The first joint effort between Julia and I contained more red herrings than any previous Reader Challenge. The point system didn’t actually matter, since there were several loops you could employ. The banning of Fiber Jar still left summoning loops open. The banning of Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning, and thus the potential unplayability of Primal Seed, were negated, because you could fulfill Primal Seed’s condition with Chaos Emperor Dragon—so long as you read carefully and noticed that this challenge was in the Traditional format, instead of the Advanced format like the others.

There were some pretty simple solutions, but you had to dig through a lot of extra information to see them. Andrew R., from Sanford, North Carolina, was the first and best entrant to do so. He was one of the few to find a looping solution and also scored the highest number of points, while at the same time using a cool solution that demonstrated his understanding of the little traps Julia and I had taken such glee in setting. Maybe we’ll get you next time.

Most entries were quite good, but a few ignored the fact that the monsters had to be summoned in order. Just playing Dimension Fusion to put all four monsters into play at the same time wouldn’t score you any points, and a few people ended up not winning simply because they forgot about that. Other than that, there were some very creative entries including some real gems that didn’t employ loops but still managed to score around 100 total points. Good work!

Let’s look at how Andrew achieved his contest-winning point total.

Initial Hand: Ultimate Offering, Manticore of Darkness, Manticore of Darkness, Card of Safe Return, Tribe-Infecting Virus.

Turn 1
Draw Pot of Greed.

Activate Pot of Greed.

Draw Raigeki Break and Mad Dog of Darkness.

Summon Mad Dog of Darkness in face-up attack position.

Activate Card of Safe Return.

Set Ultimate Offering and Raigeki Break.

End Turn.

Opponent's Turn 1
He summons a 1900 Monster.

During Opponent's End Phase:
Activate Raigeki Break and discard Manticore of Darkness to destroy Mad Dog of Darkness.

Manticore of Darkness’s effect activates in the graveyard. Offer Manticore of Darkness from my hand to special summon Manticore of Darkness from the graveyard to the field. Card of Safe Return’s effect activates. Draw Primal Seed.

Manticore of Darkness’s effect activates in the graveyard. Offer Manticore of Darkness from the field to special summon Manticore of Darkness from the
graveyard to the field. Card of Safe Return’s effect activates. Draw another
Primal Seed.

Continue doing this to draw a third Primal Seed, Dark Magician of Chaos, Banisher of the Light, Spell Economics, Dimension Fusion, Blindly Loyal Goblin, Witch Doctor of Chaos, Armored Zombie, and Magical Ghost.

Turn 2
Draw Graceful Charity.

Activate Ultimate Offering.

Activate Graceful Charity.
Draw Chaos Emperor Dragon – Envoy of the End, Thunder Dragon, and Dark Magician.
Discard Thunder Dragon and Dark Magician.

Summon Tribe-Infecting Virus.

Special summon Chaos Emperor Dragon – Envoy of the End by removing Thunder Dragon and Dark Magician from play.

Activate Ultimate Offering. Pay 500 life points (7500 remain). Summon Banisher of the Light.

Activate Ultimate Offering. Pay 500 life points (7000 remain). Summon Blindly Loyal Goblin (2 points).

Activate Spell Economics.

Activate Tribe-Infecting Virus by discarding Dark Magician of Chaos and call Warrior. Blindly Loyal Goblin is destroyed and removed from play.

Activate Ultimate Offering. Pay 500 life points (6500 remain). Summon Witch Doctor of Chaos (4 points).

Activate Tribe-Infecting Virus by discarding Magical Ghost and call Spellcaster.
Witch Doctor of Chaos is destroyed and removed from play.

Activate Primal Seed. Select Dark Magician of Chaos and Magical Ghost and return them to my hand.

Activate Ultimate Offering. Pay 500 life points (6000 remain). Summon Armored Zombie (6 points).

Activate Tribe-Infecting Virus by discarding Dark Magician of Chaos and call Zombie. Armored Zombie is destroyed and removed from play.

Activate Primal Seed. Select Dark Magician of Chaos and Primal Seed and return them to my hand.

Activate Ultimate Offering. Pay 500 life points (5500 remain). Summon Magical Ghost (8 points).

Activate Tribe-Infecting Virus by discarding Dark Magician of Chaos and call Zombie. Magical Ghost is destroyed and removed from play.

*** (Loop Begins) ***

Activate Dimension Fusion to special summon Blindly Loyal Goblin to the field (Add 1 point).
Activate Primal Seed. Select Dark Magician of Chaos and Primal Seed and return them to my hand.
Activate Primal Seed. Select Dimension Fusion and Primal Seed and return them to my hand.

Activate Tribe-Infecting Virus by discarding Dark Magician of Chaos and call Warrior. Blindly Loyal Goblin is destroyed and removed from play.

Activate Dimension Fusion to special summon Witch Doctor of Chaos to the field (Add 1 point)
Activate Primal Seed. Select Dark Magician of Chaos and Primal Seed and return them to my hand.
Activate Primal Seed. Select Dimension Fusion and Primal Seed and return them to my hand.

Activate Tribe-Infecting Virus by discarding Dark Magician of Chaos and call Spellcaster. Witch Doctor of Chaos is destroyed and removed from play.

Activate Dimension Fusion to special summon Armored Zombie to the field (Add 1 point)
Activate Primal Seed. Select Dark Magician of Chaos and Primal Seed and return them to my hand.
Activate Primal Seed. Select Dimension Fusion and Primal Seed and return them to my hand.

Activate Tribe-Infecting Virus by discarding Dark Magician of Chaos and call Zombie. Armored Zombie is destroyed and removed from play.

Activate Dimension Fusion to special summon Magical Ghost to the field (Add 1 point)
Activate Primal Seed. Select Dark Magician of Chaos and Primal Seed and return them to my hand.
Activate Primal Seed. Select Dimension Fusion and Primal Seed and return them to my hand.

Activate Tribe-Infecting Virus by discarding Dark Magician of Chaos and call Zombie. Magical Ghost is destroyed and removed from play.

*** (Loop End) ***

From here, Andrew repeated the loop a number of times so great that I had to verify that the number he quoted actually existed. It did, and it was very, very, very large. Wrapping up to turn 5 ended his entry and earned him the win!

Congratulations to Andrew! He’s earned the title of Metagame Reader Challenge Champion for the week, as well as half a dozen booster packs for good measure.

One thing that Andrew noted in his entry was that he figured “some cards might be banned in future challenges.” Though these loops have some obvious key cards, these were loops that had been seen before. That said, the banned list for each challenge can be a great hint as to what kind of solution is the best possible. If certain key cards are missing, a looping solution likely won’t be possible. If those cards are permitted, there just might be a loop staring you right in the face. Study previous solutions and figure out what key cards can help you narrow down your choices in the future. Andrew did it, and it worked out well for him!

Thanks to everyone who competed! Stay with us on Metagame.com as Julia and I continue to churn out a new Reader Challenge each week.