A ton of people sent in entries for Reader Challenge Three, many of whom thought they’d found a viable infinite loop or a method of dealing infinite damage. Here are some of the non-winning solutions I received, and the reasons why they didn’t make the cut.

Magical Marionette, Butterfly Dagger - Elma, and Gearfried the Iron Knight. A few people thought that “activating a maximum of thirteen spells,” meant thirteen different spells. However, “activating a spell card” in this context was meant in the sense of game terms—think Curse of Darkness. Whether you’re activating the same single spell card multiple times or activating different spell cards, you’re still “activating spells,” so at most, you could use Butterfly Dagger - Elma thirteen times. Handing the player their choice of a Warrior and a Spellcaster at the beginning of the game was a way of testing who would immediately go for this combo without really considering all the conditions of the challenge.

Dark Room of Nightmare, Dark Room of Nightmare, and a source of direct damage. Oh, if only two Dark Room of Nightmares could trigger each other! A few entrants attempted to use two Dark Room of Nightmares, triggered by something like Ceasefire or Just Desserts, to deal a constant flow of damage in which one Dark Room triggers the other, which then triggers the other, which then triggers the . . . you get the idea. Unfortunately, due to timing rulings, one Dark Room of Nightmare cannot trigger another to create an infinite loop. Again, like solutions involving Butterfly - Dagger Elma, this one should have looked too easy and short to be viable.

Self-Destruct Button. Self-Destruct Button would indeed cause a huge life point loss for the opponent (and yourself). But, remember the wording on Self-Destruct Button. “Both player’s Life Points become 0.” No damage is actually being dealt, and unlike Reader Challenge Two, simply defeating the opponent isn’t enough this time around. The same goes for Reversal Quiz—you’re not dealing damage when you use its effect.

The Agent of Force - Mars or The Agent of Judgment - Saturn and Reversal Quiz. A few clever individuals used Reversal Quiz to take their opponent’s massive life point total, and attempted to turn it into a huge amount of damage as a result of the effect of either Mars or Saturn. Unfortunately, this solution is hurt by a technicality. The opponent’s life points are not numerically defined. “Infinite” is an abstract numerical concept, not a defined number, and because Mars and Saturn require defined numbers for their effects, not mathematical concepts or equations, their effects are literally impossible to claim in this scenario. The exact number required to determine Mars’ ATK and DEF or Saturn’s damage total is an abstract instead of a definite, and thus invalid for either Agent’s effect.

Now that we’re past the first challenge, you’re going to have to watch for technicalities like that!

What was the winning solution? Previous contestant Chase H. from Aliso Viejo, California used part of his Magical Merchant solution from Challenge One, plus a lot of new tricks, to win Reader Challenge Three! Chase managed to deal 9,501,300 damage in 3 turns through the clever use of Magical Merchant and Chaos Necromancer, as well as Deal of Phantom and Wild Nature’s Release. Though several challengers used Inferno Tempest to create huge Gren Maju Da Eizas and scored in the low nine millions, it was Chase’s solution that topped the rest. Here’s how he did it.

Opening hand after first draw phase:

Pot of Greed
Graceful Charity
Witch of the Black Forest
Exiled Force
DNA Surgery
Magical Merchant

Activate Graceful Charity to draw three cards.
Discard Witch of the Black Forest and Exiled Force.

New hand:

Pot of Greed
DNA Surgery
Magical Merchant
Mirage of Nightmare
Mystical Space Typhoon
Deal of Phantom

Set Pot of Greed, DNA Surgery, Mystical Space Typhoon, and Deal of Phantom.
Activate Mirage of Nightmare.
Set Magical Merchant in face-down defense mode.
End turn.

Opponent draws. Draw four cards for Mirage of Nightmare.

Cards in hand from Mirage of Nightmare:

Chaos Necromancer
Deal of Phantom
Deal of Phantom
Soul Release

Opponent summons Gearfried the Iron Knight and attacks Magical Merchant.

Magical Merchant’s effect activates. The current deck contains three copies of all monsters in Yu-Gi-Oh! (with the exception of Fusion monsters), following the current Limited and Semi-Limited lists. All monsters are sent from the deck to the graveyard, except for one Chaos Necromancer (in hand), Witch of the Black Forest/Exiled Force (already in graveyard), and three Mokey Mokey (banned from this competition).

All monsters: (Jason’s note: At this point, Chase went on to list “every monster in Yu-Gi-Oh!,” pointing out when he was counting three monsters and when he was counting one. We’ll skip the eleven-page list here, but it was legal if not complete.)
 
