DPKB Part 5: Raifupointo Sen Harai...

Despite Kaiba loving to create antics using Enemy Controller, it was not included in his Duelist Pack. Once we eliminate the Blue-Eyes support and the devastating Forbidden Cards, Kaiba's Spell and Trap Cards become somewhat odd. Of course, they are still helpful reprints for the ever-rotating player base.

The first Card in line is Polymerization:

Send Fusion Material Monsters that are listed on a Fusion Monster Card from your hand or your side of the field to the Graveyard, and Special Summon that Fusion Monster from your Extra Deck.

Polymerization offers one of the simplest ways to Fusion Summon a monster. Probably its most important ruling about it (if not the only one) is that Fusion Summons never use Fusion Materials as a cost, as we mentioned in a previous article, so if Polymerization is negated, you do not send any monsters to the Graveyard. Similarly, Polymerization doesn't target anything, so upon activation you do not need to reveal any Fusion Materials or any Fusion Monster. You do need to be able to Summon something upon activation, otherwise you cannot activate this Card. If the Fusion Monster you intended to Summon is no longer in your Extra Deck, or the materials are not sufficient, you still Summon any available Fusion Monster.

A fun fact about Polymerization is its first text: "Fuses 2 or more Fusion-Material Monsters to form a new Fusion Monster.". What do you make from this? Its text makes no sense! Some times, errata are heavily needed Q_Q

Next, we have Magic Reflector:

Select 1 Spell Card that remains face-up on your side of the field and put 1 counter on it. If the selected card is destroyed, the counter  is removed instead of the card being destroyed.

Pretty much the prototype of many other Cards with a similar effect of skipping destruction thanks to a Counter. Magic Reflector targets 1 face-up Spell Card you have. You can only target Equip, Continuous, and Field Spell Cards. Not only because of Magic Reflector's Spell Speed of 1, but also, because other Spell Cards do not remain on the Field. The Counter doesn't have a name for itself, so make sure you can tell it apart from other Counters like Spell Counters, the Counters generated by the various B.E.S. monsters, etc. The Counter itself has no effect: The protection is set by Magic Reflector's effect. Finally, this Counter does not protect Spell Cards from being destroyed by Game Mechanics, so if Swords of Revealing Light has expired, or if a Field Spell Card is replaced, the Spell Card is destroyed anyway.

Moving on, we have Cost Down:

Discard  1 card from your hand. Downgrade all Monster Cards in your hand by 2 Levels until the End Phase of the turn this card is activated.

Nowadays, there are several Cards to modify the Level of a monster thanks to Synchro Summon support, but back in the day, this was one of the few ways to do so. Discarding 1 Card is a cost, and Cost Down doesn't target anything. Instead of affecting some monsters, it creates a condition that reduces the Level of any monster that exists in your Hand by two. This affect any monster at your Hand at the time Cost Down resolves, and any monster that you add to your Hand later from any location (drawing it or recovering it through Beckoning Light). The monster's Level is still reduced if you place it on the Field, but not if it is sent to the Graveyard.

Another Card in this Duelist Pack is Ring of Defense:

You can only activate this card in response to the activation of a Trap Card effect that inflicts damage. Make the effect damage of that Trap Card 0.

This Quick-Play Spell Card is chained to a Trap Card that would inflict damage. You can't activate it during the Damage Step, so you can't reduce the damage caused by Cards like Attack and Receive. Ring can only affect a Trap Card if it is chained directly to it. Note that Ring can affect a Continuous Trap Card if it will inflict damage upon activation (like Type Zero Magic Crusher), but it will only reduce the damage once. If Magic Crusher's effect is activated again later, it will inflict damage as usual. Most importantly, note that you can only affect Trap Cards that use the chain (this means that you can't use it against Cards like Coffin Seller), and most importantly, Cards that do inflict damage. For example, Dimension Wall uses the chain, but it doesn't inflict damage by itself. Instead, it redirects the Battle Damage that a player will take. Finally, Ring only reduces damage, so it doesn't stop any other effects that the Trap Card may have. For example, Magic Cylinder will still negate an attack, and Ceasefire would still flip monsters face-up.

The last Spell Card is Fiend's Sanctuary:

Special Summon 1 "Metal Fiend Token" (Fiend-Type/DARK/Level 1/ATK 0/DEF 0). It cannot attack. When this Token battles, the opponent takes any Battle Damage its controller would have taken. Pay 1000 Life Points during each of your Standby Phases. If you do not, destroy the "Metal Fiend Token".

A very simple effect of Summoning a Token. It's worth noting that Tokens are always treated as Normal Monsters, so every ability and restriction listed in this Card is a condition set on the Token and NOT the Token's effects. Using Skill Drain on it would have no effect (mainly because it is a Normal Monster). Reflecting Battle Damage doesn't use the chain. Paying 1000 Life Points or destroying the token is a Maintenance Cost. And just as a random side note, I don't know why, but many people think that the token is not destroyed by battle, even me quite often Q_Q

Interdimensional Matter Transporter:

Select 1 face-up  monster on your side of the field  and remove it from play until the End Phase of this turn.

