Chapter 228. The White Silver Castle Decklist Exposed! Another "Underworld" Deck's Moment of Glory?
The old-guard duelists across the Duel Worlds finally got a taste of just how ruthlessly terrifying K-Snake can be when it decides to clamp down on a single deck!
And the Chaos engine's three straight titles?
It seems to have thoroughly poked K-Snake's reverse scale!
All three of the "Chaos Three Gods" ended up Forbidden!
It's like they were being told:
"Don't even think about playing Chaos!"
"No matter what line you find to keep Chaos going,
I can break that leg you're leaning on!"
The veterans now understood K-Snake's ruthlessness!
So this is…
what it looks like when a conglomerate in a higher world has absolute control over decks?
In the Duel Monsters world.
Seeing K-Snake's zero tolerance for Chaos and the methods it used,
Yugi Muto, Joey Wheeler, and the others immediately compared K-Snake to Seto Kaiba's KaibaCorp.
Perhaps.
One day,
Seto Kaiba might do something just as bizarre as K-Snake?
After all.
With the KC Cup that Seto Kaiba hosts,
he has the strongest say!
Banning a player from entering, or banning cards from use—
Seto Kaiba can set those rules.
Duelist Kingdom was like that once, too.
So in a flash,
they were looking at KaibaCorp the same way they looked at K-Snake!
In the GX world.
Jaden Yuki and Aster Phoenix both let out a heavy sigh.
Only now
did they realize that the idea of "one deck for life"
might not exist in the higher world.
Unless—
that deck's power level has fallen so hard that no one bothers to play it anymore.
But at their Duel Academy things were different.
Even a trash deck like Ojama,
after Chazz Princeton had his epiphany, could be paired with Armed Dragon.
"What a shame—dueling's heart seems to have changed a lot."
"It feels like duelists in the higher world…"
"Have already forgotten the original fun of Dueling."
Jaden Yuki watched the short video end with helplessness.
For a moment,
all he felt was that the fun of Dueling had lost its flavor.
For example, after Chaos died—even if it were released in the end—
those duelists who once loved Chaos
might already have chosen to abandon it, right?
To abandon the once-mainstream Chaos.
In the main world.
Sei Yuki more or less understood how strong the Chaos engine had been back then.
That dark age—
it nearly destroyed Yu-Gi-Oh!, and that's no exaggeration!
And the first time a card was Forbidden,
Sei Yuki knew K-Snake must have made up its mind.
If they didn't do that,
the environment would only get filthier and spiral out of control.
It was a helpless decision.
After all, as more and more cards are printed,
Yu-Gi-Oh!'s strange "chemical reactions" will appear.
For example, how [Cyber-Stein] works with Psychics and DNA Surgery.
A single archetype tag,
or a single Type or Attribute—
add one card, and you'll trigger chemical reactions you never anticipated.
This is a mandatory class in the chemistry department outside of Yu-Gi-Oh! biology!
"Hoo… next, let me see."
"For the next video selection..."
Sei Yuki pulled his thoughts back, searched for the next deck,
and his eyes fell on a recommended short about Labrynth of the Silver Castle.
"Labrynth of the Silver Castle, huh?"
"Come to think of it, this deck is an 'underworld' list with a dash of sunshine."
"'Underworld' referring to how disgusting its ability to search Normal Traps is."
"The 'sunshine' part? The girl cards are pretty!"
"I've gotta admit, I really like the Labrynth card art."
"Alright then—let's watch this Labrynth combo and deck breakdown."
After some thought,
Sei Yuki locked in the next short.
At the same time,
the title "The Underworld Joy of Silver Castle! Learn the 'Underworld' combos beneath the white skirts!"
appeared across all Duel Worlds.
Duelists who had been sighing over Chaos were quickly drawn to this short.
At first glance,
the combo of "Silver Castle + underworld"
made them immediately think this system might be similar to Eldlich.
But Labrynth seemed to be all girl cards.
The key point!
They're prettier than Eldlich!
And these girl cards—
each one rivals Dark Magician Girl!
Bastion Misawa, Syrus Truesdale, and others were instantly pumped!
And the short began quickly!
Labrynth Fun Bean: "Welcome, duelists—click in to learn Labrynth operations, techniques, and game plan!"
Labrynth Fun Bean: "How do we evaluate the Labrynth deck?"
Labrynth Fun Bean: "In my opinion, its power level is polarized."
"Simply put: if you get your engine started without interruption, it's strong."
"If your startup gets stopped, you're probably done for!"
"It's a deck that's extremely afraid of [Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring]!"
"Let's first look at the maindeck construction!"
"Basically, monsters and Traps are split about half-and-half, with only 1–2 Spells."
"Therefore Labrynth is indeed an 'underworld'-style deck!"
"But unlike other 'underworld' decks—"
"Its 'underworld' might be even scarier than you imagine!"
