After finishing, Yugen had planned to say a few comforting words to Manjoume. His opponent had performed well, but now looked like he might shut himself off from the world.
Yet when Yugen turned around, Manjoume was already gone.
He could only put the thought aside.
Hopefully Manjoume was fine.
Beating Manjoume with VWXYZ-Dragon Cannon felt a bit strange. It was like correcting a future mistake while the other party had no idea what was going on.
From the way things were developing, Yugen felt that Manjoume's real transformation had only just begun.
This time he had seen Light End Dragon and Dark End Dragon, but not the famous Panda Dragon, also known as Light and Darkness Dragon because of its half black, half white design.
In the original storyline, Panda Dragon also had a Spirit, and a very powerful one at that. It was Manjoume's true ace.
Of course, in the anime timeline, his symbolic Spirit was Ojama Trio, which changed the tone instantly.
Manjoume first met Ojama Yellow after suffering a heavy blow and deciding to leave Duel Academy. He experienced a shipwreck at sea, and the head of Duel Academy North Campus gave him that card.
Although the timeline had shifted and the process was different, Manjoume still showed signs of shutting down. In his current state, it would not be surprising if events pushed him to leave Duel Academy anyway.
For him personally, that might not be a bad thing. Without those experiences, it would be hard for him to keep improving.
For now, that was not Yugen's concern. He accepted the competition credits from the Duel Department and, led by the senior host, arrived at the department's card Deck storage.
Which cards should he choose?
There were not many on his list that he urgently wanted, but there were several useful generic options. One in particular caught his eye.
Magic Jammer, Level 5, ATK 1800.
Effect: While this card is face up on the field, Spell Cards cannot be activated, and all Spell Card effects on the field are negated. (ANIME EFFECT)
This was a monster used by Amelda, one of the Doma Three Swords in the DM anime. It immediately reminded Yugen of an old competitive Deck known as the Ojama Jammer build.
As the name suggested, the core of that Deck was Ojamas and Magic Jammer.
Ojamas were known for locking the opponent's field, and Magic Jammer targeted the powerful Spell Cards that dominated the format at the time. Cards like Pot of Greed, Hand Destruction, Dark Hole, and Heavy Storm were all treated the same under Magic Jammer.
Back then, many banned level Spell Cards were staples in almost every serious Deck. When facing Magic Jammer, it was common to see those cards stuck uselessly in hand.
Of course, Magic Jammer's 1800 ATK was its main weakness. It could easily be beaten in battle. Ojamas could cover that weakness.
Using Ojama Trio to block the opponent's monster zones, or pairing it with control Back Row like Gravity Bind, created a tight lock. The opponent could neither attack effectively nor activate Spell Cards to clear the field, leaving them with no way out.
It was clearly an early era control Deck built purely to frustrate opponents, a pioneer of lockdown strategies.
With respect for those pioneers, Yugen decisively selected several core components of the Ojama Jammer build.
Overall, the Deck was not expensive. Most of the pieces, including the Ojamas, were cheap in this world. Only cards like Amelda's Magic Jammer counted as Rare Cards, but there happened to be one in the Duel Department inventory he could claim, along with two fairly rare traps.
Without spending much, Yugen gained another early competitive Deck that suited his control style well.
In the anime, Ojama Trio even seemed to come with a natural taunt effect. Its attack animation involved jumping and slamming into the opponent, and he could already imagine how much fun future Duelists would have facing this old school control build.
"All right, I will take these."
Yugen happily accepted the selected cards.
The senior host counted them and seemed puzzled. "Are you sure these are the ones you want?"
"Yes," Yugen replied with a smile.
Her expression grew strange.
There were several impressive high level monsters in the Duel Department inventory, all Rare Cards. In the past, members who earned the right to claim a Rare Card usually chose expensive and powerful High-Level Monsters.
Yet the only monster above Level 4 Yugen picked was Magic Jammer, Level 5 with just 1800 ATK. While its effect was strong, most people would consider that attack value too low.
Moreover, his Ojama core had already been purchased earlier from the Academy Department. The cards he selected here were only scattered support pieces, which made his plan even harder to guess.
Still, she knew this junior often came up with unusual strategies, so she did not try to stop him.
When she packed the cards into a box and handed them over, she could not help asking, "Junior, are these for some new tactic?"
"You have good instincts," Yugen said with a grin as he took the box.
"Can you tell me what it is?"
She could not hide her curiosity.
Yugen looked at her for a moment. "Want to know?"
"Yes." She nodded quickly.
"Then be sure to watch next week's team Duel."
He put away the card box and smiled.
"You will understand when you see it."
With a casual wave, he left.
The senior host stamped her foot in frustration, her shoulders shaking.
He refused to say and even teased her with suspense.
Now she was even more curious.
But next week's team Duel.
She suddenly had a feeling.
Some unlucky pair was about to suffer badly.
"Yugen sure looks calm."
Daidouji-sensei sat in his alchemy lab chair, holding his cat named Pharaoh Atem and lazily stroking its round body.
Since entering Duel Academy, Daidouji had mostly kept a low profile. The laboratory was listed as research support provided by Duel Academy, but in truth it had been unused for years. He had always maintained the image of someone drifting through his days, both in front of students and the academy, so no one had ever seen him take research seriously.
That changed only recently.
When Yugen first pushed open the door, a musty smell rushed out to meet him. Dust covered the floor, and sunlight slipped through gaps in the windows, forming beams filled with floating particles.
He spent some time cleaning the place thoroughly. From then on, the lab had essentially become his workspace.
"What?" Yugen looked up from the workbench where he was focused on his task.
"The team Duel," Daidouji said, tilting his head while continuing to pet the cat. "You don't seem nervous at all."
"Oh, that. There's nothing to be nervous about."
Yugen lowered his head and kept working.
"Besides, doesn't Judai Yuki look pretty calm too?" he added casually. "I invited him yesterday to help research a Deck for the team battle, but he turned me down. Said something about Hayato Maeda's dad coming to visit. Anyway, he had something to deal with."
When Judai Yuki mentioned it, Yugen remembered the plot. Their dorm's Koala guy had a father who thought his son was wasting time at Duel Academy and wanted him to withdraw.
In the end, Hayato Maeda dueled his father. He lost, but still managed to convince him to let him stay at Duel Academy.
Hayato Maeda's father used something called the Drunkard Deck, a strange Level Series that had never received real world prints.
According to Daidouji-sensei, he was also the inheritor of the Satsuma Dimensional Style, a world famous Duelist. It was said to be a one strike style derived from swordsmanship, capable of ending a Duel instantly.
But judging from that animated Duel, the performance of his Deck looked underwhelming.
It was a bit strange. A world famous Duelist should not have shown that level of strength, yet it was hard to make a firm conclusion.
After all, in the animation he only summoned two monsters. No one knew what else remained in his Deck. Perhaps he held back on purpose since he was dueling his son.