While every Xyz player was looking at Kite Tenjo with a mixture of awe and fear, the duelists from the worlds not yet part of the "happy family" chat were also fervently discussing the Galaxy-Eyes deck.
ARC-V World - Xyz Dimension.
Yuto and Shay Obsidian looked on with bitter expressions after seeing the two Xyz decks showcased. This Utopia deck! This Galaxy-Eyes deck! Either one of them was several, or even dozens of times stronger than their current Phantom Knights and Raidraptor decks.
It was only now that the two of them realized that the gap between their own deck builds and those of the Higher World was not just a small one.
"Whew... The combo strategies of both decks are far beyond our current understanding," Yuto said, exhaling sharply. After accepting this reality, he was now even more eager to see the future development of his Phantom Knights.
"What can I do but watch helplessly?" Shay forced a bitter smile. "I don't know why, but I just feel so powerless. Right now, I don't even know what a proper Raidraptor combo looks like anymore. It's frustrating... complicated."
Although Shay could understand the Utopia and Galaxy-Eyes combos, he no longer understood his own Raidraptors. It was like being shown the peak of a hyper-advanced metagame, only to be told to go back to the era of vanilla beatdown. The disconnect was jarring.
VRAINS World.
Yusaku Fujiki (Playmaker), Kolter, Skye Zaizen (Blue Angel), and Theodore Hamilton (Soulburner) couldn't help but look on with solemn expressions. Their gazes were still fixed on the Galaxy-Eyes explanation video.
"Uh, perhaps I should take back what I said," Yusaku admitted. "The operational logic of these Higher World decks... no one in our LINK VRAINS world can keep up."
This time, even Kolter didn't chime in. Because what Yusaku said was the truth. They had initially thought that, being from the high-tech LINK era, they were only slightly behind the Higher World in terms of card pools. But after seeing the strategies of so many decks, they realized that "slight" difference was more like a chasm.
"Yusaku, while that may be true," Soulburner interjected, "our decks aren't weak. We can pull off long combos too. Let's just wait and see. At least, until we see a deck from our LINK era, I'm reserving judgment."
Soulburner believed his own Salamangreat deck was a decent combo deck. If it were to go up against the decks shown so far, once he set up his board, he could still put up a few negates and trade blows.
Yusaku didn't reply. His focus returned to the screen. Because the next short video's content had already appeared.
In the Main World, Yusei Hoshi had already selected the next video. It was a duel featuring an extremely interesting ultimate monster-stealing matchup. The title appeared before the eyes of the duelists in every world.
"Branded Blue-Eyes Encounters a Monster Steal Deck! The Pure Love Warrior's Unbelievable Comeback!"
The moment they saw the title, the duelists from the six worlds didn't quite grasp the meaning of "Monster Steal Deck." They naturally assumed the opponent's deck was based on Minotaur-like monsters.
But the powerful "Branded" and "Blue-Eyes White Dragon"! They might not know "Branded," but they certainly knew Blue-Eyes! And sure enough, the first thing the video introduced was the Blue-Eyes White Dragon deck!
DM World.
Seto Kaiba let out a cold snort, a smile spreading across his face. "Invincible! Unbeatable! Magnificent! Is this 'Branded' archetype trying to ride the coattails of my powerful Blue-Eyes deck?"
"Hahaha! It seems my Blue-Eyes White Dragon is still as popular as ever!"
Kaiba naturally assumed the Branded engine was too weak on its own and had to rely on Blue-Eyes to boost its power.
"The President's Blue-Eyes is invincible!"
"Isn't it obvious? Blue-Eyes has always been the strongest deck!"
"Hahaha! The President is right! What's this Branded deck? How dare it try to associate itself with Blue-Eyes?"
Roland and the other KaibaCorp staff members chimed in with their agreement. Joey Wheeler just rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to the video. Yugi Muto smiled without saying a word.
The short video began to play. At this time in the game's history, the Branded archetype had not yet been hit hard by the banlist, and cards like Predaplant Verte Anaconda were still largely unrestricted. Yusei had chosen this video as an opportunity to introduce the old-school players to the Branded deck—a powerful, meta-defining deck that had once dominated the dueling scene.
Duelists: "Abyss God Branded Start" VS "Stealing to the Max is Still a Win"
Life Points: 8000 LP each!
First Turn: Abyss God Branded Start!
Second Turn: Stealing to the Max is Still a Win!
The duel was about to begin!
