DUEL MONSTERS PRIMER
For 
tenshinoakuma you'll be card game trash with me yet
The basic playing field
This is how the field looks under the current ruleset.
The deck (sometimes called main deck) is placed in the deck zone. A deck must have between 40 and 60 cards to be considered legal.
- Up to 3 copies of the same card can be included in a deck
- Certain cards are Semi-Limited, Limited, and Forbidden
- Semi-limited cards are restricted to 2 per deck
- Limited cards are restricted to 1 per deck
- Forbidden cards are outright banned
The Extra deck holds certain types of monster cards that are summoned under special circumstances. The types of monsters that go in this deck are Fusion, Synchro, XYZ, and Pendulum monsters (after destruction because Pendulum monsters are complex as fuck). The Extra Deck may contain up to 15 cards (which do not count towards the main deck total), though it can hold more during games due to mechanics such as Pendulum monsters. Similar to the main deck, the Extra deck can only contain up to 3 of the same card and is also bound by semi-limited, limited, and forbidden restrictions.
Since 5D's only uses Synchro (and very rarely, Fusion) summoning, you don't have to worry about XYZ or Pendulum.
The Monster zone is where players summon their monsters. A player may have up to 5 monsters in the monster zone.
The Magic/Trap zone is where magic and trap cards are played. There are several kinds of each with different effects. Similar to monsters, up to five magic/trap cards can be placed in the zone.
The Graveyard is the discard pile.
The Field zone is where Field magic, a special type of magic card, is played. There can only be one field magic active at a time, so if either player plays a second one, the first is destroyed.
The Pendulum zone is where Pendulum cards are placed to set a Pendulum scale. This is a new addition to the game (added in 2014, when Arc-V started airing) and we won't talk about that as it's not relevant to 5D's.
Not shown because it doesn't have an official place is the Banished zone. Banished cards are also referred to as "removed from play." Banished cards are not strictly removed from play, as there are ways to recover banished cards. A more accurate description would be a second discard pile. Generally, players place their banished cards next to the graveyard.
Also not shown is the Side deck. The side deck contains reserve cards that players may switch in and out during tournaments. The side deck may contain up to 15 cards that do not count towards the main deck total.
Players begin with 4000 Life Points in the anime, 8000 in the real life card game. A player loses when their LP is reduced to zero, they cannot draw a card at the start of their turn, referred to as decking, or through certain card effects.
Turn order
- Players will Rock-Paper-Scissors before a duel
- The winner gets to choose whether they want to go first or second
- In the event of a tie, they go again until a winner is decided
Turns are divided into six phases:
1. Draw phase
2. Standby phase
3. Main phase 1
4. Battle phase
5. Main phase 2
6. End phase
The Draw phase is simply the player drawing a card. While this sounds simple, there are several cards that affect the draw phase or activate during it.
The Standby phase is the moment after the draw phase occurs. While 90% of the time nothing happens during the standby phase, some card effects do proc during it.
Main phase 1 is where the player can begin their moves. Players may summon monsters, play magic, or set traps during this phase. They may also switch monsters from attack position to defense and vice versa. However, under normal circumstances, a monster's position may only be changed once per turn and monsters summoned on the current turn may not change their position until the player's next turn.
The Battle phase is where combat occurs. The battle phase itself is broken into several phases:
1. Start step
2. Battle step
3. Damage step
4. End step
The start step is when the player announce that they are entering the battle phase.
The battle step is when the player declares a battle.
Example: "Blue-Eyes White Dragon attacks Celtic Guardian" or "Vorse Raider attacks that face down monster" or "Speed Warrior attacks directly"
If there are monsters on the opponent's field, direct attacks cannot be declared unless a card effect is in play that allows a monster to ignore other monsters on the field and attack directly.
Barring card effects, a monster may only attack once per battle phase.
Only attack position monsters may declare attacks, and they must be in attack position before the battle phase begins unless a card effect allows their position to be changed at this time.
The damage step is the result of that battle. The result depends largely on the battle positions of the battling monsters.