"First, we'll start with the three 'furniture' cards Labrynth relies on!"
"Their roles can be summed up in four words:
'[Traps]' and '[Recursion]'!"
"Simply put, because of these three furniture pieces—"
"Labrynth gets excellent access and rotation for its in-archetype Traps!"
"All three furniture cards have 'you can only use each effect with this card name once per turn'!"
"The first furniture! [Labrynth Cooclock]!"
"Effect 1: If you control a Labrynth monster, as a Quick Effect from hand, discard it; this turn you can activate 1 Normal Trap that was Set this turn."
"Effect 2 (in the GY): If a card is sent from your hand to the GY to activate your Normal Trap or a 'Labrynth' card/effect, you can add this card to your hand or Special Summon it!"
"The second furniture! [Labrynth Stovie Torbie]!"
"Effect 1 (Quick): Send this card from your hand or field to the GY and discard 1 card; Set 1 'Labrynth' Spell/Trap from your hand or Deck!"
"Effect 2 (in the GY): If a monster leaves the field by your Normal Trap's effect, Special Summon this card!"
"The third furniture! [Labrynth Chandraglier]!"
"Effect 1 mirrors Stovie Torbie's 'send & discard to Set from hand/Deck.'"
"Effect 2 (in the GY): If a monster leaves the field by your Normal Trap's effect, add this card to your hand."
"Put together, it's not hard to see—"
"the focus is the stove and the chandelier; both cards fetch Labrynth Spell/Trap cards!"
"The Quick-Effect lines also give Labrynth real play going second!"
The furniture-trio opening spiel
immediately made the veterans across the Duel Worlds change expression!
Cards that line up in-house Labrynth Traps?
Good grief!
This seems worrisome!
Huh?
Hold up!
Looking at it that way—
doesn't it feel kind of minus?
Both the chandelier and the stove are two-for-ones!
Even with recursion, how do you keep the resources going?
Yugi Muto, Jaden Yuki, Yusei Fudo and the rest all wore odd looks.
For a moment, just from the three furniture cards,
they couldn't judge how many stars of "underworld" power Labrynth had.
Or rather—
they couldn't see where the strength of Labrynth's furniture actually showed up!
Labrynth Fun Bean: "Next, the in-archetype girl monsters!"
Labrynth Fun Bean: "Card #1! [Arianna the Labrynth Servant]!"
Labrynth Fun Bean: "You can only use one of this card's two effects once per turn."
"Effect 1: If this card is Normal or Special Summoned, add 1 'Labrynth' card from Deck to hand, except 'Arianna the Labrynth Servant'."
"When a Normal Trap's effect makes a monster leave the field, draw 1 card and apply one of two effects:
either Special Summon 1 Fiend from your hand,
or Set 1 Spell/Trap from your hand."
"This is the key in-house searcher and sustain—run 3. I repeat: run 3!"
"With this card, the in-house startup is fine!"
"Of course, that's assuming it doesn't get interrupted."
"Card #2! [Ariane the Labrynth Servant]!"
"This card name's two effects can each be used once per turn."
"Effect 1: Send 1 Normal Trap from your hand or that's Set on your field to the GY; Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower Fiend from your Deck in Defense Position, except 'Ariane the Labrynth Servant'."
"Effect 2 is similar to Arianna's draw/choose-one line."
"Card #3! [Arias the Labrynth Butler]!"
"This card name's two effects can each be used once per turn."
"Effect 1 (Quick): Send this card from your hand or field to the GY; either Special Summon a 'Labrynth' monster, or Set 1 Normal Trap from your hand. The Set Trap can be activated this turn!"
"Effect 2: If your opponent chains a card/effect to your activation of a Normal Trap or a 'Labrynth' card/effect (except 'Arias the Labrynth Butler'), you can Special Summon this card from the GY."
"Quick review of these three Low-Level monsters!"
"Arianna is the core searcher—3 copies, let me say it again."
"Ariane pseudo-searches the other Level 4s—1–2 copies."
"Arias at 2–3, mainly for the Quick Special and the Set-and-activate-this-turn line."
Looking only at the three Low-Level monsters,
combined with the three furniture cards—
at this point,
duelists across the worlds were still a bit confused.
Those Low-Level cards are indeed solid.
Especially Arianna, the universal in-house searcher!
You can fetch the Labrynth piece you need based on your hand!
But the problem is—
are the Traps you search, or the higher-level Labrynth bosses, really that strong?
Keep in mind!
Looking at the sample list,
they were very aware that Labrynth's Extra Deck was basically just decoration!
Which means—
Labrynth doesn't particularly rely on the Extra Deck at all!
For duelists used to running a deck that can Fusion, Xyz, even Synchro/Link,
this only made them more lost.
If you went with an Unchained-Labrynth build,
sure, you could lean on a lot of Link monsters to raise the ceiling!
