How to Play Yugioh

Set Spells and Traps: Spell and Trap cards can be Set from your hand during the Main Phase. When Set, they are placed face down in the Spell & Trap Zone. If you set Traps or Instant Spells, they cannot be activated until the next turn.

Battle: If your monster is in Attack Position during the Battle Phase, you are allowed to use it to attack your opponent’s monster. If your opponent has no monsters on the field, you can attack life points directly. Each monster is only allowed to attack once per turn. If a monster hits a face-down card, that card is flipped face up just before damage calculation.

Damage calculation:

• If both are in Attack Position, the monster with the lower ATK (ATK) is destroyed, and the monster’s owner has LP deducted according to the ATK difference.
• If there is the same Gong, both are destroyed.
• If a monster in defense has a Defense Position (DEF) that is less than the attacking monster’s ATK, it is destroyed but the owner of the Defense Position monster has no life points deducted.
• If it has a higher Defense, the owner of the attacking monster will have LP deducted according to the damage difference, and no monster will die.
• If ATK and Defense are equal, no monsters are destroyed.
• When attacking life points directly, your opponent takes damage equal to the monster’s ATK.

Replay: If during your attack turn your opponent’s monster count changes, a replay is performed, then you are allowed to choose to attack with the previous monster, attack with another monster or no longer attacks. You are also allowed to choose another attack target. If you attack with another monster, the original monster is considered to have attacked, and cannot attack again for the remainder of the turn.

Battle Position: Monsters can be placed in Attack Position or Defense Position. Their posture helps determine which number is used to calculate damage; thus, monsters with high ATK should be placed in attack position, and monsters with low ATK should be placed in defense position. In addition, if one of your opponent’s monsters has higher ATK than all monsters on the field, your monster should be placed in a Defense Position so that life points are not deducted. Battle Position can be manually changed once per turn for each monster in your Main Phase. You cannot change battle position if it is summoned, face down, or attacked during that turn.

Chain: Chaining a card or effect means activating it before another effect has a chance to be dealt (or applied). The activation of a card or effect initiates a Chain Link. Once activated, the remaining player can do another one-card Chain, which will become Chain Link 2. This will continue until no more players react to the chain, then then they will be resolved, starting with the most recent Linked String. While the Chain is being dealt, cards and effects cannot be activated.

• Example: Player A activates “Torrential Tribute” which becomes Chain Link 1. Player B responds by activating “Seven Tops of the Bandit” to negate the other card by sacrificing 1000 life points ( LifePoints). Now that person’s Life Points are deducted because that’s the price paid to activate the card, and this happens during activation, not resolution. Player A doesn’t make a Chain any more cards and neither does player B, now the Chain is resolved. Resolution is conducted from the closest Chain Link “Seven Tops”. “Seven Tops” disables “Torrential Tribute” so no monsters are destroyed.

Spell Speed: Only Instant Spell, Trap, and Quick Effect cards can be Chained with another card as Chain Link 2 or more. Quick Effects will be indicated when declaring that they are Instant Effects or by being able to be activated during any player’s turn, or the opponent’s turn. The effect must be Spell Level 2 (Spell Speed 2) or higher or a Trigger effect to activate outside of your Main Phase. Instant Spells can only be cast during your opponent’s turn if it was set face down the previous turn. If the Feedback Trap card is activated, the only card that can be Chained is another Feedback Trap card.

Extra Link: Extra Link is a method of using Link Monsters to capture your opponent’s Extra Monster Zone. To do this, you need a co-linked Link monster (with arrows pointing towards each other) pointing from your Extra Monster Zone to your opponent’s Zone. Once that condition is met, you are allowed to Summon the Last Link monster to your opponent’s Extra Monster Zone, co-link with your monster, and the Zone will be yours for as long as you can. Any Link monster is still there. Link Monsters can be summoned in a u, diagonal, and v-shape. You can also use monsters your opponent owns to complete Extra Links. If your opponent has 3 co-linked monsters of the same row in their Main Monster Zone, summoning 2 Link monsters to the Extra Monster Zone co-linked with the other 3 monsters allows you to complete the Link Extra.