Magical Merchant is sent to the graveyard by battle.
There are 2,264 monsters in the graveyard. There are no monster cards left in the deck.
Activate Mystical Space Typhoon at the End Phase to destroy Mirage of Nightmare.
Opponent ends his or her turn.

Draw a card. Activate Pot of Greed. Draw two more cards. New hand:

Chaos Necromancer
Monster Reborn
Deal of Phantom
Deal of Phantom
Soul Release
Dimension Fusion
Reckless Greed

Cards set on field: Deal of Phantom and DNA Surgery Set.

Activate Monster Reborn, special summon Chaos Necromancer from the graveyard.
Summon Chaos Necromancer from hand.
There are now 2,263 cards in the graveyard.

The ATK of both Necromancers is 2263 * 300 = 678900
One Necromancer attacks Gearfried the Iron Knight for 677,100 battle damage.
Gearfried goes to the graveyard.
The other Necromancer attacks the opponent directly for 678,900 damage.

Set Deal of Phantom, Deal of Phantom, and Reckless Greed.

Total: There are three Deal of Phantom, DNA Surgery, and Reckless Greed set on the field.
Total damage so far: 1,356,000
End Turn

Opponent draws and summons Gearfried the Iron Knight.
Opponent ends turn.

Draw a card. Activate Reckless Greed during the standby phase.
New Hand:

Soul Release
Dimension Fusion
Wild Nature’s Release
Wild Nature’s Release
Wild Nature’s Release

Activate all three Deal of Phantom, all targeting one Chaos Necromancer to double its attack (2264 * 100 * 3 = 678,900 + 678,900 = 1,357,800). Its new ATK is now 1,357,800.

Activate DNA Surgery and declare Beast.

Activate Wild Nature’s Release, targeting the Chaos Necromancer that was chosen for Deal of Phantom. Its ATK increases by 678,900 because its DEF is the same.

Chaos Necromancer’s new attack: 2,036,700

Activate second Wild Nature’s Release on the same Necromancer:

Chaos Necromancer’s new attack: 2,036,700 + 678,900 = 2,715,600

Activate third Wild Nature’s Release on the same Necromancer:

Chaos Necromancer’s new attack: 2,715,600 + 678,900 = 3,394,500

Activate Soul Release and remove the last Chaos Necromancer, Catapult Turtle, and Dark Magician of Chaos.

The ATK and DEF of both Necromancers is decreased by 900.

Chaos Necromancer #1 ATK/DEF = 3,393,600 / 678,000
Chaos Necromancer #2 ATK/DEF = 678,000 / 678,000

Activate Dimension Fusion by paying 2000 life points. Special summon Chaos Necromancer (#3), Catapult Turtle, and Dark Magician of Chaos that have been removed from play in attack mode.

Activate Dark Magician of Chaos’s effect. Select Wild Nature’s Release to return to hand.

Activate Wild Nature’s Release on Chaos Necromancer #1:
3,393,600 + 678,000 = 4,071,600

All monsters with their ATK Values:
Chaos Necromancer #1: 4,071,600
Chaos Necromancer #2: 678,000
Chaos Necromancer #3: 678,000
Dark Magician of Chaos: 2800
Catapult Turtle: 1000

Attack Gearfried the Iron Knight with Dark Magician of Chaos for 1000 damage. Gearfried is removed from play. (Total Damage: 1,357,000)
Attack Directly with Catapult Turtle. (Total Damage 1,358,000)
Attack Directly with Chaos Necromancer #1. (Total Damage: 5,429,600)
Attack Directly with Chaos Necromancer #2. (Total Damage: 6,107,600)
Attack Directly with Chaos Necromancer #3. (Total Damage: 6,785,600)

Tribute Dark Magician of Chaos with Turtle for 1400 damage (Total Damage: 6,787,000)
Tribute Chaos Necromancer #1 for 2,035,800 damage. (Total Damage: 8,822,800)
Tribute Chaos Necromancer #2 and #3 for 678,000 damage. (Total Damage: 9,500,800)
Tribute Catapult Turtle for 500 damage.

Final Total Damage: 9,501,300

Whoa! Chase used a combination of many of the strategies employed by some of the other contestants in order to eke out a win against the rest of the pack. He’ll get a stack of boosters for his troubles, and probably some well-deserved adulation for his thoroughly tested and well thought-out solution!

Congratulations to Chase and all the other contestants as well! This Challenge was easily the most difficult thus far, and a lot of impressive entries were received. Until next week, thanks for playing!

-Jason