Chapter 137 – The Competitors

The cheers from the Promethean section had barely died down before the commentators were already filling the arena with their voices.

"An impressive victory for Promethean Academy!" Mike Patrick announced from the commentary booth. "Leanna Jefferson and Winfred Calderon have secured the first point for their team after an incredibly well-played Tag Duel!"

Mike Gottfried followed up immediately, "And considering how Denver Summit performed during the opening round, I don't think we can call this an easy victory."

"Absolutely not. Denver brought a very solid team to this tournament, and Promethean dismantled their strategy through excellent coordination."

Alexander leaned back in his seat while thinking, 'Well, that's one way of putting it.'

The commentators continued praising Promethean's performance, and Alexander couldn't help but notice the conclusion they were slowly building toward.

Promethean Academy wasn't simply another school that had made it into the Top 32; they were becoming one of the teams everyone expected to see near the end.

"And with that victory," Mike Patrick continued, "Promethean Academy continues to establish itself as one of the teams to watch in this Championship!"

Alexander glanced toward the Promethean section, where his friends and schoolmates were still celebrating Leanna and Winfred's victory. 'Yeah. Our team is definitely one of the favourites.'

The commentators could call them favourites all they wanted, but Alexander knew better than to assume anything was guaranteed.

A tournament wasn't decided by reputation, but it was decided one duel at a time, and the next duel was already being prepared.

The enormous screens surrounding the arena changed.

The previous results disappeared, replaced by two names.

PROMETHEAN ACADEMY - VIRGINIA POTTS VS DENVER SUMMIT HIGH SCHOOL - ERIK MENDOZA

Seeing that, Alexander immediately sat up a little straighter. "Oh."

Beside him, Julia also immediately started to exclaim and cheer, "It's Ginny's turn! Go, Ginny!!"

One of the four raised platforms at the centre of the arena became the focus of the cameras as Ginny stepped onto it with a confident step and a soft smile on her face.

Leanna and Winfred were leaving the table after their victory, and as Ginny passed them, she raised her hand.

Leanna immediately slapped it and yelled, "Good luck!"

Winfred gave Ginny a small nod and warned, "Don't underestimate him."

Ginny smiled and replied, "I won't."

Then she took her place at the table.

Across from her, Erik Mendoza was doing the same.

Before sitting down, however, he turned toward his teammates.

The two Denver duelists from the previous Tag Duel were clearly disappointed by their loss. Erik put a hand on one of their shoulders and said something Alexander couldn't hear from his seat.

Whatever he said seemed to help, as the two players nodded and left the raised platform.

Erik gave them one last reassuring smile before taking his position opposite Ginny.

Alexander watched him carefully and thought, 'Not bad... Losing the first duel can easily put a lot of pressure on a player, but Erik seems to handle it quite well. This means that Ginny may be up for a tough duel.'

The judge stepped between them and announced, "Since Denver Summit High School lost the previous duel, Erik Mendoza will choose who goes first."

Erik didn't hesitate to make his choice, "I'll go first."

Ginny simply nodded.

The judge stepped back while saying, "Both players, draw your opening hands."

Cards were drawn, and with that, the second duel of the match began.

[Erik - 4000 LP]

[Ginny - 4000 LP]

Erik looked at his opening hand for only a few seconds before making his first move, "I summon Vorse Raider in ATK Position."

He placed the monster onto the field.

[Vorse Raider - 1900 ATK / 1200 DEF]

A simple opening with no elaborate combo or complicated setup; just a 1900 ATK monster staring across the table.

Then Erik placed one card face-down in his Spell and Trap Zone and announced, "I end my turn. Your move."

Alexander watched the board while thinking, 'A simple yet solid start. Exactly what I expected.'

From the previous duel, he had already gotten a decent idea of what kind of deck and strategy Erik was using.

It was pure aggro. High-ATK monsters. Generic removal. Generic protection. Nothing particularly flashy or noteworthy.

