I'm not trying to come across an elitist or anything, but having to explain the why things like Torrential Tribute and Starlight Road can't be activated during the Damage Step to players can be a tiring process, especially to those that don't have a fundamental grasp of the rulings. Since a friend of mine was able to sum things up quite nicely for another layer the other day, I'd like to post his words here today. Hopefully, my efforts will not be in
vain.
When it comes to the Damage Step restrictions, one might ask why something like Torrential Tribute or Bottomless Trap Hole should be given special allowance in the first place? If the only answer to this is to dumb down the game, then its really not gonna fly, as we have enough of those already. Instead, just consult the following chart when asking yourself if an effect can be activated during the Damage Step or not.
- Counter-Trap cards.
- Spell speed 2 stat modifiers (which are only valid candidates up to and including the "Before Damage Calculation" window)
- Monster effects that activate with the intent of negating the activation of a card or effect.
- Cards and effects with special allowance written in their text or rulings.
- Appropriate trigger effects, which often fall under the above category or don't need to specify otherwise.
And there you have. I could not explain things any simpler if I tried.
Remember players, the game ends with you.
I wasn't aware of the exception of the second rule. Does this mean that Alchemy Cycle cannot be activated during the Damage Step?
ReplyDeleteAlso, is Shrink classified as a card of the second or fourth category? Or perhaps both? It says "Before Damage Calculation" (which suggests category 2), but only in the rulings (which suggests category 4).
Alchemy Cycle can be activated during the Damage Step, but only before Damage Calculation.
ReplyDeleteAs for Shrink, it would be classified within the second category:
"Effects that increase, decrease, halve, double, etc. the ATK and/or DEF of a monster cannot be activated at this time, unless they are specifically allowed to be activated "during damage calculation". This means that cards like "Shrink", which are not specifically activated "during damage calculation", cannot be activated, while "Injection Fairy Lily's" effect can be activated."
Oh, I see. I misread category 2 and thought that it had to state "Before Damage Calculation" on the card/ruling.
ReplyDeleteSo, just to confirm, there are actually 3 timings to activate a card, right?
-When an attack is declared (Book of Moon)
-Before damage calculation (Shrink)
-During damage calculation (Injection Fairy Lily)
Also, are these the TCG or OCG rulings and what's the difference between the two?
I showed your post to my friend Val who wrote the original excerpt and he had this to say:
ReplyDelete"Book of Moon doesn't have any Damage Step clearance, so the latest time it can be activated is before moving into the damage Step itself. You can activate it in response to the attack declaration if you'd like (like when you'd play Mirror Force), but you don't "need" to. You can also wait until that response window closes (aka, when both players pass the chance to activate something in response to the attack), and then simply activate it during the open space before moving into the Damage Step. That's actually more common, especially if you're the player who's attacking.
Shrink doesn't have a strict activation timing in terms of needing to be used somewhere specific, so it can be used up to & including the before damage calculation stage. It just can't be used During Damage Calculation because it doesn't have special allowance for that.
Injection Fairy Lilly "needs" to be activated during damage calculation, as that's what her trigger effect was designed to do.
As far as I know, this is all the same for the tcg as well as ocg. There's a few bad rulings that Shrink received for the tcg, but they don't involve activation timing. They just have to do with reapplying or not reapplying certain stat mod effects/conditions/whatever that shouldn't or should be reapplied after Shrink resolves. They're best to ignore, since none of them are popular cards, and since they're bkss anyway.
Basically, Shrink sets a new current ATK on the monster, based on what half that monster's Original ATK is. Then, you reapply any modifications that are continuously maintained by something such as a field or equip card, as well as any continuous effects that didn't need a specific instance to set them into motion. For example, if you Shrink a Breaker that's holding a spell counter, you'll set him to 800 (half of 1600), and then add the 300 back to him because the continuous effect is counting the 300 without caring about the instance of it being added.
The stuff you don't (or at least shouldn't) reapply are lingering boosts from cards like Rush Recklessly, or unique continuous effects from cards like Barbaros that were only applied based on something that happened once, but that won't happen again. Due to mass confusion based on wording choices (as well as bkss exceptions regarding that Gren Maju card, King of the Skull Servants & Dark Jeroid that make no sense), this is something that's generally best to ignore unless brought up."