Everyone who has played Yu-Gi-Oh for at least a month knows what a chain is. It's basically activating one card in response to another. I'm going to start with the basics and work my way up. First off, there is a difference between activation and resolution. Activation is when you announce you are using a monster's effect or play a magic/trap card (this is when you pay for a card's effect if the effect requires payment); resolution is when that card's effect happens. When you activate a card's effect you must always ask your opponent if he/she wishes to respond before you can chain to your own card or start the resolution of that card. A chain always resolves in the reverse order of activation.
Basic Chain:
Activation
Player A activates Tribe-Infecting Virus's effect, discards a card as payment, and calls warriors.
Player B activates Strike Ninja's effect in response and removes 2 dark monsters from his/her grave as payment
Player A chooses not to activate anything in response to Strike Ninja's effect
Player B chooses not to activate anything in response to Strike Ninja's effect
Resolution
Player B's Strike Ninja removes itself from play
Player A's Tribe-Infecting Virus's effect destroys all remaining warrior monsters if there are any left, if there are none left Tribe-Infecting Virus's effect resolves without effect (disappears)
Now I'm going to add in a little tidbit about negation. Let me start off by mentioning that magic and trap cards are not sent to the graveyard until their effect resolves. That being said, destroying a card does not negate its effect. So when I activate Pot of Greed and you activate Mystical Space Typhoon in response, Pot of Greed will be destroyed but it will not be negated.
There is however an exception to this. Cards that have constant effects such as equip magic cards, field magic cards, continuous magic cards, continuous trap cards, and continuous monster cards, must be on the field for there effect to be in place. So, for example:
Activation
Player A activates Level Limit Area-Type B
Player B responds by activating Dust Tornado and declaring Level Limit Area-Type B as the target
Player A chooses not to respond
Player B chooses not to respond
Resolution
Player B's Dust Tornado Resolves Destroying Level Limit Area-Type B
Player A's Level Limit Area-Type B does not resolve because it needs to be on the field in order to be in effect
You could substitute Level Limit Area-Type B with Imperial Order and the result would be the same.
Before I continue with spell speed I like to clarify one thing. You can only chain to the activation of continuous effects to stop them from being in existence. When you summon Jinzo to the field his effect is immediately applied (after applying all already existing effects such as Mystic Plasma Zone or Skill Drain); you can not chain to a summon because a summon does not have a spell speed. So, when I summon Jinzo you can not use Trap Hole or the like to get rid of my Jinzo. You can however activate Solemn Judgment or Horn of Heaven to negate the summoning and prevent it from happening in the first place.
Spell Speed is not the "speed" of a card per say; monsters with effects, magic and traps cards are all assigned spell speeds, these spell speeds cause certain rules to be applied to these cards. Before I continue I am going to tell you how to determine the spell speed of a card.
Spell Speed 1 "“ all monster effects that are not multi-trigger effects (flip effect, cost effect, trigger-effect, and continuous effect) and all magic cards that are not quick-play magic cards (normal, equip, continuous, field, equip, and ritual)
Spell Speed 2 "“ quick-play magic cards, all traps that are not counter traps (normal and continuous), and multi-trigger monster effects
Spell Speed 3 "“ counter traps
For those of you who are not aware of the different kinds of monster effects allow me to list them:
Flip Effect "“ the very first thing mentioned on these monster cards is "Flip:", the effect of flip effect monsters are applied whenever they are flipped, regardless of who's turn it is (Magician of Faith, Cyber Jar, Man-Eater Bug, etc.)
Cost effect "“ This aspect of the different effect types makes it difficult to teach people about the different effects so read carefully. Although it is called a "cost effect" this does not nessisarily mean that the effect involves a cost. A cost effect is an effect you annouce you are using during the main phase of your own turn. I repeat, cost effect monster may or may not involve costs; check the rulebook v5.0 if you don't believe me (Tribe-Infecting Virus, Time Wizard, etc.)
Continuous effect "“ effect monsters that as long as they remain on the field their effect are in play (Jinzo, Spell Canceller, Dark Ruler Ha Des, etc.)
Trigger effect "“ effect monsters with mandatory effects that trigger automatically in response to an event during either player's turn (Witch of the Black Forest, Skull-Mark Ladybug)
Multi-Trigger Effect "“ effect monsters with optional effects that may be used during your opponent's turn (Strike Ninja, Horus the Black Flame Dragon lvl 8, etc.)