There were no elaborate engines or complicated interactions that required several cards to function; it was simply a deck designed to put large monsters onto the field and beat the opponent down.

Simple. Consistent. Effective.

And in the hands of someone who understood when to attack and when to hold back, it could become surprisingly dangerous.

Ginny drew her next card; she looked at her hand, then immediately placed one card onto the field and announced, "I activate Pot of Greed."

Alexander raised an eyebrow while thinking in a half-amused, half-exasperated tone, 'Come on, Ginny! What kind of luck is that!? You start 70% of your duels with a Pot of Greed in your hand! Have some pity on those poor souls who have to do who knows what complicated combo to actually draw two cards!'

Meanwhile, Ginny, who activated the legendary Spell, drew two cards, watching her hand grow in size.

Then she immediately followed it with another Spell, "Now I activate The Forceful Sentry. This card allows me to look at your hand. Select 1 card among them and return it to your Deck. Then your Deck is shuffled."

Erik's expression instantly changed, and he wasn't the only one, as not only did that card allow Ginny to remove one card from his hand, but it allowed her to look at his whole hand, and that gave her what is maybe one of the strongest kinds of advantage in Duel Monsters: Hand Knowledge, as it allows the player having this advantage to plan the literally perfect move, especially when paired with a card that removes a card from the hand, thus further limiting the opponent's choices.

Ginny examined his hand carefully while Erik watched her without saying anything.

After a few seconds, she selected one card, the only Spell card in his hand, "This one."

She returned it to the Deck before Erik took the Deck, shuffled it, and placed it back on the table.

Alexander leaned back with a smirk on his face while thinking, 'And now she knows everything he has. The situation is quite bad for Erik.'

More importantly, she wasn't done yet. Ginny placed another card onto the field and said, "I summon Tribe-Infecting Virus in ATK position."

[Tribe-Infecting Virus - 1600 ATK / 1000 DEF]

Erik's Vorse Raider remained on the field, at least until Ginny declared, "I now activate Tribe-Infecting Virus' effect by discarding Peten the Dark Clown."

Alexander's eyes briefly moved to the Graveyard while Ginny discarded the card from her hand and pointed toward Vorse Raider and said, "I chose the Beast-Warrior Type, and as a result, all monsters on the field with that Type are destroyed."

Tribe-Infecting Virus's effect resolved, and Vorse Raider was destroyed.

Erik's first monster disappeared from the field before he could even make use of it, but the discarded Peten also had its own effect.

Ginny banished it from the Graveyard. "At the same time, since Peten the Dark Clown was sent to the Graveyard, I can activate its effect. By banishing it, I Special Summon another Peten the Dark Clown from my deck."

A second copy appeared on Ginny's field in Defence Position.

[Peten the Dark Clown - 500 ATK / 1200 DEF]

Alexander couldn't help smiling. 'That's a pretty good opening. Ginny drew quite a good hand... The chances of Erik actually winning this duel got much lower.'

Ginny wasn't finished yet as she announced, "Battle Phase. I attack directly with Tribe-Infecting Virus."

However, Erik immediately responded, "Hold it! I activate Mirror Force!"

Erik flipped his set card face-up, revealing the iconic Trap card, and as a result, Tribe-Infecting Virus was destroyed.

Ginny didn't even blink; she looked at the remaining Peten, then at her hand, then at Erik's field before she calmly set one card in the back row and announced, "I end my turn."

Alexander watched his girlfriend calmly lean back on her chair, waiting for his opponent's response.

She hadn't lost anything important, and Erik had already been forced to reveal one of his best defensive cards.

The turn passed, and Erik drew.

He looked at the card, then at Ginny's field.

His expression hardened, but just as he was about to make his move, Ginny spoke, "Please wait a moment before you do anything..."

She touched the card she had just set, "...Since you just ended your Draw Phase, I activate my set card... Crush Card Virus."

