The cards were already in their hands, the field was set, and everything was ready.
Alexander glanced at Roland briefly and said, "This is just a trial duel, so I'll go first."
Roland nodded once; he had no objection to that as he understood why Alexander made such a choice.
Alexander paused, then added, "As a reminder, the first player doesn't draw on their first turn."
Roland's brow furrowed slightly before he calmly asked, "Why?"
Alexander didn't hesitate and explained, "There's something I like to call hand advantage."
He lifted his cards slightly and continued, "The more cards you have, the more options you can play with. If the first player could draw immediately, they'd stack that advantage on top of already controlling the pace of the game."
Roland considered that, then gave a small nod and commented, "I see..."
Then his expression shifted faintly as he added, "I'm impressed... You've thought this throughly."
Alexander didn't respond; he simply looked at the five cards in his hand.
M-Warrior #1.
Rhaimundus of the Red Sword.
Graceful Charity.
Dian Keto the Cure Master.
Firegrass.
Seeing that, he held himself back from smiling wryly while thinking, 'Three vanilla Monsters, and two Spell cards, one of which is the forbidden Graceful Charity... It could be worse... I could've bricked.'
Shortly after thinking that, he said, "Let's begin. We both have 2000 LP."
He placed a card on the field while announcing, "I activate the Spell card. Graceful Charity. This card makes me draw three cards, but then I have to discard two cards from my hand."
He drew three cards in one smooth motion, then selected two cards from his hand, showed them, revealing two Trap cards and said, "These are discarded."
He calmly placed them into the Graveyard together with the Spell card while saying, "After it was activated, Graceful Charity also goes to the Graveyard."
Roland's eyes followed the movement, watching carefully, memorising every single detail.
Alexander didn't pause as he placed another Spell card in one of the Spell and Trap Zones and announced, "I also activate Dian Keto the Cure Master. This card effect lets me gain 1000 LP, raising the total to 3000 LP."
Then he sent the Spell card to the Graveyard and placed a Monster card on the field while announcing, "I'm summoning Guardian of the Labyrinth."
He placed it horizontally in a deliberate and somewhat theatrical manner, just to put more emphasis on the movement as he added, "In defence position."
[Guardian of the Labyrinth - ATK 1000 / DEF 1200]
He kept looking at his hand to see if there was anything else he could do, but that was once again the dissonance caused by the memories of his older self that kept reminding him of the almost endless combos he experienced, so he looked up and said, "And... That's all."
He leaned back slightly before he announced, "My turn ends."
Roland didn't move immediately; his gaze shifted to the monster on the field.
Alexander followed his line of sight and realised his mistake, "Ah, right... I forgot to explain."
"That's a normal monster," he said. "It has no effect. You can recognise it as a normal monster from the light yellow frame."
He tapped lightly near the top and continued, "These stars indicate its level. From Level 1 to Level 4, you can summon them without any problem, naturally only once per turn. But higher levels require the tribute of another monster to perform a Tribute Summon. Level 5 to Level 6 require one tribute. While from Level 7 onwards, it requires two tributes."
Roland listened without interrupting, then he pointed at the colored circle on the top right corner and asked, "What is that?"
Alexander patiently replied, "This is its Attribute; there are six of them: Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, Dark, and Light. It will affect how some cards will interact with it. For example, there will be a Spell that empowers all Water Attribute Monsters and at the same time weakens all the Fire Attribute ones. And the same is true for the card Type that can be found in the box under the artwork, right above where the flavour text and the effects are written."
Roland's gaze shifted again as he took a closer look at both the card on the field and the ones in his hand and muttered, "I see..."
Then Alexander suddenly remembered something else and added, " I also forgot that you can set monsters face-down in defence position instead of face-up like I did. This is usually more tactically sound as it hides information."
Roland immediately understood the implication and exhaled quietly, "This feels less and less like a card game and more like a game of chess..."
