Chapter 62. Exodia vs. Tearlaments! YCS Nationals—Did Exodia Thin Out Tearlaments Like Gauze?
National-level Duel?
As the short-video host tossed out an even more intriguing tease, the Duelists across the six Duel Worlds all tensed up.
If it's a national tournament,
then it's similar to a KC Cup-tier event, right?
And its prestige,
without question, weighs far more than some regional.
With that question hanging,
the channel "Old Exodia's Restraint play" quickly gave an explanation.
"'Old Exodia's Restraint play'—this 'nationals' is the YCS, the Yu-Gi-Oh! Championship Series!"
"'Old Exodia's Restraint play'—it's an official, national-level event, sometimes organized by state!"
"'Old Exodia's Restraint play'—it's one of the largest TCG-format tournaments!"
"Equivalent to a country-level Duelists' Cup!"
"And it was at just such a tournament,"
"that in the year 3202, two players brought us a very interesting, spectacular Duel!"
"Player justinS (the 'merman') is a cheerful guy using Tearlaments."
"Player JeffreyL (Exodia) is a cheerful uncle, said to have started dueling to accompany his son, and the Deck he's using is our video's star—Exodia!!!"
The more they listened,
the more the six Duel Worlds felt something was off.
At this level of event,
someone actually brought a casual Deck to compete?
Seriously?
Is he crazy?
That JeffreyL guy (Exodia) isn't afraid of losing?
Duel Monsters world.
Seto Kaiba snorted and soon gave his take.
"If it were the KC Cup,"
"and someone entered with a casual Deck,"
"I imagine they'd get plenty of ridicule."
"But if it's Exodia..."
There,
Kaiba stopped.
Yes.
If it's Exodia,
even if the earlier approaches were all casual builds,
no one would say much if it lost.
At least it's a 'win once and feel good all day' kind of Deck.
"Kaiba, aren't you curious about Tearlaments?"
"Since this Duel became a hot topic in that '29' world,"
"doesn't that imply Tearlaments might be terrifyingly strong?"
"....."
Yugi Muto keenly picked up on the oddity in this short video's featured Deck matchup.
Exodia is a casual Deck in Sei Yuki's world.
If a casual Deck fights another casual Deck, there's nothing to see.
Then there's only one possibility!
Exodia defeated the competitive Deck, Tearlaments!
And the method was—
assembling Exodia the Forbidden One in a single turn!!!
And the answer,
was exactly as Yugi Muto guessed.
"'Old Exodia's Restraint play'—so how did this Duel actually go?"
"'Old Exodia's Restraint play'—let's keep watching, and it'll all become clear."
"'Old Exodia's Restraint play'—first, a quick primer for those unfamiliar."
"At that time, Tearlaments was in a tier of its own."
"You could say it was an absolute Tier 0 Deck."
"I won't get into Tearlaments just yet."
"Our video's focus is Exodia, so let's see how Exodia player JeffreyL defeated the mighty, beautiful Tearlaments."
As the host finished,
the footage cut straight to the tournament floor.
A few foreigners with Bandit Keith-type looks grinned as the Duel began.
Tearlaments player justinS (the 'merman') still hadn't realized the gravity of the situation.
Amid easy banter, he seemed full of confidence from having Tearlaments in hand.
JeffreyL (Exodia) slipped on his reading glasses.
With Ignis Phoenix, the Dracoslayer in hand, he didn't seem fazed by the ultra-meta Tearlaments either.
As the Duel was about to ignite,
both LP: 8000!
First turn: JeffreyL (Exodia)!
Opening 5 cards! The combo begins immediately!
JeffreyL (Exodia): "My turn. Normal Summon Neo Space Connector!"
JeffreyL (Exodia): "By its effect, I Special Summon Neo-Spacian Aqua Dolphin from the Deck."
JeffreyL (Exodia): "Activate Aqua Dolphin's effect. I discard Fire Flint Lady."
"Then let me check your hand."
As justinS (the 'merman') fanned his hand, we saw:
Field Spell Primeval Planet Perlereino!
Monster Kelbek the Ancient Vanguard!
Monster Shaddoll Squamata!
Monster Danger! Mothman!!
Monster Danger! Nessie!!
Seeing these, JeffreyL (Exodia) looked slightly grave.
