Problem-Solving Card Text, Part 1: Reading the Cards of Tomorrow

May 20th, 2011

The Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG has too many rules.

Don’t get me wrong, the basic game rules are pretty simple. Everyone’s seen how they work
from the TV series and the manga. The big problem is with rulings on specific cards. There
are so many. So why is that, anyway?

Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG is a game designed to be played by everyone. Whether you’re in elementary,

junior high, or high school; college, grad school, or law school; working for a living, playing
with your kids, or playing with your nieces, nephews, or grandchildren… the game is
designed so anyone can pick up some cards and start to play.

Because of this, we’ve always avoided making the cards sound too “technical.” If we write
the cards in geekspeak so you need a user manual to decipher them, that’s not much fun. It
would feel less like a game, and more like you’re taking a test or visiting the DMV.

So as much as we can, we’ve always written cards the same way that plain folks talk. And for
a long time, it worked fine. But as we approach 10 years and almost 5,000 different cards,
we’ve run into a problem: Using plain folks’ language limits the number of ways you can
write things. There are only so many ways to say “Joey ate an apple,” after all.

But we have a lot of different apples, and eating each one needs to be described a different
way. We wind up using the same phrases to describe cards that work slightly differently, and
there isn’t enough available language to spell everything out in detail without taking up the
entire card box.

Problem-Solving Card Text

The year 2011 marks 10 years of Yu-Gi-Oh! on TV in North America. As part of our 10th
Anniversary celebrations, the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG will undergo its greatest text and rules retrofit
ever. Starting in July 2011, all cards will be written with what we call Problem-Solving Card
Text.

The new text took a while to work out, and we needed to wait until we had enough different
kinds of cards and effects to look at as examples. The new text doesn’t just have to work for
the cards we have now. It has to work for everything we make in the years ahead.

We had 3 main goals for the Problem-Solving Card Text:

1. The text needed to be precise.

2. The text still needed to be easy to read.

3. The text can’t sound like a textbook.

In other words, we needed a way to write cards in plain English, but at the same time inject so
much exact science into the card that all the complicated rules could be fixed.

Not an easy task! But we finally managed to do it, and you’ll be seeing the results very soon.

Your Cards & You – The Future

So what does this mean for you?

Up until now, if you ran into a complicated card situation, this is what you had to do:

First: read the card.

Second: run to the web to find out how the card works and how to resolve the situation.

Third: assuming your specific situation was covered online, continue playing. Otherwise you
need to write in and ask for an answer.

Doesn’t that seem kind of silly? Especially since the main point of the game is that each card
tells you what it does.

From now on, here’s what you’ll do, instead:

First: read the card.

Second: apply logic and figure out the answer.

Third: continue playing.

Rules posted online will be limited to super-complicated and really weird situations. Imagine
going down to a dozen pages of card rules, instead of a thousand. It could happen.

That still leaves the billions of cards we’ve already got in circulation, of course. For existing
cards, as we reprint them in Decks, Turbo Packs, Duelist League, and other places, we will
update their text to the Problem-Solving Card Text. Over time, rules questions about existing
cards won’t just be answered. They will cease being questions in the first place.

What’s Next
In order to help everyone with this transition, we’ll be taking you through it one step at a time
over the next few weeks. Every few days we’ll explain another part of how the Problem-
Solving Card Text works. By the time the new cards start rolling out in July, you’ll be up-to-
speed on how everything works!

Written by: Kevin Tewart

Problem-Solving Card Text, Part 2: New Words & Phrases

May 23rd, 2011

(If you haven’t read the first article in this series, be sure and read it first! Then come back
here for part 2.)

As we talk about the new Problem-Solving Card Text in the days ahead, we’re going to give
you examples from upcoming sets so that you can understand better.

Those examples are going to look pretty strange unless we go over a few wording changes
first. These are really simple, and will make the cards easier to read.

Remember, you’ll start seeing these with cards printed in July of this year, and with all the
cards printed after that.

1. ‘Remove from play’ is now ‘Banish’

The phrase ‘remove from play’ is being replaced with the single word ‘banish’:
Old:
Remove from play 1 face-up monster.
New:
Banish 1 face-up monster.

Cards that were ‘removed from play cards’ will now be called ‘banished cards’:
Old:
Both players Special Summon as many of their removed from play monsters as possible.
New:
Both players Special Summon as many of their banished monsters as possible.

The old ‘remove from play’ phrase could get clunky sometimes. In normal English you would
say ‘remove 1 monster from play’. But that becomes a problem when it was something like
‘remove 1 face-up Warrior-Type EARTH monster with 1500 or more ATK that attacked last
turn from play’. By the time you get to the words ‘from play’ at the end, you’ve forgotten
where you started.

Because of this, a few years ago we shifted to ‘remove from play’ as a sort of super-keyword,
that you would never break up. But it sometimes ran into other clunkiness problems.

‘Banish’ as a single word is simple, short, and clean. And will make a lot of card texts easier
on the brain.
.

2. ‘Is removed from the field’ is now ‘Leaves the field’

Another problem with ‘remove from play’ is that people kept getting it mixed up with
‘remove from the field’, which is something totally different. So now these terms will be
‘banished’ and ‘leaves the field’, instead.

‘Banished’ (which used to be ‘removed from play’) means that the card goes off the board
into that special place not depicted on the Game Mat.

‘Leaves the field’ (which used to be ‘is removed from the field’) means that something was
on the field, then went to the Graveyard, or to the hand, or was banished. (Note that effects
that activate when a card leaves the field do NOT activate if it goes from the field to the Deck,
since it gets lost in the shuffle.)

Old:
When this card is removed from the field, Special Summon 1 “Reborn Tengu” from your
Deck.
New:
When this card leaves the field, Special Summon 1 “Reborn Tengu” from your Deck.

The only place you’ll see ‘remove’ from now on is when removing counters. Like ‘Remove 1
Spell Counter.’

As you can see, the word ‘remove’ was pulling triple duty, to mean 3 different things. This
has now been fixed.

Take a look at what this does to cards like Plaguespreader Zombie:

Old:
If you do, remove this card from play when it is removed from the field.
New:
If you do, banish this card when it leaves the field.

The new text is a lot less confusing.

3. Piercing Battle Damage

During battle between this attacking card and a Defense Position monster whose DEF is
lower than the ATK of this card, inflict the difference as Battle Damage to your opponent.

You’re probably familiar with this phrase. You won’t be seeing it any more.

This effect has been around for years, but we’re simplifying the wording to just say the
monster can do ‘piercing Battle Damage’.
Old:
During battle between this attacking card and a Defense Position monster whose DEF is
lower than the ATK of this card, inflict the difference as Battle Damage to your opponent.
New:
If this card attacks a Defense Position monster, inflict piercing Battle Damage to your
opponent.

