Problem Solving Card Text

This is really helpful information for those who don't understand the text changes in cards. It's important for all players to master these clues in card text in case of conflict during any duel. I post what is on Konami's site.

http://http://www.konami.com/yugioh/articles/?tag=problem-solving-card-text

A colon or semicolon = Starts a chain.

For Dark World: Costs are always paid at activation. If the card tells you to pay, discard, Tribute, or destroy in the activation text (before the semicolon), it’s a cost.

1. ‘Remove from play’ is now ‘Banish’

The phrase ‘remove from play’ is being replaced with the single word ‘banish’:
Old:
Remove from play 1 face-up monster.
New:
Banish 1 face-up monster.

Cards that were ‘removed from play cards’ will now be called ‘banished cards’:
Old:
Both players Special Summon as many of their removed from play monsters as possible.
New:
Both players Special Summon as many of their banished monsters as possible.

The old ‘remove from play’ phrase could get clunky sometimes. In normal English you would say ‘remove 1 monster from play’. But that becomes a problem when it was something like ‘remove 1 face-up Warrior-Type EARTH monster with 1500 or more ATK that attacked last turn from play’. By the time you get to the words ‘from play’ at the end, you’ve forgotten where you started.

Because of this, a few years ago we shifted to ‘remove from play’ as a sort of super-keyword, that you would never break up. But it sometimes ran into other clunkiness problems.

‘Banish’ as a single word is simple, short, and clean. And will make a lot of card texts easier on the brain.

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2. ‘Is removed from the field’ is now ‘Leaves the field’

Another problem with ‘remove from play’ is that people kept getting it mixed up with ‘remove from the field’, which is something totally different. So now these terms will be ‘banished’ and ‘leaves the field’, instead.

‘Banished’ (which used to be ‘removed from play’) means that the card goes off the board into that special place not depicted on the Game Mat.

‘Leaves the field’ (which used to be ‘is removed from the field’) means that something was on the field, then went to the Graveyard, or to the hand, or was banished. (Note that effects that activate when a card leaves the field do NOT activate if it goes from the field to the Deck, since it gets lost in the shuffle.)

Old:
When this card is removed from the field, Special Summon 1 “Reborn Tengu” from your Deck.
New:
When this card leaves the field, Special Summon 1 “Reborn Tengu” from your Deck.

The only place you’ll see ‘remove’ from now on is when removing counters. Like ‘Remove 1 Spell Counter.’

As you can see, the word ‘remove’ was pulling triple duty, to mean 3 different things. This has now been fixed.

Take a look at what this does to cards like Plaguespreader Zombie:
Old:
If you do, remove this card from play when it is removed from the field.
New:
If you do, banish this card when it leaves the field.

The new text is a lot less confusing.

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3. Piercing Battle Damage

During battle between this attacking card and a Defense Position monster whose DEF is lower than the ATK of this card, inflict the difference as Battle Damage to your opponent.

You’re probably familiar with this phrase. You won’t be seeing it any more.

This effect has been around for years, but we’re simplifying the wording to just say the monster can do ‘piercing Battle Damage’.
Old:
During battle between this attacking card and a Defense Position monster whose DEF is lower than the ATK of this card, inflict the difference as Battle Damage to your opponent.
New:
If this card attacks a Defense Position monster, inflict piercing Battle Damage to your opponent.

Note that the piercing effect only applies to Battle Damage. Which means that you still need to get to damage calculation so that Battle Damage actually happens. In other words, just because the wording is changing doesn’t mean this is some magical new thing that happens when the attack is declared.

This change will also be on cards that give piercing Battle Damage to another card. Something like Dragon’s Rage would look like this:
Old:
During battle between an attacking Dragon-Type monster you control and a Defense Position monster whose DEF is lower than the ATK of the attacking monster, inflict the difference as Battle Damage to your opponent.
New:
Dragon-Type monsters you control inflict piercing Battle Damage when they attack a Defense Position monster.

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4. ‘Selected as an attack target’ is now ‘targeted for an attack’

This change is pretty minor, but it makes things easier to understand, especially for new players. Let’s take Marauding Captain as an example:
Old:
Your opponent cannot select another face-up Warrior-Type monster as an attack target.
New:
Your opponent cannot target face-up Warrior-Type monsters for attacks, except this one.

The new phrasing is more direct and to-the point.

