Yu-Gi-Oh Manga: 174 The Combo of God!!

I guess it bears repeating that I came here for ridiculously overblown drama with my card games. If KT is trying to evangelize to me, he's barking up the wrong tree. I'm not looking for religion any more than Kaiba is. Of course, I think Kaiba was already a member of the Church of Duel Monsters, so he's not exactly a candidate for conversion.

I, on the other hand, clearly have a HUGE target on my back, which has been hit far too many times at this point. It's the only explanation for why I've downloaded Duel Links on my phone. And am looking for friends.

Same screen name.

Just saying.

Just don't expect me to last even as long as the losing Yami here if you do get around to challenging me. I'm still not very good at this game yet, and I also don't have plot armor to ensure I'll be alright in the end despite the surprisingly high tension in this duel.

Marik speaks through his doll's mouth again to remind Yami that it's his turn, but Yami is still pausing after that last blast; to his record of cool as well as his monster. He notes the Kuriboh he has in defense, with the hologram covering its big goggly eyes and everything, and his face down card. He's convinced none of the cards in his hand will help either, though he's got Dark Magician Girl and Spellbinding Circle in there from what I can see. Still not enough to beat that badass dragon's badass points.

Yami wonders what the card sitting on top of his deck is, because he'll have to bet everything on it. Before he can speculate any further, he goes ahead and draws it with gusto, agape when he peeks at it. It's "Magic Cylinder", and I can't remember if we've seen this one before. Have we? I don't know. All Yami is concerned with is the fact that he needs a spellcaster in play to activate the card, so he picks Dark Magician Girl out of his hand, silently relying on its help.

Kuriboh squeaks as Yami offers it for his sacrifice.

Unfortunately, that's not about to last long. The doll informs Yami that his summoning of a new "servant" has activated Slifer's special ability. Oh yeah, there was another one of those, wasn't there? Yami is in shock at this information, though, even if he should have already seen it coming. Hey, it's been DAYS since I've read the last chapter, but he has no excuse.

So, you guys remember how Slifer has two mouths? Well, he opens the little baby one on top now, charging up some sort of blast in there while Yami's gape gets even wider to match the Dark Magician Girl's. Marik explains at length that Slifer is able to bring down the attack of an opponent's monster by 2000 points, instantly destroyed if in defense and has less than 2000 defense points. Wait, what happens if it's less than 2000 attack points in attack position? Does it go into the negative or is it destroyed too? Why specifically mention that this is for monsters in DEFENSE?

In all fairness, I don't know why Marik says half the things he says anyway, and I don't think he does either. He calls out the Lightning Shot attack and when Yami is aghast that this monster can attack on his own turn, Marik corrects him to insist that it's a god rather than a monster. A distinction that doesn't seem very important here, which at least fits in with the pattern of boastful bullshit Marik spits out on a regular basis.

Dark Magician Girl's points are brought down to 1700, and Yami growls before yelling over Slifer's roar that he's revealing his face down card. It still looks like Dark Magician Girl disappears in the midst of Slifer's attack, making Marik assume that its life has been cut short, or rather what he refers to as Yami's "woman". I'm getting a headache from how hard I have to roll my eyes at him right now.

Yami says that they'll see if what Marik says is true, and this prompts him to take a closer, more shocked, look at the field now that the blast from Slifer has subsided. Turns out Yami's snazzy top hats with the question marks on them have appeared there on the field! Marik growls in disdain for the Magical Hats, but quickly regains that arrogant smirk of his. He says he thought he would end Yami's pain quickly, but he SUPPOSES Yami just likes to draw out his own torture. Yami glares, clearly not interested in responding to stupid assumptions. So, Marik keeps running his mouth, tongue in cheek as he wishes Yami the best of luck in his futile resistance to being torn apart piece by piece. He doesn't seem so scared of that anymore, though.

Hell, I wouldn't be very entertained otherwise.

He slaps down the two cards he's pulled from his hand above, face down, and ends his turn. They're not visible to the eyes of the doll, so Marik reasons that they must be hidden in the other two hats. The doll draws a card for Marik, who announces it as well as his turn. He pulls a Count from Sesame Street and gives Yami the precise number of cards in his hand, now six. He says that the rules prohibit a player from having more than eight without discarding additional draws, which was SEVEN in the last chapter, but I guess that number can keep fluctuating. Who needs continuity?

Marik holds up the Infinite Cards... card... again, saying that if he plays it, he'll get to have as many cards as he wants. Yami is surprised yet again, and I'm left scratching my head because I thought he already PLAYED that card in the last chapter? I thought he at LEAST showed it to Yami. But, going back to check, I realize that he didn't give the name of the card explicitly, nor did he show it, so I guess that's fair? I'm not even sure if Marik was meant to be speaking out loud for those two panels anyway because even after 173 chapters KT STILL doesn't have a consistent distinction between thoughts and dialogue.

Regardless, Marik asks if Yami knows what that means, and I think I do!

