* Spell: Inflict 1500 damage to your opponent.
* Trap: Select and destroy 1 card your opponent controls.
* Effect Monster: Select 1 monster in your Graveyard and Special Summon it."

Van’Dalgyon the Dark Dragon Lord’s effect is written as an optional trigger effect, but Van’Dalgyon is actually a special case that follows its own set of rules. It doesn’t matter when its effect is satisfied during the resolution of the chain. If your counter trap is chain link 2, or 3, or 5 . . . it doesn’t really matter. Van’Dalgyon’s effect can still be activated. You just can’t activate its effect in the damage step, because the official card rulings state that this is not allowed.

Van’Dalgyon is a two-parter. Its effect starts a new chain after the chain with your counter trap card finishes resolving. When this effect resolves, Van’Dalgyon is special summoned to the field. It then activates whichever of its three effects it should activate, based on what your counter trap negated. This starts another chain.

When Van’Dalgyon the Dark Dragon Lord’s special summon effect activates, you can use cards that negate a monster card’s effect or Royal Oppression to negate the special summon. After the special summon effect resolves, Van’Dalgyon is successfully special summoned and the spell/trap/monster effect activates. At this time you can respond using cards that respond to the summon of a monster or an effect that reacts to whatever Van’Dalgyon is planning on doing. Each of the three effects does something different and should be planned for accordingly.

Van’Dalgyon’s spell card effect inflicts damage to your life points, so you can respond to it with Energy-Absorbing Monolith, Rainbow Life, or other, similar cards. Van’Dalgyon’s two remaining effects actually select targets when they activate, and that changes how you can react to them. These effects can be disrupted with a bit of misdirection, although it may not always be practical to do so. You can use D.D. Crow to take out the monster card your opponent intended to special summon from his or her graveyard, but you can’t do this as reliably when you’re dealing with a card on your side of the field.

Van’Dalgyon isn’t going to care if it targets a set spell or trap card and you decide to activate it in response, because it’ll destroy it anyway. Monster cards at least have some ability to get out of the way, like Strike Ninja, which can save them from destruction. Most monsters are toast, though, because it isn’t usually feasible to save them from something like this. Whatever counter you use, it must be appropriate for the effect being activated.

Example:
Jake has My Body as a Shield, Hero’s Rule 2, Fake Trap, and Rainbow Life set in his spell and trap card zone. Kiko has Van’Dalgyon the Dark Dragon Lord in her hand. If she uses a counter trap card to negate Jake’s spell card effect, Jake would be allowed to activate Rainbow Life in response, but he wouldn’t be able to use his other cards because they don’t interact with damage-inflicting effects. If Kiko negates one of Jake’s monster card effects, Jake could use Hero’s Rule 2 because Kiko targets a monster card in the graveyard. If Kiko negates one of Jake’s trap card effects, Jake could activate My Body as a Shield when Kiko targets a monster card or Fake Trap when Kiko targets a trap card.

When two or three of Van’Dalgyon’s effects activate, they are all placed onto the same chain, with their controller determining the order.

Example:
Jake normal summons Marauding Captain and activates his effect. He then chains Pineapple Blast and Legacy of Yata-Garasu, trying to push out to chain link 4 for his Accumulated Fortune. His opponent Kiko activates Vanity’s Call in response, preventing Jake from activating Accumulated Fortune and also negating every effect on the chain. When the chain resolves, Kiko’s Vanity’s Call negates two trap card effects and a monster card effect. The Van’Dalgyon in her hand can be now be special summoned, and after it is special summoned Kiko will activate the "trap card" and "effect monster" effect of Van’Dalgyon, placing both onto the chain in the order of her choosing.


Effect or Bust

Nothing caused more trouble than Solemn Judgment. It has the ability to negate the activation of spell and trap cards, which is totally fine, but negating the summon of a monster . . . that doesn’t work quite so well. Negating the summon of a monster with Solemn Judgment does not negate a monster card effect, so you can’t special summon Van’Dalgyon in this case. Solemn Judgment doesn’t have the ability to negate the effects of monster cards, a fact that has limited its ability ever since its release several years ago, and monster cards are never "activated." I don’t say "I activate Cyber Dragon." I say "I summon Cyber Dragon."

Even if the monster had an effect that would have activated when it was summoned, negating the summon doesn’t mean you’ve negated the monster’s effect as well. When my opponent tribute summons Raiza the Storm Monarch and I negate the tribute summon with Solemn Judgment, Raiza’s effect doesn’t even activate. I have negated his summon, but not his effect. If you want to negate a monster card’s effect, you will want to utilize cards like Pulling the Rug or Divine Wrath.

The counter trap cards Negate Attack and Drastic Drop Off never negate the effect of a card. They may have a purpose in decks that use counter trap cards, but that purpose won’t involve Van’Dalgyon.