Blast with Chain is one of those cards you don’t see in every player’s deck, but it has a loyal following of players who understand how it can unexpectedly alter the direction of a duel. It also has a tendency to give judges small migraine headaches. It is, after all, a trap card that becomes an equip card. What is that supposed to mean? Then it gets destroyed and another effect activates, but this effect has specific demands that need to be met.

For reference, here’s the text for Blast with Chain that appears on the most recent printings from Dark Beginnings 2: “After activation, this card is treated as an Equip Card that increases the ATK of the equipped monster by 500 points. Equip a monster on your side of the field with this card. If this card is destroyed by the effect of another card while it is an Equip Card, select 1 card on the field and destroy it.”

It is important to note that the term “Equip Spell Card” is not present in the text. During the previous year, an addition was added to the Advanced FAQ at yugioh-card.com that explained the mechanics of equip cards in the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG. Part of the explanation covered the mechanics of trap cards, like Blast with Chain and Metalmorph, that have effects allowing them to become equip cards and equip to monsters.

The explanation makes one important point that distinguishes these special trap cards from other equip cards. While a trap card like Blast with Chain is equipped to a monster, it remains a trap card. It’s both an equip card and a trap card at the same time, without ever becoming a spell card. Note that this is the opposite of monster cards that become equip cards, because the monster card will actually become an equip spell card.

After equipping to a monster, Blast with Chain can interact with and be affected by card effects that involve equip cards. If you equip Maha Vailo with Blast with Chain, it will gain an additional 500 ATK from its own effect while it’s equipped. It doesn’t matter if the equip card is a spell or a trap. Maha Vailo only cares that it’s been equipped with an equip card. Similarly, an Armed Samurai – Ben Kei that’s equipped with Blast with Chain will gain an additional attack, because it also doesn’t care if the equip card is a spell or a trap. Watch out for Really Eternal Rest, though, since it will destroy a monster that’s equipped with Blast with Chain.

Blast with Chain can be affected by effects that interact with trap cards, even after it’s been equipped to your monster. If your opponent has Blast with Chain equipped to his or her monster, you can use Royal Decree to negate it, but not Imperial Order, because Blast with Chain remains a trap card. Likewise, summoning Jinzo will also negate Blast with Chain.

Blast with Chain can only be equipped to a monster you control. It’s not possible to choose to equip it to a monster your opponent controls. During the course of your duel, the monster that you equipped with Blast with Chain may be moved to your opponent’s side of the field. In this case, Blast with Chain will remain equipped and continue to apply the 500 ATK increase without penalty.

The 500 ATK boost is good, but for some players, the main attraction to Blast with Chain is what happens when it’s destroyed.

It is important to remember that Blast with Chain’s secondary effect has two restrictions that control its use. First, Blast with Chain must be destroyed while it’s equipped to your monster. If you choose to set Blast with Chain and your opponent destroys it while it’s set, it won’t allow you to destroy a card.

If you control a monster and your Blast with Chain was set during a previous turn, you could choose to activate it so that it equips to your monster. This will allow it to be destroyed while it’s equipped to your monster, giving you access to its secondary effect.

Second, Blast with Chain must be destroyed by a card effect and not by any other means. In my previous article on Strike Ninja, I mentioned that Blast with Chain would not allow you to destroy one of your opponent’s cards if it’s destroyed because of Strike Ninja leaving the field. While it was true that the results of Strike Ninja’s effect led Blast with Chain to a situation in which it would be destroyed, the effect itself was not directly responsible. Blast with Chain was destroyed because it was no longer equipped to a monster. This means that its destruction was the result of a game mechanic and not of a card’s effect.

The same is true any time the equipped monster leaves the field for any reason. If you have Sangan equipped with Blast with Chain and Sangan is destroyed in battle, Blast with Chain will be destroyed when Sangan leaves the field, but its secondary effect will not activate. The same result holds true if your equipped monster is returned to your hand by a card like Compulsory Evacuation Device, or removed from play by a card like D. D. Warrior Lady.

It’s possible for a card effect to destroy Blast with Chain and prevent its effect from activating. Cards like Seven Tools of the Bandit and Solemn Judgment that can negate Blast with Chain’s activation will also destroy it, but its effect will not activate, because it had its activation negated.

Don’t forget that this effect is mandatory. If Blast with Chain is destroyed by a card effect, you will be required to destroy one card on the field, even if it means destroying one of your own cards.

Blasting Wildheart?

With the release of Elemental Energy, the new “trap immune” monster Elemental Hero Wildheart began seeing play. Similar to the interaction between “spell immune” monsters and spell cards, Elemental Hero Wildheart has its own special interactions with trap cards that make it unique among monsters.

Blast with Chain finds itself lost when it’s confronted with Elemental Hero Wildheart. Wildheart doesn’t prevent you from equipping it with Blast with Chain, but it doesn’t gain any ATK points, because it is unaffected by the effect of trap cards. Even without the ATK increase, Blast with Chain will still equip to Wildheart, and it can still use its secondary effect when it’s destroyed by a card effect.