Of all the cards in a player’s deck, spell cards often see the most action. Even though duelists play spells all the time, many players are confused about how each type of spell works.

This week’s article is a refresher course on the mechanics of spell cards.

Normal Spell Cards

Normal spell cards are the most commonly played spells. They’re usually a one-shot deal. You can activate a normal spell card during a main phase of your turn by:

Playing it face up from your hand to your spell and trap zone.
Setting it face down in your spell and trap zone and then flipping it face up.

Normal spell cards are destroyed after their effects are resolved. They don’t remain on the field. If a normal spell card’s effect is part of a chain, the card doesn’t go to the graveyard until the chain resolves.

Ritual Spell Cards

Like normal spell cards, ritual spell cards can only be activated during a main phase of your own turn. Also like normal spells, ritual spells are destroyed after their effects resolve. The purpose of a ritual spell card is to special summon a ritual monster. Each card will tell you what ritual monster or monsters it can special summon.

To activate a ritual spell card, you need to have the monster or monsters that the spell special summons in your hand. You also need to have monsters available to tribute for the ritual. You don’t tribute monsters until the ritual spell card’s effect resolves, so if your opponent negates your ritual spell with a card like Magic Jammer, any monster you planned on tributing would be safe.

Continuous Spell Cards

Continuous spell cards stay on the field after they resolve. They usually remain on the field until an effect removes them. Mystical Space Typhoon, Giant Trunade, and Breaker the Magical Warrior have effects that can remove continuous spell cards. Continuous spells can only be activated on a main phase during your turn.

Some continuous spell cards have “maintenance costs.” These are costs that must be paid to keep a card on the field over several turns. The card’s text will tell you when and how to pay a spell’s maintenance cost.

For example, Messenger of Peace requires you to pay 100 life points during each of your standby phases or it will be destroyed. You can either pay the cost to keep the spell’s effect going or you can choose not to pay and have Messenger of Peace destroyed. Spiritual Energy Settle Machine is another example of a card with a maintenance cost.

Equip Spell Cards

Equip spell cards remain in play after they’re activated. When you activate an equip spell card, you choose the monster that the spell’s effect will target. These spells usually increase the ATK or DEF of the equipped monster or give the monster special abilities. Equip spell cards can only be activated during a main phase on your turn.

You can only use equip spell cards on face-up monsters. Monsters that are turned face down lose any equip spell cards attached to them. If that happens, the equip spell card is destroyed. In addition, if a monster is destroyed in battle or by a card effect, any equip spell cards attached to that monster are also destroyed.

You can put an equip spell card on your monster or an opponent’s monster, but sometimes equip spell cards have restrictions on what monsters they can target. For example, Fusion Sword Murasame Blade and Sword of Dragon’s Soul can only be equipped to Warrior-type monsters. A card like Ring of Magnetism can only be equipped to a monster on your side of the field. Be sure to read equip spell cards carefully to find out what they can target.

Each equip spell card takes up a space in your spell and trap zone. In most cases, you’ll want to play an equip spell card behind its target monster, but this isn’t always possible. When activating an equip spell card, try to keep it as close to the equipped monster as possible. This helps prevent confusion about which equip spell card goes with which monster.

A monster can be equipped with more than one equip spell card at a time, but remember that each equip spell card takes up a space in your spell and trap zone. Also, it might not be a good idea to put all your resources into one monster, because you could lose all your equip spell cards if something bad happens to the equipped monster.

Field Spell Cards

Field spell cards are the most misunderstood and least popular of all spell cards. Field spells change the arena that monsters battle in. Usually, field spell cards help certain types of monsters by giving them stat boosts or extra abilities.

Field spell cards can only be played in the field spell card zone. Even if all you want to do is set your field spell card, you must set it in the field spell card zone. Your opponents will know it is a field spell card, but this is something you have to live with.

Field spell cards are activated during a main phase on your turn. Only one active (face-up) field spell can be on the field at any time. If a new field spell is activated, the previous field spell is sent to the graveyard. However, if you set a field spell card while there’s another field spell active, the active field spell isn’t destroyed.

You can replace a field spell you activated with another field spell. If you want to do this, just put the active field spell card into the graveyard and then play a new field spell.

Quick-Play Spell Cards

Quick-play spell cards have caused a lot of confusion. They offer a wide range of play options but have specific rules that must be followed. Like most normal and ritual spell cards, quick-play spell cards don’t stay on the field after resolving.

Quick-play spell cards follow three basic rules:

You can activate a quick-play spell card from your hand during any phase of your turn.
Quick-play spell cards can be activated during an opponent’s turn. To use a quick-play spell during your opponent’s turn, the spell must be set during your own turn.
A quick-play spell card can’t be activated on the turn it was set.

Example:   Mirage of Nightmare vs. Mystical Space Typhoon

Let’s say I have Mirage of Nightmare face up on my side of the field from a previous turn. During my opponent’s turn, I use the spell’s effect to draw four cards. I start my next turn and draw Mystical Space Typhoon. Mirage of Nightmare requires me to discard four cards in my standby phase, and I don’t want to do that. But I’m in luck because Mystical Space Typhoon is a quick-play spell. I activate it from my hand during my draw phase to destroy Mirage of Nightmare.

Example: Set Scapegoat

During my turn, I summoned a monster and attacked with it, but my monster was destroyed by an opponent’s trap card. I know that my opponent will try to summon a monster and do direct damage to my life points. However, I have Scapegoat in my hand. I can’t use it during my turn because I’ve already summoned a monster, but I can use it during my opponent’s turn. To use the quick-play spell, I must set it in my spell and trap zone. During my opponent’s turn, I will activate Scapegoat so I can special summon a defensive line of sheep tokens.

Example: Sudden Surprise from Dust Tornado

I set Mystical Space Typhoon during my turn. My opponent responds by activating Dust Tornado and targeting the card I just set. I can’t activate the set Mystical Space Typhoon because it’s a quick-play spell and it can’t be activated during the same turn it was set.

Quick-play spells are the only spells that have activation limitations after they’re set. If I set a normal spell like Pot of Greed, I can activate it on the same turn it was set. However, I still can’t activate it during my opponent’s turn.

I hope that this article has cleared up the mechanics of different types of spells. Until next week, class is dismissed.