Note that the piercing effect only applies to Battle Damage. Which means that you still need
to get to damage calculation so that Battle Damage actually happens. In other words, just
because the wording is changing doesn’t mean this is some magical new thing that happens
when the attack is declared.

This change will also be on cards that give piercing Battle Damage to another card.
Something like Dragon’s Rage would look like this:
Old:
During battle between an attacking Dragon-Type monster you control and a Defense Position
monster whose DEF is lower than the ATK of the attacking monster, inflict the difference as
Battle Damage to your opponent.
New:
Dragon-Type monsters you control inflict piercing Battle Damage when they attack a Defense
Position monster.

4. ‘Selected as an attack target’ is now ‘targeted for an attack’

This change is pretty minor, but it makes things easier to understand, especially for new
players. Let’s take Marauding Captain as an example:
Old:
Your opponent cannot select another face-up Warrior-Type monster as an attack target.
New:
Your opponent cannot target face-up Warrior-Type monsters for attacks, except this one.

The new phrasing is more direct and to-the point.

5. Hero monsters are now (mostly!) HERO monsters

We have 3 kinds of ‘Hero’ monsters from Yu-Gi-Oh! GX right now: Elemental Heroes,
Destiny Heroes, and Evil Heroes. Coming soon we’ll be adding Masked Heroes and Vision
Heroes to that list.

Right now, on cards like Elemental Hero Stratos, we write out ‘Elemental Hero, Destiny
Hero, or Evil Hero card’ for effects that work on all 3 kinds. Instead of adding ‘or Masked
Hero, or Vision Hero’ in the future, we’re going to pull a comic book-style retcon, and just
change the names of all the GX Hero-class monsters from Hero to HERO (all-caps).

This applies to monster card names:

Elemental HERO Tempest
Destiny HERO Dasher
Evil HERO Dark Gaia
As well as effects. Elemental HERO Stratos for example would say:
Add 1 “HERO” monster from your Deck to your hand.

Spell/Trap Cards are mostly unaffected, since they have lower-case names already and are not
Hero-class monsters.

There are 3 exceptions to this rule. For monsters, Hero Kid is going to stay Hero Kid since
it’s not old enough to be a full-fledged HERO. On the other hand, Hero’s Bond will become
HERO’S Bond. But HERO Flash!! will become Hero Flash!!.

We plan to reprint most of these cards soon with the corrected names and texts. So everyone
who wants to use the revised names can play with those updated cards, to avoid confusion.

But for now, until Masked HERO and Vision HERO cards start showing up, none of this will
affect your gameplay at all.

Keep these changes in mind as we go over the other, bigger changes you’ll be seeing on your
cards very soon.

Part 1: Reading the Cards of Tomorrow

This series of articles goes over the way that your cards function, and how to understand the way that effects are understood by reading the
card text. All cards printed from 2011 onwards feature this “Problem-Solving Card Text”, with any reprints of cards from before 2011 also
updated to reflect this terminology.

The Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG has too many rules.

Don’t get me wrong, the basic game rules are pretty simple. Everyone’s seen how they work
from the TV series and the manga. The big problem is with rulings on specific cards. There
are so many. So why is that, anyway?

Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG is a game designed to be played by everyone. Whether you’re in elementary,

junior high, or high school; college, grad school, or law school; working for a living, playing
with your kids, or playing with your nieces, nephews, or grandchildren… the game is
designed so anyone can pick up some cards and start to play.

Because of this, we’ve always avoided making the cards sound too “technical.” If we write
the cards in geekspeak so you need a user manual to decipher them, that’s not much fun. It
would feel less like a game, and more like you’re taking a test.

So as much as we can, we’ve always written cards the same way that plain folks talk. And for
a long time, it worked fine. But as we approach 10 years and almost 5,000 different cards,
we’ve run into a problem: Using plain folks’ language limits the number of ways you can
write things. There are only so many ways to say “Joey ate an apple,” after all.
But we have a lot of different apples, and eating each one needs to be described a different
way. We wind up using the same phrases to describe cards that work slightly differently, and
there isn’t enough available language to spell everything out in detail without taking up the
entire card box.

Problem-Solving Card Text

The year 2011 marks 10 years of Yu-Gi-Oh! on TV in North America. As part of our
10thAnniversary celebrations, the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG will undergo its greatest text and rules
retrofit ever. Starting in July 2011, all cards will be written with what we call Problem-
Solving Card Text.

The new text took a while to work out, and we needed to wait until we had enough different
kinds of cards and effects to look at as examples. The new text doesn’t just have to work for
the cards we have now. It has to work for everything we make in the years ahead.

We had 3 main goals for the Problem-Solving Card Text:

1. The text needed to be precise.

2. The text still needed to be easy to read.

3. The text can’t sound like a textbook.

In other words, we needed a way to write cards in plain English, but at the same time inject so
much exact science into the card that all the complicated rules could be fixed.

Not an easy task! But we finally managed to do it, and you’ll be seeing the results very soon.

Your Cards & You – The Future

So what does this mean for you?

Up until now, if you ran into a complicated card situation, this is what you had to do:

First: read the card.

Second: run to the web to find out how the card works and how to resolve the situation.

Third: assuming your specific situation was covered online, continue playing. Otherwise you
need to write in and ask for an answer.

Doesn’t that seem kind of silly? Especially since the main point of the game is that each card
tells you what it does.
From now on, here’s what you’ll do, instead:

First: read the card.

Second: apply logic and figure out the answer.

Third: continue playing.

Rules posted online will be limited to super-complicated and really weird situations. Imagine
going down to a dozen pages of card rules, instead of a thousand. It could happen.

That still leaves the billions of cards we’ve already got in circulation, of course. For existing
cards, as we reprint them in Decks, Turbo Packs, Duelist League, and other places, we will
update their text to the Problem-Solving Card Text. Over time, rules questions about existing
cards won’t just be answered. They will cease being questions in the first place.

What’s Next

In order to help everyone with this transition, we’ll be taking you through it one step at a time
over the next few weeks. Every few days we’ll explain another part of how the Problem-
Solving Card Text works. By the time the new cards start rolling out in July, you’ll be up-to-
speed on how everything works!

Part 2: New Words & Phrases

As we talk about the new Problem-Solving Card Text in the days ahead, we’re going to give
you examples from upcoming sets so that you can understand better.

Those examples are going to look pretty strange unless we go over a few wording changes
first. These are really simple, and will make the cards easier to read.

Remember, you’ll start seeing these with cards printed in July of this year, and with all the
cards printed after that.

