Story: My Best Duel Ever!

It’s story time! Today I am going to tell the tale of what may be the best duel I have ever won, on Dueling Network! Recently I have begun to duel on the popular website again, plus I updated my online deck to how it is built offline. So….. Are you ready for an epic story?

My duel begins on the third round of a match against a Gravekeepers deck. Gravekeepers are an archetype of DARK Attributed Spellcaster Monsters that rely on their home field (spell), Necrovalley, which shuts down access to the Graveyard; the unfortunate truth is that my deck depends greatly on what is my Graveyard so I was already at a disadvantage. Being on the third round, the score was 1 Win to 1 Win; I lost round 2 so I had the choice of going first.

[cough...]

On my first turn, I had managed to Synchro Summon Nitro Warrior, with 2800ATK, one of my best and strongest Monsters. I set Trap Dustshoot and Compulsory evacuation device and I ended my turn. My opponent begins her turn, and the card that foreshadowed the fate of the rest of the duel is revealed. I activated my Trap Dustshoot, which forces my opponent to show me their hand and I select 1 Monster in their hand to shuffle back into their hand. When she reveals her hand I discover that she has only 1 Monster in her hand and 5 Trap Cards: 1 Dark Illusion, 1 Rite of Spirit, 2 Dimensional Prisions, and 1 Starlight Road. She shuffles her only monster back into her hand and she sets all of her cards face down. Now that I know what cards she has face down, I am reluctant to attack.

Dimensional Prisons remove from play attack monsters, so not only would I lose Nitro Warrior but I would be unable to bring him back with a card like Monster Reborn. Starlight Road Negates a Card and/or Card Effect that would destroy 2 or more cards simultaneously; the Heavy Storm in my hand could have cleared her back row, but it would be Negated by Starlight Road, which would not only stop my Spell Card, but it would also allow my opponent to Special Summon a (“crippled”***) Stardust Dragon straight from her Extra Deck. Dark Illusion Negates and Destroys a Card and Card Effect that targets 1 face-up DARK Monster, and Rite of Spirit revives 1 Gravekeeper from the owner’s Graveyard. All was at a standoff for the next few turns, being that she was unable to Summon Monsters powerful enough to destroy my Nitro Warrior and that I was unable to safely attack.

[There is a storm is coming...]

Six turns passed by and I've drawn a Mystical Space Typhoon. My Nitro Warrior was lost when my opponent Summoned and Activated Gravekeeper's Descendant's Effect, which allows her to destroy any Card by Tributing 1 other Gravekeeper. Although I attempted to save my Nitro Warrior from the decendant's effect by activating the Effect of my Effect Veiler from, but she was lost due to the effect of my opponent's Dark Illusion. I probably should have used my Compulsory Evacuation Device instead of Effect Veiler. (You can observe me judging card rulings on image above.) My following turn is when things really get to heat up.

One of my friends was observing my duel as it was happening. He asked my why I had allowed my Opponent to take down one of my strongest Monsters. My excuse was that I was unable to completely focus due to to the "Heat of the Moment". As a response, he sent me a youtube link for the song Two Steps from Hell. I played it as I began my next turn and I knew what I had to do. I needed to use my trusty Debris Dragon in order to win, but my opponent held a Necrovalley. Even if I managed to summon a strong Monster, her Traps would easily take care of them. I had in my hand 1 Heavy Storm and 1 Mystical Space Typhoon, both Spell Cards are destroy Spell/Trap cards on the field. First I had to take care of Starlight Road, so I thought to myself what order my opponent may Set her Trap Cards to find the location of the hidden Starlight road. I made my choice; I chose a card to destroy, and I activated Mystical Space Typhoon first. Hesitant, my opponent took a moment to let my play sink in until she finally revealed that I had indeed hit the right card. Once the Starlight Road had been taken care of, she knew 'the storm' was coming and activated her Rite of Spirit card to take advantage of it. Heavy Storm took out her Field Spell and Trap Cards, but I also had to take advantage of my Compulsory Evacuation Device while I could; I 'bounced' back one of her Gravekeeper Recruiters.

[The Song Replays]

[I listened to this song replaying the whole time.]

