How about it? Wanna give it a try?
You Ye's smile carried a trace of teasing amusement as his eyes swept over the three stunned duelists, finally stopping on Luo Hao.
Gulp.
Luo Hao swallowed hard, his mind spinning. Fear? Of course, he was scared—who wouldn't be, after hearing how terrifying Drytron sounded?
But giving up? No.
This was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to witness a truly powerful deck in action—something he'd never even seen before, let alone faced.
"Will it be… prison?" he asked awkwardly after a long pause.
You Ye chuckled. "Not prison—just… uncomfortable."
"Then I'll do it." Luo Hao nodded after a moment's thought. "As long as it's not 'mental-breakdown-level,' I can handle some pain."
Under Chang Xingge's guidance, they moved to a private training room lined with several computers. You Ye and Luo Hao casually picked two terminals and logged in.
"Senpai, you're definitely not Platinum rank," Wang Cheng muttered in amazement once the login screen came up.
Everyone glanced at You Ye's Master Duel homepage. His rank flashed clearly—King Tier, Rank 533.
Even though they'd suspected he was high-ranked, actually seeing that number sent waves of shock through the room.
In Master Duel, the weakest Heaven-class duelists lingered in Diamond, competent ones reached Grandmaster, and only the true elites—six hundred players worldwide—ever touched King Tier.
The format was single-match and random pairing; it couldn't fully show a duelist's skill. But anyone who'd climbed to Grandmaster or beyond? No one dared underestimate them.
"You already guessed," You Ye said lightly. "Pulling out a Platinum account at this point would've looked bad anyway."
He didn't bother to explain that this wasn't even his main account.
Instead, he opened his deck library and scrolled until the Drytron list appeared.
The real reason he was using this account wasn't rank pride—it was because this one already had his fully built Drytron deck. Back in his previous life—around 2021—it had been the meta-defining archetype.
Weaker now, sure, but still solidly meta-worthy.
"Eh? Senpai, you've also got Blackwing, Raidraptor, and Infernity—three championship-winning decks?!" Chang Xingge gasped when she spotted them in his list.
The others leaned in. Their eyes widened instantly.
Those weren't ordinary archetypes—they were tournament champion decks. Even with partial decklists made public after events, assembling complete versions was extremely hard.
"Wait, the champion decks aren't even your main ones?" Wang Cheng said, noticing their position near the bottom of the list. "These top two… 'Frogs' and 'Circle Gods'? What decks are those?"
His sharp observation drew everyone's attention.
Usually, deck order didn't necessarily show power level—but these two at the top were clearly You Ye's go-to ranked decks.
Mu Ning's expression turned oddly complicated.
Sure, the three champion decks were strong—but compared to what she'd seen from You Ye's Runick deck, they seemed underwhelming.
Her Runick deck couldn't even beat Kshatri-La, which he had casually called "a starter-tier meta." So what did that make the ones he actually used?
If even those weaker decks weren't in his main rotation, what terrifying cards were?
Still, she kept silent. She'd already decided to follow You Ye; if those archetypes weren't on his list, it meant he had plans.
"Yeah," You Ye said casually, "I don't really use the champion builds. Their ceiling is too low. Those two up top are my ranked ladders."
No one pressed further.
Wang Cheng wisely stayed quiet.
And they all noticed: no Runick, no Kshatri-La, no Tearlaments—the decks everyone knew he'd used before.
One or two omissions could mean secrecy.
But three?
He was definitely hiding something big.
"Standard room, or should I set it to fixed draws?" You Ye asked, recalling his duel with Sheng Ning. He turned to Luo Hao.
"Fixed," Luo Hao replied immediately. It might sound like a loss of pride for a Regional-rank duelist to ask for fixed draws—but against a King-rank player? Perfectly reasonable.
Who knew—if he somehow won, he'd have bragging rights for life.
"All right," You Ye nodded, typing. "Room's ready. Name's Simple Master Kang."
"I'm in. Let's begin." Luo Hao's expression turned serious. After all that talk about Drytron's strength, there was no way this would be a normal match.
"Fine by me." You Ye clicked Start Duel.
Duel Start
You Ye (8000 LP) vs Luo Hao (8000 LP)
Winning the coin toss, You Ye chose to go first.
Both players drew five cards.
You Ye looked over his opening hand—and almost pitied Luo Hao.
This hand was filthy. Eight or nine possible interruptions before the opponent could even breathe.
As a high-level duelist, Luo Hao immediately sensed that pitying gaze. His whole body shivered, goosebumps rising. Every instinct screamed that something terrifying was coming.
Beside them, Wang Cheng and Mu Ning caught a glimpse of You Ye's hand and exchanged strange looks, but kept silent.
Chang Xingge, however, couldn't help herself.
"Senpai, I know it's against dueling etiquette, but… may I ask what's in your hand?"
She didn't ask directly for the card names—doing so mid-duel without consent would reveal private information, a serious violation. But her curiosity was obvious.
"You're wondering why, if this is a Drytron deck, my opening five cards have no Drytron monsters, right?" You Ye asked with a small smile.
"Yes… I figured there'd be some tech cards, but this many? Not a single Drytron?" Chang Xingge admitted.
His hand contained two Cyber Angel Ritual Monsters, a Cyber-themed Spell, plus Herald Ritual cards and monsters—completely unrelated to Drytron at first glance.
"Don't worry," You Ye said confidently. "They'll show up soon enough."
Since Luo Hao's Draw and Standby Phases offered no responses, You Ye went straight into action.
"I activate the Spell Card Cyber Emergency!"
He held it up, the card shimmering on the virtual board.
"Add one 'Cyber Dragon' monster—or one LIGHT Machine that cannot be Normal Summoned—from your Deck to your hand."
???
Wait—what?! Luo Hao blurted.
That's my Cyber archetype card! Senpai, aren't you playing Drytron? Why are you using Cyber Emergency to search Cyber Dragons!?
At that moment, every spectator's jaw dropped.