"Sleeping Giant - Gudong!"
Leo's eyes widened as he stared at the card displayed across from him for quite a while.
Then his mouth gaped wide open.
Gu...gu gu...Gudong!?
"Huh!?" Leo was stunned, clutching his head, "How could anyone use this card!?"
Sleeping Giant - Gudong is rated as a super powerful monster comparable to the legendary Phantom God, yet it's not rare, but rather set as an "everyone has at least one" ultra-common monster. Leo himself has several.
It's just that the summoning conditions are way too harsh, so over the years it's been rated as "having no practical value".
This dude is actually trying to use this card!?
His glasses-wearing classmate seemed to be an honor student in their Duel Academy class, faster in both duel knowledge and reaction than Leo. At this moment, he said, "Wait, that's not right.
Gudong's summoning condition is that an ordinary One-Star Monster that remains on the field for over ten rounds needs to be released. Nobody just shows Gudong from their hand right off the bat to the opponent..."
This is the summoning condition of Gudong in the original 5DS animation series.
"Ah haha, indeed." Yugen chuckled, "This fellow student's duel knowledge is quite rich. However, the Gudong I have in hand is a little different from what you understand."
After all, it's self-printed, the physical card effect version.
"Sleeping Giant - Gudong, my card's effect is: Once per round, show this card from your hand to the opponent until the end of the round and choose a One-Star Monster on your field.
Place a Gudong indicator on that monster.
Sleeping Giant - Gudong can only be Special Summoned from the hand by releasing the monster with ten placed indicators on your field."
Leo was dumbfounded, counting on his fingers for quite a while.
"Isn't there no difference?"
Leo looked up, puzzled.
"Every round, show it to the opponent, then place an indicator on a One-Star ordinary monster on the field. So by calculation, it still has to be on the field for ten rounds to summon it, doesn't it..."
"No, it's different."
The glasses-wearing honor student looked complex.
"With the Gudong I know, even if you haven't drawn Gudong, you can summon a One-Star Monster to the field and start accumulating rounds. But with this Gudong, you must start by drawing Gudong from your hand, then keep the One-Star Monster on the field for ten rounds, which is even harder."
Leo suddenly realized, "Ah! That's right, that makes sense..."
"And it's not just that." The glasses-wearing honor student said, "Normally, even if you summon a One-Star Monster to the field, most people wouldn't think the opponent is trying to summon Gudong. Since as far as I know, no one has achieved it, it's pretty much impossible.
As long as the opponent doesn't figure out your goal is to summon Gudong, they won't deliberately target it.
But this guy's Gudong has to be shown from the hand from the first round onwards..."
"Yeah...yeah!" Leo suddenly realized, "That means the advantage of Gudong as hidden tactical information is also forfeited..."
The glasses-wearing honor student's mind was quite flexible, but after analyzing, he himself was also dumbfounded.
Even if it's the same Sleeping Giant - Gudong, the summoning conditions have subtle differences...Duel Academy never taught this situation, could this really happen?
And now the opponent's Card Deck was almost exhausted, with only a few cards left. Let alone keeping a One-Star Monster on the field for ten turns, he didn't have ten cards left to draw in his deck, right?
"Haha, you're quite quick-witted, this student."
Yugen smiled.
"Yes, in recorded duel history, no one has successfully summoned Gudong...at least not in open occasions.
But today I hope you'll remember, the world of dueling is full of infinite possibilities. There's nothing impossible as long as you think."
Yugen spoke again and then showed two additional cards from his hand.
"I activate the effects of two other 'Sleeping Giant - Gudong' cards from my hand.
Display the two other Gudong cards from my hand, place two additional Gudong indicators on my 'White Bone' on the field."
Glasses-wearing honor student: "!!!"
The glasses-wearing honor student looked shocked, while Leo was still bewildered: "What, what? What happened?"
"By the way, despite all the above disadvantages, if it's about placing indicators...if there are multiple Gudong cards in hand, an opponent can place a total of three indicators on the same monster in one turn!"
The glasses-wearing honor student said.
"Like that, the number of rounds needed for Gudong to come out is greatly reduced!"
Leo was startled: "Eh? That's really bad for me then..."
"No, even so, it would still take at least four rounds for the opponent." The glasses-wearing honor student calmly said, "Through the effect of drawing cards a lot earlier, even if he managed to gather three Gudong cards in hand, he can only place three indicators at most in one round..."
Yugen interrupted, "That's not necessarily so."
Leo x glasses-wearing honor student: "!!"
"I've said, the world of dueling is full of infinite possibilities, as long as you think there's nothing you can't achieve. Use imagination and creativity, kids."
Yugen said smilingly.
"Next, I activate the Magic Card 'Treasure Hammer' from my hand!
Shuffle and return any number of cards from my hand, including this activating card, back to the Card Deck, and then draw the same number of cards." (original effect)
Yugen shuffled several cards including Treasure Hammer from his hand back into the Card Deck. The deck was automatically shuffled, and he drew cards anew.
"And then draw cards again!"
He then immediately revealed three drawn cards from his hand.
"The three 'Sleeping Giant - Gudong' in my hand, shuffled back into the Card Deck through 'Treasure Hammer's' effect, are now drawn again into my hand, resetting the 'once per round' effect.
Hence, I once again display the three 'Sleeping Giant - Gudong' from hand and place three Gudong indicators on 'White Bone' on the field!"
[White Bone, Gudong indicator 3 → 6]
Leo x glasses-wearing honor student: "!???"
No way, can it actually be done like this!? Shuffle back into the card deck, draw them again to hand, resetting the effect...
"Ahhhh, not good, six indicators in one turn!"
Leo's head was a mess, like a bird's nest.
"How is he so lucky? By using Treasure Hammer to shuffle back and instantly draw three Gudong cards again to hand..."
"No...it's not luck..."
The glasses-wearing honor student said difficultly.
"Look, he only has a few cards left in total in his deck..."
Leo: "!"
Ah this...
Leo slowly opened his mouth wide, finally realizing the dreadful truth.
Indeed, his deck was exhausted with only a few cards left.
So no matter how many times Treasure Hammer shuffled back, he was sure to draw Gudong again.
"Treasure Hammer's effect, draw again."
Yugen was still going.
"Then display the three 'Sleeping Giant - Gudong' cards in hand again, placing three more 'Gudong indicators' on 'White Bone'."
[White Bone, Gudong indicator 6 → 9]
Leo x glasses-wearing honor student: "........."
In this way, forget about ten indicators, even twenty, fifty, a hundred can be gathered in one turn.
"...At last, show Gudong in hand again, placing one more Gudong indicator on White Bone...the tenth one."
[White Bone, Gudong indicator 10]
"Then release the White Bone with ten Gudong indicators, and come forth—
——Sleeping Giant - Gudong!!!"
Instant summon Gudong!