Chapter 239. A History of Dragon Fist! An Even Stronger Guardragon FTK with Gandora Leaves the Old-Timers Stunned!

As a diehard Dragon-deck fan of Blue-Eyes White Dragon, Seto Kaiba took one look at these three cards and could already picture the impact of putting them into Blue-Eyes.

He could also guess that when "Dragon Fist" rose up, Blue-Eyes might well have been part of its power.

Over in the ZEXAL world, Kite Tenjo took a deep breath and slowly exhaled after watching.

He wasn't stupid.

When it came to Galaxy-Eyes combos, no one was more keen-eyed than he was.

Just seeing these three Guardragons was enough for him to picture how to bring out Number 95: Galaxy-Eyes Dark Matter Dragon.

More importantly, if these cards were slotted in, he believed his own Galaxy-Eyes deck would gain massive utility and power.

Of course.

But.

Kite also noticed the Special Summon requirement on this Guardragon.

"Special Summon to your field in a Main Monster Zone a Link Monster points to, where that Zone is pointed to by 2 or more Link Monsters?"

What did that even mean?

In the group chat, a lot of diehard Dragon players started discussing this strange Special Summon condition.

Seto Kaiba: "So, VRAINS world, can any Duelist explain this?"

Jaden Yuki: "Feels like a real brain-twister—two Link Monsters pointing to the same Zone?"

Yusaku Fujiki: "I'll explain. Link Monsters have arrows, right? The idea is a Monster Zone that's pointed to by both Link Monsters' arrows—only that Zone works for the Guardragon's Special Summon."

Varis: "Right, only a Zone that both arrows point to will satisfy the Guardragon's condition!"

As Duelists from the VRAINS world began explaining and discussing, more and more of the other old-guard Duelists gradually understood this summoning condition.

And then.

They got stuck again.

If that's how it works, then this summoning condition doesn't seem so easy to set up.

You need two Link Monsters, and both arrows must point to a Monster Zone that's currently empty.

That's troublesome.

Hard to grasp.

And a headache!

Jaden Yuki, Kite Tenjo, and the others gradually calmed down.

Meanwhile, in the short video, the breakdown kept going.

Diehard Dragon veteran: "It means these three can serve as support and splash pieces across every Dragon strategy!"

Diehard Dragon veteran: "Especially the Link-2 Guardragon Agarpain!"

Diehard Dragon veteran: "Pulling Dragons straight from the Extra Deck—this effect is absurd!"

"How many Dragon bosses are sitting in the Extra Deck—you really don't know?"

"For example, the Dark Matter Dragon I just mentioned!"

"Guardragon Elpy is busted, too!"

"Pull Dragons straight from the Deck!"

"Think about it—how many Dragon monsters exist across the entire Yu-Gi-Oh! card pool?"

"How many of them can be targets for these effects?"

"And there's one more key point—their shared self-restriction while they're on the field."

"As long as they're face-up in a Monster Zone, you can't Special Summon non-Dragon monsters."

"Great—now non-Dragon decks can't even splash them!"

"The three genius Dragon Links!"

"All I can say is, Konami really 'understood' what 'guarding' means with these Guardragons!"

"Okay, jokes aside."

"Back to the main topic."

"If Gandora-X FTK was the origin of Dragon Fist earlier—"

"Then with Guardragons, Gandora Guardragons became the real beginning of Dragon Fist!"

"Before, it was annoying to set up Rank 8 to go into Dark Matter for your toolbox."

"Now with these three small Guardragons, that problem is completely solved!"

"The starter being fixed isn't even the key!"

"The key is—Crystron Halqifibrax wasn't banned yet!"

"So now it gets spicy!"

"Guardragons and Halq create a very neat, strongly linked combo!"

"And the Crusadia package we were already using—"

"Also solves the arrow-placement issue for Guardragons!"

"Here's the concrete starter combo!"

"Find a way to make Crystron Halqifibrax!"

"Activate Halq, Special Summon Blackwing – Steam the Cloak from the Deck!"

"Use 2 materials to Link Summon the Link-3 Crusadia Equimax!"

"Steam triggers and makes a Token!"

"Crusadia Magius with a single-card Link-1!"

"Link the Token into Linkuriboh!"

"Crusadia Magius triggers to search Crusadia Maximus!"

"Then use Crusadia Magius and Linkuriboh to Link again!"

