Becoming a Better Duelist: Prequel
Just pointed someone to this that may or may not know how the basic rules of this game.
This isn't that hard, and if you've watched the anime you'll be able to discern most of the rules (that's how I learned, and I've never read a rulebook before), but to be certain:
Now, let's go over the phases of play.
Draw Phase: Simple as it sounds. At the start of your turn, draw a card.
Standby Phase: This phase exists to allow certain monster, spell, or trap card effects to resolve. You'll know these when a card is played that says, "during your next standby phase", or "during the second/third standby phase after activation", and then the effect. This phase is never really skipped, but it is usually not mentioned unless there is something that would happen during Standby Phase. (The most notable cards that activate during standby phase are: Gold Sarcophagus and Future Fusion.)
Main Phase 1: Here's the first truly important phase to actual gameplay. During Main Phase 1, you can do everything except attack. You may:
Battle Phase: This phase should be somewhat obvious. During this phase, you attack your opponent with the monsters you have on the field. Monsters in Attack Position can attack, while monsters in defense position can only defend. A few things can happen when a monster attacks:
End Phase: Exactly what it sounds like. You cannot play any cards during this phase, but there are effects that resolve during this time. For instance, Stardust Dragon can be tributed at any point during the game to negate a card that destroys any other card on your field. Then, it returns to your side of the field during the End Phase. There are other monsters with effects that resolve during the end phase as well. (Some of the notable ones are nearly every good Tech Genus monster, and XX-Saber Darksoul and XX-Saber Emmersblade.)
The only other thing you may do during the end phase is check your hand for the number of cards. If you have more than six, you must discard cards down to six now. (This is rare, usually you set whatever spells or traps you have until you have five to six cards in your hand.)
After doing all this, you pass turn to your opponent, who will go through all the steps above. The only thing you may do during your opponent's turn is activate a Quick Play spell (indicated by having a lightning bolt in the top right hand corner) or any traps that you set during the previous turn. As to when you can activate what, the card will usually indicate when you can or cannot. If a card says, "When an opponent summons a monster", or "When your opponent attacks", then that's the only time you may activate them. If they have no specific condition, you may activate them whenever. Knowing the precise moment to do so is something you learn as you gain experience as a player.
The last thing I want to cover is monster summoning. I talked about this a little before, but I want to go in depth and show you the five basic kinds of summoning, and explain what an Extra Deck is.
Normal Summon - At one point, this was the most common type of summoning. If there's a monster in your hand that is level one through level four (check the stars just under the name of the card), then you may summon that monster from your hand. Only one Normal Summon is allowed during your turn, though there are some cards that allow you to break that rule. (Double Summon is one, but that card is bad. And Ultimate Offering is another, but that card is only good in certain decks.)
Tribute Summoning - This method of summoning isn't used as frequently as it once was, since Special Summoning basically took it's place during 2006 or 2007 or so. If you have a monster in your hand higher than level 4, it cannot be summoned without first tributing a monster you have on the field. The higher the level of the monster, the more tributes you must have to summon it.
Level 5 and 6 monsters require one tribute. Levels 7 and 8 require two tributes. Level 9 through 12 require three tributes. The reason this type of summoning isn't used often is because you give up too much field advantage to summon a single monster, one that might be destroyed easily the following turn by a spell, or during your own turn by a trap. It is still an option available to you however, though your deck may or may not ever use it. (Most level five plus monsters in people's decks these days tend to be either Synchro Monsters or monsters that can be special summoned.)
Special Summon - Because of the natural power creep of this game, this is now the most common type of summoning in any truly strong deck. Special Summoning speeds up the game, and also your win condition. A monster may only be special summoned if you can meet the requirements for summoning it. For example, Cyber Dragon, a powerful level 5 monster, can be special summoned if your opponent's field has one or more monsters on it while your field is empty. So obviously if you have a monster on the field, you cannot special summon it. Other monsters, like Blackwing - Bora the Spear or Legendary Six Samurai - Kizan, can be special summoned only if there is another monster of the same archetype ("Blackwings" or "Six Samurai") on the field already. These are the two most common types of special summoning conditions, though there are others.