Alexander didn't deny it outright and simply nodded while Roland added, "But less predictable, as there is also an element of luck involved."
Finally, Roland drew his card before his eyes scanned his hand, then the field, then back to his hand.
After a few moments, he moved.
He placed one card face-down in one of the monster zones, then two more followed, set behind it in the Spell and Trap card zones before he announced, "My turn ends."
Alexander drew and saw a very familiar figure, his first card, Petit Dragon, making him think, 'This may be useful later...'
Then he moved immediately, announcing, "I summon Rhaimundus of the Red Sword in attack position."
The card hit the field in attack position.
[Rhaimundus of the Red Sword - ATK 1200 / DEF 1300]
After that, he continued, "I also change Guardian of the Labyrinth to attack position."
He rotated it, and Roland's eyes sharpened slightly as Alexander announced, "Now I enter the Battle Phase."
Alexander pointed, "Rhaimundus attacks your set monster, which is then flipped up and revealed."
In response, Roland flipped the card, it's Man-Eater Bug.
[Man-Eater Bug - 450 ATK / 600 DEF]
Roland's lips curved slightly as he said, "I suppose at this point its effect activates…?"
Alexander nodded and explained, "Indeed... That's the trigger for that card's effect. However, take note that the battle still resolves first, then its effect, which means it will still be destroyed."
Roland understands and sends his card to the Graveyard before Alexander says, "Now you can choose a target."
Roland didn't hesitate and pointed at the Guardian of the Labyrinth, "That one."
Guardian of the Labyrinth is then sent to the Graveyard, making Alexander exhale softly, "…Fair."
Having no more means to make a follow-up attack, Alexander announced, "My turn ends."
Roland drew again, he studied the new card, then turned it slightly to show it to Alexander while asking, "This symbol... What does it mean?"
Alexander glanced at it and explained, "It indicates that it is a Field Spell."
Roland looked up and asked, "And how is it different from regular ones?"
Alexander pointed to the board and said, "That area is called the Field Zone, and exists specifically for that kind of card. Once activated, they are placed there, and their effects are constantly active for the rest of the duel. Unless, of course, they are removed."
Roland nodded, then placed the card in the Field Zone and said, "I activate the Field Spell Forest. All Insect, Beast, Plant, and Beast-Warrior monsters on the field will gain 200 ATK and DEF."
After doing that, he placed another card, this time in the Monster Zone, while saying, "I summon Killer Needle in attack position."
[Killer Needle - 1200 ATK / 1000 DEF]
"And since it is an Insect, it gets stronger," Roland noted, which made Alexander nod and say, "It does."
[Killer Needle - 1400 ATK / 1200 DEF]
Roland didn't waste time and continued, "Battle Phase. I attack your monster with Killer Needle, destroying it and making your Life Points drop to 2800."
Roland then flipped one of his set cards and announced, "I activate Magical Thorn."
He glanced up at Alexander and said, "It says Continuous. Am I right to suppose that, similar to the Field Spell, this one also stays active indefinitely?"
Alexander nodded and replied, "You're right. It does have a similar function, but it also takes up one slot in your Spell and Trap card zones..."
Roland leaned back slightly, already noticing the implied trade-off and commented, "Interesting..." before he announced, "My turn ends."
Alexander started his turn and drew. With a quick glance, he saw it was Fusion Sage.
After that, he looked at his hand, then the field, then back again and muttered, "Not enough to do anything for now."
At this point, he shrugged his shoulders and simply set one monster card face-down and announced, "That's it. I end my turn."
Roland's turn, he drew, took a quick look, then, without hesitation, he put yet another card in the monster zone next to Killer Needle while saying, "I summon Kamakiriman in attack position."
[Kamakiriman - 1150 ATK / 1400 DEF]
Another summon, another increase in pressure as the Field Spell buffed it up.
[Kamakiriman - 1350 ATK / 1600 DEF]
Then he played a spell card, "I activate the Spell Card Raigeki. This allows me to destroy all monsters you control."
