I have an associate that would like to ask for the following question to be put before the Judge's List. Since there are so many judges here, I wanted to ask your help in interpreting this and also posting the question to the board:
The combo
Special summon cyber dragon, equip it with megamorph when your LP are lower, this changes its original attack to 4200. Tribute it away for great maju garzett to create an 8400 ATK behemoth.
Why it works
The first question is in regards to the requirement for GMG's summoning. It gets twice the ORIGINAL attack of the monster that was tributed. It was called into question whether megamorph actually changes original attack. The two questions raised were :
- The text on megamorph refers to doubling or halving the original attack, it doesn't specifically state that the new attack is "original".
- Can any card really change original attack ?
The first issue is quickly resolved. While the text on the card may be ambiguous, the first ruling for megamorph is quite specific and clear
Quote
Megamorph" changes the original ATK of the monster it is equipped to. Having multiple "Megamorphs" equipped to a monster is the same as having one.
And
Quote
Re: Behemoth the King of All Animals] If you have "Behemoth the King of All Animals" with an original ATK of 2000 because you Summoned or Set him with 1 Tribute, and you equip it with "Megamorph", its original ATK will be 4000 when your Life Points are lower, and 1000 when your Life Points are higher.
Let's face it, you can't state it any clearer than "Megamorph changes the original ATK of the monster it is equipped to, can you ? I also posted the second ruling on behemoth because some people are reading a lot into the second phrase of the first ruling. The second ruling, the bold part, illustrates "in practice" that the new value after megamorph is treated as "original" attack.
The second issue is fairly easily revolved by searching the rulings (Netrepâ„¢ or ronin) for the words "original ATK". It immediately gives you a list of cards that have the words in their text, and several of them clearly have the effect of modifying the original attack. Examples are :
- Megarock Dragon
- Thousand Energy
- Tyranno Infinity
- Fusilier dragon, the dual-mode beast
- Triangle Power
- Shield and Sword
- Harpie's Pet Baby dragon
I'm sure I missed quite a few as well. So you can see, this is not a niche market, cornered by megamorph.
Why it really works
After clearing up the mess with the fact that megamorph indeed does change the original attack, someone tried to claim (no idea where it came from) that cyber dragon would somehow lose megamorph in the process of tributing.
First of all, a tribute is always conducted on the field. For this I refer you to the rulings on monster tokens. These tokens cannot exist except on the field. Yet unless otherwise specified they can be used for a tribute of any kind.
Secondly, the attack value for the tribute is also taken on the field. Evidenced by the rulings on deck devastation virus, where the current attack is used. That means the monster can reach 2000 or higher attack by way of an equip card, or another card effect like cybernetic magician. The monster in question would lose all attack boosts once it leaves the field, making it an illegal target for DDV. For a more specific example, allow me to combine the two. Below is a ruling on maju garzett and monster tokens.
When you Tribute Monster Tokens to Tribute Summon "Maju Garzett", the sum of their ATK's will be the ATK of "Maju Garzett".
Why it REALLY, REALLY works
When in doubt, ask UDE. They make the rules. So I did a little search on the UDE judges list for precedents and found the following question and answer :
If you tribute Fusilier for a Great Maju Garzett while Fusilier was summoned
without tributing, does GMG get 2800 ATK or 5600 ATK?
Answer:
"Great Maju Garzett's" ATK will be 2800. (1400 doubled)
This is due to Fusilier Dragon's effect.
Fusilier Dragon resets its ORIGINAL attack (it was one of the examples above of cards that modify original attack) when summoned without a tribute. As a result of this MODIFIED ORIGINAL ATTACK , great maju garzett only had 2800 attack, because the ORIGINAL ATTACK was altered.
Keep in mind that a monster effect is only in effect when it is on the field. If the attack was somehow taken after the actual tribute, then GMG would get twice the printed attack, namely 5600.
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