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5. Hero monsters are now (mostly!) HERO monsters

We have 3 kinds of ‘Hero’ monsters from Yu-Gi-Oh! GX right now: Elemental Heroes, Destiny Heroes, and Evil Heroes. Coming soon we’ll be adding Masked Heroes and Vision Heroes to that list.

Right now, on cards like Elemental Hero Stratos, we write out ‘Elemental Hero, Destiny Hero, or Evil Hero card’ for effects that work on all 3 kinds. Instead of adding ‘or Masked Hero, or Vision Hero’ in the future, we’re going to pull a comic book-style retcon, and just change the names of all the GX Hero-class monsters from Hero to HERO (all-caps).

This applies to monster card names:
Elemental HERO Tempest
Destiny HERO Dasher
Evil HERO Dark Gaia

As well as effects. Elemental HERO Stratos for example would say:
Add 1 “HERO” monster from your Deck to your hand.

Spell/Trap Cards are mostly unaffected, since they have lower-case names already and are not Hero-class monsters.

There are 3 exceptions to this rule. For monsters, Hero Kid is going to stay Hero Kid since it’s not old enough to be a full-fledged HERO. On the other hand, Hero’s Bond will become HERO’S Bond. But HERO Flash!! will become Hero Flash!!.

We plan to reprint most of these cards soon with the corrected names and texts. So everyone who wants to use the revised names can play with those updated cards, to avoid confusion.

But for now, until Masked HERO and Vision HERO cards start showing up, none of this will affect your gameplay at all.

As far as rules go, the most important info on a card are its Timing, Targeting, and Conditions. These are also the things that cause the most questions. For example:

Timing – If we make a chain, do I do things when I activate my card or when the card resolves?
Targeting – Does this card target something? If it has more than 1 target, what happens if one target goes away?
Conditions – What if something changes between the moment I play the card and the moment it finishes up and goes to the Graveyard?
The problem-solving card text fixes all of these problems, completely and forever. The trick was how to do it but still have the cards read the same way if you’re not interested in these kinds of details.

Starting in July, any card that hits on any of these key areas will have its text rewritten to answer all of your questions.

Here’s how it works…

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Monster Text

I’m going to explain this all using colors, since our brains understand things better with colors. During this article:

Anything that explains CONDITIONS to activate a card, or limits WHEN or HOW OFTEN you can activate a card, will be written in green and called ‘green text’. Green text limits when you can do things.
Anything that happens WHEN YOU ACTIVATE a card will be written in red and called ‘red text’. This includes things like costs and targeting.
Anything that happens when you resolve a card will be written in blue and called ‘blue text’. This is what happens when the card effect actually happens.
Remember that your actual cards will still be printed in black! The colors are just training wheels to help us explain.

On your cards, instead of using colors, punctuation will let you tell what kind of text everything is.

Conditions (green text) are now always followed by a colon (.
Activation text (red) is separated from the card effects (blue) by a semicolon (.
The basic structure is CONDITIONS : ACTIVATION ; RESOLUTION.

Let’s take the new Sangan as a simple example:
When this card is sent from the field to the Graveyard: Add 1 monster with 1500 or less ATK from your Deck to your hand.
Everything in green (before the colon) describes WHEN and under what conditions the effect happens. Everything in blue (after the colon) describes what happens when the effect resolves.

If there’s a semicolon, then everything after the conditions is divided between what happens when you activate the card (red text, before the semicolon) and what happens when the card resolves (blue text, after the semicolon):
When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard: You can target 2 Level 2 monsters in your Graveyard; Special Summon them, but their effects are negated.

When you activate a card or effect:

Make sure the green part (before the colon) is being followed.
Do the part in red (before the semicolon) if there is any.
After that, other cards and effects can be chained in response. If there’s a chain, you don’t do your card’s effects (blue, after the colon / semicolon) until the chain resolves, in backwards order, like this:

Let’s take an example of a 3-card Chain.
Player #1 Summons Trident Warrior and chooses to activate its effect. This starts a chain:
When this card is Normal Summoned: You can Special Summon 1 Level 3 monster from your hand.

Player #2 chains Raigeki Break, targeting Player #1’s monster:
Discard 1 card to target 1 card on the field; destroy it.

But the card Player #2 targeted was a Gemini monster, so Player #1 responds with Gemini Spark:
Tribute 1 face-up Level 4 Gemini monster you control to target 1 card on the field; destroy it and draw 1 card.

