#Super agent

[day-may]

Card Thoughts of the Day #2 (08/30/2023) Another metagame destroying entry already? SPYRAL Double Helix, released in the set Circuit Break (CIBR) in 2017, is a Link-2 monster belonging to the World Premiere SPYRAL theme. It allows the user to Special Summon any SPYRAL monster from their deck by successfully calling the type of card on top of your opponent's deck, a gimmick shared by many other SPYRAL monsters, while also being treated as "SPYRAL Super Agent" on the field. Before the release of Double Helix, SPYRAL was considered to be a weak theme. This was primarily because many SPYRAL cards (But mainly SPYRAL Quik-Fix) needed the user to control SPYRAL Super Agent on the field to use their effects, but because the basic Super Agent was limited to either a Normal Summon or a gamble reliant Special Summon, it was difficult to reliably get him on the field. Other monsters were able to take SPYRAL Super Agent as their name, such as "SPYRAL Tough" but they were equally difficult to get on the field. Ironically, many of the most powerful SPYRAL cards later on were released in the first wave of cards (SPYRAL GEAR - Big Red, SPYRAL Quik-Fix, SPYRAL GEAR - Drone), and were seen as having a lot of potential.

Double Helix, by being an Extra Deck monster treated as "SPYRAL Super Agent," unlocked that potential, becoming notorious for enabling SPYRAL as a strategy that could spam Link monsters easily and quickly by Special Summoning SPYRAL Quik-Fix or SPYRAL Master Plan from your deck to begin a combo, seeing mass adoption in the OCG and TCG metagame for a time. Later on in 2020, it reappeared alongside the newly released Magicians' Souls, a consistency tool allowing the user to send SPYRAL Master Plan from their Deck to the GY, with a further refined Link spam strategy, albeit not as all-encompassing to the metagame as it's 2017 counterpart.

My thoughts on SPYRAL Double Helix and the SPYRAL theme are complicated. Like a lot of other World Premier themes, the art of SPYRAL is phenomenal. It provides a very clean modern-day aesthetic, clashing (but in a good way) to the more magical or fantastical themes in Yu-Gi-Oh, alongside a small story about a teacher turning on his student and their organization. It's gameplay, however, involves a lot of Soft Once Per Turn abuse and generic link monsters, which does put me off of the strategy as a whole. However, I do hope that with the newly revealed SPYRAL Double Agent, SPYRAL Master Plan makes it off the TCG Banlist so SPYRAL players in the TCG can enjoy their deck to the fullest.

[egophiliac]

still ruminating over Lost In the Book With Spooky Skeletons Part 1, so here's a selection of some of my favorite little bits! (...some more loosely paraphrased than others) (I just feel like Idia has no room to criticize in general, okay)

anyway, I'm sure we're just going to have a fun time celebrating Halloween and nothing bad is going to happen whatsoever! :)

[pjs-everyday]

(You make me wanna) Go dancing (You make me wanna) Try on feminine (You make me wanna) Go buy a new dress (You make me wanna) Slip off a new dress – Juna by Clairo

[hoshizoralone]

sammy and the captain

[tizzypizza]

washed out agent 4

[porrigens]

did my first life drawing session with agent 8 :D

[hajihiko]

It runs in the family

[professorcalculusstanaccount]

How would you describe Chang's relationship with his adoptive parents in your wonderful au?

Chang is adopted pretty quickly, so it's likely they didn't get much time to get to know each other as well as most adopted families nowadays. My thoughts on Chang and his adopted family are below!

Chang's heroism in The Blue Lotus was impressive, which leads to lofty expectations Chang himself feels incapable of meeting. He struggles to adapt to life in Shanghai, the Wangs' upper middle class culture and has problems at school, having missed out on a few years of education and a lot of unresolved trauma.

He's frustrated at his own inability to fit in, and guilty about flubbing this opportunity at life they gave him. Part of him feels like he's tearing their family apart. The Wangs are desperately trying to give Chang a good life, but feel completely out of their depth.

He also can't help but compare himself to Didi, his much older adopted brother and their biological son, who is scarily competent and a clear favourite of their mother.

Didi is aware that his father may have expectations for Chang to join the Sons of the Dragon. Having experienced the pressure and danger first-hand he takes it upon himself to foster a sense of agency in Chang so he will be capable of choosing for himself when the time comes. Didi trains Chang in martial arts and is tough on him in general, but encourages Chang to travel when he expresses an interest in it. Chang on the other hand encourages Didi to have fun and let loose!

Mr Wang has high expectations for Chang because he believes in him. He and Mrs Wang genuinely care for him and only want the best possible life for him, but this sometimes comes across as them expecting Chang to be somebody else. They first thought Chang was much like Didi, disciplined and quiet, but Chang's rebellious streak catches them off guard. Mrs Wang is particularly shaken.

It struck me how gentle the Wangs were with Didi while he was under the influence of madness poison, and as they are good friends with a mental health specialist, they would absolutely take Chang's mental health seriously. Whether or not they fully understand each other is another thing. As Chang slips into a deep depression they decide to send him off to London to meet his uncle, hoping a change in scenery will help him. On his way through Tibet however, his plane crashes into the mountains...

[nenoname]

"And now I know why! He hates me!"

[jomeimei421]

Felt a bit nostalgic watching RT shut down…Here are the og faves again for old times sake 💙

[chio-chan2artbox]

Realization hit him hard

[radiantrookie]

[egophiliac]

WOOO we're finally getting some Ride Kamens story content! ...and it's mostly Leon getting REALLY into being a small business owner! this is (unironically) an excellent sign for the future.

(what do you mean the Agent isn't wearing cat ears 24/7 in every outfit) (can't hear you la la laaaaa)

[pjs-everyday]

*immediately loses their cool* lmao 🤓 // linework >> grayscale // ko-fi

[panic-flavored]

Manifesting stobotnik motorcycle ride in Sonic 3 🌟 🌠

[ink--theory]

unable to go back to sleep with this cough *throws you some agent 32*