TSHD Part 4: Handless Job

The final Cards for the Infernity theme in The Shining Darkness are 5 pretty powerful Trap Cards.

Let's start with Infernity Reflector:

Activate only by discarding all the cards in your hand when an "Infernity" monster you control is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard. Select and Special Summon that monster from your Graveyard, and inflict 1000 damage to your opponent.

This Normal Trap Card is activated at the End of the Damage Step. Discarding your hand is a cost, and it targets the destroyed Infernity monster. The damage and the Summon are simultaneous. As a side note, you need at least 1 Card in your Hand to activate Reflector.

Next, we have Infernity Break:

Activate only if you have no cards in your hand. Select 1 "Infernity" card in your Graveyard and remove it from play. Select 1 Card your opponent controls and destroy it.

Break targets two Cards, one in your Graveyard, and one on the opponent's side of the Field. Break will resolve properly even if you have Cards in your Hand during its resolution. The destruction and the removal are considered to be simultaneous. If your Card is no longer in the Graveyard, then you do not destroy the other target, but if the opponent's Card is no longer on the Field, you still Remove your Card from Play. Note that Infernity Break can use any Card with "Infernity" in its name, so you can use Cards like Infernity Launcher or even another copy of Infernity Break.

Moving on, we have Infernity Inferno:

Discard  up to 2 cards and send the same number of "Infernity" cards from your Deck to the Graveyard.

Inferno has no cost. You actually discard the  Cards as part of its effect, so it works with the effects of Dark World monsters. Once you activate Inferno, you must discard at least one Card. After you discard, you will send the same amount of "Infernity" Cards from your Deck to the Graveyard. Once again, notice that you are not restricted to Infernity monsters.

The following Card lacks the Infernity name, much like ZERO MAX, but it still blends with the theme. Let's take a look at Phantom Hand:

Once per turn, if you control a face-up "Infernity" monster(s), you can remove from play all cards in your hand (face-down) until your next Standby Phase.

In order to resolve Phantom Hand's effect properly, you must control an Infernity monster upon its resolution. Once you do, the Cards that were in your Hand are not related to Phantom Hand anymore, so even if PH is no longer face-up, you will still recover the Cards during your Standby Phase. Of course, if Phantom Hand is destroyed in a chain to its effect that Removes your Hand from Play, it will resolve without effect, as it is a Continuous Trap Card. Note that Phantom Hand has a Spell Speed 2 effect, so not only you can activate it during your opponent's turn, but also, you are able to chain it to most effects. For example, if your opponent activates Torrential Tribute when you Summon Infernity Guardian, you can chain Phantom Hand's effect to protect Guardian.

The last Trap Card and Infernity support in the set is the TCG exclusive Infernity Barrier:

Activate only when your opponent activates a Spell Card, Trap Card, or Effect Monster's effect, if you control a face-up Attack Position "Infernity" monster and have no cards in your hand. Negate the activation and destroy that card.

Barrier is an extremely simple Counter Trap Card. If you meet its activation requirements, it negates almost anything. It's easier to list what Barrier cannot negate, which are the effects of already active S/T Cards, and effects that do not use the chain like Jinzo. Some people simply read it as a copy of Solemn Judgment, which leads to believe it also negates Summons, but this is not true for Summons that aren't performed through an effect that uses the chain. For example, Barrier can negate the effect of Gorz, but it cannot negate the Special Summon of Cyber Dragon.

And that's all for Infernities so far. Stay tuned for more TSHD goodness. If you have any questions, feel free to drop me an e-mail at ness00[at]gmail[dot]com.

TSHD Part 3: Thing T. Thing cries in shame

While the Infernity Deck heavily depends on the Spell Card Infernity Launcher, there aren't actually that many Spell Cards for the theme itself. Probably because Spell Cards help a lot on reducing Hand size. Oh well, not my job to figure these things out. In this part, we'll look at the few Spell Cards issued for the Infernity theme.

Let's look first at Wave-Motion Inferno:

While you have no cards in your hand, face-up "Infernity" monsters you control gain 400 ATK and DEF. You can send this face-up card from the field to the Graveyard to send all cards from your hand to the Graveyard.

This Continuous Spell Card is pretty simple. Its first effect is continuously applied, and as you can probably tell, as soon as you have Cards in your Hand, the ATK/DEF boost stops being applied. The second effect is an Ignition-like effect, so you can only activate it during your Main Phases. Sending WMI to the Graveyard is a cost, so you cannot activate this effect while a Card like Macro Cosmos is active. If Macro Cosmos is chained, all Cards in your Hand are Removed from Play.

