"My turn. Draw."
The one-winged demon acted.
"I also summon Power Annihilator in Attack Position."
[Power Annihilator, ATK 1800]
"And I'll add this," he said with a nasty grin. "Continuous Spell: Power Spirit!"
A card flashed into his backrow in a wash of golden light.
"Power Spirit can be activated by paying 1000 LP."
[Demons' LP 11,600 → 10,600]
"Now, my Attack Position monsters cannot be destroyed by battle against monsters whose ATK is lower by 1000 or less," he explained. "And Power Annihilator gains 1000 ATK when it battles a higher-ATK monster."
"In other words, you need 3800+ ATK to beat it," Jaden nodded. He'd seen this combo from Dark World Knight Zure.
"I set one and end."
Joey glanced at Kira, still curious.
He'd heard this guy was the King of Games and had been looking forward to some unbelievable plays—yet the man opened by passing…
But the opening rotation had come back around to him. Joey shelved the thought and focused on the duel.
"My turn—draw!
I activate the Spell Pot of Greed to draw two."
He scanned the opponents' backrow.
Two set cards so far. No one can attack on Turn 1—it was likely they were holding attack-stoppers or counter-traps.
In that case…
"I activate the Spell: Hey, Trunade!!" Joey declared. "All set Spells/Traps on the field return to their owners' hands!"
"What!?"
The two demons with set cards both paled. Their reactions made it obvious those were key counters.
But the gale rose, and both cards were whipped back to their owners' hands without a chance to trigger.
"Tch."
The ram-head clicked his tongue at the trap in his hand.
In a team duel, by the time it came back to his turn to reset this thing, who knew how many players would act in between.
He shot a look at the last commander who hadn't played yet.
Your turn to carry.
That demon nodded, thumping his chest: Don't worry, big bro. I got this.
"With the backrow threat cleared," Joey said with a grin, "I Normal Summon Marauding Captain!"
[Marauding Captain, ATK 1100]
"I activate the Spell: Transmodify—send a monster on the field to the GY to Special Summon a monster from the Deck with the same Type and Attribute but Level +1.
I send Marauding Captain to the GY and Special Summon a Level 4 EARTH Warrior—
Come! Gearfried the Iron Knight!"
[Gearfried the Iron Knight, ATK 1800]
"Then I activate the Spell: Release Restraint! I tribute Gearfried the Iron Knight, cast off the Iron Knight's armor, and unleash his true power—
—Gearfried the Swordmaster! Come forth!"
Gearfried's black armor exploded in a burst of tremendous energy. From within emerged a bare-chested warrior with wild hair, a transparent cyclone bursting around him.
Joey's classic ace of his early days—Gearfried's fully unleashed form.
[Gearfried the Swordmaster, ATK 2600]
"No one can attack on the first rotation. In that case…"
Joey drew two cards, then flicked a glance toward Kira and smiled.
Once this first rotation ended, Kira would be the first to enter the Battle Phase. He'd leave him a little something.
"I set two and end my turn."
King of Games, huh…
Time to see what kind of duel he puts on.
"End Phase—Lady Heat's effect," Jaden added. "In a team duel, a teammate's turn counts as our side's turn. So at the end of the turn, you take 200 x my number of face-up HEROes—400 damage."
[Demons' LP 11,600 → 11,200]
The last demon commander took his turn. "My turn. Draw."
He glanced over the field: Power Annihilator, Power Zone, and Power Spirit already in place. He chuckled.
"Heh, the field's been set for me. On that foundation…"
He revealed another card.
"I Normal Summon Power Bombard!"
[Power Bombard, ATK 1000]
"When a Power Annihilator on my field has its ATK change, Power Bombard is destroyed, and you take damage equal to Power Annihilator's original ATK.
And I'll add this—"
He swept out another card.
"Continuous Spell: Ring of Fiendish Power! While I control two or more Fiend monsters, you cannot attack the Fiend with the lowest ATK. Also, when a Fiend destroys an opponent's monster by battle, you take damage equal to that monster's DEF."
"I see," Joey nodded. "Because of this Ring of Fiendish Power, we can only attack Power Annihilator. When Power Annihilator battles, it triggers Power Bombard to explode for damage.
And with Power Spirit up, we need at least 3800 ATK to beat Power Annihilator…"
"Hahaha, correct," the demon crowed. "And when Power Annihilator destroys a monster, Power Zone deals you damage equal to that monster's ATK. Then Ring of Fiendish Power deals you damage equal to that monster's DEF!"
"In a 4000 LP duel, that could easily be an OTK," Jaden said, impressed. "Ohhh, this formation is kinda nasty."
"Exactly. That's the strength of a team duel—comrades covering one another to assemble the Power Formation as fast as possible!"
The demon shared a look with his allies, then slowly drew a card, smirking inwardly.
He also had a near-universal power trap in hand: the Counter Trap: Ultimate Providence.
When the opponent activates a card, by discarding a card of the same type (Monster, Spell, or Trap), you negate and destroy it.
And right now, he had one of each—Monster, Spell, Trap—in hand.
A universal counter.
Whatever they tried next turn would be interrupted.
Rock solid.
"I set one and end my turn," the demon said confidently.
"My turn. Draw," said Kira.
"From this turn on, attacks are no longer forbidden," the ram-headed demon taunted. "Go on—try and hit us… if you can!"