But this Labrynth intro
seemed to be pure Labrynth combos and card breakdowns?
So, is the power just in the two "big sisters"?
Labrynth Fun Bean: "Next up, the two big sisters!"
Labrynth Fun Bean: "They are [Lovely Labrynth of the Silver Castle] and [Lady Labrynth of the Silver Castle]!"
Labrynth Fun Bean: "[Lovely Labrynth of the Silver Castle] has three effects; the 2nd and 3rd can each be used once per turn."
"Effect 1: Your opponent cannot activate monster effects in response to the activation of your Normal Trap Cards."
"Effect 2: Set 1 Normal Trap from your GY (you must control a Fiend to activate this)."
"Effect 3: If a Normal Trap's effect made a monster leave the field, destroy 1 card in your opponent's hand at random or on their field."
"And then [Lady Labrynth of the Silver Castle]!"
"This card name's 1st and 3rd effects can each be used once per turn."
"Effect 1: If a 'Labrynth' card's effect, or a Normal Trap, is activated (your turn or your opponent's), you can Special Summon this card from your hand in Defense Position."
"Effect 2: While you control a Set card, this card cannot be targeted or destroyed by your opponent's effects."
"Effect 3: When a Normal Trap is activated, Set 1 Normal Trap with a different name directly from your Deck."
"Summary for these two."
"For Big Sister [Lovely], just remember a few keywords:
protects Normal Trap activations from monster-effect responses,
Sets Traps back from the GY,
and pops cards / random discard."
"For Second Sister [Lady]:
free Special Summon,
very strong protection when you have Set cards,
a 2900 DEF wall with 3000 ATK—already enough."
"And the key is Effect 3: when you activate a Normal Trap, you Set a different-name Normal Trap straight from the Deck!"
"The entire Labrynth strategy basically collapses without this Second Sister's 'Set from Deck' on Normal Trap activation, and the Big Sister's 'Set from GY.'"
"That's where the 'underworld' of Labrynth truly lies."
Stunned!
Right then!
Duelists across the worlds were completely stunned!
For a moment, each one stood dumbfounded, thinking they'd misread!
These two big sisters—
are they seriously this strong?!
In the group chat, the messages exploded!
Yugi Muto: "Wait—so the Trap she Sets doesn't have to be a Labrynth card?"
Dr. Vellian Crowler: "Mamma mia! For real?! So the entire card pool of Normal Traps—Second Sister can search any of them?"
Crow Hogan: "Good grief! Professor, now that you say it—I'm panicking! This 'underworld glory' is wilder than Eldlich!"
Yusaku Fujiki: "Seems true—and don't forget the clock also lets you activate a Set Trap the same turn."
Seto Kaiba: "Meaning the Trap that Second Sister Sets can be fired immediately with Cooclock?"
The more they talked, the more the old guard felt their hearts pound!
Especially after running through the two big sisters plus furniture-and-maids combos!
What they saw was—
yet another terrifying 'underworld glory' archetype!
Those who thought the girl cards were just eye-candy
got slapped in the face—
staring slack-jawed at the short's footage!
In an instant, complicated, shocked, and overwhelmed emotion flooded their bodies!
What?
This can search the entire Normal Trap pool?!
And you're calling this an "underworld deck"?
Labrynth Fun Bean: "Although this archetype revolves around Traps—"
Labrynth Fun Bean: "the in-house Traps actually don't take many slots!"
Labrynth Fun Bean: "Most lists revolve around two cards!"
"First is [Welcome Labrynth], nicknamed 'Small Welcome.'"
"Two effects that can each be used once per turn!"
"Effect 1: Special Summon a Labrynth monster from your Deck; also, until the end of the next turn after this resolves, you cannot Special Summon from the Deck or Extra Deck, except Fiend monsters."
"Effect 2: If a Normal Trap made a monster leave the field, add this card from the GY to your hand during the next turn."
"Second is [Big Welcome Labrynth], nicknamed 'Big Welcome.'"
"You can only use one of this card's effects per turn, and only once that turn!"
"Special Summon a Labrynth monster from your hand, Deck, or GY, then return 1 monster you control to the hand."
"You can banish this card from your GY; return 1 Fiend you control to the hand—or, if you control a Level 8+ Fiend, you can instead target 1 card your opponent controls and return it."
"And for Spells!"
"Just 1 copy of the in-house Field Spell [Labrynth Labyrinth]!"
"Or run [Pot of Extravagance] to banish Extra Deck cards and draw."
"At this point, Labrynth's construction should be clear."
"Take a moment to digest, we'll jump into combos next!"
… … …
What is this?
Both in-house Traps—
can Special Summon Labrynth monsters?!
And even—
from the Deck?!
Moments ago everyone worried whether the two big sisters would be hard to access off only Arianna!
Well then!
They were instantly fried—completely fried!
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