History Fanfic / StateOfTheMeta

* AlternativeUniverse

* NormalFishInATinyPond: While Melodious archetype and Xyz monsters that Jamie uses in 2016 were relatively new, it's not considered particularly strong compare to other deck combos, but in the world of ''GX'', it's practically a GameBreaker for him until his tag duel with Jaden against Kagemaru. [[spoiler:After the events of chapter 41, it's pretty much averted with the world gaining Synchro and Xyz monsters.]]

* YourCheatingHeart: [[spoiler:It's implied that Jamie's first death, which leads to him reincarnating into the Yu-Gi-Oh universe, has something to do with this.]]

** Furthermore, [[spoiler:The Light-possessed Sartorius took advantage of his ability to manipulate fate to rigged the duel against Kaiba into his favor.]]

** [[spoiler:Yugi and Kaiba's dynamic consists of this compare to their teenage years.]]

** Kagemura uses the [[spoiler:"Predaplants"]] and [[spoiler:"Starving Venom Fusion Dragon"]] in his tag duel against both Jaime and Jaden instead of a deck that revolves around using the Sacred Beasts in the anime.

* AnimalMotifs: Lions for Jaime Lancaster, where it symbolizes his strength, fortitude, leadership, and ambition to climb to the top.

* BoringButPractical: Jaime's main deck doesn't have a consistent theme compare to most of the main characters as it's regarded as the usual "stall/burn staple", but it works well for the most part.

* BrosBeforeHoes: {{Downplayed|Trope}}. While Bastion does treat his friendship with Jaime seriously, he would also put his relationship with Jasmine first if he ever got between a conflict between them.

* CrapsaccharineWorld: As Jaime takes note of in his monologue in chapter 6.

* GracefulLoser: True to his beliefs of "dueling for fun", Jaden takes his loss against Chazz in stride in the conclusion of their respective academy's annual duel. In the aftermath, Jaime notes that Jaden was truly unaffected by the snide remarks he'd gotten from the other students for his loss and that he was more sadden of the fact that he couldn't convince Chazz to come back to Duel Academy.

* TheMainCharactersDoEverything: Frequently discussed throughout the fic with Jaime.

* NormalFishInATinyPond: While Melodious archetype and Xyz monsters that Jaime uses in 2016 were relatively new, it's not considered particularly strong compare to other deck combos, but in the world of ''GX'', it's practically a GameBreaker for him until his tag duel with Jaden against Kagemaru. [[spoiler:After the events of chapter 41, it's pretty much averted with the world gaining Synchro and Xyz monsters.]]

** On one hand, there's Jaime Lancaster who's an ambitious and unapologetically arrogant duelist seeking his way to the top of the social hierarchy. On the other hand, he's best friends with the intelligent and humble Bastion Misawa.

** According to Jaime, the only reason why Jaden was able to avoid all of Dr. Crowler's attempts to expel him from the Academy was due to a combination of luck and developing good connections with others, so he avoids antagonizing Crowler in any sort of manner since he doesn't have the same luck.

* YourCheatingHeart: [[spoiler:It's implied that Jaime's first death, which leads to him reincarnating into the Yu-Gi-Oh universe, has something to do with this.]]

** Jamie plans to avoid antagonizing Dr. Crowler in any sort of manner since compare to Jaden's luck, he won't be able to avoid getting expulsion.
** In his student representative duel against Chazz, Jaden tries to convince him of the importance of dueling for fun rather than for the sake of winning (which is pretty much one of the overall Aesops in the ''GX'' series) as an attempt to prevent the latter from being chained down by his cold and semi-emotionally abusive brothers. Unsurprisingly, Chazz [[ShutUpKirk rebukes Jaden's words entirely]] and even [[JerkassHasAPoint rightfully chastises on the hypocrisy of the latter's naivety]].

* MidSeasonUpgrade: An energy wave released during the 2nd school year upgrades the decks of most of the major characters with cards from the future, the sole exceptions being Jaden, whose cards instead turned blank similar to when he lost to Aster in canon, and Jamie, who already possessed cards stronger than normal for the reality. Including giving them access to [[AdaptationalEarlyAppearance Synchro and Xyz monsters]].

* NormalFishInATinyPond: While Melodious archetype and Xyz monsters that Jaime uses in 2016 were relatively new, it's not considered particularly strong compare to other deck combos, but in the world of ''GX'', it's practically a GameBreaker for him until his tag duel against Kagemaru with Jaden. [[spoiler:After the events of chapter 41, it's pretty much averted with the world gaining Synchro and Xyz monsters.]]

** [[spoiler:During Chazz's duel against Zaborg the Thunder Monarch in chapter 50, Jesse made a reference to the D-Wheels (Duel Runners in the dub) from ''5d's'' when musing about the idea of dueling on motorcycles.]]