A really long and complicated name for a simple effect (with equally long and complicated ramifications). IMT targets one face-up monster upon activation only. Then, during the End Phase, the monster is returned to the Field without using the chain. Note that this is NOT a Summon, it merely returns the monster to the Field, so this Card works even for Nomi monsters like Elemental Hero Absolute Zero or Judgment Dragon. There are two Cards that do not mix with Transporter: The first one are Monster Tokens, which cease to exist once they are Removed from the Field. The second one are monsters that Remove themselves from Play when they are Removed from the Field, as they will not return to the Field during the End Phase. 

Other than that, IMT creates some really funky interactions with some conditions and information set "on the monster". For example, a monster affected by Gale the Whirlwind will restore its ATK/DEF to normal, and a monster Summoned by Rescue Cat will not be destroyed. On the other hand, a Spirit monster will still "remember" that it was Normal Summoned this turn, so it will still return to its owner's Hand. These interactions are heavily dependant on what each monster does, so it's hard to explain a rule to cover them all. Some are even contradictory. In this case, it's better to check its Individual Rulings and Card text.

Next, we have Cloning:

Activate only when your opponent Normal Summons or Flip Summons a monster. Special Summon 1 "Clone Token" that has the same original Level, Type, Attribute, ATK, and DEF as the Summoned monster. When that monster is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard, destroy  this token.

Another Card that creates a token. This Normal Trap Card responds to a successful Summon, targeting one face-up monster. Once again, copying the parameters and being destroyed are conditions determined by the Trap Card, and not effects from the token.

Finally, we have Return from the Different Dimension:

Pay half your Life Points. Special Summon as many of your removed from play monsters  as possible. During the End Phase, remove from play all monsters  that were Special Summoned by this effect.

Paying half of your Life Points is a cost. Payments are rounded down, so if you need to pay half of 1025, you pay 512 (and end up with 513 Life Points). Of course, if you have 1 Life Point left, you pay zero Life Points, you cheapskate. Return does not target any monster: You count your available Monster Card Zones when it resolves, and then, you choose as many monsters as possible to Special Summon at once. During the End Phase, all monsters are Removed from Play at once without using the chain. If a monster is no longer face-up, it is not Removed from Play, but the remaining ones are. Finally, if Imperial Iron Wall is active, you can activate Return, and the monsters won't be Removed from Play.

And that's it for Kaiba's S/T Cards. If you have any questions, feel free to drop me an e-mail at ness00[at]gmail[dot]com.

DPKB Part 4: Five-hundred and ninety nine US Life Points

Aside from the famous Blue-Eyes White Dragons, Kaiba has used a number of other monsters. Some of them are also Dragons, but most of them are quite miscellaneous. Even so, being used by Kaiba has turned them into memorable monsters, which this Duelist Pack brings back once again to please the fans (and provide some needed reprints).

The first monsters are the XYZ trio. They are pretty simple, actually, so we'll review them in a future article about Union Monsters. With that said, let's move into one of the oldest Monsters used by Kaiba: Enraged Battle Ox

As long as this card remains face-up on your side of the field, when Beast, Beast-Warrior  and Winged Beast-Type monsters on your side of the field attack with an ATK that is higher than the DEF of your opponent's Defense Position monster, inflict the difference as Battle Damage to your opponent's Life Points.

Of course, Enraged Battle Ox is actually filling in for the regular Battle Ox who is a Normal Monster. Probably because otherwise we wouldn't review him here. Enraged Battle Ox allows you to trample with animal-based monsters, and trampling is a Continuous Effect. The effect is generated by the Ox, so the opponent needs to negate Ox if they want to prevent Battle Damage from being inflicted. Of course, since Ox is a Beast-Warrior, it also affects itself.

Next, we have Different Dimension Dragon:

This card cannot be destroyed by the effect of a Spell or Trap Card that does not target it. This card is not destroyed  as a result of battle against a monster with an ATK of 1900 or less.

This monster is simply...weird. Both effects are Continuous. We have seen some examples of targeting and non-targeting effects for the first effect. The second effect prevents its destruction in battle if the other monster has 1900 ATK while comparing the ATK/DEF of both monsters. Of course, Damage Calculation is applied normally.

Moving on, we have Kaiser Glider:

This card is not destroyed as a result of battle when this card battles with a monster with the same ATK. When this card is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard, return 1 monster on the field to its owner's hand.

Glider has two effects. The first one is a Continuous Effect that prevents destruction in battle, similar to Different Dimension Dragon. The second one is a mandatory Trigger Effect that targets one monster. The cool thing about this Trigger Effect is that activates regardless of where Glider is destroyed, so it will activate even if Crush Card Virus destroyed it, or if it is destroyed while equipped to Relinquished. Glider has always been an odd Card, that has always been considered as a possible answer to any 2400 ATK monster, be it Jinzo or a Monarch. Unfortunately, it never saw too much play, not even by Kaiba himself.

