"The first move will be chosen by the challenger."
Senior Watanabe Hidekazu was quite generous, seemingly wanting to display the composure of a senior and a master.
"Come on, do you want to go first or second?"
That Yugen naturally didn't stand on ceremony: "Then I'll go first, draw."
He drew three cards in one breath.
"Set one monster face-down on the field, then set two cards in the back row. Turn end."
"Starting by solidifying defenses, huh?" Senior Hidekazu stroked his chin slightly, critiquing, "But can you withstand my insect onslaught?"
"My turn, draw!"
That's right, according to the information Yugen verified, Watanabe Hidekazu uses a deck primarily composed of Insect-type monsters. The most famous user of the Insect theme was, of course, the national champion of yesteryear, the legendary duelist Insector Haga. However,江湖 rumors say Haga was utterly crushed by the first Duel King Yugi Muto years ago, becoming reclusive and giving up dueling, never seen since.
But when he won the championship, he did indeed spark an insect wave, which also led to the development of many new Insect series cards. Now, the old friend is long gone, but duelists who use Insect-type monsters are still not uncommon.
Watanabe Hidekazu: "Activate the Continuous Spell 'Verdant Sanctuary'!"
Although it's a Continuous Spell, its activation effect is similar to a Field Spell. A green ocean swept across the field, creating a vibrant spring-like battlefield, with vines and trees sprouting up, forming a warm haven for Insect-type monsters.
"Then I'll summon 'Pinch-Hopper'!"
[Pinch-Hopper, ATK 1000]
"Pay attention, junior, I won't go easy just because this is a recruitment test!" Hidekazu said, "Activate the Spell Card 'Dark Hole'! Destroy all monsters on both sides of the field!"
The destructive celestial body, the power of Dark Hole, unleashed itself on the field, its overbearing suction destroying everything. Hidekazu's Pinch-Hopper and Yugen's face-down monster shattered simultaneously.
"My face-down monster was 'Sangan'," Yugen said. "When this card is sent to the Graveyard, I can add one monster with 1500 or less ATK from my Deck to my hand.
I'll add this card from my Deck..."
He revealed the monster card he checked.
"...'Mythical Beast Cerberus' with 1400 ATK to my hand."
"Then I'll also use 'Pinch-Hopper's' effect," Senior Hidekazu said. "When Pinch-Hopper is sent from your field to the Graveyard, you can Special Summon one Insect-type monster from your hand!
Therefore, I'll Special Summon this guy!
From the depths of the dark forest, the reaper of death, now appears—
——Dreadscythe Harvester, summon!"
A six-legged insect assassin, wielding a grim reaper's scythe, majestically descended into the sea of trees.
[Dreadscythe Harvester, ATK 2300]
An outside freshman couldn't help but say: "He summoned a ace-level monster right away!"
"Using 'Dark Hole' to clear the opponent's field and activate 'Pinch-Hopper's' effect at the same time, as expected of the Duel Club's ace."
Watanabe Hidekazu: "It's not over yet! The effect of the Continuous Spell 'Verdant Sanctuary': When an Insect-type monster on your field is sent to the Graveyard, you can add one Insect-type monster with the same Level from your Deck to your hand.
I'll add another 'Pinch-Hopper' from my Deck to my hand."
He drew from his deck, showed the second "Pinch-Hopper" he took out, shuffled his deck, and put it back into the duel disk.
"Go, 'Dreadscythe Harvester' directly attack!"
The insect assassin charged, its deadly scythe about to swing. Yugen calmly flipped over one of his set cards in the back row.
"Open set card, Trap Card - Raigeki Break! Discard one card from your hand, destroy any card on the field. Destroy 'Dreadscythe Harvester'!"
Watanabe Hidekazu: "!"
Dark clouds gathered over the field, a devil's hand reached out, and lightning struck from its fingertips. With just one strike, the green insect was blasted into dust before that peerless power.