Using the colons and semicolons, you can build the chain like this:

Player #1’s Trident Warrior: (it has no red text, but it still goes on the chain structure even though nothing happens yet)
Player #2’s Raigeki Break: Discard 1 card to target 1 card on the field; (at this point, Player #2 discards 1 card, and targets Player #1’s monster)
Player #1’s Gemini Spark: Tribute 1 face-up Level 4 Gemini monster you control to target 1 card on the field; (at this point, Player #1 Tributes his monster and targets one of Player #2’s cards)
Player #1’s Gemini Spark resolves: destroy it and draw 1 card. (Player #1 does these things)
Player #2’s Raigeki Break resolves: destroy it. (The monster isn’t on the field anymore so nothing happens)
Player #1’s Trident Warrior resolves: Special Summon 1 Level 3 monster from your hand. (Player #1 does this)
Red goes on top, Blue on the bottom. In other words: everything before the semicolons happens first (all piled together in order), then everything after the semicolons (again, all piled up in order).

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BIG TIP: If there’s a colon or semicolon in the text, that always means an effect that starts a chain. If there is no colon or semicolon, the effect does NOT start a chain and cannot be chained to.

Sangan starts a chain. You will know this because it uses a colon:
When this card is sent from the field to the Graveyard: Add 1 monster with 1500 or less ATK from your Deck to your hand.

Cyber Dragon does NOT start a chain. You will know this because it does not use a colon:
If your opponent controls a monster and you control no monsters, you can Special Summon this card (from your hand).

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Spell and Trap Text

Spells and Traps always start a chain at some point, because activating the Spell/Trap starts a chain all by itself.

Some Spells & Traps won’t have a colon or a semicolon. But they still start a chain when you activate the Spell or Trap. (Summoning a monster doesn’t start a chain, so that’s why they’re different).

Creature Swap, for example, has no colon or semicolon. In fact, its text is exactly the same as before because everything on Creature Swap happens when the effect resolves:
Each player chooses 1 monster they control and switches control of those monsters with each other. Those monsters cannot change their battle positions for the rest of this turn.

Many Trap Cards have Conditions, so they will have a colon in the text. This doesn’t make them play any differently from a Spell/Trap without a colon, though. The new Seven Tools of the Bandit looks like this, for example:
When a Trap Card is activated: Pay 1000 Life Points; negate the activation and destroy it.

The colon is there to show that this card has specific conditions to activate it. The semicolon is there to separate what you do when you activate this card, vs. what you do when the card resolves.

Looking for Clues

The new text reads a lot like the old text. But if you know what to look for, there are valuable clues to help you figure stuff out. Here are some clues to look for:

Costs are always paid at activation. If the card tells you to pay, discard, Tribute, or destroy in the activation text (before the semicolon), it’s a cost.
Any activation conditions (written before the colon) only have to be met when you activate the card. If something changes before the card resolves, and the conditions aren’t met anymore, it doesn’t matter. (Any conditions that STILL have to be true when the effect resolves will be listed separately.)
A colon or semicolon on a monster, or on a Continuous Spell/Trap, means a chain starts. (Remember that activating a Spell or Trap Card starts a chain, too.)
For any card that targets, if the effect text (after the semicolon) still refers to a ‘target’, you have to double-check that any targeting requirements are still met.
Otherwise, if the card refers to the target using any other word (like ‘it’) in the effect text, the targeting requirements only had to be met when the target was originally targeted.
For any card that targets, if the effect text refers to ‘both’ (or a similar term) in the effect text, you have to be able to apply the effect to ALL of the targets. If even one of the targets is no longer eligible, then the whole effect disappears.
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Using Your Clues

It’s time to play detective! Let’s see what clues we can deduce from the new card text on some cards. The important parts will be underlined. (In many cases, what’s most important are the colon and the semicolon!)

New Zombie Master:

Once per turn: You can send 1 Monster Card from your hand to the Graveyard, then target 1 Level 4 or lower Zombie-Type monster in either player’s Graveyard; Special Summon that target. This card must remain face-up on the field to activate and to resolve this effect.