So I managed to clear out my opponent's entire back row in one turn, but by that point I had not a single card on my side of the field. Now that I had finally gotten rid the obstacles my Monsters might have to overcome, it was time I made my move. I opened up by Summoning my Debris Dragon from my hand. I used his effect to Special Summon my Effect Veiler from my Graveyard in Attack Position! [Debris Dragon/LV 4/1000/2000] [Effect Veiler/LV 1/0/0] My friend, whom was observing the duel, questioned my motives for reviving my fallen 'Veiler'. Then I showed him up by activating Quillbolt Hedgehog's effect from my Graveyard; by having a Face-up Tuner-Monster on the field, it can revive itself. [Quillbolt Hedgehog/LV 2/800/800] By successfully Summoning a Monster back from my Graveyard, I Special Summoned Doppel Warrior from my hand. [Doppel Warrior/LV 2/800/800] Then after, I commenced to 'Tune' my Debris Dragon, Quillbolt Hedgehog, and Doppel Warrior on my field to Synchro Summon a Level 8 Dragon-Type Monster! (4+2+2=8) I Summoned Stardust Dragon. At this point my audience began to understand what was happening. After Stardust was Summoned, Doppel Warrior granted me 2 "Doppel Tokens" in Attack Position, each being Level 1, for using it as a Synchro Material Monster. I used my Effect Veiler waiting for my command to Synchro Summon for a Level 2 Monster, Formula Synchron; through his effect I drew Turbo Booster, and I commenced to 'Accel Synchro' for the strongest monster I can currently summon. In one turn, I managed to Synchro Summon the legendary Shooting Star Dragon!

[From 0 Monsters, to 1 Shooting Star and a Doppel Token in 1 Turn]

Shooting Star Dragon has many effects. One of its effects allows it to potentially attack multiple times in one turn. I activated its effect: By revealing the top 5 Cards of my Deck, for each Tuner-Monster I reveal, it can attack that number of times. On the first turn I Summoned him, Shooting Star revealed 2 Tuner-Monsters. I shuffled my deck and Started attacking. I managed to cut down most of my opponent's life points on that turn. I used one of my tokens and the spare Turbo Booster in my hand to rid my opponent of any field presence she might have by the time I ended my turn. I finished off this epic turn by activating Pot of Avarice; I drew Mind Control and Fiend's Sanctuary.

[Metal Fiend Token... Just to be safe]

My opponent then started her turn. She discarded a Gravekeeper's Commandant to add 1 Necrovalley from her Deck to her Hand. She activated her field Spell and Removed From Play 1 Stardust Dragon from her Extra Deck to Special Summon from her hand 1 Malefic Stardust Dragon from her hand. She Set the only other Monster in her hand to try to raise her defenses. My turn followed. I drew a Trap card and Set it. I activated from my hand my Mind Control Card to possess her Face-down Monster to lower her defenses.  Shooting Star Dragon Revealed 2 Tuner-Monster from the top of my deck; he finished the game for me with the next two attacks, perfectly depleting my opponent's Life Points to 0.

[Using Fiend's Sanctuary probably made no impact on the duel]

[The Final Attack]

[End of Duel!]

So there you have it. It was a duel that tested my skills as a duelist and my deck. I found it enjoyable because I won in a very impressive manner and I overcame many obstacles over the course of a single turn. Some duels are worth telling stories about and this one is no exception. Tell me what you guys think.

***A "Crippled Stardust Dragon" is a Stardust Dragon that was Special Summoned by the effect of Starlight Road. If a Synchro Monster is Special Summoned from the Extra Deck without properly being Synchro Summoned, it cannot be Summoned by other means, like Monster Reborn, once it has left the field. In the case of a Crippled Stardust, if he is tributed to activate his effect, he will not be able to Special Summon himself from the Graveyard on the upcoming End Phase.

Card Review: Debris Dragon

Time to take a look at a card that I personally favor using in decks. (Myself, along with thousands of other duelists.) Debris Dragon: a Tuner Monster used by Yusei Fudo in Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's. Compared to many monsters he may not be strong in terms of attack strength, but his abilities are what dueling dreams are made of.

So let's examine this little dragon that can evolve into a legend. Debris Dragon is a, WIND Attributed, Level 4 Dragon/Tuner Effect Monster with 1000ATK and 2000DEF. 1000ATK is very low for many monsters including Level 4 Monsters, but 2000DEF makes him an adequate defender. Like many cards nowadays, however, Debris Dragon was not made to stay on the field for long or battle all by himself. He is supposed to arrive and Synchronize with other Monster Cards on your Side of the field to grow into an even bigger dragon!

When Debris Dragon is Normal Summoned, he can revive any monster in your graveyard with lower than 500ATK Points; it doesn't matter what Level the monster is (This information can actually affect the game play). The monster Summoned by this effect will have its own effects negated, so it is assumed that the revived monster will be used as Synchro Material, as a Tribute, or even as Xyz Material. To compensate having a potent effect, Debris has 2 main drawback effects. First, he is not able to use a Level 4 Monster as Synchro Material, ever. Second, He must always be used as a Synchro Material Monster for the Summoning of Dragon-Type Synchro. By the card's very nature and artwork, it is implied that Debris Dragon is meant to grow into one of the Legendary "Signer Dragons", more specifically Stardust Dragon. His drawbacks add a greater challenge to actually summoning cards like Stardust Dragon and Red Dragon Archfiend, however, despite his cons he tends to shift the tides of battle.

