The Town Herald

The e-zine about Elftowners, by Elftowners, for Elftowners.

Yu-Gi-Oh a Sport?

By [Thunder Cid]



When even thinking about cards as a sport how do most of us lump it? Do we compare the World Poker Tour to, say, curling? There is one card game I personally can vouch for that requires more mental alertness and nimble fingers than those half-baked five card studs in Vegas.
I’m talking about Yu-Gi-Oh. Yu-Gi-Oh, roughly translates to “Game King" or "King Of Games”, is primarily a one versus one card game using 3 basic types of cards (monster, trap, and spell). A deck can have no less than 40 cards (which is ideal for the more experienced players) with a side deck of 15 cards (no more no less) used to switch out in between games.
The usual game is a best 2 out of 3 with both players having a start of 8,000 life points (4,000 for recognised tournaments).
To start players will decide who goes first which can be done in many ways, my personal favourite high card on bottom goes first, and then draw 7 cards. Each round is set up in phases (draw, standby, 1, attack, 2, and end).

Phases:

Draw Phase-Simple draw a card (unless you are not able to by a card effect or you have no cards to draw in which case you lose the game).

Standby Phase- Usually nothing goes on during this phase unless a card specifies an action (i.e. lose life points, remove a card, etc. …).

Phase 1- This is where you set traps, spells, and summon monsters.

Attack Phase- This is where you do battle with your monsters by attacking directly or battling your opponent’s monsters.

Phase 2- This is where you have the option of laying anymore of your traps and spells (note: if you summons a monster during phase 1, you cannot summon anymore during phase 2 unless you can special summon).

End Phase- this is where your opponent’s turn begins.

Cards:

Now I’m sure you are curious about the types of cards used in this game. As I said before you have 3 in general; monster, trap, and spell. Now it’s time to tell you the more specifics behind them.

Monsters: Monsters can be normal, effect, fusion, ritual, Synchro, and token. Normal monsters are yellowish in background and really have no other uses than as tribute or setting up a defence.
Effect monsters are, well, monsters with effects. These can be broad so I won’t go into details. Just pick up a pack and look for an orange coloured back ground monster and read. One common effect monster is the flip effect which has to be set before it can be activated (by you on your next turn or you foolish opponent who wants to destroy it).
Fusion monsters are purple in background and can be made by using a spell card called polymerisation and the two cards needed to fuse.
Ritual monsters are blue in background and are summoned from the hand by using a Ritual Spell card and sacrificing monster cards according to the Spell's instructions from the field.
Synchro monsters are beyond my knowledge actually (I retired before they came out) but from what I know they are white in background, kick a lot of ass and require what are called tuners in order to summon them. Again I apologise for my ignorance on these.
Tokens (now) are grey monsters that are brought out by other card effects and are mostly used for fodder. In my day we used beads, pennies, or in some cases Cheerios. To play monsters is essential. You can “summon” (face up attack position or vertical) or set (face down defence position or horizontal).
All fusion, Ritual, and Synchro monsters go into their own special deck that has no penalty against your main and side deck. Monsters with 1-4 stars (look under the name for stars) can be brought to the field immediately (unless it says otherwise).
5-7 take 1 tribute or 1 sacrifice (like feeding a little fish to a big fish).
7 and up require 2 tributes. There are special summons which allow you to bring a monster out without the need to sacrifice or may have other condition, I won’t get into that but it’s pretty easy to find out if you read your cards.
And also there are conditions which some cards can and can’t be played, just keep an eye out for them.

Traps: Traps (which are pinkish) are pretty basic (but still a kick in the crotch for the unsuspecting) forms of defence.
Example I have no monsters on my side of the field, but 5 face down in my spell/trap zone. The wise player would know not to attack but there are the few unfortunates that will try and make a gutsy move. BAM! I have activated a trap (let’s say mirror force which destroys all of my opponents face up attack position monsters.)
Now that you know how awesome they can be let’s talk about how to use them. First you can must set them face down during your move and wait until your opponents turn before you can activate them.
Next you have to figure out how it can be used (I like to play some that let me special summon as soon as my opponent starts his turn for extra security on my field). Last, and this is more of a tip, waste a good trap. Some cards are restricted to only one certain card a deck so be wise.
There are a few different types of traps you can use, basic, continuous, and counters. Basic traps are, as I mentioned before, lay and wait.
Continuous traps have a little infinite sign on them meaning they stay on the field until their conditions no longer apply or are removed from the field.
Counter traps are when you or your opponent activate a trap you can play it to negate or reverse the effect of the previous trap (there are other effects as well).

