The Rising Cost of Jewelry

I'm sure many players are familiar with Elemental Hero Prisma. The card achieved much notoriety once players discovered the potential it brought in creating a one-turn

Gladiator Beast fusions (mainly Gyzarus and Heraklinos). The card is a godsend for Fusion based builds mainly for its searchability, thinning the deck, and loading the Graveyard with Fusion Materials. Its usage has extended even into the current meta with the so-called "Prismadiator/Prismaglad" builds which made their debut during the 75th Shonen Jump Championship at Edison, New Jersey.

Though Prisma has long been a fairly expensive card (formerly costing a minimum of $20 for a single copy), its recent reprinting in Gold Series 3 has fortunately allowed for the price to drop. This latest re-release of the card has also sparked a ruling reversal regarding Prisma's effect. Let's look at both texts:

Original Effect: Once per turn, you can reveal 1 Fusion Monster from your Fusion Deck and send 1 of the Fusion Material Monsters listed on that card from your Deck to the Graveyard. Until the End Phase, this card's name is treated as the send monster's name.

Errata'd Effect: Once per turn, you can activate this card's effect by revealing 1 Fusion Monster from your Extra Deck and sending 1 of the Fusion Material Monsters listed on that card from your Main Deck to the Graveyard. Until the End Phase, this card's name becomes the name of the monster you sent to the Graveyard.

Formerly, under UDE Elemental Hero Prisma's effect was considered costless and the Fusion Material Monster selected was sent to the Graveyard at the resolution of its effect.

The Fusion Material Monster is sent from your Deck to the Graveyard when "Elemental Hero Prisma's" effect resolves.

However, as the revised text indicates Elemental Hero Prisma's action of sending a specifically named Fusion Material Monster to the Graveyard is now the effect's cost. This is likely to match the OCG ruling, which has always been this way.

Showing 1 Fusion Monster to your opponent and sending 1 Fusion Material Monster to your Graveyard is a cost to activate the effect.

Source? This information was obtained from an e-mail sent to KDE:

From:************** [mailto:*************@*******.com]
Sent: Saturday, June 26, 2010 8:33 PM
To: us-ygorules@konami.com
Subject: Elemental Hero Prisma and Prime Material Dragon/Bad Reaction to Simochi

Hello, I have 2 questions.

1. Is Elemental Hero Prisma a cost when sending a monster to the graveyard?


2. If Prime Material Dragon and Bad Reaction to Simochi are both on the field and Gift Card is played, what will happen? Do the players gain or lose life points? What if Ceasefire is played while Prime Material Dragon and Bad Reaction to Simochi are both on the field?

Their response:

US YGO Rules [us-ygorules@konami.com]
Date Tue, Jun 29, 2010 at 1:45 PM
Subject RE: Elemental Hero Prisma and Prime Material Dragon/Bad Reaction to Simochi

1. Prisma is activated by revealing a Fusion Monster from your Extra Deck and sending one of the named Fusion Material Monsters on that card from your Main Deck to the Graveyard, as clarified on the GLD3 text.

2. If Gift Card is played, the opponent will gain 3000 Life Points. If Ceasefire is played, the opponent will be damaged.

What are the implications of all this? Well, formerly since sending a Fusion Material Monster to the Graveyard was part of Prisma's effect, this meant that the effect could still be used even if cards like Macro Cosmos or Dimensional Fissure were active, since the Prisma didn't require the monster to actually reach the Graveyard. However, with the new ruling the cost would not be payable in such a situation. On the bright side this means that if a Book of Moon or Bottomless Trap Hole chained to Prisma's effect won't stop the monster from being sent as the cost would be paid prior to the resolution of the chain.

I hope that cleared things up for today.

Remember players, the game ends with you.