#000 Card Glitch Explanation

000 Card Glitch
Explanation by GFC_
Current as of 9/20/16 @ 1:13AM EST
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Clip of it happening: https://clips.twitch.tv/mergy/HelpfulGrasshopperDeExcite
Full run up to that point: https://www.twitch.tv/mergy/v/90238916

Mergy posted a video showing him winning a blank card with the number 000. When he checked his card chest, no new card was there. However, in his deck, his starting equip (Dragon Treasure) was replaced with B. Dragon Jungle King. What the fuck?


The 000 card glitch is a glitch where instead of winning a normal card against a duelist, you win a card that has no name and the number 000. Which card goes into your deck then?

This is how it works. When this glitch happens, the game looks at whatever the last card in your deck was before you started the duel. So, for example, if you entered the duel while your deck was sorted by number, the last card in your deck will be whatever your highest numbered is. If you sorted it by type, it would be whatever your equip is (since equips appear last in your deck when sorted by type). So, the first card the game looks at is the final card in your deck, depending on how you sorted it before entering the duel.

Next, the game takes that card and overwrites it with another card. But how does it determine what to overwrite it with? We found out it overwrites it by adding 256 to the card number. So, Mergy's starting card was Dragon Treasure (determined above), which is card number 315. When you add 256 to that, you get 571, which is B. Dragon Jungle King!

So, if you had Stone Ghost at the bottom of your deck, and you won card 000, you would get Meteor B. Dragon!

But what happens if Meteor B. Dragon is the last card in your deck? MBD is card number 713, and adding 256 to that gives 969. Forbidden Memories only has 722 cards, so what would you get?

Believe it or not, you'd get card 969! It would be a card with some random name; some random string that is pulled from elsewhere in the game. A lot of times, the card's name will be "Dragon". We've also seen locations be the card name "Vast Shrine". The attack and defense is also completely random. Sometimes, there will be NO attack and defense listed! In this case, you will only see an attack and defense number when you draw it in a duel. So what is these glitch card's type? This can also be any normal type, and more! Guardian stars can be the type, the starchip symbol can be the type, and even the (X) symbol on the Playstation controller can be the type! As for guardian stars, it can similarly be either real guardian stars, or random symbols.

Another interesting thing to note: you can make these glitch cards the last card in your deck, and continue to add 256 to them and make new random glitched cards. Also, you can have all 40 cards turned into glitched cards. Also, interesting note: if you have 3 of one card already in your deck, you can use this glitch to get up to 40 of the same card into your deck!

Now, how do you do this glitch? Well...we don't know. We have some theories but none of them have worked. Froggy is looking into the code while I (GFC_) am doing frame-by-frame testing. It seems as if this glitch is impossible to reproduce. But then...how did it happen the first time?

This is where controversy and drama comes into play. This glitch happened because one of four ways:

1.) There is an error in the code (software) and we can exploit and manipulate this glitch. This would break FM, and would be awesome.

2.) There was some type of hardware anomaly (scratched disc, for example) which caused the glitch, and it can happen to anyone but Mergy just got incredibly lucky.

3.) Mergy's modified console caused the glitch to happen. Mergy's PS2 has a modchip in it that allows him to play games from any region. This is to allow him to play the NTSC version, which is significantly faster than his native version (PAL).

4.) Mergy is using a modified disc (burned FM disc) which has the droprates on the duelists edited. Basically, Mergy could have edited the droprates of certain cards on any duelist in order to get a better chance to win good cards. However, he made a mistake on Rex, and made it so the drop chance of all the cards he drops does not equal what it should (2048). If he made that mistake (say, Rex only had a 2000 overall drop chance instead of the 2048 it should be), then that would mean there is a 48/2048 chance for him to win the 000 card.


Obviously, the drama lies with possibilities three and four. If option three is true, Mergy will be forbidden to use his modified console in runs ever again, and there is a real possibility that any run he has done on that console will be invalidated. If option four is true, Mergy will be expelled from the community.

Currently, there is no way to prove if Mergy cheated (intentionally or otherwise) or not. We are currently trying to prove option 1 or option 2 to be true; if we do that, we can clear Mergy. However, if we determine option 1 and 2 are not true, we will be forced to assume option 3 is true.

I trust Mergy. I know he did not intentionally cheat. However, if his console caused this unintentionally, it is only fair and reasonable to forbid that console from being used. As for invalidating his times, we will vote as a community what to do with his runs.

This is all we know for now! Any questions, let any of the people listed at the bottom of this Pastebin know.

Thanks for joining us on this journey,

GFC_

CONTACTS:
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twitch.tv/gfc_
twitch.tv/mergy
twitch.tv/froggy25