TSHD Part 11: The Shine In The Darkness

...Is not related to Mario in any way.

As expected with a name like The Shining Darkness, this set not only includes the hordes of DARK monsters that we have already looked at, it also introduces a number of LIGHT monsters and Cards that interact with them that aren't just a coincidence like Watts and Batterymen. Let's take a look:

First, we have the totally unrelated LIGHT-Attribute Magidog:

If this card is sent to the Graveyard  for the Synchro Summon of a Spellcaster-Type Synchro Monster, you can add 1 Field Spell Card from your Graveyard  to your hand.

Magidog only has an Optional Trigger Effect, cleverly designed to be unable to miss the timing. You need to succeed in the Synchro Summon of the Spellcaster monster, and that's the timing for the activation of this effect (the same timing window that Torrential Tribute uses). Its effect targets one Field Spell Card in your Graveyard. Magidog merely contributes to retrieving stuff like Secret Village of the Spellcasters or Magical Citadel.

Next, we have another unrelated LIGHT monster: Biofalcon:

When a Machine-Type monster you control is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard  while this card is face-up on the field, you can add 1 Machine-Type monster with 1000 or less ATK  from your Deck to your hand.

Falcon has an Optional Trigger Effect that you can activate at the End of the Damage Step. Since it needs to be face-up at the time of the destruction (and sending to the Graveyard), you cannot activate its effect if Falcon itself is destroyed by the battle. As usual, since it looks for a Card in the Deck, it does not target. Note that "?" is not a determined ATK value, so speaking of LIGHT monsters, you cannot search for Cyber Eltanin or Satellite Cannon with this effect.

Now, into actual LIGHT-related Cards, we have Lyna the Light Charmer:

FLIP: Take control of 1 LIGHT  monster on your opponent's side of the field for as long as this card remains face-up  on the field.

The heavily delayed LIGHT-Attribute Charmer makes its appearance in this set. Like all Charmers, it has a FLIP Effect that targets a face-up monster of a certain Attribute, and you will take control of that monster. Note that this brainwashing involves two conditions: The monster must remain of LIGHT Attribute, and Lyna must remain face-up on the Field. Back in the day, it was pretty common to ask what happened if the Charmer was attacked while face-down. Most people seemed to believe that you somehow got to keep the targeted monster, even if the Charmers say exactly the opposite. Hopefully this has changed over the years since The Lost Millennium..

Next, we have some Spell Cards for LIGHT monsters, one being support, and the other anti-support. The first one is The Fountain in the Sky:

When a LIGHT  monster is destroyed by battle and sent to your Graveyard, you can remove that monster  from play to gain Life Points equal to its ATK.

Fountain has an optional Trigger-like effect that you activate at the End of the Damage Step. Removing from Play the LIGHT monster is a cost. There are two small things to notice about Fountain: The first one being that it refers to the Original ATK of the monster (since it's no longer on the Field). The second one is that the monster IS sent to the Graveyard before being Removed from Play, so effects like Shining Angel will still activate properly. Fountain does not equal Macro Cosmos in any way. Of course, being a Continuous Spell Card, it needs to remain face-up in order to resolve properly.

The other Spell Card is Leeching the Light:

Select 1 face-up LIGHT monster your opponent controls. All face-up Attack Position monsters you control gain ATK equal to the ATK of the selected monster, until the End Phase.

Leeching targets a LIGHT monster, which must remain of that Attribute until Leeching resolves. All of your face-up Attack Position monsters you control when Leeching resolves will gain ATK equal to the current ATK of the LIGHT monster. Boring Card Q_Q

Similar to Lyna, this set completes a group of really old monsters with the arrival of Herald of Perfection:

This card can only be Ritual Summoned with the Ritual Spell Card, "Dawn of the Herald". You can send 1 Fairy-Type monster  from your hand  to the Graveyard to negate the activation  of a Spell Card, Trap Card, or Effect Monster's effect and destroy it.

