RTFC (Read the F**king Card)

RTFC (Read the F**king Card)

When was the last time you read every line of a Yu-Gi-Oh! Card? Did you read the requirements to activate your spell? Or the cost to use your monster’s effect? Maybe even what the card actually does? Did you understand what you read? Do you know what it really means? Those are some of the questions you should ask yourself every time you read a new card or a card you don’t perfectly understand. In this article we will dive into not precisely how to read a card (I’ll just leave a link to the official statement) but rather why you need to read them line for line and perform the text word by word. (http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Problem-Solving_Card_Text)

Let’s dissect an example to get started:

This is obviously a DARK, Dragon, Link, Effect Monster. Further reading tells us this is a Link 4 with arrows pointing to the left and right and bottom-left and bottom-right. That is the absolute basics of this card and it’s already a lot of information. (Courtesy of the Yugioh Wikia)

Now the Text:

3+ Effect Monsters

Neither player can target this card with monster effects. Once per turn (Quick Effect): You can target 1 face-up monster on the field; it loses 500 ATK/DEF. Your opponent cannot activate cards or effects in response to this effect's activation. At the start of the Damage Step, if this card attacks an opponent's monster: You can place that opponent's monster in a zone this card points to and take control of it, but send it to the GY during the End Phase of the next turn.

This card REQUIRES at least 3 Effect Monsters to summon unlike Firewall Dragon which only requires at least 2 Monsters. Meaning according to Link rules you cannot use a Link-3 and an Effect Monster or even a Non-Effect Link Monster at all. You must use 3 or 4 Effect Monsters. This is easy to forget due to most Link Monsters needing only 2 or More monsters not 3 or 4 every time. Reading summoning requirements is extremely important in a game built around them and I see too often at high and low level events players not following them to the letter due often to comfort or lack of reading.

So let’s read what it does:

Sentence 1: “Neither player can target this card with monster effects.” Players tend to assume only the opponent cannot target this card and forget that they can’t touch it either (This is an edge case but it will inevitably come up).

Sentence 2: “Once per turn (Quick Effect): You can target 1 face-up monster on the field; it loses 500 ATK/DEF.” This effect acts just like a Normal Trap Card as in you can activate it whenever you have Priority (Read the rulebook (Not the starter deck one either)). This card cannot target itself via Sentence 1. The ATK/DEF boost has no assigned end date meaning it is permanent and you must keep track of it (Failure to maintain gamestate).

Sentence 3: “our opponent cannot activate cards or effects in response to this effect's activation.” This is part of the above effect and only the above effect and has nothing to do with any other part of this cards text (“This effect” always corresponds to the previous effect which is often contained within 1 sentence regardless of proper grammar). This also means this effect ENDS a chain for your opponent unless you then respond with another effect (Such as a Rokket).

Sentence 4: “At the start of the Damage Step, if this card attacks an opponent's monster: You can place that opponent's monster in a zone this card points to and take control of it, but send it to the GY during the End Phase of the next turn.” This effect is not affected by Sentence 3 and can be interacted with by your opponent and it does activate with the condition of it attacking an opponent’s monster and entering the Damage Step. This effect places the monster into a zone Borreload’s Link Arrows point too and simultaneously takes Control of that monster (Meaning if Borreload is moved elsewhere during this effect or leaves the field the effect does not resolve, as there are no Link Arrows to place the monster at.) Finally you get to keep the monster until the next End Phase.

So now that we know what this card does and what those things mean to the rules of the game. You can start the think about what it means for your deck and your opponents deck or even the boardstate. But that is a lot of information for a card with only four lines of Effect Text, even so you cannot shortcut what this card does without first understanding it fully otherwise you will misplay or cause yourself to commit an Infraction.

Here are a few short examples of issues from lack of reading:

1. Supreme King Dragon Clear Wing: His requirements are “1 Tuner + 1 Non-Tuner DARK Pendulum Monster” Making this with Harmonizing Magician requires you to use one of your DARK “Magician” Pendulum Monsters anything else and you have legally commited to a Synchro Summon and must summon a legal Synchro Monster using those materials (If you have none then and only then can you choose to do something else with those monsters).

2. Trickstar Lycoris: You cannot summon this to the same Zone that the monster it targeted is in. “(Quick Effect): You can reveal this card in your hand, then target 1 "Trickstar" monster you control, except "Trickstar Lycoris"; Special Summon this card, and if you do, return that monster to the hand. Because you Special Summon this card first and if it actually is summoned then you return the targeted monster to the hand. Meaning if Lilybell is behind Firewall Dragon you cannot summon Lycoris to the point Behind Firewall Dragon.

3. Altergeist Protocol: Reading this card is paramount as there is nothing more important than it to Altergeists. This card allows your opponent to activate Solemn Strike to negate your Altergeist effect and have Solemn Strike subsequently resolve without effect. This card also stops Jinzo from negating your Altergeist cards as long as this was activated before Jinzo came into play. It beats any and all negation of Altergeist Activations and Effects ON THE FIELD as long as it is active. Meaning your opponent similarly cannot negate its own effect either. Players will still attempt to negate Altergeist effects after this is active (You cannot Ash Blossom them either (It negates). The most important thing is above everything else about this card is that you have to pay attention to its status as being on the board or not as it can respond to Ash Blossom while face-down and waste it without activating an effect.

Alright that was a long-winded article full of things you probably already knew but if you didn’t and this helped you are very welcome. Remember you have 40 Minutes in the round and a Yu-Gi-Oh! match is around 2-4 turns long. You only have to read each card thoroughly once to understand it take the time have a 40 minute Match and know what caused you to win or lose.