MtG/YGO GX 2 (Patreon)

S1E2: Welcome to Duel Academy

Walking down the ramp with the other students, I took advantage of the open walkway to look out at the scenery of the island. Say what you will about Seto Kaiba, the man could certainly pick out one hell of a scenic location. Even if everything had to be either flown or shipped in.

But the really important thing about my looking out had little to do with admiring the view. While I was doing that, I was also trying to get a feel of the ambient mana on the island. There was an undercurrent of blue, as was to be expected, but rather than everything being blue because it was an island, there were pockets of different mana in different places.

Like the volcano, that was solid red as was the power plant. The forested part was green, bit of a no brainer there. The school itself was a blend of blue and white. Then there was a patch of black out in the middle of the woods.

I smiled, all teeth as I pulled on the blue and white of the school as the helicopter landed. I didn’t have a lot of spells/cards of that particular blend, but more power never hurt. If I ever wanted to fireball the shit out of someone, I’d need as much mana to pump it up as possible.

Orientation was a little odd, but not by much. Mostly that Shepard gave his speech via livestream (not that anyone else called it that) instead of in person, and afterwards we were sorted into our relevant dorms. I was given a mustard yellow jacket, and let me tell you, it looked good on exactly no…

My mental grumblings were cut off as a leggy brunette walked past in a yellow jacket. Like, seriously, her legs went on forever. A further investigation of her features showed black rimmed glasses, big hazel eyes, and curly, dark brown hair held back in a loose ponytail. If it weren’t for the slight, sad frown on her face, she’d have a perfect librarian look to her. She was looking down at the PDA we’d been given, which prompted me to pull out my own. A quick check showed me several important features, mostly about my status as a student and something a little surprising.

[quote][b]Name:[/b] Johann Kaufmann

[b]DP:[/b] 500

[b]Dorm:[/b] Ra Yellow

[b]Room:[/b] 204

[b]Ranking:[/b]

[list][i]Year:[/i] #24

[*][i]Overall:[/i] #144[/list][/quote]

Yes, despite being a Magic player, I too had DP. Apparently it was what everything at the Academy cost, not just cards. Groceries, vending machines, you name it, it cost some amount of DP. I was curious about my ranking, and a bit of investigation showed that my overall ranking was out of everyone in all years. I was ranked as the hundred forty fourth duelist out of one hundred eighty students. The ranking was judged by the duels I’d been in with an Academy Duel Disk, so since I’d just had my admission duel, it was no wonder I was currently ranked so low. Still, twenty four out of sixty wasn’t bad per se, in the better half of the year.

“E-excuse me?” a nervous voice asked.

I looked up, meeting the hunched over gaze of the leggy brunette I’d been eyeing earlier. Half hoping to get a number out of it, I asked, “S’up?”

“Could you help me figure out this map?” she asked, holding up the map of the island on her PDA.

“Sure, where are you trying to go?”

“The Yellow Dorms, but I can’t figure out how to get this to show English.”

Another look showed that, yup. Her PDA menus were entirely in Japanese. Given the guy funding this place, it made sense. Although I found it odd that it hadn’t been adjusted before being given to her.

“Let me see it,” I took the PDA as she handed it over, letting the Kaiba Corp tech in my duel disk briefly connect with it. Kaiba Corp was basically Disney, Facebook, Google, and every big tech company you could think of merged into one, so there was no trouble using one piece of KC-tech to tweak the settings of another.

“That should do it,” I said as I handed it back to its owner. “Name's Johann. Might I ask yours?”

“Um… I'm Taylor,” she said as she took her PDA back and looked over the now English text. “Thanks.”

“No problem, always happy to help a lovely lady.” Corny, I kn… okay, a girl who responds to being called ‘lovely lady’ by glaring when she was completely adorkable before is a bit of a red flag.

“What are you after?”

“Uh… I'm a bit of a flirt? That's part of who I am?”

“So the fact that I'm a girl is the only reason you're flirting with me, is that it?”

I blinked. When I was approached about the trial run isekai thing, I was not expecting to have to deal with this issue.

“While I admit, I'll flirt with almost anything humanoid with two X chromosomes,” I began hesitantly. “That's not the only reason. For starters, you have incredible legs. Toned and they go on for miles. There's also your hair which, when paired with your glasses and the jacket, gives you a sexy librarian look, the glare you've been giving me this entire time only enhancing that. Seriously, you have me wondering if I've got an overdue book in my dorm.”

She was still trying to glare at me, but my detailed description of her positive qualities seems to have flustered her, given the luminescent blush on her face and the way her eyes kept sliding to look away from me.

“Would it help if we dueled and stopped talking?” I asked after she opened her mouth to speak, only for nothing to come out, for the fifth or sixth time.

She nodded and I stood up before giving an over the top bow towards the arenas where students could duel freely. I also offered my arm like the gentleman I was not, which she hesitantly took. We arrived shortly thereafter, and took our positions. I called the coinflip, and let her go first.

[b]Taylor: 10,000

Johann: 10,000[/b]

“I’ll start by summoning Warm Worm and laying two cards face-down,” Taylor declared, her stance firming up as a maroon worm/caterpillar creature materialized, a red, three pointed crest on its head and a small burst of flame from its butt.