Herald of Perfection is a Ritual monster, so it follows all of their rules. Its effect is an Optional Quick Effect, which sends a Fairy-type monster to the Graveyard as a cost (meaning you can't activate it if Macro Cosmos is active). Its effect can only negate the activation of a S/T Card, meaning it can't negate the effects of already-active S/T Cards like Royal Oppression. Being a Quick Effect that negates activations, you can activate it during the Damage Step and even during Damage Calculation. Much like other similar monsters (Heraklinos, Horus LV8), Herald can negate multiple Cards in a chain providing that it's chained directly to them and that you can keep affording its cost.

In order to Summon the Herald, you need the Ritual Spell Card Dawn of the Herald:

This card is used to Ritual Summon "Herald of Perfection". You must also Tribute monsters whose total Levels equal exactly 6 from the field or your hand. When "Herald of Perfection" is Ritual Summoned by this card's effect, you can remove from play this card in your Graveyard to select 1 of the monsters Tributed for that Ritual Summon and return it from your Graveyard to your Hand.

Aside from being your average Ritual Spell Card, Dawn also has a Trigger-like effect that you can activate in response to Herald's Ritual Summon. Removing the Spell Card from Play is a cost, and it targets one of the monsters you have used. Note that it only works with monsters you have Tributed, so if you end up returning a Djinn monster that you have Removed from Play for this Ritual Summon to the Graveyard, you cannot add it to your Hand. Also note that you cannot activate multiple copies of Dawn of the Herald: If you use Dawn #1 to Summon the Herald, then you did not use the effects of Dawn #2 (or #3) to Summon it.

If this game has taught us something, is that when you mix DARK and LIGHT monsters, you obtain chaos. And this is what causes the Chaos Trap Hole:

Pay 2000 Life Points. Negate the Summon of a LIGHT or DARK monster and remove it from play.

The payment is a cost. Other than that, Chaos Trap Hole works exactly like Horn of Heaven or Solemn Judgment, meaning that it can negate Normal Summons, Flip Summons, and inherent Special Summons (only). So far, all monsters with multiple Attributes always have one of the two Attributes that Chaos Trap Hole needs (such as Light and Darkness Dragon or Chaos Sphere), so they can always have their Summon negated. However, do note that none of the monster's effects are applied while the monster is being Summoned, so if a monster like Elemental Mistress Doriado had its original Attribute as FIRE, and gained other Attributes through an effect, you could not negate its Flip Summon.

Along with the Chaos Trap Hole, there are other cracks such as Crevice into the Different Dimension:

Declare 1 Attribute and select a total of 2 monsters with that Attribute from the Graveyards. Remove those monsters from play.

Crevice is actually a really simple Trap Card. Upon its activation, you declare an Attribute AND target two monsters on either Graveyard. The only action you perform during its resolution is to Remove the targets from Play. It may sound somewhat confusing that both actions are linked by an "and", or that you need to declare an Attribute, which is used later (even if its slightly later). I believe that most of the confusion comes from unconsciously assuming that the monsters in the Graveyard will keep their Attributes the same by the time the Card resolves, so they will never be illegal targets, but this may change in the future. The only other relevant note is that if one of the targets is missing, the other one is still Removed from Play.

And finally, in order to rule this chaos, we have the Chaos Goddess:

1 LIGHT Tuner + 2 or more non-Tuner DARK monsters.
Once per turn, you can send 1 LIGHT monster from your hand to the Graveyard to select 1 Level 5 or higher DARK monster from your Graveyard. Special Summon that monster. It cannot be used as a Synchro Material monster.

The first thing to notice about Goddess is that it fixes an Attribute requirement for both, the Tuner monster and the non-Tuner monsters, which is not very common. Other than that, its single effect is very simple. It's your average Ignition Effect, which sends a monster to the Graveyard as a cost and targets a monster that you wish to Special Summon. Of course, if Macro Cosmos is active, you can't activate its effect (so much for being a chaos goddess). The Summoned monster cannot be used as a Synchro Material as long as it remains face-up, but if you flip it face-down and then face-up, this restriction is lifted.

And that's another batch of TSHD Cards that we have revised, but we still have about a fourth of the set left! If you have any questions, feel free to drop me an e-mail at ness00[at]gmail[dot]com.