** Instead of using the anime-only Alchemy Beast archetype, Amnael[=/=]Banner instead utilized a deck that merely focuses on banishing cards while still having the "Helios" series and "Golden Homunculus".

** In his student representative duel against Chazz, Jaden states that the latter should be dueling for fun rather than winning as an attempt to prevent the latter from being chained down by his cold and semi-emotionally abusive brothers. This doesn't work as not only Chazz chastises Jaden's own naivety but also stating that he has no right to preach to him about "dueling for fun" since the latter hadn't really struggled in a duel since he got into Duel Academy.

* Fiction500: Like in the canon series, Kaiba's wealth and power is so influential to the point where he muses of [[LampshadeHanging being unsure how powerful he is]].

* NormalFishInATinyPond: It should be noted that the Melodious archetype and Xyz monsters that Jaime uses isn't particularly strong in 2016 but in the world of ''GX'', it's practically a GameBreaker for him until his tag duel against Kagemura with Jaden. [[spoiler:After the events of chapter 41, it's pretty much averted.]]
* OddFriendship: Chazz has one with Jesse Anderson. Even Chazz notes how strange it is for him and Jesse to get along so well considering how much Jesse reminds Chazz of Jaden.

** In regards to each of the main characters' playing an archetype, most of their strategies are treated as AwesomeButImpractical due to the way it's built for around the concept of NewPowersAsThePlotDemands, will not always work when going up against duelist's who uses more practical and well-balanced decks.
** Before Dr Jamie plans to avoid antagonizing Dr. Crowler in any sort of manner since

**

* ShoutOut: If it wasn't already obvious with his name, it's a nod to '''Jaime Lannister''' from ''Series/GameOfThrones'', which Jamie himself lampshades.
* ShownInTheirWork: Being a fanboy and competitive player for the series itself, the author shows numerous terminologies used in the game and utilizing practicality within the deck balance.

** {{Downplayed|Trope}} in regards to Jaden's extraordinary luck in the TheMagicPokerEquation, where he's not going to be able to win every duel he engages in.

** Due to dating Bastion, Jasmine started to take dueling much more seriously than she does in canon, and improved her skills with him. It's noted during the second year that she became the fifth most skilled duelist in the Obelisk Blue dorm.

** Kaiba is an alcoholic hedonist workaholic who may also smoke pot.
* AdaptationalWimp: In the show, while it turned out that Abidos the Third's opponents always lost on purpose, he was still a competent duelist and gave Jaden a tough time. Here, Alexis defeats him with no effort, and when he finds out that all of his victories were handed to him, he sobs in an undignified manner.

* BadassBookworm: Bastion fits this to a T.

* CombatPragmatist: This is Jamie's main dueling philosophy. He could care less whether to run an archetype in his deck (e.g. Jaden) or play in a straightforward and honorable way (e.g. Zane) as long he could win the duel in the most efficient way possible.

* CompositeCharacter: Zane Truesdale's personality in the GX season 1-era is basically a mix between the original and English dub depictions.

* SexForSolace: [[spoiler:Implied between Jamie and Alexis in chapter 48, and outright confirmed in chapter 53.]]
* ShoutOut: If it wasn't already obvious with his name, it's a nod to '''Jaime Lannister''' from ''Series/GameOfThrones''.

* ForWantOfANail

* InSpiteOfANail

* SexForSolace: [[spoiler:Implied between Jamie and Alexis in chapter 48, and outright confirm in chapter 53.]]

After dying, the competitive player of the ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' card game finds himself living within the world of Yu-Gi-Oh, reincarnated as a boy who’s about to attend Duel Academy named Jamie Lancaster. Taking his identity, Jamie proceeds to adapt to the strange circumstances and live a second life, believing he can use his knowledge of the series as well as his past life to breeze his way through life. However, Jamie soon realizes that this world isn’t completely identical to the show, and finds out that, with his presence weakening the barriers between dimensions, he’ll be in for unexpected twists after all.

After dying, competitive player of the ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' card game finds himself living within the world of Yu-Gi-Oh, reincarnated as a boy who’s about to attend Duel Academy named Jamie Lancaster. Taking his identity, Jamie proceeds to adapt to the strange circumstances and live a second life, believing he can use his knowledge of the series as well as his past life to breeze his way through life. However, Jamie soon realizes that this world isn’t completely identical to the show, and finds out that, with his presence weakening the barriers between dimensions, he’ll be in for unexpected twists after all.

''Spoilers are unmarked for the first season''.

