It was hardly a secret that a no name duelists in the anime tended to be terrible at the game.
Once Yusuke thought about it, the reason made perfect sense.
Satellite was a severely underdeveloped district.
Most people here probably learned how to Duel by scavenging whatever cards they could find and figuring out the rules as they went.
As long as someone understood the basics well enough to play, that was generally considered good enough.
In a place where even ordinary education wasn’t widely available, how could anyone expect the average person to understand the finer points of card timing and Konami’s notoriously particular rules language?
That wasn’t even considering how much harder it was to obtain good cards here than it had been in Yusuke’s old world.
Powerful cards were already difficult to acquire in the Yu-Gi-Oh!
world, and Satellite lagged far behind the city in almost every respect.
Most duelists here would only encounter a tiny number of cards over their entire lives.
Even seeing a small fraction of the contemporary card pool was probably more than many of them could hope for.
Naturally, their understanding of the game couldn’t compare to players from Yusuke’s previous world, who had access to complete card databases, endless match footage, detailed rulings, and years of accumulated competitive knowledge.
Unfortunately, although Itagaki really was pretty bad at the game, he clearly didn’t agree with that assessment.
“I’ll admit you’ve got some skill,” Itagaki said darkly.
“But don’t get cocky just because you pulled off one decent move, kid.
You’ve got my attention now.
Everything up to this point was just a warm-up.
From here on, I’m getting serious.” Yusuke ignored the posturing.
“I Set one card and end my turn.” “My turn—draw!” Itagaki swept his thick arm across his Duel Disk with such force that the motion almost seemed to stir up a gust of wind.
Yusuke had never really understood why people in this world put so much effort into making a simple draw look impressive.
‘Does pulling the card harder somehow improve your odds?’ Behind Itagaki, his lackeys were already whispering among themselves.
“Oh, crap.
The boss is getting serious.” “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen him Duel like this…” “I activate the Spell Card Dark World Dealings!” Itagaki declared.
“Each player draws one card, then each player discards one card.” Both duelists drew.
After discarding one card from his hand, Itagaki immediately slapped down another Monster Card.
“I Normal Summon Copycat!” A small Spellcaster appeared on the field, holding a large mirror in front of itself.
[Copycat — ATK: 0] Itagaki’s lackeys immediately erupted with excitement.
“There it is!
The boss’s ace!” Yukine blinked in confusion.
“His ace?
But that monster has zero ATK…” Yusuke turned toward her with the solemn expression of someone imparting a vital lesson.
“Yukine, remember this well.
In Duel Monsters, the monsters you really need to watch out for are the ones with zero ATK.” “I-Is that really how it works?” Yukine asked uncertainly.
“Copycat has the ability to copy another monster!” Itagaki shouted.
“Take a good look at the image reflected in its mirror!” Copycat raised its mirror toward the skeletal fiend on Yusuke’s field.
Summoned Skull’s image appeared clearly across the reflective surface.
A moment later, that reflection seemed to rise out of the mirror itself, and Copycat’s form shimmered before transforming into another Summoned Skull.
Yukine’s eyes widened.
“It turned into Brother’s Summoned Skull?!” “Exactly!” Itagaki laughed.
“When Copycat is Summoned, its ATK and DEF become equal to the original ATK and DEF of one of your monsters.
The stronger my opponent’s monster is, the stronger Copycat becomes!” [Copycat — ATK: 0 → 2500] “And although I’ve already used my Normal Summon this turn, the next monster in my hand can Special Summon itself.” Itagaki pointed toward his Graveyard.
“Luna the Dark Spirit can be Special Summoned from my hand by banishing one DARK monster from my Graveyard!” A card slid out from his Duel Disk’s Graveyard slot.
Itagaki briefly revealed it before placing it into the card case at his waist.
“I banish the DARK monster I discarded with Dark World Dealings—Reaper of the Cards!
Then I Special Summon Luna the Dark Spirit!” A dark spirit emerged onto the field beside Copycat.
[Luna the Dark Spirit — ATK: 1600] “Battle Phase!” Itagaki declared.
“Copycat, attack Summoned Skull!” Yukine stiffened.
“Their ATK is the same…
Is he trying to destroy them both?” “Destroy them both?” Itagaki burst out laughing.
“I don’t use half-baked tactics like that.
Little girl, take a closer look at your brother’s monster.” “Brother’s monster…?” Only then did Yukine notice that something was wrong with Summoned Skull.
“What?!” A translucent figure had appeared behind the skeletal fiend, its arms already wrapped tightly around Summoned Skull as though restraining it.
It was Archfiend of Gilfer, the monster that should have been destroyed on the previous turn.
“Archfiend of Gilfer’s effect!” Itagaki declared.
“When it’s sent to the Graveyard, I can equip it to one face-up monster on the field.
As long as it’s equipped, that monster loses 500 ATK!” In other words, Archfiend of Gilfer’s effect had already activated after it was destroyed during the previous turn.
This was another major difference between Dueling in this world and playing the physical card game in Yusuke’s old life.
In the real world, both players could keep track of the game state and read the effects of every visible card whenever necessary.
The anime was much less considerate.
Characters pulled the “quietly activate something and don’t tell the opponent until it matters” trick all the time.
Yugi himself had a habit of using Archfiend of Gilfer’s effect without announcing what he was doing, only for his opponent to attack later and suddenly realize, ‘Wait, why did my monster lose ATK?’ Yusei Fudo was just as bad.
He had a remarkable talent for activating Traps behind the smoke and explosions created by battling monsters, leaving his opponents to discover much later that an extra face-up Trap had somehow appeared in his back row.
Even someone as straightforward as Jaden Yuki had pulled the same trick during his Duel against Yubel.
He had activated a Trap without saying a word and even had Neos physically block Yubel’s view of it, leaving her completely unaware that anything had happened.
Apparently, hiding your plays in plain sight was simply another legitimate Dueling technique in this world.
And that was exactly what Itagaki had done.
Summoned Skull had already been weakened by Archfiend of Gilfer on the previous turn.
Itagaki had simply kept quiet about it.
[Summoned Skull — ATK: 2500 → 2000] “Copycat copies a monster’s original ATK,” Itagaki said with a triumphant laugh.
“Even though your Summoned Skull has been weakened, its original ATK is still 2500.
That means my copy is stronger than the real thing!” It was one of Itagaki’s favorite combinations.
Copycat, wearing the form of Summoned Skull, unleashed its imitation of Lightning Strike.
The copied thunder overwhelmed the original fiend, and although Summoned Skull resisted fiercely, it was ultimately destroyed by a recreation of its own attack.
[Yusuke — LP: 4000 → 3500] “And now, Luna the Dark Spirit—direct attack!” The dark spirit rushed across the open field and struck Yusuke directly.
[Yusuke — LP: 3500 → 1900] Seeing her brother take two attacks in succession, Yukine couldn’t help crying out.
“Brother!” Yusuke glanced back and gave her another reassuring smile.
“Don’t worry.
I’m fine.” For some reason, that smile immediately eased Yukine’s anxiety again.
“I end my turn.” Itagaki sneered.
“You’ve still got time to comfort your little sister?
You should worry about yourself instead.
Next turn, Copycat will finish this Duel for good.
You’d be better off using what little time you have left to figure out where you’re going to find four thousand DP.” He threw his head back and laughed, and his lackeys immediately joined in with the appropriate chorus of mocking laughter.
Yusuke paid them no attention.
“My turn—draw.” He looked at the card he had drawn.
Then a small smile appeared on his face.
‘There it is.’ The equation for victory was complete.