Introduction

As the OCG finally seals away another piece of malevolence, many players competitive and casual alike are celebrating without having their monster effects outright denied. The True King of All Calamities, as per namesake, has constantly wreaked havoc in every metagame that has allowed it to exist. What is True King of All Calamities, what did it do, and how many calamities did it reign over?
This will be my biography of the darkest dragon to date.

The Overlord of Oppression

True King of All Calamities
Wyrm/XYZ/Effect
Rank 9 ATK/ 3000 DEF/ 3000
2+ Level 9 monsters

• Once per turn (Quick Effect): You can detach 1 material from this card and declare 1 Attribute; this turn, all face-up monsters on the field become that Attribute, also all monsters in your opponent's possession with that Attribute cannot activate their effects or attack.
• Monsters that "True Draco" and "True King" monsters in your hand would destroy with their effects can be chosen from your opponent's field.

Calamities (or VFD in OCG) has a very lengthy effect, but the only relevant one would be the first. Simply detaching a material at any point of the game, Calamities can effectively deny the attempt of any monster effects and attacks of the declared attribute. If Calamities declared "Light," your Light monsters in hand, field and grave would completely be neutralized. Calamities would extend this effect to affect all monsters on the field, meaning that any monsters placed on the field after this effect would also be affected by Calamities' aura. A simple activation would basically negate any sort of monster effects or attacks from happening any time.

Of course, it could be argued that as an Xyz monster, Calamities may only resolve this up to twice a duel. However, it is important to note that games in Yu-Gi-Oh! are very fast paced, and losing a turn against the opponent will be a substantial setback. As such, Calamities has the ability to easily conclude games with its presence.
So as long as you are able to summon it in your deck, that is.

As a side note, this here is a link directing to a review done for Calamities during the meta it was released in.

The Causes for Calamities

Calamities' biggest set-back is its summoning requirements. Summoning two willing Level 9s should supposedly be difficult. Level 9s are the level with the second least support in the game. In fact, during Calamities' initial release, it was quickly overshadowed by other cards in the set (note: Master Peace) due to its difficult summoning condition. This monster was quickly shafted away in favor of many other dominating archetypes such as Zoodiac and True Draco variants.

It was not until the appearance of the Dinosaur's Structure Deck, where Calamities became a key player in the metagame. In a point I will cover later, it was finally easy to reliably conjure up 2 Level 9s on the field. As the best (and honestly, only reliable) Rank 9 monster of date, Calamities comfortably settled into the metagame, shutting every other monster effects opposing its greater self. This would set a pattern in the eventual future, where any decks that could, would proceed to make Calamities without hesitation.

Eventually, summoning Calamities got too easy, but dealing with its oppressive aura was not. This maniacal monster's consistency would peak in Virtual World, where KONAMI had to eventually deliver the ultimate blow: the Banlist.

This article coincides with VFD's demise. This change has been a long time coming. But at the same time, I would love to reminisce about its history in the OCG.

The Start for Supremacy

Most of my research comes from Road of the King, so I will expand upon these eras.

Contrary to popular belief, Calamities did not immediately appear and start landscaping the whole metagame. There were meaner kids in the sandbox, and they did not respect any attempt to summon Calamities. This disrespect would continue with Ratpier in every deck, until the OCG April 2017 ban list. Now with a weeded garden, True King Dinosaur would finally begin its ascent into the metagame.

True King Dinosaur (APR2017)

This is the first recorded successful iteration from Road of the King. The True King monsters requires the player to destroy 2 monsters for their summons, and the baby dinosaurs trigger upon destruction. A perfect synergy. Through a combination of any True King and any Dinosaur, the player is able to swarm the field with strong monsters threatening existence. But what does this have to do with Calamities?

As you may have noticed, Calamities requires level 9s, which this deck can very produce at relative ease! True Kings are level 9s that are easy to summon, and Dinosaurs would normally end with a level 1 Tuner with two level 4 Dinosaurs. Which equaled to Trishula. This deck could easily tap into any of its destructive Xyz monsters, especially Calamities to survive the first turn.

However, this was merely the first step towards domination, and in its way to the peak stood the remains of many other arrogant decks like Demise True Draco. Please check this link out if you would like to learn more about this format.

True King Dinosaur Yang Zing (APR2017)

Along the standard version, birthed a newer, stronger variant with Yang Zing monsters. The inclusion of Denglong allowed the player to retrieve Nine Pillars, and manipulate Denglong's level to 9. Concluding on Calamities with a singular set Nine Pillars would force the opposing player face difficult scenarios. In fact, this version did not even have to rely on Calamities, as Denglong itself produced multiple negates. Nevertheless, multiple disruptions, a blanket negation and consistent recursion would allow this deck to dominate for a period of time.

This deck variant would go on to represent Worlds 2017, where you can watch the match here.

You can also read about the power of this deck in this article.

This deck would continue to compete along with True King Variants into Master Rule 4, until the introduction of SPYRAL, and I will only let this picture explain what happened afterwards.

