Friday is here and we've hit a good one. Gorz, The Emissary of Darkness. I know a few duelists that fear this card, and rightly so. You just never know when Gorz will hit the field. I've seen players not attack with their biggest monster just because they don't want to deal with Gorz and a 2500, 2800 or even a 3000 ATK token. The psychological aspect of fearing to attack alone just because Gorz may drop is worth putting it in your deck alone. Gorz alone is hard enough to deal with, but throw in a token monster that comes with him that has ATK and DEF equal to the amount you just took from a direct attack while you controlled no cards, unless you have Dark Hole on your hand, this will be a problem. Some duelists place him in the side deck, a lot main deck him. either way, Gorz deserves a spot in your deck somehow, because im sure he's in your opponent's deck. His only weak point, to get him out via your hand, you have to control no cards on your field. That could be telling your opponent what you may be up to and will prepare for it. A few cards thqt can stop the summoning of Gorz, such as Light and Darkness Dragon, Consecrated Light and Koa'Ki Meiru Drago. I like Gorz, and looks awesome as a newly reprinted Gold/Ghost rare.
 
Traditional: 3.5
Advanced: 4.5
Friday Fact: J.J. Jameson will not be in The Amazing Spider-Man, sad.

Traditional: 3/5
Advanced: 4.38/5
 
But Phyll Sykes...last week you bashed on Tasuke Knight for relying on having no hand and Hammer Bounzer for also needing an empty field. And Gorz needs you to TAKE a hit WHILE having an empty field and you rate him so high?
 
Um...Gorz is real famous ever since he came out, placing #7 on our "Top 10 Cards of 2008." If anything, his Limited status should be an indicator of how potent he is. The release of Solemn Warning dampened him a little (if it weren't for its ability to counter Gorz, Solemn Warning would be overshadowed by Bottomless Trap Hole by so much), but ever since he was born, Gorz has made a really lasting impression on how the entire game is played, and even though I've never even put him in a deck before (although I've done some serious considerations before), I can assure to you that if you're still reading this, it's because you're one of three things:
1. You're new to this.
2. For some reason you seriously doubt Gorz's power.
3. Gorz is just too awesome a card to NOT read about him. Admit it.
 
Simply because Gorz EXISTS, players hesitate in charging headlong into direct-attacking a vulnerable opponent due to the trepidation of Gorz descending from the heavens (or, I guess, ascending from hell) with his sexy 2700 ATK score. In fact, some players are willing to purposefully leave themselves completely wide open just to bait an attack to summon Gorz (the best players, however, use a highly chainable Trap to give the false illusion of security). What makes him scarier is that the harder the direct attack, the stronger the Emissary Token (the token is a Light Fairy, which has no meaning whatsoever but is TOTALLY COOL). So in truth, it's summoning two monsters at once, so unless you can get rid of both of them (which is admittedly not horribly difficult to do, and along with the fact taking a strong direct attack WILL sting, I knocked Gorz down a little from a 5/5 score), you will be in trouble. If I'm responding to an attack of under 2700, then I've just summoned a clone of your monster, PLUS an even stronger monster. If I'm responding to an attack of over 2700, assuming I don't have Smashing Ground or something to eradicate your already-beastly monster, I just have the token attack it and I'm still left with this 2700 hunk (and if I use Honest with my token, you're in big trouble).
 
Gorz has also helped influence the methodology that players should abide by when swarming with direct attacks: Almost always, you want to attack with the weakest monsters first and work your way up, unless your strongest monster will slaughter your opponent outright, then you should just go for the kill. (Similarly, for the Gorz player, busting out Gorz against the strongest attack when your opponent is swarming you will often produce you the best token, but this will result in you taking heavy damage. You need to put these mind-boggling factors into account.) Due to the "Gorz Factor" of the game, Gorz himself is perhaps the single most psychologically-inducing mindgame card in all of Duel Monsters (other close cards include Starlight Road, Ordeal of the Traveler, and Fairy Box), making it impossible to fully address him properly in one simple article.
 
Oh yeah, Gorz has another effect... Very few offensive decks incorporate any cards that utilise effect damage. If you find yourself against a dedicated Burn Deck, summon Gorz when you can, reflect the damage back to your opponent, then side Gorz out when possible.

 
If you think Gorz would be a counterproductive addition to any strong-offensively based deck, please email me because I would be very amused to see how one could argue that.

Ruling Clarification: If I attack you with a Spirit Reaper, both monsters' effects (Reaper's and Gorz's) activate at the same time. By game rules, the turn player's effect (in this case, the attacking Reaper) activates first and the opposing player is forced to chain. Therefore, Gorz resolves first, summoning himself, and Reaper proceeds to nick a card.
Ruling Clarification #2: Stuff like Solemn Judgment, Horn of Heaven, or Thunder King Rai-Oh can NOT destroy Gorz or Battle Fader, because an effect is ACTIVATED to summon them (same reason you use Solemn Judgment when Monster Reborn is played, but not when the monster itself is summoned...but because Monster Reborn targets you can see what monster is GOING to be revived before you decide to use Judgment or not). Solemn Warning can destroy Gorz because it can negate EFFECTS, not just the actual summon. Gorz's effect is a Trigger Effect that gets activated. Bonus, he summons himself in Damage Step, a step in which Bottomless Trap Hole and other Normal Traps are illegal to use.

Aesthetics: ∞/5 He's...he's...he's just too cool... And he's got the playability to back it up, too. Gorz...
 
Philosophy Corner: In the game series Super Smash by Nintendo, there is a playable character named Pokémon Trainer. With him, you can switch between using Squirtle, Ivysaur, and Charizard. There is also a playable character from Konami named Solid Snake. Yu-Gi-Oh is from Konami. Therefore, wouldn't it be cool to have a playable character named Duelist? You could switch between using Kuriboh, Dark Magician, and Slifer the Executive Producer!
abc_at_123.com@hotmail.com