Build a deck. To play Yu-Gi-Oh, you must have a deck of cards. The number of cards in the deck must be 40 or more and not more than 60. Usually it is better if the number of cards in the deck is only 40 or a little more. Your deck should have a balance of spells, traps, and monsters. Good odds are 15-20 monsters, about 9-12 spells, and 5 to 8 traps. This ratio is not a requirement so it is not necessary to follow it if you already understand how to build a deck. Actually, this doesn’t make much sense in the actual game. Most monsters should have Levels below 4, only between 1 and 4 (if any) monsters with higher Levels that cannot be summoned any other way. Spells and traps should support the weakness of the deck, and you should have cards that fall into the following categories: attack protection, negation effects, summon nullification, spell destruction tricks/traps. Of course, these numbers are not absolute and will vary from deck to deck, so use what works for you. Your deck will be stronger if you focus on a particular topic or archetype.

• The Extra Deck is not a must in the game of cards, but is a must for most decks. Fusion, Synchro, and Xyz Monsters are placed in the Extra Deck instead of the Main Deck. You can view the Extra Deck at any time during the game, and you are allowed to Special Summon monsters from it during your turn. There is a maximum of 15 cards in the Extra Deck. Your opponent cannot see your Extra Deck, unless an effect is used.
• The Side Deck also has a maximum limit of 15 cards. This deck doesn’t have to be, but is the go-to for tournament matches. A card game (match) consists of three games, in which the player who wins 2/3 of the game wins the overall game. The Extra Deck includes cards that are used against some popular decks or against your deck, but are not appropriate to include in the main deck. This deck cannot be used during a duel, but you are allowed to substitute cards from the main deck and/or side deck during breaks in a card battle. After the substitution is complete, the number of cards in your Extra Deck must be the same as the original number of cards.
• You are only allowed to have 3 of the same cards in your main, side, and extra decks (for a total of 3). Some cards are banned or limited from use in the tournament, so try to make sure your deck is valid if you intend to participate in the tournament.

Start the duel. To start a card match, look for someone to play with. Shuffle each other’s decks and decide who goes first. This can be decided by playing rock-paper-scissors, tossing a coin, or using some other suitable method. The front player cannot draw cards or attack. Decks that have the ability to set up the Field early or use effects to keep themselves out of battle will often benefit from going ahead, while decks that need the advantage of having more cards in their hand to start the game or land on. Returning what the opponent does will often prefer to go later. Both players start the game with 8000 Life Points.

Place your cards in the correct positions. Place your Extra Deck on the left side of the bottom row, your Main Deck on the right side, with a space in the middle where 5 cards can be placed. That space will be your Spell/Trap zone. Above your main and minor decks are the Pendulum zones to the left and right. The top row consists of the Field Spell on the left and the Graveyard on the right. The five empty squares in the middle are your Monster zone. The banish zone is usually located to the right of the Graveyard.

Draw for the first time. Both players will draw 5 cards at the beginning of the game to start the game.

• Only you can see the card in your hand, not your opponent’s. Your opponent is only allowed to look at the cards in your hand when using card effects. The important thing to remember is not to let your opponent see the cards in your hand and guess the duel strategy. During the End Phase, if you have more than 6 cards in your hand, you must discard until only 6 are left.

Withdraw post. You will draw one card from your deck at the beginning of your turn, during the Draw Phase. The player who goes first is not allowed to draw cards immediately.

Enter the Standby Phase. Certain effects can be activated during the Standby Phase. If not, skip this stage.

Continue into the Main Phase. The Main Phase is the most important phase of your turn, where you do most of the action. During this phase, monsters can be summoned, effects can be activated, the monster’s battle position can be manually rotated, and spells and traps can be activated or set face down.

Fight. You can attack using Attack Position monsters you control during the Battle Phase. It is not required to enter the Battle Phase. If you don’t want to enter the Battle Phase, you can go to the End Phase and skip Main Phase 2. The player who went ahead is not allowed to enter the Battle Phase right away.

Enter the Second Main Stage. After the Battle Phase, you will enter Main Phase 2. During this phase, you can perform the same actions as the Main Phase 1, except that you cannot change the battle position of the card attacked during the Battle Phase. You cannot enter this stage without entering the Battle Phase.

End your turn. The End Phase ends your turn. Some effects can be activated during this phase. Then it will be the turn of the other player.