Who Let Him Play Yugioh? (Re-Upload)

Afterward, Mokuba once again generously showed Kira the company’s vast card inventory at headquarters.

When the code lock opened and the heavy military-grade alloy door slowly swung open, Kira had to admit the sight was impressive.

Everywhere he looked—cards.

It was a duelist’s paradise, the first time he’d seen such a massive space filled with every kind of Duel Monsters card, like a treasure vault.

Tall display cases lined the walls like proud guardians. Cards inside were arranged by year and type, from the earliest versions made from the stone tablets Pegasus first discovered, to every new set developed over the years.

It felt more like a library than a warehouse.

Here you could see not only the incredible variety of cards but also the traces of history. The display cases preserved not just cards, but every era Duel Monsters had passed through, the progress of countless explorers.

Mokuba didn’t say how many cards Kira could take—just ”take whatever you want.” But Kira knew better than to get greedy. Clearing out the whole warehouse would be a bit much…

So, he focused on what he needed most.

Of course, since Duel Monsters cards in this world are supernatural, even KaibaCorp’s warehouse doesn’t have everything. But this place was already a duelist’s dreamland, with many cards that were out of print or unavailable even to the Academy.

For example, Kaiba’s favorite trap from the DM era: the ancient forbidden card, [Crush Card Virus].

And Kaiba’s version had a different effect from the real-life card.

The original card’s effect was: tribute a DARK monster with 1000 ATK or less to destroy all of your opponent’s monsters with 1500+ ATK on the field and in their hand for three turns.

It was banned for being too strong and only returned with a nerfed effect in 2015.

But even the old real-life effect was different from the anime. In the anime, Kaiba’s Crush Card could only be triggered when your 1000-or-less ATK DARK monster was destroyed in battle, then destroyed all of your opponent’s 1500+ ATK monsters in hand, on the field, AND in their deck.

From today’s perspective, that might not be as strong as the old card effect since it needed a monster to be destroyed in battle. Also, ”destroy all 1500+ ATK monsters in your opponent’s deck” essentially sends their whole deck to the graveyard, and against decks that use the graveyard as a second hand, that’s almost suicide.

But in the early days, before graveyard recycling was common, this was a terrifying power.

Kaiba, known for aggressive plays, surprisingly had such a grimy tactic—and used it more than once.

After considering, Kira added the card to his collection. While it could backfire, in the right situation it was a killer.

Most of the other cards he picked up weren’t noteworthy—mainly just expanding his Fusion support. Though he didn’t have a main Fusion deck yet, he was planning for strategies centered around ”Instant Fusion.”

The rest were cards that were either useful for specific builds or rare and valuable.

Of course, in this era, most Fusion monsters without summoning restrictions are scrubs—useful mainly as fodder for ”Instant Fusion” in the Chaos Phoenix deck.

Another rare card that caught his eye was a Spirit Monster:

[Tsukuyomi]

Level 4, 1100 ATK. When summoned, it turns a face-up monster face-down. At the end of the turn, it returns to hand.

It’s like a ”Book of Moon” once per turn, but costs your normal summon. Seems simple, but it was a top-performing utility card in its early days, and later became limited due to its success in many top decks.

It was so influential that people began to downgrade monsters with powerful effects and low DEF (under 1100), such as the famous Monarch series. Monarchs had great effects, but their DEF was only 1000—just 100 less than Tsukuyomi. So, your big Monarch could be flipped face-down with Tsukuyomi and then punched out, and Tsukuyomi could recycle itself for reuse.

So, using just one summon, you could trade for a big tribute monster—a great deal resource-wise.

All in all, this trip to KaibaCorp had been incredibly fruitful. Not only did it bring him closer to fully evolving his Chaos deck, but he also got key Ritual Chaos materials, greatly powering up his endgame.

He remembered there was one more key monster for his deck—a card that could turn the tables even in desperate situations, once banned for being too powerful and simple: Thousand-Eyes Restrict.

Pegasus’s ace monster in Duelist Kingdom, and a rare Level 1 Fusion. It had 0 ATK and DEF, but its effect let it absorb an opponent’s monster as an equip card, gaining its stats. Not only in Chaos decks, it was a staple in many competitive builds as a boss.

Unfortunately, even KaibaCorp’s warehouse didn’t have it.

Kira even asked Mokuba, who shook his head—no luck.

Makes sense, as it was Pegasus’s ace, his signature card. You wouldn’t expect to find it elsewhere.

”I think Pegasus did issue a reprint for a tournament promo once,” Mokuba recalled.

”Industrial Illusions might have one.”

”…”

Kira pondered.

But he didn’t know anyone at Industrial Illusions.

Well, he had just thoroughly stomped one of their Card Professors—maybe that counted as half a connection. But that guy didn’t seem likely to want to chat…

”…”

Before he knew it, he’d spent most of the day in the warehouse. Satisfied, he carried another box of cards out and returned to the office to find Mokuba.

”Looks like you found what you wanted,” Mokuba smiled.

”Yes, thank you,” Kira replied.

Mokuba waved it off: ”No problem. Like I said, the real thanks is not to disappoint my brother on the tournament stage.

As long as you give him a good duel, this little investment is nothing.”

That did sound like the president.

After all, the man built satellites and chased souls to the afterlife just to duel—compared to that, a few cards were trivial.

Mokuba stood up: ”Alright, time for me to go.”

Kira understood: ”To Tenma Yako’s foundation?”

”Yeah, haven’t seen that guy in a while. Curious what he’s up to this time. But honestly…”

He looked Kira up and down.

”I’m surprised he specifically asked to see you, if possible.”

”Me?”

”Yeah, maybe your duel left quite an impression on him,” Mokuba said. ”But don’t worry about it—if you don’t want to go, I’ll turn him down for you.

So, are you heading back to the Academy now, or…?”

Kira thought about it.

It was too early to go back—he’d just end up sleeping.

”I’ve got nothing going on,” Kira shrugged. ”Since they sincerely invited me, I’ll go see what’s up.”