Chapter 2: Initial Deck
Chapter 2: Initial Deck
You Xuan logged into both the Kaiba Corporation and International Fantasy Society's card databases to search for currently available card packs on the market.
The first card that any time-traveler with a functioning brain would undoubtedly seek is "that card"...
...the "Greed Jar".
Or, to be more precise, the incredibly powerful card-drawing engine unique to the early anime world, represented by the Greed Jar.
The Greed Jar allows one to draw two cards without any conditions, a simple yet brutal effect that has made this card a forever-banned card in the physical card environment, earning it a life sentence with almost no chance of ever seeing the light of day again.
Its equally unfortunate siblings include "Angel's Charity", which allows one to draw three cards from their deck and then send two cards from their hand to the graveyard. As the game evolved to an era where graveyard and hand resources were nearly interchangeable, the ability to draw three and dump two specific cards to the graveyard made this card even more terrifying than the Greed Jar.
However, these cards weren't highly valued by duelists in the DM anime. It seemed that duelists in the GX era began to recognize their potential, as each of the main characters was seen using at least one Greed Jar and one Angel's Charity, and in duels featuring the female protagonist, Asuka, one could even witness a Greed Jar being passed to another. A truly brutal scene.
When it came to monster cards, You Xuan struggled to make a decision.
He simply couldn't find a suitable one among the available card pools. As a time-traveler and a seasoned duelist, he had no use for monsters that required honest-to-god tribute summoning and only offered a measly attack of two thousand-ish points upon their arrival.
There were some decent monsters, but many were out of stock and simply unavailable.
For example, one of the first cards that came to his mind was "Cyber Stein", one of the signature monsters of the previous generation's protagonist, Katsuya Jonoichi. A Level 6 monster requiring only one tribute, it boasted a respectable 2400 ATK and an incredibly useful ability in the early game environment—as long as it remained on the field, trap cards couldn't be played.
You Xuan recalled that in the physical card environment of this era, "Cyber Stein" was considered a top-tier single card and a staple in competitive deck-building.
However, when he searched for it, it was out of stock.
"Cyber Stein" was a highly rare card, in perpetual short supply, making it virtually impossible to purchase.
This left You Xuan feeling a bit dejected. He soon realized that another significant factor contributing to the difference between the anime and physical card environments was the varying levels of difficulty in obtaining cards.
In reality, players could easily look up the entire card pool of the current version and use almost any card to create any deck they desired. But duelists in the world of Duel Monsters didn't have this luxury.
There were also cards that he desired, but a mere glance at their prices made him recoil in shock.
Goodbye.
You Xuan was well aware that cards in this world were almost equivalent to weapons and power, so he had long been prepared to pay any price to obtain the cards he needed.
However, seeing the astronomical prices of certain rare cards, he wondered if he could afford them even if he sold himself, and he meant that quite literally.
Indeed, the gap between the prices of common and rare cards in this world was staggering. The cost of regular cards and standard card packs wasn't too far off from their real-world counterparts, making them affordable for everyone. But the value of certain rare cards was so high that one could buy a house with a single card, and that wasn't an exaggeration.
And that was for the more commonly available rare cards. As for the "Blue-Eyes White Dragon", one of only three copies in the world, all of which were in Seto Kaiba's possession, well, that was a whole other story.
Upon further investigation, he discovered that in this world, there was even something called a "card loan". As the name implied, one could take out a loan to purchase cards.
"I never knew not having cards could be so frustrating," You Xuan muttered, twisting his lips in annoyance.
Fortunately, even with these limitations, he managed to design a deck using the cards he could acquire, and it was based on a milestone in the competitive history of the physical card game of Duel Monsters—the very first World Championship deck.
Hand Destruction.
Perhaps every newcomer to the game, influenced by the anime, had unrealistic fantasies about dueling, such as epic clashes between high-attack behemoths, intense back-and-forth exchanges, and honorable duels where one's skills and strategies prevailed. But that was a false image of Duel Monsters.
[Hand Destruction] is a deck built with this very idea in mind. As its name suggests, its strategy is to destroy your opponent's hand, leaving them with no cards to play. It's a deck that will have your opponent staring blankly from the moment the duel begins, essentially becoming a pioneer of the "Shadow Realm."
Facing this deck, an opponent's understanding of Duel Monsters will be completely overturned. In just a few short minutes, they will experience a rollercoaster of emotions, from "my blood pressure is spiking" to "do you want to fight?" and finally, "I summon my fist to attack." A true blue-collar trilogy.
So, if one were to point out the biggest flaw of this deck, it would probably be the user's personal safety, which is difficult to guarantee. Of course, from a bygone era, Yu Xuan couldn't possibly remember the entire build, and some of the rare cards were beyond his reach. So, he merely drew inspiration from the concept and created a new build.
As for the empty slots in the deck, for now, he decided to fill them with some decent quality trap cards.
To be honest, some of these traps might not seem that profitable from Yu Xuan's perspective as a card enthusiast. The main idea was to have plenty of traps to mess with the opponent's mindset.
He wasn't some kind of devil, indulging in the pleasure of toying with others' minds. Psychological warfare is also a part of dueling, and sometimes, breaking your opponent's spirit before reducing their LP to zero can be a very effective tactic.
Well, that's that.
As he continued browsing the web, his eyes suddenly lit up as they scanned a particular page.
"Sojya, the Agent of Creation - 1 in stock."
Yu Xuan immediately scrolled back up and clicked to inquire, only to be denied access by the webpage.
"Access denied."
"Academy-exclusive card."
Yu Xuan was taken aback.
Academy? What's that?
After some more surfing, he finally understood.
The so-called Academy referred to the Duel Academy, the largest Duel Monsters academy in the world, founded and run by Seto Kaiba himself. He had purchased an entire island for the academy's headquarters and provided it with ample resources.
The students on the island had priority access to the latest card packs and channels to purchase rare cards unavailable on the outside market, all at heavily discounted prices.
Even setting aside the academy's facilities and teaching staff, the mere access to rare cards and discounts would be enough to make anyone envious.
Moreover, for students with exceptional grades, they could even exchange their grades and credits for cards. In a world where a single card could fetch a hefty price, this could save students a significant amount in their deck-building budget.
Not to mention that graduates of the Duel Academy would have the most prestigious diploma in the Duel Monsters world, giving them priority referrals for career opportunities, whether they wanted to go professional, join KaibaCorp, or work for the International Fantasy Society.
Scrolling down further, Yu Xuan even caught a glimpse of Chaos Sorcerer!
Chaos Sorcerer, a 6-star monster with 2300 ATK. It could be special summoned by removing Light and Dark attribute monsters from the graveyard and had the formidable effect of directly removing one of the opponent's monsters from the game once per turn.
Due to its similar summoning conditions and effect to the more famous "Chaos Emperor, the Dragon of Armageddon," it became a substitute for the latter when it was banned. Card enthusiasts jokingly referred to it as "Little Armageddon," and it was considered a top-tier card in the current meta.
In this world, Chaos Emperor was an ultra-rare card. In the anime, only one was known to exist, owned by the King of Games, Yugi Muto. There was also a copy in the exhibition deck of a Yugi Muto replica in the GX anime, but aside from that, it hadn't been seen again.
So, obtaining the Chaos Emperor was practically impossible. But getting a Chaos Sorcerer would still be fantastic.
In addition, there were some other decent rare cards that were difficult to come by on the outside market, and their prices were indeed a fraction of the market value.
Seeing all this, Yu Xuan took a deep breath.
Decision made.
Time to enroll in the Duel Academy.
And if he didn't get in, he'd try again next year.
(End of Chapter)
Chapter end
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