Spell speed 1 cards, as I'm sure many of you already know, can only be the first link in a chain (with one exception which will be explained in the "Priority and Simultaneous effects" section). I'm not saying spell speed 2 cards can't be the first link in a chain, I'm just saying that when a spell speed 1 card is activated you can't activate another spell speed 1 card in response. Spell speed 2 cards may be chained to another card or activated in response to an action (summoning, ending a phase, drawing a card, the resolution of a chain, etc.). Spell speed 3 cards, or counter trap cards, must be activated immediately preceeding a card in which it is being activated in response to. So if I activate Ring of Destruction and you respond with Jar of Greed then I can't activate my set Barrel Behind the Door because Barrel Behind the Door must be activated after Ring of Destruction, not after Jar of Greed.
The most basic rule of spell speed is that you can't chain a lower spell speed card to that of a higher spell speed card. For example:
Player A activates Heavy Storm
Player B responds by activating Magic Drain
Player A responds by activating Seven Tools of the Bandit
Player B has a set Waboku but can't activate it because Seven Tools of the Bandit is spell speed 3 and Waboku is spell speed 2
There are five kinds of cards that are currently ruled legal to activate in the damage step. No, I didn't say two, I said five. Here they are:
"¢ Spell speed 3 cards (counter trap cards)
"¢ Spell speed 2 cards that specifically modify the attack/defense of a monster (Injection Fairy Lily, Rush Recklessly, Blast with Chain, etc.)
"¢ Multi-trigger effect monsters that specifically negate magic, trap, and possibly in the future, monster cards (A-Team: Trap Disposal Unit, Maryokutai, Dark Paladin, etc.)
"¢ Cards that can only be activated in response to damage (the only card currently under this category is Inferno Tempest)
"¢ Null and Void (this will be mentioned again in the "Because Konami said so" section)
In the battle step, which occurs before the damage step, when an attack is declared, both players have the opportunity to activate spell speed 2 or higher cards such as Magic Cylinder or Sakurestu Armor.
Before I forget there are two rules regarding quick-play magic cards that a lot of people don't know about. The first is that it may be chained from your hand during your own turn. So if I attack my opponent's Marauding Capitan with my Don Zaloog and my opponent activates Curse of Aging then I can respond by chaining Rush Recklessly from my hand. The second rule states a person can not play a quick-play magic card the turn it was set. So I can't set a Reload, activate another Reload from my hand, and then activate the Reload I set because I just set it.
Basic Chain:
Activation
Player A activates Tribe-Infecting Virus's effect, discards a card as payment, and calls warriors.
Player B activates Strike Ninja's effect in response and removes 2 dark monsters from his/her grave as payment
Player A chooses not to activate anything in response to Strike Ninja's effect
Player B chooses not to activate anything in response to Strike Ninja's effect
Resolution
Player B's Strike Ninja removes itself from play
Player A's Tribe-Infecting Virus's effect destroys all remaining warrior monsters if there are any left, if there are none left Tribe-Infecting Virus's effect resolves without effect (disappears)
Now I'm going to add in a little tidbit about negation. Let me start off by mentioning that magic and trap cards are not sent to the graveyard until their effect resolves. That being said, destroying a card does not negate its effect. So when I activate Pot of Greed and you activate Mystical Space Typhoon in response, Pot of Greed will be destroyed but it will not be negated.
There is however an exception to this. Cards that have constant effects such as equip magic cards, field magic cards, continuous magic cards, continuous trap cards, and continuous monster cards, must be on the field for there effect to be in place. So, for example:
Activation
Player A activates Level Limit Area-Type B
Player B responds by activating Dust Tornado and declaring Level Limit Area-Type B as the target
Player A chooses not to respond
Player B chooses not to respond
Resolution
Player B's Dust Tornado Resolves Destroying Level Limit Area-Type B
Player A's Level Limit Area-Type B does not resolve because it needs to be on the field in order to be in effect
You could substitute Level Limit Area-Type B with Imperial Order and the result would be the same.
Before I continue with spell speed I like to clarify one thing. You can only chain to the activation of continuous effects to stop them from being in existence. When you summon Jinzo to the field his effect is immediately applied (after applying all already existing effects such as Mystic Plasma Zone or Skill Drain); you can not chain to a summon because a summon does not have a spell speed. So, when I summon Jinzo you can not use Trap Hole or the like to get rid of my Jinzo. You can however activate Solemn Judgment or Horn of Heaven to negate the summoning and prevent it from happening in the first place.
