While I was trying to come up with a topic for this week, I thought back to the recent Shonen Jump Championship in Orlando. I actually glean a lot of ideas from events that I attend, and I remembered two things from that weekend. One, a lot of people came up and told me how much they liked the articles I wrote on chaining last year. Two, several players there had difficulties understanding how continuous traps work on the chain. I’m all about bringing the people more of what they like, and by explaining how continuous traps work on the chain, I can keep the players from becoming embarrassed and the judges from becoming frustrated—I’m making all kinds of people happy!

Anyway, let’s get down to it. Continuous traps are recognizable by the “continuous” symbol in the right-hand corner, and are basically trap cards that must stay on the field once activated in order to get their effects. Some of them have effects that are automatic and apply to the game the instant they are flipped, lasting as long as they are face up on the field. Others have effects that can be activated by the player when the timing is correct. The kind of effect that the trap has will determine how it fits into the chain, so you’ll need to be able to recognize what kind of trap card you’re dealing with to make the correct gameplay decisions.

Here’s what the UDE advanced gameplay FAQ has to say on the subject of continuous traps and their effects:

Some Continuous Trap Cards have effects that can be re-used, such as “Ultimate Offering,” “Skull Lair,” etc. To “activate” these Trap Cards is to flip the Trap Card from face down to face up, just like with any other Trap Card. Once the card is activated, you may “use” the card, or “use its effect,” or “activate the effect.” These are all synonymous terms but are different from activation of the card (which still means flipping the Trap Card face up). The “use” of a Continuous Trap Card's effect (which has a Spell Speed of 2) can be chained and can be chained to. You CANNOT activate (flip face up) a Continuous Trap Card and also use its effect in the same chain. In order to use the effect of a Continuous Trap Card, it must have been activated (flipped face up) before the current chain was initiated.

Even though the FAQ does say “Some Continuous Trap Cards,” there are players who get confused when their opponent activates a continuous trap like Royal Decree or Skill Drain. “You can’t chain that card, it has to be face up already!” they insist. Other players don’t realize that the activation of these kinds of traps and the activation of the effects themselves are two separate actions, and will flip up a continuous trap like Ultimate Offering and attempt to use its effect as one link in the chain. This they cannot do.

Let’s start by explaining the difference between these two types of continuous traps. The card text is your best indicator for what kind of trap you’re dealing with. When the effect of a continuous trap is applied at resolution, the trap card’s text will just have an effect without any associated costs. Also, older cards might say, “While this card is face up on the field…” A continuous trap with an effect the player controls will say something like, “Discard 1 card to…” or, “Pay 500 Life Points to…”

A continuous trap with an automatic, continuous effect, such as Royal Decree, or Skill Drain, creates game states that are active as soon as the card resolves: it lasts as long as the card remains face up. When these cards are activated (flipped face up) their effects are applied as soon as the card is resolved. These traps are spell speed 2, and fit into the chain accordingly—you can activate one (and subsequently the effects of the cards will activate) in response to a spell speed 1 or another spell speed 2 effect. My personal favorite example of this was chaining Skill Drain to the activation of Cyber-Stein’s effect—and yes, I did occasionally have opponents who insisted I couldn’t do that. You all know that you can activate Royal Decree to save your monsters from your opponent’s Mirror Force, right? It’s the same thing.

Oh, and while we’re on the subject, I’ll just remind you not to even try activating Royal Decree in response to Solemn Judgment. I know that players get an itchy trigger finger sometimes when they’re packing a Decree, but remember your spell speeds! What speed are counter traps? They’re spell speed 3, aren’t they? Very good! Carry on.

Let’s talk about continuous traps with an effect that the player controls. These cards, when face up, give the player the ability to perform certain actions—those effects don’t activate the moment the card itself is activated, and they aren’t constantly “on.” Activating the card and activating its effect are two separate things. In order to use the effects on the chain (the effects of the trap card are spell speed 2), the trap must have been activated previously—it has to already be face up on the field to use the effect in a chain. For instance, if you have Skull Lair set on the field and your opponent activates Heavy Storm, you can’t flip up Skull Lair and try to pick off all your opponent’s monsters before the Storm resolves.

Most players don’t use many continuous traps other than Call of the Haunted or Royal Decree—both of which have effects that activate when the card is activated—so it’s easy to forget how traps work on the chain if they have effects that you must activate. However, if you decide to incorporate something like Ultimate Offering or Skull Lair in your deck, misplaying it can really screw up your strategy (your opponent now knows what your set card is) or throw off your game. Even if there aren’t many continuous traps played in your area now, they made a showing in the decklists at the last Shonen Jump, so more players may be tempted to give them a try. Also, don’t forget that even if you yourself aren’t planning to use them, you will want to make sure your opponent is playing them correctly. Don’t write off this article because you won’t be using continuous traps yourself—if you let your opponent make an illegal play that costs you the game because neither of you knew how to use the traps correctly, you’re going to wish you paid attention to the rulings that would have prevented it.