If both monsters are in attack position:
- The monster with lower attack is destroyed and sent to the graveyard
- The player controlling the weaker monster takes damage equal to the difference in attack values
- If both monsters have the same attack, both monsters are destroyed with no damage dealt to either player
If one monster is in attack position and the other is in defense position:
- If the attacking monster's attack exceeds the defender's defense, the defender is destroyed. No damage is dealt.
- If the attacking monster's attack is lower than the defender's defense, the controller of the attacking monster takes damage equal to the difference between the defense and attack values
- If the attacking monster's attack is equal to the defender's defense, neither monster is destroyed and no damage is dealt
- If the defending monster is face down on the field, it is flipped face up the moment it is attacked. Often, the attacking player must gamble on whether their monster is strong enough to defeat a defending monster or not
Card effects may make exceptions to these rules. Effects may negate damage, card destruction, or allow weaker monsters to destroy stronger ones in battle are just some of the effects that can affect the battle phase.
The battle step may be repeated as long as the player has monsters that are eligible to attack.
The end step is when the turn player decides to no longer battle. Once they have decided this, they cannot declare any more attacks until their next turn.
Additionally, players may choose to skip the battle phase entirely if they wish to or if they have no monsters that can attack.
Main Phase 2 is identical to Main Phase 1. The player may summon monsters, play magic, set traps, and change battle positions. If a monster's position was changed in Main Phase 1, it cannot be changed in Main Phase 2.
The End Phase is when the player declares they are ending their turn. Some card effects activate during the end phase.
Riding Duels
Riding Duels, (the card game while played on motorcycles) have special additional rules:
1. Duelists race to see who takes the first turn, usually the first player to cross an agreed upon landmark or turn the first corner in the course.
2. The field magic, Speed World (or later on, Speed World 2) is set in the Field magic zone and cannot be destroyed or overwritten under any circumstances
3. After every End Phase, Duelists gain 1 Speed counter. (12 maximum) In the anime, this is represented by literal changes in speed.
4. Regular magic cards cannot be played during a Riding Duel. Instead, duelists use what are called Speed Spells. Speed Spells generally have similar effects to already existing cards, but come with a requirement: a duelist must have a minimum number of speed counters to activate the spell.
5. In the event of a crash, a duelist is considered unable to play and must forfeit unless they can get back on and continue to drive. This leads to many questionable moments in the series.
6. The loser's D-wheel (motorcycle) will shut down upon defeat.
Speed World 2 also has additional effects:
A duelist may remove speed counters from themselves in order to activate one of the following effects depending on the number removed:
4 counters - Deal 800 damage to the opponent
7 counters - Draw one card
10 counters - Destroy one card on the field
Because of the restrictions Riding Duels impose on the players, duelists who participate in Riding Duels carry two variations of the same deck, one for regular duels (Standing duels) and one for riding duels.
Summoning
This gets its own section because there are so many rules and methods governing summoning. The basic rule of summoning is this:
A player may only normal summon one monster per turn.
A normal summon is when the player simply plays the card directly from their hand and does not use any special methods or card effects to summon. There are a few basic rules governing normal summoning:
1. Monsters levels 1 through 4 may be played directly on the field.
2. Monsters levels 5 and 6 require the player to tribute (discard) a monster already on the field in order to be normal summoned.
3. Monsters levels 7 and higher require the player to tribute two monsters already on the field in order to be normal summoned.
Attack position monsters are placed face up, right side up. Defense position monsters are "set" face down sideways. 5D's does not follow the set rule for defense monsters. They are instead set face up sideways allowing the opponent to see their values and effects.
A special summon is a summon that does not count towards the normal summon restriction. This is actually a very broad term that can be applied to pretty much any other method a player uses to summon that isn't a normal summon. Reviving a monster from the graveyard or summoning a monster directly from your deck (rather than your hand) are considered special summons. Many cards have special conditions that allow you to special summon. For example, Quick Synchron allows you to special summon it by discarding a card from your hand. Some cards can be special summoned if certain other cards are present, or if your monster zone is empty, and so on. Special summoning is how duelists circumvent the one summon per turn rule.
