"Trap Card activate, 'Exchange of the Spirit!' Youyu swung his arm, 'This card can only be activated when there are more than fifteen cards in your own graveyard!
I pay 1000 LP, and the cards in both players' decks and graveyard areas... are all swapped!'
Dark Marik's expression instantly looked like he had eaten something indescribable: 'Wha... What!!??'
Jonouchi was shocked: 'What, there's actually such a move?'
'Beautiful!' Yugi couldn't help but voice his thought, 'Marik only has four cards in his graveyard! If everything is swapped over...'
'Soon Marik's deck will have no cards to draw!' Jonouchi got excited and couldn't help but show his eagerness, 'Beautiful!'
Sister Ishizu also showed a reassuring face: 'Youyu...'
'Hmph, indeed well done.' Kaiba crossed his arms, sneering, 'But don't forget, the Winged Dragon of Ra is still on the field. If you can't withstand the next four turns with Ra in play, it's still meaningless.'
However, President Haima actually didn't finish what he was thinking.
Speaking like that... but surely you already have a complete strategy, don't you, Youyu?
Don't let me down!
[Youyu, LP 1200 → LP 200]
By paying another 1000 LP, most of Youyu's body except his head and hand vanished. Though it felt a bit odd, ignoring it now, winning this Dark Duel would restore his body.
'Alright Marik,' Youyu raised his hand, 'send all the cards in your deck to the graveyard for me!'
'Damn... it's not over yet!' Marik was still struggling, 'I still have this card... Magic Card 'Angel's Charity'!'
Youyu: '!'
He actually pulled Angel's Charity at such a critical moment?
Marik had Angel's Charity in his hand but hadn't used it, possibly thinking that after equipping Ra with 'Big Bang Shot', the piercing damage had sufficient guarantee to instantly defeat Youyu, making it unnecessary to draw three more cards.
Looks like Marik was saved by President Haima's rule that 'Magic Cards can be activated during any phase of your turn.' But perhaps Marik was yet to realize that if he hadn't urgently pulled Angel's Charity here and thrown two more cards to the graveyard, he would have already lost...
Marik drew three cards from his deck, then discarded two cards from his hand to the graveyard.
Next was dealing with the effect of 'Exchange of the Spirit'. All cards from both players' graveyards popped out, and then they each pulled out all cards from their deck, sending them entirely to the graveyard.
Marik originally had four cards in his graveyard: Wall of Dark Sealing, Vampiric Leech, Buried Sacrifice, and Beckoning to the Dark. Then with 'Angel's Charity', he discarded two more cards, making a total of six cards in his graveyard.
In other words, after the deck and graveyard swap, Marik's deck now only has six cards.
If he hadn't suddenly pulled Angel's Charity, Youyu would have basically won. The last four cards remaining in Marik's deck were all cards he used, genuinely exhausting his deck's resources.
So unless Marik somehow revises his cards on the spot and reprints those four cards into different counter cards, Youyu has already won.
However, now with Angel's Charity, Youyu speculates Marik might discard critical cards during the exchange process. Under the effect of 'Exchange of the Spirit', those two newly discarded cards would be shuffled back into his deck.
There might be some key counters hidden within those two cards.
'My turn is over!' Marik waved grandly, 'At this moment, the Winged Dragon of Ra's attack power returns.'
[The Winged Dragon of Ra, ATK 5300 → ATK 4900]
Then he resumed his sinister smile.
'Hey, I'm impressed you came up with this tactic.
But summoning Ra in my second turn was beyond your expectations, right? Hehehe...
I still have six cards remaining, which means six turns. Six turns are more than enough for Ra to finish you off!'
'Is that really so?' Youyu countered.
'Nani?' Marik's face slightly changed.
Could it be that this guy... has a method to defeat the divine already at this point?
'My turn, draw!' Youyu played a Magic Card, 'I first set two cards, then from my hand activate 'Heavy Storm!' '
'Nani!?' Marik gasped.
'That's right!' Yugi from the audience quickly caught on, ''Heavy Storm forces both players to draw until they have six cards! Typically, letting your opponent draw might have side effects, but now...'
'I see, using this side effect reversed, accelerating Marik's deck exhaustion?' Jonouchi now looked at Youyu with full admiration, 'This strategy... it's terrifying!'
Youyu rapidly replenished his hand with six cards and pointed at Marik: 'Alright Marik! You have two cards in hand, draw four more cards for me!'
'Ugh...'
Six-year-olds gritted his teeth and drew four cards with a click of annoyance.
Now Marik's deck had only two cards remaining.
'I see.' Kaiba crossed his arms, calmly explained, 'If Marik hadn't used 'Angel's Charity' at the last moment, discarding two more cards to the graveyard...'
Jonouchi suddenly realized: 'Now he would have drawn the last four cards, with nothing left to draw anymore!'
'Exactly.' Yugi nodded, 'And at this moment, as long as Youyu ends the turn, Marik loses for having no cards left to draw. 'Exchange of the Spirit' combined with 'Heavy Storm'... it's truly a terrifying tactic.'
Terrifying?
Youyu didn't think so.
If followed using a traditional single Forbidden Card deck build, he could instantly defeat Marik with an Exchange deck, without giving him a chance to play...
Youyu did not use a pure Exchange deck because, although he had plenty of filter draw and graveyard accelerating Divine Cards, they weren't enough to fill an entire deck, making it hard to ensure success with an instant Exchange kill.
The second and more important reason is, 'Exchange of the Spirit,' he only has one.
Since this Trap Card can't be retrieved, it entirely relies on accelerated drawing to get into the hand, having just one makes it hard to ensure success.
In case he built a pure Exchange deck but had that Trap sunk at the bottom unreachably or got negated for any reason, it's game over immediately.
So actually, in Youyu's view, with just one 'Exchange of the Spirit,' centering a deck around it in DM is quite unstable.
Listening to the explanations from the two masters, Jonouchi couldn't help but stomp for Youyu: 'Damn, Marik's really way too lucky! If not for having that one 'Angel's Charity,' he'd be dead by now...'
'That was close.' Marik also realized the situation, chuckled, 'Almost got directly defeated by you, yet seems the goddess of fate still favors me, heh. Now I still have two cards left in my deck, meaning two turns.
Two turns, Ra can effortlessly take you down...
'That's not necessarily true' Youyu smiled again.
Marik frowned: 'What?'
Youyu raised his head, pointing to the golden divine bird in the sky: 'Within this turn, I'm bringing the Winged Dragon of Ra down!'