You may special summon as frequently as you like, so long as you have the cards in your hand or in the graveyard to do so, and can meet the condition of the card.
Synchro Summon - This is where players who once knew the game but left, then came back get confused, but it's really quite simple. At it's base, Synchro Summoning requires any one monster, and then another monster that is also a Tuner. Whether or not a monster is a tuner will be in the effect description box underneath the monster's picture. Some of the more common tuners are Junk Synchron and Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind. There are many, many (many) others, but usually they are specific to the deck you're using. I'll talk about them more when I get into specific deck types.
Anyway, if you have a Tuner and a non-Tuner (which is any monster not a Tuner, so there's tons), you can summon a Synchro Monster. The monster you summon, however, must have a level equal to EXACTLY the monsters you used to Synchro Summon for it.
Example: I Normal Summon Junk Synchron (Level 3), and I use his effect to revive any monster level 2 or lower from the Graveyard to the field to Special Summon Doppelwarrior (Level 2) from the Graveyard. I then Synchro Summon, sending both monsters to the graveyard to summon Ally of Justice - Catastor (Level 5) to the field.
Synchro Summons are counted as special summons, so you may do this during your turn as often as you like, so long as you can meet the conditions. Synchro Monsters sometimes also have their own condition, found in the effect box underneath the monster's picture. For instance, Naturia Beast and Naturia Barkion, two powerful Synchro Monsters, can only be summoned with Tuner and non-Tuner monsters that are EARTH attribute. These type of monsters find themselves in more specific decks, while generic synchro monsters (that only have the level condition) often find themselves in all decks.
Fusion Summoning - This is even more rare than Tribute Summoning, but I'm going to talk about it because the few decks that CAN use it, do so to great effect. Monsters with dark purple backgrounds are called fusions.
The interesting thing about fusions is that most often they can only be fused by a card called Polymerization. Fusion Summoning is like Synchro Summoning, only the level doesn't matter. Instead, the monster you are trying to summon will have it's own requirements, most often being specific two monsters.
Mostly, you don't have to worry about making your deck able to fusion summon. Most early fusion monsters sucked. The ones made today are made for archetype specific decks, like Elemental HEROes and Gladiator Beasts. One important note I'd like to make is that while most fusion summons require Polymerization, Super Polymerization, or Fusion Gate, some fusions (for instance all Gladiator Beast ones) only require the specific monsters to be on the field to summon themselves. This is called a Contact Fusion. Also, much like Synchro Summoning, any fusion summon sends the fusion material to the graveyard.
Exceed Summoning / XYZ Summoning - This is the newest form of summoning, created specifically for Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL, the latest Yu-Gi-Oh anime. XYZ (pronounced "ik-seez") Summons are different from all the previous forms, though they work a bit different/slightly more simple.
If you have two monsters on your side of the field, of the same level, you may overlay one on top of the other to XYZ summon a new monster. The new monster is then laid on top of the other two. This is important. They do NOT go to the graveyard (yet).
For instance: I Normal Summon Marauding Captain (level 4), and use his effect to Special Summon Command Knight (level 4) from my hand. With two monsters that are both level 4 on the field, I place one on top of the other, and then XYZ summon Number 39: Utopia.
Now, a few important things to note about XYZ summons. They don't have levels, like normal monsters. They have Ranks. You overlay two monsters of the same level to summon a monster with a Rank of that number. (IE, two level 4s make one Rank 4.) This is important because cards that say "monsters level blank or lower/higher" cannot affect these cards. Secondly, XYZ Summons, like any decent monster, have effects, but can only use their effects by detaching an overlay monster and sending it to the graveyard. Utopia's effect, for instance, is to negate any attack at the cost of sending one of the monsters under it to the grave.
Some of the earliest XYZ monsters have negative effects if you get rid of all their overlay materials (Utopia's is that once his overlays are gone, if someone attacks him he's instantly destroyed), but this is being phased out as better and more useful ones are being introduced.
*exhales* Whew! That was a lot of crap to take in. I forgot how much stuff you have to learn when you first start playing this game.
Okay, one last thing: Fusions, Synchros, XYZs--none of them go in your main deck. Instead, they have their own space called an Extra Deck. The Extra Deck consists entirely of Fusions/Synchros/XYZ monsters, and you can have anywhere from 1 to 15 cards in it.
