three members of the "New World" team, like Paradox, not only had an information advantage over "ancient people" like Yusei Fudo because they were from the future, but with their ability to time travel, they could even actively modify history.
Of course, although it sounds amazing, this is the world of Duelists. In the end, what matters is the Dueling ability. However, the "New World" team was also very strong in Dueling skill, or rather, the Decks they used were highly targeted.
The Archetype they used was Meklord. Their specific ability was like a Super Sentai team, a Deck where four monsters acted as pieces, assembling around one monster to form a giant robot for battle. Its strength lay in the ability to freely replace pieces to become stronger, while its weakness was that if the Core was destroyed, all the pieces would also self-destruct.
However, the most powerful aspect of the Meklord was that they all had the ability to "Equip the opponent's Synchro monster to themselves as an Equip Card", liking to take control of other people's monsters just like Paradox. Although this effect was just an effect for normal monsters and Fusion monsters and purely targeted Synchro monsters, the era Yusei Fudo and his friends were in just happened to be obsessed with Synchro Summoning.
Hayato remembered that Yusei Fudo would encounter Meklord next, and that Yusei Fudo's Stardust Dragon was taken control of, which is why he specifically used Slifer the Sky Dragon to help Yusei Fudo simulate how vulnerable his Deck would be after losing Synchro Summoning.
"For this kind of situation, the best method I recommend to you is this." Hayato reached into the Card Box at his waist and took out a large stack of spare cards stored in the Warehouse.
Mysterious Chinese Pot, Cannon Soldier, Spiritual Energy Entity, Mass Driver, Ring of Destruction...
Hayato's face showed a proud smile: "As long as you squeeze the remaining value out of your own monsters one step ahead before they are destroyed or taken, wouldn't that be fine?"
Yusei Fudo's eyes lit up when he heard Hayato's words, and he seemed somewhat moved as he looked at the cards in Hayato's Hand.
However, because of Hayato's "squeeze out usefulness" remark, when Yusei Fudo inadvertently looked at Hayato, due to Hayato's identity as an Industrial Illusions Shareholder, he suddenly had a hallucination of Hayato wearing a monocle and a top hat, and even saw a noose seemingly hanging from the lamppost behind him.
End of Chapter
Chapter 509: Have You Heard of Amway?
If you were expecting a spectacular Duel between Hayato and Yusei Fudo, you might be disappointed, because Yusei Fudo, who went second, conceded before his Turn even ended.
"My Turn, Draw!" Yusei Fudo drew a card from his Deck, looking at the Red Dragon coiled on Hayato's Field as if facing a formidable enemy.
[Hayato: 4000 LP, Hand 2]
[Slifer the Sky Dragon] [ATK 2000]
During the previous Turn, Hayato used Graceful Charity to discard Ojama Magic to search for Ojama Yellow, Ojama Black, and Ojama Green from his Deck. He then used a combo of Polymerization and De-Fusion to assemble the three Tributes required to Summon a God in a single Turn, performing a classic six-for-one Summon of Slifer the Sky Dragon, one of the Three Egyptian Gods.
In his previous Duel against Paradox, Yusei Fudo had witnessed the power of The Winged Dragon of Ra. It was as sacred as the Sun and integrated the power of Yugi, Judai, and Yusei Fudo to defeat Paradox at once. Now, it was his turn to face a "God".
"Just like The Winged Dragon of Ra's power depends on the total power of the Tributes, Slifer the Sky Dragon's ATK depends on the number of cards in my Hand. This means if I want to maintain its power, I have to keep a certain number of cards in my Hand unused."
Hayato explained Slifer the Sky Dragon's effect to Yusei Fudo. "Furthermore, the Three Egyptian Gods have common resistance. They are unaffected by Trap Card effects, only Spell Cards that take effect during the current Turn and Monsters with Level 10 or higher can affect a God for one turn, and they cannot leave the Field due to effects from Attributes other than Divine Attribute, among other various resistances."
"Hmm, it's most suitable as a practice target for you, Yusei Fudo, for the future... No, never mind."
Hayato remembered the three "God" cards other than the Three Egyptian Gods that Yusei Fudo would face in the future, but Yusei Fudo didn't know what Hayato was referring to. However, this didn't stop him from starting to think about how to defeat Slifer.
'With so many resistances, it basically means trying to bypass the God with effects is almost impossible. Only pure power will work.' Yusei Fudo glanced at the Harmonic Gum he had just drawn and the other few cards in his Hand, getting some ideas. 'If it's only 2000 ATK, it feels like I might be able to do it.'
"I activate the effect of Junk Changer from my Hand, sending it and the Tuner monster Harmonic Gum from my Hand to the Graveyard. Then, I add Junk Synchron from my Deck to my Hand."
Yusei Fudo searched for Junk Synchron from his Deck and immediately summoned it to the Field. "Next, I Normal Summon Junk Synchron!"
