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.