Who Let Him Play Yugioh? (Re-Upload)

In 2004, a seemingly useless but notorious card appeared on the scene.

Its name was [Protector of the Sanctuary].

Level 4, 1900 DEF. Its effect: as long as it’s on the field, your opponent can’t draw cards except during their Draw Phase.

At first glance, people thought of ”Pot of Greed,” a generic staple that everyone played before it was banned. Seemed to have some practical value, but not much—early on, it didn’t see much play in meta decks.

Until a deck built entirely around it was created.

Hand Destruction Sanctuary Lockdown.

The idea is simple: Keep Protector of the Sanctuary on the field, then use a hand-shuffling effect to make your opponent discard, but prevent them from drawing new cards. Your opponent is dead in the water.

Just like Kira did in the duel.

It seems like all you need is ”Card Destruction” and ”Protector of the Sanctuary” in hand to combo. As long as Protector of the Sanctuary is on the field, use Card Destruction—your opponent discards their hand, but can’t redraw.

But it’s not that simple. While Protector of the Sanctuary is on the field, effects that make your opponent draw—including Card Destruction—can’t be activated. So if you summon Protector of the Sanctuary first, you can’t use Card Destruction.

But that didn’t stop the mischievous duelists of the past.

If you can’t activate Card Destruction while Sanctuary is on the field, activate Card Destruction first and, before resolution, chain something like ”Call of the Haunted” to revive Protector of the Sanctuary from the graveyard. When the effect resolves, your opponent discards all cards but can’t draw—immediate game over.

Or use another effect like ”Morphing Jar” to achieve the same combo.

This deck is mainly for fun. While it can compete, it wasn’t that strong in the chaos of its era. The joy is in the trolling.

Of course, this is also the kind of deck that can turn a card game into a real fight. Especially if you open strong—first turn, your opponent loses their entire hand before even playing, maybe next they’ll want to fist fight you for real.

Sure enough, after Kira packed up his duel disk, the Silent Magician materialized in spirit form, staff at the ready to protect her master.

She probably sensed her master might get attacked after a duel like that.

Especially since Damon is a wild, muscle-bound super-Tarzan who could rip metal doors apart. If he got angry and started throwing punches, it really wouldn’t be surprising.

But it didn’t happen. After the duel, Damon collapsed, and his cards scattered everywhere, looking as if he’d lost a Shadow Game.

Well, his faith-shattered, lifeless expression did look like someone who lost a Shadow Game.

”This isn’t right. Duels shouldn’t be like this.”

He muttered.

”Duels are about drawing cards—drawing is the truth. It shouldn’t be like this...”

”…What was I doing all year?”

Chumley couldn’t bear to watch.

Crap, another one’s gone crazy!

Kira’s Victims’ Club +1.

Poor Damon spent a year isolated from the world, immersed in his world. If he’d just come back to the academy for a couple of months, he’d be mentally prepared for the weird meta here, and wouldn’t be doubting his whole life.

But not just Damon; even Chumley himself started to worry after watching all these duels.

Even after all his training, Damon still got wrecked by troll decks. What will become of the academy’s future?

Only Jaden was still the same as ever.

”Wow—amazing! That was such a fun duel, what a cool tactic! Kira, you’re so strong! And you too, Damon, you’re both amazing, hahaha!”

Damon looked at Jaden with dead eyes.

Fun? What’s fun about this?

Why don’t I feel that way?

”But, I think your way of thinking is a bit off. Dueling and drawing cards have nothing to do with nature and all that,” Jaden stepped forward. ”Your draw power is great, but how should I say this...”

He frowned, thinking.

”I’m not good with words. But I feel like, you always talk about becoming one with nature and all that, but that’s not what dueling is about.

Every time a duelist draws a card, it’s like creating a new world. Every draw is creating the future. Instead of becoming part of the world, it’s more like you’re making your world.

Instead of those random ideas, just immerse yourself in the duel itself. Anticipate the miracle the next draw might bring, get so excited you can’t sit still—that’s the real meaning of dueling, isn’t it?”

Damon was confused: ”Is that really how it is?”

Ten minutes earlier, his confident self would have scoffed at Jaden’s theory and insisted his path was right.

But after experiencing the helplessness of the last duel, he wasn’t so sure anymore.

He even started to doubt—

—Maybe I trained the wrong way?

Kira: ”…”

Yeah, talent-based and hard-work-based duelists do have their theories.

Kira didn’t dare make conclusions about miracle draws, but Jaden’s approach seemed to be all about following your heart.

Compared to Damon’s focused training, Jaden had no clear goal. He didn’t think about what he wanted to draw, or what he didn’t. Even in desperate situations, he didn’t think ”If only I could draw XXX now, I could win.”

Jaden just let the deck do whatever it wanted. Maybe, for him, thinking too much about specific draws would ruin the excitement and anticipation of dueling. Precisely because the next card is unknown, he gets excited.

If that’s true, then Jaden’s approach is different from the previous King of Games, Yami Yugi. Yugi, at his peak, was the type to draw exactly what he needed, while Jaden just floors the gas and lets the wheel spin.

But that was just Kira’s guess. He was still learning about the art of the miracle draw.

”Of course, that’s how it is!”

Jaden was completely confident in his theory, patted Damon on the shoulder, and said with a grin,

”Kira thinks so too, right?”

Kira: ”…Do I?”

”See, he agrees,” Jaden said seriously to Damon.

Kira: ”…”

Let’s just go with that, then.

Next Goal: 1000 PS: 2 chapters.