Chapter 234. Forbidden Card Elder Entity Norden Breakdown Exposed! Multi-Angle Look at the True God Card!
As the saying goes, if you don't ask for trouble, you won't get it!
At this moment.
Duelists across the various Duel Worlds finally began to understand those words.
If they hadn't seen it with their own eyes,
They wouldn't have believed it either.
A card with purely beneficial effects—Maxx "C"—
Actually ended up being the sole culprit behind the defeat!
And the Rescue-ACE deck only runs 40 cards.
One Card Destruction.
Even if it wouldn't have killed him outright,
He would still have been finished off afterward by the opponent—the Snake-Eye Synchro player—stringing together a few more Special Summons.
This is
The absurdity and helplessness of a Duel, right?
"Such a shame, what a shame! Lost just like that!"
"Yeesh! Does anyone still remember this was only Round 1?"
"Holy crap! I would've forgotten if you hadn't said it! This really was still the first turn!"
"Well, it's an FTK. How could it not be Turn 1? I just didn't expect it to actually end the Duel in a single turn!"
"Yeah, it's ridiculous! Especially that last straw—Card Destruction!"
"....."
As the duelists in the group chat all talked over one another,
They couldn't help getting a little sentimental.
One of them really dared to play into Maxx "C";
The other was forced into getting FTK'd.
No matter how you look at it, it leaves a bitter taste, doesn't it?
And in the main world—
Once that video ended on Sei Yuki's side,
The app quickly hopped to the next short clip.
The title popped up with it:
"Forbidden Card Elder Entity Norden Breakdown Exposed! Multi-Angle Look at the True God Card!"
Seeing that headline,
Sei Yuki jolted.
He'd almost forgotten:
On the Yu-Gi-Oh! Forbidden & Limited List,
Besides Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon, there was also a Fusion Monster that was forbidden—
Elder Entity Norden.
If it's that card,
Then it really is worth seeing what's going on.
Maybe he'll even pick up something useful.
After thinking it over,
Sei Yuki chose to play it.
Very soon,
The contents of the short video began appearing across the various Duel Worlds.
Yu-Gi-Oh banlist explainer: "Hello! Good evening, duel-heads!"
Yu-Gi-Oh banlist explainer: "Today I'm bringing you a rather interesting forbidden card!"
Yu-Gi-Oh banlist explainer: "This card is somewhat similar to Royal Oppression and Cyber-Stein."
"All of them became brilliant as the era developed!"
"Or rather, once the era belonging specifically to that card arrived, it could really shine!"
"This card is—Elder Entity Norden!"
"A Level 4 Fusion Monster!"
"But its material requirement is extremely odd!"
"It requires a Synchro Monster or an Xyz Monster + a Tuner monster or an Xyz Monster!"
"And when this card is Special Summoned successfully, you can target 1 Level 4 or lower monster in your own Graveyard."
"Special Summon that monster with its effects negated. When this card leaves the field, banish that monster."
"Reading the text on its own, it's basically: when it hits the field, it revives a Level 4, effects negated."
"But we definitely can't look at the text in isolation!"
"Point 1: This card's effect is not once per turn."
"Point 2: This card's effect triggers when it is Special Summoned successfully—so if it comes out and is then Special Summoned again by other means, it can still trigger."
"Point 3: Understand the Fusion Materials."
"You can go Synchro + Tuner, Synchro + Xyz, or Xyz + Xyz."
"This means the Fusion material range is extremely broad!"
"Alright, with these three points fully understood,"
"Let's look at the discourse before this card got forbidden."
Elder Entity Norden, huh?
The first reaction duelists across all worlds had on seeing this card was: weird.
That's right—
This card is way too weird.
It was the first time they'd seen it:
A Fusion Monster that actually needs Xyz and Synchro as materials.
What kind of crazy Fusion boss monster is this supposed to be?
And the revived Level 4 or lower monster
Gets its effects negated.
Looking at it like that,
It doesn't seem that strong.
So how did it end up as a forbidden card?
Right now,
Yugi Muto, Yuma Tsukumo, Yusei Fudo, and the others couldn't help showing confused, bewildered looks.
Their first reaction to this card was doubt.
Because when it came to this card being forbidden, they honestly didn't quite get it.
Even though the short video had already provided a more precise reading of the effect,
It still made them put a question mark on how powerful the card actually was.
New-era duelists like Yuya Sakaki and Yusaku Fujiki, however, showed thoughtful expressions.
Could there be some outrageous line of play tied to this card?