The best way to look at it, is that your hand essentially always has those fifteen cards in it, since you may special summon those monsters to the field whenever you meet the conditions to summon them, and aren't forced to find those monsters in your main deck. This is why the Extra Deck is so small, as it presents a number of options to any situation you might be in during a given duel.
Alright, that's it for me. A little later I'll finish up doing Staple Spells. Next week I'll start on Staple Traps, and after that I'll probably do Staple Synchro/XYZ monsters. 'Til next time.
This isn't that hard, and if you've watched the anime you'll be able to discern most of the rules (that's how I learned, and I've never read a rulebook before), but to be certain:
- To play Yu-Gi-Oh, you need a deck of at least 40 cards, and no more than sixty.
- Each deck contains monster, spell, and trap cards. It's up to you on the numbers though, and it WILL vary from deck to deck. Some decks are naturally monster heavy, while others can be spell-heavy. Depending on the banlist, a good competitive deck will often be either light or heavy on traps, running anywhere from 8-16. (Sometimes more.)
- You start each duel with 8000 Life Points. Typically there are three duels in a match.
- There are three win conditions, or ways in which you can win (or lose) the game. The first is that one player's life points can hit 0 (this is the most common way to win the game, and the most consistent). The second is if, at the start of your turn, you cannot draw a card because your deck is empty. (Possible--highly unlikely.) The third is if someone has all five pieces of "Exodia, The Forbidden One" in their hand. (Least likely, and may soon be impossible if it becomes too consistent.)
- After your first duel with your opponent, you may access your side deck. A side deck consists of 15 cards that can be swapped with cards inside your Main Deck to better help you deal with your opponent. Use these slots wisely, as you only have fifteen. The Side Deck can consist of monsters, spells, or traps. These slots are best used to help counter decks yours is weak against.
Now, let's go over the phases of play.
Draw Phase: Simple as it sounds. At the start of your turn, draw a card.
Standby Phase: This phase exists to allow certain monster, spell, or trap card effects to resolve. You'll know these when a card is played that says, "during your next standby phase", or "during the second/third standby phase after activation", and then the effect. This phase is never really skipped, but it is usually not mentioned unless there is something that would happen during Standby Phase. (The most notable cards that activate during standby phase are: Gold Sarcophagus and Future Fusion.)
Main Phase 1: Here's the first truly important phase to actual gameplay. During Main Phase 1, you can do everything except attack. You may:
- Play a spell card from your hand.
- Set a spell or trap to the backrow of your field. Once set, a card remains in the backrow and cannot come back to the hand unless forced to. Otherwise, it must be activated or destroyed to leave the field. You have five spell and trap card zones, and if they are all full then you may no longer play a spell from your hand until one of them is empty. Spells can be activated the turn they are set, traps cannot be activated until the turn after they are set. (Your opponent's turn, basically.)
- Summon a monster. You are allowed one normal summon on your turn. Monsters that can be normal summoned are ones that are levels 1 through 4. You can also special summon monsters. Special summons can happen as often as you can meet the requirements for the card. (IE, many special summoned monsters can only be summoned if your opponent's field has a monster while you have no monsters on the field.)
- Monsters can be either summoned in attack more, or put face-down and turned horizontally. Like this, the card is in face-down defense position. (Cards can also be in Defense Position while face-up, but a monster's position can only be changed once per turn. In other words, you can't summon a monster in Attack Position then change it to defense position.)
Battle Phase: This phase should be somewhat obvious. During this phase, you attack your opponent with the monsters you have on the field. Monsters in Attack Position can attack, while monsters in defense position can only defend. A few things can happen when a monster attacks:
- A monster in ATK position with higher ATK points attacks one with lower ATK points in ATK position. That weaker monster is destroyed and the player takes damage equal to the remainder of the difference in life points. (In other words, an 1800 ATK monster attacks a 1700 ATK monster. The monster is destroyed and the player takes 100 damage to his life points.)