Yup! It means that Yami is ALSO under the false impression that infinity is a number of cards that one can hold! We're just SWIMMING in dumbass today, aren't we?

Our wise official translators have decided that Yami is SAYING the word "gasp" here, along with the obvious statement that Slifers attack will be more than 6000 starting next turn. I can't wait until it's over 9000. Memes, yaaaaay...

Marik claims that the five cards he has in play are the ultimate combo, or the "God Five". Not to be confused with the Big Five from Duelist Kingdom, who weren't nearly big ENOUGH for what Marik describes as "the divine realm for collectible card games where no mortal can hope to tread". I shit you not. Word for word. He also says the combo is invincible, because he hasn't seemed to have considered the fact that he'll eventually run out of fucking cards to draw if Yami evades attack long enough. It's a fairly good assumption that Yami wouldn't if he were one of those hopeless mortals referred to earlier, but, you know, he's not...

Whatevz. Marik calls to resume his attack from YAMI'S turn, with the big dragon mouth now instead of the little one.

I don't know about your intuition, but your confirmation bias is like a RAZOR.

Yami has one last gamble he throws out there while the blast from Slifer rips into the Dark Magician Girl's hat. Marik assumes he's destroyed he monster under that magnificent hat, but his eyes widen in disbelief and frustration when the dust clears. Turns out that the Magic Cylinder Yami drew earlier caught and absorbed Slifer's attack at Dark Magician Girl's command. Marik stutters at the incomprehensibility of this injustice.

The explanation is actually rather simple: instead of hiding Magic Cylinder in a different hat, Yami hid it WITH the Dark Magician Girl. What's more, he hid the Spellbinding Circle in there too, just for good measure. Marik calls this double magic, the activation of a spell and trap at the same time, and I can't tell if he's angry or impressed. Probably cast a little double magic himself with BOTH emotions. Advanced.

The curse of the Spellbinding Circle holds Slifer in place while lowering its attack strength. It looks like an impotent t-rex caught in the circle the way it is, which is kind of funny.

Marik puts on a smirk once more to tell Yami that no, he in fact cannot defeat a god, and reminds him of that one time he said that no mortal can raise a hand against the gods. Revival Jam jumps in the way of the blast, surprising Yami with the fact that it can even intercept reflected attacks. Of course, this means the slimy critter reforms, and Marik's doll gets to draw three more cards because of the Card of Safe Return. In turn, Slifer's attack points go up by 3000, and that now makes a whopping 7300 points, even more than BEFORE the attack.

Checkmate atheists!

To top it all off, Marik informs Yami that the Spellbinding circle isn't going to last more than an instant for a god like Slifer, so it'll disappear in just one turn. Yami stares in alarm as Marik narrates the breaking of his Spellbinding Circle, Slifer busting out of there like a bodybuilder ripping off a shirt just from flexing muscles. Slifer's attack points are now at 9000 (meme reference ahoy), and Marik says that on the next turn, Dark Magician Girl dies. It must be a graphic fantasy, her getting blasted by Slifer in this panel, because if it really happened, Yami would lose hardcore right this moment.

Yami is sweating again, mouth slack in horror, as he falls to a knee in front of the terrifying Slifer glaring down at him. He bows his head with his eyes still wide, knowing there's just no way to beat this thing. Then he hears a voice.

A perfectly demanding douchy voice, telling him to stand up again.

"After all, you defeated ME, and we all know I'm basically a god."

"Shut up, Kaiba."

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? KT pulled it off a THIRD consecutive time! I'm really stoked for this! I was surprised when Yami wasn't getting to be his smug self as much as he usually is the first instance, REALLY amazed when KT actually gave Yami a real struggle the second time, and now I'm just tickled pink that the struggle is amped even further this time. He's laying down the best moves he can and it seems more impossible than ever. Of course, as the reader I've got a longer view of what's going on here, and I actually know how "infinity" works in this usage, so it's not like I don't know how this will end, but it's still really exciting!

Especially due to Yami's brief recovery that makes up the body of the chapter. He comes out with an actually solid plan to keep impending doom at bay for just a bit longer, but it's the attitude he displays here that's really compelling. He has HUMAN emotions here. He swings from terror, to steely resolve and back to terror again. He's not smirking out of nowhere and being an arrogant twerp as he twists the arm of the game into being advantageous to him again. His emotions reflect a somewhat realistic picture of what anyone in that situation might think. And the chapter does it without dragging the drama out like in the end of Death-T or Duelist Kingdom.

Additionally, his friends aren't there, but KAIBA, of all people, shows up to encourage him. Just think about that for a second. It's a little mind-blowing the situation that KT set up in which the guy who told Yuugi in Duelist Kingdom that his friendship is disgusting is filling the role as a friend right now. Sure, he's only doing it so he has a chance to face Yami in the finals himself, but to RESEMBLE a friend for even a moment is more than Kaiba was capable of in Duelist Kingdom. He's blurring that line in the sand he drew, and I'm sure that's going to confuse the HELL out of poor Yuugi.