Joey frowned at his distributed cards. "But some of these have been with me for years…"
Yugi's Grandpa chuckled to himself. "Yes, and I don't ask you to let them go… But we all grow up at some point. Over the years, we drift away from those we knew and find new friends along the way… Though I admit, I myself have a few bonds that have stayed with me for a lifetime. Both in my games and in life."
The old man's eyes saw someone that wasn't here anymore, and it hurt a little to see such fond loss.
Joey looked away. "What do you think, Yugi? You've been pretty quiet over there."
His friend was doing that strange SUPER focused thing that happened during intense duels or other games, where he nearly seemed larger than life and perfectly on edge, ready to act. "These listed rules are certainly unorthodox, but fascinating… I admit, I've never considered my connection to my cards to be considered an unfair advantage, more using skills I've trained and bonds I've dedicated my life to enhancing, but the challenge intrigues me."
Hmm. "I admit, not having to worry about drawing the wrong card seems pretty nice." But it DID shift the entire game away from feeling out the perfect response right there in the heat of the moment. "Though what I'm going to go with and what I have to let go feels rough."
Now this altered game format felt a bit more logical and more of an exhibition event, while the actual communion with your deck occurred here outside of Dueling, as one painfully selected one monster over another.
Cards that he had been relying on for years now were being carefully weighed and considered, as Yugi and his Grandpa both helped Joey focus his gameplay style in a totally different direction: Efficiency.
How FAST could he build up a powerful board state? If every card was EXACTLY what he wished for, how empowered could they go?
Would he be able to pump up his Red-Eyes like a giant, or would it be better to lock down his opponent to prevent any moves at all? Swarm the back row with support cards, or bury dozens of traps to shock and disrupt other plays?
…Well to be honest, he was more a 'smash with big club' kind of Duelist, so theoretically this 'rebuild your entire deck' experience shouldn't be THAT complicated.
But replacing some of these friends with other, 'stronger' or 'better' cards?
It wasn't easy.
At least Yugi's Grandfather seemed to understand. "The limit to 40 cards is indeed a bit more restrictive than I expected… Though at least they changed the rules about not using the Side Deck in between the three rounds of each Tournament match."
Hmm. "Maybe I can keep some of you guys in my Side Deck, just in case… After all, my strategy is pretty straightforward and I only need a couple of slots to side in some emergency countermeasures at most."
Yugi snorted, and somehow lost that super obsessed and focused feeling as he grinned. "At least you don't just shove in big beat sticks and hope for the best anymore! You're an amazing Duelist after you got a bit more experience and worked on your strategy a little!"
Joey couldn't help but roll his eyes. "This from the guy who stomps me every time we Duel… I'm one of the only friends you have stupid enough to keep challenging you, Yugi!"
Though at least the little runt wasn't a jerk after crushing him after every attempt… Even so, despite Tristan and Téa both having decks, NEITHER of them bothered to play as often or focus as much on the game as Joey and Yugi did.
His friend tried to look innocent. "...Well, everyone could use just a LITTLE bit more experience, yes? And you seemed to get pretty close to winning a few times yesterday…"
Because you almost fell asleep in the middle! Not that it ended up mattering. "Did you finish going over all the rules yet?"
After all, half the terror of the LAST competition he had experienced was finding out that every Duel was in a different location that altered the game rules or changed how his monsters could act or… Sigh.
His friend nodded. "The basic rules are fairly simplistic if odd, but bits are still being debated online. They even set up a web forum for people to complain and rant at each other, and that had some rules altered or adjusted too… So I think it's worth keeping an eye on that place."
Hmm. "Is this 'Frog Emperor' going to just bring out crazy stuff like Pegasis did? And have a bunch of 'I win' cards or whatever?" Seriously, some of the monsters had just been ridiculously powerful and versatile.
Yugi began scrolling through something. "That's one of the odd bits that has the internet so excited: There's a rule that every deck must be submitted at the start of the Tournament, and this 'King John' guy decided to just post his entire play Deck online NOW, with full explanations of every card and all the ones in his Extra Deck and Side Deck."
Hang on, WHAT now!? "Won't his opponents just build a Deck to take advantage of that!?"
They both paused when Yugi's Grandfather chuckled. He grinned at them both! "When you build a good Deck yourself, little things like that don't come into it. Either your Deck resonates with your Heart of the Cards, or it doesn't!"
The old man tapped Yugi's phone, and the cards listed therein. "This is confidence. Confidence in his ability to play, confidence in the cards, and confidence in his ability to overcome opponents. Duels like that, where trickery and cheating are limited or banned entirely… THAT is the sort of conflict that can help a Duelist grow the fastest. To overcome their own flaws, and help those trapped at some bottleneck find their way forward!"
Yugi huffed, seeming far too mature. "Relying on the Heart of the Cards is not 'cheating', it is simply the results of training and dedication!"
Joey and Mr. Muto just gave him a look before Joey ignored all of that. "So you're saying I shouldn't add something to counter those cards, Mr. Muto?"