- A monster in ATK position attacks a monster in DEF position. If the ATK points are greater than the DEF, the defending monster is destroyed. If the defending monster is somehow stronger, then neither card is destroyed but the attacking player takes damage equal to the remainder of the difference in life points. (Example: Your opponent sets a monster in defense position. You attack with an 1600 ATK monster. He flips the monster, placing it in face-up defense position, revealing his monster's DEF to be 2000. Neither monster is destroyed, and the attacking player takes 400 damage.)
- A monster in ATK position attacks a monster in ATK position when they have the same life points. Both monsters are destroyed, neither player takes damage.
End Phase: Exactly what it sounds like. You cannot play any cards during this phase, but there are effects that resolve during this time. For instance, Stardust Dragon can be tributed at any point during the game to negate a card that destroys any other card on your field. Then, it returns to your side of the field during the End Phase. There are other monsters with effects that resolve during the end phase as well. (Some of the notable ones are nearly every good Tech Genus monster, and XX-Saber Darksoul and XX-Saber Emmersblade.)
The only other thing you may do during the end phase is check your hand for the number of cards. If you have more than six, you must discard cards down to six now. (This is rare, usually you set whatever spells or traps you have until you have five to six cards in your hand.)
After doing all this, you pass turn to your opponent, who will go through all the steps above. The only thing you may do during your opponent's turn is activate a Quick Play spell (indicated by having a lightning bolt in the top right hand corner) or any traps that you set during the previous turn. As to when you can activate what, the card will usually indicate when you can or cannot. If a card says, "When an opponent summons a monster", or "When your opponent attacks", then that's the only time you may activate them. If they have no specific condition, you may activate them whenever. Knowing the precise moment to do so is something you learn as you gain experience as a player.
The last thing I want to cover is monster summoning. I talked about this a little before, but I want to go in depth and show you the five basic kinds of summoning, and explain what an Extra Deck is.
Normal Summon - At one point, this was the most common type of summoning. If there's a monster in your hand that is level one through level four (check the stars just under the name of the card), then you may summon that monster from your hand. Only one Normal Summon is allowed during your turn, though there are some cards that allow you to break that rule. (Double Summon is one, but that card is bad. And Ultimate Offering is another, but that card is only good in certain decks.)
Tribute Summoning - This method of summoning isn't used as frequently as it once was, since Special Summoning basically took it's place during 2006 or 2007 or so. If you have a monster in your hand higher than level 4, it cannot be summoned without first tributing a monster you have on the field. The higher the level of the monster, the more tributes you must have to summon it.
Level 5 and 6 monsters require one tribute. Levels 7 and 8 require two tributes. Level 9 through 12 require three tributes. The reason this type of summoning isn't used often is because you give up too much field advantage to summon a single monster, one that might be destroyed easily the following turn by a spell, or during your own turn by a trap. It is still an option available to you however, though your deck may or may not ever use it. (Most level five plus monsters in people's decks these days tend to be either Synchro Monsters or monsters that can be special summoned.)
Special Summon - Because of the natural power creep of this game, this is now the most common type of summoning in any truly strong deck. Special Summoning speeds up the game, and also your win condition. A monster may only be special summoned if you can meet the requirements for summoning it. For example, Cyber Dragon, a powerful level 5 monster, can be special summoned if your opponent's field has one or more monsters on it while your field is empty. So obviously if you have a monster on the field, you cannot special summon it. Other monsters, like Blackwing - Bora the Spear or Legendary Six Samurai - Kizan, can be special summoned only if there is another monster of the same archetype ("Blackwings" or "Six Samurai") on the field already. These are the two most common types of special summoning conditions, though there are others.
You may special summon as frequently as you like, so long as you have the cards in your hand or in the graveyard to do so, and can meet the condition of the card.
Synchro Summon - This is where players who once knew the game but left, then came back get confused, but it's really quite simple. At it's base, Synchro Summoning requires any one monster, and then another monster that is also a Tuner. Whether or not a monster is a tuner will be in the effect description box underneath the monster's picture. Some of the more common tuners are Junk Synchron and Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind. There are many, many (many) others, but usually they are specific to the deck you're using. I'll talk about them more when I get into specific deck types.
