Draw Lock

Draw Lock (ドローロック ; dorou roku) is a keyword introduced in BS64, currently possessed exclusively by The GreatJudge Gefan-Gnis. The effect is worded as follows:
* [LV1][LV2] (When Advents)You can reveal three cards from each player's decktop. Both players return those cards to their decktop, face-up. While there are face-up cards in deck, when drawing via an effect, only one card can be drawn. (Effects that target decktop start below the face-up cards, and cards that return to the decktop return to the deck below the face-up cards.)
As the name implies, the effect locks drawing effects and restricting normal decktop draws in a way that the content is known to the opponent. While not the first effect that flips card face-up in deck, it's the first effect that makes the face-up cards in deck a separate entity that can only be removed by regular draws in Draw Step (Cards that are returned to the decktop are returned to below the face-up cards, and any drawing effects or decktop-targeting effect don't affect the face-up cards). Unlike some other similar control effects, Draw Lock also doesn't require Gefan-Gnis to remain on the Field, but purely depends on whether there are face-up cards remaining in deck, making it much harder to deal with. 
Apart from knowing the content of the next few draws the opponent is getting, the greatest use of Draw Lock is to block large amount of draws via a single effect, or even multiple effects. Despite being a Blue card itself, Draw Lock hits Blue the hardest, as most of Blue's drawing effects involves discarding after drawing. For example, while Draw Lock lasts, the effect of Stream Draw will become "drawing one card from the deck, then discard two cards from the Hand", which chips away the user's resources instead. Another big victim of Draw Lock is Green, with half of its draw needing the player to discard the entire Hand and draw from deck until they have the same amount of cards in the opposing Hand. While Draw Lock lasts, however, the user of such effects can only draw one card after discarding their entire Hand, making the effects almost pointless. Another thing to note is, while Draw Locks last, since only one card can be drawn, "by A do B" effects that includes drawing two cards or more as its part A or part B can't be activated at all. (e.g. The ArmoredWarOgre Rashou's (When Summoned) effect) 
As a balancing factor, Draw Lock also applies to the player who activated the effect. It also doesn't affect any "reveal-and-add" effect like the typical godseeker cycle of grandwalker nexus decks, or any similar searching effects. As a remedy or countering measure, effects that increase the number of cards a player draws during Draw Step (e.g. The LV1-2 effect of The Burning Canyon) will be very effective against Draw Lock, as this adds to the amount of cards one draws regularly during Draw Step, and it can hence remove two or more face-up cards from the deck. 
Another thing worthwhile to note is that while only face-up cards are left in deck, since effects that target decktop can't target the cards, Blue's traditional effect of milling, which involves discarding cards from opposing decktop stops functioning. Despite being a rather desperate attempt, it ensures the player who used Draw Lock that its deck won't be milled to zero by opposing milling effects. 
Interestingly, in the same set where Gefan-Gnis debuted, each of the three new Contract decks introduced possesses at least one way of drawing two or more cards at once (e.g. The Cyclo Canyon/The EmeraldFlowerLance Bloom-Stem/The AstralZeroSword Foranswer). And in both the anime CM and card lore, The Zero Partner, Wiz is fighting against Gefan-Gnis holding Foranswer, which has the ability of drawing 4 cards and discarding 2 cards from Hand via its . In the lore, Gefan-Ganis cancelled out the effect of Brave Engage, and it can be done exactly in game via Draw Lock. 
==See Also==
Category:Keywords