Today we look at more effects that don’t work well with the Phantom of Chaos and discuss how it loses the powers it has copied in the end phase. We will also examine the Phantom’s interactions with Skill Drain, which are a bit quirky.
"When I’m Summoned" Powers
If your monster has an effect that activates when it is summoned, it won’t work when copied by Phantom of Chaos. These effects are usually trigger effects, and activate at the time the monster is successfully summoned. If you summon Phantom of Chaos and use its effect to copy the powers of a monster like Breaker the Magical Warrior, Breaker’s effect that activates when he is summoned will not be applied. Phantom of Chaos did not have this effect at the time it was summoned, and when it copies the effects the timing has already passed.
If you normal summon Phantom of Chaos and activate its effect, because you still had priority, the only effect the Phantom activates is the "copy your powers" effect. Effects that are activated in response to the summon of a monster can be activated at this time, so your opponent can activate a card like Torrential Tribute. After this chain resolves and if the Phantom is still on the field, it has the copied monster’s effects and can use them when the appropriate timing occurs, but the timing for responding to the summon of a monster has passed.
Effects that activate when a different monster is summoned are usually fine, so long as the other monster and the Phantom weren’t summoned at the same time. If you copied the powers of Mysterious Puppeteer, you will only gain life points when a monster is summoned after the Phantom has gained the effect. I can’t really recommend copying the Puppeteer’s powers, though.
Assumed Identity
When Phantom of Chaos copies the powers of a monster in your graveyard and in doing so takes the monster’s name, cards that work when a monster with that name is on the field can be used. If Phantom of Chaos copies the name of a Gladiator Beast monster, you can activate Gladiator Beast War Chariot. If Phantom of Chaos copies the name of Destiny Hero – Dogma or Destiny Hero – Plasma, it can be used to Fusion summon Destiny End Dragoon. If you equip the Phantom of Chaos with an equip card that can only be equipped onto the monster whose name the Phantom copied, the equip card will be destroyed during the end phase when Phantom of Chaos reverts back to its usual self.
Phantom of the End Phase
The powers copied by Phantom of Chaos don’t immediately disappear when you enter your end phase. If the powers you copied have an effect that can be activated in the end phase, you have the option of performing them before reducing the Phantom back into smog. If the copied powers have a trigger effect that must be performed in the end phase, like the Lightsworn monsters have, you can actually choose to first remove the copied powers from the Phantom. Doing so removes the copied trigger effect and prevents it from activating. You have valid reasons for using the trigger effect or ignoring it, depending on the situation and what outcome you prefer.
If you copy the powers of Judgment Dragon, during your end phase you can either send the top four cards of your deck to the graveyard or you can have the Phantom lose the copied powers and revert back to being its normal self. A Lightsworn deck may want that mill to occur, so it could be in your best interests to allow it to happen. If the deck is getting small, or if you have some reason against losing cards from your deck, you can choose to have the Phantom revert to its normal state. Doing so will make the copied trigger effect disappear, and it won’t activate.
Spirit monsters are more interesting because their trigger effect is only applied if they were normal summoned or flipped face up during the turn. When Phantom of Chaos copies the powers of a Spirit monster, during the end phase you have two options: lose the copied powers or possibly allow Phantom of Chaos to return to your hand. Like the Spirit monsters, this will only matter if you copy the powers of a Spirit monster during the same turn your Phantom of Chaos was normal summoned or flipped face up.
If Phantom of Chaos copies the powers of a monster that can hold spell counters, like Tempest Magician, it will lose the spell counters when the copied powers disappear. Spell counters are only allowed to be placed upon monsters that have an effect which allows them to collect spell counters, so when this effect disappears the spell counters must also disappear. Counters that can be placed upon any monster, like venom counters, will remain.
Drained Phantom
Skill Drain affects Phantom of Chaos when it attempts to copy the powers of a monster and after it has copied a monster’s powers, but the results of each are different. It all depends on when Skill Drain is activated.
If Phantom of Chaos activates its effect to copy the powers of a monster in your graveyard and Skill Drain is chained, Phantom of Chaos’ "copy your powers" effect will be negated when it resolves, so it won’t copy the monster’s powers. Its name will still be Phantom of Chaos and it won’t copy the monster’s ATK or effects. The same result occurs if Skill Drain is already face up on the field when you activate Phantom of Chaos’ effect.
If Skill Drain is activated after Phantom of Chaos has successfully copied the powers of another monster, things get a bit weird. The effects that the Phantom of Chaos copied become negated, which we would expect, but the Phantom retains the copied name and the copied ATK. The effect that prevents the Phantom of Chaos from inflicting battle damage is also negated by Skill Drain, so it is possible for the Phantom to use the ATK it copied with greater effect.
Until next time, send all comments and questions to Curtis@Metagame.com
-Curtis Schultz