Great Saturn, revive!
The ground shattered, and the gigantic steel body seemed to rise again from the Netherworld, like a colossal iron God of Death.
[Great Saturn, Attack Power 2800]
Seeing this planet resembling a powder keg reviving again, Rockson also frowned slightly.
"Persistent haunting thing." He snorted heavily, "But 'Resurrection of the Dead' is an ordinary magic that can only be used in Main Phase 2. Your battle phase is over, so you can't use Saturn to attack anymore."
"Indeed." Yugen nodded, "However, I will now activate the Magic Card 'Offering to the Dead' from my hand.
By discarding a card from my hand, I can destroy one monster on your field."
He picked out a card from his hand and discarded it into the graveyard.
"Destroy 'Snowstorm Dragon'."
White bandages suddenly flew out, wrapping around Snowstorm Dragon like a mummy in dragon form, and it exploded with a loud bang.
Though Rockson's monster was blasted, he smirked coldly in his heart.
He narrowed his eyes and glanced at the monster in his hand.
Ice and Flame Dual Dragon.
By banishing two Water Attribute monsters and one Fire Attribute monster from the graveyard, it can be directly summoned to the field, and it's one of his strongest ace monsters. It has the powerful ability to discard a card from the hand to blow up monsters on the field.
There are already Water Attribute resources in the graveyard, so as long as the materials for the next turn are ready, when Ice and Flame Dual Dragon appears, it will trigger Saturn's effect for both sides to take 2800 damage. Finally, with Ice and Flame Dual Dragon's direct attack, victory will be easily assured.
Thinking about this made Rockson's lips curl, feeling that this sarcastic tactic of letting the opponent die from his own AOE effects couldn't be more fitting.
"Activate the Magic Card 'Heaven and Earth's Treasure Scroll.' During the turn of an upper-level summon, draw two cards, but they cannot be used this turn. If allowed to set, you must set at least one card before the end of the turn." (Original Card)
Yugen drew two cards.
"Then set one card, and the turn ends," Yugen said.
"My turn, draw!"
Rockson caught a glimpse of the card drawn, and couldn't help but smile confidently.
This really was a divine draw, exactly what he needed.
"Magic Card 'Dragon Spirit Temple'!" Rockson said, "Send a Dragon-type monster from the deck to the graveyard. If it's an ordinary monster, you can send one more."
He stretched his hand to pull out a card from the deck for search.
With this effect, gathering the necessary resources will allow him to summon his ace monster and secure the victory...
But when his fingers touched the deck, an electric sting came, instinctively causing his fingers to bounce away.
Rockson's pupils contracted.
This was a warning of a rule violation, warning him not to execute a deck search.
But why?
He looked up in shock to see a card on Yugen's backfield flipped open without him noticing.
"Speed Attack Magic 'Detonate,'" Yugen chuckled, "When the opponent activates a Magic, Trap, or Monster Effect, I can chain that effect. And change the opponent's effect to 'destroy a monster on the field.'" (Original Card)
It was also an original card in the GX Manga, used by the original holder of Saturn, David. And this effect is so apparent, almost custom-made for Great Saturn.
Chained when the opponent activates any effect, it can be used like a counter. For example, when the opponent performs a deck search or graveyard retrieval during critical steps, chaining this card can negate the opponent's original effect.
Of course, since the effect changes to "destroy a monster on the field," the choice of which monster to destroy naturally remains with the opponent. At first glance, it seems like a strong effect beneficial to the opponent.
But if only Great Saturn is on the field, the opponent has no choice but to destroy Great Saturn.
And Great Saturn's effect is limited to needing to be "destroyed by the opponent's controlled effect" to activate, which is why it's almost custom-made. Indeed, in the manga, David used this combo to OTK Asuka, and the performance in that duel was quite strong.
Moreover, it's worth noting that this method of altering opponent effects differs from the more common "negate the effect of XXX," yet is an alternative counter and quite creative.
However, back in the manga era, from a physical card perspective, this effect would seem unrealistic and hard to render physically. But today, this effect isn't as rare anymore, and similar techniques have started to be applied in mainstream play.
Take Yubel, who has received epic-level enhancements, specializing in rewriting opponent's activated effects to "blow up the opponent's Yubel."
Of course, there's no super-enhanced Sister Yubel in this era yet, so Rockson is experiencing the cross-era malice ahead of time.
He stared wide-eyed at his activated "Dragon Spirit Temple," watching the golden text lines being rewritten one by one into "destroy a monster on the field," his eyes widened even more.
"My Dragon Spirit Temple, you... you actually changed it..."
"Correct, I changed it. So you have to destroy a monster on the field. And now there is only one monster on the field."
Yugen snapped his fingers.
"You have no choice but to destroy Great Saturn!"
Another blast!
This time, there was no trap to block the damage, and the fireball formed from Saturn's explosion passed through the two of them, searing everything.
[Rockson, LP 4000 → LP 1200]
"Ugh..."
