helpoemer316
Will game for food
Priority
By Michael Palmer
It's come to my attention that many of the questions being asked on our forums here at netrep.net have been the same questions regarding priority and specific monsters and how they interact. First, I'll say the golden rule that no one seems to understand as of right now. A monster does not have priority! YOU THE PLAYER HAVE PRIORITY!!! Some people just don't understand that so the first thing we always say while answering questions is "This monster doesn't have priority, no monster has priority. The player has the priority." So make sure you rephrase your questions before posting them if you ever ask about a monster's priority.
With that pushed aside, I thought up a few situations with certain monsters that you could use their effects with while using YOUR priority:
Player A summons Tribe-Infecting Virus to the field.
Player B responds with Trap Hole.
Player A uses Tribe's effect to destroy all monsters of a specific type on the field.
Player B's Trap Hole then resolves destroying Tribe-Infecting Virus.
Reason: The reason you can do this is because when Trap Hole is activated, Tribe's effect is already present on the field. With that in mind Tribe can use it's effect at least once before being destroyed because it is active on the field. This is the same reason why you can't Trap Hole, Bottomless Trap Hole, or Torrential Tribue a Jinzo, because Jinzo's effect is active as soon as it hits the field, not after the activation of these traps.
Player A summons Magicial Scientist.
Player B activates Ring of Destruction.
Player A activates Scientist's face up effect and pays 1000 Life Points and special summons a Fusion monster.
Player B's Ring of Destruction then resolves destroying Scientist and dealing 300 points of damage to both players.
Reason: Basically see the same as TIV. A rule of thumb is that whenever a person summons a monster, it's effect is face up on the field, unless other wise negated by another card, such as an already face up Skill Drain. Remember if Skill Drain is face up and active before you summon a monster with a face up effect, that effect is negated as soon as it's summoned, since Skill Drain was active before the summon it's effect would in sense of the term, have priority over the summoned monster, but remember what I said, cards don't have priority, people do. It's should be common sense that an effect that was already in play before a monster was summoned or another card was played would resolve before that cards effect would.
Player A tribute summons Mobius The Frost Monarch and targets two spell/trap cards on the field.
Player B responds with Torrential Tribute.
Player A's Mobius The Frost Monarch resolves since it's effect is activated as soon as hits the field and the targetted spell or trap cards that were targetted upon summoning are destroyed. If Torrential Tribute is one of these targetted cards, it does not negate Torrential Tribute.
Player B's Torrential Tribute then resolves destroying all of the monsters on the field, including Mobius The Frost Monarch.
Reason: This one should be apparent, the effect activates as soon as it's summoned, and this means that as soon as Mobius hits the field, the player controlling Mobius gets to select up to two targets with it's effect. Then Player B has the right to respond with a trap after the selection is made. Mobius's effect would resolve as normal and than the trap card activated in response to him will resolve as normal.
Here's a tad bit different of a situation...
Player A's D.D. Warrior Lady attacks Player B's Face Down Card.
Player B flips their Face Down Card and reveals their own D.D. Warrior Lady.
Damage Calculation is reached and Player A takes 100 points of damage for running into D.D.'s 1600 defense with a 1500 ATK.
The question being is who gets the choice to remove first?
This one is quite simple, the turn player would have first choice on whether or not to remove. Player A would be the person to make the first choice on this, if they choose not remove, than it goes to Player B who has the choice now with their D.D. Warrior Lady. If they choose to remove than both monsters are removed from play. If not, than nothing happens and both monsters stay on the field, Player B's in face up defense position and Player A's in face up attack position.
That's enough for cards you would have "priority" with. It should be a little more evident that cards with normal face up effects would have their effect active on the field before any trap can be activated in response to the summon (not chained to the summon since another Golden Rule is that summons have no spell speed, which means for you new guys, they're non-chainable).
CARDS THAT A PLAYER HAS NO PRIORITY WITH!!!
If you read the above, you'll notice that that means that what is coming next is cards that you have no priority over to activate certain effects they control. First I'll talk about the one card that almost everyone wants to confuse it would seem.
Player A summons Breaker The Magical Warrior
Player B activates Bottomless Trap Hole
Player A chooses to use priority... but wait, what does that mean!?
Explanation: Breaker's effect is very tricky and some people don't understand how it's tricky. Breaker basically almost has two effects. The first is the addition of the counter, without this counter you cannot activate the secondary effect, so it's essential. The face up effect of Breaker as soon as it's summoned is the addition of the counter, not it's "breaking" effect itself. So the only priority you have when an opponent responds to the summon of your Breaker is whether or not to add the counter or not. By the time you would have the ability or opportunity to remove that counter, Breaker would no longer be on the field due to the responded trap card. Many confuse this card as a card that would have the ability to use your prioity with and use the effect, but you can't.
I really see no reason to go any further in detail with other cards. Anyone who has a good understanding of the game should be able to read this and make sense of it and be able to tell what you can use priority with and what you cannot use it with. It's a game mechanic in Yu-Gi-Oh! that many people become confused with and it'll be more evident how to use it as the game progresses, but for now, if you're confused with any other cards, you may respond to this post with any questions that you may have and myself and others will try and help you out with your problems.