1. ‘Remove from play’ is now ‘Banish’

The phrase ‘remove from play’ is being replaced with the single word ‘banish’:
Old:
Remove from play 1 face-up monster.
New:
Banish 1 face-up monster.
Cards that were ‘removed from play cards’ will now be called ‘banished cards’:
Old:
Both players Special Summon as many of their removed from play monsters as possible.
New:
Both players Special Summon as many of their banished monsters as possible.

The old ‘remove from play’ phrase could get clunky sometimes. In normal English you would
say ‘remove 1 monster from play’. But that becomes a problem when it was something like
‘remove 1 face-up Warrior-Type EARTH monster with 1500 or more ATK that attacked last
turn from play’. By the time you get to the words ‘from play’ at the end, you’ve forgotten
where you started.

Because of this, a few years ago we shifted to ‘remove from play’ as a sort of super-keyword,
that you would never break up. But it sometimes ran into other clunkiness problems.

‘Banish’ as a single word is simple, short, and clean. And will make a lot of card texts easier
on the brain.

2. ‘Is removed from the field’ is now ‘Leaves the field’

Another problem with ‘remove from play’ is that people kept getting it mixed up with
‘remove from the field’, which is something totally different. So now these terms will be
‘banished’ and ‘leaves the field’, instead.

‘Banished’ (which used to be ‘removed from play’) means that the card goes off the board
into that special place not depicted on the Game Mat.

‘Leaves the field’ (which used to be ‘is removed from the field’) means that something was
on the field, then went to the Graveyard, or to the hand, or was banished. (Note that effects
that activate when a card leaves the field do NOT activate if it goes from the field to the Deck,
since it gets lost in the shuffle.)

Old:
When this card is removed from the field, Special Summon 1 “Reborn Tengu” from your
Deck.
New:
When this card leaves the field, Special Summon 1 “Reborn Tengu” from your Deck.

The only place you’ll see ‘remove’ from now on is when removing counters. Like ‘Remove 1
Spell Counter.’

As you can see, the word ‘remove’ was pulling triple duty, to mean 3 different things. This
has now been fixed.

Take a look at what this does to cards like Plaguespreader Zombie:

Old:
If you do, remove this card from play when it is removed from the field.
New:
If you do, banish this card when it leaves the field.

The new text is a lot less confusing.

3. Piercing Battle Damage

During battle between this attacking card and a Defense Position monster whose DEF is
lower than the ATK of this card, inflict the difference as Battle Damage to your opponent.

You’re probably familiar with this phrase. You won’t be seeing it any more.

This effect has been around for years, but we’re simplifying the wording to just say the
monster can do ‘piercing Battle Damage’.
Old:
During battle between this attacking card and a Defense Position monster whose DEF is
lower than the ATK of this card, inflict the difference as Battle Damage to your opponent.
New:
If this card attacks a Defense Position monster, inflict piercing Battle Damage to your
opponent.

Note that the piercing effect only applies to Battle Damage. Which means that you still need
to get to damage calculation so that Battle Damage actually happens. In other words, just
because the wording is changing doesn’t mean this is some magical new thing that happens
when the attack is declared.

This change will also be on cards that give piercing Battle Damage to another card.
Something like Dragon’s Rage would look like this:
Old:
During battle between an attacking Dragon-Type monster you control and a Defense Position
monster whose DEF is lower than the ATK of the attacking monster, inflict the difference as
Battle Damage to your opponent.
New:
Dragon-Type monsters you control inflict piercing Battle Damage when they attack a Defense
Position monster.

4. ‘Selected as an attack target’ is now ‘targeted for an attack’

This change is pretty minor, but it makes things easier to understand, especially for new
players. Let’s take Marauding Captain as an example:
Old:
Your opponent cannot select another face-up Warrior-Type monster as an attack target.
New:
Your opponent cannot target face-up Warrior-Type monsters for attacks, except this one.

The new phrasing is more direct and to-the point.

5. Hero monsters are now (mostly!) HERO monsters

We have 3 kinds of ‘Hero’ monsters from Yu-Gi-Oh! GX right now: Elemental Heroes,
Destiny Heroes, and Evil Heroes. Coming soon we’ll be adding Masked Heroes and Vision
Heroes to that list.

Right now, on cards like Elemental Hero Stratos, we write out ‘Elemental Hero, Destiny
Hero, or Evil Hero card’ for effects that work on all 3 kinds. Instead of adding ‘or Masked
Hero, or Vision Hero’ in the future, we’re going to pull a comic book-style retcon, and just
change the names of all the GX Hero-class monsters from Hero to HERO (all-caps).

This applies to monster card names:

Elemental HERO Tempest
Destiny HERO Dasher
Evil HERO Dark Gaia

As well as effects. Elemental HERO Stratos for example would say:

Add 1 “HERO” monster from your Deck to your hand.

Spell/Trap Cards are mostly unaffected, since they have lower-case names already and are not
Hero-class monsters.

There are 3 exceptions to this rule. For monsters, Hero Kid is going to stay Hero Kid since
it’s not old enough to be a full-fledged HERO. On the other hand, Hero’s Bond will become
HERO’S Bond. But HERO Flash!! will become Hero Flash!!.

We plan to reprint most of these cards soon with the corrected names and texts. So everyone
who wants to use the revised names can play with those updated cards, to avoid confusion.

But for now, until Masked HERO and Vision HERO cards start showing up, none of this will
affect your gameplay at all.

Keep these changes in mind as we go over the other, bigger changes you’ll be seeing on your
cards very soon

Part 3: Conditions, Activations, and Effects

Put on your thinking caps! I’m about to explain the most important part of the new Problem-
Solving Card Text.

As far as rules go, the most important info on a card are its Timing, Targeting, and
Conditions. These are also the things that cause the most questions. For example:
  Timing – If we make a chain, do I do things when I activate my card or when the card
resolves?

 Targeting – Does this card target something? If it has more than 1 target, what
happens if one target goes away?

 Conditions – What if something changes between the moment I play the card and the
moment it finishes up and goes to the Graveyard?

The problem-solving card text fixes all of these problems, completely and forever. The trick
was how to do it but still have the cards read the same way if you’re not interested in these
kinds of details.

Starting in July, any card that hits on any of these key areas will have its text rewritten to
answer all of your questions.

Here’s how it works…

Monster Text

I’m going to explain this all using colors, since our brains understand things better with
colors. During this article:

 Anything that explains CONDITIONS to activate a card, or limits WHEN or HOW

OFTEN you can activate a card, will be written in green and called ‘green text’. Green
text limits when you can do things.
 Anything that happens WHEN YOU ACTIVATE a card will be written in red and
called ‘red text’. This includes things like costs and targeting.
 Anything that happens when you resolve a card will be written in blue and called ‘blue
text’. This is what happens when the card effect actually happens.

