Fake Jack had just taken a hard loss—he'd been swaggering like crazy, laying out what he thought was a checkmate formation, only for it to not even last a single turn before getting blown up by one damn frog.
He was pissed, glancing at the two dragons that had just been bounced back to his hand, then at his totally empty field, and finally gritted his teeth.
With no defenses on the field, chances were high he'd get OTK'd next turn.
If that's the case...
"Look down on the King's Duel, and you'll pay the price for it!"
Fake Jack roared.
"Activate Magic Card 'Handwriting Erasure'!
Both players discard all cards in their hands, then draw the same number of cards from their Card Decks!"
Fake Jack threw away every card in his hand in one go, including the Evil Dragon and Strong Wind Dragon that had just been bounced back.
"At the same time, among the discarded cards, the effect of Magic Card 'Card of Compensation' activates—I draw two cards from my Card Deck!"
Fake Jack swept his arm, going absolutely nuts drawing cards, and quickly had a whole new fistful of cards in his hand.
"Good!"
Looked like this round of crazy draws really had given him a chance. Fake Jack calmed down a little, then raised his hand and set cards to his back row.
"I set four cards on the field. Turn end!"
"Four Cover Cards... tsk tsk." Yugen muttered.
Riding Wheel of Fortune alongside him to watch, True Jack couldn't help but say, "Be careful, Yugen. This guy's fishy. He's not weak, and he even has the same..."
"Relax, he's just a clumsy imitator." Yugen smiled faintly. "I'll rip that fake mask off for you real soon.
My turn, draw."
True Jack stayed silent at the side.
A clumsy imitator, huh...
He'd thought that too earlier, but being the loser to a "clumsy imitator", he suddenly didn't feel like talking.
"In this turn's Standby Phase, the effect of 'Assassin Snake' that I discarded from my hand last turn to summon 'Ghost Frog' activates.
During your own turn's Standby Phase, if Assassin Snake is in the Graveyard, you can return Assassin Snake from the Graveyard to your hand."
Yugen shook the Assassin Snake that had come back from the Graveyard and added it to his hand.
"Next, I activate Magic Card 'Sea Salvage'." Yugen said. "I can add two Water Attribute Monsters with Attack Power 1500 or less from my Graveyard to my hand.
I return 'Sato Kaeru' and 'Ghost Frog' from the Graveyard to my hand."
Yugen showed the two cards, then put them back into his hand.
"And then this card..."
Yugen smiled mysteriously, raising a Magic in his hand high.
"Continuous Magic 'Survival Treasure Scroll'!"
A legendary Forbidden Card, first appearing in the hands of a puppet controlled by Malik, debuting in the same Duel as Osiris the Sky Dragon. Its effect is simple but insanely brutal.
"Each time a Monster is Special Summoned from your Graveyard, draw 1 card."
The one in Yugen's hand uses the Physical Card effect, which differs from the anime. Mr. Malikma's anime version was even more savage, drawing three cards. It's just that when Yugen went looking in the market, Mr. Malikma's version had long gone out of print—either that, or maybe what Mr. Malikma used back then was actually a fake printed by Yu-Gi-Oh!'s number-one counterfeit peddler, the Gulus Group.
Of course, while the anime version violently lets you draw three cards every time there's a Graveyard Revive, it has its own downside. Like, in the anime it's a mandatory effect, whereas the Physical Card is optional. If anime 'Survival Treasure Scroll' hadn't been mandatory, Mr. Malikma wouldn't have gotten screwed by Traitorous Dragon until his Card Deck got decked out.
Also, even though Survival Treasure Scroll is a timeless old Forbidden Card nowadays, in the early-mid 5DS era of the real-life Physical Card meta it wasn't banned yet, just a Limited Card.
From today's perspective, "draw 1 card each time there's a Graveyard Revive" sounds terrifying enough to let you pull your whole Card Deck into your hand in minutes, right?
