Our opponent Jon has Alien Warrior and Flying Saucer Muusik’i face up on his side of the field, and one set monster. He has Alien Mother and Maju Garzett in his hand.

Before we resolve Deck Devastation Virus, Jon surprises us by activating his set Rush Recklessly, targeting his face-up Flying Saucer Muusik’i. The chain resolves and the Flying Saucer receives an extra 700 ATK, pushing it up to 1700 ATK. This puts the Flying Saucer above the range of Deck Devastation Virus and keeps it from being destroyed. Alien Warrior also survives.

Jon’s face-down monster is revealed as Alien Grey. Does its flip effect activate? Deck Devastation Virus doesn’t cause monsters to flip, so that’s a negative. The monster is revealed only to determine if it is destroyed or if it survives. Alien Grey is destroyed and its flip effect does not activate.

Moving on to the cards in Jon’s hand, we know that Mother Alien will survive because her ATK is sufficiently high enough, but how does Maju Garzett fair? Given that it has an ATK value of “?”, we need to determine what this means in the context of Deck Devastation Virus’s effect. By referring to the official FAQ, we find a ruling stating that any monster with a printed ATK value of “?” will be destroyed if it is face down on the field or in the opponent’s hand.

If a monster with a printed ATK of “?” is face up on the field, be sure to refer to its card text to determine its ATK value. These monsters always have text explaining what the “?” represents. In Maju Garzett’s case, the “?” is equal to the combined original ATK values of the monsters offered as tributes for its summon.

Susan has two face-up Insect monsters, Gokipon and Arsenal Bug, and two face-up Fire monsters, Little Chimera and UFO Turtle.

When we resolve Deck Devastation Virus, Gokipon and Little Chimera are destroyed because each monster has less than 1500 ATK. What becomes of Arsenal Bug and UFO Turtle? They were only above 1500 ATK because of the effects of the destroyed monsters. Without the presence of the destroyed monsters, their ATK values will drop into the range of our devastating Virus. Should these monsters now be destroyed?

Every monster destroyed during the resolution of Deck Devastation Virus is destroyed simultaneously. You don’t cherry pick through them and try to apply stat-altering effects during the process. So even though the ATK values of Arsenal Bug and UFO Turtle drop below 1500 as a result of the monsters destroyed by Deck Devastation Virus, they will not, in turn, be destroyed. At the time we resolved the effect they were too strong.

Any monsters placed onto the field after we have applied the destruction effect are not affected. If you use Deck Devastation Virus to destroy your opponent’s monsters and later they special summon four Sheep Tokens with Scapegoat, those four Sheep Tokens will not suddenly be destroyed. The effect of Deck Devastation Virus has already done its job.

Or has it? After all, there is one final piece of destruction that has not yet been applied.

Deck Devastation Virus has one final cruel addition to its devastating effect. Any card your opponent draws (until the end of his or her third turn after this card is activated) is revealed, and if it is a monster card with 1500 or less ATK, the card is destroyed. It doesn’t even matter how the opponent draws the card, whether from his or her standard draw per turn or through an effect like Pot of Greed. It also doesn’t matter if the opponent draws the card during his or her turn or your turn.

The effect’s process is carried out by revealing the cards as they are drawn. If the drawn card is a monster that falls into the range of Deck Devastation Virus, it is destroyed. It is not “discarded” to the graveyard, and some players can get caught by this. Any Dark World player would want to keep this in mind, because it means that the effects of his or her Broww, Huntsman of Dark World will not activate. Fortunately, some monsters like Night Assailant will still activate because they aren’t quite so picky.

Not every 1500 or less ATK monster that finds its way into your opponent’s hand will be destroyed. This destruction only holds true if he or she drew the card. Searching your deck to obtain a monster through card effects doesn’t count as a draw. If you were to search your deck for Sangan’s effect, the monster added to your hand is not “drawn” and thus it will not be destroyed. If you use Flying Saucer Muusik’i’s effect to add an “Alien” monster to your hand instead of performing your draw for the turn, the Alien will not be destroyed.

What happens when an effect causes your opponent to discard cards after drawing (as with Graceful Charity)? In this situation, the opponent must still reveal the card(s) he or she draws, but any drawn monster the opponent reveals that falls into the Virus’s range isn’t destroyed right away. Instead the opponent must first conclude the remainder of the drawing effect and afterwards destroy the appropriate card(s). This of course assumes that the opponent actually retained the card(s) in his or her hand and did not instead choose to discard them.

Suppose your opponent uses Graceful Charity and the three cards he or she draws are Scapegoat, Sangan, and Nanobreaker. The opponent knows that Sangan is marked for destruction by the effect of Deck Devastation Virus, so it doesn’t do the opponent much good if it remains in his or her hand. The opponent will most likely choose to discard it. Why discard two cards only to lose a third from destruction?

Whether you choose to play it or not, Deck Devastation Virus is out there, and it’s paradise for the big monsters . . . at least for now. Until next time, send all comments and questions to Curtis@Metagame.com