The Egyptian God Cards

So, everyone who is familiar with the game, anime or manga, should know what the three Egyptian God cards are. Just in case you don’t know, I’ll give you a quick overview of them. If you do already know about them, or just can’t be bothered reading this part, feel free to skip ahead to the next paragraph. The origins of the cards themselves lie in the foundations of the game. When Maximillian Pegasus travelled to Egypt and found out about the ancient Shadow Games, it inspired him to create the game Duel Monsters. Pegasus also found out about three beings in Egyptian Mythology that he believed existed during the times of the Shadow Games. These beings were called Slifer the Sky Dragon, Obelisk the Tormentor and The Winged Dragon of Ra- The three Egyptian Gods. (In actuality, there are a lot more than three Gods in Egyptian Mythology and none of them are called by the above names, although it has been confirmed that Slifer is supposed to represent Osiris, the Egyptian God of the Afterlife (or underworld. I forget which one). The Winged Dragon of Ra, obviously is supposed to represent Ra, the Egyptian God of the Sun. Obelisk is not linked to a God, but rather a rectangular statue called an “obelisk”). Apologies for the tangent. Pegasus began having the cards made but after his staff suffered injuries/death, or after a nightmare (this part varies between the manga and the anime) while designing the cards, Pegasus made one copy of each card himself as he was protected from “the wrath of the Gods” by his Millennium Eye. He then gave these cards to Ishizu Ishtar, knowing they were too dangerous to be released, who hid them. The cards play a large role in Seasons 2 and 3 as well have a significant part of the plot of Seasons 4 and 5, despite not being used until the end of each Season.

The reason I’m talking about the God cards is because I think they are about to see a lot more play. Some of you will have heard about a new card that will be released soon (I haven’t managed to find the exact release date yet) called “The Winged Dragon of Ra- Sphere Mode”. If this card isn’t banned straight off the bat, which I hope it isn’t, it will be Limited, because the card’s effect is just insane. You normal summon it, to your opponent’s side of the field by tributing three of their monsters. They can’t attack/defend with it, they can’t destroy by battle or by effects that target it. Theoretically, they could banish it, though there’s no cards that I know of that allow you to banish monsters you control from your field, permanently. So basically, the card just sits there for your opponents whole turn. You then take it back during their End Phase and you can then tribute it to Special Summon one The Winged Dragon of Ra from your hand or deck, ignoring its summoning conditions and it has 4000 ATK/DEF. It just makes Ra so much more worth summoning because previously, it was dangerous to summon, it took almost all your life points (although you didn’t have to sacrifice your life points to Ra) so if you got it wrong and Ra was destroyed, you were basically screwed, and so a lot of players didn’t run Ra in their decks. Sphere Mode bypasses that downside and on top of that, you can still activate Ra’s other ability and pay 1000 Life Points to go all “Egyptian God Phoenix” on your opponent and destroy all their monsters.

I also think that if Sphere Mode does stay legal, we’ll see legal summons of Horakhty, because right now, the only way I’ve seen it done is through using cards like Return from the Different Dimension, which is banned. Theoretically, it could be done with Different Dimension Reincarnation (DDR), but that would make Horakhty harder to summon because you would have to have both Slifer and Obelisk banished, as well as have three monsters on the field, have two copies of DDR ready to go with two cards ready to discard, and have Ra and Horakhty in your hand. That is a lot of requirements and you need to plan a lot to do it. If even one thing goes wrong, your strategy is ruined and you will basically lose. Also, if your opponent catches onto what you’re doing, they can activate Mind Crush, call Horakhty and you basically lose, unless you use Ra’s ability. So Sphere Mode makes summoning both Ra and Horakhty a lot safer and easier to summon as most decks these days rely on summoning multiple monsters in a turn, so you can use that your advantage.

I don’t think we’ll see versions of Sphere Mode for Slifer and Obelisk as in the anime only Ra appeared in this form after summoning. According to Yami Marik, Ra could only be controlled by those who could read and recite the ancient text on the bottom of the card (Which at the time was himself, Marik, Yami Yugi and Kaiba). When Mai summoned Ra, it appeared in this form, but she was unable to read the text and so Marik took control of Ra and won the Shadow Game. Yami Bakura managed to bypass this requirement when he acted as a vessel for Marik, who could read the text. Although, Yami Bakura is actually Zorc, a creature that existed in ancient Egypt and so should have been able to read the ancient text that Yami Bakura/Zorc should have been able to control Ra without Marik’s help. Because Slifer and Obelisk never appeared in this form, it unlikely we will see a “Sphere Mode” for them.