[b]Warm Worm: 600/1400[/b]

A few observers in the crowd scoffed at the weak looking monster, but I didn’t. I had seen far too many Yu-Gi-Oh series where the various protagonists relied on monsters with low stats but potent effects.

Still, “My draw,” My opening hand was okay, I wasn’t using the spider deck I had at the exam, I was going for one with a different strategy.

[spoiler]Vampire Nighthawk, Blade of the Bloodchief, Blood Tribute, Viscera Seer, Vampire Nighthawk, Grim Tutor[/spoiler]

Neither of the win condition cards, but I could work with what I had. So, pulling out a card from my hand, “I first summon Vampire Nighthawk and play Grim Tutor. I take fifteen hundred damage, but in return I get to search my deck for a specific card and add it to my hand.”

In front of me, a gothic style tower formed, the red face paint wearing vampire perched on a ledge like a bloodthirsty gargoyle, moments before a blood-soaked tome opened in front of me, red light being pulled into it from me. I felt phantom pain in my chest, apparently my connection to mana making this slightly more real.

[b]Vampire Nighthawk: 1000,1500; Flying, Deathtouch, Lifelink

Johann: 8500[/b]

“Next I play the enchantment spell Exquisite Blood. So long as this is on the field, whenever you take damage I gain that much life. I’ll play another card facedown and finish off my turn by attacking with Vampire Nighthawk.”

The vampire let out a bat like shriek, diving from its ledge towards Taylor, clawed hands slicing through her before it flew back to its perch. If she was using a Magic deck, I'd have needed to wait, but no summoning sickness in hybrid games!

“Since Vampire Nighthawk has flying, it can’t be blocked by ground based creatures,” I explained as Taylor drew a card.

[b]Taylor: 9000[/b]

“I’ll play Swords of Revealing Light, so for the next three turns, you can’t attack,” Taylor declared, playing the spell into her duel disk as the glowing swords formed a cage around my side of the field. “Next I’ll play Sagan.”

[b]Sagan: 1000/600[/b]

I narrowed my eyes as Taylor ended her turn, I vaguely remember Sagan being a fetch creature, but for the life of me I couldn’t remember the specifics on what or how it let its player fetch from their deck. Shrugging, I drew my card and nearly chuckled at the card I drew. Combined with my artifact, even with the Swords I’d be ramping up out on the field.

“I play my face down card, the spell Blood Tribute, and tap my Vampire Nighthawk in order to pay the kicker,” I declared, the vampire named turning a dark blue.

“Kicker?” Taylor asked, several members of the audience making confused noises as well.

“I have to pay some sort of price in order to get an extra effect when it comes into play. In this case, Blood Tribute makes you lose half your life, rounded up. Since I paid the kicker, I in turn gain what you lost. Plus, with Exquisite Blood on the field, I gain what you lost a second time.”

[b]Johann: 17,500

Taylor: 4500[/b]

The crowds went silent as they stared at my life total. On my second turn, I had nearly double what I’d started with. But I wasn’t done yet.

“Next, I’ll summon a second Vampire Nighthawk. Then I’ll play and equip it with the Blade of the Bloodchief. Whenever a creature on either side of the board dies, any monster equipped with this gets an additional 500/500. Unless the equipped creature is a vampire, in which case it gets 1000 instead. Since I can’t attack, I’ll finish my turn with the spell Feast of Blood to destroy your Warm Worm. I also gain 2000 life.”

[b]Johann: 19,500[/b]

[spoiler=Johann’s Field]Monster: Vampire Nighthawk (1000/1500; tapped), Vampire Nighthawk (2000/2500)

Spell/Trap: Exquisite Blood, Blade of the Bloodchief[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Johann’s Hand]Viscera Seer[/spoiler]

Despite the audience going crazy, Taylor didn’t seem all that worried. Instead, she just said, “When Warm Worm is destroyed, the opposing player sends the top three cards of their deck to the graveyard.”

Ah… she was playing a mill deck. Fuck. Well, three cards went to the graveyard. Two Defiant Bloodlords and my only copy of Sanguine Blood. So there went my infinite damage combo. Dammit.

“I draw,” Taylor continued, “and summon Chainsaw Insect. Whenever it attacks or blocks, you draw a card. Next I’ll play another card face down and attack you with Sagan.”

[b]Chainsaw Insect: 2400/0[/b]

Either one of my creatures could kill it, while my own would survive. Either she wanted her Sagan to die or she had something in her hand or back row to change things up. I had the life to spare, so I let the attack hit.

[b]Johann: 18,500[/b]

From the frown on her face, I’m guessing I saw through her plan. Either way, my turn now. Draw, and I could use this.

“I sacrifice my weaker Vampire Nighthawk to summon Anowon, the Ruin Sage.” Rising up from the floor like a spectre, the pale-skinned, red clad vampire stared impassively at Taylor across the field.

[b]Anowon, the Ruin Sage: 2000, 1500[/b]

“During my upkeep, each of us sacrifices a non-vampire creature. Since a creature died, Blade of the Bloodchief procs.”