No monsters under 800 ATK—Aqua Dolphin's effect fizzles.
Even if he could blow something up,
he wouldn't dare to.
JeffreyL (Exodia): "All right, then I'll Link Aqua Dolphin and Connector!"
JeffreyL (Exodia): "Here I bring out this Link Monster!"
JeffreyL (Exodia): "Isolde, Two Tales of the Noble Knights!!!"
"On Link Summon, it can activate to add 1 Warrior from the Deck to the hand."
"For this turn, you can't Normal/Special that monster or activate its effects."
"I'm adding Igknight Templar!!!"
Grabbing a Pendulum Monster to hand!
ARC-V world Duelists all flinched.
Even when they saw the list earlier,
they knew this Deck would rely on Pendulum.
But the instant a Pendulum was actually searched,
they were still stunned!
Sure enough!
In this higher world, Pendulum is nothing special!
Yuya Sakaki, Reiji Akaba, and Gongenzaka all exchanged looks and kept silent.
They kept watching to see how this Pendulum Deck, and the Igknights, would support Exodia's searches!
JeffreyL (Exodia): "Next I'll use Isolde again."
JeffreyL (Exodia): "Send Infernoble Arms – Durendal from Deck to the GY as cost."
"Special Summon Infernoble Knight – Renaud (Level 1) from the Deck!"
"Renaud effect: I retrieve the Durendal from the GY!"
justinS (merman): "Hold it! I activate Kelbek the Ancient Vanguard in my hand!"
justinS (merman): "I bounce your Isolde and Special Summon Kelbek in Defense!"
At first, justinS wasn't worried.
But seeing the opponent's board develop this far, he had to interfere.
JeffreyL (Exodia): "Hahaha, sure, sure."
JeffreyL (Exodia): "Then I equip Renaud with Durendal."
"Durendal effect: I search Ignis Phoenix, the Dracoslayer!"
"Durendal destroys itself. I play Instant Fusion!"
"I pay 1000 LP. Special Summon a Level 5 or lower Fusion from the Extra Deck."
"Fusion Summon, Flame Swordsman!"
"Then I play Instant Contact!"
"Contact Fusion, Elemental HERO Flare Neos!"
"Now I Link Flare Neos and Flame Swordsman!"
"Isolde, Two Tales of the Noble Knights—come back out!"
Again???
At this moment,
not only justinS (the 'merman'),
but even the nearby players and judges looked bewildered.
What on earth
is this guy trying to do?
JeffreyL (Exodia): "Scale 7 on the left: Igknight Templar!"
JeffreyL (Exodia): "Scale 7 on the right: Ignis Phoenix, the Dracoslayer!"
"Isolde's restriction only hits monster effects, not Pendulum effects!"
"Igknight Templar effect—destroy a card in the Pendulum Zone, and search the Deck for Igknight Crusader!"
"Ignis Phoenix effect—if this card is destroyed by battle or effect on the field, Special Summon from the Deck Igknight Gallant as a Tuner!"
"Level 6 Tuner Igknight Gallant with Level 1 Infernoble Knight – Renaud!"
"I Synchro Summon! Symphonic Warrior Rockks!!!"
"Rockks effect—add back Igknight Templar!"
"Left Scale 3: Igknight Crusader!"
"Right Scale 7: Igknight Templar!"
"I Link Rockks and Isolde!"
"Beyond the Pendulum!"
"Beyond effect—search Tuning Magician!"
"I'm opening the Scales!"
"Pendulum Summon! Ignis Phoenix, the Dracoslayer!"
"Pendulum Summon! Tuning Magician!"
"Pendulum Summon! Igknight Gallant!"
"....."
Stunned.
One word—stunned.
After seeing this,
the Duelists across the six Duel Worlds felt like their brain capacity had been totally exceeded!
Pendulum Summon—they thought they basically understood it as setting like Spells/Traps,
with two effects available.
But now! Dropping so many monsters at once by Pendulum!
What is this operation?!
Can Pendulum Summon be played like this???
Except for the ARC-V world,
the other five had already gone slack-jawed.
And this—the show had only just begun!
JeffreyL (Exodia): "Tuning effect—pull Purple Poison Magician from the Deck!"
"Purple Poison and Tuning overlay!"
"Two Level 4s!"
