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Tech Update: Knowledge is Power
Part of becoming a top-notch Duelist is understanding all the cards that you choose to put in your Deck. Even at the highest levels of competition, Duelists often have trouble resolving tricky situations and complex Chains of powerful card effects, especially in the heat of competition. Fortunately, when you’re at a tournament like the U.S. National Championship, plenty of judges are on hand to help Duelists work things out. Unless you’re really lucky though, you probably don’t have a judge on hand to help out when you’re Dueling your friends at home. Here are some important things to keep in mind when you’re playing at home.
Sometimes it can be difficult to tell whether or not a card targets a specific card. Cards like “Aurkus, Lightsworn Druid” can protect your Lightsworn monster from Spells, Traps, and Effect Monsters, but only if those cards select a specific target, so it’s important to know whether or not your monsters will be protected from them. Many Lightsworn Duelists like to play “Honest” to help their monsters like Aurkus take down monsters that are much more powerful , because while the effect of “Honest” looks at the ATK of the opponent’s monster and then increases the ATK of your monster, it doesn’t target either of them. That means you can use it even if you control “Aurkus, Lightsworn Druid”!
Even better, the protection offered by Aurkus extends beyond the field to Lightsworn monsters in the Graveyard and any Lightsworn monsters that are removed from play. Be careful though, because neither player can target Lightsworn monsters with effects while Aurkus is face-up. This can be problematic if you want to use “Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner” or “Glorious Illusion” to bring your monsters back from the Graveyard.
Cards like “Bottomless Trap Hole” and “Mirror of Oaths” say that they work on monster(s) that are Summoned. That means that if more than one monster is Summoned at the same time, like with the effect of “Rescue Cat,” all the monsters Summoned will be affected! Cards like this usually don’t target, because you aren’t choosing which monsters to destroy - any monster that fits the bill is going to be destroyed!
“Honest” is one of the most powerful cards seen in tournament play, but it isn’t the only card that can swoop down to save a monster from a losing battle. “Blackwing – Kalut the Moon Shadow” does a very similar thing, and it does it at a time when most other cards can’t even be played: the Damage Step.
The Damage Step is special because many different things happen and only specific types of cards and effects can be played. The general rule is that if a card or effect modifies the ATK or DEF of a monster, has the Counter Trap symbol on it, or says that it can be activated during the Damage Step, then you can use it during the Damage Step. Otherwise, you can’t play it during the Damage Step. During the Damage Step, there’s a specific time when the result of the battle is determined called Damage Calculation. Here, you can normally only use Counter Traps and cards that specifically say they can be activated then (like “Kuriboh”). “Honest” and Kalut are special, because they can be activated during Damage Calculation even though they don’t specifically say so.
During the first part of the Damage Step, you can start as many Chains as you like as long as you have cards and effects that you can play. However, right after that, during Damage Calculation, there can only be one Chain. Clever Duelists will wait until Damage Calculation to play their “Honest” or Kalut to make sure the opponent can’t get the jump on them with an “Honest” of their own. Remember, if you play “Honest” and your opponent Chains with an “Honest” of his own, your “Honest” will gain the full ATK of the opponent’s monster… including the boost from his “Honest”!
Learning how the most popular cards work is a great way to become a better Duelist because it’ll help you make better decisions when you’re Dueling, and you might even discover some cool combos that you wouldn’t have thought of otherwise!
Jason Grabher-Meyer
