Chapter 32 - Chapter 32 - Missing the Timing

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Chapter 32 - Missing the Timing

"H- He really won?" Xia Yu said in a daze.

Everyone looked at each other in confusion, some lowering their heads to think. They had not yet recovered from the AI referee's words: 

"Bug!" The man in Blue Side shouted unwillingly.

"It must be a bug! Why can't my activate its effect!?"

He could understand that couldn't activate its effect in the combat step. That was a misplay resulting from panicking, but was obviously destroyed by battle and sent to the graveyard just now, so why couldn't he use its graveyard effect to Special Summon a monster from the Deck?

As his unwilling roar resounded, their table attracted more onlookers.

Everyone looked at Luo Bai with surprise, waiting for an explanation.

Taking a deep breath, Luo Bai pressed the on the smart card pad.

Commentary Time starts.

"Let's do a simple test first." Luo Bai said calmly.

He placed in the opponent's Monster Zone, activated in his hand again, and destroyed .

"Try to activate 's effect again."

Luo Bai said the man in the Blue Side.

Frowning, the man found another from his Deck and placed it in the Monster Zone.

But this time, the AI referee no longer issued an alarm.

The effect was successfully activated.

"Huh?" Everyone was confused again.

"How is it okay again?"

Luo Bai ignored everyone's doubts and played another set of actions again.

C1, destroys , C2, destroys another

"Try to activate 's effect again."

To everyone's surprise...

Following Luo Bai's instructions, the man in the Blue Side found another from his Deck and Special Summoned it, but the AI referee still didn't sound an alarm.

The effect was successfully activated.

? ? ?

They were confused, utterly confused.

Directly activating triggers the graveyard effect, C1 and C2 also triggers the graveyard effect.

Only C1 and C2 make it so the graveyard effect doesn't trigger. What's the reason for this?

"Come here, sister, let's test it."

Xia Sheng's eyes suddenly lit up and he called Xia Yu to a different card mat to verify his conclusion.

Those who had the means also quickly opened their mats and used the [Test Mode] for quick verification.

"Tak, tak, tak."

"Bang, bang, bang!"

A minute passed.

Without exception, the conclusions are consistent.

"As you can see, this isn't a bug." Luo Bai looked at everyone and said indifferently.

"This is part of the "rules"."

"Part of the rules?" Xia Sheng was a little confused.

"Did I forget to remember a rule somewhere?"

However, no matter how hard he sifted through his memory, he couldn't find something that explains the current situation.

No, he did find one that looked quite similar...

"Is that the legendary..." With such a possibility in mind, Xia Sheng's eyes widened.

"Missing the Timing!?"

After the exclamation fell, everyone suddenly realized what was going on, and their eyes widened.

"Missing the Timing? I think I've heard of that before..."

The description of in their textbooks had been very concise, only stating that it involves "using chain order to disrupt the opponent's card effect activation timing", without providing any examples.

Until now, everyone only had a partial understanding of this.

"Hoh..." Luo Bai glanced at Xia Sheng in surprise.

This little brother reacts surprisingly quickly.

"Yes, this indeed is an example of Missing the Timing." Luo Bai said.

"C1 , C2 , and with chain reverse processing, C2 first destroys and sends it to graveyard, then C1 makes it so destroys the other ."

"The important point here is that C1 destroying blocks the time when activates its effect "when this card is sent from the field to the graveyard.""

The explanation may have been a little professional, as everyone didn't seem to understand it completely. Thinking about it for a bit, he spoke:

"Let's have this for example. You're going to buy milk tea and there's an offer to receive a coupon after purchase. But just as the robot clerk is about to operate the coupon gifting interface, another customer suddenly arrives to order a pizza."

"The robot clerk needs to prioritize the other customer ordering pizza."

"However, in that robot's AI food purchasing system, the coupon gifting interface can't pop up when buying pizza, so the robot clerk can't open another chain of command and give you your coupon."

"When C1 is and C2 is , and the chain is reversed, it's equivalent to the other guy buying his pizza first and then you pop in with your milk tea order, so the system can pop up the coupon gifting interface normally."

Luo Bai looked up at the solemn and serious crowd and weakly asked:

"This being the case, can you understand now?"

