It’s our last week of classic cards and we’re closing things out with Ultimate Offering, recently reprinted alongside Waboku in the Invincible Fortress Structure Deck. Ultimate Offering has had its fair share of misunderstandings and disagreements, so let’s take this opportunity to have another go at it with improved text.

Are you curious to know how it works?

Compensation of the Flesh

Ultimate Offering was useful when it was first released. At the time, we didn’t have many ways to special summon monsters, so getting some extra normal summons was great for building up an offense.

The card’s old text said, “At the cost of 500 Life Points per monster, a player is allowed an extra Normal Summon or Set.”

Like Waboku, this received a variety of interpretations. Ultimate Offering said what you could do, and to some degree it made sense, but it didn’t tell you when you could use the effect. Going by the idea of using extra normal summons and sets, it was safe to say that you could use it during your own turn—which is when a player usually normal summons a monster, after all. But Ultimate Offering is a trap card, and we can pretty much use trap cards whenever we want, right? With that idea in mind, some players thought it was possible to use it at any time during their turn. It was difficult to steer them away from this idea, because early Yu-Gi-Oh! video games used it in this manner.

Over time, we got a clearer picture of when you could use Ultimate Offering. It was said that the effect could be used during your main phases and during your opponent’s battle phase. That helped to clarify things, but the information couldn’t be found in the card text itself.

Then there was the matter of the wording of “a player,” a rather unspecific term, often thought to mean that both players could use the effect. This too was cleared up with rulings, but the old card text remained and continued to cause trouble. Newer players unaware of these rulings would make the same mistake again.

Ultimate Offering has been given another chance in the Invincible Fortress Structure Deck. Its current text says, “By paying 500 Life Points, Normal Summon or Set 1 extra monster. You can only activate this effect during your Main Phase or your opponent's Battle Phase.”

Ultimate Offering applies no limitation to the number of times the effect can be used, so long as you can afford it and have a monster in your hand to normal summon or set. Each time you use it, you will pay 500 life points and simply declare the activation of the effect. What monster you will normal summon or set and what position you will place it in is not decided at activation.

When I activate Ultimate Offering, my opponent has no idea how many monsters I have in my hand or what they could be. He or she must react blindly, guessing at my possible intentions. Then when I resolve Ultimate Offering, I select a monster in my hand that I can normal summon or set, and either summon it or set it. My opponent does not get to see my monster if I choose to set it. This normal summon or set is performed just like any other normal summon or set I would regularly perform during my turn.

If you choose to summon or set a high level monster, you will need to have monsters on your side of the field you can tribute for it. Ultimate Offering doesn’t allow you to skip the tributes, and I knew players who thought it did back when it was first released. In fact, I knew players who thought they could pay 1000 life points and then pay another 500 to summon their Blue-Eyes White Dragon. They believed that they were somehow creating “an extra summon” which they could then use as a tribute. Maybe that works in Dark World . . . but not here.

Your Opponent’s Battle Phase

Ultimate Offering doesn’t have any specific timing requirements. As long as you are using it during the proper game phase and can afford its effect, you won’t have many issues. Naturally, the damage step is off limits, but that’s fairly common for many trap cards.

Ultimate Offering is a continuous trap with an “ignition-like” effect, and when playing with this kind of card you cannot “activate” it and “activate its effect” in the same chain. (Refer to the Advanced FAQ for more information.) Some players may think that this will cause problems if you decide to use it in response to your opponent’s attack. Would you only be able to “activate it” (meaning that you would flip it face up), but not be able to summon a monster to protect you?

The battle step of the battle phase isn’t quite so strict. Sure, your “respond to the attack” opportunity is limited, but the battle step doesn’t immediately end afterwards. You can have multiple chains during the very same battle step, which will allow you to activate your “Ultimate Offering” and “activate its effect” in the very same battle step.

Naturally using Ultimate Offering in your opponent’s battle phase will result in a replay. Your opponent won’t be forced to ram headfirst into whatever monster you play. Even if you tribute the only monster you control and summon just one monster, it will still be a replay.

Keep in mind that you can “activate” your Ultimate Offering whenever you want. You are only restricted when you actually activate its effect. So you can flip your Ultimate Offering during your opponent’s main phase and then use its effect during his or her battle phase.

Never a Special Summon

Ultimate Offering offers us a truly unique ability to normal summon a monster during your opponent’s battle phase. The vast majority of cards with an effect similar to this one are typically special summons. This difference affords Ultimate Offering unique talents not seen by other cards, but also gives it potential threats that special summon cards won’t encounter.

Spirit monsters receive the greatest benefit from the use of Ultimate Offering. They are limited to normal summons and sets only, with special summons completely off limits. Since Ultimate Offering is always a normal summon (even in your opponent’s battle phase), it is possible to use it to summon Spirit monsters.

If you really want to surprise somebody, use Ultimate Offering during your opponent’s battle phase to summon Dark Dust Spirit. He or she won’t see that one coming. Since it’s a normal summon, can your opponent use Trap Hole to destroy your monster? Certainly, but there are times it won’t be possible for him or her to respond to the summon at all.

Ultimate Offering has a spell speed 2 effect, which means it can be used in response to another effect of equal or lesser spell speed. In some cases, using Ultimate Offering in a chain will throw off the timing of your opponent’s Trap Hole or Torrential Tribute. It’s the same issue we see with monsters special summoned by Call of the Haunted, something many of you are more likely to have experienced.

Given the restricted phase limitations for when you can activate Ultimate Offering, this can actually be difficult to accomplish without a proper setup. Basically, you have to want it to happen, because it won’t commonly happen on its own. Say that you normal summon Breaker the Magical Warrior and your opponent allows it to get its spell counter. You can start a new chain by activating your Breaker’s effect, removing the spell counter and targeting your own face-up Ultimate Offering. It’s likely they’re confused by this action and allow it to continue without response. You then chain Ultimate Offering, paying 500 life points to activate its effect.

When this chain resolves, you summon a monster for Ultimate Offering. Afterwards your Breaker’s effect resolves, and your Ultimate Offering is destroyed. At this point the chain has finished resolving and a new chain can begin, but the previous chain didn’t end with the summon of a monster. It ended with the destruction of your trap card (Ultimate Offering), and therefore the timing is not correct for either player to use a card like Trap Hole.

Someone might think of using something like Heavy Storm instead, and that would work, too . . . except it will wipe out your opponent’s Trap Hole before he or she can even use it. The timing issue won’t even matter in a situation like this.

Next week, we prepare for Power of the Duelist with a look back at some fearsome Dinosaur monsters.

Until then, send all comments and questions to: Curtis@Metagame.com