Chapter 101. Kashtira as the Accomplice to Defecting to Tears! The Terror of Tearlaments Reaching the Summit!
The moment the contents page appeared!
The six great Duel Worlds all felt their hearts skip a beat!
Every one of them suddenly muttered in their hearts that something was wrong!
No, that can't be right?
Seriously?
Did the Kashtira archetype… defect to Tears?
What the—?
Kashtira! You actually caught the "Tear" bug?
The old guard in the group chat instantly exploded into nonstop messages!
Yugi Muto: "Impossible! How could Kashtira defect to Tears? Its effects are clearly designed to banish!"
Jaden Yuki: "Indeed. In my view, this 'K-snake' released Kashtira to counter Tearlaments, didn't they?"
Yuma Tsukumo: "Is there a chance—just a possibility—that Tearlaments plus Kashtira is stronger than Kashtira plus anything else?"
Yusei Fudo: "Yuma's right! Perhaps Kashtira defecting to Tears is understandable."
Yusaku Fujiki: "Let's keep watching and see what's really going on."
While the veteran protagonists were still arguing fiercely, the short video had already entered its latter half.
Beloved Mermaid: "Next, we start from Kashtira."
Beloved Mermaid: "But before we get into that—"
Beloved Mermaid: "We need to make one thing clear!"
"K-snake did intend to use Kashtira to check Tears when they released it."
"But the weird thing is—"
"Kashtira was absurdly light on self-restriction."
"As a result, Kashtira plus Tearlaments—"
"Teamed up, colluding shamelessly!"
"And they went straight to Tier 0-adjacent, occupying over 70% of the pie chart!"
"To explain how that happened, we have to start with the Forbidden & Limited List at the time!"
"In October 2022, the brand-new F/L List arrived."
"And that very list gave Tearlaments its classic line."
'What deck are you playing? What deck am I playing?'
'What wheelchair are you on? What wheelchair am I on?'
'Even if I'm hit by limits, I can still stomp you!'
"As for why I'm saying this—"
"Let's see what that list actually changed."
"Link-2 'Union Carrier' got Forbidden—Cyber Dragon cried in the bathroom."
"Long-active Spright finally reached cash-out time."
"Monster Card 'Swap Frog', Quick-Play Spell 'Spright Starter', and Monster Card 'Spright Jet' all got hit."
"Spright fell from the altar, never to regain its former pie-share glory."
"Tearlaments didn't come out unscathed either."
"Field Spell 'Primeval Planet Perlereino' and 'Tearlaments Havnis' were Limited and Semi-Limited!"
"The EARTH Fairy engine—'Agido the Ancient Sentinel', 'Keldo the Sacred Protector', and 'Herald of Orange Light'—didn't escape either!"
"With this round of nerfs!"
"Do you feel like Tearlaments was finished?"
"No! Then you're dead wrong!"
"With Spright gone, the world… actually belonged entirely to Tearlaments."
What?
After being hit like that, Tearlaments still didn't rotate out?
The EARTH Fairy engine got gutted!
The in-house cards even got semi-limited!
Under these circumstances, there's no way it still takes off, right?
With those key cards limited, how could Tears possibly still…
Wait.
At almost the same moment, Kashtira flashed across the minds of the protagonists from the six Duel Worlds!
Could it be!
It was exactly this wave of restrictions that pushed Tearlaments and Kashtira into collusion?
Duel Monsters world.
Yugi Muto exhaled sharply.
He and the Pharaoh Atem inside him both realized it!
It had to be Kashtira!
After all, the then-new cards 'Kashtira Fenrir' and 'Kashtira Unicorn' had off-the-charts single-card quality!
If Tearlaments optimized a small part of its build,
And slotted those in,
Its strength might actually go up, not down!
ZEXAL world.
As Xyz Duelists, quite a few of them were even considering abandoning their Xyz decks at this moment!
What deck are you playing?
What deck is he playing?
What Xyz are you on?
What Xyz is he on?
With Tearlaments, the Elegies,
It was absolutely stronger than any Xyz deck present!
Even Yuma Tsukumo and Astral had that thought!
Beloved Mermaid: "Why do I say that once Spright was gone, it became Tearlaments' world?"
Beloved Mermaid: "I believe you Duelists have already guessed."
Beloved Mermaid: "That's right—after Spright was gone—"
"Tearlaments' wheelchair looked like it only tapped the brakes."
"Then it floored the gas!"
"After October, Tearlaments' meta share was roughly over 60%!"
"At the same time, the anti-Tear warriors led by Exosister launched their anti-Tear campaigns!"
"The Bystials teamed up with Dragonmaid for the first anti-Tear push!"
"Floowandereeze searched for the Barrier Statue hidden in the gales and moved concurrently!"
"Eldlich the Golden Lord prepared 'stickers' and awaited the right moment!"
