Is this the poker world?Ada thief!

Chapter 1807: What matters is not love, but intensity. Does that seem to be backwards?
"Gana Malden" noticed that after John summoned so many monsters onto the field, his monster zone was completely full, with no empty slots left for the next turn's [Ultimate Gem God - Rainbow Bridge Dragon]—even though [Ultimate Gem God - Rainbow Bridge Dragon] had already appeared. At the same time, John only had two cards left in his hand.

"Apart from [Ultimate Gem God - Rainbow Bridge Dragon], the rest of the monsters are just weaklings." Garner Malden dismissively commented on John's cards, adding, "Besides, what's the point of putting so many counters on [Gem Tree]? Do you even have room for that many cards in your back row?"

Unlike cards from the new era, the strength of [Gem Tree] is quite "old-fashioned". When it is sent to the graveyard after placing gem counters to activate its effect, it does not even require placing the [Gem Beast] cards that "select the maximum" number of counters from the deck. Instead, it must be the same as the number of counters, neither more nor less. It is a card that is quite difficult to master.

But John chuckled and said, “Don’t worry, apart from the five Crystal Beasts that were put back into the deck by the Pot of Greed, my deck already has an eighth Crystal Beast that is independent of the seven basic Crystal Beasts. Even if we exclude Crystal Beast Pegasus and Crystal Beast Ruby, the remaining number is enough.”

“As for the lack of space in the back row, I’d like to say that I plan to put even more cards in there.” John said, and actually played a card, “Continuous Spell Card [Bridge of Hearts] activated!”

"This card allows me to summon a Crystal Beast monster once more in addition to my Normal Summon, but I'm going to use its second effect now—which can only be activated during my Main Phase: destroy one Crystal Beast card from my hand or field and add one Crystal Spell/Trap Card from my Deck to my hand."

"While tokens cannot be sent to the graveyard as cost for effect activation by cards like [Price of Horse Bones], the effect of [Bridge of Hearts] is neither a cost nor sent to the graveyard, but rather directly destroyed. Therefore, I can destroy any [Crystal Beast Tokens] that I have on my field with the [Crystal Beast] field and retrieve this [Crystal Miracle] from my deck to add to my hand!"

After retrieving his most frequently used Crystal Beast Tricolor Trap Card, John then picked up Crystal Beast Amber Mammoth, Future Fusion, and Heart Bridge from his Duel Disk, saying, "Then, I'll send these three Continuous Spell Cards from my field to the Graveyard—"

"This aura is!" Upon seeing the card John held up, "Gana Malden" was first startled, then revealed a look of surprise. "He actually used it directly in his duel with me! That 'Phantom Demon' card that I didn't get my hands on!"

"—Roar, [Thunder Emperor - Hamon]!"

With [Ultimate Gem Dragon - Rainbow Bridge Dragon] already on the field and all the cards that needed to be placed in the graveyard already gone, the existence of [Future Fusion] is actually not very meaningful anymore. Although [Heart Bridge] still has two effects that haven't been used yet, one is used to summon a monster and the other is to bounce cards off the opponent's field. John doesn't have any other [Gem Beast] monsters in his hand, and there aren't any cards on "Gana Malden"'s field that need to be bounced off.

Adding the [Jade Beast - Amber Mammoth] and clearing out the back row as much as possible in exchange for the arrival of the powerful [Thunder Emperor - Hamon], it's an absolutely worthwhile trade!

【Thunder Emperor - Hamon】【DEF4000】

Frozen ice crystals encased the yellow bones. [Thunder Emperor - Hamon] did not break out of the ice and remained in a frozen defensive state, exerting the "taunt" effect of its defense stance, forcing the opponent to attack if necessary—although "Gana Malden" could not actually enter the battle phase for the next turn.

After reducing his nearly full backrow to just one card, "Jewel Tree," John picked up the Continuous Spell Card, which had four "Jewel Counters" and four red Jade Fruits growing on its tree. He said, "Now is the real time to activate the effect of 'Jewel Tree'—send this card with the 'Jewel Counters' to the Graveyard, and place the number of 'Jewel Beasts' from my Deck as Continuous Spell Cards face-up in my Spell & Trap Zone!"

