Ted couldn’t believe his eyes. Due to the Fairy Box Kelly, his opponent, had in play, Ted’s mighty Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning’s ATK fell to 0 when attacking his opponent’s Time Wizard. With the Soldier in the graveyard, Kelly started her turn and activated the trap card Dice Re-Roll. She then flipped up her face-down Dice Jar, and each player started to roll a die. Ted was hoping for a high number, and it looked like his prayers were answered when he rolled a 4 and Kelly rolled a 3.
“Not so fast,” Kelly said. “Because of Dice Re-Roll’s effect, I can negate this roll and force us to roll again.”
With a wave of dread, Ted glumly picked up the die again. His fears came true, as he rolled a 1 and Kelly rolled a 6. Ted exclaimed, “What? I have to take 6000 points of damage? That means I lose the duel!”
Kelly just smiled at him and said, “Fortune favors the bold, and that’s why I won.”
In any TCG, there’s always an element of chance or luck that can alter the momentum of a game and give a player an advantage that he or she didn’t have before. Yu-Gi-Oh! is no exception. Some people look down on such strokes of luck, while others just accept them as part of the game. Whatever your opinion, you have to admit that the possibility of making a “lucky” comeback definitely contributes to the excitement of any Yu-Gi-Oh! game. With that in mind, I’m going to highlight some cards that will capture the fickle attention of Lady Luck—whether you’re flipping coins or rolling dice, you might get lucky. too.
Roll Them Bones
Blind Destruction is a card that was made for the truly fearless. During your standby phase, you roll a six-sided die, and all monsters of the same level as the number rolled are destroyed. If you roll a 1, and there are sheep tokens on the field, they all get destroyed. If you roll a 6, all monsters of level 6 or higher are destroyed, so even Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning and Dark Magician of Chaos aren’t safe. Yes, it could hurt you, too, since Blind Destruction’s effect destroys monsters on both sides of the field, but sometimes the payoff is worth the risk.
If you’re looking for monster removal that’s more targeted, try Needle Wall. The trap gives you a chance to get rid of a monster on your opponent’s side of the field. Counting from your right, you give a number to each slot in your opponent’s monster zone. You roll a die, and any monster in the same-numbered slot as the number you rolled is destroyed. If you roll a 6, you get to re-roll. If your opponent is Scapegoat happy, the trap can help you get rid of those pesky tokens quickly and with less risk to you—that is, if you’re lucky and roll the numbers you need.
Are you tired of Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer running over your Tribe-Infecting Virus? Are you sick of Airknight Parshath destroying your Reflect Bounder? Don’t you sometimes wish you had a few hundred extra ATK points for your monsters? Well, look no further, as Graceful Dice and Skull Dice are here to give you that slight edge. Because it’s a quick-play spell that can ignore Jinzo, Graceful Dice can reliably boost the ATK and DEF values of all your monsters until the end of the turn. In contrast, the trap Skull Dice reduces the ATK and DEF values of all your opponent’s monsters until the end of the turn. Both cards can give you a slight advantage to help you maintain superior board presence.
If you trust your luck and want a big payoff, you might want to consider playing Dark Master – Zorc and Dice Jar. As a ritual monster, Dark Master – Zorc is a special summon, and its effect practically guarantees that you’ll destroy at least one of your opponent’s monsters (unless you’re really unlucky). If you’re feeling greedy and don’t mind the risks, Dice Jar is probably for you. With Dice Jar, you’re taking a big gamble, because you need to roll a higher number than your opponent does to hurt his or her life points. If you’re lucky enough to roll a 6, and your opponent isn’t so lucky, you can do 6000 points of direct damage. Of course, the same thing could happen to you if your luck runs out, so be prepared to accept the consequences.
Coin-Flipping Chaos
When it comes to flipping coins, many duelists think of Time Wizard. The granddaddy of all coin-flipping monsters, the little Wizard can blow up all the monsters on your opponent’s side of the field—if you call the coin toss correctly. If you don’t, you lose all of your monsters and some life points instead, which is never a good thing. Because Time Wizard is a Light monster with a low ATK value, you can special summon the Wizard when a copy of Shining Angel is destroyed.
Another coin flipper from Metal Raiders is Barrel Dragon. The Dragon’s effect is that if you flip three coins and get heads on two out of three, you can destroy one of your opponent’s monsters. There’s also Barrel Dragon’s smaller (but perhaps deadlier) cousin, Blowback Dragon. Blowback Dragon is a single-tribute monster with an effect that’s similar to Barrel Dragon’s, except you get to destroy any card on your opponent’s side of the field if the coin flips go your way. Both Barrel Dragon and Blowback Dragon have good ATK values for their respective levels, and your opponent will have a hard time finding ways to get rid of the monsters once they’re out.
In addition, Kryuel and Sasuke Samurai #4 are two coin-flip monsters that can help you maintain field control. If Kryuel is sent to the graveyard as a result of battle, you can flip a coin, and if you call it correctly, you can destroy one of your opponent’s monsters. With Sasuke Samurai #4’s effect, you can take down any monster in the game without even going into damage calculation (if you’re willing to trust your luck).
If you want to make your opponents miserable, watch them squirm as you activate the continuous trap card Fairy Box. Fairy Box can humble even the strongest monsters by reducing their ATK values to 0 for a battle phase. The trap is a nasty surprise card, especially if you already have a weak monster like Time Wizard in attack position. However, there are risks when using Fairy Box, because it doesn’t always work, and you have to pay 500 life points during each of your standby phases to keep the card running. But if you’re a gambler, you’ll find that the rewards of Fairy Box can be well worth the effort.
How to Improve the Odds
Using the cards we’ve discussed carries a lot of risk. However, there are two cards that you can use to reduce the risk and come out ahead more often. For cards that require dice rolling, you can use the trap Dice Re-Roll to re-do a die roll that didn’t go your way. Coin flippers have the continuous spell card Second Coin Toss, which allows you to re-do one coin toss per turn. Both of these cards give you a safety net when activating an effect that depends on luck. Of course, it goes without saying that even safety nets can break, so don’t be overconfident when rolling the dice or flipping coins.
That concludes this article on card effects that rely on blind luck. Thanks for reading, and be sure to check back at Metagame.com for more tips, strategies, and card discussions.