True King Dinosaur Yang Zing would become obsolete along with various Dinosaur hits in the next ban list. As the only deck that could reliably summon Calamities, it was sealed away along with that deck for a very long time to come. Link Monsters with their new fangled Master Rule 4, and there was no way to compete with that.

Orcust Phantom Knights (JAN2019)

January 2019 had one of the best sets in its era debut: Dark Neostorm.

The January ban list oversaw the eventual slaughter of the legendary Gouki, Sky Striker, etc. The top 4 best performing decks had been neutered and it was time for new children to enter the playground. Enter Dark Neostorm, and it had brought along one new bully: Dingirsu, the Orcust of the Evening Star. Along with Link Vrains Pack 2's Rusty Bardiche, players were quick to realize the innate synergy between both Dark decks. The Orcust part of the deck would spawn bodies to produce Rusty Bardiche, and it would develop several interruptions by itself. Along the way, scientists were quick to discover that one could easily summon Calamities through the use of Rusty Bardiche and Dingirsu. Here is a quick rundown of the combo. Who doesn't know the Orcust combo?

Orcust combo = Rusty Bardiche + Calamities + Orcust stuff

A better visual example is provided here on Road of the King.

• Link any 2 monsters into Knightmare Mermaid. Knightmare Mermaid will summon Orcust Knightmare from your deck. Then Link Knightmare Mermaid and Orcust Knightmare into Galatea, the Orcust Automaton.
• Activate Orcust Knightmare in the GY to mill Orcust Harp Horror.
• Activate Harp Horror from the GY, to summon Orcust Cymbal Skeleton from your deck.
• Link Cymbal Skeleton and Galatea to summon Rusty Bardiche.
• Rusty Bardiche should be activated to set The Phantom Knights' Rank-Up-Magic Launch. (As long as you retrieve this Rank-Up spell, it does not matter what other cards you can generate with Bardiche.)
• Activate Cymbal Skeleton from your GY to revive Galatea.
• Xyz Summon Dingirsu using the singular Galatea to one of Bardiche's zones.
• Rusty Bardiche will trigger to destroy one card on the field. You should target your own Dingirsu, so it can empty out all of its Xyz materials.
• At bare minimum, your end board should have one Dingirsu with no Xyz materials, one set The Phantom Knights' Rank-Up-Magic Launch, and Rusty Bardiche. Pass the turn.

On your opponent's turn, flip The Phantom Knights' Rank-Up-Magic Launch and promote your Dingirsu into Calamities! With Orcust's almost infinite recursion and Calamities' blanket negation, this combo will definitely blow any other deck out of the water. On paper at least.

It turned out in practice that hand traps were too abundant in the metagame. Salamangreat had a consistent Abyss Dweller, Sky Striker wielded disruption every step of the way, and Mystic Mine Stall entered the party. Orcust already had a hard time properly resolving its combo, and the effects of Rusty Bardiche and Dingirsu were better suited to dealing with immediate issues on board. Calamities would quickly be cut in favor of even more consistency, and eventually ignored as the Phantom Knights engine were completely dropped. In fact, TCG replaced Calamities' role with Outer Entity Azathot, a far more terrifying creature far surpassing Calamities.

It is now interesting to think back on this format, as the beginning of TOSS. The importance of consistency would outweigh the value of blow-out cards, and these gimmicks could not be afforded in order to perform consistently well. Calamities would take a back seat, watching the only good deck that could summon it reach even higher levels of consistency and usage.

Generaider (JAN2020)

As a disclaimer, this was not, and is NOT a meta deck.

The next appearance of Calamities would come in the form of, surprise, an archetype full of Level 9 monsters.
Generaiders are an archetype completely centered around individual level 9s. This is an article detailing the relevance of Generaider, but it was never a competitive deck at its peak. However, it bore a combo worth talking about with the release of Eternity Code.

Generaider 1 Card Combo = Calamities + Harr

Please note that this combo is now impossible. Linkross is now banned.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utqfRQZCN-g

• Normal Summon Girsu, the Orcust Mekk-Knight. This is your singular and only playstarter.
• Use Girsu's on-summon effect to mill World Armor. Then use his effect to summon Tokens. Use the Token to Link Summon Linkuriboh.
• Using the only two monsters on your board, Link Summon Lib the World Key Blademaster.
• Use Lib's effect to directly set World Legacy Succession to your field.
• Activate World Legacy Succession to Revive World Armor to your field.
• Use World Armor's on-summon effect to retrieve World Legacy Monstrosity.
• Using Lib only, Link Summon Linkross and summon two tokens.
• Activate Linkuriboh in the Graveyard, tribute one token and summon it.
• Using Linkross, Linkuriboh and one token, contact fusion Trishula, the Dragon of Icy Imprisonment.
• Use Monstrosity on Trishula to Summon Harr and Mardel. You should use Mardel to retrieve Generaider Boss Stage.
• Overlay Mardel and Trishula into Calamities. Activate Boss Stage and your field is set.