And in the very next second, the short's explanation
Began clearing it up.
Yu-Gi-Oh banlist explainer: "First, let's look at this card from the first angle!"
Yu-Gi-Oh banlist explainer: "We already know its Fusion materials are very broad."
Yu-Gi-Oh banlist explainer: "In the environment at the time—
"That is, when Elder Entity Norden released in September 2014—
"A lot of duel-heads, upon seeing this card,
"Were already polarizing."
"Some said this Norden is invincible, the best, the strongest—
"Absolutely forbidden-tier text and power level."
"Others said this Norden is just a flash-in-the-pan card."
"The Fusion material requirement is complicated and costs you cards."
"Overlaying for an Xyz takes 2 cards, making a Synchro needs 2 cards, then fusing for Norden needs 1 card."
"Five cards just to make this? And it revives a blank Level 4 with effects negated?"
"Some chose to wait and see, quietly waiting for Norden's strengths to surface."
"After all, it revives Level 4 or lower, unconditionally, and it's not once per turn."
"Maybe it just lacked a single catalyst."
"Of course, whichever viewpoint you took,
"Each had a rationale."
"So in this episode, I'm going to look at the card from multiple angles."
"First, from the angle that thinks this card can't make waves."
"At the time in 2014, in theory, we hadn't yet fully entered the Rank 4 era."
"Although Geargia and Star Seraph already existed,
"R4 extenders you could choose from still weren't plentiful enough."
"And the commonly used Rank 4 Xyz of the time included Number 101: Silent Honor ARK, Gagaga Cowboy, Abyss Dweller, and so on,
"As well as cards that are still forbidden now—Number 16: Shock Master and Lavalval Chain."
"Precisely because these R4s were very useful at the time,
"Synchro, too, was mainly used as utility extenders."
"Therefore, the skeptics believed making this card did nothing of consequence."
'Why not just make Shock Master? Isn't that better?'
"What's more, they didn't get why it needed both Xyz and Synchro."
"One word: minus. Way too minus."
"Almost nobody seriously wanted to activate a Fusion Spell Card
"To Fusion Summon this monster."
"More importantly, the Shaddoll deck of that environment didn't really fear this card."
"So, duelists who thought the hype around this card was overblown
"Were looking at it from that angle."
Indeed—
That's exactly right.
Its Fusion materials,
At first glance, are super weird.
Viewed through this lens now,
Duelists in every world showed looks of sudden realization.
Yeah.
To Fusion out an Elder Entity Norden,
I'd need 2 Synchro monsters; no matter how you tally it,
That's still 4 materials, right?
Likewise, if it's 2 Xyz or 1 Xyz + 1 Synchro,
It's still roughly 4 material resources.
Then on top of those 4 materials, you still have to meet the requirement of the Fusion Spell—
Five cards,
Just to make one Elder Entity Norden?
That's a minus to your grandma's house!
Duel Monsters world—
"Minus."
"Burn resources to make this one card."
"Its ATK on the face of it is only 2000."
"Not enough—easily answered."
"The monster it brings back has its effects negated. How do you even play off that?"
Yugi Muto now understood this card even less.
This way of thinking
Actually fit these old-guard duelists better.
For them,
They definitely wouldn't waste that many resources to make a single card,
Just to greed for a Level 4 or lower revive point.
And in the 5D's world,
Yusei Fudo, whose gaze had been puzzled before, now stirred slightly as he listened to this angle.
It seemed he'd thought of something.
His expression grew graver.
Elder Entity Norden—
Must we
Use Fusion materials to bring this card out?
Couldn't we
Use some other way to Fusion it?
Remember,
The Cyber-Stein breakdown
Had already opened up Yusei's line of thinking.
In other words,
Maybe there's another way to make this card.
As for Cyber-Stein, there's indeed no need to waste resources on this one card.
In the short,
The explanation continued.
Yu-Gi-Oh banlist explainer: "Next, let's look at this card from another angle—
"That is, from the angle of those who rated this card highly
"And hyped it as forbidden-tier."
"There's nothing wrong with thinking that,
"Because there's a card that solves part of the Fusion material issue."
"That card is Instant Fusion."
"Its effect: you can pay 1000 LP; Special Summon 1 Level 5 or lower Fusion Monster from your Extra Deck as a Fusion Summon."
"A monster Special Summoned by this effect cannot attack, and is destroyed during the End Phase."
"If making this card is too minus,
"Then just use this card to force Elder Entity Norden out and be done with it."