Unknown or Little Known Card Rulings

As I stated in the previous post, Rulings are laws which govern effect. Some of these are well known. Mystical Space Typhoon for example. If MST is activated in chain to spell or trap card activation, the effect of the activated card is not negated and so MST effectively resolves meaninglessly. This is because once effects have been activated, they can only negated, so MST destroys the card but does not negate the effect. There are some card rulings that are little known and, in some cases, unknown to players. There are more advanced and complicated ones around but below are some of the basic ones. You can find the more complicated ones if you need to.

Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter

FLIP: Apply these effects in sequence.
● You can target 1 card on the field; destroy that target.

● Send the top 3 cards of your Deck to the Graveyard.

At first glance, this effect doesn't seem too confusing and so you would think the ruling would be straightforward. What makes this card difficult to understand is the term "in sequence". The term implies that if you don't destroy a card, you don't get the second effect and mill three cards. That's not the case. The "You can target 1 card on the field; destroy that target" effect is optional. The reason it is optional is because you might not always destroy a card. Your opponent might have attacked your Ryko with Beelze, the only Monster they control and Beelze, as I've discussed before, can not be destroyed by card effects and so therefore is not destroyed by Ryko's effect. Another example is that you might flip summon Ryko (intending to tribute it for Celestia) and your opponent only has "The Seal of Orichalcos" active. Ryko's first effect activates, but the Seal can protect itself once per turn and so is not destroyed by Ryko's effect. The "Send the top 3 cards of your Deck to the Graveyard" effect is mandatory, meaning regardless of it you destroy a card or not, you still send three cards to the graveyard, so in both examples above, you would send the top three cards of your Deck to the Graveyard. If a player says you do not get both effects when you flip summon Ryko, or Ryko is flipped by an attack or card effect, they are wrong.

That was card ruling and there are thousands of them out there. Far more interesting rulings relate to situations in the game, such as the two below.

Jinzo is resurrected by Call of the Haunted

Jinzo effect- Trap Cards, and their effects on the field, cannot be activated. Negate all Trap Card effects on the field.

Call of the Haunted effect- Activate this card by targeting 1 monster in your Graveyard; Special Summon that target in Attack Position. When this card leaves the field, destroy that target. When that target is destroyed, destroy this card.

For those who don't know, Call of the Haunted is a trap card and it is because of this that the Ruling itself slightly break the rules of the game. The ruling says "You can use Call of the Haunted to Special Summon Jinzo, from your Graveyard. After Jinzo is Special Summoned, the effect of Call of the Haunted is negated and Call of the Haunted remains on the field meaninglessly". In this way, Call of the Haunted behaves like a Monster Reborn spell card and, even if Call of the Haunted is later destroyed, Jinzo stays on the field because Call of the Haunted had its effects negated. Strangely though, the negation of the effects of Call of the Haunted don't cause Jinzo to go back to the graveyard. I'll admit, I'm not sure why it doesn't, maybe you already know why. In that case, please let me know.

Mirror Force vs. Monsters Equipped with Union Monsters (or Relinquished having a Monster equipped)

Mirror Force is a basic and it still sees some play. It's not as popular with things such Sakuretsu Armor, Scrap-Iron Scarecrow, Dimensional Prison, etc, existing, but it is still used and is, in my opinion, better. Sakuretsu destroys the Monster that attacked, Scrap-Iron Scarecrow negates only one attack (though there is a way to break it and use it more than once per Battle Phase). Prison banishes the attacking Monster, but Mirror Force destroys all attack position Monsters and with today's game, most monsters will be in attack mode so you can basically clear their field go straight for their life points on your turn. Union Monsters and Relinquished don't follow that rule. Most Union Monsters say something like "if the Monster equipped with this card would be destroyed, destroy this card instead", which protects the monster from Mirror Force and the attack goes through. The same thing happens with Relinquished except when the attack goes through, Relinquished will have 0 attack points because it will no longer have a monster equipped to it.

There a lot of other rulings out there, I might do a part 2 later, but I would suggest using Jinzo and Call of the Haunted to your advantage, just make sure you use any trap cards you want/need to before you resurrect Jinzo.

