Magic Reflector

Scans from V Jump magazine the following month, March 2002, in which there is a Q&A about Magic Reflector. Vindication!

“What gender am I?” Yu-Gi-Oh! Enby starter pack <3

“Target 1 face-up Spell Card you control; place 1 counter on it. If it would ever be destroyed, remove the counter instead.”

Scans from Weekly Shonen Jump 2001 #33(July 16, 2001) of Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel 227(168 in Yu-Gi-Oh Duelist) “The Waiting Grave”. Featured here is the first and only use of the card “Magic-Removal Bacterial Weapon” localized in English as simply “Virus Cannon”. This card would appear in the OCG in September 2001 as a promotional card included in a guidebook for the PS2 “Yu-Gi-Oh! True Duel Monsters II: Succeeded Memories”(Duelist of the Roses) video game. This card’s artwork would be used as a basis for “Magic Gardna”(Magic Reflector) in November 2001′s “Mythological Age”. Also from the same issue of WSJ is a news page for the then new OCG set “Labyrinth of Nightmare”

Though “Magic Reflector” depicts a futuristic machine, a lot of the design elements resemble aspects of the Spirit monsters that were also released in the OCG set “Mythological Age”. Note the colors of the energy/substance in the tank on top of the machine share the same blue/red/purple palettes of the “Spirit World” depicted in the Spirit monster’s backgrounds. The energy barrier the machine is emitting bears a resemblance to the wisps of energy swirling around those monsters. Perhaps that is what’s powering it?

Ah, Magic Deflector, the forgotten little brother of Magic Reflector and Virus Cannon. Funny enough, you can use all three together if you want. Deflector can prevent you from using Reflector, but if you already have a counter on a spell card, it won't be negated by Deflector going off because it wasn't a part of that spell card's effect.