Gorz the Emissary of Darkness has that cool special-summon ability that monsters like Green Baboon, Defender of the Forest enjoy. Instead of being a "special summon only" monster, which can be very restricting, Gorz only has to be special summoned through his first effect to use his second effect. He can be normal summoned and he can be special summoned by the effects of other cards. Gorz’s effect isn’t a restriction of any sort—it just makes him better.

Gorz’s first effect is an optional trigger effect, so you can already imagine the problems that creates. This first effect is triggered when you receive damage to your life points from the attack of a monster or from a card effect that your opponent controls. Also, you cannot have any cards on your side of the field when you receive the damage. With both requirements satisfied, you can activate Gorz’s effect to special summon him onto the field, if the timing is correct.

When you receive battle damage to your life points from the attack of a monster your opponent controls, Gorz’s effect is activated at the same time the effects of monsters like Don Zaloog are activated. This is bad news if your opponent’s monster attacked one you control, because you will still have that monster on your side of the field when you receive the battle damage to your life points, and will not be able to activate Gorz’s effect. The battle damage must come from a direct attack to properly satisfy Gorz’s condition.

If the monster your opponent controls has an effect that activates when it inflicts battle damage to your life points, its effect and the effect of your Gorz will activate at the same time. If we follow the rules for simultaneous effects, the effect of your opponent’s card will be chain link 1, followed by Gorz as chain link 2. For a monster like Don Zaloog or Spirit Reaper, this means that you will special summon Gorz before your opponent can discard it. Good news for Gorz. 

Your opponent may activate an effect that destroys the only card (or cards) you control and also inflicts damage to your life points. If the damage is inflicted at the same time your cards are destroyed—or if it’s dealt after your cards are destroyed—it is possible to activate Gorz’s special summon effect. When your opponent uses Stamping Destruction to destroy the only card you control, you can activate Gorz’s effect because Stamping Destruction also inflicts damage to your life points. If your opponent destroys your only monster with Ring of Destruction, you can activate Gorz’s effect because you also receive damage equal to that monster’s ATK.

If the effect damage you receive is inflicted by your opponent’s card effect during your damage step, you can still activate Gorz’s effect if you don’t have any cards on your side of the field. This normally happens at the end of the damage step, when monsters like Elemental Hero Flame Wingman inflict damage with their effects. If your opponent attacked the only monster you control with his or her Flame Wingman, you wouldn’t be able to activate Gorz’s effect when you receive battle damage because your monster is still on the field, but it won’t be on the field at the end of the damage step when Flame Wingman’s effect damages your life points.

Our rulings present us with one rather unique situation involving Judgment of Anubis, used by your opponent to negate your spell card (Mystical Space Typhoon is used in the ruling). If your spell card is chain link 1 and your opponent’s Judgment of Anubis is chain link 2, Judgment of Anubis will negate the activation of your spell card and can also destroy a face-up monster you control. If the monster the opponent happens to destroy is the only other card you had on your side of the field, you will have no cards left in play. Judgment of Anubis has destroyed your spell card and destroyed your monster card, and they were the only two cards you had on your side of the field. You also receive damage from Judgment of Anubis’s effect at this time, which plays right into Gorz’s hands.

Judgment of Anubis negates the activation of the spell card, which is an important part of why this sequence works. When you negate the activation of a spell card, its link on the chain is skipped when the chain resolves. It is a rather obscure rule that is often of no concern to anyone, until a situation like the preceding one occurs. Judgment of Anubis also ensures that the spell card is destroyed, so it doesn’t hang around on the field.

This situation isn’t going to be of much importance in your average duel, so I wouldn’t worry too much about it. It’s a situation I found interesting from a rules standpoint, and I wanted to share it.

Gorz’s "battle damage" effect special summons an "Emissary of Darkness token" with ATK and DEF equal to the amount of battle damage you received. The bigger a hit you take in the face, the bigger your token will be. This token is a level-7 monster, which is fairly high for a token, and level-1 Tuner monsters can take advantage of this if the token can survive long enough to become a Fusion material.

Gorz’s "effect damage" effect shares the pain with your opponent, lobbing the same amount of damage you had taken right back at him or her. Pretty simple, but effective when combined with a rather large monster that you didn’t have to tribute for.

Remember that you can’t negate the special summon of Gorz with Solemn Judgment! If you want to negate the special, you need to negate his effect, such as with Divine Wrath. Someone is mistakenly going to try and negate Gorz with Solemn Judgment, of that you can be sure.

—Curtis Schultz