Waboku -- The Great Emissary of "Disharmony"
Waboku -- The Great Emissary of "Disharmony"
Written by Dave Brent
Waboku is seeing a great deal of tournament play these days, yet its effect still appears to be misunderstood by some. It really is a simple card once you have the basics down. The questions concerning Waboku continue to be asked of the Netrepâ„¢s', on message boards, and during tournaments. Hopefully, this article will clear up any remaining misconceptions regarding this commonly used Trap Card.
Waboku Text
Any damage inflicted by an opponent's monster is decreased to 0 during the turn this card is activated.
History
Contrary to popular belief, the rulings on Waboku have not recently changed (and probably never will) although every couple of weeks someone starts a rumor that they have. In fact, the "Emissary of Harmony" (the Japanese meaning of the name) has done very little to create harmony in the game since its UDE release in the Yugi Starter Deck.
When Waboku was released in Japan, it apparently only applied to one monster. However, when the game was released in North America in the spring of 2002, Waboku was ruled in both Japan and North America as decreasing the Battle Damage to the controller and his/her monsters to zero for the turn . Many questions arose concerning this card and the main concepts and rulings for Waboku were fully laid out in April of 2003. Although more details were put into the rulings in June of 2003, the rulings on the card have really been the same since at least early 2003.
About Battle Damage
The key to understanding how Waboku works is to understand the meaning of the phrase "Battle Damage." A monster can be destroyed by battle or by effect. When two monsters battle, a monster lives or dies -- there is no "wounded" in this game. How much Battle Damage does it take to destroy a monster? If it is attack position, whatever the monster's ATK is. The basic Rulebook covers the outcomes for monsters in defense position. For the rest of the discussion in this Article, assume all monsters are in attack position.
If a 1400 ATK monster attacks a 1900 ATK monster, the 1400 ATK monster does 1400 of Battle Damage -- not enough to destroy it and the 1900 ATK monster "heals" immediately. The 1900 ATK monster does 1900 of Battle Damage. However, the 1400 ATK monster is destroyed because it takes exactly 1400 of Battle Damage to destroy it. The excess Battle Damage (500 in this example) beyond what is necessary to destroy the monster hits the controller's Life Points as Battle Damage to the controller (sometimes called overflow damage).
Waboku just takes the amount of Battle Damage to you and your monsters to zero for that turn.
If you understand that statement and the meaning of Battle Damage, you can figure out what happens with Waboku in almost any situation.
Top 10 Answers to the Most Common Questions About Waboku
Waboku -- The Great Emissary of "Disharmony"
Written by Dave Brent
Waboku is seeing a great deal of tournament play these days, yet its effect still appears to be misunderstood by some. It really is a simple card once you have the basics down. The questions concerning Waboku continue to be asked of the Netrepâ„¢s', on message boards, and during tournaments. Hopefully, this article will clear up any remaining misconceptions regarding this commonly used Trap Card.
Waboku Text
Any damage inflicted by an opponent's monster is decreased to 0 during the turn this card is activated.
History
Contrary to popular belief, the rulings on Waboku have not recently changed (and probably never will) although every couple of weeks someone starts a rumor that they have. In fact, the "Emissary of Harmony" (the Japanese meaning of the name) has done very little to create harmony in the game since its UDE release in the Yugi Starter Deck.
When Waboku was released in Japan, it apparently only applied to one monster. However, when the game was released in North America in the spring of 2002, Waboku was ruled in both Japan and North America as decreasing the Battle Damage to the controller and his/her monsters to zero for the turn . Many questions arose concerning this card and the main concepts and rulings for Waboku were fully laid out in April of 2003. Although more details were put into the rulings in June of 2003, the rulings on the card have really been the same since at least early 2003.
About Battle Damage
The key to understanding how Waboku works is to understand the meaning of the phrase "Battle Damage." A monster can be destroyed by battle or by effect. When two monsters battle, a monster lives or dies -- there is no "wounded" in this game. How much Battle Damage does it take to destroy a monster? If it is attack position, whatever the monster's ATK is. The basic Rulebook covers the outcomes for monsters in defense position. For the rest of the discussion in this Article, assume all monsters are in attack position.
If a 1400 ATK monster attacks a 1900 ATK monster, the 1400 ATK monster does 1400 of Battle Damage -- not enough to destroy it and the 1900 ATK monster "heals" immediately. The 1900 ATK monster does 1900 of Battle Damage. However, the 1400 ATK monster is destroyed because it takes exactly 1400 of Battle Damage to destroy it. The excess Battle Damage (500 in this example) beyond what is necessary to destroy the monster hits the controller's Life Points as Battle Damage to the controller (sometimes called overflow damage).
Waboku just takes the amount of Battle Damage to you and your monsters to zero for that turn.
If you understand that statement and the meaning of Battle Damage, you can figure out what happens with Waboku in almost any situation.
Top 10 Answers to the Most Common Questions About Waboku
- Waboku applies to all the opponent's monsters during the turn activated, not just one.
- Waboku does not in any way change the ATK of the opponent's monsters. Waboku reduces the Battle Damage to YOUR monsters and/or your Life Points.
- Waboku may be activated during any phase of your turn or your opponent's turn (if it had been set in your prior turn or before).However, Waboku cannot be activated in the Damage Step.
- Waboku does not end your opponent's Battle Phase.
Waboku does not negate an attack. - Waboku does not stop Effect Damage.
- Waboku reduces the Battle Damage to zero for the controller only.
- Waboku is not a targeted effect.
- You can still attack your opponent's monsters if your opponent had activated Waboku previously in that turn. Why would you do that? A face down monster is still flipped face up, although it will not be destroyed by the attack.
- Waboku cannot be chained to the Tribute Summon of Jinzo.
- If Waboku is activated in response to an attack by Goblin Attack Force (Spear Dragon or Giant Orc), then the monster will still change position by its own effect.
- If you activate Waboku in response to your opponent's draw and Jinzo is summoned during Main Phase 1, then the effect of Waboku is not negated. The effect "lingers" until the end of the turn. However, if Jinzo is Special Summoned in a chain to the activation of Waboku, then Jinzo will negate the effect of Waboku (as would happen to any Trap).
- Like all traps, you cannot activate Waboku once Jinzo has been summoned successfully.
- Don Zaloog, Airknight Parshath, Spirit Reaper, and the like will not get their effects if Waboku is activated by the opponent since zero Battle Damage is no Battle Damage.
- If your opponent attacks your Gemini Elf with her Gemini Elf and you activate Waboku in response to the attack, your Gemini Elf takes no Battle Damage and therefore lives. Your opponent's Gemini Elf still takes damage and therefore dies.
- You cannot activate Waboku after Injection Fairy Lily is boosted by its own effect since the boost occurs in the Damage Step.
Conclusion