The grandfather grinned. "Your Deck should already HAVE counters to potential moves by your opponent! Not simple patches intended to defeat a single foe, but a series of tools and equipment and monsters that can be called upon to escape deadly situations and turn around impossible odds!"
Yugi nodded to one side even as his attention was drawn back to the phone in his hands. "Grandpa always says: 'If you have to change your Deck to win against a single opponent, then your Deck needs to be improved.' Sure, bad luck or unfortunate interactions can happen… But whatever strategy you are using should be able to address most circumstances or let you win the Duel itself fast enough that it doesn't matter."
Hmm… Well, that felt like it made sense. He glanced over his cards and frowned. "I still feel like I need to have some Beast Warrior cards included with all this… Even my main focus will be empowering and supporting my Red-Eyes Black Dragon to win the day."
They resonated with him, and helped him keep an aggressive clock to keep his opponents off balance during a Duel.
Well, opponents OTHER than Yugi, of course. "Also, I'm going to avoid most trap cards I think… Too slow for my style. At most, maybe one or two, no more."
Something just felt WRONG to set something and wait, hoping his opponent blunders into it. No, better to call forth his mighty legions and smash the foes down a couple of pegs, before Fusing or Tributing away those tired creatures to call forth his boss monster.
Yugi was already posting away on his phone over some online potential rule change argument, but his grandfather lit up at the idea of sharing more of the shop's inventory. "Beast Warrior monsters? Yes, I have a few options that may work well with your dragon… They should be over this way, come along."
Joey could almost feel Yugi's disapproving frown behind him as he followed the old man towards the awesome fighting beasts, probably due to his friend always focusing on spellcasters, magic cards, and all that jazz…
But in the end it just wasn't his style to overthink everything like other Duelists.
Sometimes you just needed some massive beasts to smash things up a bit!
~~~Pocket System~~~
The boys lurched into his office, but without confidence or bravado like usual.
It was about damn time!
Now they all stared at the team lead like he was a monster, while the guy himself almost seemed to be melting on some unseen level.
Wimp. "Put it on my desk. The rest of you get out."
"""""Yes boss!""""" "YeS… B…"
Hirutani's face couldn't help but scowl at the weakness. "NOW, Brawnson. On. My. Desk."
The team lead's hand twisted open… And one of those playing cards fell from his grip.
Immediately the moron seemed lighter and less pained, even if he nearly hurled himself back from the stupid thing. "It's just a game card, stop being dramatic moron! Now get out."
The minion fled the room.
Finally, it was his!
Without care or concern, he himself picked up the somehow immaculate playing card, feeling a smirk grow as he looked upon his ticket to profit. "That brat thought he could lock you away, 'protect' others from your power… But now you are mine!"
Something unseen chuckled in the shadows, but the mob boss couldn't hear it. "Stupid kid. Could have earned a good pay day if he'd just handed this over nice like… Now let's see here…"
The card flickered in his eyes as he carefully looked over it. "Level 8 Darkness Fiend monster, Evil HERO Malicious Bane… Yes, you'll do nicely! It will get me into that castle, at least."
It was powerful, with a massive 3,000 attack AND defense. Not that he'd ever NEED to go into defense.
It required another 'Evil HERO' monster and something level five to summon it out with a Dark Fusion Spell card, but there were other teams out there 'acquiring' the cards he needed to pull this job off. Soon he'd have an unstoppable deck and access to that wimpy frog kid and all that free money just laying around!
After all, this was a demon of a Boss monster. Every turn, it could arbitrarily SMASH anything his opponents had on the field who had equal or less than this guy's attack power! PLUS, every time this beast slaughtered something it would consume part of them to grow even more powerful, gaining 200 more attack with each kill!
Sure, using that powerful ability limited him to only fighting with 'Hero' monsters for the rest of his turn, and something about those cards REALLY made his skin crawl… But it wouldn't matter.
Because it turns out there were other 'Evil' HERO monsters out there, and his boys were going to make those Duelists offers that they would NOT refuse to obtain them.
Heh, this was perfect… Now he'd not only be able to use Malicious Bane to gain entry into this upcoming tournament, but access to plenty of fresh meat to train his new Deck upon! Ha!
Ha ha!
~~~Pocket System~~~
Outside the Boss's door, Brawnson's team quickly began dragging their leader towards the infirmary.
If said direction was fairly far AWAY from the demonic cackling behind them, that was just a lovely coincidence…
Greg shivered as the air got warmer the further they left the area. "We can NOT do another round of that... Give the other teams the leads we had, we met enough of our quota to not get smack about this. It's enough for now."
It was a sign of how bad things had gotten that NONE of his teammates NOR his leader argued at all, despite losing the potential bonus payouts and promotion opportunities that further 'success' would bestow upon them all.
Though the fact that Team Lead 'Brawny' Brawnson had already fallen unconscious might have also been a factor.