This lengthy paragraph concludes you on Calamities, Harr and Boss Stage. Harr will protect the Calamities from being negated.

This combo suffers from the single reliance of needing to open Girsu. The metagame this combo debuted in was also chock full of handtrap negation like Infinite Impermanence and Effect Veiler. This combo would be shafted as a fun, gimmicky trick, but it was a big deal when it popped off.

Although this was merely an irrelevant combo in an irrelevant deck, KONAMI continued producing more potential support for Rank 9, especially in Dark Neostorm and Eternity Code. Rank 9s would be way easier to summon now, and Calamities would always be the go-to for these combos.

The Cargo of Mecha Phantom Beast Auroradon (JUL2020)

This combo debuted in the TCG as a completely different combo. But soon, Calamities was the result of this combo.

Mecha Phantom Beast Auroradon debuted along with Predaplant Anaconda Verte, and never had a chance to compete as Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon completely warped the OCG metagame. However, in the TCG, players realized the full potential of it. After several iterations, players finally mapped the path to Calamities itself.

Auroradon Combo (for Calamities)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XvdG2vScFw

This combo only requires you to summon Crystron Halqifibrax. Make sure at least one copy of O-Lion is still in the deck!

• Use Halqifibrax to summon Jet Synchron.
• Use both monsters to Link Summon Auroradon and summon 3 tokens.
• Tribute Auroradon and a token to summon O-Lion from the deck.
• Tune O-Lion and a token to summon Rose Maiden. O-Lion will summon another level 3 token.
• Summon Jet Synchron from the Graveyard, and Tune with Rose Maiden to summon Coral Dragon.
• Tune Coral Dragon and a token to summon any Level 9 Synchro monster. Ideally Crocosaur or Shenshen.
• Use Rose Maiden from the Graveyard to revive Coral Dragon.
• Tune Coral Dragon and the last token to summon any other Level 9 Synchro monster.
• Overlay these two level 9 Synchros to summon Calamities.

ANY deck that is able to produce a Tuner and a body can perform this combo for little to no expense. Because of this, any deck could potentially and suddenly develop a Calamities on the opponent. This combo would go on to spawn many variants revolving around this, especially Eldlich Synchro, Infernoble and Dinosaur. As a result, KONAMI TCG has currently banned Jet Synchron and O-Lion, but this combo is still doable with Coltwing.

This would be the metagame's second brush with Calamities, and players were not happy with the resurgence. Due to the inconsistencies with this combo, it was probably still bearable at that time.

The Vice of Virtual World (OCT2020)

The peak and pinnacle of Calamities, and the beginning of the end.
Virtual World is an archetype that revolves around the summoning of 6 and 9 starred Synchro/Xyz monsters with ease. And this unfortunately added Calamities in its arsenal of threats. In fact, Virtual World's greatest strength was to produce Calamities under multiple interruptions, and even develop an additional Calamities within the same turn. The whole strategy of Virtual World is to summon Calamities alone (with Chuche), and deny the opponent till their eventual end. Almost any two Virtual World cards can develop Calamities on itself! This hyper-consistency finally allowed the devastating drake to flourish and disperse its horrific aura across the whole metagame. This is a simple video to show how ridiculously easy it is to summon Calamities.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1ojLTF3pfY

Virtual World proceeded to dominate the metagame, and there are many articles on this website detailing as such. This naturally produced an outrage amongst the community against Calamities. Why should such a card exist? KONAMI would let this particular deck run rampant for a whole year, only stopping to limit Calamities as a stop-gap measure. Limiting an Extra Deck monster may sound ridiculous, but Virtual World prided itself on summoning consecutive Calamities. Now instead it could only summon one... which was still quite oppressive enough and did almost nothing to the game plan.

KONAMI OCG would finally ban Calamities after a whole year (and more). Virtual World as a deck will probably not suffer, as we have seen in the current TCG format. However, other decks that were relying on the Auroradon Combo will have to rely on an alternative boss monster, hopefully less oppressive enough.

After the end (OCT2021)

Here it is, the end of a tyrannical era. I have, and am celebrating the end of it. But what was the whole point of this giant flashback?

Calamities is easily one of the most broken card ever. In fact, it does not directly influence every format it exists in simply due to its existence. However, the introduction of Virtual World has resolved any inconsistency issues, allowing this beast's unfair powers to be unleashed way too easily. My point here is, cards and archetypes will always be printed in the future. They might unintentionally boost the consistency of another card as powerful as VFD. KONAMI here has shown a few trends to address such a problem: releasing a stronger archetype, or putting it on a backburner.
This should definitely not be the way to go!
However, it is their favorite method, and as mere players, we cannot do anything about it. We should recognize such a trend, and do our best despite KONAMI's passive approach to undesirables. As a side opinion, I really like KONAMI TCG's assertiveness in handling the current metagame.

It will be a while before Rank 9s will have anything to replace its forerunner, but the empty throne will be breath of relief for us all. Be free, my monster effects! Activate!