** In canon, Bastion's highly intelligent and analytical abilities as a duelist was gradually treated with less respect by his peers and the writers themselves; since the universe he lives in follows the laws of NewPowersAsThePlotDemands, and by just being HotBlooded and believing in the PowerOfFriendship, you'll be able to perform impractical combo decks to achieve victory. Essentially, Bastion might as well been [[BornInTheWrongCentury born a decade too early]] for his talents to be appreciated. Here, Bastion's abilities are treated with much more prominence since the original rules don't apply anymore, and he was able to defeat [[spoiler:Don Zaloog]] when believing in the "heart of the cards".

** He's also prone to underestimating. Jamie had the right idea to create an Obelisk Force of students from Obelisk Blue...but despite the skilled members they have; the Society of Light simply overtook the lesser skilled yet heavily populated Ra Yellow dorms and have the numbers to go against the Obelisk Force. If you can't win by dueling, you'd likely win by law of averages and attrition.

* TechnicianVersusPerformer: Bastion and [[OriginalCharacter Adam Sugihara]]. Bastion firmly believes that calculations and strict planning lead to victory while Adam, who uses a luck based deck, believes that the game's more fun when you leave things up to chance. Jamie notes how the two represent opposite extremes of the game.

** Kaiba is much more childish than in canon.

* ClashingCousins: Marik, Ishizu, and Odion find themselves conflicting with their cousin, [[OriginalCharacter Hank Ishtar.]]

A competitive player of the ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' card game finds himself reincarnated as a boy who’s about to attend Duel Academy named Jamie Lancaster after dying, and living within the world of Yu-Gi-Oh. Taking his identity, Jamie proceeds to adapt to the strange circumstances and live a second life, believing he can use his knowledge of the series as well as his past life to breeze his way through life. However, Jamie soon realizes that this world isn’t completely identical to the show, and finds out that, with his presence weakening the barriers between dimensions, he’ll be in for unexpected twists after all.

** He's also prone to underestimating. Jamie had the right idea to create an Obelisk Force of students from Obelisk Blue...but despite the numbers they have; the Society of Light simply overtook the lesser skilled Ra Yellow dorms and have the numbers to go against the Obelisk Force.

** In canon, Bastion's highly intelligent and analytical abilities as a duelist was [[BadassDecay gradually]] treated with less respect by his peers and the writers themselves; since the universe he lives in follows the laws of NewPowersAsThePlotDemands, and by just being HotBlooded and believing in the PowerOfFriendship, you'll be able to perform impractical combo decks to achieve victory. Essentially, Bastion might as well been [[BornInTheWrongCentury born a decade too early]] for his talents to be appreciated. Here, Bastion's abilities are treated with much more prominence since the original rules don't apply anymore, and he was able to defeat [[spoiler:Don Zaloog]] when believing in the "heart of the cards".

* AdaptationalBadass: Many characters get this treatment onwards, but some in ''particular'' than others.
** In canon, Bastion's highly intelligent and analytical abilities as a duelist was [[BadassDecay gradually]] treated with less respect by his peers and the writers themselves; since the universe, he lives in follows the laws of NewPowersAsThePlotDemands, and by just being HotBlooded and believing in the PowerOfFriendship, you'll be able to perform impractical combo decks to achieve victory. Essentially, Bastion might as well been [[BornInTheWrongCentury born a decade too early]] for his talents to appreciated. Here, Bastion's abilities are treated with much more prominence since the original rules don't apply anymore, and he was able to defeat [[spoiler:Don Zaloog]] when believing in the "heart of the cards".

* AdaptationalBadass: Due to dating Bastion, Jasmine started to take dueling much more seriously than she does in canon, and improved her skills with him. It's noted during the second year that she became the fifth most skilled duelist in the Obelisk Blue dorm.

** Jaden's not that dense when it comes to romantic and sexual attraction in the story compared to canon, but unable to experience them with others due to his past reincarnation's [[DevotedToYou devotion]] to Yubel.

** The four duelists who comprised of Sarina's Light Brigade, Frost, Thunder, T-Bone, and Blaze, are absent in the story. Instead, Duel Spirits of the Monarch monsters act as Sarina's minions.

* AdaptedOut: Bonaparte is not present at Duel Academy even when the cast enters their second year like in canon. Jamie briefly wonders why this is the case.

* DemotedToExtra: {{Downplayed|Trope}}, but whereas Chazz is a main character in canon, here he decides to remain at North Academy rather than come back to Central Academy, leaving him absent more often. He still has regular ADayInTheLimelight chapters at North Academy alongside Jesse, but his overall presence is lessened compared to canon.

** Kagemaru enters a pact with [[spoiler:Starving Venom Fusion Dragon]], and he makes reference to the terror that is [[spoiler:the [[Anime/YuGiOhArcV Supreme King Z-ARC and Starving Venom's search for its fellow Dimension Dragons]]]].