Monsters summoned through certain means are all considered special summoned. The primary one in 5D's is Synchro Summoning so let's focus on that. Synchro monsters have white borders and are stored in the extra deck.
To Synchro summon, the player needs two things on their field:
1. A Tuner monster
2. Any number of non Tuner monsters
A Tuner monster is a monster designated for Synchro Summoning. It is a classification, similar to "Dragon" or "Zombie."
To Synchro Summon, the player must send one tuner and one or more non tuners from their monster zone to the graveyard. The levels of all the monsters must be equal to the monster they wish to Synchro Summon.
Example:
Stardust Dragon is a level 8 Synchro monster, therefore, the combined levels of all the monsters sent to the graveyard must equal 8.
Several Synchro and Tuner monsters also have restrictions. Junk Warrior requires the tuner monster to be Junk Synchron and Debris Dragon is a Tuner that specifies that it must be used to Synchro summon a Dragon-type Synchro Monster. There are often ways around these restrictions. Quick Synchron, for example, may be used to substitute for any Tuner with the word "Synchron" in its name, meaning that a player can use it to summon Junk Warrior in the place of Junk Synchron.
If a Synchro Monster is summoned through a different means (revival from the graveyard, through a card effect, etc.) it is not considered Synchro Summoned unless specified.
Fusion Summoning
Fusion Summoning is a type of summon that was introduced before Synchro Summoning. It is similar to Synchro in that players must send monsters to the graveyard, but has a few differences.
Fusion summons require the activation of certain cards or card effects to be performed, unlike Synchros in which you merely send the required cards to the graveyard. The primary and most common card used to Fusion summon is Fusion ("Polymerization" in English). Other cards allow Fusion summons under certain circumstances.
Fusion summons often are much more picky on what cards are required. Many of them require specific monsters or certain archetypes of monsters. While they are much more difficult to summon, Fusion monsters are usually hella strong, with high attack and defense stats and extremely powerful effects.
This entry was originally posted at http://brightwing.dreamwidth.org/3767.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
tenshinoakuma you'll be card game trash with me yet
The basic playing field
This is how the field looks under the current ruleset.
The deck (sometimes called main deck) is placed in the deck zone. A deck must have between 40 and 60 cards to be considered legal.
- Up to 3 copies of the same card can be included in a deck
- Certain cards are Semi-Limited, Limited, and Forbidden
- Semi-limited cards are restricted to 2 per deck
- Limited cards are restricted to 1 per deck
- Forbidden cards are outright banned
The Extra deck holds certain types of monster cards that are summoned under special circumstances. The types of monsters that go in this deck are Fusion, Synchro, XYZ, and Pendulum monsters (after destruction because Pendulum monsters are complex as fuck). The Extra Deck may contain up to 15 cards (which do not count towards the main deck total), though it can hold more during games due to mechanics such as Pendulum monsters. Similar to the main deck, the Extra deck can only contain up to 3 of the same card and is also bound by semi-limited, limited, and forbidden restrictions.
Since 5D's only uses Synchro (and very rarely, Fusion) summoning, you don't have to worry about XYZ or Pendulum.
The Monster zone is where players summon their monsters. A player may have up to 5 monsters in the monster zone.
The Magic/Trap zone is where magic and trap cards are played. There are several kinds of each with different effects. Similar to monsters, up to five magic/trap cards can be placed in the zone.
The Graveyard is the discard pile.
The Field zone is where Field magic, a special type of magic card, is played. There can only be one field magic active at a time, so if either player plays a second one, the first is destroyed.
The Pendulum zone is where Pendulum cards are placed to set a Pendulum scale. This is a new addition to the game (added in 2014, when Arc-V started airing) and we won't talk about that as it's not relevant to 5D's.
Not shown because it doesn't have an official place is the Banished zone. Banished cards are also referred to as "removed from play." Banished cards are not strictly removed from play, as there are ways to recover banished cards. A more accurate description would be a second discard pile. Generally, players place their banished cards next to the graveyard.
