Discussion on "Destiny Draw (Rule)"

[AlphaKretin]

"Destiny Draw (Rule)" (ID 511004000) is a Video Game card with the following text.

At the start of the Duel, you can choose up to 5 cards in your hand/Deck. (You can only choose 1 card per original card name.) Once per Duel, If your opponent's LP is twice or more than your LP and you control no monsters while your opponent controls at least 1 monster, before you conduct your normal draw, randomly pick 1 of the cards you chose, that is in your Deck, and place it on top of your Deck.

This card is a strange anomaly. It is implemented like a Duel Mode, including being an "Extra Rule" in EDOPro, but it is a one-sided benefit for its owner that acts very much like what we would now consider a Skill. If added through EDOPro's Extra Rule feature, it only affects Player 1. As I understand it, this comes from Tag Force in some capacity, though all of our other Tag Force cards are treated as normal cards, and we don't use cards to recreate any other Tag Force game mechanic.

Thinking of it through the lens of a Skill, it is largely much worse than the Speed Duel Skill also called Destiny Draw, only technically being better if having half your opponent's LP requires losing less than 2000 LP (which would require playing with less than 4000 LP).

My point is that I am unsure if this card should exist, and if how we're treating it is correct. With my current understanding of the issue, I think we could easily just remove it entirely. If we decide to keep it, I think it should be reimplemented in some other way, perhaps through the Skill framework, instead of as a Duel Mode/Extra Rule.

[larry126]

Personally I'd like to keep as it works very differently from the Skill "Destiny Draw".
Here is what I have found out about the requirement of TF Destiny Draw:

• The player's LP is <=4000
• The player's LP is lower than their opponent's LP (not equal)
• Their opponent must control at least 1 monster
• Then there is some sort of comparison between both players' monster strength, which I haven't found out the algorithm behind it.

[AlphaKretin]

That is indeed significantly different, and not necessarily worse than the Skill. However, it is also not like how it currently works. We need to figure out the specific details and fix it.

[larry126]

I definitely agree we would need an overhaul of it. My only concern at the moment is the details of the last factor in the requirements (monster comparison) remains unknown.
At first, I followed Pedia's description which is the comparison between the ATK of monsters on the field. However, it doesn't seem to be the way since after satisfying the first 3 requirements, if my opponent controls only a Timelord (0 ATK) and I control a Big Shield Gardna (100 ATK), the system allowed me to perform a Destiny Draw. In contrast, if my opponent controls only a vanilla monster with 0 ATK, I wasn't allowed to perform a Destiny Draw.
There is clearly an algorithm of which the game decides which monster is more of threat to the other player but I can't find a pattern for it.

[zaphod77]

The actual rule seems to be that if you can't inflict lifepoint damage or destroy a monster by attacking, then the destiny draw is allowed.

Because you can't destroy the timelord or inflict battel damage by attacking it, the game considers that monster an exception, so you are allowed destiny draw if it's your opponent's sole defender, regardless of your monsters attack power.

I believe coding an exception for monsters that both cannot be destroyed by battle and prevent their controller from taking battle damage will resolve most of these.