But up through the Synchro Era, Yu-Gi-Oh!'s meta speed was actually slow enough that it wasn't completely unacceptable. So after Survival Treasure Scroll was released, it actually went eight years without being banned—it's not like what many card nerds think now, that it was Forbidden from the start.
Yugen: "Next, I use the effect of the 'Ghost Frog' that I just returned to my hand—discard a Water Attribute Monster from my hand to Special Summon Ghost Frog again!"
Yugen threw another card to the Graveyard, and it wasn't hard to guess it was probably the Assassin Snake he'd just retrieved. Assassin Snake can salvage itself every turn, returning from the Graveyard to hand, and Assassin Snake is also Water Attribute, making it a perfect fit with the Frog Card Deck.
[Ghost Frog, Attack Power 1000]
Fake Jack snorted. "So you took that frog back... so now you're gonna mill another card from your Card Deck to the Graveyard?"
"Correct. I send a Water Attribute, Water Race Monster of Level 2 or lower from my Card Deck to the Graveyard."
The card in Yugen's Card Deck that met the condition automatically popped out.
"I send 'Exchange Frog' from my Card Deck to the Graveyard."
"Then I activate a Cover Card—Continuous Trap 'Restricted Revival'. Revive a Monster with Attack Power 1000 or less from the Graveyard. Revive from the Graveyard—Exchange Frog!"
[Exchange Frog, Attack Power 100]
Fake Jack: "All that fuss, just for a frog with 100 Attack Power?"
Yugen laughed.
Only 100 Attack Power? You really have no idea just how valuable the Frog family's top Forbidden Card is.
"Since I Revived a Monster from the Graveyard, the effect of Continuous Magic 'Survival Treasure Scroll' lets me draw 1 card from my Card Deck."
Yugen drew a card, then said calmly:
"Exchange Frog's effect activates. I tribute 1 Monster on my field to Special Summon a 'Frog' from my Card Deck.
I tribute 'Piercing Frog' on my field, and Special Summon 'Death Frog' from my Card Deck!"
The tiny Piercing Frog dissolved into light as a tribute, and in exchange, the massive emerald Death Frog—bigger than a human—leapt onto the field.
[Death Frog, Attack Power 1900]
"I still haven't conducted my Normal Summon this turn." Yugen said. "I Normal Summon 'Electronic Fishman Gunner' from my hand."
[Electronic Fishman Gunner, Attack Power 100]
"Level One, Adjusted Monster 'Electronic Fishman Gunner'!
Level Five, 'Death Frog'!
Star-Tuning!"
[1+5=6]
"The frigid stars condense upon the edge of the blade, a winter spear that pierces the heavens! Synchro Summon——
——Level 6, Ice Barrier Dragon - Light Spear Dragon!!!"
A bitter aurora tore the battlefield open, a Hexagram array blooming amidst a blizzard. The tuned Monsters twisted together into twin columns of azure light, spiraling upward as countless ice crystals converged into the slender outline of a dragon.
But Fake Jack just gave a heavy snort. "I already saw through the fact you'd use Synchro to launch your attack!
Counterattack Trap 'Harmony Counterattack'!
This card can only be activated when the opponent performs a Synchro Summon. Return that Synchro Monster to the Extra Deck, and Special Summon the group of materials used for that Synchro Summon from the Graveyard to the opponent's field!" (Original Card)
Chains of purple energy shot from the card, wrapping perfectly around the Synchro Aura at Light Spear Dragon's neck. The dragon let out a pained scream, spiderweb cracks spreading across its ice-crystal body before it finally exploded with a "boom" into a shower of stardust. The blizzard cut off at once, leaving only a few slowly falling shards of lingering ice, bearing witness to a Synchro extinguished at the very moment of its birth.
"I'm not done yet!" Fake Jack laughed loudly. "Also, the player hit by 'Harmony Counterattack' cannot perform Summons, Flip Summons, or Special Summons until the end of their next turn!"