Remember that your actual cards will still be printed in black! The colors are just training
wheels to help us explain.

On your cards, instead of using colors, punctuation will let you tell what kind of text
everything is.

Conditions (green text) are now always followed by a colon (:).

Activation text (red) is separated from the card effects (blue) by a semicolon (;).
The basic structure is CONDITIONS : ACTIVATION ; RESOLUTION.

Let’s take the new Sangan as a simple example:

When this card is sent from the field to the Graveyard: Add 1 monster with 1500 or less ATK
from your Deck to your hand.
Everything in green (before the colon) describes WHEN and under what conditions the effect
happens. Everything in blue (after the colon) describes what happens when the effect resolves.
If there’s a semicolon, then everything after the conditions is divided between what happens
when you activate the card (red text, before the semicolon) and what happens when the card
resolves (blue text, after the semicolon):
When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard: You can target 2 Level 2
monsters in your Graveyard; Special Summon them, but their effects are negated.

When you activate a card or effect:

1. Make sure the green part (before the colon) is being followed.
2. Do the part in red (before the semicolon) if there is any.
3. After that, other cards and effects can be chained in response. If there’s a chain, you
don’t do your card’s effects (blue, after the colon / semicolon) until the chain resolves,
in backwards order, like this:

Let’s take an example of a 3-card Chain.

Player #1 Summons Trident Warrior and chooses to activate its effect. This starts a chain:
When this card is Normal Summoned: You can Special Summon 1 Level 3 monster from your
hand.

Player #2 chains Raigeki Break, targeting Player #1’s monster:

Discard 1 card to target 1 card on the field; destroy it.

But the card Player #2 targeted was a Gemini monster, so Player #1 responds with Gemini
Spark:
Tribute 1 face-up Level 4 Gemini monster you control to target 1 card on the field; destroy it
and draw 1 card.

Using the colons and semicolons, you can build the chain like this:

1. Player #1’s Trident Warrior: (it has no red text, but it still goes on the chain structure
even though nothing happens yet)
2. Player #2’s Raigeki Break: Discard 1 card to target 1 card on the field; (at this point,
Player #2 discards 1 card, and targets Player #1’s monster)
 3. Player #1’s Gemini Spark: Tribute 1 face-up Level 4 Gemini monster you control to
target 1 card on the field; (at this point, Player #1 Tributes his monster and targets one
of Player #2’s cards)
4. Player #1’s Gemini Spark resolves: destroy it and draw 1 card. (Player #1 does these
things)
5. Player #2’s Raigeki Break resolves: destroy it. (The monster isn’t on the field anymore
so nothing happens)
6. Player #1’s Trident Warrior resolves: Special Summon 1 Level 3 monster from your
hand. (Player #1 does this)

Red goes on top, Blue on the bottom. In other words: everything before the semicolons
happens first (all piled together in order), then everything after the semicolons (again, all piled
up in order).

BIG TIP: If there’s a colon or semicolon in the text, that always means an effect that starts a
chain. If there is no colon or semicolon, the effect does NOT start a chain and cannot be
chained to.

Sangan starts a chain. You will know this because it uses a colon:
When this card is sent from the field to the Graveyard: Add 1 monster with 1500 or less ATK
from your Deck to your hand.

Cyber Dragon does NOT start a chain. You will know this because it does not use a colon:
If your opponent controls a monster and you control no monsters, you can Special Summon
this card (from your hand).

Spell and Trap Text

Spells and Traps always start a chain at some point, because activating the Spell/Trap starts a
chain all by itself.

Some Spells & Traps won’t have a colon or a semicolon. But they still start a chain when you
activate the Spell or Trap. (Summoning a monster doesn’t start a chain, so that’s why they’re
different).

Creature Swap, for example, has no colon or semicolon. In fact, its text is exactly the same
as before because everything on Creature Swap happens when the effect resolves:
Each player chooses 1 monster they control and switches control of those monsters with each
other. Those monsters cannot change their battle positions for the rest of this turn.

Many Trap Cards have Conditions, so they will have a colon in the text. This doesn’t make
them play any differently from a Spell/Trap without a colon, though. The new Seven Tools of
the Bandit looks like this, for example:
When a Trap Card is activated: Pay 1000 Life Points; negate the activation and destroy it.
The colon is there to show that this card has specific conditions to activate it. The semicolon
is there to separate what you do when you activate this card, vs. what you do when the card
resolves.

Part 4: The Clues on Your Cards

We’ve covered how new text will be written using a colon and semicolon to clearly separate
activation conditions from activation timing from effects.

Now I’m going to show you some advantages of the new text.

Looking for Clues

The new text reads a lot like the old text. But if you know what to look for, there are valuable
clues to help you figure stuff out. Here are some clues to look for:

 Costs are always paid at activation. If the card tells you to pay, discard, Tribute, or
destroy in the activation text (before the semicolon), it’s a cost.
 Any activation conditions (written before the colon) only have to be met when you
activate the card. If something changes before the card resolves, and the conditions
aren’t met anymore, it doesn’t matter. (Any conditions that STILL have to be true
when the effect resolves will be listed separately.)
 A colon or semicolon on a monster, or on a Continuous Spell/Trap, means a chain
starts. (Remember that activating a Spell or Trap Card starts a chain, too.)
 For any card that targets, if the effect text (after the semicolon) still refers to a ‘target’,
you have to double-check that any targeting requirements are still met.
 Otherwise, if the card refers to the target using any other word (like ‘it’) in the effect
text, the targeting requirements only had to be met when the target was originally
targeted.
 For any card that targets, if the effect text refers to ‘both’ (or a similar term) in the
effect text, you have to be able to apply the effect to ALL of the targets. If even one of
the targets is no longer eligible, then the whole effect disappears.

Using Your Clues

It’s time to play detective! Let’s see what clues we can deduce from the new card text on
some cards. The important parts will be underlined. (In many cases, what’s most important
are the colon and the semicolon!)

New Zombie Master:

Once per turn: You can send 1 Monster Card from your hand to the Graveyard, then target 1
Level 4 or lower Zombie-Type monster in either player’s Graveyard; Special Summon that
target. This card must remain face-up on the field to activate and to resolve this effect.

 Clues:
  You send a card to the Graveyard first, ‘then’ pick a target after that.
 You Special Summon ‘that target’, so if it isn’t a Level 4 or lower Zombie-Type
monster in the Graveyard anymore, it is not Summoned. (Zombie World got blown up
by MST = no Summon!)
 The last sentence points out that Zombie Master has to still be face-up on the field
when the effect resolves, or else the effect disappears.

