Luckys Dorm

This is where im going to post all of my Articles. The series is entitled "Judgement Call"

Judgement Call I
By: Lucky Coin

I decided to start writing this series because this game can get complicated and frustrating. I am hoping that i can help shed some light on a few of the shadier areas of the game play. Before every article i post i will take a request and then answer it to the fullest of my ability.
Today we have one ruling based question. As well as a game mechanics insight. In the first part I will go over the situational rulings of inherent summons as well as chain links and resolutions.. Then i will give you a few of my own tips and tricks to dealing with the other kinds of summons.


----------Inherent Summons and you----------

Now i know what your thinking. "Inherent summon...Whats That?" Not a term you hear a lot i know, but believe it or not you conduct several of these in every duel. Inherent summons are essentially just summons where it doesn't necessarily open a chain-link. Sounds confusing i know, but i will go over a few easy ways to tell the difference. as well as a few examples of Inherent summoning. But before i do i should refresh you as to what a chain is and how it occurs.
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(A chain in yu-gi-oh is much like a real chain. A chain is started whenever a card effect is activated. The first card activated is considered to be Chain link 1. So say i was dueling and i activated Pot of greed. This would be the first link in my chain, or Chain link 1. Resolution of a chain occurs i reverse order. So going back to my example duel. I played pot of greed starting the chain. Now my opponent plays the Jar of greed he had face down. His jar now becomes the 2nd link in our chain aka chain link 2. If no additional plays are made we then resolve this chain as follows. First my opponent draws for his trap, then i draw for my spell. )

Now the important thing to take out of that is that in order for a chain to begin a card effect must be activated. This means summons like say Synchro summoning a monster or xyzing wouldn't start such a chain. Now before you go thinking class dismissed you need to realize some other cards are also Inherent summons. Some examples of these cards are "Cyber Dragon", "Chaos Sorcerer", and "The Dark Creator". Now i know what your thinking. I just said activating an effect would start a chain. However these cards are not "activating" effects. The effects written on these cards are whats called "Summon effects". Another fancy term but you can just think of them as summoning requirements. When you meet the specific requirement on the card you can then summon the card from your hand. Becuase no real effect is active a chain is not started.

The reason knowing how these special summons work is a large portion of cards today only work on such summons. A few of these cards are, "Solemn Judgement", "Horn Of Heaven" and "Thunder king Rai-oh". Now it is true that these traps can be used to stop other such annoyances. But when it comes to "Special Summons" they may only be used on an "Inherent summon". Allow me to give you and example.
Say I have a Solemn Judgement set face down and it is my opponents turn. He chooses to special summon his chaos sorcerer from his hand. When his Sorcerer is on the field i may now choose to activate my trap in "response" to his summon.

Simple enough, now lets change the circumstances a bit. I have a face the same trap face down. My opponent chooses to remove a Mezuki to special summon a zombie from his graveyard. In this circumstance i would not be able to respond with my Solemn Judgement. This is because summoning the monster is part of another cards effect.

Now lets say my opponent had used Monster reborn instead of Mezuki, Solemn judgement would have been able to negate the activation of the Spell, had i chosen not too do so, i could not negate the summon afterwards.

Obviously i can not go over every permutation and combination of cards for such rulings, so if you are not sure about a card or cards the best way to find out is check it out yourself and investigate. If there is not a ruling on that card check cards that work similarly or are cards that have text that is much the same. And if you can not find out, ask a someone like a judge who might have an answer for you.

--------------------Other Special Summons-----------------------

Now we both know while dueling you deal with a wide variety of monsters and summons. There is little doubt in my head that you have encountered cards like rescue rabbit, Super Polymerization, and Gorz the emissary of darkness. Each one of these cards effects and summons are not chain able by the 3 cards stated above or by any cards that work in the same fashion. Now excluding super poly for the moment each of the other 2 cards is easy to beat in a few ways. 1 such way is by using cards that negate effect activation, such as Divine Wrath, or Gladiator War Beast Chariot. Another way is by using cards like Royal Oppression or Solemn Warning which negate the effects of cards that special summon/ Inherent summons.
Now there isn't very many ways of preventing super polymerization other than having cards on the field that prevent special summons such as Archlord Krystia. Since your opponent can not properly conduct the effect when it was played they can not use the card.


I hope you enjoyed the article. If you would like to suggest the topic of the next "Judgement Call" Article then leave me a reply. Once again i hope you find it insightful and enjoyable.