"Overlay to Xyz Summon Time Star Magician!!!"
"Time Star effect—detach 1 material."
"Search from the Deck: Exodia the Forbidden One!!!"
As JeffreyL finally revealed the crucial piece,
the Deck's internal synergy and Exodia all connected in that instant!
The smiling justinS (the 'merman') turned pale.
justinS (merman): "What???"
justinS (merman): "You can do that???"
Before justinS could recover,
even scarier Exodia lines kept rolling!
JeffreyL (Exodia): "Activate Igknight Crusader."
"I blow up my whole Pendulum Zone, but Time Star triggers!"
"I can send 1 Spellcaster from my Deck to the GY instead of destroying a Pendulum card."
"So I send—Blue Dragon Summoner!!!"
"Next! Link Time Star and Beyond!"
"Link Summon Selene, Queen of the Master Magicians!"
"Selene effect—place 5 Spell Counters!"
"Then remove 3 to revive Blue Dragon Summoner!"
"Link Blue Dragon and Selene into Cross-Sheep!"
"Blue Dragon effect—add Right Leg of the Forbidden One from the Deck!"
"Igknight Gallant and Ignis Phoenix contact-fuse!"
"Fusion Summon Dinomight Powerload, the Dracoslayer to a Cross-Sheep arrow!"
"Cross-Sheep effect—revive Blue Dragon Summoner!"
"Link Blue Dragon and Cross-Sheep into a second Selene!"
"Blue Dragon effect—add Left Leg of the Forbidden One!"
"Selene—gain counters, remove counters, revive Blue Dragon."
"Then Link Dinomight Powerload, Blue Dragon, and Selene!"
"A third Selene, Queen of the Master Magicians!"
"Blue Dragon effect—add Right Arm of the Forbidden One!"
"Selene—gain counters, remove counters, revive Blue Dragon."
"Link Selene and Blue Dragon into Apollousa, Bow of the Goddess!"
"Blue Dragon effect—add Left Arm of the Forbidden One!"
"Game. Over."
As the words fell,
JeffreyL (Exodia) spread the five assembled Exodia pieces from his hand.
On the other side, Tearlaments player justinS felt a whole herd of horses stampeding through his heart.
The mighty Tearlaments,
was OTK'd by an Exodia casual build???
Huh?
You've gotta be kidding me!!!
It wasn't just justinS left dumbfounded.
From the short video, you could tell the other players were also at a total loss!
Tearlaments, the ultra-meta, got thinned out by Exodia like gauze?????
Whoa!
Not even in my dreams!
Maybe justinS's list had issues!
Or his opening hand bricked too hard?
With that chain of back-to-back Link climbs,
abusing Blue Dragon Summoner to search Exodia limbs on loop,
the Duelists across the six worlds were completely emotionally shattered!
What even is this?
How is this even done?
Who even came up with this?
A system,
stitched together from parts that seemingly have nothing to do with Exodia!
And yet,
this patchwork actually assembled all five Exodia pieces in a single turn???
Duel Monsters world.
Solomon Muto almost coughed up blood!
His beloved Exodia,
could actually be assembled this way too!
Yugi Muto and the Pharaoh within took a sharp breath!
Both are sharp Duel minds,
and yet right now,
it felt like elementary schoolers trying to read college calculus!
Three words: "Don't get it!"
Five words: "Absolutely don't get it!!!"
Pegasus and Kaiba both set aside the faint disdain they'd had moments earlier.
This world is terrifying!
GX world.
The whole Duel Academy fell silent at the final shot.
It was as if every student and teacher forgot they could speak.
Only when the video's cheers erupted at the end,
did they finally explode.
"This line! Did anyone understand it? Any geniuses in the house?!"
"Nope, not at all! I only know this— that uncle JeffreyL was way too cool!"
"Precision-search Exodia! Repeatedly looping Blue Dragon! I'm flipping out!"
"So this so-called ultra-meta Tearlaments in the video didn't even get to show anything!"
"....."
While some were dazzled by Exodia's operations,
others started to doubt Tearlaments' strength!
Is that Deck,
really strong?
Hopefully Sei Yuki can find a Tearlaments short video later for us to watch!
This supposedly ultra-meta Deck—
what's the real story?
That it couldn't even beat Exodia!
Maybe the Deck is just overhyped?
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