"Because of Junk Synchron's effect, I Special Summon Junk Changer, a Level 2 monster in my Graveyard, in Defense Position. Then, because I Special Summoned a monster from the Graveyard, I can Special Summon Doppelwarrior from my Hand!"
By only summoning one monster, Yusei Fudo managed to summon three monsters to the Field at once through the synergy of Junk Synchron and other monsters, and among them were already a Tuner and Non-Tuner monster.
Level 3 Junk Synchron plus Level 2 Doppelwarrior. These two monsters could Synchro Summon Level 5 Junk Warrior. Then, using Junk Warrior's ability to increase ATK, it could gain a total of 1200 ATK from the two Doppelganger Tokens Special Summoned by Doppelwarrior's effect and Junk Changer.
In that case, Junk Warrior's ATK could reach a full 3500 points, which would be completely sufficient to defeat Hayato's Slifer the Sky Dragon on the Field.
Yusei Fudo's idea was excellent, but he didn't know that Hayato had only just explained Slifer the Sky Dragon's most inconspicuous basic ability. Hayato hadn't mentioned Slifer the Sky Dragon's strongest and weakest ability, "Thunder Force".
Just as Yusei Fudo was about to Synchro Summon using his three monsters that had just appeared on the Field, before he could even speak, Slifer the Sky Dragon on Hayato's Field suddenly acted on its own without Hayato's order. One of its two mouths opened, and it instantly spat out three lightning orbs!
"Boom!" X3
Like lightning falling from the sky, the three lightning orbs accurately struck Junk Synchron, Junk Changer, and Doppelwarrior, the lightning symbolizing penalty instantly stripping them of their power!
[Junk Synchron] [ATK 1300→0]
[Junk Changer] [DEF 200→0]
[Doppelwarrior] [DEF 800→0]
And as the ATK or DEF of Yusei Fudo's three monsters on the Field each dropped to zero, their bodies suddenly shattered into dust and were sent to the Graveyard!
Seeing Yusei Fudo's confused and shocked gaze, Hayato put his hands on his hips, looking quite proud: "When the opponent successfully Normal Summon, Flip Summon, or Special Summon a monster, Slifer the Sky Dragon's effect called 'Thunder Force' will forcefully activate, decreasing the monster's ATK or DEF by 2000 points based on its Battle Position. If this effect decreases the corresponding value to 0, that monster is destroyed."
"Although it's easily countered and can become a liability, it's most suitable for dealing with your Junk Archetype, Yusei Fudo."
Yusei Fudo fell silent after hearing Hayato's supplementary explanation of Slifer the Sky Dragon's "Thunder Force" effect. After a brief moment of thought, he helplessly lowered his raised Duel Disk and said with a bitter smile, "My Deck is completely countered. What a terrifying monster."
Yusei Fudo wasn't someone who liked to give up easily. If he were, he wouldn't have been able to leave the Satellite, would have stayed in a dilapidated place like Scrap Heap with his friends his whole life, and wouldn't have obtained Stardust Dragon.
The reason he decisively gave up was that after reviewing the cards in his Deck in his mind, he realized that even if he had the entire Deck in his Hand, there was no possibility of defeating Slifer the Sky Dragon. Knowing that the rest of the Duel would only be a useless struggle, he chose to end the Duel.
Yusei Fudo's Deck certainly had strategies that could be used against powerful monsters, but his opponent was Slifer the Sky Dragon, which had strong resistance. Direct Destruction cards simply wouldn't take effect.
On the other hand, the Deck Yusei Fudo used was a Junk Archetype he picked up from a garbage heap. Although it sounds ridiculous, not only did he find cards for the entire Archetype, but it also included powerful cards like Effect Veiler. But it was indeed a Deck he picked up from a garbage heap.
The strength of the Junk Archetype lies in its extremely smooth synergy and continuous recycle and reuse. Although individual Junk monsters lack powerful monsters capable of delivering a decisive blow, they can Summon powerful Boss Monsters through Synchro Summon.
The problem lies here. Yusei Fudo found that Slifer the Sky Dragon's "Thunder Force", which could be activated an infinite number of times, countered the individually weak Junk Archetype too severely. His Deck was built around Synchro Summon and Field Setup. The strongest individual monster was only Junk Giant with 2000 ATK. Not a single other monster could withstand "Thunder Force".
Unable to destroy it, unable to assemble Synchro Material for Synchro Summon, what was the point of continuing the Duel?
"Slifer the Sky Dragon is indeed very powerful, but powerful cards often come with risk. If someone not qualified uses the Three Egyptian Gods, people can die," Hayato said with a smile as he also put away his Duel Disk.
At the same time, he saw a dropped card appear in the system's settlement of the battle results, something he hadn't seen in a while. It was a card Yusei Fudo had used that hadn't been given a real card adaptation, the Continuous Spell Card Future Battle.
This card's effect was very similar to Berserker Soul, also having the ability to make one monster attack continuously. However, the difference was that the one who drew the card was the opponent, not the user.