We now have another Card rarely used by Kaiba, Vampire Lord. Seems the Duel with Noah Kaiba was just too relevant:

Each time this card inflicts Battle Damage to your opponent, declare 1 card type (Monster, Spell, or Trap). Your opponent selects 1 card of that type from his/her Deck and sends it to the Graveyard. Also, when this card is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard  by your opponent's card effect, it is Special Summoned to the field during your next Standby Phase.

Vampire Lord has two mandatory Trigger Effects. The first one is activated at the "After Damage Calculation" Sub-Step of the Damage Step. It doesn't target anything. If you declare a Card type that the opponent no longer has in his/her Deck, you get to verify. The second effect, worth of a vampire, is activated during the Standby Phase, not when Vampire Lord is destroyed. Similar to Glider, this effect will activate if Vampire Lord is destroyed outside of the Field, however, it will not activate when Vampire Lord is being treated as an Equip Spell Card. It is important that you can tell whose effect is destroying Vampire Lord. Note that once Vampire Lord is destroyed, it must remain in the Graveyard until your next Standby Phase, otherwise, it won't be Special Summoned. It sure used to be a pest back in the day, then Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys eventually replaced it.

The next Card comes from the Yu-Gi-Oh! movie, Pyramid of Light. It is no other than Peten the Dark Clown:

When this card is sent to your Graveyard, you can remove this card from the Graveyard  to Special Summon 1 "Peten the Dark Clown" from your hand or Deck.

Peten should be no news to anybody. Even if you had never seen the Card, it is heavily infamous for being the ultimate example of effects that miss the timing. Of course, Peten has an Optional Trigger Effect. It's trigger is extremely simple, but Peten just loves being unable to activate its effect. Its effect is ruined pretty much by every example that we listed in the "missing the timing" article. Despite this, Peten did have its moment of glory a few years ago, when it was used as cheap tributes for Monarchs.

Also from the same movie, we have Familiar Knight:

When this card is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard  as a result of battle, each player can Special Summon 1 Level 4 monster  from their hand.

Yet another Optional Trigger Effect. Not very complicated, really. In order to activate the effect, you must have an eligible monster to Summon. If you activate the effect, you are forced to Summon, but the opponent isn't. It's not a very popular Card, as many others have the same effect with less cons and some additional pros.

The last Card for today is Ancient Lamp:

When this face-down Defense Position card is attacked by your opponent's monster, you can make 1 opponent's monster (except the attacking monster) be attacked instead. While this card is face-up on the field, you can Special Summon 1 "La Jinn the Mystical Genie of the Lamp" from your hand.

As usual, we just can't leave without addressing a weird Card. Ancient Lamp's first effect is an Optional Trigger Effect that activates at the "Before Damage Calculation" Sub-Step of the Damage Step. At this time, the face-down Ancient Lamp has now been flipped face-up already, so this effect can be negated by Skill Drain or Forbidden Chalice (it does not activate while Lamp is face-down). This effect merely "moves the attack" to a different monster. It doesn't move the monsters anywhere, and it doesn't select attack targets. This is quite important, as most of its individual rulings address various effects that mention the opponent. For example, the trampling effect of Enraged Battle Ox that we mentioned at the beginning of this article inflicts damage to the opponent, so even if Ancient Lamp forces the opponent's monsters to battle each other, the person controlling Ancient Lamp will take the damage. Similar to Vampire Lord, this takes a little reading of each particular effect.

The second effect is an Ignition Effect with no cost or limitation. You can simply Summon La Jinns (one by one) as many times as you like during your Main Phase. La Jinn is a very popular monster because, even if it fails to meet the standards of a "good" monster today, it used to be one of the best beatsticks one could ask for. Having 3 La Jinns in your Deck separated your Deck from the mediocre ones.

Stay tuned for the last bunch of Cards from Duelist Pack Kaiba in part 5. If you have any questions, feel free to drop me an e-mail at ness00[at]gmail[dot]com.

DPKB Part 3: Forbidden So That They Never Can Be Used Against Me

Once again, we keep reviewing the contents of this nostalgic pack full of powerful Cards. One of the main features about this Duelist Pack is the inclusion of Ultimate Rare Cards, and this high rarity is attached to currently Forbidden Cards that Kaiba has used throughout his Duels. I've been playing before any Cards were Forbidden (before the creation of the Advanced Format), so I have been both a user and a victim of almost every Card in the Forbidden List Q_Q

One fun fact about Forbidden Cards is that they are often extremely simple Cards with very few requirements for their powerful effects. Of course, that's usually the reason why they end up being Forbidden. Let's start with the simplest one of them all: Pot of Greed.

Draw 2 cards from your Deck.