"【Sapphire Beast - Topaz Tiger】, 【Sapphire Beast - Amber Mammoth】, 【Sapphire Beast - Emerald Turtle】, 【Ultimate Sapphire Beast - Rainbow Dragon】! I place these four cards face-up on my back field!"

John's backcourt saw the [Jade Tree] disappear, and the four gem fruits that fell also "burrowed into the soil" as they landed, just like ginseng fruits. But then four more dazzling gems rose from the ground, one of which shone with a seven-colored light.

"The [Crystal Beasts] are beings whose power increases as the number of [Crystal Beasts] in the back row increases, and this Field Spell Card best exemplifies this." With four [Crystal Beasts] in the back row, John opened the Duel Disk's field area and placed a card.

"Heroes have their stage to fight, and the [Jewel Beasts] certainly have their battleground too," Jaden said excitedly, as if he were the one using the [Jewel Beasts] right now.

"That's right, so I'm going to activate the Field Spell Card [Rainbow Ancient City - Rainbow Ruins]. This card's effect is that if I have four or more [Crystal Beast] cards in my Spell & Trap Zone, I can activate it once per turn: I draw one card from my Deck without any conditions!"

The surrounding landscape changes as the Field Spell Card is activated. In the ancient ruins of the Roman Colosseum, the Crystal Beasts on John's field appear relaxed as if they have returned home. Light bands corresponding to the number of Crystal Beasts on the back field also hang down from the sky, like bridges built from the heavens.

John traded a Field Spell Card for a card in his hand in a "one-for-one" exchange, and then played another card. "Then there's this Spell Card, 'Rare Value,' which can be activated when there are two or more 'Crystal Beast' cards in my Spell & Trap Zone. It randomly sends one of those 'Crystal Beast' cards to the Graveyard, and then I draw two cards from my Deck."

(P.S.: In the animated version, the other person chooses randomly, not the other.)

Of the four gems in John's backcourt, the most dazzling one shattered and disappeared from the field. The light band of the [Rainbow Ancient City - Rainbow Ruins] also lost its most dazzling part, leaving only orange, yellow, and green.

John, on the other hand, used the third card he activated this turn that had the "Draw Two Cards" effect to draw cards from his deck. As a trade-off, he temporarily lost the "Rainbow Ancient City - Rainbow Ruins" card's once-per-turn draw effect. However, considering that John wouldn't be able to use it again for three turns—after "Gana Malden," Jaden, and the second turn of "Gana Malden"—this small price to pay was acceptable.

With his hand size back to three cards, he placed two cards face-down on the back row and finally looked at "Ghana Malden" and declared, "I'll face down two more cards and end the turn like this."

【约翰·安德森：4000LP，手牌3→2→1→2→3→1】    【究极宝玉神-虹桥龙】【ATK4000】

【Thunder Emperor - Hamon】【DEF4000】

【Jade Beast - Jade Pegasus】【DEF1200】

【Jade Beast - Red Jade Beast】【DEF300】

【Jade Beast - Cobalt Spinel Eagle】【DEF800】

Back row: [Jade Tiger - Gemstone] [Amber Mammoth] [Jade Turtle - Emerald] [Face Card] x2
Location: [Rainbow Ancient City - Rainbow Ruins]

John's lineup, to say the least, was absolutely full. The five monster zones, the five spell and trap zones, and the field zone, totaling eleven squares, were all filled with cards. And it wasn't just random cards; each one had its own purpose.

【Thunder God - Hamon】Needless to say, although its effect has been weakened to the physical card version due to years of sealing, its taunt ability in defense position is still useful. Its 4000-point damage makes even 【Blue-Eyes】a bit of a struggle. 【Ultimate Jewel God - Rainbow Bridge Dragon】The effect of 【Ultimate Jewel God - Rainbow Bridge Dragon】can drag the opponent's cards down with it. When things are not going well, John can use it at any time to make "Gana Malden"'s combo go to waste and create a suitable opportunity for Jaden to combo.