"In an environment with so many anti-Tear fighters—"
"Clearly, the anti-Tear process was not optimistic."
"The Bystials instead wiped Eldlich clean off the board, doing nothing to Tearlaments!"
"As for Eldlich, it passed its tools to Runick, but Runick performed… let's just say, poorly."
"By contrast, Tearlaments at that time—"
"With 'Kashtira Fenrir' and 'Kashtira Unicorn' joining—"
"The deck's power was beyond what these anti-Tear fighters could contend with!"
"And what truly crowned Tearlaments as queen of the format—"
"Was the October booster release!"
"In that pack, there was one card—"
"That pushed Tearlaments straight to the summit!"
"That card was 'Tearlaments Kashtira'!"
"Nickname: 'Red Mermaid.'"
Tearlaments Kashtira?
Hold up!
That's right!
If not for this reminder,
The veterans across the worlds nearly forgot this part!
'Tearlaments Kashtira' carries the 'Kashtira' name!
And at the same time, it has the 'Tearlaments' name!
Which means this card and Tearlaments were truly colluding!
And because of Tearlaments Kashtira's effects,
They all still remembered them vividly!
One effect jumps out at Quick Effect speed on the opponent's turn and mills!
Another, when sent to the Graveyard by effect, can keep on milling!
It maxed out the chance to send cards to the Graveyard!
In the chat group,
The veteran protagonists had already begun heated analysis!
Maximillion Pegasus: "It all links up! Do you all remember Kashtira Fenrir's effect?"
Yuma Tsukumo: "I know! It searches a 'Kashtira' Main Deck monster, right?"
Yusei Fudo: "Yes. Which means if you run Fenrir, on Special Summon you can search 'Red Mermaid' to assist your extension!"
Yuya Sakaki: "Tsk! I think I get it! If that's the case, Tearlaments is busted! It feels like it never bricks and never fears bricking!"
Yusaku Fujiki: "No wonder the Kashtira that could have checked Tears ended up defecting and colluding with Tearlaments!"
Yugi Muto: "Lost four EARTH Fairies, gained Kashtira, got limited yet became stronger! Unbelievable."
After the duel-veterans across the worlds suddenly understood why Kashtira defected to Tears,
Beloved Mermaid continued with the next part!
Beloved Mermaid: "With 'Red Mermaid' in play, Fenrir's value skyrocketed!"
Beloved Mermaid: "Compared with the EARTH Fairy engine, 'Red Mermaid' isn't a mole—since in Tear mirror matches, the EARTH Fairy engine could actively help the opponent extend."
"Secondly, with 'Red Mermaid', you build on the opponent's turn!"
"Your turn is my turn! And my turn is still my turn—this point was fully realized!"
"Simply put—"
"Level 4 searches Fenrir; Level 7 searches 'Red Mermaid'!"
"Fenrir plus any card makes 'Aussa the Earth Charmer, Immovable'!"
"Then the searched 'Red Mermaid' banishes the Fenrir to Special Summon itself and mill 3!"
"Two monsters make 'Spright Sprind' to precisely send Merrli, then Fusion!"
"Fusion Summon 'Tearlaments Kitkallos'; after that it's...."
"These classic sequences influenced the Yu-Gi-Oh! metagame for more than half a year!"
"In short!"
"With Kashtira included!"
"The EARTH Fairy axis was gradually phased out!"
"Kashtira Tears became the mainstream!"
"And because of that, more and more Duelists abandoned their sentimental decks to 'catch the Tear bug' and became Tearlaments specialists."
"The 'defect-to-Tear' trend got worse and worse! Back then it was either Tears, or anti-Tear."
"If it wasn't Tears, it was anti-Tear fighters!"
"At the same time—"
"The classic sayings followed!"
"I think Yu-Gi-Oh! should still be fun, so why am I unhappy? I believe if I optimize away the underperforming factors, I'll have 100% fun—so I optimized out Magicians and embraced Tearlaments."
"In this meta, only Tearlaments is qualified to talk about going second."
"Ever since I played Tearlaments, I realized how naïve my previous anti-Tear ideas were."
"I yearn for her beauty, I yearn for her power, I yearn for her immortality (i.e., never-ending resources)."
"What deck are you playing? What deck am I playing? Even if I don't know how to pilot it, I can still beat you!"
"I'm playing modern Yu-Gi-Oh!, and they're playing classical Yu-Gi-Oh!"
"Wait! I activate 'Red Mermaid' in my hand..."
"There are still decks other than Tearlaments that I haven't eradicated?"
"There are still people not playing Tearlaments—do they not want to win?"
Insane?
Truly insane!
Have Duelists in the higher worlds all gone mad?
What kind of takes are these?
Tearlaments!
So strong it drove so many Duelists mad?
Was Tearlaments really so powerful that so many Duelists became Tear players?
The first reaction from the old guard in every Duel World was disbelief!