Also not shown is the Side deck. The side deck contains reserve cards that players may switch in and out during tournaments. The side deck may contain up to 15 cards that do not count towards the main deck total.
Players begin with 4000 Life Points in the anime, 8000 in the real life card game. A player loses when their LP is reduced to zero, they cannot draw a card at the start of their turn, referred to as decking, or through certain card effects.
Turn order
- Players will Rock-Paper-Scissors before a duel
- The winner gets to choose whether they want to go first or second
- In the event of a tie, they go again until a winner is decided
Turns are divided into six phases:
1. Draw phase
2. Standby phase
3. Main phase 1
4. Battle phase
5. Main phase 2
6. End phase
The Draw phase is simply the player drawing a card. While this sounds simple, there are several cards that affect the draw phase or activate during it.
The Standby phase is the moment after the draw phase occurs. While 90% of the time nothing happens during the standby phase, some card effects do proc during it.
Main phase 1 is where the player can begin their moves. Players may summon monsters, play magic, or set traps during this phase. They may also switch monsters from attack position to defense and vice versa. However, under normal circumstances, a monster's position may only be changed once per turn and monsters summoned on the current turn may not change their position until the player's next turn.
The Battle phase is where combat occurs. The battle phase itself is broken into several phases:
1. Start step
2. Battle step
3. Damage step
4. End step
The start step is when the player announce that they are entering the battle phase.
The battle step is when the player declares a battle.
Example: "Blue-Eyes White Dragon attacks Celtic Guardian" or "Vorse Raider attacks that face down monster" or "Speed Warrior attacks directly"
If there are monsters on the opponent's field, direct attacks cannot be declared unless a card effect is in play that allows a monster to ignore other monsters on the field and attack directly.
Barring card effects, a monster may only attack once per battle phase.
Only attack position monsters may declare attacks, and they must be in attack position before the battle phase begins unless a card effect allows their position to be changed at this time.
The damage step is the result of that battle. The result depends largely on the battle positions of the battling monsters.
If both monsters are in attack position:
- The monster with lower attack is destroyed and sent to the graveyard
- The player controlling the weaker monster takes damage equal to the difference in attack values
- If both monsters have the same attack, both monsters are destroyed with no damage dealt to either player
If one monster is in attack position and the other is in defense position:
- If the attacking monster's attack exceeds the defender's defense, the defender is destroyed. No damage is dealt.
- If the attacking monster's attack is lower than the defender's defense, the controller of the attacking monster takes damage equal to the difference between the defense and attack values
- If the attacking monster's attack is equal to the defender's defense, neither monster is destroyed and no damage is dealt
- If the defending monster is face down on the field, it is flipped face up the moment it is attacked. Often, the attacking player must gamble on whether their monster is strong enough to defeat a defending monster or not
Card effects may make exceptions to these rules. Effects may negate damage, card destruction, or allow weaker monsters to destroy stronger ones in battle are just some of the effects that can affect the battle phase.
The battle step may be repeated as long as the player has monsters that are eligible to attack.
The end step is when the turn player decides to no longer battle. Once they have decided this, they cannot declare any more attacks until their next turn.
Additionally, players may choose to skip the battle phase entirely if they wish to or if they have no monsters that can attack.
Main Phase 2 is identical to Main Phase 1. The player may summon monsters, play magic, set traps, and change battle positions. If a monster's position was changed in Main Phase 1, it cannot be changed in Main Phase 2.
The End Phase is when the player declares they are ending their turn. Some card effects activate during the end phase.
Riding Duels
Riding Duels, (the card game while played on motorcycles) have special additional rules:
1. Duelists race to see who takes the first turn, usually the first player to cross an agreed upon landmark or turn the first corner in the course.
2. The field magic, Speed World (or later on, Speed World 2) is set in the Field magic zone and cannot be destroyed or overwritten under any circumstances
3. After every End Phase, Duelists gain 1 Speed counter. (12 maximum) In the anime, this is represented by literal changes in speed.
4. Regular magic cards cannot be played during a Riding Duel. Instead, duelists use what are called Speed Spells. Speed Spells generally have similar effects to already existing cards, but come with a requirement: a duelist must have a minimum number of speed counters to activate the spell.