Anyway, if you have a Tuner and a non-Tuner (which is any monster not a Tuner, so there's tons), you can summon a Synchro Monster. The monster you summon, however, must have a level equal to EXACTLY the monsters you used to Synchro Summon for it.
Example: I Normal Summon Junk Synchron (Level 3), and I use his effect to revive any monster level 2 or lower from the Graveyard to the field to Special Summon Doppelwarrior (Level 2) from the Graveyard. I then Synchro Summon, sending both monsters to the graveyard to summon Ally of Justice - Catastor (Level 5) to the field.
Synchro Summons are counted as special summons, so you may do this during your turn as often as you like, so long as you can meet the conditions. Synchro Monsters sometimes also have their own condition, found in the effect box underneath the monster's picture. For instance, Naturia Beast and Naturia Barkion, two powerful Synchro Monsters, can only be summoned with Tuner and non-Tuner monsters that are EARTH attribute. These type of monsters find themselves in more specific decks, while generic synchro monsters (that only have the level condition) often find themselves in all decks.
Fusion Summoning - This is even more rare than Tribute Summoning, but I'm going to talk about it because the few decks that CAN use it, do so to great effect. Monsters with dark purple backgrounds are called fusions.
The interesting thing about fusions is that most often they can only be fused by a card called Polymerization. Fusion Summoning is like Synchro Summoning, only the level doesn't matter. Instead, the monster you are trying to summon will have it's own requirements, most often being specific two monsters.
Mostly, you don't have to worry about making your deck able to fusion summon. Most early fusion monsters sucked. The ones made today are made for archetype specific decks, like Elemental HEROes and Gladiator Beasts. One important note I'd like to make is that while most fusion summons require Polymerization, Super Polymerization, or Fusion Gate, some fusions (for instance all Gladiator Beast ones) only require the specific monsters to be on the field to summon themselves. This is called a Contact Fusion. Also, much like Synchro Summoning, any fusion summon sends the fusion material to the graveyard.
Exceed Summoning / XYZ Summoning - This is the newest form of summoning, created specifically for Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL, the latest Yu-Gi-Oh anime. XYZ (pronounced "ik-seez") Summons are different from all the previous forms, though they work a bit different/slightly more simple.
If you have two monsters on your side of the field, of the same level, you may overlay one on top of the other to XYZ summon a new monster. The new monster is then laid on top of the other two. This is important. They do NOT go to the graveyard (yet).
For instance: I Normal Summon Marauding Captain (level 4), and use his effect to Special Summon Command Knight (level 4) from my hand. With two monsters that are both level 4 on the field, I place one on top of the other, and then XYZ summon Number 39: Utopia.
Now, a few important things to note about XYZ summons. They don't have levels, like normal monsters. They have Ranks. You overlay two monsters of the same level to summon a monster with a Rank of that number. (IE, two level 4s make one Rank 4.) This is important because cards that say "monsters level blank or lower/higher" cannot affect these cards. Secondly, XYZ Summons, like any decent monster, have effects, but can only use their effects by detaching an overlay monster and sending it to the graveyard. Utopia's effect, for instance, is to negate any attack at the cost of sending one of the monsters under it to the grave.
Some of the earliest XYZ monsters have negative effects if you get rid of all their overlay materials (Utopia's is that once his overlays are gone, if someone attacks him he's instantly destroyed), but this is being phased out as better and more useful ones are being introduced.
*exhales* Whew! That was a lot of crap to take in. I forgot how much stuff you have to learn when you first start playing this game.
Okay, one last thing: Fusions, Synchros, XYZs--none of them go in your main deck. Instead, they have their own space called an Extra Deck. The Extra Deck consists entirely of Fusions/Synchros/XYZ monsters, and you can have anywhere from 1 to 15 cards in it.
The best way to look at it, is that your hand essentially always has those fifteen cards in it, since you may special summon those monsters to the field whenever you meet the conditions to summon them, and aren't forced to find those monsters in your main deck. This is why the Extra Deck is so small, as it presents a number of options to any situation you might be in during a given duel.
Alright, that's it for me. A little later I'll finish up doing Staple Spells. Next week I'll start on Staple Traps, and after that I'll probably do Staple Synchro/XYZ monsters. 'Til next time.
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