But savoring the entire development of Tears,
They had no choice but to understand!
DM world.
After exchanging looks, Seto Kaiba, Yugi Muto, and the others all let out a breath.
If those people are playing "classical Yu-Gi-Oh!",
Then what's the Yu-Gi-Oh! we in the DM world are playing?
What's Dark Magician worth?
What's Blue-Eyes White Dragon worth?
The earlier decks—
What are they even worth?
None of them compare to the power of Tears?
"Beauty, power, immortality?"
"I think I kind of get it now...."
"So this is the Tearlaments that captivates everyone?"
As Joey Wheeler muttered to himself,
His eyes were deeply drawn to Tearlaments!
Seeing Joey like that,
Tristan Taylor and Téa Gardner both shuddered inside!
No way!?
Even Joey—
Is he going to catch the Tear bug, too?
GX world.
After hearing all the evaluations of Tearlaments,
The teachers and students of Duel Academy were already dumbfounded, frozen in place.
Fusion?
What is their Fusion now?
They thought an engine that could search a Fusion Spell was already strong.
They thought in-deck Fusion was already strong.
They thought Branded Fusion was already strong.
But with Tearlaments now on the scene—
It blew up their brains and everything they thought they knew about Fusion!
"Mamma mia! I can't believe it!"
"Are those really the higher Duel Worlds' evaluations of Tearlaments?"
"Do that many people really play it?"
Dr. Crowler still seemed unable to believe what he'd heard!
And not just him.
Chancellor Sheppard and Zane Truesdale had similar thoughts.
"I can believe it!"
"A weak mermaid erupting with astonishing Fusion power isn't impossible!"
"It's just that Kashtira really left me dumbfounded!"
"Clearly a counter-Tear system, yet it defected to Tears."
"Sigh..."
Jaden Yuki let out a heavy sigh.
But then he thought about it again.
Just like the classic quote says,
The more you fight Tears, the more you realize how strong it is—until in the end, you defect to Tears.
5D's world.
Looking at his Synchro build and Stardust Dragon deck,
Yusei Fudo suddenly started to doubt the very reality of this Duel World!
Seriously?
Is there really a deck
That can perform such absurd sequences and reach such an absurd status?
That can enthrall countless Duelists to defect to Tears!
Tearlaments with Kashtira!
Is that the true peak of the system?
"The era really has changed."
"Even the era of Fusion has changed."
"So now I'm curious."
"What's up with Crystron?"
Bruno, musing to himself, noticed the mention of Synchro's light—Crystron—during the process.
And the self-doubting Yusei Fudo suddenly jolted to attention!
What?
There's another master?
In the short video,
After finishing the explanation of Tearlaments' glorious environment,
Beloved Mermaid began the final section.
Beloved Mermaid: "In that environment—"
Beloved Mermaid: "Anti-Tear fighters kept emerging, but none could deal a fatal blow to Tears."
Beloved Mermaid: "Even if you teched heavily into banish-type hate—"
"For example, 'Necrovalley' to lock down the Graveyard."
"Or 'Dimensional Fissure' to banish monsters that would be sent to the Graveyards."
"Or Continuous Spell 'Paralyzing Chain', burning 300 LP each time a card or cards are sent from the opponent's Deck to the Graveyard by a card effect, to disrupt via burn."
"All those anti-Tear measures still couldn't land a killing blow."
"So—"
"To truly deal fatal damage to Tearlaments—"
"Duelists at the time could only pin their hopes on the next January F/L List."
"Fortunately, the wait didn't disappoint."
"Gongs thundered and the world celebrated!"
"'Tearlaments Kitkallos' got Forbidden!"
"'Tearlaments Sulliek' and 'Tearlaments Reinoheart' got Limited."
"Having lost those cards, Tearlaments looked like it was really strapped into the wheelchair."
"At the same time, 'Kashtira Fenrir', 'Kashtira Unicorn', and 'Pressured Planet Wraitsoth' were all Limited."
"The Kashtira tech got slashed right at the carotid."
"It seemed like this time, Tears was finally done."
"Unfortunately, it wasn't."
"Tearlaments, wheelchair and all, hit the gas."
Silence.
When the various Duel Worlds heard the F/L List,
Before they could discuss Tears being surely dead this time,
Beloved Mermaid's follow-up words
Rendered them all speechless!
What?
After that many cards were limited or forbidden,
Tearlaments
Still didn't die?
No way!
Is Tearlaments like an undying cockroach—utterly ban-resistant?
With things already like that!
Even without 'Tearlaments Kitkallos'!
Even with Kashtira slashed!
It could still floor the wheelchair?
Does it have to be this ridiculous?
Only now
Did the old guard across the worlds truly understand what Tearlaments was!
Tearlaments' wheelchair got weaker!
But that doesn't mean the other decks got stronger!
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