[b]Vampire Nighthawk: 3000/3500[/b]

There were gasps in the crowd, as not only could my Vampire Nighthawk tangle with some of the biggest creatures in Duel Monsters, doing so would increase my life by a full three thousand points. All that wouldn’t matter though, if Taylor could keep me locked down so I couldn’t attack while she milled my deck to nothing. All I had left in my hand was Viscera Seer, and I couldn’t attack thanks to those swords of Taylor’s, so I passed turn.

“Draw. Then I’ll summon another Warm Worm, and attack with Chainsaw Insect,” Taylor called out, her lumberjack of a bug’s mandibles revving as it raced towards me.

“I’ll block with my Vampire Nighthawk,” I declared, as I drew a card from her monster’s effect. As the ant-like cyborg monstrosity scuttled past the gothic structure, my vampire raced down, cleaving it in two with the bloodsoaked blade, red energy flowing from the insect into it. I glanced at the card I drew, Sangromancer, as Taylor’s side of the field began to glow from monster summoning.

“By banishing two insect monsters from my graveyard, I can Special Summon Doom Dozer from my hand. With that, I end my turn.”

[b]Vampire Nighthawk: 4000/4500

Doom Dozer: 2800/2600

Johann: 21,500[/b]

Last turn before the swords fade, draw a card… I could work with this, looking back to Taylor, I called out, “First, during my upkeep, we both sacrifice a non-vampire creature. I can’t since all my creatures are vampires.”

“I’ll sacrifice Sagan. When he goes to the graveyard from the field, I can search my deck for one monster with 1500 attack or less and add it to my hand,” Taylor explained, before adding her chosen card. So that’s how it worked.

“That’s going to trigger Blade of the Bloodchief again. Next, I’ll summon Viscera Seer.”

[b]Vampire Nighthawk: 5000/5500

Viscera Seer: 500/500; Sacrifice a creature: Scry 1[/b]

“Then, I’ll tap Viscera Seer as I play the Spell Blood Tribute. I assume you remember what it does.”

[b]Johann: 23,750

Taylor: 2250[/b]

“Then, I’ll sacrifice him in order to look at the top card of my library,” check… Arrogant Outlaw, I could use that so it stays on top. “Now, since I can’t attack this turn, I’ll pass it to you.”

As I finished speaking, the glowing swords faded and both my Vampires hissed in anticipation. Taylor drew her card, her eyes looking over the cards in her hand, before she slid the card she drew into the spell field.

“I play the spell card One Day of Peace. We both draw a card, and neither of us takes damage until the end of your next turn.”

More delays, giving her time to pull something that could potentially turn this game around. Still, with the card I’d drawn, combined with Arrogant Outlaw’s direct damage, I had everything I needed to end the game.

“I’ll end my turn by summoning one monster facedown.”

“Before I draw, Anowon’s effect activates. Since I still don’t have a non-vampire, I don’t sacrifice anything. Whereas you have three to choose from.”

“I’ll flip, then sacrifice Needle Worm, which sends the top card of your deck to the graveyard.”

A third Blood Tribute, not a huge deal. Then draw, Butcher of Malakir. Not going to help me, nor will it hurt me. Okay, look at my hand. Butcher of Malakir, Blood Tithe, Arrogant Outlaw, and Sangromancer. My field had Anowon, a super buff Vampire Nighthawk, Blade of the Bloodchief, and Exquisite Blood.

“I’ll summon Sangromancer, then end my turn.”

[b]Sangromancer: 1500/1500; Flying[/b]

Taylor looked over her hand, before placing a card facedown, “This is all I can do.”

“I draw, Anowon procs.”

“I sacrifice Warm Worm, mill three.”

I did so, not even bothering to pay attention to what they were. This deck didn’t have graveyard interactions, and I had all the burn damage I needed.

“First up, I’ll play the spell Blood Tithe. Every opponent takes 1500 damage, and I gain life equal to the total amount lost.”

[b]Johann: 25,500

Taylor: 750[/b]

“Then, I’ll summon Arrogant Outlaw. If an opponent has taken damage this turn before he’s summoned, then every opponent takes 1000 damage, and I gain that much. I believe that’s game?”

Taylor sighed, as the holograms shut off and I walked over to her. Giving a glare, though not as fiery as the one she gave when I first flirted with her, she asked, “Couldn’t you have attacked? I had a Magic Cylinder ready and waiting.”

I shrugged with a slight chuckle, “Sorry, this deck’s built for drain and burn. Though when you first made me mill I had a bit of a panic, you killed my normal win condition with that move. I would have played a spell that made you lose life every time I gained it. Combined with Exquisite Blood, and that's an infinite damage loop.”

Before either of us could say anything more, chimes from our PDAs drew our attention. Pulling them out, I was pleased to see that it was a notification that my DP had gone up. By a decent amount.

[QUOTE][b]Victory (Ra Yellow):[/b] +500 DP

[B]Burn Victory:[/b] +100 DP

[B]Life Gain Over Starting:[/b] +155 DP

[B]Total DP Gained:[/b] +755

[B]Current DP:[/b] 1,255[/QUOTE]

Sweet!