Spells: Spells are a light blue colour and can be used in a variety of ways. There are a thousand and one ways to use each and every one (if you know a little about strategy).
Spells can be played without setting them on your turn or special ones that can be played on your opponent’s turn (I’ll get into that in a sec). First, like traps, there are basic and continuous, however spells have many more different types.
There are also quick play, equip, field, and ritual spells. Quick plays have a little lightning bolt on them and can be set like traps to activate on your opponents turn.
You can set a Q.P. on your turn and activated the very same turn. Equip spells (look for a plus sign) are designed to hook up to a monster for an extra boost in power or can be use to equip to your opponents monsters for a massive drain.
Field cards, which have a kind of windmill emblem on them, have a special place on the field that does not take up any space on your primary 5 spots.
These can be used to give all of your monsters that little extra boost needed to seal the deal.
Ritual spells have a flame symbol on them and are only used to summon ritual monsters (easy enough).

Chaining:

Chaining is again something I’m no expert on, but I know enough to give a kind of example (keep in mind I’m gonna nerd this part up a little).
A chain is when two or more card effects activate in response to the other card. The rule of thumb is that a chain resolves backwards in the order of cards played.
For example Player 1 plays a Monster Reborn spell card (Spell Speed 1). This spell card allows Player 1 to special summon a monster from either player's graveyard. They choose their opponent's monster, Dark Magician.
Player 2 activates a Call of the Haunted continuous trap card (Spell Speed 2). This trap card allows Player 2 to special summon a monster from their own graveyard as long as the trap card remains on the field. They choose their own Dark Magician.
Because Player 2 activated their card last in the chain, their card effect goes first. Player 1 now has no target for their Monster Reborn, so it is sent to the Graveyard and Player 1 doesn't get the monster.
Most chains are generally only a "Chain link 2", meaning only two cards are activated in a chain. There are longer chains, however: Player 1 plays a Monster Reborn spell card (Spell Speed 1).
This spell card allows Player 1 to special summon a monster from either player's graveyard. They choose their opponent's monster, Dark Magician. Player 2 activates a Call of the Haunted continuous trap card (Spell Speed 2).
This trap card allows Player 2 to special summon a monster from their own graveyard as long as the trap card remains on the field.
They choose their own Dark Magician. Player 1 activates a Royal Decree continuous trap card (Spell Speed 2).
This trap card negates the effect of all trap cards on the field except for itself. This means that while player 2 has activated Call of the Haunted and it remains face-up on their side of the field, they are unable to special summon a monster.
Because both cards are continuous, unless Royal Decree is immediately destroyed (as part of the same chain), Call of the Haunted will be unable to special summon a monster.
Note that if Royal Decree were to be destroyed the next turn, or even in the next phase of the current turn, this does not mean that Call of the Haunted can Special Summon a monster; the Special Summon is activated upon activation of Call of the Haunted, and Call of the Haunted's activation and effect were negated, and it was not returned face-down, and cannot be reactivated.
Player 2 activates a Dust Tornado trap card (Spell Speed 2). Dust Tornado destroys one spell or trap card on the field. Player 2 targets the Royal Decree.
Because a chain resolves backwards, the chain would play out like this: Dust Tornado destroys Royal Decree.
Because Royal Decree is no longer on the field, the next effect activated is Call of the Haunted, followed by Monster Reborn.
Because Dust Tornado was played after Royal Decree, the effect activates first, meaning the effect of Royal Decree never negated Call of the Haunted.
Question: But does the Monster Reborn work? It was activated, targeting a monster that was not effectively present in the Graveyard.
Answer: it will, but not the one chosen by the opponents Call of the Haunted (in this case Dark Magician). I do hope that made as much sense to you as it did to me.




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