With Valentine’s Day come and gone, my mailbag is filled with rulings questions yet again! Let’s take a look at some questions sent in by readers just like you.
Kicking It LaDD Style
We begin with a pair of [Light and Darkness Dragon] questions.
"I just started using [Light and Darkness Dragon] in a Perfect Circle variation, and I was a little curious about a few cards played against the Dragon. For instance, [Bottomless Trap Hole]. When I summon the Dragon, if my opponent flips Bottomless, does my Dragon get removed from the game, or does his effect jump onto that and negate it?"
[Bottomless Trap Hole], [Torrential Tribute], and [Trap Hole] are all activated when a monster is successfully summoned. Monsters are successfully summoned when their summon is not negated by cards, like [Forced Back] and [Solemn Judgment]. Monsters won’t usually apply their effects until after they are successfully summoned, because they need to have a successful summon in order to be "on the field."
If your opponent tribute summons [Light and Darkness Dragon] and you activate [Forced Back], [Light and Darkness Dragon] will not respond for two reasons:
1. Its summon isn’t successful yet.
2. It never responds to counter trap cards.
When you activate a card like [Bottomless Trap Hole] or [Torrential Tribute] in response to the summon of [Light and Darkness Dragon], its effect will activate to negate the activated card.
"Hello, I have another question about [Light and Darkness Dragon]. This is the situation:
Player A attacks with the Dragon. Player B discards [D.D. Crow] on the declaration of the attack to remove a monster from Player A’s grave. Player A has no answers, so player B activates [Sakuretsu Armor] on the Dragon.†Is this play legal? Does the Dragon get destroyed and then the monster gets removed from play because the Dragon is no longer on the field?"
This question references our battle phase discussion from January. When a monster declares an attack, you aren’t limited to activating cards that specifically respond to the attack of a monster. Sometimes, as in this situation, it is better to start the chain with something else and use the "my opponent’s monster is attacking" card at a higher chain link.
When Player B activates [D.D. Crow]’s effect and selects a target (chain link 1), [Light and Darkness Dragon] immediately responds (chain link 2). Player B can chain [Sakuretsu Armor] because the timing for activating the "my opponent’s monster is attacking" type of card is still correct. [Sakuretsu Armor] becomes chain link 3.
D.D. Crow à Light and Darkness Dragon à Sakuretsu Armor
[Sakuretsu Armor] resolves first, destroying the attacking [Light and Darkness Dragon]. [Light and Darkness Dragon] is destroyed and sent to the graveyard, activating its third effect. The chain is still resolving though, so this effect is not yet applied. [D.D. Crow] resolves last, removing the monster targeted in the graveyard from play. Now that the chain has finished resolving, [Light and Darkness Dragon]’s third effect starts a new chain.
Samurai Spirits
Our next pair of questions feature [Spirit of the Six Samurai].
"I have [The Six Samurai - Zanji] equipped with [Spirit of the Six Samurai], and declare an attack on [Elemental Hero Stratos]. My opponent responds with [Sakuretsu Armor]. Would the attack stop and Spirit be destroyed, or would the attack continue, Spirit still be destroyed, and Zanji and Stratos take each other out?"
When [Sakuretsu Armor] tries to destroy [The Six Samurai - Zanji], [Spirit of the Six Samurai] is destroyed instead. This does not result in a replay because there hasn’t been a change to the monsters on the opponent’s side of the field. [Sakuretsu Armor] may destroy the attacking monster, but it doesn’t negate the attack. Zanji’s attack continues to the damage step. With equal ATK, both Zanji and [Elemental Hero Stratos] are destroyed.
"An installment of ‘The Binder’ on [Spirit of the Six Samurai] gave me a couple of questions. Let's say [The Six Samurai - Irou] and [Spirit of the Six Samurai] are on the field, and Spirit is ‘Unionized’ (My wording for when a Union monster equips to another monster): you cannot special summon [Great Shogun Shien]? Also, I noticed the wording on the ‘Union’ effects on [Spirit of the Six Samurai]. Spirit states that when the monster it’s ‘Unionized’ to would be ‘destroyed’ (meaning whatever can destroy a monster), destroy [Spirit of the Six Samurai] instead. Did they change the ruling on Union monsters when they are equipped to certain monsters?"
Union monsters come in two varieties: Regular and Extra Strength. Regular Union monsters only protect the equipped monster when the equipped monster would be destroyed in battle. Extra Strength Union monsters protect the equipped monster anytime the equipped monster would be destroyed. This group currently consists of only [Heavy Mech Support Platform], [Armored Cybern], and [Spirit of the Six Samurai]. Hopefully this group will be expanded in the future.
While [Spirit of the Six Samurai] is equipped to a monster, it is not treated as a "Six Samurai monster" because it is being treated as an equip spell card instead. It will not help you special summon [Great Shogun Shien] while in this state. If it was "Unionized" during a previous turn, you could always use its "un-equip" effect and special summon it onto the field as a monster. By doing so, you would have two "Six Samurai monsters" and could special summon [Great Shogun Shien].
Chimera-Imprisoning Mirror?
Our final question examines the interaction between [Chimeratech Overdragon] and the [Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror].
"If you have a face-up [Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror] and you special summon [Chimeratech Overdragon], would its ATK be 0? Would it blow up the field or not?" [Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror] negates the effect of Dark monsters when the Dark monster’s effect activates on the field or in the graveyard. Continuous effects never "activate," so [Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror] cannot negate them. [Chimeratech Overdragon] has a combination of both.
When [Chimeratech Overdragon] is summoned, its continuous effect that determines its ATK and DEF is applied without starting a chain, because a monster’s continuous effect never "activates." [Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror] will not erase [Chimeratech Overdragon]’s ATK or DEF. The effect that allows [Chimeratech Overdragon] to attack multiple monsters during the battle phase is also a continuous effect and will not be negated.
[Chimeratech Overdragon]’s "eliminate my comrades" effect is a trigger effect that starts a chain when it is successfully Fusion summoned. Since this effect starts a chain on the field, [Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror] will negate it. If you are using the [Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror] with [Chimeratech Overdragon], you come out alright.
Until next time, send all comments and questions to Curtis@Metagame.com.