Saturday. Unlike his usual habit of sleeping in until the last moment, today Yuto woke up early.
Because today was the release day of Duel Monsters in Japan.
As soon as Yuto got up, he headed straight for Yugi's family game shop. He'd already asked Yugi's grandpa beforehand—he was getting stock in.
Ding‑a‑ling…
The bell over the door rang as Yuto pushed it open.
"Oh, Yuto. Here to buy Duel Monsters?"
"Yeah, Grandpa!"
"Alright, alright. Buy a box and you get a battle mat with it!"
"I'll take three boxes!"
Yuto slapped the money he'd prepared on the counter.
"Here you go."
Solomon Muto set three boxes decorated with Celtic Guardian on the counter, along with three play mats.
[Detected: Host has obtained Duel Monsters booster packs. Distributing starter pack…]
[Starter pack delivered. Please check your bedroom desk.]
Finally, the cheat was online!
Grabbing his purchases, Yuto hurried home, where he found a booster pack sitting on his desk—printed with a tank.
He tossed the Duel Monsters packs aside and picked up the one the system had given him.
There were two lines of text. The upper, in bold, said Duel Monsters; the lower, smaller, said Federation Army Starter Pack.
He tore it open. Inside were five cards—four Monsters and one Spell.
The Monsters were two [Type 61 Tank], one [FF‑B/2 Flying Manta Bomber], and one [FF‑6 TIN Cod Interceptor].
The Spell was called [Radar Lock].
Glancing over them, Yuto muttered, "So they really match the original power levels... but wait, won't these cards be unusable once it's DM?"
[Host need not worry. The system will adjust these cards' formats when the time comes.]
So basically, it would just swap the Bandai style for Konami's style.
Still, with effects this primitive, there was no way they'd be viable later...
Yuto picked them up one by one to check the effects carefully.
[Type 61 Tank]
Level 3│EARTH│Machine│800 ATK / 1000 DEF
Effect: Unaffected by Field.
Next...
[FF‑B/2 Flying Manta Bomber]
Level 2│WIND│Machine│600 ATK / 200 DEF
Effect: When attacking a monster on the ground, double this card's Attack.
A monster "on the ground," huh... truly first‑edition Yu‑Gi‑Oh.
The last Monster was—
[FF‑6 TIN Cod Interceptor]
Level 2│WIND│Machine│700 ATK / 100 DEF
Effect: When attacking a monster in the sky, double this card's Attack.
Well, at least it could put up a fight against some kind of flying dragon.
Now for the Spell. Yuto picked it up—'ooh, silver foil.'
[Radar Lock]
Spell Card
Effect: Target 1 monster. When your Machine monsters attack that monster, their Attack is doubled.
Yeah, this could work. With those two aircraft, it could rack up some decent damage.'
Still a bit too simple and crude... Better check the packs he actually bought.
Yuto cracked open his three boxes.
[Mushroom Man], [Skull Servant], [Hitodenchak]...
What kind of trash was this? After all three boxes, the best pull was a Level 3 [Swordsman of Landstar].
Suddenly, the five cards from his starter pack seemed way stronger.
He picked out a few with halfway decent Attack, added Swordsman of Landstar and the five system cards, and cobbled together a Deck.
"Alright... let's go try a duel with Yugi."
Thinking this, he set out again for the Muto family game shop.
"Yugi! I built a Duel Monsters Deck! Let's duel!"
Upstairs, Yugi cleared the dining table he shared with his grandpa and laid out the play mat.
After rock‑paper‑scissors, Yugi went first.
"My turn! I summon Hitotsu-Me Giant and place it in the Forest."
Starting right off with a 1200 Attack monster? And under these abstract rules, Forest doubled the Attack of Beast‑Warriors like Hitotsu-Me Giant.
As expected of a game shop kid—'Damn you, Yugi!'
Yuto drew from his Deck.
[Mushroom Man] Level 2│EARTH│Plant│800 ATK / 600 DEF
'Shoot…'
"I place Mushroom Man in the Forest in Defense Position!"
He could only defend for now, hoping to draw into his system cards.
"Then Hitotsu-Me Giant—Attack!"
Yuto removed Mushroom Man from the field and placed it in the Graveyard.
"My turn. Draw!"
He had [Radar Lock] in hand. If he could just draw [Type 61 Tank], he could turn things around.
'Ah—[FF‑B/2 Flying Manta Bomber]... Not enough.'
Even doubled against ground monsters, it would only hit 1200 Attack.
"I summon FF‑B/2 Flying Manta Bomber in Defense Position on the Sea."
"Huh? That's a card I've never seen." Yugi leaned in curiously.
"When battling a ground monster, its Attack doubles... pretty strong!"
"Yeah, but even doubled, it still can't beat your Hitotsu-Me Giant."
Since Duel Monsters at this stage didn't even have Machines, naturally, there were no Machine‑supporting Fields.
"Then, my turn. Hitotsu-Me Giant, attack."
Yuto sent the Bomber to the Graveyard.
"My turn. Draw!"
'Yes! [Type 61 Tank]!'
"Heh, now it's my counterattack. I summon Type 61 Tank to the Forest!"
"Huh? An 800 Attack monster... wait—Ah! It ignores Field effects!" Yugi exclaimed.
"But my Hitotsu-Me Giant still has 1200 Attack, Yuto‑kun. Your Tank can't beat it."
"Is that so? I activate the Spell Card [Radar Lock]! Targeting your Hitotsu-Me Giant—now, when my Machine monsters attack it, their Attack is doubled!"
"What? That means... 1600 Attack?!"
"That's right! Type 61 Tank—attack!"
Yugi sent his Hitotsu-Me Giant to the Graveyard, then adjusted the 2000 Life Points on the mat down to 1600.
"Alright, your turn, Yugi."
Yuto folded his arms, looking as if he'd already secured victory.
Yugi drew, then placed a monster card.
"I summon Summoned Skull to the Dark Forest."
A perfect 2500 Attack smashed through Yuto's whole setup.
"What?!!"
From there, the duel entered garbage time. No matter how skilled or lucky Yuto was, his Deck had nothing that could overcome Summoned Skull.
[Detected: Host has dueled the key character Yugi Muto. Awarding starter‑period bonus booster pack. Please check your bedroom desk.]
Well, at least losing came with rewards. 'System, how many starter packs total?'
[Three in total.]
...
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