"Hahahaha! You're finished, human!"
Chaos Sorcerer threw his head back and laughed.
"The most ultimate insect is complete! Show yourself—
—Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth !!!"
A summoning storm rose; pollen seemed to drift in the air. A massive green insect spread its moth wings and let out a terrible screech from its grotesque mandibles.
[Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth , ATK 3500]
Joey: "."
"What's wrong? So shocked you're speechless?" Chaos Sorcerer stood hands on hips, grinning. "This is my trump card—the upper echelon of duel monsters—Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth !
To be felled by such a powerful monster is an honor for you, human! Hahaha—"
Joey really was speechless.
Not from shock, of course, but from that "memories of the dead suddenly attack me" feeling. What a nostalgic monster…
Back in Battle City, that was Weevil's pride and joy. Duel Monsters had only just reawakened in the modern era; even the rules weren't fully solidified, and the card pool was nothing like today.
So back then, Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth was pretty rare. With an ATK of 3500—higher even than the so-called strongest, Blue-Eyes White Dragon—it was terrifying. At the time, aside from Fusion monsters, it had the highest ATK of any Main Deck monster.
Of course, it's obsolete now.
Joey even remembered the tricks Yugi used against Weevil back then.
Like this—
"I tribute Gearfried the Iron Knight for a Tribute Summon," Joey said. "Come forth—Summoned Skull!"
[Summoned Skull, ATK 2500]
"Attack position?" Chaos Sorcerer smirked. "That ATK can't even scratch Great Moth—"
"Oh?" Joey said. "I activate the Spell Card 'Makiu, the Magical Mist'!"
Rain began to fall, pattering across the field.
Chaos Sorcerer frowned. "And that does what, exactly?"
"Haven't noticed?" Joey grinned. "Summoned Skull specializes in lightning attacks. Now look at your Great Moth under this misty rain—what's it become?"
"What?"
Chaos Sorcerer looked at his moth, still baffled.
"You still don't get it? After getting drenched, your Great Moth is now… a Soaked Great Moth!" Joey declared. "In soaked state, it'll conduct Summoned Skull's lightning far better!"
Chaos Sorcerer: "???"
Since when is that a thing?
"Go, Summoned Skull—attack Great Moth!"
[Summoned Skull, ATK 2500 → ATK 4000]
Summoned Skull's ATK spiked to 4000 in an instant, and sure enough, one lightning blast blew the Great Moth to pieces. Chaos Sorcerer was blasted back, mouth forming an O.
What kind of backwater dimension house rule is this? Since when does rain buff conductivity… You can play cards like this?
This was exactly how "Mouthpiece King" Yugi beat Weevil in the original anime.
Weevil said his Great Moth scattered scales that continually lowered the opponent's ATK, so Yugi played "Makiu, the Magical Mist" to say the rain washed the scales away. And the rain enhanced conductivity, so Summoned Skull zapped Weevil into a ZZ.
In the actual OCG/TCG printing, the card was later changed to pay homage to that scene—turning it into a dedicated card for Thunder-types and Summoned Skull, destroying opponent's monsters whose DEF is lower than Summoned Skull's ATK. A fitting tribute, but it didn't recreate the anime logic.
So fans attempted to reverse-engineer the anime effect.
In Battle City, the first time Yugi fought Weevil, it nullified Poisonous Scales and gave Summoned Skull +1000 ATK. The second time, against Joey, the rain nullified Thousand Dragon's attack. Later against Bandit Keith, it was used again to boost Summoned Skull, but only by 700.
From this, card nerds hypothesized the original anime effect: when "Makiu, the Magical Mist" resolves, negate effects of cards already on the field, and monsters cannot declare attacks.
Additionally, while in the GY, it boosts your on-field "Summoned Skull" by 100 ATK per card in your GY other than itself.
Just now, Joey had 15 cards in his GY, so Summoned Skull went up to 4000.
Of course, he didn't explain any of that to the opponent. So Chaos Sorcerer died uncomprehending, glaring at Joey in disbelief, wondering what insane dueling meta this dimension had—where "rain increases conductivity" is a legitimate line…
…
Meanwhile, deeper inside Supreme King Castle.
"Duel!" x2
[Kira, LP 4000]
[Guardian Baouu, LP 4000]
"I'll go first. Draw."
Guardian Baouu snorted.
"I don't know where your confidence comes from, but even if you reach Lord Supreme King, you'll only be offering yourselves as nourishment.
I summon 'Fiend Slime Mold'!" (Anime card)
A mass of purple sludge appeared on his field, quickly gathering and writhing, rising into a slime-like shape. Its disgusting exterior seemed to reek of mold.
[Fiend Slime Mold, ATK 500]
Baou's an anime card user with unprinted monsters.
"Then I set a card and end my turn!" Baou said confidently. "You'll learn that even compared to us, the Duelists of Death, you 'outsiders' are on a completely different level—never mind Lord Supreme King himself.
That kid you just sent in to find Lord Supreme King is probably being trampled to death by now…"
Kira ignored him. "My turn. Draw."
He slid the drawn card into his hand, then calmly summoned another monster.
"I summon 'Giant Rat.'"
Another nasty creature: an oversized rat with a vicious look, gripping what looked like a half-eaten skull.
[Giant Rat, ATK 1400]
"Giant Rat attacks 'Fiend Slime Mold.'"
Guardian Baouu laughed.
"Predictable. But this attack won't work!
I activate my set card, the Continuous Trap 'Gravity Gain'!
This card increases the gravity on the field; weak monsters can't even move under it! While this card remains, all Level 4 or lower monsters on both sides cannot attack!"