Next, we have Into the Void:

Activate  only if you have 3 or more cards in your hand. Draw  1 card. During the End Phase of this turn, discard all the cards in your hand.

Into the Void isn't an Infernity Card per se, but some people consider it as one. Having 3 Cards in your Hand is an activation requirement, which means that Into the Void will resolve properly even if your Hand size is lower than 3 Cards when it resolves. This allows you to activate ItV if you only have 2 Cards in your Hand along it, as you would be having 3 Cards total. The effect that discards all Cards in your Hand doesn't start a chain. If you send ItV to the Graveyard via Diamond Dude's effect, you can skip the requirement of having 3 Cards in your Hand, but you must still discard your Hand during the End Phase.

Moving on, we have ZERO-MAX:

Activate only if you have no cards in your hand. Select 1 "Infernity" monster in your Graveyard. Special Summon it, and destroy all face-up monsters on the field with ATK lower than the Special Summoned monster's ATK. You cannot conduct your Battle Phase during the same turn you activate this card.

ZERO-MAX is a really peculiar Normal Spell Card. You can only activate it if you have no Cards in your Hand. However, if ZERO-MAX is in your Hand, then you do have Cards in your Hand, so you cannot activate it directly from your Hand like most Spell Cards. You must set it first. With that said, ZERO-MAX targets one Infernity monster. Once it is Special Summoned, you destroy all face-up monsters with lower ATK than that monster. The Summon and the destruction are not simultaneous, so neither player can respond to the Summon. This would cause Infernity Archfiend to miss the timing. Note that you can activate ZERO-MAX even if there are no monsters to destroy.  Back to the usual restriction, if you have Cards in your Hand when ZM resolves, it will resolve without effect. And finally, if you use ZM along Diamond Dude, you can conduct your Battle Phase.

The last Spell Card is the heart and soul of the Deck, Infernity Launcher:

Once per turn, you can send 1 "Infernity" monster from your hand to the Graveyard. While you have no cards in your hand, you can send this card from the field to the Graveyard to select up to 2 "Infernity" monsters in your Graveyard and Special Summon them.

This Continuous Spell Card has two effects. The first effect is an Ignition-like effect, which helps reducing your Hand size. Launcher needs to remain face-up in order for this effect to resolve properly. The second effect is also an Ignition-like Effect, which sends Launcher to the Graveyard as a cost and targets up to 2 Infernity monsters. If one of the targets is no longer in the Graveyard, you still Special Summon the other one. If you have Cards in your Hand, as usual, Launcher will resolve without effect. Finally, if Macro Cosmos is active, you cannot pay Launcher's cost, so you cannot activate its second effect.

There are the few, but powerful Spell Cards for the Infernity theme. Stay tuned for the last article about Infernities! If you have any questions, feel free to drop me an e-mail at ness00[at]gmail[dot]com.

TSHD Part 2: Look mom! No Hands!

Despite Blackwings being a popular Deck, and some sort of black-winged monster being the cover Card of the set, everybody knows that bird is the word, and that The Shining Darkness has a huge total of 15 Cards around the Infernity theme. Today we'll look at the monsters added to the theme.

The first monster is Infernity Mirage:

This card cannot be Special Summoned from the Graveyard. If you have no cards in your hand, you can Tribute this card to select 2 "Infernity" monsters in your Graveyard. Special Summon those monsters.

Mirage's first sentence is a Condition that stops you from Summoning it from the Graveyard. Even if Dark Ruler Ha Des destroys it in battle, you cannot Summon it from there. Note that this restriction only applies to the Graveyard, but you can still Special Summon Mirage from the Hand, Deck, or Removed from Play Zone. The second sentence on Mirage's text is an Ignition Effect. Tributing Mirage is a cost, and it targets 2 Infernity monsters. Having no Cards in Hand is merely an activation requirement, and unlike many of its friends, Mirage will still resolve properly even if you have 1 or more Cards in your Hand at the time of its resolution. And as an additional note, it will also resolve properly if one of its targets is no longer in the Graveyard.

The next monster is Infernity Randomizer:

Once per turn, while you have no cards in your hand, you can draw  1 card and reveal it. For a Monster Card drawn with this effect, inflict damage  to your opponent equal to the Level of that monster x 200. For a Spell or Trap Card, you take 500 damage.

Randomizer has an Ignition Effect. Drawing a Card is part of the effect. You then reveal it, and inflict damage according to the type of Card you drew. It may sound obvious, but you DO get to keep the Card you draw, regardless of its type. If you have Cards in your Hand before resolving Randomizer's effect, it will resolve without effect. Drawing a Card is not considered to be a simultaneous action to inflicting damage, so your opponent cannot activate a Card like Drastic Drop Off after Randomizer resolves. Finally, if the drawn monster has its Level modified by a Card like Cost Down or similar, then you refer to its modified Level.