Clues:
You send a card to the Graveyard first, ‘then’ pick a target after that.
You Special Summon ‘that target’, so if it isn’t a Level 4 or lower Zombie-Type monster in the Graveyard anymore, it is not Summoned. (Zombie World got blown up by MST = no Summon!)
The last sentence points out that Zombie Master has to still be face-up on the field when the effect resolves, or else the effect disappears.
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New Magical Dimension:

If you control a face-up Spellcaster-Type monster: Target 1 monster; Tribute it, then Special Summon 1 Spellcaster-Type monster from your hand, then you can destroy 1 monster on the field.

Clues:
The Spellcaster requirement is before the colon. So you only need a Spellcaster-Type monster when you activate this card, not when it resolves.
The semicolon tells us the only thing you do at activation is target a monster.
You Tribute the monster at resolution, ‘then’ do the other effects. If the monster wasn’t around for you to Tribute at resolution, then you don’t get any effects.
You Tribute, then Summon, then destroy (if you want), in order. The last thing that happens is that you destroy. If you don’t destroy, then the last thing that happens is that you Summon.
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New Blade Knight:

While you have 1 or fewer cards in your hand, this card gains 400 ATK. If this is the only monster you control, negate the effects of Flip Effect Monsters it destroys by battle.

Clues:
No colon, no semicolon = no chain.
Both of these effects are Continuous, so Blade Knight never starts a Chain. Which means, among other things, that you cannot use something like Divine Wrath on him.
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New Kinetic Soldier:

During damage calculation, if this card battles a Warrior-Type monster: This card gains 2000 ATK and DEF during damage calculation only.

Clues:
Aha! I see a colon. This effect starts a chain. (Divine Wrath incoming!)
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New Trap Hole:

When your opponent Normal Summons or Flip Summons 1 monster with 1000 or more ATK: Target that monster; destroy that target.

Clues:
This card destroys ‘that target’. So if the target’s ATK is no longer 1000 or more, the effect disappears.
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Compare that to Adreus, Keeper of Armageddon (from Generation Force):

Once per turn: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card to target 1 face-up card your opponent controls; destroy it.

Clues:
This card destroys ‘it’. So even if the target was flipped face-down, or shifted to your side of the field, it’s still destroyed. (If it’s not on the field at all when the effect resolves, it’s not destroyed, of course.)
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New Fusion Gate:

While this card is on the field: Either player can Fusion Summon a Fusion Monster without using “Polymerization”, but the Fusion Material Monsters are banished instead of being sent to the Graveyard.

Clues:
There’s a colon there, so we know this effect starts a chain. Continuous Spells/Traps with ignition-like effects will have a colon or semicolon to let you know this.
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New Black Garden:

When a monster(s) is Normal or Special Summoned, except by the effect of “Black Garden”: Halve its ATK, and you Special Summon 1 “Rose Token” (Plant-Type/DARK/Level 2/ATK 800/DEF 800) to its controller’s opponent’s side of the field, in Attack Position. You can target 1 monster in your Graveyard with ATK equal to the total ATK of all face-up Plant Type monsters on the field; destroy this card and all face-up Plant-Type monsters, then Special Summon that target.

Clues:
First effect has a colon, so we know it starts a chain.
Second effect has a semicolon, so we know it also starts a chain.
The ATK halving and the Rose Token Summon happen at the same time.
The second effect targets.
The last effect refers to ‘that target’ after the semicolon, so the conditions before the semicolon have to still be true at resolution. (Specifically, it must be in your Graveyard and still have exactly the same ATK as all face-up Plants on the field.)
“Destroy this card” is after the semicolon, so you destroy “Black Garden” when the last effect resolves, not when it’s activated.
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New Bountiful Artemis:

Each time a Counter Trap Card resolves, immediately draw 1 card (during the Chain).

Clues:
No colon, no semicolon = no chain.

Special Summons are one of the most important and exciting parts of the Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME. But sometimes the sheer number of ways to Summon can get a little confusing.

The good news is that the new Problem-Solving Card Text makes Special Summons a lot easier to understand.

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Special Summons fall into 2 groups:

Effects that Summon. This includes monsters that Special Summon using a Flip, Ignition, Quick, or Trigger Effect (like Mystic Tomato). It also includes Spells and Traps that Summon a monster (like Monster Reborn). All of these effects and cards start a Chain.
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Built-In Summons. These are monsters that can Special Summon themselves in a special way that doesn’t start a Chain. This includes cards like Cyber Dragon. Xyz Summons, Synchro Summons, and Contact Fusions are also part of this group.
The key difference between the two groups is whether the Summon starts a Chain or not. The new text on your cards makes it easy to tell. Just look for a colon ( or semicolon ( in the Summoning text. If you see either of these, then the effect starts a Chain, and goes in the first group. All Spells and Traps start a Chain when activated, so they all go in the first group, too.