"Make Link-2—Crusadia Spatha!"

"Use the effect in hand to Special Summon Crusadia Maximus!"

"Link Maximus alone into Guardragon Elpy!"

"Crusadia Spatha moves Guardragon Elpy to a different Zone!"

"At that moment, Elpy's effect can pull a Dragon from the Deck!"

That's it?

That solves the Guardragons' arrow condition?

In that instant, Duelists across every world felt their brains short-circuit.

One by one, they stared at the on-screen combo and lines.

They felt like their entire understanding of Dueling got shattered again.

They already knew from earlier breakdowns that Crusadia lines could coordinate with Mekk-Knight to do some positional tricks.

And "moving" was the highlight of those videos back then.

This combo showcase fully proved just how important "movement" is.

Guardragon Elpy points left.

Crusadia Spatha in the Extra Monster Zone points left and down.

The arrows they point with just happen to satisfy the Guardragon's Special Summon condition!

Joey Wheeler: "Uh—what? I still don't get it! I'm kinda lost here!"

Theodore Hamilton: "Hey! It's simple! Think of those two monsters' arrows as the W-S-D keys on a keyboard!"

Yusaku Fujiki: "Put it this way—W is Crusadia Spatha, whose arrow makes the S position become empty just now, and D is Guardragon Elpy!"

Dr. Vellian Crowler: "Oh! I get it! W and D both point to S, right! Wow! Leave it to the VRAINS veterans!"

With the VRAINS Duelists explaining again, Duelists from other worlds finally understood it.

So that's what it was!

Once the old-timers digested the earlier combo, the even more complicated FTK line started.

Diehard Dragon veteran: "Continuing from before—time to start the FTK!"

Diehard Dragon veteran: "To solve the 'Crusadia Spatha isn't a Dragon' issue—"

Diehard Dragon veteran: "Have Elpy Special Summon Destrudo the Lost Dragon's Frisson from the Deck!"

"Destrudo changes Spatha into a Dragon!"

"Then Destrudo + Spatha can Link Summon!"

"Make Link-2: Guardragon Agarpain!"

"Guardragon Agarpain activates—Special Summon Number 62: Galaxy-Eyes Prime Photon Dragon from the Extra Deck!"

"Link Agarpain and Elpy away!"

"Make Hieratic Seal of the Heavenly Spheres!"

"Rank-up Prime Photon into Number 95: Galaxy-Eyes Dark Matter Dragon!"

"Dark Matter sends the classic three to the GY: Eclipse Wyvern, Destrudo, and Tempest, Dragon Ruler of Storms!"

"In the GY, Eclipse Wyvern banishes Gandora-X the Dragon of Demolition from the Deck!"

"In the GY, Tempest banishes Eclipse Wyvern and Destrudo to Special Summon itself."

"The banished Eclipse Wyvern returns the banished Gandora-X to hand!"

"In the GY, Blackwing – Steam the Cloak Tributes Hieratic Seal to Special Summon itself!"

"Hieratic Seal triggers to Special Summon Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon from the Deck!"

"Link Steam and Tempest!"

"Make Link-2: Knightmare Phoenix!"

"Steam triggers again to make a Token."

"In the GY, Linkuriboh Tributes the Token to Special Summon itself."

"Link Linkuriboh and Knightmare Phoenix!"

"Make Link-3: Crusadia Equimax!"

"Equimax points to Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon and Dark Matter!"

"By effect, Equimax gains their original ATK total!"

"So 2800 + 4000 + its own 2000—ATK becomes 8800!"

"Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon activates to Special Summon Gandora-X from hand!"

"Gandora-X wipes the board and burns the opponent for 8800!"

"FTK—complete!"

"This was the Guardragon Gandora-X version of Dragon Fist at the time!"

That's it—FTK done?

Stunned.

Everyone was stunned again.

Every Duelist had a string of question marks across their faces.

But after savoring it, those question marks turned into sudden clarity—then to total enlightenment.

This combo was nuts!

It effortlessly solved every issue, and on top of that, it smoothly cut a lot of previous bricks and filler.

Like Zoodiac, and so on!

Watching it run, they couldn't help but sigh.

It just flowed—clean and precise.

Quite a few Duelists who had grasped the idea were still worrying about how to crack the "Crusadia Spatha isn't a Dragon" problem.

Then this one card—Destrudo—shattered their preconceptions.