New Magical Dimension:

If you control a face-up Spellcaster-Type monster: Target 1 monster; Tribute it, then Special
Summon 1 Spellcaster-Type monster from your hand, then you can destroy 1 monster on the
field.

 Clues:
 The Spellcaster requirement is before the colon. So you only need a Spellcaster-Type
monster when you activate this card, not when it resolves.
 The semicolon tells us the only thing you do at activation is target a monster.
 You Tribute the monster at resolution, ‘then’ do the other effects. If the monster
wasn’t around for you to Tribute at resolution, then you don’t get any effects.
 You Tribute, then Summon, then destroy (if you want), in order. The last thing that
happens is that you destroy. If you don’t destroy, then the last thing that happens is
that you Summon.

New Blade Knight:

While you have 1 or fewer cards in your hand, this card gains 400 ATK. If this is the only
monster you control, negate the effects of Flip Effect Monsters it destroys by battle.

 Clues:
 No colon, no semicolon = no chain.
 Both of these effects are Continuous, so Blade Knight never starts a Chain. Which
means, among other things, that you cannot use something like Divine Wrath on him.

New Kinetic Soldier:

During damage calculation, if this card battles a Warrior-Type monster: This card gains
2000 ATK and DEF during damage calculation only.

 Clues:
 Aha! I see a colon. This effect starts a chain. (Divine Wrath incoming!)

New Trap Hole:

When your opponent Normal Summons or Flip Summons 1 monster with 1000 or more ATK:
Target that monster; destroy that target.

 Clues:
 This card destroys ‘that target’. So if the target’s ATK is no longer 1000 or more, the
effect disappears.

Compare that to Adreus, Keeper of Armageddon (from Generation Force):

Once per turn: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card to target 1 face-up card your
opponent controls; destroy it.

 Clues:
 This card destroys ‘it’. So even if the target was flipped face-down, or shifted to your
side of the field, it’s still destroyed. (If it’s not on the field at all when the effect
resolves, it’s not destroyed, of course.)

New Fusion Gate:

While this card is on the field: Either player can Fusion Summon a Fusion Monster without
using “Polymerization”, but the Fusion Material Monsters are banished instead of being sent
to the Graveyard.

 Clues:
 There’s a colon there, so we know this effect starts a chain. Continuous Spells/Traps
with ignition-like effects will have a colon or semicolon to let you know this.

New Black Garden:

When a monster(s) is Normal or Special Summoned, except by the effect of “Black Garden”:
Halve its ATK, and you Special Summon 1 “Rose Token” (Plant-Type/DARK/Level 2/ATK
800/DEF 800) to its controller’s opponent’s side of the field, in Attack Position. You can
target 1 monster in your Graveyard with ATK equal to the total ATK of all face-up Plant Type
monsters on the field; destroy this card and all face-up Plant-Type monsters, then Special
Summon that target.

 Clues:
 First effect has a colon, so we know it starts a chain.
 Second effect has a semicolon, so we know it also starts a chain.
 The ATK halving and the Rose Token Summon happen at the same time.
 The second effect targets.
 The last effect refers to ‘that target’ after the semicolon, so the conditions before the
semicolon have to still be true at resolution. (Specifically, it must be in your
Graveyard and still have exactly the same ATK as all face-up Plants on the field.)
  “Destroy this card” is after the semicolon, so you destroy “Black Garden” when the
last effect resolves, not when it’s activated.

New Bountiful Artemis:

Each time a Counter Trap Card resolves, immediately draw 1 card (during the Chain).

 Clues:
 No colon, no semicolon = no chain.

It shouldn’t take long for you to get used to the new text, and be able to figure out all these
clues on your own. As we reprint more and more older cards with the new text, the first thing
you’ll want to do whenever you have a question is to just read the card.

Check back in a few days and we’ll talk about changes to monsters’ Summoning text!

Part 5: Special Summons

Special Summons are one of the most important and exciting parts of the Yu-Gi-Oh!
TRADING CARD GAME. But sometimes the sheer number of ways to Summon can get a
little confusing.

The good news is that the new Problem-Solving Card Text makes Special Summons a lot
easier to understand.

Special Summons fall into 2 groups:

1. Effects that Summon. This includes monsters that Special Summon using a Flip,
Ignition, Quick, or Trigger Effect (like Mystic Tomato). It also includes Spells and
Traps that Summon a monster (like Monster Reborn). All of these effects and cards
start a Chain.
.
2. Built-In Summons. These are monsters that can Special Summon themselves in a
special way that doesn’t start a Chain. This includes cards like Cyber Dragon. Xyz
Summons, Synchro Summons, and Contact Fusions are also part of this group.

The key difference between the two groups is whether the Summon starts a Chain or not. The
new text on your cards makes it easy to tell. Just look for a colon (:) or semicolon (;) in the
Summoning text. If you see either of these, then the effect starts a Chain, and goes in the first
group. All Spells and Traps start a Chain when activated, so they all go in the first group, too.

Group 1 Examples
Here are some examples of effects that Special Summon. All of these go in the first group
because a Chain is involved.

Hero Kid:

When this card is Special Summoned: You can Special Summon any number of “Hero Kid”(s)
from your Deck.

(This is a Trigger Effect that activates when this card is Special Summoned. It starts a Chain
when it’s activated.)

Destiny HERO – Malicious:

You can banish this card from your Graveyard; Special Summon 1 “Destiny HERO –
Malicious” from your Deck.

(This is an Ignition Effect you can use during your Main Phase. It starts a Chain when you
activate it.)

Fake Hero:

Special Summon 1 “Elemental HERO” monster from your hand. This turn, that monster
cannot attack, and returns to the hand during the End Phase.

(This is a Spell Card. Even though you don’t see a colon or semicolon in the text, activating a
Spell Card always starts a Chain. So this effect goes in the first group.)

Reinforce Truth:

Special Summon 1 Level 2 or lower Warrior-Type monster from your Deck. You cannot
conduct your Battle Phase the turn you activate this card.

(Just like with Fake Hero, this Trap Card starts a Chain, because activating a Trap Card
always starts a Chain.)

Group 2 Examples

Group 2 examples have a lot of variations for how to Summon them. But your newer cards
will have very clear details on how these work.

TIP: All Group 2 cards – except Synchro & Xyz Monsters – will use (parentheses) to explain
where the card is Summoned from. This is another way to spot these cards.
Here are some examples:

Cyber Dragon:

If your opponent controls a monster and you control no monsters, you can Special Summon
this card (from your hand).

(This is a basic example of a built-in Special Summon ability. You know it doesn’t start a
Chain, because there is no colon or semicolon. You can also Normal Summon this monster,
since it doesn’t say that you can’t.)

