Special Circumstances

Special Circumstances (Tatenokai or "Secret Service" シークレット サービス, also represented by ＳＳ) is a archetype of TIME Warrior-Type monsters taking inspiration effect-wise from the "" and a thematic inspiration from the concepts of the G-Man and the Men In Black, as well as the eponymous Adjustment Team from the Philip K. Dick short story "Adjustment Team". They all resemble men from the 1940s and 1950s in fedoras, wielding technology that is far too advanced to be from their time. The regular cards are various teams with callsigns using the WWII-era Phonetic Alphabet, while their Agents, the monsters to be Special Summoned, all take their names from placeholder names.

Gameplay
The normal rank-and-file "Special Circumstances" Team monsters are all Level 4 TIME Warrior-Type monsters that have effects involving being Special Summoned, Special Summoning other monsters, or generating hand advantage. They do not use much in terms of Spell/Trap support, but can be chained in long effects, though each copy can only use its effect once per turn. The Agents, on the other hand, concentrate on removing the opponent's advantages systematically. Each Agent, save for the two Pendulums and the Tuner, has a different Summoning method. All of the Special Circumstances state that their controller can only Special Summon TIME monsters, meaning they don't have much in terms of flexibility, but can be reinforced by a variety of staple Spells and Traps.