So this worked out pretty nicely. One thing I hate having to do in these articles is make up a scenario to prove my point. Those examples are usually too straightforward and thus don’t really help when it comes to making decisions in tournament play. If there’s one thing about the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG that remains constant it’s that no game is ever going to be the same as another in the same tournament.

So when I entered Canadian Nationals and received two feature matches, I was very fortunate to be able to make Morphing Jar plays and show exactly how one could take advantage of a single card. I said last time that I would elaborate on some Morphing Jar techniques, so I will start with the two plays I made in features at that event. The first play was quite simple and ultimately unsuccessful. In my match against David Bui he had gained the upper hand and was poking me for 1000 damage with Sangan. He represented protection with both his field set-up and his body language, so I didn’t want to summon a Gladiator Beast to take care of the problem. I figured this would result in the loss of that Gladiator and at least another 1000 damage. If he had more defense, I would be in a real tight spot. Taking too much damage wasn’t really an option, as Bui played his own Solemn Judgment cards. He could potentially negate my protection cards down the road, allowing for his final push to succeed.

So instead, I opted to take an alternate route. I had Morphing Jar in hand, but was also holding some extra monsters and some spells and trap cards. My play was to simply set Morphing Jar and Enemy Controller. I was banking on one of two things. The first would be that Bui would stand for a simple attack-and-pass. He might make a read on my face-down monster as a weak Gladiator or Sangan, and wouldn’t want to commit too much to destroy it. I could block that attack with Enemy Controller, telegraphing either Morphing Jar or a weak Gladiator Beast. He would likely set a second spell or trap just to be sure. I would still come out on top though, playing my Gladiator Beast at that point, special summoning Test Tiger and setting all my back-row cards before passing. Should Bui have an answer to my Gladiator Beast, that’s still advantageous for me, as I’m turning a card that would have been discarded into a trade with Bui’s Bottomless Trap Hole.

The second thing I was hoping for was that Bui would try to press with Jinzo or Prime Material Dragon. He could easily have read Gladiator Beast Hoplomus off my setting a monster, and summoning either of those monsters would be justified. Enemy Controller could still block the attack, this time without telegraphing Morphing Jar, and I could continue about my business next turn.

The best thing about my play was that it was essentially risk-free. The only way for Bui to really cripple me would be to have Mystical Space Typhoon or Heavy Storm and use it to indirectly destroy the Jar. He could then inexplicably waste all his stuff only to run into Morphing Jar and have it all replenished. I was banking on Bui being too good of a player to do something like that though, and I could always tribute the Jar with Enemy Controller if it appeared he might do such a thing.

The other play I made was very successful but ultimately did not end up winning me the match. It was the very first thing I did against Omar Beldon in our semifinal feature match. With a pair of Solemn Judgment cards in my hand, I was free to set as many spell or trap cards as I desired. I was lucky enough to also draw into Gladiator Beast Hoplomus, a good defensive monster and one I really wanted Omar to attack. I decided that by setting four spell or trap cards and a monster, I would be telegraphing Morphing Jar too strongly for him not to respond to it. He was practically forced to match my back row, because if my set monster was Morphing Jar I would have quite the advantage otherwise.

I also knew that—because of my hand—I could get out Gladiator Beast Gyzarus. Gyzarus would easily be able to take care of three cards and I would wind up in a commanding position in the duel. Omar responded exactly as I thought he would when he set multiple cards, and my play was working perfectly. I made a big mistake here that cost me the match, but it wasn’t with my Bestiari target (although that was an obvious misplay). What I should have done was chained Mystical Space Typhoon to his only live spell or trap card. Chances were pretty good it was Bottomless Trap Hole. My Bestiari would then hit his Solemn Judgment and my Gyzarus would have cleaned house. That would have left me with two copies of Solemn Judgment instead of one. I would have been free to stop the Heavy Storm with one Solemn and would still have Solemn and Mind Crush left to back up my Laquaris. That would have allowed me to take the first game. All because of Morphing Jar when I didn’t even have it.

By the way, it wasn’t a lucky coincidence that I hit his only defensive card of the three that were down. I knew which one was the real one because I knew he thought I had Morphing Jar set. Here’s a nifty tip for using or bluffing Morphing Jar. When players believe you’ve got the Jar, they are going to try not to lose the best cards they have in their hand. If possible, they will destroy the Jar without allowing it to flip, but these days most people don’t usually play that kind of monster destruction. So what players do to keep their best cards is set them on the field. Morphing Jar only hurts your hand, so putting power cards face down on the field is a good way to protect them from the Jar.

What most players tend to do once they’ve "read" the Jar is set their best cards immediately. Most will set their valuable defensive cards, then their valuable power cards, then any other spell or trap they think might be useful after the Jar flips. Sure enough, that’s exactly how Omar played his stuff. He set first, Brain Control next, and finally decided to set Destiny Draw after some thought. I was able to use Mystical Space Typhoon on his only defensive card then, confident that he set his most important card first. And what could be more important in the Gladiator Beast matchup than Solemn Judgment?

Sadly, my play didn’t allow me to win the match. I messed up with the Bestiari target, but had I targeted the card I knew to be Solemn, I still would have been out of luck. I would still have had to use Solemn Judgment to block the Bottomless, and next turn would have made my Gyzarus plays. Omar then would have played Heavy Storm into my three spell or trap cards (Solemn, Space Typhoon, and Mind Crush) and I would have been in the same amount of trouble.

This is what makes Morphing Jar so good. Had I played that game correctly and used Mystical Space Typhoon as my out to Bottomless instead of Solemn, I could have taken an extreme degree of control over the match on only my second turn. The reason? He believed I had Morphing Jar. The card is so good that you can make plays just by pretending to have it.

—Matt Peddle