Gorz the Emissary of Darkness
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When you take damage from a card in your opponent's possession: You can Special Summon this card from your hand. You must control no cards to activate and to resolve this effect. If Summoned this way, activate the appropriate effect, based on the type of damage:
β Battle damage: Special Summon 1 "Emissary of Darkness Token" (Fairy-Type/LIGHT/Level 7/ATK ?/DEF ?). Its ATK and DEF are each equal to the amount of battle damage you took.
β Effect damage: Inflict damage to your opponent equal to the amount of damage you took.
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Can Be Found In: Duelist League 13 (DL13-EN013), Battle Pack: Epic Dawn (BP01-EN014), Gold Series: Haunted Mine (GLD5-EN024), Legendary Collection 3: Yugi's World Mega Pack (LCYW-EN044), Premium Gold: Return of the Bling (PGL2-EN081), Dark Legends (DLG1-EN000), Yu-Gi-Oh! R Volume 3 (YR01-EN003), Retro Pack 2 (RP02-EN000)
Monsters with effects activated directly from our hand were in the game at the very beginning with extremely scarce options such as "Kuriboh", but gradually became more prominent as years passed. Due the majority of Decks having plenty of options to clear the field with little to no effort, there was a good chance that any defenses placed on our board will become a waste as soon we have to deal with one of several removal effects. That's where hand effects became more and more prevalent in many Decks as more options were released, resting in our hand where very few countermeasures can deal with them while their unpredictability could severely disrupt one of several opponent's actions. Reaching the point where Trap Cards are almost obsolete for many Decks, these monsters took over their position as the best way to defend and disrupt the opponent before is too late.
"Gorz the Emissary of Darkness" quickly became a popular monsters upon its debut as hand effects gradually expanded on options, becoming such a threat that was placed in the banlist for a while due the efficiency of its abilities. Able to summon itself once we take damage while our board is empty, "Gorz" arrival will follow with one of two abilities depending of which kind of damage we took to meet its arrival's requeriments. If we took a direct attack and thus damage from battle, "Gorz" will arrive along a Token (Sometimes referred as "Kaien the Emissary of Darkness") which ATK and DEF will equal to the damage we took. If instead we take effect damage, "Gorz" will summon itself and deal damage to our opponent by the same quantity. Obviously in most circumstances "Gorz" will come along its Token and give us a strong board with its own high stats, becoming a strong defense or punishment to the opponent even in scenarios where our field has been wiped out.
While we could take traditional methods and supporting effects to summon "Gorz", obviously we want to aim for its own effect to either arrive along a Token or send damage back to the opponent. Since "Gorz" can only be summoned while our field is empty, in most scenarios will be kept in our hand ready to comeback from a variety of removal effects. From "Raigeki" to "Black Rose Dragon", the opponent has plenty of opportunities to clear our board and take that opportunity to direct attack. That's where "Gorz" will come into action in most Duels, with its Token becoming either a small annoyance or even stronger than this monster depending of the damage we took. Obviously we could just keep our field empty as long we assure our Life Points are safe from lethal damage, baiting attacks or effects to assure the summon of "Gorz" in return. Overall this seems that its effect damage ability will become less prominent under most circumstances, but due Burn strategies often won't require clearing our board and the prominency of battles in the game is something that can't be helped.
The results of "Gorz" has a bunch of variables due the timing of its summon and the results of its effects, becoming a solid defense to a powerful pressence on the field. With most scenarios triggering its battle effect, the Token "Gorz" provides can become a pity defense to defend against any opponent attacks during that Battle Phase, to replicating the stats of one of the strongest monsters on the opposite field. Depending of "Gorz" and the Token's summon, is quite possible to follow their pressence by working as materials for a variety of bigger summons (Except Xyz Summon when comes to the Token). The effect damage ability might not be a recurring outcome, but since the summon the "Gorz" is triggered during any moment is the only opportunity we could get to bring it out during our own turn if the opponent activates something while our field is empty. Regardless of creating a Token or redirecting damage, the high stats of "Gorz" makes it possible to survive until our own turn and start pressuring back the opponent with any other cards we can follow with its pressence.
Even if its effects will have different outcomes from one Duel to another, "Gorz the Emissary of Darkness" can become quite the scary monster to keep at hand and suddenly obtain a strong summon as countermeasure against damage. With most scenarios responding against a direct attack, the arrival of "Gorz" along a Token can go from a strong defense against any remaining opponent's attacks to obtaining two powerful creatures by little to no effort. As pointed out its ability arround effect damage will rarely happen due the nature of Burn tactics, but since that might allow to "Gorz" to summon itself during our turn it might become more powerful than its battle effect. Overall "Gorz" results will vary in potential and that might make it too random to manage, and since requires to take the risk of taking severe damage it might be overshadowed by safer options such as "Tragoedia" or "Battle Fader" among several others. Regardless, if we are ready to deal with the consequences of an empty board, "Gorz the Emissary of Darkness" provides a variety of outcomes depending of its summon's timing.
+ Summons itself if we take damage while our field is empty
+ If we took battle damage will summon a Token with stats equal to the damage taken
+ If we took effect damage will deal the same quantity against the opponent
+ Strong comeback card with a variety of outcomes
- Efficiency will vary of timing and how much damage we took
- Its ability arround effect damage might rarely or never happen
- There are similar options without having to risk our Life Points
