March is in like a lion . . . the name of month is March, and we have March of the Animals.

Metagame.com Ultimate Duelist Challenge #1:

You’re All a Bunch of ANIMALS

Welcome to the first Metagame.com Ultimate Duelist Challenge! We’ve heard it said that March comes in like a lion, but thanks to our current contest, it’s coming in like the whole zoo. We’ve wracked our brains to come up with a hard yet entertaining contest, and we think today’s challenge hits the mark. It will test you in a number of ways, but your hard work will be rewarded if you walk away with the prize—an entire box of boosters! You heard us correctly. We’re giving away a booster box of Rise of Destiny.

If you attended a Flaming Eternity Sneak Preview event, you must have noticed that a fairly large portion of the set is devoted to Beasts. You probably also noticed that The Big March of Animals is one of the cutest Yu-Gi-Oh! cards ever printed. How could we resist?

Your challenge is to summon as many monsters (face up) as possible. Setting them on the field and then flipping them face up via an effect is fine, too. The catch? You’ll only be scored for monsters pictured on the illustration of Flaming Eternity’s The Big March of Animals. You’ll get one point for every unique monster you summon, so if you summon Des Koala once, you’ll get one point. You could summon Des Koala again if you chose, but you would not score a point for it the second time. Figuring out who is pictured on The Big March of Animals is part of the challenge, so if you want to rack up some points, you might want to invest in a magnifying glass!

I hope you didn’t think it was as easy as that . . . because you have only four turns to summon as many monsters depicted on The Big March as you can. You’ll be going second, and since this challenge is pretty tough, you’ll get an opening hand of seven cards instead of five. But, since we don’t want you to think we’re getting soft, we’re going to let your opponent summon his or her own cuddly animal. Your opponent will normal summon one King Tiger Wanghu every turn for the first three turns of the game. Each King Tiger has to remain alive and well on your opponent’s side of the field for the duration of the turn in which it was summoned, and each one must be successfully summoned (don’t shred your opponent’s hand to prevent them from seeing play). The opponent won’t attack with King Tiger—it’s just there to be furry and make your life difficult. Each player has only 8000 life points, so try not to lose before your four turns are up. At the same time, try not to win. The challenge concludes at the end of your fourth turn, but if either player claims victory, the challenge ends immediately.

You cannot rely on your opponent’s deck to include or not include any particular cards except the three copies of King Tiger Wanghu in the opening hand, so, you might not want to use cards like Cyber Jar that could interfere with your plans.

The challenge is in the current Advanced format, and the following extra cards are forbidden:

Fiber Jar

Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning

Butterfly Dagger - Elma

Royal Magical Library

Heart of the Underdog

Remember, you can only use cards legal for play in sanctioned North American tournaments.

So, ready to give it a shot? Be sure to study The Big March and come up with a strategy that fits in with our restrictions (read them carefully—too many entrants get disqualified for missing important details). There’s a whole booster box of Rise of Destiny on the line, and you’ve got your marching orders, so get moving!

-Julia Hedberg and Jason Grabher-Meyer

The Usual Details:

Please put “UDC#1: xx” in the subject line of your email, where the x’s are your total score. Be sure to pay attention when you’re scoring so that you count correctly. You’ll risk your entry being disqualified if your count is off.

Begin by stating your opening hand, and then give a step-by-step breakdown of what hits the field and when. Be precise and clear—if we can’t understand your sequence, you’re probably not going to win the challenge.

Don’t forget to include your full name and mailing information. We can’t send you your prize without it, and while we would love to give your booster box a good home, you’ll certainly have earned it this time.

Please enter only once. Additional entries will void all entries you submit. Be careful and make sure that you’ve included all the needed information before hitting send!

In the event of a tie for first place, the duelist whose entry was received first will be declared the winner. In other words, don’t put this off.

Entries should be submitted to contest@metagame.com and must be received by Friday, March 11 at 5 p.m. EST.