"Besides,
"As a very solid Level 4 extender,
"Norden has no self-restriction at all."
"Even though Instant Fusion can't be searched, nothing stops you from leveraging Norden's strengths the moment it's in hand."
"A simple example:
"Compared to the Level 4 extender Photon Thrasher, Norden's effect is stronger,
"Which indirectly increases your odds of making Shock Master going first."
"Of course, those who weren't impressed
"Would naturally argue back using the Shaddoll environment as their basis."
"That's reasonable too, since Shaddolls indeed weren't afraid of Shock Master's suppression."
"But we have to understand—I've said before—the Shaddoll environment
"Was relatively slow-paced."
"If you change your mindset and aim to pursue a going-first OTK,
"You'll actually fall into Shaddolls' trap."
"Also, as a standalone card, Norden paired with Rank 4 lines is extremely powerful."
"Lastly,
"We can't just discuss the opponent.
"We also have to discuss the changes that can occur within a single Duel."
"Going first, Norden can accelerate your Shock Master lock.
"In a late-game board state, Norden can still quickly top up Rank 4 extenders to break through and suppress."
"So Norden's power level looks different from another angle."
"Otherwise, let me talk about one contemporary Norden combo and a deck build."
"For example, we bring out Norden, then Normal Summon Vylon Cube.
"Four stars plus three stars—these two cards can Synchro for Level 7."
"Good. Vylon Cube hits the Graveyard and triggers; from the Deck, it searches the Equip Spell Re-Fusion."
"Activate Re-Fusion, revive Norden, trigger its effect, and bring back Vylon Cube again."
"Vylon Cube triggers again, and the Deck searches a second Re-Fusion."
"Activate the second Re-Fusion and repeat—
"We can make a second Level 7 Synchro Monster."
"Activate the third Re-Fusion and repeat one last time—
"We can make a third Level 7 Synchro Monster."
"This resource routing—
"Tell me: terrifying or not?"
What the—?!
You can play it like that?
Right now,
Duelists in every world all wore dumbstruck looks.
They couldn't believe what they were seeing.
From the mind-blowing Spell—Instant Fusion—
To the follow-up Vylon Cube + Norden combo,
They were downright stunned.
In that instant,
Duelists across all worlds realized an even stronger point about Norden.
Yes, the monster it brings back has its effects negated,
But it never said
That the monster's Graveyard effects after being sent there are negated too.
Put simply,
Once the monster card hits the Graveyard, its state refreshes—
You can absolutely continue to activate that monster's Graveyard effect.
No once-per-turn on the revive, no once-per-turn on the effect activation—
These two cards together really multiplied Elder Entity Norden's value several times over.
Yugi Muto: "I didn't think it through enough. This card seems more complicated than it looks."
Jaden Yuki: "Yeah. You can't look at a Fusion Monster only on the surface—you have to look at its pairings."
Yusei Fudo: "I knew this card wasn't that simple! This line of thinking is bound to cause explosive impact."
Yusaku Fujiki: "Three Level 7 Synchro materials out of thin air—I'm already feeling how absurd that is."
In the group chat,
Duelists immediately exploded into discussion around Elder Entity Norden.
Changing the angle like that
Really gave them an epiphany.
If you don't think deeper,
You really might treat this card like an ordinary piece of cardboard.
Yu-Gi-Oh banlist explainer: "Even if Norden performed well—
"With that approach in mind,
"There would still be duelists insisting the card isn't strong, and they kept nitpicking."
"Q: How do you line up three copies of Instant Fusion? Or how do you ensure Norden shows up?"
"A: You can have Ancient Fairy Dragon destroy the Field Spell to fetch Fusion Gate, then do Synchro plus Xyz into Fusion."
"Q: If you're considering the Level 7 Synchro Ancient Fairy Dragon, then how do you ensure the Field Spell gets to hand?"
"A: The HERO card Elemental HERO Captain Gold can search Skyscraper."
"Q: How do you search Elemental HERO Captain Gold? Don't tell me Elemental HERO Shadow Mist—then how do you get it into the Graveyard?"
"A: Use the still-not-yet-forbidden Lavalval Chain! Ancient Fairy Dragon + Lavalval Chain + Elder Entity Norden!"
"....."
"No matter how you ask, there will always be duelists on the pro side answering."
"In short—it's like I said at the start:
"Angles. It's just different angles."
With the follow-up barrage of questions,
They once again left duelists in every world completely baffled.
Seriously?
You're nitpicking like this?
The line is already this strong,
And there are still duelists who'll keep nitpicking it?
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