For someone using a card destruction strategy, Bleu is actually quite lucky.
The card destruction strategy is obviously about destroying the opponent's card deck, reducing it to zero cards until they can no longer draw. In this way, the opponent will be ruled defeated according to the rules. A duelist without cards in their deck is not qualified to continue fighting—this is the basic rule.
But unlike Life Points. Everyone starts with the same fixed amount of Life Points, but the thickness of a card deck varies from person to person.
Most of the decks Yugen uses in the animated world are sixty-card large decks, because as previously analyzed, the thicker the deck in the animated world, the more meaningless cards you can stuff in, making the deck more resilient and reducing the probability of dying due to encountering an "impassable field."
However, not all of Yugen's decks are such large decks; he still has decks that maintain precisely at the minimum forty-card standard. And for Yugen, these types of decks are usually acrobatics.
Yes, that's right, acrobatics. It's about a specific one-shot combo, or summoning specific monsters as he did when facing Leo by summoning Gudong in one turn, or aiming for a specific infinite loop deck.
In short, the whole deck serves to achieve a certain combo, so there's no need for too many meaningless cards to increase resilience. On the contrary, the fewer cards in the deck, the easier it is to achieve that combo.
These decks are useful for tricking or explosively defeating opponents with a much lower Duelist Level, but they don't perform as well as the regular large decks when facing strong opponents.
Bleu is lucky; today he's encountering a standard forty-card deck used by Yugen. For someone using a card destruction strategy, it's equivalent to the opponent having fewer Life Points, making it easier to deplete compared to a sixty-card deck.
As Synchro Material, the shadow of the Two-Horned Beast passed through Yugen, taking a card from the top of Yugen's deck with each of its two horns, sending them both to the graveyard.
"Then battle!" Bleu said, "Flowing Electric Double-Horned Beast, attack 'Iron Knight - Jia Fried'!"
The Double-Horned Beast let out a shrill cry, its body flowing with transparent currents. The electric light gathered in the horns on its head through lightning patterns over its body, charging like a thunder whirlpool at Yugen.
"Then I activate a Cover Card," Yugen said, "Trap Card 'Divine Protective Shield - Reflective Mirror Force'!"
When the opponent declares an attack, destroy all opponent's attack-position monsters on the field!"
The trap flipped, releasing holy blue energy from the card, forming a hemispheric shield. The mighty thunder crashed onto the barrier, dispersing the electric light back to the Flowing Electric Double-Horned Beast, instead electrocuting it into pieces.
"Haha, you set such a powerful trap, as expected of the chief," Bleu said, "But at this moment, the Flowing Electric Double-Horned Beast's effect is also activated!
When the Flowing Electric Double-Horned Beast is destroyed, both players send cards from the top of their decks to the graveyard equal to its Star Level!" (Original effect)
The physical card was changed to be activated only "when destroyed by an opponent," weakening the utility of the Flowing Electric Double-Horned Beast as a core of the card destruction strategy. And the physical card directly sends both players seven cards to the grave, while the animation does so based on the Double-Horned Beast's Level.
The Flowing Electric Double-Horned Beast is seven-star, so usually, as with the physical card, both players send seven cards to the grave. But with the animation effect, it's theoretically possible to increase its level very high and then deplete ten or twenty cards from the opponent's deck in one go. The physical card effectively lowers this monster's upper limit.
Seven cards flowed like water from Yugen's deck to the grave, leaving twenty-five cards remaining in the deck.
Bleu: "Set two cards, turn ends!"
Although he depleted quite a few of Yugen's cards in one go, his field now became empty. With no monsters serving as a defense line, it's clear all defensive hopes are placed on those two Cover Cards.
Yugen said, "My turn, draw a card.
I summon 'Temple Guardian'."
The massive shadow guarding the Divine Hall appeared, its translucent body covered in intricate patterns resembling a labyrinth, its face looking silly, as if harmless to humans and animals.
[Temple Guardian, Attack Power: 1100]
"Battle," Yugen said, "Iron Knight - Jia Fried, direct attack."
The knight clad in dark iron armor soared across the sky, swinging a sword down at the opponent's head.
Yugen initially thought this sword would trigger one of the traps, yet unexpectedly, it passed directly through the backfield, landing a sword blow on Bleu without hindrance.
Bleu's D-Wheel shook, absorbing the impact.
[Bleu, LP4000 → LP2200]
Yugen: "Huh? There's no trap to counter the attack?"
"Ahaha, sir, don't worry; it's coming,"
Bleu laughed.
"I activate a Cover Card, Trap Card 'Regretful Tuning'!
This card can be activated when taking direct attack damage, Special Summoning the Synchro Monster from the graveyard.
Revive, Flowing Electric Double-Horned Beast!"
Another surge of electricity overflowed, and the recently departing Double-Horned Beast returned to the field.
[Flowing Electric Double-Horned Beast, Attack Power: 2500]
"Except as a side effect, when the monster summoned with this effect declares an attack, the monster must be destroyed at the end of that battle phase." Bleu continued to explain.
Yugen understood: "If the Flowing Electric Double-Horned Beast is destroyed, my deck can be depleted by seven cards again..."
"Exactly!" Bleu laughed, "A deckless duelist cannot continue to race forward."
"Then you better work hard; my deck still has quite a few cards left," Yugen smiled, "Set a card, turn ends."
"My turn, draw a card!"
Bleu waved a big hand.
"Then let me proceed right away!
Flowing Electric Double-Horned Beast, attack 'Iron Knight - Jia Fried'!"
The Double-Horned Beast charged again, its horns shooting lightning, the fierce thunder striking the iron armor of the Iron Knight.
"Then, at this moment, I activate the effect of the 'Shield Warrior' in the graveyard," Yugen said, "When the Shield Warrior exists in the graveyard, by banishing this card from the game, once it can allow a monster on your field not to be destroyed in battle."
The Monster Card appeared out of thin air, like a shield blocking in front of the Iron Knight. A warrior holding a shield emerged from it, holding the shield sideways to block in front of the knight, resisting all the electrical impact.
Bleu said, "Is it a card sent to the grave from the deck by me?"
Yugen smiled: "Yes, thanks to you sending it to the grave, it can be activated."
"Hmph." Bleu said, "But, the damage still needs to be calculated."
[Yugen, LP4000 → LP3300]
"And, after attacking using 'Regretful Tuning,' the Flowing Electric Double-Horned Beast revived by this effect is destroyed!"