## Watching Yu-Gi-Oh!
Shorts, the Old-school Duelists Have a Meltdown!
# Chapter 10: Painful HERO Combo!
The Oppressive Power of Dark Law!
The DM World fell into a hushed silence once more.
In contrast, the 5D’s World, ZEXAL World, and those beyond were filled with anticipation for this so-called “HERO” system.
If the Blue-Eyes video showed them a high-level, high-attack power deck, then they hoped to see the HERO system as a unique, explosive combo deck!
However, given the sheer number of sub-archetypes involved, they remained skeptical.
Even in the VRAINS World—the era of the most advanced Dueling—no one had dared to cram so many different name-strings into a single deck.
***
5D’s World.
“Yusei! What do you make of these HEROes?” Crow Hogan asked, rubbing his chin.
“With so many different archetypes, can they really synergize?”
“I’m not sure,” Yusei Fudo replied, though his mind seemed to be elsewhere.
“But as you know, every deck has infinite possibilities. My Stardust and Synchron cards work well together, don’t they? It’s hard to judge this HERO deck yet.”
In truth, Yusei was more interested in seeing how his own Stardust and Synchron cards were viewed in that “Higher World.” Did Stardust Dragon have a future?
*No,* he told himself.
*Stardust Dragon definitely has a future.
And so do the Synchrons!*
“It’s normal to have multiple name-strings,” Akiza Izinski added optimistically.
“Look at Jack’s deck; he uses several different cards to support Red Dragon Archfiend. I have a good feeling about this system.”
Jack Atlas and Crow fell silent, turning their eyes back to the screen to re-evaluate.
***
VRAINS World.
Yusaku Fujiki’s eyes glittered.
Instead, he had caught something in the Extra Deck construction: it was packed with Link Monsters!
This system actually incorporated the products of the Link Era!
“Ooh! Interesting!” Skye Zaizen pointed at the screen with a mischievous grin.
“Link HEROes? So this archetype can use Links! And look, this build also uses Maxx ‘C’ and Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring? Hehe, this is going to be fun!”
Even Varis looked on with surprise.
Link Summoning represented the cutting edge of Dueling technology.
If HEROes could utilize Links, the deck had to be taken seriously.
“Hahaha! I like the look of this!” The Gore laughed boisterously, clutching his Gouki cards.
As a user of a deck with incredible Special Summoning power and Link pressure, he respected any deck that could swarm the field.
“It’s starting,” Takeru Homura said coolly.
“Let’s watch.”
The screen flickered, transitioning into the familiar interface of Master Duel.
***
[Noble Toxic Hero Player]: “Hello, everyone! Today, I’m bringing you an introduction video for the HERO archetype.”
[Noble Toxic Hero Player]: “I’m sure many of you love HEROes as a ‘Soul Deck,’ so I won’t beat around the bush. After checking the decklist, let’s start with a few standard HERO opening combos.”
[Noble Toxic Hero Player]: “First, Combo 1: The ‘Helpless Opening’ for when your hand is a total brick.”
As the voiceover finished, the video displayed the first sequence.
“I activate the Spell Card: [A Hero Lives]!”
“According to its effect, if I control no face-up monsters, I can pay half my LP to Special Summon one Level 4 or lower ‘Elemental HERO’ monster from my deck!”
“In this case, we just Special Summon [Elemental HERO Shadow Mist]!”
“When Shadow Mist is Special Summoned, I can activate her effect to add one ‘Change’ Quick-Play Spell from my deck to my hand.”
“I’ll choose to search for [Mask Change]!”
“Then, I use [Mask Change] to bring out [Masked HERO Dark Law]!”
[Card Name: Masked HERO Dark Law (Level 6)]
[Attribute: DARK]
[Type: Warrior / Fusion / Effect]
[ATK/DEF: 2400/1800]
[Noble Toxic Hero Player]: “That’s it for Combo 1. If you have any Spells or Traps, set them. If you have Hand Traps like Ash Blossom or Maxx ‘C’, use them to disrupt the opponent.”
To many onlookers, it looked like a desperate move—paying half of one’s life points just to end on a single monster!
But no experienced Duelist dared to call it a mistake.
It wasn’t just because this was a “recovery” play for a bad hand.
It was because of that card: **Dark Law**.
The power of this Masked HERO on the field was staggering!
**Effect 1:** Any card sent to the opponent’s Graveyard is banished instead.
What did “banished” mean?
Every Duelist understood, even those in the DM era.
If an opponent’s deck relied on the Graveyard and they had no way to interact with the Banished Zone, this single card could dismantle their entire strategy.
It sent everything to another dimension!
It was a total counter to any “milling” or Graveyard-reliant deck.
Unless you dealt with Dark Law, your resources were effectively deleted the moment they left the field or hand.
Playing against it was like committing slow-motion suicide.
The Blue-Eyes players from the previous video would probably burst into tears seeing this card on the field!
**Effect 2:** Once per turn, if the opponent adds a card(s) from their Deck to their hand (except during the Draw Phase), you can banish one random card from their hand.
A powerful disruption against searching!
Even if it was only once per turn, ripping a card out of the opponent’s hand was devastating.
In the GX World, Jaden was stunned!
Aster Phoenix was equally speechless!
The teachers, professors, and students were all paralyzed with shock.
This “messy” HERO mash-up wasn’t as simple as they thought.
Elemental HEROes leading into Masked HEROes…
the synergy was real.
The mixture of archetypes wasn’t a mistake—it was the plan!
End of Chapter