Talk:Mischief of the Time Goddess (anime)

What exactly is this card's TEXT (lore)?
(Mpanty 17:49, 30 August 2009 (UTC))

FACTS:

 * During Yu-Gi-Oh! - Episode 194, and during his first turn of the Duel, Zigfried declares an attack on a defenseless Seto. Seto uses Trap Card "Negate Attack" to negate it, but Zigfried then plays Spell Card "Mischief of the Time Goddess": the Duel seems to skip towards another Battle Phase for Zigfried, who then attacks again.
 * Seto however, counters Zigfried's second attack by activating Trap Card "Magical Trick Mirror": he selects "Mischief of the Time Goddess" in Zigfried's Graveyard and activates it. It somehow permits Seto to stop Zigfried's current attack dead in its tracks, and go directly to his next turn (which Phase is unclear, at least initially).
 * In the English Dub, Zigfried quotes: "Mischief of the Time Goddess" allows me to skip your turn, then I can pick off where I left off (...)".
 * In the original Japanese, Zigfried reads the exact text of the card instead: "Skip 1 turn. My turn to Battle Phase".

The original Japanese text of the card clarifies what exactly takes place during both instances Mischief of the Time Goddess is activated: a first time by Zigfried, the second time through Seto's "Magical Trick Mirror".

Theory #1: Card text = "Skip your opponent's next turn"
Since it is a Normal Spell Card, "Mischief of the Time Goddess" is designed to be usually played during one's own turn. If this were always the case, the card text could simply read "Skip your opponent's next turn" and would thus seem to satisfy what we see when Zigfried activates it. There are however two fallacies to this argument:
 * In the episode, the turn during which Zigfried activates his card is never allowed to end. Why? Because if it had indeed ended, the second special effect of "Ride of the Valkyries" would have sent all of Zigfried's Valkyries straight back to his Deck the minute he entered his End Phase. Since that did not happen, we must assume that the End Phase never actually took place and instead, was skipped.
 * When Seto activates Trap Card "Magical Trick Mirror" and "copies' Zigfried's "Mischief of the Time Goddess", the play skips directly to Seto's turn. If the card's text had simply been "Skip your opponent's next turn", Zigfried's turn would have been allowed to play out, and Seto would have then had two consecutive turns.

Also, Duel Monsters Quick Effects often allow one to activate Normal Spell Cards during an opponent's turn, such as in this case with "Magical Trick Mirror". For this and the above reasons, the card's text suggested by Theory #1 is discarded, because it does not satisfy all the events taking place during this Episode.

Verdict:  REJECTED 

Theory #2: Card text = "You may enter a second Battle Phase this turn. This Battle Phase is treated as if it was your next turn."
This theory would seemingly satisfy the events following the first time the card is activated: Zigfried does indeed obtain a second Battle Phase. However, it isn't able to explain how Seto uses "Mischief of the Time Goddess's" effects (through his "Magical Trick Mirror") to stop Zigfried's second attack.

Verdict:  REJECTED 

Theory #3a: Card text = "Skip current turn. Go directly to the Battle Phase of your next turn"

 * If played during your turn, the card is effectively designed for you to obtain two consecutive attacks. Note why it forces you to go directly to your next turn's Battle Phase: by doing so, it prevents you from being able to Summon an extra monster and include him in the second attack.
 * If activated during your opponent's turn, it may be used to stop an that turn immediately and go directly to your Battle Phase of the next turn.

This version of the card's text is much more flexible and can be more easily reconciled with the facts taking place in Episode 194. However, the phrase "Skip current turn" is a bit vague and does not clearly define what goes on with that turn's remaining Phases.

Verdict:  REJECTED, FINE-TUNING NEEDED 

Theory #3b: Card text = "Immediately end current turn: its remaining Phases, including the End Phase, are skipped. Go directly to the Battle Phase of your next turn"
This text version gives a much more explicit, unambiguous description of what takes place in the Duel after the card is activated.

RECONCILED FACTS: FURTHER EVIDENCE: Verdict:  APPROVED 
 * During Yu-Gi-Oh! - Episode 194 and during his first turn of the Duel, Zigfried declares an attack on a defenseless Seto. Seto uses Trap Card "Negate Attack" to negate it, but Zigfried then plays Spell Card "Mischief of the Time Goddess": it allows him to skip the rest of his current turn and obtain a second turn immediately after, going directly to his Battle Phase. This could also explain why Zigfried does not Summon any new monsters, since his Main Phase 1 was skipped.
 * Seto however, counters Zigfried's second attack by activating Trap Card "Magical Trick Mirror": he selects "Mischief of the Time Goddess" in Zigfried's Graveyard and activates it. It permits Seto to skip the rest of Zigfried's current turn and go directly to the Battle Phase of his next turn.
 * Since Seto has no monsters in play, he cannot attack (in the Japanese version, Seto actually explains this step; in the English Dub, he just trash-talks to Zigfried). Seto goes directly to his Main Phase 2, Summoning "Z-Metal Tank" and Special Summoning "Clone Dragon" through its special ability, both in Defense Position.
 * During Zigfried's next turn, Zigfried explains that since the End Phase of his previous turn was skipped, the second effect of "Ride of the Valkyries" could never activate. Thus, his "Valkyrie Erste", "Valkyrie Zwei", and "Valkyrie Dritte" are not returned to his Deck and are allowed to remain on the field (NOTE: an explanation of this step is provided in the original Japanese anime; it is skipped in the English dub).
 * During Yu-Gi-Oh! GX - Episode 084, Ojin uses "Mischief of the Time Goddess" during the very first turn of the game in order to skip directly to his second turn, and attack Sartorius with a 4000 ATK-inflated "Satellite Cannon".
 * The confirmation that Ojin's End Phase is skipped is provided by the fact "Satellite Cannon" does not gain a further 1000 ATK as it normally would during its controller's End Phase.