Predictions and Observations:
A New Breed of Hero II

I wanted to mention yesterday, but forgot, that it looks like Bastion *hasn’t* moved into the Slifer Dorm yet, because Syrus, Bastion, and Jaden were hangin’ out in his Ra dorm room.

Jaden’s cards went blank- either it’s a plot device (deal with it), or he’s going to need a new deck. Did I just see Winged Kuriboh go blank, too, though? You’re kidding me! *faints*

The Chosen Duelist. Sartorius called Jaden “the Chosen Duelist.” I think that it’s the same sorta reason Kagemaru was after Jaden. He has his own sorta super powers: Jaden, I believe this may be the best way to put it, and it’s my best guess at this point, is the human essence of duel energy. He can see and communicate with duel spirits, even ones other than the one in his deck, Winged Kuriboh, namely Ojama Yellow for one, and I’d say it’s no coincidence that he’s had more encounters with duel spirits than your average duelist, and that includes Yugi and his pals too. When Belowski’s duel energy tried to lull him, Jaden just got more revved up from it. And we’ll all agree that there are very few—if any—duelists who love the game more than Jaden does.

It’s still not really penetrating my brain that Jaden just got beat, his cards went blank, and he went woozy and passed out, and just the degree of “not good” this amounts to. Maybe it’s because this event was exceptionally hard for any source on the web that knew what would happen to keep quiet about, and I managed to read things here and there (flourishing bow to my new friend who keeps giving me tantalizing, cryptic hints about the near future to dissect like crazy and attempt to keep quiet about; you know who you are). Or maybe it’s because a defeat at the top of your game is better than a defeat at the bottom. Sure, Jaden lost, but I find that I don’t mind as much, because it was only a defeat in game, and not one in spirit, because Jaden still was out there giving his all and having the time of his life. It’s true what they say: it’s not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game, that really matters. Jaden has no reason to be upset about this defeat, when he *does* wake up, only reason to gear up for a sweet rematch! Maybe that’s also why Zane’s defeat hit me harder: he was noticeably off his game, and wasn’t having fun—heck, Aster flung an insult and it *penetrated!*Anyway… on with it.

Aster’s Cards: the Rundown, before I start getting confused:
Destiny Hero Dreadmaster (?/?/8stars)
-Points determined by adding up the points of all other Destiny Heroes on the field
-When summoned, resurrects all Destiny Heroes in the grave and returns them to the field, included in its point total
-Dread Barrier- when it is on the field, it protects all Destiny Heroes from damage
Destiny Hero Doom Lord (600/800/)
-Ability: can send one opponent monster two turns into the future each turn
Destiny Hero Captain Tenacious (do I still put “Destiny Hero” in front of all of these?) (800/800/3stars)
-Ability: can resurrect one (friendly only?) monster per turn
Destiny Hero Diamond Dude (same question) (1400/1600/4stars)
-Ability: draw a (extra of course, right? Otherwise it wouldn’t be an advantage) card, and if it’s a spell, is sent to graveyard and then can be removed, placed in hand, and used in the next turn
Misfortune, spell: skip your battle phase, and in exchange pick an opposing monster and deal half the chosen monster’s attack points to the opponent’s lifepoints as damage
D-Shield, trap: Makes one (Destiny Hero only?) monster so it can’t be destroyed in battle
Destiny Signal, trap: the equivalent of Jaden’s Hero Signal—activated when a friendly monster is destroyed, and allows the cardholder to summon a Destiny Hero from his deck certainly or probably his hand.
Ring of Magnetism, spell: Forces all opposing monsters to attack only the monster equipped with it
Magical Stone Excavation, spell: discard two cards from your hand to bring back a spell from the grave to your hand

Aster’s dad- okay, so he was a card-designer for Industrial Illusions. Why did someone abduct him? Did he know/have something valuable to someone? According to Aster, he “put his heart into every design he created.” It’s so strange that Aster didn’t get the chance to learn that dueling is about heart, and that means the ability to love the game like his father so plainly seemed to love making cards. It’s not just about dueling for a reason, nor about dueling with all of your heart; it’s about having the game and its creatures in your heart, and that’s what makes the real champions great. Aster also said that his dad “taught me that justice would always prevail…but he was wrong! Justice is a lie!” Then why, Aster, do you fight for it, if it’s a lie? Why not believe that you can do this, rather than that you’re fighting for a hopeless cause? You still get the pity award, Aster, though that doesn’t make me like you any better.

