Getting hit out of nowhere by what was essentially a bootleg Card Destruction left Joey staring blankly at his new hand for a moment.
His original opening hand had been extremely comfortable by his standards, with several cards he had planned to Set during Main Phase 2.
Now every one of them was sitting uselessly in the Graveyard.
Joey looked over his five replacement cards and quickly recovered.
“I activate Pot of Greed!
I draw two cards!” An unconditional one-for-two.
Simple, brainless, and unbelievably satisfying.
Judging from the expression that appeared on Joey’s face after he drew, he had clearly found something useful.
“All right!
I activate the Spell Card I just drew—Mystical Space Typhoon!
It destroys one Spell or Trap Card on the field, and you’ve only got one face-down card, so that’s the one I’m taking out!” Jamie quietly picked up his doomed Sakuretsu Armor and sent it to the Graveyard.
That settled it.
He was never putting this cursed card in another Deck again.
Joey was still in the stage of his career where his usual solution to most problems was to charge straight through them, yet even he had managed to top-deck Mystical Space Typhoon at exactly the right moment and hit Sakuretsu Armor with perfect accuracy.
There was no way that was coincidence.
This card was obviously cursed by the will of the universe itself.
“I Set two cards and end my turn!” [Joey Wheeler: Hand 5 → 3] Joey grinned proudly.
“Well?
Pretty good, right?” Jamie offered no particular reaction to the boast, but Joey’s friends beside the field immediately became much more animated.
“Yugi, Joey has the advantage right now, doesn’t he?” Téa asked.
Of everyone in their group, she probably knew the least about Duel Monsters, though Tristan was not far ahead of her.
Both of them could only judge the situation from what was visibly on the field.
“He’s got a strong monster and two face-down cards, while Jamie doesn’t have anything left.” Yugi shook his head thoughtfully.
“I’m not sure yet.
We should keep watching.
Jamie still has five cards in his hand, and he’ll draw another one this turn.
In Duel Monsters, even one card can open up possibilities you didn’t expect.
Six cards can change everything.” They had only seen one turn from Jamie, which was nowhere near enough for Yugi to understand how he Dued.
At most, judging from the way Jamie had Set both a monster and a Trap without hesitation, Yugi suspected their styles might share certain similarities.
Although if Yugi had been in Jamie’s position, he definitely would not have used Sakuretsu Armor.
He would have used Mirror Force.
“My turn.
Draw!” Jamie glanced over his hand and began to suspect that either his luck had malfunctioned or the System had.
So much for Jank Players Don’t Die from Bricking.
This hand was an absolute brick.
Fortunately, the green card occupying most of his newest draw gave him fresh hope.
“I activate Pot of Greed and draw two cards.” Drawing cards felt good.
Drawing even more cards felt better.
As long as the Deck did not kill him first, Jamie was perfectly happy to keep digging.
The two new cards were not immediately useful, but the equation for victory was already mostly complete.
Jamie Set another monster, added one card to his back row, then decided to play it safe and Set Torrential Tribute as well before ending his turn.
[Jamie St.
James: Hand 5 → 4] He had only one monster on the field, but he was not particularly worried.
Joey’s turn came around again, and the instant he saw his draw, a broad smile appeared on his face.
“I Normal Summon Rocket Warrior!
This guy’s seriously strong!
Then I equip him with Legendary Sword, raising his ATK and DEF by 300!” Joey was only getting started.
“Next, I activate my face-down Trap Card, Metalmorph, and equip it to Rocket Warrior!
That gives him another 300 ATK and DEF, bringing his ATK all the way up to 2100!
He’s even stronger than Panther Warrior now, and I still haven’t summoned my ace!” Somewhere in exile, Panther Warrior would probably have had something to say about that.
Joey looked around at the growing crowd that had gathered outside the shop to watch their Duel, and the attention clearly went straight to his head.
“If all I have to do to earn your approval is beat you, that’s way too easy.
Why don’t we add a time limit?
How about I defeat you within seven turns?” Several spectators immediately reacted with approval.
Joey had spent much of his life being overlooked, so he had always craved acknowledgment more than he liked to admit.
Hearing strangers support his idea only made him stand a little taller.
Jamie calmly shuffled the four cards in his hand back and forth, his fingers moving fast enough to produce a soft, steady rustle.
“Beating me like this still wouldn’t earn my approval.
Or more accurately, even if I recognized you, I wouldn’t be recognizing the Duelist you are right now.” Joey frowned.
“Duel Monsters isn’t a game where victory can be decided entirely from the information you already have.
Every unknown card, every unrevealed possibility, can contain the one answer that turns the Duel around.” As Jamie spoke, his gaze drifted deliberately toward Jaden.
The young boy did not seem to understand everything, but judging by his expression, he was making a serious effort to remember every word.
“If that’s how you feel, then we can talk after I beat you!” Joey declared.
He did not understand Jamie’s cryptic lesson, but his straightforward mind had already reached the simplest possible conclusion.
Win first.
Everything else could come afterward.
“Battle Phase!
Panther Warrior attacks your face-down monster!
I Tribute one Sheep Token to let him attack!” Panther Warrior charged forward.
Jamie’s face-down monster flipped face-up, revealing a blonde woman in armor whose DEF was nowhere near enough to stop the 2000-ATK beast-warrior.
She was destroyed almost immediately.
But at the instant the attack concluded, a huge dimensional rift tore open beside them.
The vortex swallowed both the female warrior and Panther Warrior before snapping shut.
“That’s D.D.
Warrior Lady’s effect,” Jamie explained with an easy smile.
“After damage calculation, if she battled an opponent’s monster, I can banish both monsters.” Joey’s Duel Disk ejected Panther Warrior’s card.
He stared at it, then patted around his clothes until he found an empty pocket and shoved the banished card inside.
Jamie’s Duel Disk, by contrast, had a dedicated zone for banished cards.
Another small benefit of possessing a Duel Disk built by a System rather than KaibaCorp.
“My Panther Warrior!” Joey groaned before quickly recovering.
“Whatever!
I’ve still got Rocket Warrior!
Attack him directly!
Rocket Slash!” Rocket Warrior, now carrying two swords and encased in specialized metal armor, had effectively become Joey’s entire offensive line.
He rushed Jamie and brought his weapon down in a clean slash.
[Jamie St.
James LP: 4000 → 1900] The attack carved away more than half of Jamie’s Life Points in a single hit.
Oddly enough, Jamie felt none of the simulated physical impact that Duel Disks normally produced.
Since his own device had been transformed by the System, however, he did not think much of it.
Seeing the direct attack connect, Joey clenched his fist in excitement, though he made a visible effort to keep himself composed.
“That’s all I can do.
I end my turn.” His hand was actually in a terrible state.
Two of the three cards were Spells that currently did nothing, while the third was his ace monster.
The Warrior Returning Alive could return a Warrior monster from his Graveyard to his hand, but Joey had no Warrior monsters in his Graveyard.
The other Spell was an Equip Spell he could not currently make proper use of.
As for his final card, his treasured ace, the one Normal Summon per turn rule combined with the requirement of two Tributes for a Level 7 monster meant there was no realistic way to bring it onto the field.
For perhaps the first time, Joey was beginning to understand the consequences of cramming too many unrelated cards into the same Deck.
[Joey Wheeler: Hand 3 → 3]