Ghost Ship (from Generation Force):

Cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. Must first be Special Summoned (from your hand) by
banishing 1 LIGHT monster from your Graveyard.

(Like the card says, you can’t Normal Summon this card. The method written on this card is
the first way to Summon it. After that, if it goes to the Graveyard, you can Special Summon it
again with anything, like Monster Reborn, etc.)

Elemental HERO Marine Neos:

“Elemental HERO Neos” + “Neo-Spacian Marine Dolphin”

Must first be Special Summoned (from your Extra Deck) by returning the above cards you
control to the Deck. (You do not use “Polymerization”.) Once per turn: You can destroy 1
random card in your opponent’s hand.

(This is an example of a Contact Fusion. You have to Summon it using the method written on
the card first. But after that you can re-Summon it from the Graveyard, since it doesn’t say
you can’t.)

Destiny HERO – Dogma:

Cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. Must be Special Summoned (from your hand) by
Tributing 3 monsters, including at least 1 “Destiny HERO” monster, and cannot be Special
Summoned by other ways. If you still control this face-up card during your opponent’s next
Standby Phase after you Special Summoned it: Halve your opponent’s Life Points.

(This is a very powerful monster with very specific requirements to Summon it. The only way
to play this monster is by using the written method to Summon it from your hand. Even if you
do this, itcannot be Special Summoned by other ways like Monster Reborn.)
Vennominaga the Deity of Poisonous Snakes:

Cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. Must first be Special Summoned with “Rise of the Snake
Deity” and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways except by its own effect. This card
gains 500 ATK for each Reptile-Type monster in your Graveyard. This card cannot be
targeted by, and is unaffected by, Spell/Trap effects and other Effect Monsters’ effects. When
this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard: You can banish 1 other Reptile-
Type monster from your Graveyard; Special Summon this card. When this card inflicts Battle
Damage to your opponent: Place 1 Hyper-Venom Counter on it. When 3 Hyper-Venom
Counters are on this card, you win the Duel.

(Here’s an example of a much more complicated card. Just read the card carefully and you’ll
see the most important parts:

1. You can’t Normal Summon this card.

2. The first way to Summon it is with the Rise of the Snake Deity card.
3. After that, it can’t be Summoned by other ways, except by its own effect.
4. Its own effect is explained later in the text. It has a Trigger Effect that it can use to
Summon itself from the Graveyard. This is allowed because the text specifically says
it can be Summoned “by its own effect” after first being Summoned with Rise of the
Snake Deity.
5. Since the text also says you can’t use any other methods to Summon it, you can’t use
Monster Reborn, etc.

Note that even though the built-in Summon doesn’t start a Chain, the Trigger Effect does.)

Dragon Queen of Tragic Endings:

Cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. Must first be Special Summoned (from your hand) while
you control 3 or more face-up Continuous Spell Cards. When this attacking card inflicts
Battle Damage to your opponent: Your opponent sends 1 card from their hand to the
Graveyard, then you draw 1 card. During your Standby Phase, if this card is in your
Graveyard and was sent there from the field: You can send 1 face-up Continuous Spell Card
you control to the Graveyard; Special Summon this card from the Graveyard.

(In this case, the first way to Summon this card is from your hand, by controlling 3
Continuous Spell Cards. After that, you can use Monster Reborn on it, since it doesn’t say
you can’t. Also, it has a Trigger Effect that can also be used to Summon it.

Just like Vennominaga, the built-in Summon doesn’t start a Chain. But the Trigger Effect
does.)

Negating a Summon

So you’re probably thinking this is all very interesting, but does it really matter?
Answer: Yes.

Some cards, like Thunder King Rai-Oh and Steelswarm Roach, can negate the Summon of a
monster. But there’s one VERY IMPORTANT THING you need to know: These effects can
ONLY negate the actual Summon – they can’t negate an effect that Summons, or a Spell/Trap
that Summons.

In other words, they can ONLY negate a “built-in” Summon. Meaning Summons from Group
2.

This is easy to remember. Just look for the parentheses () showing (from where) the monster
is Summoned. If it has parentheses, then its Summon can be negated. Otherwise, it can’t.

Let’s use Cyber Dragon as an example. Just pretend it’s written like this:

If your opponent controls a monster and you control no monsters, you can Special Summon
this card (from your hand… oh no, I got Rai-Oh’d!).

Remember that even though you can’t negate the Summon from Monster Reborn, Call of the
Haunted, or Mystic Tomato, you can still negate those cards/effects themselves, like with
Magic Jammer, Seven Tools of the Bandit, or Divine Wrath. You just can’t use cards whose
sole purpose is to negate a Summon.

IMPORTANT: For any monster that “must first” be Special Summoned in a certain way,
you have to do that successfully if you ever want to revive the monster afterwards. If the
Summon of your Ghost Ship, or Marine Neos, or Dragon Queen, or any similar monster gets
negated, the monster is placed in the Graveyard. Since you didn’t successfully perform the
Summon, you CANNOT revive them using Monster Reborn, etc. Since you did not “first”
Summon it properly. This also applies to Xyz Summons, Synchro Summons, and Contact
Fusions.

For monsters like Cyber Dragon, this doesn’t apply. Since Cyber Dragon doesn’t have a
“must first…” restriction on its Summoning.

Things to Remember

1. Read your cards carefully and follow what they say.

2. Anything that says (where it’s Summoned from) in parentheses can be negated by
cards that “negate the Summon”, like Thunder King Rai-Oh and Horn of Heaven.
3. Xyz, Synchro, and Contact Fusion Summons can also be negated.
4. Spell & Trap Cards that Summon, as well as Trigger/Flip/Ignition/Quick Effects that
Summon, cannot be negated by cards that “negate the Summon”. Because they aren’t
Summons – they’re effects.

Part 6: Finding Clues in Turbo Pack 6 & Generation Force

Starter Deck: Dawn of the Xyz contained the first Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG cards to have the new
Problem-Solving Card Text. Now that Generation Force and Turbo Pack 6 are out, you’ll be
seeing a lot more cards with this newer text.

You can get a LOT of useful information out of what’s written on these cards, so I wanted to
go through a few more examples and point out some helpful tidbits. I’ll underline the
important part of each card’s text.

Let’s start with Turbo Pack 6. The most important change here is to Stardust Dragon:

Stardust Dragon

When a Spell, Trap, Spell/Trap effect, or Effect Monster’s effect is activated that destroys a
card(s) on the field: You can Tribute this card; negate the activation and destroy it. During
the End Phase, if this card negated an effect this way during this turn: You can Special
Summon this card from your Graveyard.

Stardust now specifies that he works against Spells and Traps, AND against Spell/Trap
effects.