Alexander calmly sent the only card on his field to the Graveyard, leaving it empty, while Roland also sent his Spell card to his Graveyard.
Then Roland didn't hesitate and said, "Battle Phase. I attack directly with both my monsters for a grand total of 2750 LP, dropping yours to only 50 LP."
Roland looked at him and commented in something close to an amused tone, "It seems the creator is about to lose the very first duel of his own game."
Alexander didn't react, and with a confident smile, he said, "You better remember this... A duel isn't over until Life Points reach zero."
Then he drew, and his smile grew bigger as he saw the legendary forbidden card, Pot of Greed.
With no hesitation, he slapped it down on the field and announced, "I activate the Spell Card Pot of Greed, which allows me to draw two more cards."
Alexander drew the two cards from the top of his deck, and when he saw them, he went still as his eyes widened slightly.
Monster Reborn.
Elemental Hero Neos.
For just a second, he simply stared at the two new cards in his hand while muttering, "How... convenient."
At the same time, a flicker of a thought crossed his mind, 'Among all the cards I could've drawn in this messily mashed-up deck, which has only one copy of every card... I pull the only ones that can actually reverse this situation? Could it be that just like the Duel Spirits... the Heart of the Cards also...?'
That very thought was so ridiculous that Alexander dismissed it before it could even fully form.
Then he focused back on the duel and continued, "Now, I activate the Spell Card Monster Reborn that allows me to target 1 monster in either Graveyard and Special Summon it. I chose Guardian of the Labyrinth in my Graveyard."
Alexander quickly retrieved Guardian of the Labyrinth from the Graveyard pile and put it back on the field in defence position.
[Guardian of the Labyrinth - 1000 ATK / 1200 DEF]
After doing that, Alexander put another Spell Card on the field while announcing, "Now, I activate Fusion Sage, which allows me to add 1 Polymerization from my Deck to my hand."
He quickly searched his deck and pulled out the card, showing it to Roland before he quickly put it in his hand and shuffled his deck.
At this point, Alexander continued his play by placing the newly added card and announcing, "I also activate Polymerization, which allows me to Fusion Summon 1 Fusion Monster from my Extra Deck using monsters from my hand or field."
Alexander picked up two cards from his hand and showed them to Roland while saying, "I fuse Petit Dragon and Firegrass into the only Fusion Monster in my Extra Deck... Darkfire Dragon."
The two monster cards are then sent to the Graveyard while the only card in Alexander's Extra Deck is flipped face up and placed on the field.
[Darkfire Dragon - 1500 ATK / 1250 DEF]
Reaching this point, Alexander smiled and said, "Since Darkfire Dragon and Guardian of the Labyrinth have been Special Summoned, I can still Normal Summon one monster and so... I tribute both to Tribute Summon my strongest monster..."
Both monsters are sent to the Graveyard, and in their place, Alexander puts another card on the field while announcing, "Elemental Hero Neos."
[Elemental Hero Neos - 2500 ATK / 2000 DEF]
When the card hit the field, it almost seemed to emit some kind of pressure for a brief moment, which made Roland's eyes narrow slightly.
At the same time, Alexander declared, "Battle Phase. I attack Kamakiriman with Elemental Hero Neos, destroying your monster and dealing 1150 damage. Then end my turn."
The next turn, Roland didn't draw anything useful, so he simply changed Killer Needle in denfence position and ended his turn, allowing Alexander to start his, summon a monster and finish by announcing, "I attack and destroy your Killer Needle with Neos. And now that the field is clear, I attack directly with M-Warrior #1, turning your Life Points to zero."
There was a brief silence to let the moment sink in, then Alexander exhaled and said, "I won..."
[Ding!]
As soon as he declared his victory, Alexander heard the now familiar chime of the YGO System; however, he didn't focus on it.
He looked down at the field, then at Roland before he said, "That's how this game is played... What do you think?"