Thanks, I guess? Pot of Greed is the definition of gaining advantage out of the blue. There are no costs, there are no requirements, or anything. "Just draw 2 Cards", like a Nike slogan. Just so that it doesn't look so lame, there is one minor rule attached to Pot, which is that you cannot activate it with 1 or less Cards in your Deck. Gaining advantage is so absolute, that you cannot even activate the Card if you aren't going to make up for it!

Pot of Greed has been widely used by several characters in the anime. And no wonder why, as this Card helps them draw into their precious combos that make Duels worth watching. Pot can certainly turn any Duel around, and if you weren't around when this Card, I heavily envy you. Drawing into Pot of Greed  was the ultimate salvation a player could ask for, but having it used against you was the ultimate lucksack.

Moving on, we have one of the most devastating removal Cards: Ring of Destruction.

Destroy 1 face-up  monster and inflict damage to both players equal to its ATK.

Ring targets 1 face-up monster which must remain face-up until Ring resolves, otherwise Ring resolves without effect. This Card refers to the current ATK of the monster, so you need to take into account every ATK modifier before the monster is destroyed (Equip Cards and the like). The destruction and the damage are considered to be simultaneous, so it does not cause timing issues if you need to respond to monster destruction with a Card like Soul Rope. However, the destruction is a requirement to inflict damage: If you fail to destroy the monster, no damage is inflicted.

Kaiba's favorite combo with Ring of Destruction was Ring of Defense, but sadly, this combo doesn't work with the actual TCG Cards (since Ring of Defense applies to both players instead of one). There are other Cards that can do the dirty job like Barrel Behind the Door, which is even more devastating than Ring of Defense. In real life, Ring was pretty much a game-defining Card. Activating it would usually cause one or both players to lose the Duel thanks to its ability to easily dish out damage in unpleasant doses of over 2000 points. No monster was safe from it. It's no surprise that most rulings that mention Ring of Destruction only use it as a random monster removal Card, due to it's extremely small restrictions.

This fetish for destruction that Kaiba displays will become evident as we move on. Let's take a look at Cyber Jar:

FLIP: Destroy all monsters on the field. Both players then pick up 5 cards from the top of their respective Decks  and Special Summon all Level 4 or lower Monster Cards among them on the field  in face-up  Attack Position or face-down  Defense Position. The rest of the cards picked up are added to their respective hands.

At plain sight, we see a very long FLIP Effect. Cyber Jar first destroys all monsters on the Field. Then, both players pick up 5 Cards. Note that picked-up Cards are never considered to be drawn. They are considered to be still within the Deck. Among those, you will Special Summon some monsters, and add the rest of the Cards to the Hand. Destroying the monsters is a separate event, which happens first, while Summoning the monsters and adding Cards to the Hand happens simultaneously, so you can respond with Cards like Torrential Tribute and Drastic Drop Off. All monsters are considered to be Special Summoned simultaneously, but technically, the turn player must decide the position of his/her monsters before the opponent. Any Level 4 or lower monsters that cannot be Special Summoned will be sent to the Graveyard. If Cards cannot be added to the Hand (such as if Thunder King Rai-Oh survived the destruction), these are also sent to the Graveyard.

Cyber Jar packs just too much power. By default, it has Dark Hole's effect, and Dark Hole is currently Forbidden. It also has the power to Summon anywhere from 1 to 5 monsters in the blink of an eye. Cards with less power than that had been dealt with by "The List" as well. Finally, players may end up gaining Cards in Hand for each picked up Card that wasn't an eligible monster, often matching or even beating Pot of Greed. Jar monsters in this game equal big reset buttons. Flipping it in a Duel will always be a lame move due to the instant Field wipe, but it would also bring up a major random factor of not knowing what is going to be Summoned or picked up. It brings bittersweet memories. Kaiba actually faced Cyber Jar while testing his own Deck against his simulator, costing him that the opponent would Summon 4 monsters. This eventually lead to Kaiba Summoning Obelisk the Tormentor and frying all of them.

Tribute  1 DARK monster  with 1000 or less ATK. Check all monsters  your opponent controls, your opponent's hand, and all cards they draw (until the end of your opponent's 3rd turn after this card's activation), and destroy all monsters with 1500 or more ATK.

Tributing a DARK monster is a cost. When Crush Card resolves, it will start getting rid of monsters. Face-up monsters will have their current ATK checked. Face-down monsters and Cards in the Hand will have their Original ATK checked. Monsters in the Hand and Field are only checked once. The only effect that lasts for 3 turns is checking drawn Cards. This only applies to drawn Cards, so adding them to the Hand doesn't count. The verification and destruction of drawn Cards doesn't use the chain. If you draw a Card, you reveal it, and it is immediately destroyed. If you are within an effect's resolution (such as Dark World Dealings or Allure of Darkness), you reveal the drawn Cards, resolve the effect, then destroy the remaining drawn Cards. So, for example, if you draw into a high ATK DARK monster, and a low ATK DARK monster with Allure of Darkness, you would reveal both. If you Remove from Play the high ATK monster, nothing else happens. If you Remove from Play the low ATK monster, the high ATK monster is destroyed.

