His answer came almost immediately.
"It's Card Trooper," Asuka Tenjoin said in a low voice. "The last Monster he drew was Card Trooper. When it's Summoned successfully, he can shuffle any number of cards from his hand back into the Deck, and it gains 500 ATK for each one." (ANIME EFFECT)
It was an Anime-Original Card, Daiyama Hei's soul card and ace. Card Trooper, Level 3, its effect allowed it to shuffle any number of cards from the hand back into the Deck when it was Summoned, and its ATK would become 500 times that number. On top of that, when it battled and Destroyed an attack position Monster on the opponent's field, that opponent's Monster would not go to the Graveyard, but would instead return to the bottom of the Deck. (ANIME EFFECT)
Everyone was stunned. So that was the combo. At first glance, using Heart of the Underdog to draw a pile of vanillas looked meaningless, but paired with this Monster, shuffling all seven freshly drawn vanillas back into the Deck at once would raise this three-star Monster's ATK all the way to 3500.
That was even higher than the legendary Blue-Eyes White Dragon. "Hahaha, exactly!" Daiyama Hei laughed. "Now let me show you the power of my soul card! I Normal Summon..."
"Before that, I activate my face-down Trap Card Desert Sunlight," Yugen said. "All monsters on my field are changed to face-up Defense Position." (ANIME EFFECT)
Daiyama Hei frowned. "You want to switch to Defense Position to block my attack?" Then a thought flashed through his mind.
"All Monsters on my field are changed to face-up Defense Position, and my face-down monster is also flipped face-up," Yugen said. "The card I set was... Morphing Jar!" The grinning jar flipped onto the field and revealed its divine power.
"By Morphing Jar's effect, both players discard all the cards in their hands, then each draws five cards." Daiyama Hei immediately understood. "I see. You're using Morphing Jar to make me discard my whole hand at once so I can't use the Card Trooper combo."
But the corner of his mouth lifted, and he let out a cold laugh. "So what? My power of Card Draw is absolute. The five new cards I draw will still give me a winning combo."
"Sorry, not quite." Yugen snapped his fingers.
"I chain my other face-down, the Trap Card Back to the Front! Special Summon one monster from my Graveyard in face-up Defense Position. The card I'm bringing back from my Graveyard is this one." A Card popped out of his Graveyard. "Protector of the Sanctuary!"
Protector of the Sanctuary, DEF 1900. Daiyama Hei stared blankly. What was this supposed to do?
He had deliberately chained out a wall with 1900 DEF, but what difference could that make? He understood soon enough.
With a smile, Yugen explained, "Protector of the Sanctuary. As long as this card remains face-up on the field, your opponent cannot draw cards outside their Draw Phase." Daiyama Hei froze and tried to sort it out in his head.
Morphing Jar made both players discard their entire hands, then each player was supposed to draw five cards. Protector of the Sanctuary made it so that as long as it stayed on the field, the opponent could not Card Draw. Daiyama Hei went silent.
Na-na-na-Nani?!???? Everyone watching sucked in a cold breath. This move was... a complete hand Destroy.
"That's right. After accepting Morphing Jar's effect, you have to discard every card in your hand, but you can't draw any new ones," Yugen said. Then he calmly Card Draw from his own Deck. "And by Morphing Jar's effect, I draw five cards."
Daiyama Hei said nothing. Neither did anyone else.
After a long Silence, Hayato Maeda finally spoke. "Well... how do I put this? That's really... a very strong combo." "Y-yeah," Sho Marufuji said, and the way he looked at Yugen became even more fearful.
Yugen's Duels really were terrifying. He could always find all kinds of bizarre new ways to make sure the other side could not Duel. Daiyama Hei had already fallen into a half-frozen state.
A huge pile of cards had just entered his hand, and before he could even enjoy it, they all clattered into the Graveyard in one sweep. Then the authority of Protector of the Sanctuary spread across the field, as if invisible chains had wrapped themselves around the Deck inside his Duel Disk. Every single card was locked tightly inside the Deck.
He could no longer hear the voice of his Deck. Daiyama Hei opened his mouth, his face full of bitterness, but no words came out. He wanted to find a way out with the unbeatable drawing power he had trained for a whole year.
But he could not. Because he literally could not Card Draw, which meant he did not even have the chance to use his godlike draw skill. He racked his brain for one last possibility and searched desperately for a way to break the situation, but after turning it over again and again, only one word echoed in his mind.
Finished.
How was he supposed to Duel like this? He did not even have cards, so how could he possibly Duel? "How could this happen..." the wild man muttered, his dream shattered.
"I trained so hard, and I finally reached the level I always wanted. Duel is a Duel of Card Draw, and the power of Card Draw should decide everything. Then why... how...?"
As he thought of the bitter training of the past year, all his anger and unwillingness mixed with the hopeless reality in front of him, where he had been completely forbidden from playing. For a moment, the wild man Daiyama Hei looked as if he might cry from sheer grievance. The people watching fell silent.
They were supposed to be on Yugen's side, but at this point, they could not help pitying the wild man across from him. "If you're not planning to do anything, then it's my My Turn! again," Yugen said with a smile.
"My Turn!, Card Draw." He now had six cards in hand again and plenty of room to make plays, but he was kind by nature. Since the other side clearly had no moves left, he decided it would be better to end the suffering quickly.
"Then I change the monsters on my field from Defense Position to Attack Position," Yugen said with a wave. "Then Ryu Kokki, Elemental HERO Bubbleman, and Protector of the Sanctuary, direct attack Daiyama Hei."
Ryu Kokki, ATK 2400. Elemental HERO Bubbleman, ATK 800. Protector of the Sanctuary, ATK 1100.
Knocked flat in a single blow, Daiyama Hei fell onto his back with empty, lifeless eyes and no reaction at all. Daiyama Hei, LP 3200 to LP 0.
In 2004, a vicious Card was born. At first glance it looked useless, but once it entered the environment, it quickly caused a massive stir. Its name was Protector of the Sanctuary. It was a Level 4 monster with 1900 DEF, and while it remained on the field, the opponent could not draw cards except during their Draw Phase.
The first thing people naturally thought of when they saw this card was Pot of Greed, that universally useful staple almost everyone ran before it was forbidden. It seemed to have some practical value, but not enough to stand out. So at first, its single-card rating was only average, and it never made it into the mainstream.
That changed when an entire joke Deck built around it appeared. It was the Temple-style full-hand Destroy strategy. The idea itself was simple.