Rockson gritted his teeth.
His opponent's life points were higher, and the mutual destruction was disadvantageous to him...
Hmm?
[Yugen, LP 5000]
Rockson: "???"
What about the mutual destruction? Why didn't your life points move?
Does Great Saturn also have enemy recognition?
"Oh, I discarded this card."
Yugen leisurely revealed a card that exited the graveyard.
"Feathered Cotton Ball. By discarding this card, any effect damage received this turn becomes 0. This effect can also activate during the opponent's turn."
Rockson: "......"
Turns out it wasn't mutual destruction, only he was hit.
"But you're now an empty field..."
A cold light flashed in Rockson's eyes.
"Summon 'Snowstorm Dragon' number two!"
[Snowstorm Dragon, Attack Power 1800]
"Snowstorm Dragon's direct attack!"
Seeing the ice flow gathering in Snowstorm Dragon's mouth, Yugen remained unperturbed and continued responding.
"Continuous Trap 'Call of the Living Dead', resurrect a monster from the grave in attack position."
Rockson's face changed again.
"Reviving from the grave, could it be..."
"Exactly."
Yugen raised his hand.
"Great Saturn, summon again!"
[Great Saturn, Attack Power 2800]
Rockson's mouth twitched.
Are you kidding, it's this thing again...
He couldn't possibly let Snowstorm Dragon go up and crash, so he had to rein in at the edge of the cliff.
But he glanced at his hand cards.
At least he still held a 'Guardian Defense Wall', which could nullify battle damage and draw a card.
This way, at least he could last until the next turn.
"Set a card, turn's over," Rockson said.
Then he gritted his teeth.
No matter what, at least try to hold out until summoning the Ice and Flame Dual Dragons...
"My turn, draw a card."
Yugen calmly said.
"I summon 'Bombardment Dragon'."
[Bombardment Dragon, Attack Power 1000]
Attack Power one thousand...
Rockson's heart calmed a bit.
Great Saturn attacks Snowstorm Dragon, he uses Guardian Defense Wall to block the damage. Then Bombardment Dragon attacks directly, he would still have 200 Life Points left. At least he should survive this turn.
200 Life Points, a perfect edge-of-survival counterattack amount.
But unexpectedly, the opponent didn't attack at all.
"Activate Magic Card 'Purple Flame Intermediary'. Until the end of this turn, transfer control of one monster on your field to your opponent."
Rockson: "???"
What the hell?
"I'm giving you control of 'Bombardment Dragon.' " Yugen smiled.
Seeing Bombardment Dragon jump over to his own field, Rockson was full of question marks.
Huh?
Is there a way to distribute resources to the opponent like this?
"Then into battle," Yugen said, "Great Saturn, attack 'Bombardment Dragon.' "
Bombardment Dragon only has an Attack Power of 1000, if it withstands a hit from Great Saturn, it would surely be over.
However...
"Activate Trap 'Guardian Defense Wall'!" Rockson said, "Turn the battle damage to 0, then draw a card from your card deck."
Perfectly blocked.
But even though it seemed blocked, he still had a sense of doom in his heart.
Did it really block?
No, or if it was just to cut Bombardment Dragon and that's all, was this necessary? First, use Great Saturn to attack Snowstorm Dragon, then have Bombardment Dragon attack directly, isn't the result the same? Plus, it saves a card in hand.
And this was under the premise that Rockson didn't know Great Saturn had another effect — it can increase 1000 Attack Power by paying 1000 Life Points. If it increased by 1000 Attack Power, it could hit Snowstorm Dragon with one punch without all these fancy tricks.
But he quickly read a danger from the opponent's smile.
"Bombardment Dragon's effect." Yugen calmly explained, "When Bombardment Dragon is destroyed by battle and sent to the graveyard, the monster that destroyed this card must also be destroyed."
Rockson was stunned.
The monster destroyed by Bombardment Dragon...
His gaze moved slowly to Great Saturn.
And then began to become terrified...
What the hell!?
"Exactly, Bombardment Dragon I already gave to you, so for me, it's an 'opponent-controlled effect.' " Yugen smiled, "When Great Saturn is destroyed by an opponent-controlled effect, both sides take that Attack Power's value as damage."
Rockson was already dumbfounded. He seemed to want to roar but couldn't make a sound.
What kind of crazy combo is this!?
"Great Saturn."
Yugen snapped his fingers.
"Detonate."
The departed Bombardment Dragon turned into a spirit form and charged at Great Saturn. Saturn's body cracked open, teetering and then collapsed, exploding like a firecracker.
Endless fire bloomed, flames expanded, Saturn quickly turned into a spinning fireball, expanding at an alarming speed, enveloping both sides.
Yugen gently closed his eyes, calmly accepting the firestorm sweeping over him.
In stark contrast to the enraged shouting and frenzy of someone across.
[Yugen, LP 5000→LP 2200]
[Rockson, LP 1200→ LP 0]