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Group 1 Examples

Here are some examples of effects that Special Summon. All of these go in the first group because a Chain is involved.

Hero Kid:

When this card is Special Summoned: You can Special Summon any number of “Hero Kid”(s) from your Deck.

(This is a Trigger Effect that activates when this card is Special Summoned. It starts a Chain when it’s activated.)

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Destiny HERO – Malicious:

You can banish this card from your Graveyard; Special Summon 1 “Destiny HERO – Malicious” from your Deck.

(This is an Ignition Effect you can use during your Main Phase. It starts a Chain when you activate it.)

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Fake Hero:

Special Summon 1 “Elemental HERO” monster from your hand. This turn, that monster cannot attack, and returns to the hand during the End Phase.

(This is a Spell Card. Even though you don’t see a colon or semicolon in the text, activating a Spell Card always starts a Chain. So this effect goes in the first group.)

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Reinforce Truth:

Special Summon 1 Level 2 or lower Warrior-Type monster from your Deck. You cannot conduct your Battle Phase the turn you activate this card.

(Just like with Fake Hero, this Trap Card starts a Chain, because activating a Trap Card always starts a Chain.)

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Group 2 Examples

Group 2 examples have a lot of variations for how to Summon them. But your newer cards will have very clear details on how these work.

TIP: All Group 2 cards – except Synchro & Xyz Monsters – will use (parentheses) to explain where the card is Summoned from. This is another way to spot these cards.

Here are some examples:

Cyber Dragon:

If your opponent controls a monster and you control no monsters, you can Special Summon this card (from your hand).

(This is a basic example of a built-in Special Summon ability. You know it doesn’t start a Chain, because there is no colon or semicolon. You can also Normal Summon this monster, since it doesn’t say that you can’t.)

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Ghost Ship (from Generation Force):

Cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. Must first be Special Summoned (from your hand) by banishing 1 LIGHT monster from your Graveyard.

(Like the card says, you can’t Normal Summon this card. The method written on this card is the first way to Summon it. After that, if it goes to the Graveyard, you can Special Summon it again with anything, like Monster Reborn, etc.)

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Elemental HERO Marine Neos:

“Elemental HERO Neos” + “Neo-Spacian Marine Dolphin”
Must first be Special Summoned (from your Extra Deck) by returning the above cards you control to the Deck. (You do not use “Polymerization”.) Once per turn: You can destroy 1 random card in your opponent’s hand.

(This is an example of a Contact Fusion. You have to Summon it using the method written on the card first. But after that you can re-Summon it from the Graveyard, since it doesn’t say you can’t.)

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Destiny HERO – Dogma:

Cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. Must be Special Summoned (from your hand) by Tributing 3 monsters, including at least 1 “Destiny HERO” monster, and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways. If you still control this face-up card during your opponent’s next Standby Phase after you Special Summoned it: Halve your opponent’s Life Points.

(This is a very powerful monster with very specific requirements to Summon it. The only way to play this monster is by using the written method to Summon it from your hand. Even if you do this, it cannot be Special Summoned by other ways like Monster Reborn.)

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Vennominaga the Deity of Poisonous Snakes:

Cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. Must first be Special Summoned with “Rise of the Snake Deity” and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways except by its own effect. This card gains 500 ATK for each Reptile-Type monster in your Graveyard. This card cannot be targeted by, and is unaffected by, Spell/Trap effects and other Effect Monsters’ effects. When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard: You can banish 1 other Reptile-Type monster from your Graveyard; Special Summon this card. When this card inflicts Battle Damage to your opponent: Place 1 Hyper-Venom Counter on it. When 3 Hyper-Venom Counters are on this card, you win the Duel.

(Here’s an example of a much more complicated card. Just read the card carefully and you’ll see the most important parts:

You can’t Normal Summon this card.
The first way to Summon it is with the Rise of the Snake Deity card.
After that, it can’t be Summoned by other ways, except by its own effect.
Its own effect is explained later in the text. It has a Trigger Effect that it can use to Summon itself from the Graveyard. This is allowed because the text specifically says it can be Summoned “by its own effect” after first being Summoned with Rise of the Snake Deity.
Since the text also says you can’t use any other methods to Summon it, you can’t use Monster Reborn, etc.
Note that even though the built-in Summon doesn’t start a Chain, the Trigger Effect does.)

