Heather Plays Yu-Gi-Oh

Chapter 1: The Basic Tutorial

Heather was walking across the mall when a poster caught her eye. It was an advertisement for the upcoming Yu-Gi-Oh Card Game tournament that was to be played at the end of the month. What caught Heather's attention, however, was the top prize: a cash prize of 200 Canadian Dollars. Heather got an idea...

"OK Harold, listen up. I want you to teach me to play that yuyion game you always play." Heather barges into Harold's room. He merely sighs.

"Why?"

"Why not?" Heather glares at Harold. "Just teach me."

"And if I say no?" Harold smirks.

"Well then, I'll make your life hell." Heather smirks back.

"You already do that."

"I can make it worse." Heather taps her foot. "Look, you gonna help me, or what?"

"Just tell me why you wanna learn to play." Harold sighs. "I'll decide whether to help you or not."

"OK, OK. There's this tournament, and I want the top prize." Heather sighs. "So help me out here."

"Oh, that tournament. It's supposed to be a Noob Tourney, since the date coincides with the Regional Championship. Basically, the people who go there are the ones who lack the skills to go to Regionals." Harold smirks. "So, a cash prize? If you split it 50/50, I'll help you out."

"No, forget it." Heather puts her nose in the air. "You should help me by the goodness in your heart!"

"Nope, not happening." Harold smirks. "But, if you're willing to make a sacrifice..."

"Yeah?" Heather raises an eyebrow.

"One date, Heather. I pick the time, and the location. And if you don't show up, I'll tell everyone you-"

"No. You can't make me do that." Heather's eyes widen.

"Chances are, you will want me to lend you a deck, too. Lord knows you don't own any cards." Harold chuckles. "So, a tutorial AND a deck, in exchange for one date. What do you say?"

"Who'll pay?" Heather raises an eyebrow.

"How about we split the bill?"

"Fine, fine..." Heather sighs, and shakes his hand. "But you better teach me how to win. If I find out you taught me wrong on purpose-"

"I happen to be Serious Business when it comes to Yu-Gi-Oh." Harold gets up from his bed, reaches under it, and grabs a briefcase. He opens it. Inside there are many Yu-Gi-Oh cards. He grabs two decks of 20 cards each. "These are my tutorial decks, I carry them in case people wanna play. Pick one."

Heather grabs the deck in Harold's left hand. "Ok, so why are some of these cards yellow, while others are green and pink? And why are there more yellow cards than the pink or green ones?"

"The yellow cards are Normal Monsters, basically monsters that have no effects. You use monsters to attack your opponents and drain their lifepoints away. You usually start with 8000 lifepoints, but for this tutorial, I think 2000 is enough." Harold takes out a monster from his tutorial deck. It is Baby Dragon (Norma/Dragon, Wind Attribute, level 3, ATK 1200, DEF 700). "The stars you see here are the Monster's level. Monsters with four stars or less can be summoned from the hand freely, while monsters that have five or six stars need a tribute. I'll explain more later. The number marked as ATK is how much damage this monster can do, while DEF is how much defense it has. I'll explain more during gameplay. The green cards are spell cards, which can mostly be played straight from the hand, while the pink cards are trap cards, which need to be set first and then wait one turn before you can use them."

Harold directs Heather to sit on his floor. "OK, so place your deck here and draw five cards. Usually, we flip a coin to decide who's first, but this time, I'll go first to show you how it's done."

Harold starts off the game by playing Baby Dragon. Then he plays Diane Keto the Cure Master (Spell: You gain 1000 lifepoints) "See? Spells can be played straight from the hand. Now, notice that I played Baby Dragon in the Attack position. In this position, you focus on the ATK number while ignoring the DEF number. If I play it like this (turns Baby Dragon sideways) then the DEF number is in play. Your turn."