Ignoring the two mysterious face-down cards for now, the true core of John's current field setup is actually the Field Spell Card [Rainbow Ancient City - Rainbow Ruins]. The purpose of the three [Crystal Beasts] on the back field is to activate one of its effects—when there are three or more [Crystal Beasts] in the Spell & Trap Zone, when a Spell/Trap Card is activated, you can send one face-up [Crystal Beast] on the field to the Graveyard to activate it, negate that activation, and destroy it.

This effect is not limited to once per turn; it can be activated continuously as long as there is a [Crystal Beast] in Monster form. John has three [Crystal Beast] monsters on his field, which means he can negate Spell & Trap Cards a total of three times!

Unless it's like the [Radiant Saint] he used when playing cards with Hayato last time, where every card he pulls out is a type that gets placed face-up on the back row by monster effects, "Gana Malden" will have a hard time developing under John's pressure. This is the true value of the [Rainbow Ancient City - Rainbow Ruins] card in the [Crystal Beast] deck!
Alternatively, if "Gana Malden"'s deck doesn't rely on the activation of Spell/Trap Cards to function, and can unleash its full potential simply by using Monster Cards, then the effect of "Rainbow Ancient City - Rainbow Ruins" would be useless. However, the other two face-down cards on John's back row are not just for show; they will always have their time to prove their worth.

As for "Gana Malden", although the information about [Ultimate Gem God - Rainbow Bridge Dragon] was not in her memories, she knew everything about [Rainbow Ancient City - Rainbow Ruins] - after all, the demonstration duel between John and Jaden at the beginning of the school year completely exposed the information of most of their cards to all the students present.

"A counter to three Spell & Trap Cards, huh? Hmph, in that case, I can just use the power of monsters instead of the effects of Spell & Trap Cards, right?"

"Ghana Malden" said, his right hand, still in its normal form, resting on the reddish-brown duel disk formed from flesh and blood, drawing a card from his deck: "My turn begins, Draw!"

(Notsuchi)
(Sorry, wrong picture)

"First is the effect of this [Magical Beast - Wild Hammer]. This card can only be activated if it is in my hand. Discard one [Magical Beast] monster from my hand and Special Summon this card from my hand."

"【Demon Beast】? I've never heard of that deck before." Jaden frowned. "Isn't that the Zombie deck from last time?"

"The deck I used while possessing Amon Garram was merely a product of the combination of the 'Duel Zombie' virus, which I originally intended to spread within the Duel Academy, and the special energy remaining on Amon Garram's body."

As he explained to Judai, "Gana Malden" raised his left arm, "But now that I've absorbed his energy, I've combined that power with the power of the Demon race that I originally used to create this deck, which is still under development and is called [Demon God], to support 'Phantom Demon'."

“If it were a Special Summon like Caesar’s Cyber ​​Dragon, I wouldn’t be able to use this card. But since your card is activated before being Special Summoned, I won’t hold back.” Seeing his opponent’s smugness, John also revealed a card in his hand. “The effect of [G-Multiplier]: During both players’ turns, I send this card from my hand to the Graveyard to activate it. Each time my opponent Special Summons a monster this turn, I draw one card from my Deck!”

Before the release of the [Crystal Beast] deck, John used an Insect-type deck. Although the [Crystal Beast] has become part of his family, he has not abandoned his old cards. This [G-Crystal Beast] is one of the few non-[Crystal Beast] monsters in his deck, because it is also proof of the bond between him and the cards - what matters is not strength, but love!
—But just like the person who uttered this famous anime quote, whose own voice acting characters have become synonymous with "strength" one after another, John's [Proof of Love's Bond] is also incredibly powerful.

Putting everything else aside, the few [Friends and Friends] cards that Jaden and his friends got were basically just loose [G-type cards], and even those had all sorts of restrictions that prevented them from being used freely. Drawing too many cards would also result in negative effects. In contrast, [G-type cards] could be discarded and then take effect in various ways without worrying about losing cards by drawing too many.

—Unless the opponent pulls out your entire deck in one burst of attacks, but that probability is really low.

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