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Dragon Queen of Tragic Endings:

Cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. Must first be Special Summoned (from your hand) while you control 3 or more face-up Continuous Spell Cards. When this attacking card inflicts Battle Damage to your opponent: Your opponent sends 1 card from their hand to the Graveyard, then you draw 1 card. During your Standby Phase, if this card is in your Graveyard and was sent there from the field: You can send 1 face-up Continuous Spell Card you control to the Graveyard; Special Summon this card from the Graveyard.

(In this case, the first way to Summon this card is from your hand, by controlling 3 Continuous Spell Cards. After that, you can use Monster Reborn on it, since it doesn’t say you can’t. Also, it has a Trigger Effect that can also be used to Summon it.

Just like Vennominaga, the built-in Summon doesn’t start a Chain. But the Trigger Effect does.)

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Negating a Summon

So you’re probably thinking this is all very interesting, but does it really matter?

Answer: Yes.

Some cards, like Thunder King Rai-Oh and Steelswarm Roach, can negate the Summon of a monster. But there’s one VERY IMPORTANT THING you need to know: These effects can ONLY negate the actual Summon – they can’t negate an effect that Summons, or a Spell/Trap that Summons.

In other words, they can ONLY negate a “built-in” Summon. Meaning Summons from Group 2.

This is easy to remember. Just look for the parentheses () showing (from where) the monster is Summoned. If it has parentheses, then its Summon can be negated. Otherwise, it can’t.

Let’s use Cyber Dragon as an example. Just pretend it’s written like this:

If your opponent controls a monster and you control no monsters, you can Special Summon this card (from your hand… oh no, I got Rai-Oh’d!).

Remember that even though you can’t negate the Summon from Monster Reborn, Call of the Haunted, or Mystic Tomato, you can still negate those cards/effects themselves, like with Magic Jammer, Seven Tools of the Bandit, or Divine Wrath. You just can’t use cards whose sole purpose is to negate a Summon.

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IMPORTANT: For any monster that “must first” be Special Summoned in a certain way, you have to do that successfully if you ever want to revive the monster afterwards. If the Summon of your Ghost Ship, or Marine Neos, or Dragon Queen, or any similar monster gets negated, the monster is placed in the Graveyard. Since you didn’t successfully perform the Summon, you CANNOT revive them using Monster Reborn, etc. Since you did not “first” Summon it properly. This also applies to Xyz Summons, Synchro Summons, and Contact Fusions.

For monsters like Cyber Dragon, this doesn’t apply. Since Cyber Dragon doesn’t have a “must first…” restriction on its Summoning.

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Things to Remember

Read your cards carefully and follow what they say.
Anything that says (where it’s Summoned from) in parentheses can be negated by cards that “negate the Summon”, like Thunder King Rai-Oh and Horn of Heaven.
Xyz, Synchro, and Contact Fusion Summons can also be negated.
Spell & Trap Cards that Summon, as well as Trigger/Flip/Ignition/Quick Effects that Summon, cannot be negated by cards that “negate the Summon”. Because they aren’t Summons – they’re effects.

Stardust Dragon

When a Spell, Trap, Spell/Trap effect, or Effect Monster’s effect is activated that destroys a card(s) on the field: You can Tribute this card; negate the activation and destroy it. During the End Phase, if this card negated an effect this way during this turn: You can Special Summon this card from your Graveyard.

Stardust now specifies that he works against Spells and Traps, AND against Spell/Trap effects.

What’s the difference, you ask? Well, when you activate a Spell or Trap, it means activating the card itself by playing it to the field or flipping it face-up. Like Dark Hole, or Mirror Force.

When you activate a Spell/Trap effect, you’re activating the effect of a card already on the field, usually a Continuous Spell or Continuous Trap. A good example is Skull Lair. When you activate Skull Lair, you flip it face up. When you activate the effect of Skull Lair, you’re banishing monsters to destroy a monster on the field.

Stardust Dragon can be used against both: activation of a card, and activation of a card’s effect. As long as it meets Stardust’s other criteria.

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Compare this to Vylon Filament from Generation Force:

If the equipped monster attacks, your opponent cannot activate any Spell/Trap Cards until the end of the Damage Step.

