Well, Chase H. did it again! After two Reader Challenge victories, Chase has managed to pull a third. This time, he was the only competitor able to devise a working loop solution. The solution’s set-up is quite complicated, but the actual loop is pretty easy, and it results in potentially infinite level ups on turn 1. Holding with tradition, (even though Reader Challenge 8 did not forbid “infinite” as an answer), Chase’s total score consisted of a lot of eights—a nice change of flavor from his usual bunch of nines. We appreciate the variety.
So, how did Chase’s solution work? Here it is, broken down.
Turn 1
Starting Hand: Pot of Greed, Painful Choice, Premature Burial, Machine Duplication, Morphing Jar #2
Draw: Book of Taiyou
1 - Play Pot of Greed to draw The Graveyard in the Fourth Dimension and Desert Sunlight.
2 - Play Painful Choice, and choose Makyura the Destructor, Desert Sunlight, Peten the Dark Clown, Level Up!, and Bokoichi the Freightening Car. The opponent gives him the Level Up!. Remove Peten from the graveyard to special summon another one. Makyura’s effect is activated.
3 - Set Morphing Jar #2.
4 - Play Premature Burial on Bokoichi. Activate Machine Duplication on it to special summon two more from the deck.
5 - Activate Book of Taiyou on Morphing Jar #2. Shuffle all monsters back into deck, and then pick up Morphing Jar #2, Mask of Darkness, and three Magician of Faiths.
6 - Activate Desert Sunlight from the hand to flip all monsters. Use Mask of Darkness’s effect to retrieve Desert Sunlight. Use Magician of Faith’s effect to retrieve Pot of Greed, Book of Taiyou, and Painful Choice. Shuffle all monsters back into the deck with Morphing Jar #2’s effect, and pick up Morphing Jar #2, Mask of Darkness, two Magician of Faiths, and Armed Dragon LV3.
7 - Play Painful Choice, choosing three Dark Mimic LV1 and two Red Medicine. The opponent gives him Dark Mimic LV1.
8 - Activate Book of Taiyou on Armed Dragon LV3. Activate Level Up! on it to get Armed Dragon LV5. Play The Graveyard in the Fourth Dimension to return Armed Dragon LV3 and Dark Mimic back to the deck.
9 - Play Desert Sunlight to flip remaining monsters. Use Mask of Darkness’s effect to retrieve Desert Sunlight, use Magician of Faith’s effect to retrieve Book of Taiyou and Level Up!, and shuffle all monsters back into the deck with Morphing Jar #2’s effect. Pick up Morphing Jar #2, Mask of Darkness, two Magician of Faiths, and Armed Dragon LV3.
10 - Activate Book of Taiyou on Armed Dragon. Activate Level Up! on it to get Armed Dragon LV5.
11 - Play Desert Sunlight to flip remaining monsters. Use Mask of Darkness’s effect to retrieve Desert Sunlight, Magician of Faith’s effects to retrieve Book of Taiyou and Level Up!, and shuffle all monsters back into the deck with Morphing Jar #2’s effect. Pick up Morphing Jar #2, Mask of Darkness, and three Magician of Faiths.
12 - Play Desert Sunlight to flip all monsters. Use Mask of Darkness’s effect to retrieve Desert Sunlight and the Magician of Faiths’ effects to retrieve The Graveyard in the Fourth Dimension and two Red Medicine, and then shuffle all monsters back into the deck with Morphing Jar #2’s effect. Pick up Morphing Jar #2, Mask of Darkness, two Magician of Faiths, and Armed Dragon LV3. Play two Red Medicines.
13 - Activate Book of Taiyou on Armed Dragon. Activate Level Up! on it to get Armed Dragon LV5. Play The Graveyard in the Fourth Dimension to return two Armed Dragon LV3s to the deck.
14. Repeat steps 9–13 [really long number I won’t transcribe - J] times.
15. End turn.
Turn 2
Draw: Skull Servant
End turn.
Turn 3
Draw: Armed Dragon LV7
End turn.
Total Level Ups: A lot! (Number omitted by author to save space in the article.)
Wow. Just . . . wow. That was a very impressive, totally original loop! Nice work, Chase.
As usual, Chase will receive half a dozen boosters in the mail for his efforts. Thanks to him, and to everyone else who competed in Reader Challenge 8!