Alexander's eyebrows rose as he remembered Erik's hand from the previous The Forceful Sentry's reveal, 'Oh... shit! That's brutal... Well, my condolences, Erik, it was a good run.'

While Alexander thought that, Ginny tributed Peten the Dark Clown and fully activated her Trap card.

And suddenly, Erik's situation became considerably worse.

The effect prevented him from taking damage until the end of the next turn after the card resolves, but that was hardly the important part.

Crush Card Virus make it so that Ginny can looks at her opponent's hand and all monsters they control, then destroy the monsters among them with 1500 or more ATK; On the flip side the opponent can destroy up to 3 monsters with 1500 or more ATK in their Deck which may be useful to thin his deck from what could potetially be dead draws or monsters he would prefer have in the Graveyard, but since he didn't chose to use this effect, it was reasonable to believe that every monster card still in his deck is critical for his strategy.

Ginny looked at Erik, then at his hand as the judge verified the effect.

Erik revealed his cards once more, and every monster Erik had in his hand met the Trap's required ATK threshold, and what was worse was that Erik only had monsters in his hand.

The Crush Card Virus tore through them. One after another, his monsters were destroyed, leaving Erik with nothing but an empty hand.

The aggressive deck that had looked so straightforward only a moment ago had suddenly lost the majority of the cards it needed to function, as his available monster pool was being torn apart before he could even establish a board.

Erik stared at his now nearly empty hand, and for the first time since the duel began, his confidence visibly cracked.

Alexander couldn't help feeling sorry for him as he thought, 'Here it is... Another one that has experienced the true Duel Monsters.'

He looked at Ginny, then back at Erik as he observed, 'This is probably the worst possible matchup for him.'

Ginny had opened with Pot of Greed. She had used The Forceful Sentry to inspect and disrupt his hand. She had removed his opening monster with Tribe-Infecting Virus. She had used Peten to maintain field presence. She had forced out Mirror Force. And then she had followed everything with Crush Card Virus.

It wasn't simply a strong hand; it was almost the perfect hand for what she wanted to accomplish.

Alexander had watched Ginny duel for long enough to know what happened when she gained this kind of advantage.

She didn't need him to cheer for her. She didn't need him hovering over the duel and trying to predict every move.

He trusted her and, frankly, unless something completely unexpected happened, this duel was already decided.

'Well... Ginny's got this.' With that thought, Alexander took his gaze away from the Promethean table.

There were still three other regional feature tables running, and those were probably worth watching.

He turned toward the Region II table first.

XAVIER'S SCHOOL FOR GIFTED YOUNGSTERS VS. ATLANTA PEACHTREE HIGH SCHOOL

The match was still in its first Tag Duel.

Alexander watched the field for a few seconds.

Xavier's team appeared to have the advantage.

One of the duelists was a boy with dark brown hair; the other was a girl with long green hair.

Alexander frowned slightly. 'I don't recognise either of them... Maybe they are some minor mutants, or maybe they are important, but who knows. I don't know too much about the X-Men... there are just way too many versions of them and way too many characters. I just know the major ones that had an appearance in the movies...'

The dark brown-haired boy placed another card onto the field, and Alexander's attention immediately shifted as he muttered, "Wait."

On the field was a monster he hadn't expected to see, Valkyrion the Magna Warrior.

Alexander stared at it before thinking, 'Okay. That's a surprise... I didn't expect someone pulling that off.'

That was not an easy card to summon.

Valkyrion required three specific monsters either in hand or on the field and, considering the current card pool, putting it onto the field was a considerable commitment.

But the reward was obvious: 3500 ATK and 3850 DEF.

Even by the standards of the current game, those were ridiculous numbers. There were stronger monsters available, but very few that could simply stand on the field and threaten opponents through sheer statistics.

Alexander watched the Xavier's team duel for another few seconds and realised that the two students clearly knew what they were doing.

He considered staying longer, but then he glanced toward the Region III table and decided to shift his attention.