Crush Card Virus was much more powerful in the earlier part of the anime series, in which it destroyed every monster in a player's Deck, and due to the rules used there, the player would instantly lose. Kaiba's monster of choice for using this Card was Saggi the Dark Clown. As mentioned before, this Card wasn't Forbidden too long ago, so more players are aware of just how devastating it was. Almost every Deck packed Cards like Sangan or D.D. Crow just to activate this Trap Card and detonate half of the opponent's Hand during turn 1.

But the true definition of devastation comes with the last Card for this article: Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the End.

This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card can only be Special Summoned by removing from play 1 LIGHT and 1 DARK monster  in your Graveyard. By paying 1000 Life Points, send  all cards in both players' hands and on the field  to the Graveyard. Inflict 300 points of damage to your opponent's Life Points for each card that is sent to the Graveyard  by this effect.

Like we said at the top, Forbidden Cards are usually simple. This Dragon has an Inherent Special Summon, and an Ignition Effect. You can't get any simpler than that. Paying 1000 Life Points is a cost. Sending every Card to the Graveyard and inflicting damage is considered to be simultaneous, but of course, you are required to send Cards to the Graveyard to actually count them while inflicting damage, so Monster Tokens or a Plaguespreader Zombie that has used its effect will not count.

Chaos Emperor Dragon is a sign that says "game over" on a very large stick. Its Summoning requirements were hilarious back on its time, and the years have only made it even easier. It's no wonder that this was one of the first Cards to ever be Forbidden and one of the bunch that has never escaped that status. Many consider it to be THE Card that originated almost every other powerful trump Card that has been designed lately, probably honoring its name as a messenger of doomsday. And this claim isn't too far fetched, as many "big" monsters follow the same template: Inherent Special Summon + devastating Ignition Effect. While it was still legal, the Emperor Dragon was everywhere. If you thought Crush Card was bad, essentially every Deck that contained at least 1 DARK and 1 LIGHT monster could drop this nuke and inflict anywhere from 2000 to around 4000 points of damage. The Duel in which Kaiba used this monster is one of the most epic Duels in the series, and you should definitely watch it if you get the chance. 

But when you are Seto Kaiba, a Forbidden Card is a mere tool. If your opponent manages to survive the doombringer dragon, you still have your three Blue-Eyes White Dragons to remind him who you are.

Stay tuned for part 4! If you have any questions, feel free to drop me an e-mail at ness00[at]gmail[dot]com.

DPKB Part 2: Behind Blue-Eyes...

The mighty albino dragons may be the strongest Normal Monsters in the game, but let's face it: They won't get very far by being a two-tribute, 3000 ATK beatstick. That's why a number of support Cards where used to support these elusive beasts. Not all of them were used by Kaiba, but I'm sure he would have no problem affording them if he wanted them.

Let's start with a true classic, Lord of D.:

While this card remains face-up on the field, all Dragon-Type monsters  cannot be targeted  by Spell Cards, Trap Cards, or Effect Monster's effects.

This is one of the first Effect Monsters ever released. It only has one short but powerful Continuous Effect. Most of it rulings are dedicated to list a few Cards that it can and cannot negate. We already have an article about targeting effects, so we don't need that. An important note about this effect is that this effect only prevents targeting effects from targeting Dragons, but once they have already been chosen as targets, Lord of D. can't do anything about them. In other words, Lord must be face-up in order to prevent the targeting, and it won't touch already existing effects.

EDIT: Invalid: The other important note is that Lord of D.'s effect prevents Dragons from being targeted ANYWHERE. Ages ago, when it was first released, it was common to believe that it only protected face-up Dragons. Many years later, with the release of Aurkus, Lightsworn Druid, we found out that Lord, who works exactly the same as Aurkus, protects not only face-up Dragons, but also, Dragons in the Graveyard and Removed from Play Zone. Well, actually it works everywhere, but other locations can't be targeted Q_Q

One cannot discuss Lord of D. without discussing its magical instrument, The Flute of Summoning Dragon:

Activate  only while "Lord of D." is face-up on the field. Special Summon up to 2 Dragon-Type monsters  from your hand.

This Normal Spell Card seems simple enough, which usually means that there's some dirty secret about it. The first thing we notice is that Lord of D. can be on any side of the Field, and it can even be treated as an Equip Spell Card (Plasma/Relinquished/etc.). You are also forced to Special Summon at least 1 Dragon. Of course, you can't target Cards in the Hand, so you don't need to declare how many or which monsters you will Summon (and Lord of D. won't prevent its own Flute, of course).

The problem with Flute is that, like some Cards, its text is somewhat incomplete. Lord of D. must actually remain on the Field until Flute starts resolving. So, not only it must be face-up to activate Flute, but also, to resolve it properly. This is similar to what happened to Zombie Master.