Spell Speed is not the "speed" of a card per say; monsters with effects, magic and traps cards are all assigned spell speeds, these spell speeds cause certain rules to be applied to these cards. Before I continue I am going to tell you how to determine the spell speed of a card.
Spell Speed 1 "“ all monster effects that are not multi-trigger effects (flip effect, cost effect, trigger-effect, and continuous effect) and all magic cards that are not quick-play magic cards (normal, equip, continuous, field, equip, and ritual)
Spell Speed 2 "“ quick-play magic cards, all traps that are not counter traps (normal and continuous), and multi-trigger monster effects
Spell Speed 3 "“ counter traps
For those of you who are not aware of the different kinds of monster effects allow me to list them:
Flip Effect "“ the very first thing mentioned on these monster cards is "Flip:", the effect of flip effect monsters are applied whenever they are flipped, regardless of who's turn it is (Magician of Faith, Cyber Jar, Man-Eater Bug, etc.)
Cost effect "“ This aspect of the different effect types makes it difficult to teach people about the different effects so read carefully. Although it is called a "cost effect" this does not nessisarily mean that the effect involves a cost. A cost effect is an effect you annouce you are using during the main phase of your own turn. I repeat, cost effect monster may or may not involve costs; check the rulebook v5.0 if you don't believe me (Tribe-Infecting Virus, Time Wizard, etc.)
Continuous effect "“ effect monsters that as long as they remain on the field their effect are in play (Jinzo, Spell Canceller, Dark Ruler Ha Des, etc.)
Trigger effect "“ effect monsters with mandatory effects that trigger automatically in response to an event during either player's turn (Witch of the Black Forest, Skull-Mark Ladybug)
Multi-Trigger Effect "“ effect monsters with optional effects that may be used during your opponent's turn (Strike Ninja, Horus the Black Flame Dragon lvl 8, etc.)
Spell speed 1 cards, as I'm sure many of you already know, can only be the first link in a chain (with one exception which will be explained in the "Priority and Simultaneous effects" section). I'm not saying spell speed 2 cards can't be the first link in a chain, I'm just saying that when a spell speed 1 card is activated you can't activate another spell speed 1 card in response. Spell speed 2 cards may be chained to another card or activated in response to an action (summoning, ending a phase, drawing a card, the resolution of a chain, etc.). Spell speed 3 cards, or counter trap cards, must be activated immediately preceeding a card in which it is being activated in response to. So if I activate Ring of Destruction and you respond with Jar of Greed then I can't activate my set Barrel Behind the Door because Barrel Behind the Door must be activated after Ring of Destruction, not after Jar of Greed.
The most basic rule of spell speed is that you can't chain a lower spell speed card to that of a higher spell speed card. For example:
Player A activates Heavy Storm
Player B responds by activating Magic Drain
Player A responds by activating Seven Tools of the Bandit
Player B has a set Waboku but can't activate it because Seven Tools of the Bandit is spell speed 3 and Waboku is spell speed 2
There are five kinds of cards that are currently ruled legal to activate in the damage step. No, I didn't say two, I said five. Here they are:
"¢ Spell speed 3 cards (counter trap cards)
"¢ Spell speed 2 cards that specifically modify the attack/defense of a monster (Injection Fairy Lily, Rush Recklessly, Blast with Chain, etc.)
"¢ Multi-trigger effect monsters that specifically negate magic, trap, and possibly in the future, monster cards (A-Team: Trap Disposal Unit, Maryokutai, Dark Paladin, etc.)
"¢ Cards that can only be activated in response to damage (the only card currently under this category is Inferno Tempest)
"¢ Null and Void (this will be mentioned again in the "Because Konami said so" section)
In the battle step, which occurs before the damage step, when an attack is declared, both players have the opportunity to activate spell speed 2 or higher cards such as Magic Cylinder or Sakurestu Armor.
Before I forget there are two rules regarding quick-play magic cards that a lot of people don't know about. The first is that it may be chained from your hand during your own turn. So if I attack my opponent's Marauding Capitan with my Don Zaloog and my opponent activates Curse of Aging then I can respond by chaining Rush Recklessly from my hand. The second rule states a person can not play a quick-play magic card the turn it was set. So I can't set a Reload, activate another Reload from my hand, and then activate the Reload I set because I just set it.