MASSACHUSETTS ACADEMY VS. BIRMINGHAM JEFFERSON HIGH SCHOOL

This match had already moved on to the Single Duel.

Alexander glanced at one of the large screens where the previous result was displayed.

MASSACHUSETTS ACADEMY - 1

BIRMINGHAM JEFFERSON HIGH SCHOOL - 0

Then he muttered, "So this duel could decide the match."

He looked toward the player representing Massachusetts Academy.

A young girl with fiery red hair stood at the table.

Alexander's eyes immediately went to the cards on her field, then he paused. 'That's... a lot of FIRE monsters. Could she be using that deck...?'

He watched her play for a few moments and indeed it seemed that her strategy seemed centered around one particular monster, Ultimate Baseball Kid.

Naturally, Alexander knew the card very well.

Ultimate Baseball Kid gained 1000 ATK for every face-up FIRE monster on the field, and with enough FIRE monsters surrounding it, its attack could climb rapidly to obscene levels for the current state of the game. And if the rest of the deck was built around burn effects, the strategy could potentially overwhelm an opponent before they had enough time to prepare their field.

Alexander watched the girl add another FIRE monster to the field. 'Interesting.'

It was a straightforward strategy, but there was something that bothered him.

He looked at the tournament bracket.

Massachusetts Academy had already made it into the Top 32.

That meant the deck had survived the Qualifying Round and earned a bye, and now they had already taken the first point against Birmingham.

'A pure Ultimate Baseball Kid beatdown/burn deck shouldn't be able to get this far.'

At least, not against the level of competition he had already seen.

Alexander narrowed his eyes. 'So she must be hiding something else... this can't be her entire strategy.'

He watched another card being played before he filed that thought away, then he looked toward the final feature table, the one where the matches of Region IV took place.

SIOUX FALLS BLACK HILLS HIGH SCHOOL VS. ANCHORAGE NORTHSTAR HIGH SCHOOL

Alexander watched for a few seconds before he checked the screens for the previous results, and surprisingly Anchorage had already won the Tag Duel against the supposed favourite Sioux Falls, who got the bye.

And the Single Duel wasn't looking much better for Sioux Falls; in fact, Alexander recognised the situation almost immediately, 'Oh, that's quite bad...'

He stared at the board.

The Anchorage duelist was building up the field for the execution of the Yata Lock strategy, and it was doing it quite well.

Alexander knew exactly where this was heading.

The Sioux Falls player was already struggling to maintain resources while the Anchorage duelist had steadily stripped away the opponent's ability to recover, or even do anything at all.

The pieces were falling into place.

Alexander watched another turn unfold, then another, as the Sioux Falls player was running out of options until all Anchorage needed was one successful direct attack.

If the lock was established completely, the duel could effectively become impossible to recover from.

Alexander leaned back as he looked across the arena.

Four regional tables. Four completely different approaches to the game.

Promethean had just demonstrated coordinated Tag Duel play. Xavier's School had somehow summoned Valkyrion the Magna Warrior. Massachusetts Academy was using an unusual FIRE-based strategy centred around Ultimate Baseball Kid. And Anchorage Northstar was executing a Yata Lock with enough precision to bring their opponent to the edge of defeat, thus bringing down one of the favourites of the Championship and maybe earning the title of underdog of the tournament.

Alexander smiled.

He had expected the tournament to be interesting, but seeing all these different strategies being played simultaneously made one thing clear.

The students weren't simply copying the decks that had become popular after the Grand Prix.

They were experimenting. They were refining old strategies. They were creating their own.

And that was exactly what Alexander had wanted when he created Duel Monsters in the first place.

He looked back toward the Promethean table where Ginny was still calmly playing against Erik, who looked much paler and less confident than before.

Alexander didn't even need to watch to know she was in control.

He simply watched the other tables.

There were still dozens of teams left, and if these matches were any indication, the Championship was going to be one hell of a show.