Abyss God Branded Start: "Hahaha! Let's duel today! As everyone knows, the Branded archetype has many unique builds! There's Branded Predaplant, Branded Adventurer, Branded Labrynth, and so on! So today, the deck we're playing is Branded Blue-Eyes White Dragon!"
Abyss God Branded Start: "It's my first turn! I'll start by activating the Spell Card Trade-In! Hehehe! With its effect, I discard Blue-Eyes White Dragon and draw two cards! The effect of The Bystial Lubellion in my hand activates! I discard it to add Bystial Magnamhut from my deck to my hand! Then I activate another Spell, The Melody of Awakening Dragon! I discard The White Stone of Ancients to add Blue-Eyes Alternative White Dragon and Blue-Eyes Jet Dragon from my deck to my hand. I Special Summon Dictator of D. by sending a Blue-Eyes White Dragon from my deck to the Graveyard! Dictator of D.'s effect activates! I send Blue-Eyes Jet Dragon from my hand to the Graveyard to Special Summon it back to the field! Next, I Normal Summon Aluber the Jester of Despia! Aluber's effect activates, adding Branded Fusion from my deck to my hand! I activate Branded Fusion! Using its effect, I send Fallen of Albaz and Cartesia, the Virtuous from my deck to the Graveyard to Fusion Summon! Come forth, Albion the Branded Dragon!"
"..."
As the vlogger rattled off effect after effect, the duelists from the six worlds were left completely stunned. Isn't this a Blue-Eyes deck? Why is the entire setup using cards from this 'Branded' archetype? There's barely any use of Blue-Eyes' own effects!
But that wasn't the main point. The issue was that while they could understand each individual move and operation, when put together, it became increasingly confusing. This Branded deck was clearly no joke! At the very least, it was another explosive combo deck. The only question was what its final board would look like.
In the video, "Abyss God Branded Start" was still making his plays.
Abyss God Branded Start: "Albion's effect activates! I banish Aluber the Jester of Despia from my field and Fallen of Albaz from my Graveyard to Fusion Summon! Arise, Lubellion the Searing Dragon! Lubellion's effect activates! I discard a card, then shuffle it and the banished Fallen of Albaz back into the deck to Fusion Summon! My ace fusion! Mirrorjade the Iceblade Dragon! My Abyss God isn't fully awakened yet! The effect of The Bystial Lubellion in my Graveyard activates! I Tribute Albion the Branded Dragon to Special Summon it in Defense Position! Then I activate its effect, placing the Continuous Spell Branded Regained from my deck face-up on the field! Now, during the End Phase, the effect of The White Stone of Ancients in my Graveyard activates, Special Summoning Blue-Eyes Abyss Dragon from my deck! Abyss Dragon's effect activates, adding the Ritual Spell Chaos Form from my deck to my hand! And thanks to its effect, I can also add Blue-Eyes Chaos MAX Dragon! The effect of Cartesia, the Virtuous lets me add it back to my hand. And Albion's effect activates, setting Branded in Red from my deck to my field! My Abyss God is now fully online! I end my turn! Now it's your turn to play Yu-Gi-Oh!"
After that breathless sequence, "Abyss God Branded Start" had finished his board. For a first turn, all of his monsters were in Defense Position, and all five of his monster zones were filled.
Monster Zone:
Dictator of D. (1200 ATK / 1100 DEF)
Blue-Eyes Jet Dragon (3000 ATK / 0 DEF)
Mirrorjade the Iceblade Dragon (3000 ATK / 2500 DEF)
The Bystial Lubellion (2500 ATK / 3000 DEF)
Blue-Eyes Abyss Dragon (2500 ATK / 2500 DEF)
One long combo, and he had effortlessly filled all five monster zones. This left the duelists from the six worlds speechless. This wasn't a case of Branded riding Blue-Eyes' coattails... This was clearly Blue-Eyes riding Branded's coattails! The resource management, the tutoring, the retrieval... wasn't the power level of this Branded deck a little too high?
In the video, strangely, the opponent, "Stealing to the Max is Still a Win," was completely unfazed by the five-monster board.
Stealing to the Max: "Oh? Is it my turn now? Nice, nice! As expected of an Abyss God player, truly impressive!"
Stealing to the Max: "Well then, I activate Pot of Extravagance. I banish 6 cards from my Extra Deck to draw 2 cards."
Gaining resources? By banishing powerful Extra Deck monsters? What was this player planning to win with? This single move piqued the curiosity of all six dueling worlds. They all wanted to see how "Stealing to the Max" would deal with this terrifying board.
