Last Will is a dream-crushing card. The root of the infamous first-turn Magical Scientist/Catapult Turtle KO deck, Last Will has seen a great deal of play in dedicated combo decks since the release of Legacy of Darkness. Love it or hate it, every veteran duelist has at one time seen Last Will win a game. You can’t deny the spell’s
power . . .

. . . within a particular context.

Outside of Magical Scientist OTKO decks, Last Will doesn’t see much play—many local-level metagames don’t use the spell at all, and the new Advanced format list doesn’t help Last Will’s chances. Most duelists have forgotten what a great card Last Will can be in other decks, because the spell has been so closely associated with the Scientist.

Last Will is great in Machine decks. Not only can Last Will be combined with Cannon Soldier to dish out more damage than would otherwise be possible, but the spell can also be used to bring out Kinetic Soldier, Mystic Tomato, and Heavy Mech Support Platform. In addition, you can play Last Will to summon Cyber Jar or Fiber Jar and then use Book of Moon (a card that Machine decks often run) to turn the Jar face down. More importantly, Last Will can cover for the deck’s tendency to overextend with Limiter Removal—if a monster is destroyed in the end phase by Limiter Removal’s effect, you’ll get to replace the destroyed monster (albeit only one) with another monster from your deck.

Last Will’s effect can work toward similar ends in an aggressive Warrior deck. The spell can prevent damage from overextension in the early game or exchange one monster for another. Last Will can bring out a second copy of Marauding Captain to establish a soft lock. If an opponent has a large attack-position monster that’s otherwise insurmountable, you can use the spell to exchange any monster for D. D. Warrior Lady. Then, you can use the Warrior’s effect to take down the threatening monster. 

In addition, Last Will neatly techs Torrential Tribute. An opponent with a single monster on the field may be far more reluctant to activate Torrential Tribute when you summon a second monster, because he or she will be concerned that you’re going to get a monster from Last Will and attack directly. This situation is especially brutal if the monster you summon is Don Zaloog or Spirit Reaper.

In short, Last Will is a useful spell to have whenever you’re taking a risk with your field presence—the card is a form of insurance and a potential source of monster retrieval and field advantage if it’s carefully managed. In addition, like anything that searches for a card in your deck, Last Will provides a controllable source of deck thinning. Obviously, if your deck is running a particular monster, you’ll want it at one point or another. A monster doesn’t do you any good sitting in your deck—you need to get monsters onto the field so they can generate effects and contribute towards your field presence.

Last Will’s effect can also be triggered by monster destruction that you control. Don’t need your Berserk Gorilla anymore? You can switch it to defense position after activating Last Will and then replace the Gorilla with any number of options in your deck (without costing yourself a normal summon). The same trick can be done with Torrential Tribute, giving you the opportunity for a direct attack and possibly equalizing a threatening situation.

With the era of straight Beatdown decks long gone, virtually any deck has at least a few monsters that are eligible for summoning with Last Will. Fire decks have UFO Turtle, Hand of Nephthys, and Raging Flame Sprite. Beastdown decks can grab Giant Rat, Injection Fairy Lily, and Exiled Force. Even standard Hybrid Chaos builds can use Last Will to fetch D. D. Warrior Lady and a variety of support cards. Plus, it’s difficult to find a deck that couldn’t use bringing Sangan or Sinister Serpent into play. 

I’m not saying that Last Will fits into every deck that has the potential to use the card. Control decks have plenty of underpowered monsters laden with great effects, but such decks are usually packed to the gills with important cards that can’t be rotated out for much tech. A Lockdown Burn deck is also a poor place to use Last Will in the new Advanced format, because most variants aren’t running Cannon Soldier and aren’t being attacked very often. After all, if you can’t get your own monsters sent to the graveyard, there isn’t much sense in using Last Will.

However, these decks are the exception and not the rule. As Yu-Gi-Oh! grows more and more stable, the concept of field advantage will become more important, and cards like Giant Rat and Pyramid Turtle will take the spotlight in a larger number of tourney-winning decks. Pyramid Turtle in particular is a card that’s worthy of note, because it’s possible that the soon-to-be popular Zombie archetype will be able to make great use of Last Will. With two copies of Vampire Lord now being the ideal offensive force for the deck, getting multiple copies of Pyramid Turtle has become more important and rewarding. Last Will allows you to get more copies without resorting to Giant Rat, so you save deck space and don’t have to use up a turn’s normal summon. 

Last Will isn’t for everyone. It’s a card that requires a great deal of synergy to play, and the spell can be risky in the late game. However, Last Will can be the ultimate insurance in today’s fast-paced environment. Because Last Will slips so easily into a variety of decks, the spell is worth considering—if you have the skill to use it properly, that is. With far fewer copies of D. D. Warrior Lady appearing in the near future, and with Mirror Force taking the place of Bottomless Trap Hole in many decks, there has never been a better time to give Last Will a try. 

Whether you’re using the card as a back-up plan or an aggressive search tool in an environment that’s often too random, Last Will can serve you well as long as you understand its real strength—versatility.

-Jason Grabher-Meyer

Want to get in touch? Have a favorite card that you feel is underplayed? Email me at Jason@metagame.com.