Regardless of the effect, for Hayato, who had a slight collecting habit, drawing a card he didn't possess was a good thing. His inner thoughts were filled with joy, and he smiled as he looked at Yusei Fudo.
In a good mood, Hayato looked at Yusei Fudo, who was deep in thought, and asked, "Are you thinking about how to deal with Slifer?"
"Yeah, I actually have a habit of adjusting my Deck based on information about known opponents. Only by learning from every failure can I become stronger," Yusei Fudo nodded. "However, I can only think of one way: using certain monsters with high ATK to forcefully break through Slifer the Sky Dragon while its ATK is low."
After thinking, Yusei Fudo realized that no matter how he modified his Deck, it would always follow the approach of "a collection of many low-ATK monsters". It was too severely countered. If it were the Blue-Eyes Archetype used by Kaiba Seto, the counter would be much less severe.
A High-Level opening hand plus Fusion Summon, Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon would still have 2500 ATK even after its ATK was decreased by 2000 points. Defeating Slifer wasn't impossible.
But his own Deck truly had no way against Slifer the Sky Dragon. Its ability to interfere with Field Setup was too strong.
Seeing that Yusei Fudo couldn't think of a way to counter Slifer the Sky Dragon, Hayato gave a mysterious smile and proactively offered Yusei Fudo advice, telling him to find a way to defeat Slifer the Sky Dragon without Synchro Summoning.
(Slifer: You call me a liability all the time, but you're the one who sold me out?)
"Yusei Fudo, your Deck basically revolves around the Synchro Summon strategy for Field Setup, right? If you encounter a battle like today, where Slifer the Sky Dragon restricts you from summoning monsters for Synchro Summon, your Deck will be in big trouble."
"Even if we loosen the conditions a bit, not restricting monsters but just targeting your Synchro monsters, the battle situation would still become very difficult." Hayato paused, thinking about how to describe it. "For example, the opponent could even take control of your Stardust Dragon during their Turn or something."
Actually, compared to the Yu-Gi-Oh! DM Era where Hayato currently was, his deepest impression was actually of the Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's Era where Yusei Fudo was. Although he had mostly forgotten the details of the plot, he still remembered some of the main arc developments.
And if Hayato's memory wasn't mistaken, the current time period in Yusei Fudo's future seemed to be after Yusei Fudo and his team had just defeated someone who called himself Kami and used Earthbound Immortal Wiraqocha Rasca... Wait, something seems off?
In short, Yusei Fudo and his team had just saved the future New Domino City, and after being saved, New Domino City seemed to be about to host a large team Riding Duel match called "WRGP". In this match, Yusei Fudo's "5D's" team would encounter the three members of the "New World" team, who, like Paradox, were from the future.
Or rather, it was the triple despair of the same person, Aporia, a survivor of the doomsday future who split himself into three artificial humans of different ages sent from the future to the past.
The three members of the "New World" team, like Paradox, not only had an information advantage over "ancient people" like Yusei Fudo because they were from the future, but with their ability to time travel, they could even actively modify history.
Of course, although it sounds amazing, this is the world of Duelists. In the end, what matters is the Dueling ability. However, the "New World" team was also very strong in Dueling skill, or rather, the Decks they used were highly targeted.
The Archetype they used was Meklord. Their specific ability was like a Super Sentai team, a Deck where four monsters acted as pieces, assembling around one monster to form a giant robot for battle. Its strength lay in the ability to freely replace pieces to become stronger, while its weakness was that if the Core was destroyed, all the pieces would also self-destruct.
However, the most powerful aspect of the Meklord was that they all had the ability to "Equip the opponent's Synchro monster to themselves as an Equip Card", liking to take control of other people's monsters just like Paradox. Although this effect was just an effect for normal monsters and Fusion monsters and purely targeted Synchro monsters, the era Yusei Fudo and his friends were in just happened to be obsessed with Synchro Summoning.
Hayato remembered that Yusei Fudo would encounter Meklord next, and that Yusei Fudo's Stardust Dragon was taken control of, which is why he specifically used Slifer the Sky Dragon to help Yusei Fudo simulate how vulnerable his Deck would be after losing Synchro Summoning.
"For this kind of situation, the best method I recommend to you is this." Hayato reached into the Card Box at his waist and took out a large stack of spare cards stored in the Warehouse.
Mysterious Chinese Pot, Cannon Soldier, Spiritual Energy Settle Machine, Mass Driver, Ring of Destruction...
Hayato's face showed a proud smile: "As long as you squeeze the remaining value out of your own monsters one step ahead before they are destroyed or taken, wouldn't that be fine?"
Yusei Fudo's eyes lit up when he heard Hayato's words, and he seemed somewhat moved as he looked at the cards in Hayato's Hand.
However, because of Hayato's "squeeze out usefulness" remark, when Yusei Fudo inadvertently looked at Hayato, due to Hayato's identity as an Industrial Illusions Shareholder, he suddenly had a hallucination of Hayato wearing a monocle and a top hat, and even saw a noose seemingly hanging from the lamppost behind him.
End of Chapter
