Negating Summons: Activations(Part 2)

Now that we have a basic understanding of negating summons, we can talk about  "activating a card" VS "activating the effect of a card" This is important as this affects how we can negate the summon of continuous spell cards like Call Of The Mummy and Valhalla, Hall Of The Fallen.

"Once per turn: You can Special Summon 1 Zombie-Type monster from your hand. You must control no monsters to activate and to resolve this effect."

This sounds really simple doesn't it? However, many people do not realize that once Call Of The Mummy is active on the field (and when i say active, i mean it is face-up on the field for a few turns already), the player is "activating the effect of a card" not "activating a card" if he chooses to use its effect. Cards like Solemn Warning cannot be used to negate the summon as Solemn Warning negates "activating a card". However, a player can still negate the activation of Call Of The Mummy with Solemn Judgement if Call Of The Mummy is played from the hand, since playing Call Of The Mummy from the hand is considered as "activating a card" and starts a chain link.

So what this means is that a special summon using Call Of The Mummy cannot be negated by cards such as Solemn Warning, Solemn Judgement and Black Horn Of Heaven, since the special summon is due to the "activating the effect of a card". However, this is not the case with Royal Oppression.

"Either player can pay 800 Life Points to negate the Special Summon of a monster(s), and/or an effect that Special Summons a monster(s), and destroy those cards" 

What do we know about Royal Oppression? It is a continuous trap card with a Quick-like Effect. And yes, it is a banned card. If Royal Oppression and Call Of The Mummy are both face up on the field, Royal Oppression can be used to negate the special summon of Call Of The Mummy, since this is stated implicitly in Royal Oppression card text which i have highlighted in blue. The highlighted portion in blue is targeted against "activating the effect of a card". Also note that Royal Oppression effect cannot be used in the Damage Step, so it cannot be used to negate the special summon of Gorz The Emissary Of Darkness if it is special summoned when the player takes battle damage. Another card worth taking note of is Imperial Order. And yes, it is another banned card.

 "As long as this card remains face-up on the field, negate the effects of all spell cards on the field. Pay 700 Life Points during each of your StandBy Phases. If you do not, this card is destroyed."

For the same reasoning, Imperial Order works against cards like Call Of The Mummy. The card text in red simply negates the effect of Call Of The Mummy when a player tries to "activate the effect of a card". But this card has also been banned for a long time so........

Question: Can Solemn Warning be used to negate a special summon using Water Hazard? I leave it to the reader to decide.......

Dueling Network: Dueling Online

Hi everybody, welcome today to my rant of dueling online. As we all know, there is no shortage to noobs and trolls to those that play yu-gi-oh! on Dueling Network. Today, we are going to pay tribute to noobs and trolls on dueling network. We are going to look at two cards that yours truly have created to pay homage to these delightful people.

"When this card is normal/special summoned: you can special summon a DN Noob from your hand, deck or graveyard. Increase the attack of  DN Noob by 1000 points for each DN Troll on the field. This card cannot be destroyed by battle and its summon cannot be negated"

Yes, there is no stopping DN Trolls. They can't be destroyed by battle and their summoning can't be negated. Once it hits the field, there is no stopping them. Best of all, its a dark attribute fiend monster with 1000 attack points, meaning its searchable with cards like Sangan and Tour Guide From The Underworld. Every DN Noob deck should run 3 copies of this card.

"A noob on dueling network who like playing card games. Unfortunately, he does not know the basic rules of yu-gi-oh!"

A level two normal monster that can be searched by with Rescue Rabbit and Sangan. Unfortunately, it has 0 attack and 0 defend, meaning it would be best to overlay them for a xyz summon if DN Troll isn't on the field. This is a card that would rely heavily on DN Troll for support. However, it has potential to become a 3000 attack beatstick if 3 copies of  DN Troll is on the field. I can smell people abusing this card  for a one turn kill. However, this card needs to be played with thought.

My ratings on DN Troll/Noob deck? This deck truly has potential. It has searchers which is always a good thing and DN Troll effect is kinda nice. But what i like most about this deck is that how DN Noob can have the potential of becoming a 3k beatstick, meaning that we should never look down on DN Noobs. This is all for today guys. Take care and have fun on dueling network.

Negating Summons: What does it all mean? (Part1)

Hi everyone, welcome the first of my many blogs on yu-gi-oh. I have been playing yu-gi-oh for some time now, and i realized that many people on dueling network do not know when they can negate a summon. This article aims to clear up any confusion that people have on when and what cards they can use to negate a summon.

To understand what summons can and cannot be negated,
we need an understanding on three things:

• When can I chain to an effect
• How is the monster being summoned
• What is my card trying to tell me

The first point is really important and you need to understand it if you want to be a professional yu-gi-oh player. Many people think they can chain to any effect that activates on the field. However, this is not always the case. Some cards like Banisher Of The Radiance and Mist Valley Falcon do not use the chain when their effects come into play. This means that at any point of time, you cannot chain to their effects. Cards like Herald Of Orange Light cannot be used to chain to their effects. Reason? These cards do not use the chain. That's just it...

There are two types of summons, a normal summon and a special summon. All normal summons are inherent summons. A special summon however, can further be sub-divided into two groups:

1. A built-in summon: These summons do not start a chain. These include synchro, fusion and xyz summons. Cards that do not have a semi-colon or colon in their summoning text are cards that do not start a chain when they are special summoned.
2. Effects that summon: These monsters start a chain when they are being summoned. Cards with a semi-colon or colon in their summoning text are cards that start a chain when they are special summoned. An example of this is Gorz The Emissary Of Darkness.

 "When you take damage from a card your opponent controls: You can special summon this card from your hand" 

Note the colon(:) in the summoning text. Gorz start a chain when his effect activates and his effect can be chained to. This is why the first point of knowing when you can chain to an effect is so important as we shall see later on.

Now to our last point. What is your card trying to tell you? Cards that negate summon like Solemn Judgement, Black Horn Of Heaven and Thunder King Rai-Oh can only negate a built-in summon. Yes! That means they cannot negate the summon of Gorz The Emissary Of Darkness since Gorz starts a chain when he is  being summoned. However, cards like Solemn Warning have two parts to its card text:

"When a monster would be Summoned, OR when a Spell Card, Trap Card or Effect Monster's effect is activated that includes an effect that Special Summons a monster(s): Pay 2000 Life Points; negate the Summon OR activation, and destroy that card."  

The first part(in blue) talks about inherent and built-in summons, while the second part(in purple) talks about effects that summon! So yes! Solemn warning can negate the activation of cards like Gorz The Emissiary Of Darkness and Battle Fader while cards like Solemn Judgement cant because Solemn Warning card text allows it to do so.

Now for a quick quiz: Can Herald Of Orange Light be used to negate the activation of Gorz The Emissary Of Darkness and destroy it? Hint:(Can Gorz activation be chained to?)


Now that we have a brief knowledge of all these yu-gi-oh tech talk, we can look at how Solemn Warning affect these cards: Water Hazard, Call Of The Mummy and Valhalla, Hall Of The Fallen in the next part of our negating summon series.