But his next move left the duelists and his opponent completely bewildered.
Stealing to the Max: "I set one monster face-down."
Abyss God Branded Start: "???"
Using his Normal Summon... just to set one monster? What? What is he playing at? Could this monster... be incredibly powerful? With a ridiculously broken Flip effect?
Yes! That had to be it! It couldn't be that simple! "Abyss God Branded Start's" thoughts mirrored those of the other duelists. That set monster... had to be banished! He couldn't be given a chance to flip it!
Abyss God Branded Start: "I activate the effect of Mirrorjade the Iceblade Dragon! I send Albion the Shrouded Dragon from my Extra Deck to the Graveyard to banish one monster on the field! Your set monster is banished!"
Without hesitation, he chose to banish it.
Stealing to the Max: "Wow, so strong! Your monster is amazing! In that case, I'll set two cards face-down. My turn is over. Back to you."
Abyss God Branded Start: "???"
This move once again short-circuited his brain. Is this... a stall player? Who still plays this kind of stall combo in this day and age?
Abyss God Branded Start: "My turn, I draw!"
Seeing the Spell Card Ultimate Fusion in his hand, he felt a wave of security. "The effect of the Albion the Shrouded Dragon I sent to the Graveyard last turn activates, adding Fallen of Albaz from my deck to my hand!"
Stealing to the Max: "At this moment, I activate a Spell Card! Super Hippo Carnival! I Special Summon one Performapal Hip Hippo from my hand, deck, or Graveyard, then I can Special Summon as many 'Hippo Tokens' (Beast/EARTH/Level 1/ATK 0/DEF 0) as possible to my field!"
Abyss God Branded Start: "Are you... an entertainment duelist? In that case—"
Before he could finish his sentence, "Stealing to the Max" flipped over one of his set cards.
Stealing to the Max: "I activate the Trap Card! Swap Hero!"
As soon as the trap resolved, a scene that shocked everyone unfolded!
Dictator of D. was swapped with a Hippo Token!
Blue-Eyes Jet Dragon was swapped with a Hippo Token!
Mirrorjade the Iceblade Dragon was swapped with a Hippo Token!
The Bystial Lubellion was swapped with a Hippo Token!
Blue-Eyes Abyss Dragon was swapped with Performapal Hip Hippo!
That's right! All five powerful monsters that "Abyss God Branded Start" had worked so hard to summon... were all swapped over to his opponent's side of the field! And on his own field... were four 0 ATK/DEF tokens and a useless Hip Hippo!
In that moment, all six dueling worlds fell into stunned silence. Disbelief was written on every duelist's face. The very air seemed to freeze. Even "Abyss God Branded Start" himself was staring blankly at his field of tokens and the hippo. His last line of mental defense finally broke. For a moment, he didn't even know what to do.
Who am I? Where am I? How did my board end up like this? Where are my Branded monsters? Where is my Blue-Eyes White Dragon? Where are my dragons?! What are these hippos?!
DM World.
Seeing these plays, even Weevil Underwood couldn't hold back. "Whoa! This guy is even more ruthless than I am! He traded two cards for all of his opponent's ace monsters?! Truly incredible! So damn incredible! I, Weevil Underwood, bow down to you! You are a god!"
Weevil clasped his hands in a gesture of respect, seeing someone even more underhanded than himself for the first time. He had to show his admiration.
"I feel like punching someone! Where is this guy?" Mako Tsunami was furious on behalf of the Branded player. He rolled up his sleeves and clenched his fists. "I'll summon my fists in Attack Position and see who's stronger! Who could tolerate this?"
GX World.
The students and teachers watched in silence for a long time. It was only after they confirmed that the ultimate monster steal was real that the entire Duel Academy erupted into what could only be described as "civilized" discourse.
"What the hell? How much of a troll can one player be?! That two-card combo is disgusting!"
"Ahem! Don't say that. Who knows how long he waited for an opportunity like this!"
"He's already won. Just like his name says, he's won big! Even if he loses the match, he's already won in spirit."
"Awesome! That's so awesome! Trading four tokens for the opponent's boss monsters! And with no downside! That's beyond satisfying!"
"..."
Yes. It was indeed beyond satisfying. "Stealing to the Max is Still a Win" looked at the five powerful monsters he had just acquired. He was already planning how to finish the duel.
As for "Abyss God Branded Start," he was still in a state of utter shock, unable to recover.
-------
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