"What a great explanation." Xia Yu, like a cute, silly child, said, "Even I can understand it like that."

"In that case..." Xia Sheng thought of something and suddenly asked. "Would it also allow us to make miss the timing?"

In the game just demonstrated, the Blue Side used the graveyard effect of to retrieve , which posed a threat to the Red Side. If that had been stopped from the beginning, it would have been easier for the Red Side.

"It won't work." Luo Bai explained.

"The description of the effect of is "If this card is sent from the field to the graveyard". Effects that activate based on the description of "occasion" can't be stopped by Missing the Timing. As long as their activation conditions are met, they can be activated, unless..."

Luo Bai was about to speak but stopped.

What he was about to say was that it would work unless there are Spell Speed 4 cards like , cards whose effect can't be chained, around.

In the group stage of the 2023 WCS World Championship back on Earth, Branded Player used a fusion spell for C1 and destroyed the enemy Tearlaments Player's Kaleido-Heart for C2. After the effect was processed, he utilized 's Spell Speed 4 effect to make Kaleido-Heart unable to use his graveyard effect.

However, thinking that this would still be too much for them, he said this instead:

"Using the analogy just now, it's equivalent to the clerk serving you not being a robot but a real person. As long as you pay for the milk tea, even if someone jumps in the queue, after dealing with the guy who cut in line, the clerk will still manually find a coupon to give you if the system doesn't automatically provide you one."

After the explanation fell, Xia Sheng's mouth gaped in surprise and he called Xia Yu over to test it out in front of everyone.

Indeed, as Luo Bai said, C1 and C2 can't make miss her graveyard effect.

"Who exactly are you!?" After seeing all this, Shu Yu'er was completely shocked.

With this level of knowledge and skills, Luo Bai would be guaranteed to be a Level 6 Fortress Coach.

Thinking for a while, she took a deep breath, popped out her electronic ID from her supercomputer ring and declared coldly. "."

"Your identity needs to be verified now, please cooperate."

Before Luo Bai could react, Xia Yu rushed forward, put her hands on her hips and yelled, "What are you doing!? Does being a Supervisor make you authority!?"

They finally have a teacher who is willing to teach them, how can they let her trouble him?

Not to be outdone, Shu Yu'er threatened loudly back: "A Professional Player or Coach from a Level 6 Fortress coming to a lower-level Fortress to make profits."

"That is a serious violation of regulations."

"If the circumstances are serious, he will be banned for life or his license will be revoked."

Xia Yu was frightened back half a step by those words. She didn't want to cause trouble and cause the Teacher to be suspended or lose his license.

At this moment, Xia Sheng walked up to his sister, looked at Shu Yu'er, and said with a serious expression on his face, "Teacher hadn't taken a single gold point from us."

"There's no such thing as profit-making."

"Even if you claim you're a , you can't slander others at will."

"That's right! Does being a Supervisor make you authority!?" Others also clamored in.

Shu Yu'er took a half step back, intimidated by the crowd's momentum. She looked up at Luo Bai's calm face, her gaze filled with a hint of fear, her thoughts in turmoil.

"So calm?"

"He's really good at winning people's hearts."

Luo Bai may have looked calm at that moment, but in fact, he was confused inside.

What?

Supervisor?

Level 6 Fortress Professional Player?

Coach?

Banned? License being revoked?

What... are these people even saying?

WHAT IS SPELL SPEED?

"Spell Speed" is a Yu-Gi-Oh! term used to describe how fast a card effect is.

SS1 are basically the slowest and can only be activated at the beginning of a chain, can't be used to chain with other cards. For example, Normal or Equip Spells, or Ignition-type Monster Effects, effects that you have to manually activate. 

SS2 are cards with faster effects, those that can be activated during either player's turn. Quick Effects of Monsters, Normal and Continuous Traps, and Quick Play Spells are in this category.

SS3 is technically the "fastest" of all card effects; and only other Spell Speed 3 card effects can be used to respond to them. The only cards that classify as SS3 are Counter Trap Cards.

Now, as for the SS4 cards mentioned in this chapter, they actually have no bearing on actual Spell Speeds. They are simply referred to as SS4 because not even SS3 can stop them, as cards in this category have the effect along the lines of "Neither player can activate cards or effects in response to this card's activation".