What’s the difference, you ask? Well, when you activate a Spell or Trap, it means activating
the card itself by playing it to the field or flipping it face-up. Like Dark Hole, or Mirror
Force.

When you activate a Spell/Trap effect, you’re activating the effect of a card already on the
field, usually a Continuous Spell or Continuous Trap. A good example is Skull Lair. When
you activate Skull Lair, you flip it face up. When you activate the effect of Skull Lair, you’re
banishing monsters to destroy a monster on the field.

Stardust Dragon can be used against both: activation of a card, and activation of a card’s
effect. As long as it meets Stardust’s other criteria.

Compare this to Vylon Filament from Generation Force:

If the equipped monster attacks, your opponent cannot activate any Spell/Trap Cards until the
end of the Damage Step.

In this case, your opponent cannot activate Book of Moon or Mirror Force, but could activate
the effect of a card that is already face-up.

We’ve been phasing in this language on cards like Obelisk the Tormentor and the Watt
monsters. But from now on, you’ll see it consistently applied.

Quickdraw Synchron
You can send 1 monster from your hand to the Graveyard and Special Summon this card
(from your hand). For a Synchro Summon, you can substitute this card for any 1 “Synchron”
Tuner monster. This card cannot be used as a Synchro Material Monster, except for the
Synchro Summon of a monster that lists a “Synchron” monster as a Tuner.

Note the structure of the first effect. It tells you two things.

First, it’s not an effect that starts a Chain. This means it’s vulnerable to Rai-Oh and similar
cards.

Second, because it uses “and Special Summon” instead of “then Special Summon”, it also
means that pitching a card and Summoning Quickdraw happen simultaneously. This means
that you will not miss the timing for any “when… you can” optional effects of the card you
sent to the Graveyard, like Archfiend of Gilfer or Jinzo – Returner.

Armory Arm

Once per turn, you can either: Target 1 monster on the field; equip this card to that target,
OR: Unequip this card and Special Summon it in face-up Attack Position. While equipped by
this effect, that target gains 1000 ATK. When that target destroys a monster by battle and
sends it to the Graveyard: Inflict damage to your opponent equal to the ATK of the destroyed
monster in the Graveyard.

We’ve added “in the Graveyard” to the text, to show that the monster has to still be in the
Graveyard when you check its ATK to inflict damage. This means if something takes it out of
the Graveyard as a Chained effect (like Colossal Fighter), no damage is inflicted. Because you
no longer have a reference point.

You’ll see this phrase again on lots of cards in Legendary Collection 2: The Duel Academy
Years, including Elemental HERO Flame Wingman, Elemental HERO Steam Healer, and
Neos Force. As well as Stygian Street Patrol from the Number 17: Leviathan Dragon Tin.

Bountiful Artemis

Each time a Counter Trap Card resolves, immediately draw 1 card (during the Chain).

Artemis has been confusing players for years, but now it’s clearly a Continuous Effect (hint:
no colon or semicolon). It even points out that you draw during the middle of the Chain.

Gemini Spark

Tribute 1 face-up Level 4 Gemini monster you control to target 1 card on the field; destroy it
anddraw 1 card.
Another card where the use of “and” instead of “then” is critical. Because destroying and
drawing are considered simultaneous, your opponent can do something like Summon a
Meklord Emperor in response to this card’s resolution.

Now let’s take a look at a few cards from Generation Force.

Vision HERO Trinity.

During the turn this card was Fusion Summoned, its ATK is double its original ATK. This
Fusion Summoned card can attack 3 times during each Battle Phase. This card cannot attack
your opponent directly.

These effects are all Continuous! Among other things, that means Trinity is immune to cards
likeDivine Wrath.

Vision HERO Adoration

Once per turn: You can target 1 face-up monster your opponent controls and 1 face-up
“HERO” monster you control, except this card; the opponent’s targeted monster loses ATK
and DEF equal to the ATK of your targeted monster, until the End Phase.

Note the re-use of the word “targeted” during the resolution text. This means that all targeting
conditions (from the activation timing) must still be true at resolution.

For example, what if your opponent Chains TG1-EM1 to this effect, and flips control of the
monsters. In that case, the effect of Adoration disappears. Because you don’t control your
HERO anymore, and your opponent doesn’t control his monster anymore.

Pain Painter

While this card is face-up on the field, its name is treated as “Plaguespreader Zombie”. Once
per turn: You can target up to 2 face-up Zombie-Type monsters you control, except this card;
theybecome Level 2 until the End Phase. They cannot be used as Synchro Material Monsters,
except for the Synchro Summon of a Zombie-Type monster.

Pain Painter’s resolution text refers to the targets as “they” instead of “those targets”.

This means that Pain Painter doesn’t really care what’s happened to its targets. Suppose you
had Zombie World in play and targeted 2 Fluff Tokens. Then your opponent Chains
Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy your Zombie World, so your Fluff Tokens aren’t
Zombies anymore. That’s fine, Pain Painter doesn’t care. “They” still become Level 2. If Pain
Painter said “those targets” instead, then the effect would disappear, because he’d be picky
about his targets. (But he’s an artist, so he just goes with the flow.)

Pain Painter also doesn’t use the word “both”. That means that even if one of the targets is
gone, the other still gets changed to Level 2.

Check back later and we’ll poke through some more card text. Once you figure out how to get
the info you need off the new cards, you’ll never have a rules argument ever again!

Part 7: Conjunction Functions

Over a year has passed since we started adding a ton more details to your Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG
cards, to make your games smoother than ever. Problem-solving card text (PSCT) has put
more information at your fingertips, right on the cards where it belongs.

But PSCT is an evolving beast. We’ve incorporated more improvements over the last year,
and will be rolling out some more in the next few months. You might have noticed some of
these new phrases on your cards already, but if you haven’t, don’t worry. The beauty of PSCT
is that it’s inconspicuous. It’s there if you need it, but most of the time for casual Duels you
can just play free-form, and only look at the text specifics when you need to resolve a
complex card interaction.

Today, we’re going to start going over some important updates to PSCT that you should take
some time to digest over the holiday season. It’s also a good time to review the previous
PSCT articlesHERE.

Conjunction – What’s Your Function?

Four key conjunctive words and phrases are used on card text, each with a specific meaning:

*Then
*Also
*And if you do
*And

The key differences between them are about Timing and Causation.

Why Timing Is Important: Certain Trigger Effects and fast effects have to be used in response
to atriggering event (like a monster being destroyed, or a Summon happening). Depending on
how your card is written, it might only be usable in response to a triggering event that was
‘the last thing that happened’. (This is usually the case for cards that “CAN” be used
“WHEN” something happens. We’ll be talking a lot more about effects with strict activation
timing in an upcoming piece of our Advanced Gameplay web section, so don’t worry about
this too much for now. Just keep in mind that timing can be important, along with what was
‘the last thing that happened’.)