Heather draws a card. Her hand consists of the following: Souls of the Forgotten (Normal/Fiend, level 2, Dark Attribute. ATK 900. DEF 200), Feral Imp (Normal/Fiend, level 4 Dark Attribute, ATK 1300, DEF 1400) Diane Keto the Cure Master, Fissure (Spell, Destroy the Monster with the lowest ATK on your opponent's side of the field), Trap Hole, (Trap, if your opponent summons a monster with 1000 or more ATK, destroy it) and Summoned Skull (Normal/Fiend, Level 6, Dark Attribute, ATK 2500, DEF 1200)

"Ok...I'll play this card." She summons Souls of the Forgotten in Attack mode. She then plays Diane Keto the Cure Master. "So...I now have 3000 lifepoints too, huh?"

"Yes. But normally, when you play a monster in attack mode, you want to make sure it has a higher ATK than the one your opponent has. Now we enter the battle phase. Since my monster has more ATK than yours, I can do this: I attack with Baby Dragon! If during combat a monster destroys another, the difference between their ATK is substracted from the loser's lifepoints. In this case, you lose 300 lifepoints." Harold then sets two cards face down. One beneath Baby Dragon, the other one next to it, sideways. "This is known as setting a facedown card. This (points to the card beneath Baby Dragon) is a card that has been set in the Spell and Trap Zone, while this (points to the card next to Baby Dragon) is a facedown monster in defense mode. Your turn."

Heather makes an angry face. She draws a card. It's Horn Imp (Normal/Fiend, Level 4, Dark Attribute, ATK 1300, DEF 1000) She plays Feral Imp in attack mode, and sets Trap Hole. "I attack with my monster your dragon thing!"

"Fine, you have 2700 lifepoints and I have 2900. My turn." Harold draws a card. "I activate this facedown!"

Harold flips the card that was beneath Baby Dragon, Card Destruction (Spell, both players discard their hands and draw the same number of cards.) Harold smirks.

"Now, remember what I taught you abou tributes? Here's a good one. I tribute my facedown monster for Peacock! (Normal/Winged Beast, Level 5, Wind Attribute, ATK 1700, DEF 1500) Now I will attack your-"

"Wait! I can use this card!" Heather activates Trap Hole.

"Huh? You figured out how to use traps?"

"Well, it said here I can use this when you summon a monster, so I figured I could. And thanks to your reaction, now I know I can. So say goodbye to your Peacock." Heather smirks.

"Fine. In the meantime, I play a field card, Mountain. This card stays on the field, and gives my Dragon, Winged Beast and Thunder monsters an extra 200 ATK. Only one field card can be at play at a time, if someone else plays a field card, the first one gets discarded. Also, I equip your monster with Heavy Cuffs, which prevents it from attacking. An equip card is a card you can combine with a monster to give it nifty effects. Your turn. By the way, if a player has no monsters, he can be attacked directly and his lifepoints will be reduced by the ATK of the monsters attacking. Your move."

Heather draws. She has in her hand a Dark Energy (Spell/Equip, A Fiend type Monster equiped with this card has its ATK and DEF increased by 300), a Yami ( Spell/Field, Increases the ATK and DEF of all Fiend and Spellcasters by 200 points and reduces the ATK and DEF of all Fairy monsters by 200) a Monster Reborn (Spell, Target one monster in either graveyard, then Special Summon it.) and Curtain of the Dark Ones (Normal/Spellcaster, Level 2, Dark Attribute, ATK 600, DEF 500). She raises an eyebrow.

"What's the graveyard, and what's Special Summon?"

"The graveyard is where the cards you have discarded go to. Special Summon is when you can summon a monster under special conditions." Upon making the connecion, Harold's eyes widen for a split second.

"Ah." Heather has an evil smirk. "I play Monster Reborn, and I use it on my own Summoned Skull. I play Yami, and equip my Skull with Dark Energy. That gives it 3000 ATK, which I use to attack directly. Now you have 0 lifepoints!"

"I lost? Damn..." Harold scoffs at Heather's smirk. "Don't get so cocky, this was just a tutorial..."

"And I kicked your ass." Heather sticks out her tongue. Harold digs into his briefcase once more, and takes out two more decks, each with 40 cards.

"OK, now I'll teach you some advanced moves, pick a deck..."