Moving on, we have Kaiser Sea Horse:

This card can be treated as 2 Tributes  for the Tribute Summon of a LIGHT monster.

Obviously, it's function is to Tribute Summon Blue-Eyes White Dragon with only 1 tribute. This effect is pretty weird, but one could think of it as a Continuous Effect. You choose whether to apply it or not at the time Sea Horse is going to be tributed. This is one of the few effects that work while the monster is face-down. This effect can be negated by Cards like Skill Drain, too.

Next, we have a Ritual Monster dedicated to the theme. Paladin of White Dragon:

This monster can only be Ritual Summoned with the Ritual Spell Card "White Dragon Ritual." You must also Tribute monsters  whose total Levels  equal 4 or more from the field  or your hand. When this monster attacks a face-down  Defense Position monster, destroy  the face-down  monster with this card's effect without flipping it face-up  or damage calculation. You can Tribute  this card to Special Summon 1 "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" from your hand or your Deck. ("Blue-Eyes White Dragon" cannot attack during that turn.)

Its Summoning Condition and its Ritual Spell Card are very average, so let's focus on its two effects:

When this monster attacks a face-down  Defense Position monster, destroy  the face-down  monster with this card's effect without flipping it face-up  or damage calculation.

This first effect is a Mandatory Trigger Effect. It activates at the Start of the Damage Step. This effect is very similar to that of Mystic Swordsman LV2, or to a lesser extent, Neo-Spacian Grand Mole. As its text suggests, FLIP Effects won't activate, and neither would effects like the D.D. Warriors or Legendary Jujitsu Master. The attacked monster must be face-down at the Start of the Damage Step, so if the opponent flips it face-up with Desert Sunlight or similar, Paladin won't activate.

You can Tribute  this card to Special Summon 1 "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" from your hand or your Deck. ("Blue-Eyes White Dragon" cannot attack during that turn.)

This is an Ignition Effect. Tributing Paladin is a cost, and this effect doesn't target (so you don't have to choose a location to Summon Blue-Eyes upon activation). During this turn, no monster named "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" can declare an attack, not even other Blue-Eyes, or even a Phantom of Chaos that gained their name. A common question is whether you can "reverse engineer" restrictions like this, and the answer is no. This means that you can't declare attacks with a Blue-Eyes White Dragon, then activate this effect. If you wish to Summon the legendary dragon, you cannot declare an attack with any of them, not before, nor after this effect's activation.

Now, a brief note about Dragon Master Knight:

"Black Luster Soldier" + "Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon"
This monster cannot be Special Summoned except by Fusion Summon. This card gains 500 ATK for each Dragon-Type monster on your side of the field except this card.

One of the strongest monsters in this game, yet, its abilities are quite lacking. The first sentence tells us it is a Nomi Monster. The second one is a Continuous Effect that doesn't count Dragon Master Knight. Very lame indeed, but at least it does something more than Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon Q_Q

Our last Card is the newest support Card for the Blue-Eyes theme, The White Stone of Legend:

When this card is sent to the Graveyard, add 1 "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" from your Deck  to your hand.

A very practical Tuner Monster that searches for Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Its only effect is a Mandatory Trigger Effect. Certianly, it doesn't target. The best thing about this effect is that, unlike others with the same trigger, this one cannot miss the timing, so White Stone will activate if you discard it as a cost, if you tribute it as a cost, if it is destroyed in the middle of a chain, etc. Being mandatory also means that you will activate White Stone's effect no matter what, even if an effect prevents it (like Thunder King Rai-Oh), or if you have no more Blue-Eyes in your Deck.

And with this, we end part 2 of this pack's review. Stay tuned for part 3! If you have any questions, feel free to drop me an e-mail at ness00[at]gmail[dot]com.

DPKB Part 1: How To Train Your Blue-Eyes

AKA, "screw 3D movies, I have YGO holograms".

Duelist Pack: Kaiba is finally out, for us nostalgic guys, and for those looking for some cool reprints. Whether you like Kaiba or not, one can't deny he is probably one of the most memorable characters in the YGO anime history. Almost every Card used by Kaiba can be reminded, even if one sets aside the mighty albino dragons. Even something as strange as Gyakutenno Megami takes up a slot in the Anniversary Pack, because Kaiba uses it to stop a gun. How cool is that?

This character's main emblem would obviously be his playset of Blue-Eyes White Dragons. While they are powerful and majestic, it doesn't make much sense to discuss rulings about a Normal Monster and a Fusion Monster without any effects. Instead, in this part we'll be looking at the new-age version of the colorless beasts. I'm talking about Malefic Blue-Eyes White Dragon, of course:

This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card can only be Special Summoned by removing from play 1 "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" from your Deck. There can only be 1 face-up "Malefic" monster on the field. Other monsters you control cannot attack. If there is no face-up Field Spell Card on the field, destroy this card.