In this case, your opponent cannot activate Book of Moon or Mirror Force, but could activate the effect of a card that is already face-up.

We’ve been phasing in this language on cards like Obelisk the Tormentor and the Watt monsters. But from now on, you’ll see it consistently applied.

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Quickdraw Synchron

You can send 1 monster from your hand to the Graveyard and Special Summon this card (from your hand). For a Synchro Summon, you can substitute this card for any 1 “Synchron” Tuner monster. This card cannot be used as a Synchro Material Monster, except for the Synchro Summon of a monster that lists a “Synchron” monster as a Tuner.

Note the structure of the first effect. It tells you two things.

First, it’s not an effect that starts a Chain. This means it’s vulnerable to Rai-Oh and similar cards.

Second, because it uses “and Special Summon” instead of “then Special Summon”, it also means that pitching a card and Summoning Quickdraw happen simultaneously. This means that you will not miss the timing for any “when… you can” optional effects of the card you sent to the Graveyard, like Archfiend of Gilfer or Jinzo – Returner.

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Armory Arm

Once per turn, you can either: Target 1 monster on the field; equip this card to that target, OR: Unequip this card and Special Summon it in face-up Attack Position. While equipped by this effect, that target gains 1000 ATK. When that target destroys a monster by battle and sends it to the Graveyard: Inflict damage to your opponent equal to the ATK of the destroyed monster in the Graveyard.

We’ve added “in the Graveyard” to the text, to show that the monster has to still be in the Graveyard when you check its ATK to inflict damage. This means if something takes it out of the Graveyard as a Chained effect (like Colossal Fighter), no damage is inflicted. Because you no longer have a reference point.

You’ll see this phrase again on lots of cards in Legendary Collection 2: The Duel Academy Years, including Elemental HERO Flame Wingman, Elemental HERO Steam Healer, and Neos Force. As well as Stygian Street Patrol from the Number 17: Leviathan Dragon Tin.

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Bountiful Artemis

Each time a Counter Trap Card resolves, immediately draw 1 card (during the Chain).

Artemis has been confusing players for years, but now it’s clearly a Continuous Effect (hint: no colon or semicolon). It even points out that you draw during the middle of the Chain.

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Gemini Spark

Tribute 1 face-up Level 4 Gemini monster you control to target 1 card on the field; destroy it and draw 1 card.

Another card where the use of “and” instead of “then” is critical. Because destroying and drawing are considered simultaneous, your opponent can do something like Summon a Meklord Emperor in response to this card’s resolution.

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Now let’s take a look at a few cards from Generation Force.

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Vision HERO Trinity.

During the turn this card was Fusion Summoned, its ATK is double its original ATK. This Fusion Summoned card can attack 3 times during each Battle Phase. This card cannot attack your opponent directly.

These effects are all Continuous! Among other things, that means Trinity is immune to cards like Divine Wrath.

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Vision HERO Adoration

Once per turn: You can target 1 face-up monster your opponent controls and 1 face-up “HERO” monster you control, except this card; the opponent’s targeted monster loses ATK and DEF equal to the ATK of your targeted monster, until the End Phase.

Note the re-use of the word “targeted” during the resolution text. This means that all targeting conditions (from the activation timing) must still be true at resolution.

For example, what if your opponent Chains TG1-EM1 to this effect, and flips control of the monsters. In that case, the effect of Adoration disappears. Because you don’t control your HERO anymore, and your opponent doesn’t control his monster anymore.

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Pain Painter

While this card is face-up on the field, its name is treated as “Plaguespreader Zombie”. Once per turn: You can target up to 2 face-up Zombie-Type monsters you control, except this card; they become Level 2 until the End Phase. They cannot be used as Synchro Material Monsters, except for the Synchro Summon of a Zombie-Type monster.

Pain Painter’s resolution text refers to the targets as “they” instead of “those targets”.

This means that Pain Painter doesn’t really care what’s happened to its targets. Suppose you had Zombie World in play and targeted 2 Fluff Tokens. Then your opponent Chains Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy your Zombie World, so your Fluff Tokens aren’t Zombies anymore. That’s fine, Pain Painter doesn’t care. “They” still become Level 2. If Pain Painter said “those targets” instead, then the effect would disappear, because he’d be picky about his targets. (But he’s an artist, so he just goes with the flow.)

Pain Painter also doesn’t use the word “both”. That means that even if one of the targets is gone, the other still gets changed to Level 2.

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