Who designed the Elemental Heroes? It might be very helpful to know that, or at least I was very curious about it.

What’s the Card? There’s no point in wondering with no inkling or ability to get one whatsoever, so I suppose we’ll just have to keep an eye out for rare cards and wonder idly, what card is Aster looking for? If I had to guess, I’d say it’s closer than he thinks, one way or another.

So who *can* beat Aster?! I suppose we’ll find out, won’t we?

I noticed that Jaden did the “Last Time on Yu-Gi-Oh! GX…” bit now that Chumley’s graduated. By the way, first one of those of the year.

According to Chazz, Jaden can’t tell time. Huh.

Jaden has confidence in his deck though: “Whatever that thing does, I’m pretty sure I have the cards in my deck to stop it!”

Even Chazz has to admit that Aster’s annoying…and that he’s *good.*

“I have infused Aster’s deck with the truth, and when he defeats you in this duel your eyes will finally open!” They look pretty closed to *me*. My real question: what dark scary magic did Sartorius put into that final attack, and what’s it now going to try to do to Jaden’s brain to sway him to team up with Sartorius?! I’ll bet that Jaden’s not just taking a *nap* out there right now!

“You kidding? Guys like me *live* for pressure! It keeps me at the top of my game!” Once again, Jaden demonstrates his unique and delightful ability to put his finger right on the nature of dueling as it’s known in the world of Yu-Gi-Oh! and GX.

Who *are* Crowler and Bonaparte rooting for? They seemed to be leaning towards Jaden, because they were as dismayed by the Destiny Heroes as the rest of Jaden’s friends. Then again, that could have been just because those things are darn scary.

“Aster believes everything is predetermined! / So he controls every part of the duel!” Huh? Either that’s *too* deep, or it makes no sense: just because someone thinks a certain thing doesn’t mean it works out that way. However, perhaps they’re referring to the fact that his beliefs are reflected in his dueling style, though to me it would seem that one who believes so strongly in predetermination would place more faith in his deck itself coming through for him and in his opponent’s deck…well, not, rather than micromanaging the duel. It’s a formidable strategy, certainly, but I don’t see why they’re so surprised; every duelist’s goal is to be calling all the shots, right? I was also surprised at their surprise when Aster’s Misfortune card caused Shining Flare Wingman to attack Jaden, when Jaden protested that Aster turned his monster against him. It’s a pretty common card effect, and in fact, it’s common to Jaden’s strategy, too, in Flame Wingman’s ability. I can understand well enough though that the Powers Who Write Yu-Gi-Oh! were trying to make a point. I wonder how Jaden’s strategy and game will differ when he wins a rematch in the foreseeable future? Will his monsters still be able to be turned against him? Will something have changed that makes that impossible?

How to defeat Dreadmaster? I’d say, take out that clock before it finishes its countdown is a nice start probably, but once it’s on the field, what’s a duelist to do? Its Dread Barrier protects all Destiny Heroes, which no doubt includes itself, even, as we saw, from monster abilities. To go down the list, traps, spells, and outright attacks are even more common, so no doubt when Aster said it protects them, it protects against those too. It requires nothing as regular tribute to keep it on the field (that we know of), so Jaden probably can’t pull a maneuver like Yugi succeeded with against the Golden Castle of Stromberg. What about some sort of whathaveyou that prevents one enemy monster from using one of its special abilities? That doesn’t sound too extreme a card to be real.

I remember someone else who stressed a purpose, a reason to win, in dueling as the key: Atticus, as Alexis remembered and took to heart in the episode aptly named (you guessed it) A Reason to Win. Kind of disconcerting to be making such a comparison, especially considering that it’s pretty much official now that we don’t much like Aster.

The timing, oh, the timing: did they make it so that the ultimate cliffhanger happens over the first day of school on purpose? Or did they just get lucky? Well, since it’s the first day of school, I have to get up at the crack of dawn to be first in line for a schedule change (the bane of humanity), so however half-baked this post may be about to end up, I have to end it right now. Tomorrow’s episode (cryptic, much?) is Pop Goes the Duel. G’night! -Clio