Straight from the last Yu-Gi-Oh! movie which premiered in Japan some time ago, we have the first "Malefic" monster, strangely added to this pack. Essentially, it's an easy-to-Summon Blue-Eyes without many other benefits, but it will help explaining some mechanics attached to other monsters like Earthbound Immortals. Let's take a look:

This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card can only be Special Summoned by removing from play 1 "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" from your Deck.

This is the Summoning Condition for this version of Blue-Eyes. From this, we gather that it is a Special-Summon only monster. You can Special Summon it from the Graveyard or RFG Zone if it was properly Summoned. Of course, being an Inherent Special Summon, this Summon can be negated by Solemn Judgment/Rai-Oh, and it does not use the chain.

There can only be 1 face-up "Malefic" monster on the field.

The dreaded "highlander clause": There can only be one. This clause's classification is debatable, so reffering to it by its nickname isn't such a bad idea. You can think of it as a Continuous Effect which is applied all the time, no matter the location of the Card. Just don't call it a Continuous Effect ;)

The "highlander clause" causes some funny results in the Game State. Its first consequence is that you cannot manually Summon this monster if you would break this clause, so you cannot even target it with Call of the Haunted if you already control one Malefic BEWD. You can still place it face-down on the Field with Cards like The Shallow Grave. A second consequence would be that if a new Malefic Blue-Eyes appears on the Field while you already controlled one, the newest one to appear is destroyed by Game Mechanics. If you Summon them at the same time (Return from the Different Dimension, for example), you get to choose. If you control 2 of these monsters, one face-up and one face-down, and the face-down one is flipped by a Card Effect, it is destroyed by Game Mechanics after its resolution. If the face-down one is attacked, it will be destroyed during the "After Damage Calculation" Sub-Step if it survived battle.

The final consequence is the interaction of the "highlander clause" against Effect Negation. Most Cards that negate continuously applied effects can only do so against face-up Cards, like Skill Drain or Destiny Hero - Plasma. Effect negation does negate the effect of a face-up Malefic Blue-Eyes, but it will not negate the effects of other copies of it in your Hand, Graveyard, etc. This means that you STILL cannot manually Special Summon the other copies. You can, however,  "end up" controlling more than 1, such as if you Special Summon two copies at the same time (again, Return from the Different Dimension), or if the extra copy is face-down and something flips it face-up, be it an attack or an effect.

Other monsters you control cannot attack.

A very blunt Continuous Effect. Even so, there are some ways around it. This effect can certainly be negated with Cards like Skill Drain or Fiendish Chain, so that your other monsters can attack. This effect also relies on Blue-Eyes being face-up, so if it is flipped face-down (for example, by your opponent's Book of Moon) or Removed from the Field, your other monsters can declare attacks as usual. A final loophole is that, once you declare an attack with a different monster, Blue-Eyes can no longer stop it, so if you attack, and your opponent uses Ceasefire, flipping your Blue-Eyes face-up, the attack still proceeds as usual.

If there is no face-up Field Spell Card on the field, destroy this card.

And finally, a self-destruction effect. This is also a Continuous Effect. Simply put, Cards like Light and Darkness Dragon or Gladiator Beast War Chariot can't do anything against Malefic Blue-Eyes. Similar to the previous one, this Continuous Effect can be negated by Skill Drain, so that your monster doesn't self-destruct. There's also an important ruling regarding new Field Spell Cards being activated: If you control a Field Card, and activate a new one, it is considered that there is a time frame in which no Field Spell Card is active (because you must first destroy the old one), so the Blue-Eyes is destroyed. However, if you control a Field Spell Card, and the opponent activates a new one, this time frame never exists, as there is always one face-up Field Card (first yours, then both, then the opponent's only), so Blue-Eyes won't be destroyed.

That wraps it up for the first part. Stay tuned for part 2 where we will talk about some of the Blue-Eyes support in the pack. If you have any questions, feel free to drop me an e-mail at ness00[at]gmail[dot]com.

From The Ranks Of God To Duel Academia

One of the most emblematic Cards of Seto Kaiba, other than the obvious pale dragons, is his mighty God Card, Obelisk the Tormentor. Unlike the other Egyptian deities, Obelisk's strategy is much simplier than managing Life Points or Cards in Hand. Obelisk beats face, plain and simple. Packing a fist worth 4000 Life Points, and the power of Raigeki in its other palm, one certainly can't ignore this monument turned into a divine beatstick. Like every Egyptian God Card, Obelisk is a classic for many players who always mentioned how making it legal wouldn't be a problem, considering how the game always has something more terrifying than a monster that can take down half of your Life Points in one punch.

Before we start, the "blue" Obelisk (GBI-002) is an illegal Card. You cannot use it under any conditions, not even as a proxy of the actual the legal one (JUMP-EN037). The GBI Obelisk is an Asian-English Card, and these have always been illegal, with all of them having an English counterpart. With that said, the legal Obelisk has a lot of different effects. Most of them are simply what defined Ra, Slifer, and itself as God Cards:

You must Tribute 3 monsters to Normal Summon this card (you cannot Set this card). The Normal Summon of this card cannot be negated. When this card is Normal Summoned, Spells, Traps, and Effect Monster effects cannot be activated. This card cannot be targeted by the effects of Spells, Traps  or Effect Monsters. If this card is Special Summoned, it is sent to the Graveyard  during the End Phase. You can Tribute 2 monsters to destroy all monsters your opponent controls. This card cannot declare an attack the turn this effect is activated.