By Michael Palmer
It's come to my attention that many of the questions being asked on our forums here at netrep.net have been the same questions regarding priority and specific monsters and how they interact. First, I'll say the golden rule that no one seems to understand as of right now. A monster does not have priority! YOU THE PLAYER HAVE PRIORITY!!! Some people just don't understand that so the first thing we always say while answering questions is "This monster doesn't have priority, no monster has priority. The player has the priority." So make sure you rephrase your questions before posting them if you ever ask about a monster's priority.
With that pushed aside, I thought up a few situations with certain monsters that you could use their effects with while using YOUR priority:
Player A summons Tribe-Infecting Virus to the field.
Player B responds with Trap Hole.
Player A uses Tribe's effect to destroy all monsters of a specific type on the field.
Player B's Trap Hole then resolves destroying Tribe-Infecting Virus.
Reason: The reason you can do this is because when Trap Hole is activated, Tribe's effect is already present on the field. With that in mind Tribe can use it's effect at least once before being destroyed because it is active on the field. This is the same reason why you can't Trap Hole, Bottomless Trap Hole, or Torrential Tribue a Jinzo, because Jinzo's effect is active as soon as it hits the field, not after the activation of these traps.
Player A summons Magicial Scientist.
Player B activates Ring of Destruction.
Player A activates Scientist's face up effect and pays 1000 Life Points and special summons a Fusion monster.
Player B's Ring of Destruction then resolves destroying Scientist and dealing 300 points of damage to both players.
Reason: Basically see the same as TIV. A rule of thumb is that whenever a person summons a monster, it's effect is face up on the field, unless other wise negated by another card, such as an already face up Skill Drain. Remember if Skill Drain is face up and active before you summon a monster with a face up effect, that effect is negated as soon as it's summoned, since Skill Drain was active before the summon it's effect would in sense of the term, have priority over the summoned monster, but remember what I said, cards don't have priority, people do. It's should be common sense that an effect that was already in play before a monster was summoned or another card was played would resolve before that cards effect would.
Player A tribute summons Mobius The Frost Monarch and targets two spell/trap cards on the field.
Player B responds with Torrential Tribute.
Player A's Mobius The Frost Monarch resolves since it's effect is activated as soon as hits the field and the targetted spell or trap cards that were targetted upon summoning are destroyed. If Torrential Tribute is one of these targetted cards, it does not negate Torrential Tribute.
Player B's Torrential Tribute then resolves destroying all of the monsters on the field, including Mobius The Frost Monarch.
Reason: This one should be apparent, the effect activates as soon as it's summoned, and this means that as soon as Mobius hits the field, the player controlling Mobius gets to select up to two targets with it's effect. Then Player B has the right to respond with a trap after the selection is made. Mobius's effect would resolve as normal and than the trap card activated in response to him will resolve as normal.
Here's a tad bit different of a situation...
Player A's D.D. Warrior Lady attacks Player B's Face Down Card.
Player B flips their Face Down Card and reveals their own D.D. Warrior Lady.
Damage Calculation is reached and Player A takes 100 points of damage for running into D.D.'s 1600 defense with a 1500 ATK.
The question being is who gets the choice to remove first?
This one is quite simple, the turn player would have first choice on whether or not to remove. Player A would be the person to make the first choice on this, if they choose not remove, than it goes to Player B who has the choice now with their D.D. Warrior Lady. If they choose to remove than both monsters are removed from play. If not, than nothing happens and both monsters stay on the field, Player B's in face up defense position and Player A's in face up attack position.
That's enough for cards you would have "priority" with. It should be a little more evident that cards with normal face up effects would have their effect active on the field before any trap can be activated in response to the summon (not chained to the summon since another Golden Rule is that summons have no spell speed, which means for you new guys, they're non-chainable).
CARDS THAT A PLAYER HAS NO PRIORITY WITH!!!
If you read the above, you'll notice that that means that what is coming next is cards that you have no priority over to activate certain effects they control. First I'll talk about the one card that almost everyone wants to confuse it would seem.
Player A summons Breaker The Magical Warrior
Player B activates Bottomless Trap Hole
Player A chooses to use priority... but wait, what does that mean!?
Explanation: Breaker's effect is very tricky and some people don't understand how it's tricky. Breaker basically almost has two effects. The first is the addition of the counter, without this counter you cannot activate the secondary effect, so it's essential. The face up effect of Breaker as soon as it's summoned is the addition of the counter, not it's "breaking" effect itself. So the only priority you have when an opponent responds to the summon of your Breaker is whether or not to add the counter or not. By the time you would have the ability or opportunity to remove that counter, Breaker would no longer be on the field due to the responded trap card. Many confuse this card as a card that would have the ability to use your prioity with and use the effect, but you can't.
I really see no reason to go any further in detail with other cards. Anyone who has a good understanding of the game should be able to read this and make sense of it and be able to tell what you can use priority with and what you cannot use it with. It's a game mechanic in Yu-Gi-Oh! that many people become confused with and it'll be more evident how to use it as the game progresses, but for now, if you're confused with any other cards, you may respond to this post with any questions that you may have and myself and others will try and help you out with your problems.
Was I right for the most part?