5. In the event of a crash, a duelist is considered unable to play and must forfeit unless they can get back on and continue to drive. This leads to many questionable moments in the series.
6. The loser's D-wheel (motorcycle) will shut down upon defeat.
Speed World 2 also has additional effects:
A duelist may remove speed counters from themselves in order to activate one of the following effects depending on the number removed:
4 counters - Deal 800 damage to the opponent
7 counters - Draw one card
10 counters - Destroy one card on the field
Because of the restrictions Riding Duels impose on the players, duelists who participate in Riding Duels carry two variations of the same deck, one for regular duels (Standing duels) and one for riding duels.
Summoning
This gets its own section because there are so many rules and methods governing summoning. The basic rule of summoning is this:
A player may only normal summon one monster per turn.
A normal summon is when the player simply plays the card directly from their hand and does not use any special methods or card effects to summon. There are a few basic rules governing normal summoning:
1. Monsters levels 1 through 4 may be played directly on the field.
2. Monsters levels 5 and 6 require the player to tribute (discard) a monster already on the field in order to be normal summoned.
3. Monsters levels 7 and higher require the player to tribute two monsters already on the field in order to be normal summoned.
Attack position monsters are placed face up, right side up. Defense position monsters are "set" face down sideways. 5D's does not follow the set rule for defense monsters. They are instead set face up sideways allowing the opponent to see their values and effects.
A special summon is a summon that does not count towards the normal summon restriction. This is actually a very broad term that can be applied to pretty much any other method a player uses to summon that isn't a normal summon. Reviving a monster from the graveyard or summoning a monster directly from your deck (rather than your hand) are considered special summons. Many cards have special conditions that allow you to special summon. For example, Quick Synchron allows you to special summon it by discarding a card from your hand. Some cards can be special summoned if certain other cards are present, or if your monster zone is empty, and so on. Special summoning is how duelists circumvent the one summon per turn rule.
Monsters summoned through certain means are all considered special summoned. The primary one in 5D's is Synchro Summoning so let's focus on that. Synchro monsters have white borders and are stored in the extra deck.
To Synchro summon, the player needs two things on their field:
1. A Tuner monster
2. Any number of non Tuner monsters
A Tuner monster is a monster designated for Synchro Summoning. It is a classification, similar to "Dragon" or "Zombie."
To Synchro Summon, the player must send one tuner and one or more non tuners from their monster zone to the graveyard. The levels of all the monsters must be equal to the monster they wish to Synchro Summon.
Example:
Stardust Dragon is a level 8 Synchro monster, therefore, the combined levels of all the monsters sent to the graveyard must equal 8.
Several Synchro and Tuner monsters also have restrictions. Junk Warrior requires the tuner monster to be Junk Synchron and Debris Dragon is a Tuner that specifies that it must be used to Synchro summon a Dragon-type Synchro Monster. There are often ways around these restrictions. Quick Synchron, for example, may be used to substitute for any Tuner with the word "Synchron" in its name, meaning that a player can use it to summon Junk Warrior in the place of Junk Synchron.
If a Synchro Monster is summoned through a different means (revival from the graveyard, through a card effect, etc.) it is not considered Synchro Summoned unless specified.
Fusion Summoning
Fusion Summoning is a type of summon that was introduced before Synchro Summoning. It is similar to Synchro in that players must send monsters to the graveyard, but has a few differences.
Fusion summons require the activation of certain cards or card effects to be performed, unlike Synchros in which you merely send the required cards to the graveyard. The primary and most common card used to Fusion summon is Fusion ("Polymerization" in English). Other cards allow Fusion summons under certain circumstances.
Fusion summons often are much more picky on what cards are required. Many of them require specific monsters or certain archetypes of monsters. While they are much more difficult to summon, Fusion monsters are usually hella strong, with high attack and defense stats and extremely powerful effects.
This entry was originally posted at http://brightwing.dreamwidth.org/3767.html. Please comment there using OpenID.