Because being blue only makes it more awesome! Oh well, let's break it down, as usual:

You must Tribute 3 monsters to Normal Summon this card (you cannot Set this card).

This first line is a restriction on how you Normal Summon Obelisk. You may be wondering about the last part of this sentence. That comes from its Japanese text. Their texts use the them "Normal Summon" for both Normal Summons and Sets, so you tribute 3 monsters to Normal Summon Obelisk "in face-up Attack Position". It sounds redundant for our terminology, so it reads that you can't Set it. This doesn't mean that one cannot use effects like Book of Eclipse to flip Obelisk face-down, though.

Being a Normal Summon that uses tributes, you are Tribute Summoning Obelisk by doing this. For example, you cannot Tribute Summon Obelisk if Zombie World is active. Also note that you must tribute 3 monsters, so you cannot use Mausoleum of the Emperor paying 2000 Life Points (let alone 3000).

The Normal Summon of this card cannot be negated.

Whoa, this is heavy. This type of effect is really unique, and as expected of this Egyptian God, it laughs at pathetic Cards like Solemn Judgment that try to negate its Summon. This is a Continuous Effect, and there aren't many ifs or buts about it.

When this card is Normal Summoned, Spells, Traps, and Effect Monster effects cannot be activated.

This is when Obelisk grabs Creeping Doom Manta by its tail and watches it cry in defeat. This Continuous Effect prevents both players from responding to Obelisk's Summon, so you don't have to worry about Cards like Torrential Tribute or Bottomless Trap Hole. Note that this effect only lasts for the window that responds to Obelisk's successful Normal Summon, not the entire turn. If you tribute Sangan or a similar monster, its effect cannot be activated, since it would need to activate while Obelisk prevents it. There is a loophole around this, which is Normal Summoning Obelisk as link 2 or higher of a chain using Ultimate Offering. In that case, this effect is applied only in the middle of the chain, and so, Sangan can start a new chain, free from Obelisk's restriction.

Speaking of loopholes, this peculiar effect causes a nice disruption on how priority works in response to this Summon. Say you Normal Summon Obelisk. You can't respond to this Summon, and neither can your opponent, so priority returns to the turn player to perform actions. Since you probably have forgotten already, the turn player now has priority to perform any action, as s/he isn't responding to any event. This means that you could perform a Synchro Summon after a Normal Summon in this case. Gods sure act in mysterious ways.  

 This card cannot be targeted by the effects of Spells, Traps  or Effect Monsters.

This Continuous Effect makes Obelisk impervious to many popular Cards like Dimensional Prison, Brain Control, Brionac, Book of Moon, and many others. This really narrows down the number of Cards that can touch it. Notably, effect negation is probably one of its main enemies (Starlight Road, Divine Wrath, etc.), since it's pretty uncommon for it not to target. Note that this effect is only applied while Obelisk is face-up on the Field.

If this card is Special Summoned, it is sent to the Graveyard  during the End Phase.

It's pretty easy to miss it while reading Obelisk's Summoning Condition, but Obelisk CAN be Special Summoned by pretty much any Card, like Call of the Haunted, or Return from the Different Dimension. However, if you do, Obelisk will be damned by this Trigger Effect. This effect will activate during every End Phase that Obelisk is face-up. If Obelisk stays face-down, or has its effect negated, it will survive that End Phase, but this effect will still activate in the next End Phase. But hey, you have a huge beatstick that can't be targetted for an entire turn.

You can Tribute 2 monsters to destroy all monsters your opponent controls. This card cannot declare an attack the turn this effect is activated.

Bang! The power of nuking every monster escapes the banlist and reincarnates in a 4000 ATK body. This is an Ignition Effect, which certainly doesn't target, and tributes 2 monsters as a cost. You can even tribute Obelisk if you wanted to. Granted, this effect isn't too useful, as Obelisk can perform the job most of the time with its raw power. But it's certainly a nice treat to keep some of its original effect from the anime. Besides, if you can manage to generate 3 monsters to Summon Obelisk, you probably won't have a hard time generating two more for a free Raigeki.

Obelisk is a Card that truly suits Kaiba's strategy: Raw power in the most blunt way. It has been used in some memorable Duels like a 2-turn Tag Duel OTK, and in a very special Duel in which Kaiba refused to use Obelisk and chose his signature Blue-Eyes White Dragon instead. Why all the Kaiba hype? Because next week we'll be discussing some of his Cards from the recently released Duelist Pack under his name. If you have any questions, feel free to drop me an e-mail at ness00[at]gmail[dot]com.