Who Let Him Play Yu-Gi-Oh!

Franz was hesitant at first, but after Kira continued to share his ideas, Franz's eyes lit up and he grew more and more excited.

Besides proposing cards for Ra's other forms, Kira also suggested a series of support cards with God-like powers, as well as cards to help search and deploy the Gods.

They had actually tried developing these before. For example, the card "Ra's Disciple," which Franz used in the anime to summon Ra.

That card was also eventually printed, but it was quite different from the anime version.

In the anime, "Ra's Disciple" let you add two more copies of itself from your deck to your hand when summoned.

In the real card, this effect was upgraded—when summoned, not only could you add two more copies from your deck, you could even Special Summon them directly, making it easy to get the three sacrifices needed for Ra.

It sounds strong, but the card was saddled with a crippling self-limitation: as long as a Ra's Disciple is on your field, you can't Special Summon by any means except its effect.

This severe restriction made the real card almost useless in serious strategies.

By contrast, in previous metagames, the anime effect was much more powerful—summoning one and immediately gaining two more cards was an incredible way to gain resources.

"Honestly, I think your 'Ra's Disciple' card has a lot of potential," Kira said seriously. "If possible, could you give our lab a copy for research?"

"I suppose I could…"

Franz found it odd.

"But this card was designed just to quickly summon Ra. If the God Card summoning problem isn't solved, what's the use?"

Kira grinned mysteriously. "Well, even though it's meant for Ra, I think it might have unexpected potential."

Despite its severe restriction, creative players discovered hidden potential in the Ra's Disciple.

With "as long as this card is on the field, its controller cannot Special Summon," the card became a tool for trolling: if you gave your opponent a Ra's Disciple, they couldn't Special Summon anything at all.

So a derivative card meant to summon a God was repurposed into a lock-down strategy—using various means to give a Ra's Disciple to the opponent, so they're stuck, unable to do much of anything.

No Special Summons also meant you couldn't use it as a Fusion, Synchro, Xyz, or Link material.

You can't tribute it for a normal summon either, because the effect says, "This card cannot be tributed except for the Tribute Summon of The Winged Dragon of Ra."

In other words, the Ra's Disciple is so devout it recognizes only Ra, and in all other cases, it can't be used as tribute by any means. It's like an immovable nail—once you stick it on your opponent's field, their mindset is likely to break.

That's why Ra is the most trollish God Card. It has nothing to do with Marik being the sunshine boy with the strongest God in Battle City. Even its support cards are trolls to the core.

"Alright." Franz agreed readily.

Kira was now quite famous in card design, and many teams wanted his insights. Besides, the Ra's Disciple was just a regular Level 4 monster, only valuable as Ra support, and not much else.

Franz generously promised to send Kira three copies for research.

Kira was satisfied—meeting the lead designer of the Ra team had paid off.

Even if he couldn't figure out the right way to harness a God Card, just getting Ra's egg and a Ra's Disciple was a great haul.

Those two cards alone would be enough to show an opponent what the most valuable God Card really means.

…

When Kira met up with Mokuba again, Mokuba was heatedly talking to someone on the phone—sounded like an argument.

He ended the call and, seeing Kira, let out a long, exasperated sigh.

"This is a headache. The trouble never ends."

"About the tournament?" Kira asked.

"Yeah. There was a huge disaster during Battle City, and a lot of people got hurt. Luckily, no deaths… but it's still a mess. Some people are demanding the tournament be stopped, saying it's too dangerous."

"But it'll go on, right?"

"Of course," Mokuba said matter-of-factly.

After all, it was the president's tournament. He'd never let it be canceled halfway.

"It just means the next couple of days will be busy. Big Brother has to go back to meet the board. Actually, there's something I want to ask you…"

Mokuba hesitated.

"I'm not sure if it's appropriate…"

"No worries, just say it."

Kira waved it off—no point in holding back between friends.

"Alright. It's about that guy, Luca, the new Doma Swordsman. After his duel with my brother, we looked into him.

No solid leads yet, but the clues point to a town called Shimizu. Ever heard of it?"

Kira shook his head. "No. What's special about it?"

"That's the problem—we don't know. But if the clues are right, and that Doma Swordsman went there right now…"

"You think something's there?" Kira said knowingly.

"We can't say for sure—just a guess."

Kira nodded. "You want someone to check it out. But if it's just to confirm something, you've got enough people for that, right?"

"Yes, but for certain reasons, I want to send a strong duelist, just in case. Because…"

Mokuba hesitated again.

"Honestly, there was a duelist we know pretty well in that area. If it was him, I wouldn't worry. When I first noticed that town, I tried to contact him.

But for some reason, I can't reach him. I've got a bad feeling."

"Oh? Who is it? Do I know him?"

"You probably don't, but you've surely heard the name," Mokuba said. "He's Joey Wheeler, who made the Top Four in the first Battle City."