Uh, [@vancexentan]? You should probably assume people in-universe aren't as linear as people IRL. I don't think there'd be very many people out there that even knew how to pull off a synchron combo, and professionals probably frown on it too. I mean, you can draw a few parallels with our world, but the way I see syncrho be used in-universe is more like 'Oh great, I can tune! Alright, let's go!' rather than 'Okay, so how do I get this synchro our in the least amount of time?'

Speaking of which, I don't quite see why all the hate on the basic stuff. Yes, we know it already. And others do too. But that's not... The point? It shouldn't nearly be as obvious in the YGOverse as it is IRL, I mean FFS, Yuzu kept screwing up fusion summoning until she got it right for once. The world of Yu-Gi-Oh! certainly draws parallels with our own, but it doesn't function in the same way.

I dunno, it sounds a bit nitpickey, but it does bother me a little you go in with the mindset of someone who's all about meta. Even I didn't have Ethel, someone who's supposed to be a natural, dismiss those lessons because she hadn't heard about them. It's fine if your characters know how to do it already, but acting like it's obvious to everyone just kinda... Feels wrong.

EDIT: okay, real talk for a second. On top of that, uh, I have to address a concern of mine. Why does it feel like Ben and Andre know EVERYTHING about the game? Aren't they supposed to learn things as they go along? It seems pointless to me to attend an academy if you already know Ice barriers are shit, for example. Like, you're not supposed to really say that? It's a deck like any other. If the character saw it in action, sure, form an opinion. But if Andre knew how to Synhron combo, why the hell isn't he playing that deck and raking in mad cash? Fucking find the cards and rek your way to the top FFS.