Debris Dragon is most useful towards the middle or end of a duel, after many weak monsters have been sent to the Graveyard. In rare cases where a user of this card has a bad hand, he can still be used as a shield to ward off the first attack. Because of its potency, Debris Dragon is currently on the Limited List, meaning that only 1 can be used in Tournament Matches. Although these cards only come in Common rarity, they are valuable.

The Ace Monster Cards of a Decade

So Yu-Gi-Oh! has been around for just over a decade now, and it is amazing how popular the franchise has become. Most of the success is because of the TV shows that have kept people of many ages excited to buy new cards, trade, and duel with their friends. Because the game changed with the introduction of new card types and archetypes that utilized different mechanics of gameplay, the creators of Yu-Gi-Oh! produced different TV shows to introduce new cards and new styles of dueling. To date there are four Yu-Gi-Oh! TV shows: Yu-Gi-Oh!: Duel Monsters (or the First Generation Yu-Gi-Oh! That many people are familiar with), Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, and Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal.  Because each show has its own story, each show also has its own protagonist with their own card that they consider their best Monster Card. Since each protagonist is meant to be a spiritual successor to the original hero, Yugi, their best cards all share two similarities: They each have 2500 ATK Points and they each need (at least) 2 monsters to be summoned by their intended method of summoning.

So let’s take a look at the four monster cards that have aided our heroes in their duels!

Generation 1

The Dark Magician, held by Yugi in Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters. I already reviewed this card before, but what I would like to note about it is that its DEF is 2100. For some reason, the other Monster Cards that follow all have 2000 DEF. Yugi's main reason for using this card is simply that it is his favorite. Later in the series, it is implied that this Monster Card is an incarnation of one of the Pharaoh's loyal servants from his past life.

Generation 2

Elemental Hero Neos, held by Jaden Yuki from Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. Although Jaden did not receive or duel with this card until around the second season it is still considered his best Monster Card. This is a Monster designed by Jaden when he was a child; it was entered in a contest to create a deck of Duel Monsters cards and for some reason the cards were launched into "Neo Space". By being launched into space, the cards were infused with the power of Duel Spirits that Jaden can see. Neos' main ability is to be able to "Contact Fuse" with other Neo Spacians, as the card's flavor text would suggest. (This is an actual mechanic to the Neo Spacian Archetype.) Like Dark Magician, it is a Level 7 Normal Monster. Unlike Dark Magician, it is a, Light Attributed, Warrior-Type Monster Card.

Generation 3

Stardust Dragon, held by Yusei Fudo from Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's

Here is a card that might have single hand-idly changed the way of dueling forever. For the first time ever, not only was a Dragon-Type Monster Card the best Card of the Protagonits, but it was also an Effect Monster and it also came from the Extra Deck! (Prior to 5D's, The Extra Deck was called the Fusion Deck. The era of 5D's also introduced the Synchro Monster, which changed how people dueled. Most of the show focuses on the importance of Synchro Monsters in society.) At the beginning of the the show Yusei does not use this card because it was stolen from him by his former friend and rival Jack Atlas. Stardust Dragon is said to serve a powerful creature known as The Crimson Dragon. The Crimson Dragon chose 5 signers and entrusted them with a portion of their powers to those signers destined to restore balance to the world. Stardust Dragon, along with the other "Signer Dragons" played a huge role in the 5D's anime. Throughout the series, Stardust Dragon obtained more power evolved forms.

Generation 4

Number 39: Utopia, held by Yuma Tsukumo. Currently, this card is the whole reason anyone is buying the Starter Deck for 2011. (This, and maybe the other two Xyz Monsters that are included.) The Number Cards are said to come from another dimension or another word in Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal; and according to Konami's official Yu-Gi-Oh! website, Xyz Monsters travel from across the galaxy! Number 39: Utopia (In Japan he is known as Aspiring Emperor Hope) is the first Xyz Monster that came into Yuma's possession, granted by Astral's Power. (Astral is an Duelist Spirit from another world. He is a parallel of the Pharaoh from the original series.) Like Ash, Yuma's goal is to "Catch 'em all!". The Number Cards are powerful cards that amplify the emotions (and darkness) within people's hearts. Yuma must duel and defeat those with Number Cards in order to obtain them. Number Cards are also the pieces of Astral's memories. Why does a powerful spirit with amnesia sound like such a familiar premise for a story?... What is interesting about Number 39: Utopia is that his effect is very defensive, just like Stardust Dragon's effect, which is also defensive but in a different manner.

These cards may receive a review on their own sometime in the future for a more in depth analysis. For now, this is just a preview and overview of all of these cards.