Zero Logic 2

It's rare for me to post twice in the same day, but due to the seriousness of the matter at hand I thought it would be best not to wait. Some of you might remember my previous post regarding what happens when two 0 ATK Monsters battle one another. Julia Hedberg of the KDE Judge Program recently released an update on the matter:

Hi everyone, 

There has been an important change made to the latest version of the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG Official Rulebook, which is included with the Structure Deck: Dragunity Legion.  

The current version is listed as Version 7.2, you can find the version number on the lower right corner of the Rulebook cover. 

On page 43 in the “Other Rules” section, the following clarification has been made:
• “0 ATK monsters
Monsters with 0 ATK cannot destroy anything by battle. If two Attack Position monsters with 0 ATK battle each other, neither monster is destroyed.”

So that's one less ruling that needs to be carried over from the OCG to the TCG. We're one step closer to having universal rulings. ^__^

Remember players, the game ends with you.

Brain Explodes

My head hurts right now. On one hand, it's because I have a final exam in three days. On the other hand, it's due to the number of times Necrovalley has been errata'd. The funny thing is that it's only in its fifth errata that the text matches what the OCG rulings for the card imply.

Original Lore: PGD-084: As long as this card remains face-up on the field, all effects of Magic, Trap, and/or Effect Monster Cards that involve Graveyards are negated and neither player can remove cards in the Graveyards from play. In addition, increase the ATK and DEF of all monsters that includes "Gravekeeper's" in their card name by 500 points. 

1st Errata Lore: DL3-001: As long as this card remains face-up on the field, all effects of Spell, Trap, and/or Effect Monster Cards that involve Graveyards are negated and neither player can remove cards in the Graveyards from play. In addition, increase the ATK and DEF of all monsters that includes "Gravekeeper's" in their card name by 500 points. 

2nd Errata Lore: DR1-EN032: As long as this card remains on the field, negate the effects of Spell, Trap, and Monster Cards that affect a card(s) in the Graveyard, and neither player can remove cards in the Graveyards from play. Also, as long as this card remains on the field, increase the ATK and DEF of all monsters that include "Gravekeeper's" in their card name by 500 points. 

3rd Errata Lore: CP03-EN020: Negate the effects of Spell, Trap, and Monster Cards that affect a card(s) in the Graveyard. Neither player can remove from play cards in the Graveyard. All "Gravekeeper's" monsters gain 500 ATK and DEF. 

4th Errata Lore: TU02-EN014: Negate the effects of Spells, Traps, and Effect Monsters that target a card(s) in either player's Graveyard. Cards in either player's Graveyard cannot be removed from play. All "Gravekeeper's" monsters gain 500 ATK and DEF. 

5th Errata Lore: SDMA-EN025: All "Gravekeeper's" monsters gain 500 ATK and DEF. Cards in either player's Graveyard cannot be removed from play. Cards in either player's Graveyard cannot be affected by card effects, except for their own effects. 

Why should this particular revision be of any concern you ask? Well, from the way it's phrased you'd no longer be able to revive monsters destroyed by battle with Goyo Guardian. The new text also implies that Colossal Fighter would now be able to use it's revival effect while Necrovalley is in play, provided it targets itself.

I'm still analyzing the judges' responses on this particular errata so should any updates occur I'll be sure to post them here once I get some "concrete" rulings.

Remember players, the game ends with you.

Zero Logic

Ruling reversals are one of those things that should never have existed. In the past it was UDE's fault that the appropriate rulings were not carried over from the OCG, but now that Konami runs everything themselves there's really no one else too blame. Ideally they ought to have a section on their website dedicated to rulings for all cards so that players aren't forced to rely on Yu-Gi-Oh! Wikia and the delayed e-mail system.

I only bring this issue up due to an issue that occurred at the World Championship this year. The following ruling (among others) was given out to judges during the event as a result of the Japanese EC 2010 Head Judge noticing that we're ruling stuff differently from the way the OCG would rule them.

Previously in the TCG it was ruled that if two monsters in Attack Position with zero ATK battle each other, both of them would be destroyed.

- 0 ATK vs 0 ATK
If two monsters in Attack Position with zero ATK battle each other, none of them are destroyed.

While the matter may seemed to have been resolved, things are never so simple. Julia Hedberg, whom some of you may recognize as the head of the Judge Program, issued this statement on the Adjudication Conflagration discussion board:

Ok guys, correction on this one.

There was apparently some additional information given out at Worlds when I wasn't around.
The 0 vs 0 does not destroy was applied at Worlds, but it won't be applied at other events. Currently the rulebook supports monsters being destroyed, so the monsters are destroyed.

I have inadverntantly contributed to some confusion here, and I'm absolutely sorry for that. Color my face red :)

While the rationale for this move eludes me, it is the ruling that we're forced to work with...for now anyway.

Remember players, the game ends with you.

Whiplash

The resemble is uncanny, eh? I thought so anyway.

Now I'm not a huge fan of Gladiator Beasts, but even I have to admit that they can be brutal. Back when the archetype dominated the meta, summoning a Gladiator Beast Darius and using it to revive a Bestiari only to Contact Fuse them into Gyzarus was brutal.

