Now that we’ve examined the revised mechanics of Last Will, I want to discuss just how much of an impact it has made by using some real-world examples. In each example, I’ll examine how the revised mechanics of Last Will allows the player to make his or her move, sometimes going beyond what he or she could have done under Last Will’s previous mechanics.

Let’s begin with a basic example of Last Will’s mechanics that hasn’t changed.

Keira begins her first main phase by summoning Giant Rat, followed afterwards by Last Will. She enters her battle phase and declares an attack, ramming her Giant Rat into her opponent Michael’s Cyber Dragon.

When Keira’s Giant Rat is sent to her graveyard, it satisfies the conditions of her Last Will. She can now use its effect, but she will need to wait until after she has finished with Giant Rat’s effect. In a case like this, she could use Giant Rat to special summon Enraged Muka Muka, and then use Last Will in her battle step to special summon a monster like Spirit Reaper. Assuming that Keira’s hand is large enough, her Enraged Muka Muka could take out Michael’s Cyber Dragon, allowing Spirit Reaper to move in for a hit of its own.

In this example, the old mechanics for Last Will have the same result as the current mechanics, but only because Last Will was played before Keira’s monster, Giant Rat, was sent to her graveyard. Let’s continue with another example.

Justin plays Last Will in his main phase. He then normal summons Exiled Force and uses its effect to destroy his opponent’s monster. Since his Exiled Force went from his side of the field to his graveyard, he has satisfied the conditions of his Last Will and can now special summon Injection Fairy Lily from his deck.

In this case, the previous and revised mechanics for Last Will were again both satisfied, simply because Last Will was played before Justin’s monster, Exiled Force, was sent to the graveyard. How would things be different if Justin had summoned and used Exiled Force’s effect before Last Will was played? Under the previous mechanics, this would mean bad news for Justin, because his Last Will would not be satisfied with a monster sent to his graveyard before its activation. The revised mechanics, on the other hand, would be completely satisfied, allowing Justin to make the play under the game’s current format.

In some cases, it’s irrelevant whether you play Last Will before or after your lose your monster. In the previous example with Exiled Force, it doesn’t make much difference when you play Last Will. Certain situations will alter this greatly, however, so it’s important to know and understand the flexibilities of Last Will’s revised mechanics.

Let’s reexamine our previous example with Justin’s Exiled Force, but this time we’ll introduce a new twist. Suppose that Justin normal summons Exiled Force and his opponent uses Solemn Judgment to negate the summon. In this situation, Last Will will not be satisfied because the negation of Exiled Force’s summon is the same as if it had never entered the field at all. It will not have been sent from his side of the field to the Graveyard, thus failing to meet the requirement for Last Will.

For this reason, you may sometimes want to wait until after your monster on your side of the field has been sent to your graveyard before activating Last Will. The flexibility of Last Will might even help you deal with the aftermath of events in your turn, allowing you to overcome obstacles you were not able to foresee.

Amy begins her main phase by special summoning Chaos Sorcerer. She decides to retain priority to use its effect, targeting her opponent Jeremy’s Sangan. Jeremy responds with Torrential Tribute. Neither player continues the chain.

Torrential Tribute resolves and destroys every monster on the field. Jeremy uses his Sangan’s effect to retrieve a monster from his deck. Afterwards, Amy activates Last Will. Since her Chaos Sorcerer was sent from her side of the field to her graveyard, the condition of her Last Will has already been satisfied, so she can use its effect to special summon Cyber Gymnast from her deck.

In this example, Amy didn’t know that her opponent would use Torrential Tribute, but Last Will allowed her to survive it. The previous mechanics for Last Will would have required her to play Last Will in advance, essentially requiring her to guess what would happen. The flexibility of the current, revised mechanics allowed her to use Last Will after losing her monster to Torrential Tribute, so she would not be defenseless. Her new Spirit Reaper can take advantage of the cleared field to wreak some havoc.

The same trick can be used in your second main phase as retaliation for events of the battle phase. Last Will can lessen the loss of your attacking monsters to Sakuretsu Armor or Mirror Force. Since you can activate it before or after you have lost your monster, you could use it before the battle phase as a precaution. Doing so would alter your opponent’s Sakuretsu Armor or Mirror Force results, letting you special summon a monster in that very same battle phase.

Last Will has one final trick that you can take advantage of—and you don’t have to use it right away. When you lose a monster to the graveyard, you don’t have to immediately use the card’s effect. It’s possible that you could lose multiple monsters before finally electing to activate Last Will’s effect.

During Jan’s standby phase, he brings Treeborn Frog back from his graveyard. He enters his main phase and activates Last Will. He then tributes Treeborn Frog to summon Zaborg the Thunder Monarch and uses its effect to target his opponent Dean’s monster. Dean responds with one of his two face-down cards—Trap Hole—which destroys Zaborg. Jan then uses Premature Burial to bring back Zaborg from his graveyard. His opponent Dean knows that he could use his remaining face-down card (Mystical Space Typhoon) to destroy Premature Burial and keep Zaborg from hitting the field, but Jan would then know that he is safe to go for an all-out offensive. Dean decides to wait.

Jan enters his battle phase and attacks with Zaborg. Dean decides to cut his losses and use his last resort, Mystical Space Typhoon, to destroy the Premature Burial. Zaborg is returned to the graveyard, but Jan isn’t done yet. He decides to use the effect of his Last Will to claim Injection Fairy Lily from his deck and then use it to deal a devastating blow.

Last Will’s newfound flexibility gives you plenty of options. Mastering its revised mechanics will open up your game in new and exciting ways, but it will require practice to recognize the right timing.

Until next time, send all comments and questions to Curtis@Metagame.com