And Destrudo wasn't even rare.

Some Duelists had seen it in passing.

That's exactly why it hit so hard.

Turns out every card really does have its value—you're just missing the right opportunity.

Diehard Dragon veteran: "Of course, as things developed later—"

Diehard Dragon veteran: "Another card gave Gandora-X a very neat variation!"

Diehard Dragon veteran: "That card is Triple Burst Dragon!"

"One of its effects lets you Tribute this card, then target 1 Link-2 or lower monster in your GY to Special Summon it."

"After that, you can also Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower Dragon monster from your hand."

"That kind of extension is insane!"

"With this card, Gandora-X builds can be refined even further!"

"Maybe Destrudo doesn't even need to be included anymore!"

"The original idea and combo get an even higher evolution!"

"That makes the FTK route even stronger!"

"Here's how I'd put it!"

"Hieratic Seal of the Heavenly Spheres + Blackwing – Steam the Cloak + Guardragon Elpy—that engine alone gets you to FTK."

"Unlike earlier, this line leverages Firewall Dragon!"

"Before it got its effect text changed—"

"Firewall Dragon had an effect that wasn't once per turn."

"When a monster this card points to is destroyed by battle or sent to the GY, you could Special Summon a Cyberse from your hand."

"Afterward, it was changed to once per turn."

Firewall Dragon, huh?

Hearing that this card was the Special Summon key, the VRAINS world lit up.

Yusaku Fujiki and the others were immediately interested.

Their eyes on the video turned serious.

Diehard Dragon veteran: "Here's the concrete line—let's go!"

Diehard Dragon veteran: "The opening steps are identical to what I just explained."

Diehard Dragon veteran: "With Guardragon Elpy + Crusadia Spatha already set—"

"Guardragon Elpy activates—we pull any Dragon from Deck!"

"I'll choose Destrudo—you run three anyway!"

"Link Destrudo and Elpy!"

"Make Hieratic Seal of the Heavenly Spheres!"

"In the GY, Blackwing – Steam the Cloak Tributes Hieratic Seal to Special Summon itself."

"Hieratic Seal triggers to Special Summon Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon from Deck!"

"Red-Eyes Darkness Metal revives Hieratic Seal!"

"Then Link Hieratic Seal, Red-Eyes Darkness Metal, and Steam!"

"Make Link-4 Firewall Dragon!"

"In the GY, Steam makes a Token."

"In the GY, Linkuriboh Tributes the Token to Special Summon itself."

"On field, Firewall Dragon adds back Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon from the GY!"

"Link Linkuriboh and Crusadia Spatha!"

"Make Link-3 Crusadia Equimax!"

"Something just went to the GY, so Firewall Dragon triggers to Special Summon Red-Eyes Darkness Metal from hand!"

"Red-Eyes Darkness Metal revives Hieratic Seal!"

"Link Hieratic Seal and Red-Eyes Darkness Metal!"

"Make our unbeatable Link-2 Guardragon Agarpain!"

"Agarpain activates to Special Summon Number 62: Galaxy-Eyes Prime Photon Dragon from the Extra Deck!"

"Overlay Prime Photon into Number 95: Galaxy-Eyes Dark Matter Dragon!"

"Dark Matter sends the usual three to the GY!"

"In the GY, Eclipse Wyvern and Tempest do the standard combo!"

"Tempest Special Summons itself; Eclipse Wyvern adds Gandora-X!"

"Then Link Tempest and Agarpain!"

"Make Link-3 Triple Burst Dragon!"

"Crusadia Equimax is now sitting at 8400 ATK!"

"Firewall Dragon triggers again to pull Gandora-X!"

"Gandora-X activates—and the FTK is complete!"

Genius!

Absolutely genius!

At first, Duelists across every world thought that first FTK line was already unmatched under heaven.

But when they saw this later line, they realized this Gandora-X FTK could be optimized even further.

This follow-up line completely drops the Destrudo "lubricant" piece from earlier.

And without Destrudo, the key cards become even easier to see in your opening hand.

This line is definitely smoother than the last!

The coordination between Blackwing – Steam the Cloak and Hieratic Seal alone had Yugi Muto, Jaden Yuki, and the others blurting out how busted it was.

And it made them understand even more clearly why Crystron Halqifibrax and Steam the Cloak ended up forbidden.

All that Token generation really did a lot of heavy lifting—no doubt about it.

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