Today, we continue our look at Light and Darkness Dragon with a further evaluation of its second effect.

Negation Fails

The second effect of Light and Darkness Dragon is quite capable of negating just about any spell, trap, or monster card effect, but in some cases it will be completely powerless. The main purpose of this effect is to negate the activation of these cards, and sometimes that just isn’t possible.

In the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG, there is a small collection of continuous spell and trap cards with “ignition-like” effects that can be reused in a manner similar to that of monster cards with ignition effects. The activation of these effects is treated differently than the activation of the card itself. Cards with the intention of negating the activation of a spell or trap card won’t normally have any way to negate the activation of these ignition-like effects, because the spell or trap card itself has already “activated.” Light and Darkness Dragon can only negate the activation of these cards when they are first flipped face up or placed face up on the field. Using the ignition-like effect of these cards is typically referred to as “activating the effect of” the continuous spell or trap card. This is not the same as “activating” the continuous spell or trap card, and as a result, Light and Darkness Dragon’s second effect will not activate.

Example: 1 out of 2
Chazz has Light and Darkness Dragon face up on his side of the field. His opponent Brandon has Ultimate Offering face up and Skull Lair face down in his spell and trap card zone. Brandon also has twelve monster cards in his graveyard and a face-up Magical Reflect Slime that is being treated as a normal monster.

Brandon has two different trap cards under his control, but which of the two will avoid negation at the hands of Light and Darkness Dragon? Brandon could activate his face-down Skull Lair with the intention of using its effect to destroy Light and Darkness Dragon, but Light and Darkness Dragon would respond to this activation with its own effect, leading Skull Lair to an early demise. Ultimate Offering is already face up on the field, so if Brandon decides to use it to normal summon his Magical Reflect Slime he will not be “activating” Ultimate Offering. He will instead “activate the effect of” Ultimate Offering, and Light and Darkness Dragon will have nothing to say about it.

Continuous spell and trap cards with trigger effects fall into the same category. A card like Stumbling can be negated when it is first activated, but not when its trigger effect activates as the result of a monster being summoned. Field spell cards and equip cards with trigger effects are treated in the same way. Monsters, on the other hand, aren’t quite so well protected. When the trigger effect of a monster card activates and begins a chain, Light and Darkness Dragon will be there to cause it a world of grief.

When it comes to monster effects, Light and Darkness Dragon’s effectiveness is decided by the effect monster in question and what type of effect it has. Any monster card effect that uses the chain will fall right into Light and Darkness Dragon’s territory, but effects that do not use the chain (like continuous effects) get off scot-free. The effect monster’s effect has to actually “activate” in order to be negated, so don’t expect Light and Darkness Dragon to be much good against monsters like Jinzo. That said, you can still count on Light and Darkness Dragon to be effective against monsters with a combination of effect types, like Spirit Reaper or Marshmallon.

Gotcha! Sorta . . .

While Light and Darkness Dragon does negate the activation of the effect of effect monsters, it doesn’t actually do anything to the monster itself. In some cases this will prove to be very, very annoying. After negating the effect of that tribute-summoned Raiza the Storm Monarch, do you really want him hanging around?

Whenever a monster activates its effect while it is face up on the field, it will remain on the field unharmed when its effect is negated by Light and Darkness Dragon. When this happens to a monster with a trigger effect or a monster that can only activate its effect once per turn, the negation will interrupt whatever the monster has planned and then leave it to ponder what to do for the remainder of the turn. For example, if Blowback Dragon activates its effect and tries to destroy Light and Darkness Dragon, Light and Darkness Dragon will negate the activation of the Blowback Dragon’s effect but it will not destroy it. Blowback Dragon already used its effect once this turn so it doesn’t get to try again, but during its next turn, it will have another chance.

The monsters that really cause trouble are the ones that can activate multiple times during the same turn or the same game phase. Since the monster in question is not destroyed by Light and Darkness Dragon, it can repeatedly activate its effect until the poor Light and Darkness Dragon no longer has enough ATK and DEF, and thus cannot negate the effect. It just so happens that many of us already have a culprit in our decks quite capable of doing this: Treeborn Frog. When the Frog activates its effect, Light and Darkness Dragon has no choice but to try and negate it. It will succeed if it has enough ATK and DEF, but since we are still in the standby phase, the Frog can just activate its effect again. Light and Darkness Dragon will keep on trying to negate the activation of Treeborn Frog’s effect until it no longer has enough ATK and DEF. When this happens, the Frog is finally special summoned and Light and Darkness Dragon is but a fraction of its former glory.

Spirit monsters will do the same thing during the end phase. Every time Light and Darkness Dragon negates their “return to the owner’s hand” effect, they will just try again . . .  and again . . . and again . . . until they finally succeed. While this does put Light and Darkness Dragon at a manageable ATK and DEF, it doesn’t save you from the results of taking advantage of the Light and Darkness Dragon’s weakened state and destroying it.

Next week, we will look into Skill Drain and explore Light and Darkness Dragon’s special summoning effect in more detail. Until then, send all comments and questions to Curtis@Metagame.com.