Alternate Rulings and Different Effects

In the game, there are several cards that have effects that are either confusing or just not liked by any player. Because of this, many players have their own alternative rulings for certain cards or different effects altogether (these effects are usually based on the anime). In official tournaments, what is printed on the card is what must be done, however, in some unofficial tournaments (in which Forbidden cards are allowed) these alternate rulings and effects are allowed if both players agree on the same ruling or effects.

Alternate Effects

So an obvious card that players choose to change the effect of is "Card of Sanctity". This card's printed text states "Banish all other cards you control and in your hand (min.1 from each); draw until you have 2 cards in your hand.". Understandably, players don't really like this effect. It requires a potentially huge sacrifice for very little payoff. Players prefer the anime effect of this card which allowed both players to draw until they held six cards in their hand. Both players usually agree to this ruling if it is discussed pre-duel.

Another card that I at least change the effect of slightly is "Penumbral Soldier Lady". This card's text states that "If this card battles a LIGHT monster, this card gains 1000 ATK during the Damage Step only.". Now, let me give you an example of how that effect works. My "Penumbral Soldier Lady" has 2100 ATK and attacks "Honest" (1100 ATK) which is a LIGHT attribute Monster, so "Penumbral Soldier Lady" would gain 1000 ATK during the damage step, so my opponent would take 2000 points of damage. Now an example where it becomes backwards. This is what should happen. Say my opponent attacks "Penumbral Soldier Lady" with their "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" (3000 ATK). "Penumbral Soldier Lady" would be destroyed, but my opponent would take 100 points of damage because of the effect of "Penumbral Soldier Lady" increasing her attack points to 3100. What I do is I change the timing of the effect to the battle step, not the damage step. This causes no change in the first scenario and the only thing that changes in the second scenario is that "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" is destroyed instead of "Penumbral Soldier Lady"

Alternate Rulings

There are thousands of Card Rulings out there. If you want to know the rulings on one of your cards a simple Google Search will find it for you. A common Ruling that players change is that of "Secret Village of the Spellcasters". This card states that "If you control a Spellcaster-Type monster and your opponent does not, your opponent cannot activate Spell Cards. If you control no Spellcaster-Type monsters, you cannot activate Spell Cards." Now, there are several ways to interpret that (which is exactly why we have Rulings). Now the real ruling says that you can activate spell cards (other than "Secret Village of the Spellcasters) if you have at least one Spellcaster-type on the field, and your opponent can't activate spell cards unless they A) Control a Spellcaster-type Monster while you do, or B) You don't control a Spellcaster-type Monster. The Alternate Ruling simplifies it by saying that neither player can use spell cards unless they control a Spellcater-type Monster. The actual Ruling states that your opponent can not activate spell cards unless one of two conditions are met.

Condition One: Neither player controls a Spellcaster-type Monster, or
Condition Two: Both players control at least one Spellcaster-type Monster.

So is there a difference between between effects and rulings? Yes there is. Effects effect the game state at the time of the activation (excepting continuous effects) while rulings are laws that govern those effects. If you alter the effect the effect, you also change the alter, however, if you alter the ruling, you don't always alter the effect.

April 2015 Ban List

Alright. There's too many cards on the ban list to go through them all, so what I'm going to do is talk about cards that have either been added to the list or have their availability changed and I'll only pick a few that really catch my eye.

Blaster, Dragon Ruler of Infernos

Card- Monster/Effect
Type- Dragon
Attribute- Fire
ATK- 2800
DEF- 1800
Effect- If this card is in your hand or Graveyard: You can banish a total of 2 FIRE and/or Dragon-Type monsters from your hand and/or Graveyard, except this card; Special Summon this card. During your opponent's End Phase, if this card was Special Summoned: Return it to the hand. You can discard this card and 1 FIRE monster to the Graveyard, then target 1 card on the field; destroy that target. If this card is banished: You can add 1 FIRE Dragon-Type monster from your Deck to your hand. You can only use 1 "Blaster, Dragon Ruler of Infernos" effect per turn, and only once that turn.

So this card was previously Limited, meaning that you could only have 1 copy in your deck or side deck. It's now Forbidden which means you can't use it in Tournaments at all, unless the rules allow banned cards. Most don't, but there are a few who do.