"Hmph, setting such a trap."
"And the card I just discarded from my hand was 'Witch of the Black Forest'. When this card is sent to the Graveyard, I can check my Deck for a monster with 1500 or less DEF."
Both Witch and Sangan have undergone two errata, the most recent adding the restriction "This effect cannot be activated during this turn" and an earlier one changing "can activate its effect just by being sent to the Graveyard" to "needs to be sent from the field to the Graveyard to activate its effect."
In the anime, these two naturally had the same universally searching ability as their now-out-of-print older physical card versions, with their well-deserved forbidden card status. Their effects could be activated regardless of whether they were sent from the hand or even the Deck to the Graveyard.
"I'll add 'Don Zaloog' with 1500 DEF from my Deck to my hand."
"Then the Battle Phase ends."
Watanabe Hidekazu said softly: "If you think I'd expose an open field with just that, you underestimate me too much! Activate the Spell Card 'Monster Reborn'! Revive a monster from the Graveyard.
Return to my field, Dreadscythe Harvester!"
[Dreadscythe Harvester, ATK 2300]
"Then I'll set one card, turn end."
"My turn, draw," Yugen said. "Activate the Spell Card 'Graceful Charity'! Draw three cards from your Deck, then discard two cards from your hand."
Two cards from his hand went to the Graveyard, but the image of one quickly appeared.
"One of the discarded cards is 'Card of Compensation'. When this card is sent from the hand to the Graveyard, draw two cards from the Deck." (Original card)
He crazily drew a lot of cards by combining forbidden cards and anime-exclusive drawing engines, but after getting his new hand, he couldn't help but frown slightly.
Actually, when he exchanged for cards with academic credits yesterday, he happened to discover a legendary combo from before at the academy. He had intended to test it today. But it seems his divine drawing ability still needed improvement; despite drawing continuously like this, some parts couldn't be immediately assembled.
So he had to preemptively use a spell card to apply some pressure.
"Spell Card 'Eradicating Aerosol'," Yugen said. "Destroy all face-up Insect-type monsters on the field!"
Watanabe Hidekazu: "????"
What did you activate?!
A giant hand reached out from a black vortex, holding an insect spray. The spray unleashed, sweeping across the entire field, and Dreadscythe Harvester shattered on the spot. Senior Hidekazu almost shattered along with it.
No...
How do you even have this thing?!
His expression was ugly, he choked for a long time, and finally couldn't help but ask: "That... junior, do you normally carry this kind of thing in your deck?"
Yugen decisively replied: "Of course not."
Why would I bother carrying this thing?
Insect-type is so unpopular; I won't encounter it in ten matches. Why would I put this thing in my hand and brick?
"Then you..."
"Of course, it's for dueling you, senior; I put it in temporarily," Yugen said without hesitation.
A gentleman is straightforward, daring to act and take responsibility.
However, when Senior Hidekazu heard these words, it felt like he had been hit by a blunt hammer, and his vision went black.
He just wanted to say, "You're too honest, kid."
The surrounding students were all silenced for a moment, unsure what to say. Only Manjome-san, however, showed a long-lost smile.
He knew, he knew!
He looked at the field compared to the previous one and knew that the research on the information of those Thunder Club members was off. His choice of this member called Hidekazu was definitely not just a coincidence; there was indeed a conspiracy!
Although on the surface, this senior's resume looked the best, seemingly the strongest among the Thunder Club members, Yugen's analysis found that only this senior's deck was the purest.
After all, in this day and age, everyone plays mash-up decks; it's common for a deck's monster types and attributes to be very mixed. It's truly not everyone's deck that's easy to counter. So Yugen just took a glance and found that this person's deck was the purest, purely insects, which immediately made him think of the things he had in his hundreds of side deck cards.
So he decisively chose this lucky senior as his assessment target.
Manjome's junior B couldn't help but speak: "Big brother, your smile is a bit perverted again."
Manjome: "...So annoying."