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Doomkaiser Dragon
Card# CSOC-EN043
Doomkaiser Dragon's effect isn't just for Zombie World duelists: remember that its effect can swipe copies of Plaguespreader Zombie, too!
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After a year of covering basic game concepts, it’s getting harder to find topics I haven’t covered yet! It occurred to me that I’ve missed talking about a subject that trips lots of players up: negation versus destruction. The words have similar meanings, but they don’t mean the same thing, and the precise meaning of words is important, especially when you’re a Yu-Gi-Oh! Player. You need to know what negation and destruction mean so you can make the right plays and resolve your cards correctly.
 Negate: To make ineffective or invalid, or to nullify. That sounds pretty self-explanatory. When you negate a card, it means you cancel out that card’s effect or activation. Even though a negated card is invalid and won’t resolve, that card isn’t necessarily considered “destroyed.” Let’s say you have a field spell card like Harpies’ Hunting Ground or an equip spell card like Premature Burial, and your opponent activates Imperial Order. The effects of the spell cards are negated, which means the spells stop affecting the game state, but they would remain on the field. “Turning off” an effect doesn’t automatically result in destruction. If the negating effect—Imperial Order, in this case—is removed, the effects of the previously negated cards will return.
Destroy: To demolish, do away with, or put an end to. When you destroy a card, it means you rid the field of that card and send it to the graveyard. It’s possible to destroy a card without negating it, so destroying a card won’t automatically prevent it from activating. If an opponent activates Raigeki and you respond with Dust Tornado, Dust Tornado will destroy Raigeki, but it won’t negate the spell’s effect. This frustrates a lot of inexperienced players, because they often have a hard time understanding why they can’t prevent their monsters from being destroyed in this case. In addition, new players are sometimes taken aback when they target an opponent’s set card with Mystical Space Typhoon and find out they’ve hit a trap or a quick-play spell like Enemy Controller. The opponent activates Enemy Controller’s effect and has to call a judge over to explain to the novice why his or her Goblin Attack Force is going to finish the turn in defense position.
 To find out why these destroyed cards are not “negated,” look carefully at the chains. In the first example, Raigeki is activated, and the duelist responds with Dust Tornado. Dust Tornado must be chained to the activation of Raigeki, and normal spells that have been activated generally don’t need to stay on the field to resolve. Dust Tornado resolves and destroys Raigeki, but because Raigeki doesn’t need to stay on the field for its effect to resolve, the spell’s effect isn’t negated. In the second example, Mystical Space Typhoon is activated and becomes the first link in the chain. Next, Enemy Controller is activated and chained, becoming the second link. Let’s say the chain ends there. In what direction does the chain resolve? Backwards, which means that Enemy Controller’s effect resolves first, and then Mystical Space Typhoon resolves. Enemy Controller is destroyed, but its effect isn’t negated.
Certain types of cards are negated when they’re destroyed. The effects of continuous spells, continuous traps, and equip spells are negated when those cards are destroyed, because those effects rely on the cards being present on the field. If an opponent attacks you with a Gemini Elf equipped with Axe of Despair, and you activate Mystical Space Typhoon in response, the Axe will be destroyed, and Gemini Elf’s ATK boost will disappear. If an opponent has Gravity Bind and Messenger of Peace active on the field and you activate Heavy Storm, the spell and trap zone is cleared. Now your Berserk Gorilla is free to attack, because the effects of Gravity Bind and Messenger of Peace are no longer active. If an opponent activates Call of the Haunted and you chain with Dust Tornado, Call of the Haunted is destroyed. Its effect can’t resolve, and is therefore negated.
 While we’re at it, here’s another concept to learn: returning to the hand. This little loophole can trip up players who don’t know about it, so pay close attention. Giant Trunade is the most well-known example of a card that uses this concept. Oh, the tricks you can play with Giant Trunade! Giant Trunade returns all spell and trap cards to the hands of their owners, and cards returned to the hand aren’t destroyed. Graveyards are for destroyed cards, and hands are for cards you can play. This is why activating Giant Trunade to get rid of a Jinzo your opponent brought back with Premature Burial is a bad idea. The Premature Burial will return to the hand, and because the spell wasn’t destroyed, Jinzo is there to stay. You just told your opponent, “Have a Jinzo on me!” Your opponent will appreciate the help but probably won’t show you gratitude in the form of mercy.
If you read each card’s text and know the order in which effects resolve, it’s easy to tell the difference between all these terms and figure out the right way to play your cards. A card’s text will say if it negates (The Emperor’s Holiday), destroys (Dust Tornado), negates and destroys (Spell Shield Type-8), or returns cards to the hand. All you have to do is read the card and understand how card effects interact with each other. Knowing the meanings of terms will help you keep your strategy straight and prevent misplays that could cost you a duel. Never give your opponent a Jinzo, because that won’t make you feel very good! |
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