The reason "Blaster" would've become banned is because it was broken. Players would use its second effect by discarding this card another Fire attribute monster and then destroy a card on the field (usually your beatstick). Then, they'd use a card like "Foolish Burial" to send either a Fire attribute monster or a Dragon-type to the graveyard, banish two Fire attributes and Special Summon "Blaster" and attack, possibly dealing 2800 points of damage. Then they'd end their turn meaning that "Blaster" would return to their hand, because it was special summoned.

Net effect:
- Two Monsters Banished (possibly planning to summon back to the field)
- One of the opponent's cards destroyed.
- Essentially free beatstick
- Possibly caused 2800 points of damage
- Protected by returning to the hand

Not hard to see why it's banned now.

Link: http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Blaster,_Dragon_Ruler_of_Infernos

Snatch Steal

Card- Equip Spell
Effect- Equip only to a monster your opponent controls. Take control of the equipped monster. During each of your opponent's Standby Phases: They gain 1000 Life Points.

So this is a card that was Limited. Obviously it is now Forbidden. But why? It doesn't seem like a big effect. Well consider this:

Your opponent has "Jinzo" on the field, equipped with "Amplifier". You activate "Snatch Steal" and take "Jinzo". "Amplifier" goes with it so you've just gone from having little to no control over the board to having absolute control because "Amplifier" allows you to use your traps while negating your opponent's trap cards. So you've turned their strategy on their head, and you haven't summoned yet, so you can summon something like "BLS" and OTK. You could've used it against "BLS" and have a monster that could banish or attack twice.

Net effect:
- Potential for full control
- Potential OTK
- Opponent gains 1000 Life Points

Yeah, this was actually Limited for a long time so I think a lot of players are going to be happy that it's now Banned.

Link: http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Snatch_Steal

Sinister Serpent

Card- Monster/Effect
Type- Reptile
Attribute- Water
ATK- 300
DEF- 250
Effect- During your Standby Phase, if this card is in your Graveyard: You can add it to your hand, also banish 1 "Sinister Serpent" from your Graveyard during your opponent's next End Phase. You can only use this effect of "Sinister Serpent" once per turn.

So this card was Forbidden and is now Limited. I don't see why it was Banned originally. Maybe some of you do, but I don't. I guess you could potentially set up Syncro's with it, but I still don't think it's that bad. I'd be fine with it going to 3 copies.

Net Effect:
- One monster from graveyard to hand
- Potential for Syncro Summon

Link: http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Sinister_Serpent

Tour Guide from the Underworld

Card- Monster/Effect
Type- Fiend
Attribute- Dark
ATK- 1000
DEF- 600
Effect- When this card is Normal Summoned: You can Special Summon 1 Level 3 Fiend-Type monster from your hand or Deck, but its effects are negated, also it cannot be used as a Synchro Material.

A lot of players are going to be upset by this. "Tour Guide" was completely legal, meaning you could have three copies maximum in your Side or Main Decks. It's now Forbidden and, in my opinion, rightfully so. If you have cards like "Witch of the Black Forest" that don't even allow you to summon the selected Monster to the field, Forbidden, then "Tour Guide" has to be.

How was it used? Players would summon "Tour Guide", use the effect and then perform Xyz Summons off essentially one card, and if you don't think that Rank 3 Xyz Monsters can be damaging, you haven't really played against them, especially if they require 3 Monsters for the Network.

Net Effect:
- One free Monster (potentially more by that Monster's effect)
- Quick Xyz Summon
- Potential BLS set up

I can understand that players are going to be upset by it, but they'll live.

Link: http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Tour_Guide_From_the_Underworld

EDIT! I misread the list. "Tour Guide" is not Forbidden. It is Limited. The above still applies though

Alright, Last one...

Exchange of the Spirit

Card- Normal Trap Card
Effect- If both players have 15 or more cards in their Graveyards: Pay 1000 LP; each player swaps the cards in their Graveyard with the cards in their Deck, then shuffles their Deck. You can only activate 1 "Exchange of the Spirit" per Duel.

Ok, so this card has actually undergone an errata change. Now, both players must have 15 cards minimum in their Graveyard. That's why it's come off the banned list, because previously, only you had to, so players were just dumping cards into the graveyard, activating it on the first or second turn so their opponent is left with very few cards, if any and Decks Out. Not a fun card to play against so the new Errata makes it a bit fairer. But it will probably stay at Limited status. I don't see them changing the Errata again. You could still break it I guess, but we'll see what happens.

Net Effect:
- Lose 1000 Life Points (Cost)
- At least 15 card deck for both players.

Link: http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Exchange_of_the_Spirit