Why Causation is Important: Naturally, when you activate a card, you expect things to work
perfectly. But sometimes your opponent chains a card of their own that changes things.
Suddenly, you can’t do everything your card says. How much do you do? How much CAN
you do? The conjunctive words are a key part of answering these questions.

Here’s how the Four Conjunctives work:

THEN: <Do A, then do B>

Timeline: B happens after A, even though they’re part of one card effect. These things happen
in sequence, not simultaneously.

Causation: A is required for B, but NOT vice-versa. If A does not happen, then stop. If B
cannot happen, you still do A.

Example: Heraldry Change (from Cosmo Blazer)

When an opponent’s monster declares an attack: Special Summon 1 “Heraldic Beast”
monster from your hand, then end the Battle Phase.

Timing: After this card resolves, the last thing that happened was that you ended the Battle
Phase. The last thing was NOT a monster being Summoned. Which means neither player can
activate cards like Torrential Tribute that activate “WHEN” a monster is Summoned.

Causation: Summoning a “Heraldic Beast” is required in order to end the Battle Phase. If you
can’t Summon for some reason, then you don’t end the Battle Phase. Suppose you activate
this card, but then your opponent chains with something that causes you to discard the only
“Heraldic Beast” you had in your hand. You can’t Summon anymore, so you stop resolving
this card’s effect once you reach the “I can’t do that” part.

ALSO: <Do A, also do B>

Timeline: Considered simultaneous. Both happen at the same time.

Causation: Neither is required for the other. Just do as much as you can!

Example: Masked Ninja Ebisu (from Order of Chaos)

Once per turn, if you control a face-up “Ninja” monster other than “Masked Ninja Ebisu”,
you can activate this effect: Return a number of your opponent’s Spell/Trap Cards to the
hand, equal to the number of “Ninja” monsters you control, also every face-up “Goe Goe the
Gallant Ninja” you control can attack your opponent directly this turn.

Timing: Everything after the colon (everything in blue) happens at the same time. If either
player has an effect that can be activated WHEN cards are returned to the hand, they can use
it immediately after this effect resolves. Even though the text regarding Goe Goe is mentioned
after the text that returns cards, it all happens simultaneously.
Causation: Neither of these effects is required for the other. If, for whatever reason, you wind
up NOT returning any Spells/Traps to the hand, your Goe Goes still can attack directly. Also,
if you don’t have any Goe Goes when the effect resolves, you can still return Spells/Traps to
your opponent’s hand. Just apply as much of the effect as you can.

AND IF YOU DO: <Do A, and if you do, do B>

Timeline: Considered simultaneous. Both happen at the same time.

Causation: A is required for B, but NOT vice-versa. If A does not happen, then stop. If B
cannot happen, you still do A.

Basically, this phrase acts like “also” & “and” for Timeline purposes, but acts like “then” for
Causation purposes.

Example: Memory of an Adversary (from Abyss Rising) says, in part:

When an opponent’s monster declares an attack: You take damage equal to the attacking
monster’s ATK, and if you do, banish that monster.

Timing: When this effect resolves, taking damage and banishing the monster happen at the
same time. Effects can be activated that happen “WHEN” you take damage, and effects can
be activated that happen “WHEN” a monster is banished/leaves the field.

Causation: You have to take damage in order to banish the monster. If you can’t take damage
because another effect prevents it, then you don’t banish the monster.

AND: <Do A and B>

Timeline: Considered simultaneous. Both happen at the same time.

Causation: BOTH are required. If you cannot do both, then you do nothing.

NOTE: There used to be a lot more cards written with just “and” than there are now, but a lot
of the older “and” phrasing is now being written as “and if you do” (which is much more
accurate). “And” (by itself) conjunctives are pretty rare now, and used only for highly
restricted, joined-at-the-hip, all-or-nothing effects where everything is required.

Example: Number 53: Heart-eartH (from Cosmo Blazer) says, in part:

When this card on the field is destroyed by a card effect while it has no Xyz Materials: You
can Special Summon 1 “Number 92: Heart-eartH Dragon” from your Extra Deck and attach
this card from the Graveyard to it as an Xyz Material.

Timing: Special Summoning Number 92 and attaching Number 53 to it as Xyz Material

happen at the same time.

Causation: You have to do both. If Number 53 was removed from the Graveyard with a
Chained effect, you cannot Summon Number 92.
(Let’s take a quick trip to the Magical Land of Make-Believe. How would this card work
differently if it was written differently? (1) If it said “then” instead, you could Summon
Number 92 even if Number 53 wasn’t in the Graveyard at resolution [Summoning is required
for attaching, but not vice-versa]. However, if Number 53 was in the Graveyard, and you
attached it, then the act of Number 53 being attached to Number 92 would block activation of
Torrential Tribute, etc. [Because attaching would be ‘the last thing that happened’.] (2) If it
said “and if you do” instead, you wouldn’t need Number 53 in the Graveyard at resolution
[As with “then”, Summoning is required for attaching, but not vice-versa.] But if it was in the
Graveyard, and you did attach it, then Number 92 would still be vulnerable to Torrential
Tribute, etc. [Because with “and if you do”, the effects are simultaneous.] (3) “Also” behaves
just like “and if you do” in this case, since you obviously cannot attach Xyz Materials to a
monster that isn’t Summoned.)

Multiple Conjunctives

Some really complex effects will use more than one conjunction to form a stream of events.
Ignition Beast Volcannon (from Cosmo Blazer) is a good example. I’ve underlined the key
words for you:
When this card is Fusion Summoned: You can target 1 monster your opponent controls;
destroy that target, also destroy this card, then if both monsters were destroyed, inflict
damage to your opponent equal to the ATK of the monster in the Graveyard that was targeted
by this effect.

The key parts of this effect are {destroy target}, {destroy Volcannon}, and {inflict damage}.

So:
*You need to destroy the target if possible (even if you don’t destroy Volcannon).
*You need to destroy Volcannon if possible (even if you don’t destroy the target).
*After you’ve destroyed any monsters, check if both were destroyed. If both were destroyed,
the next thing that happens is that you inflict damage.

Remember: Different conjunctives serve different purposes, depending on whether you’re

checking to see what the ‘last thing that happened’ was (to check whether a new effect can be
activated), or if you’re trying to see how much of the effect you should do.

If you’re checking activation eligibility, you need to focus on timing. Look for THEN vs.
AND/ALSO/AND IF YOU DO.

If you’re checking to see how much of the effect you do, look for ALSO vs. THEN/AND IF
YOU DO vs. just AND.