Their power waned a bit once Synchros came into the mix and Bestiari became restricted to one, but Gladiator Beasts started seeing more play at the last Shonen Jump Championship. Using Elemental Hero Prisma to send a Bestiari to the Graveyard and then tagging the Prisma (now Bestiari) out with a Test Tiger allowed for easy Gyzarus plays. Using a Cold Wave or Gladiator Beast War Chariot would usually guarantee the combo would go through unhitched.

Speaking of which, I've recently received an update regarding Gladiator Beast Darius's effect. Check it:

From: Pepe
Sent: Wednesday, July 07, 2010 9:14 AM
To: us-ygorules@konami.com
Subject: Regarding GB Darius

Hi,

I have some questions regarding Darius and his negation effect.

1.- Will flipping the negated monster face-down and then face-up sever the connection between them and stop the negation?

2.- If Darius is flipped face-down and then face-up, will the negation start again?

3.- If I chain Bottomless Trap Hole or Compulsory Evacuation Device to Darius's effect, is the summoned monster's effect still negated?

4.- If I chain Book of Moon to Darius's effect, is the summoned monster's effect still negated?

Thanks.

The response:

From: US YGO Rules [us-ygorules@konami.com]
Date: Mon, Jul 12, 2010 at 4:45 PM
Subject: RE: Regarding GB Darius
To: Pepe
1. Yes

2. No

3. No

4. No

Now the answers to the first two questions is the same as its always been. However, in the case of the bolded areas the ruling's been reversed. What's this mean? Well if Darius is not on the field at the time when the Gladiator Beast it revives is summoned, then that monster will not have its effect negated. Let's break it down.

• I Normal Summon Elemental Hero Prisma and use its effect to send Gladiator Beast Bestiari to the Graveyard.
• Since Elemental Hero Prisma would now be a Gladiator Beast, I can Special Summon Test Tiger from my hand.
• I tribute Test Tiger with its effect and return the Elemental Hero Prisma to my Deck to Special Summon Gladiator Beast Darius.
• When Gladiator Beast Darius is successful summoned I use its effect declaring my intention to revive my Gladiator Beast Bestiari.
• At this point, my opponent chains Bottomless Trap Hole on Gladiator Beast Darius. Since the chain would resolve in reverse, Gladiator Beast Darius would be removed from play first and then Gladiator Beast Bestiari would be Special Summoned.
• Since Gladiator Beast Darius and the monster it revived were never on the Field simultaneously, the Gladiator Beast Bestiari would not get its effect negated.

Simple enough.

Remember players, the game ends with you.

MIND CRUSH!!!

I did not make this video. Yu-Gi-Oh! © Kazuki Takahashi

Nostalgia FTK! Serious, I can't count the number of times I thought of Yami Yugi mind crushing the his opponents every time I see the actual card. That aside today I'll be discussing a fairly straightforward yet often overlooked ruling regarding the titular card.

Now first let's look at Mind Crush's effect:

Declare 1 card name. If that card is in your opponent's hand, they must discard all copies of it in their hand. If it is not, you randomly discard 1 card.

Fairly simple, no?

Now previously the following rules applied for Mind Crush:

• You cannot activate "Mind Crush" if you have no hand. Both players must have at least 1 card in hand in order to activate "Mind Crush".
• You declare the card name when you activate "Mind Crush".
• If the opponent doesn't have the named card, you can check their hand to confirm.
• If the opponent discards the named card, you do not check their hand to verify. (Judge List Ruling)

Unfortunately that last ruling poses a little problem. Say if you were to activate Mind Crush and you opponent had multiple copies of the declared card in hand, since they only need to reveal their hand is they claim to have held zero copies your opponent could theoretically discard only one copy and make it look like they they drew into the other copies later in the duel. Now not all players would cheat like this, but in the competitive scene this could pose a major issue as in the case with certain Infernity players setting monsters in their Spell and Trap Card Zones to be able to pull off their handless combos.

Because of this Konami has recently issued a ruling reversal for Mind Crush.

"If the maximum legally allowed number of copies of the declared card cannot be verified as public knowledge, you may ask your opponent to verify their hand."

This cards should be shown quickly so as not to interrupt the flow of the duel and the opponent should never handle the cards. The intent of this ruling is to show that an effect has been successfully completed, not to reveal private information to an opponent or allow him to take extensive time strategizing over it.

What does this mean exactly? Let's look at some examples.

Example 1: You activate Mind Crush and declare Call of the Haunted. Your opponent responds by chaining their Call of the Haunted targeting the Sangan in his/her Graveyard. Since Call of the Haunted is currently limited, your opponent can not legally own more than one copy and does not need to confirm his/her hand.

Example 2: You activate Mind Crush and declare Call of the Haunted. Your opponent discards one Call of the Haunted. Since Call of the Haunted is currently limited, your opponent can not legally own more than one copy and does not need to confirm his/her hand.

Example 3: You activate Mind Crush and declare Honest. Your opponent, who had previous used a copy of Honest earlier in the duel, discards his/her second copy. Since Honest is semi-limited and your opponent can not legally own more than two copies it, he/she does not need to confirm his/her hand.

Example 4: You activate Mind Crush and declare Honest. Your opponent discards one Honest. Since Honest is semi-limited and there were previously no other Honest(s) in his/her Graveyard, you are allowed to verify their hand for the presence of another copy of Honest.

I hope that makes sense to everyone.

Remember players, the game ends with you.

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.