Moving on, we have Infernity Beetle:

While you have no cards in your hand, you can Tribute this card to Special Summon up to 2 "Infernity Beetle" from your Deck.

This Tuner monster only has an Ignition Effect. Tributing Beetle is a cost. Much like Randomizer, it will resolve without effect if you have Cards in your Hand when its effect starts resolving. You only need 1 Beetle in your Deck in order to activate the effect, and as you can probably tell, you can choose to Summon 1 or 2 Beetles once the effect starts resolving.

Another Infernity Monster is Infernity Avenger:

When a monster you control, except "Infernity Avenger", is destroyed by battle with an opponent's monster and sent to the Graveyard, while you have no cards in your hand, you can Special Summon this card from your Graveyard. In that case, the Level of this card is equal to the Level of your destroyed  monster.

Avenger has an Optional Trigger Effect which is activated at the End of the Damage Step. Once again, having Cards in your Hand before the effect resolves will cause it to resolve without effect. Note that Avenger doesn't target itself, and that you can Special Summon multiple copies of it. Finally, Avenger's Level becomes the same as the destroyed monster once the monster is in the Graveyard, so even if you use an effect like Tragoedia's or Level Eater's, Avenger will look at its original Level.

We received one OCG Promo Card as an exclusive, and like you can guess, it's an Infernity Monster. It's Infernity Destroyer:

While you have no cards in your hand, when this card destroys  an opponent's monster by battle and sends it to the Graveyard, inflict 1600 damage to your opponent.

Destroyer is quite simple. It has a mandatory Trigger Effect, which activates at the End of the Damage Step. Predictably, it will resolve without effect if you have Cards in your Hand at its resolution. It is also important that Destroyer won't activate if it is no longer face-up before the End of the Damage Step.

The last monster for today is a Synchro Monster devoted to the theme: Infernity Doom Dragon:

1 DARK Tuner + 1 ore more non-Tuner monsters
Once per turn, if you have no cards in your hand, you can select 1 monster your opponent controls. Destroy that monster and inflict damage to your opponent equal to half its ATK. This card cannot attack during the same turn you activate this effect.

Doom Dragon has an Ignition Effect. It targets one of your opponent's monsters. And one more time, it will resolve without effect if you have Cards in your Hand. You will also inflict damage equal to half of the monster's current ATK (with all the existing ATK modifiers). The destruction and the damage is simultaneous, much like Ring of Destruction, so an effect like Machina Peacekeeper won't miss the timing. If you target a face-down monster, no damage is inflicted, and if you target a monster that you fail to destroy (for example, if protected by an Union Monster), then you won't inflict any damage either. Finally, as usual, you cannot reverse the restriction by attacking and then activating the effect, but you can activate this effect during Main Phase 2 if Doom Dragon did not declare an attack.

That's all for Infernity monsters so far. We'll keep looking as Infernities in the next part, so stay tuned! If you have any questions, feel free to drop me an e-mail at ness00[at]gmail[dot]com.

TSHD Sneak Preview Part 1: e^(iπ) +1=...

Oh yeah, algebra in ur ygoz.

Well, we are one week away from the first day of the Sneak Preview of The Shining Darkness, so during this time we will be reviewing some Cards related to this upcoming set. Just in case, I could start muttering walls of text about the new Cards that everyone is waiting for like Infernity Launcher or Black-Winged Dragon. The thing is, the TCG rulings will be posted later, and some rulings for TSHD Cards may end up being different for the TCG (for whichever reason). Instead, we'll be looking at some existing Cards.

So maybe you have heard of a certain Deck called Infernity, which has most of its Cards included in this new set. Seriously, this Deck has received more press than a presidential campaign. In this article, we'll be looking at the Infernitites that the TCG already has.

The first monster we have is Infernity Dwarf:

While you have no cards in your hand, during battle between an attacking 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.

Dwarf is a pretty weak monster to trample by itself, so it causes all of your monsters to trample. Like we mentioned in a previous article, trampling is a Continuous Effect. Don't be mislead by the wording: Having zero Cards in Hand is merely a requirement for the effect to start applying, but it does not start a chain when your Hand becomes non-existent.

The next Infernity monster is Infernity Guardian:

While you have no cards in your hand, this face-up card cannot be destroyed by battle or by card effects.

Well, that's much nicer. A monster that just can't be destroyed by neither player. Once again, we are looking at a Continuous Effect. By this nature, Guardian can apply its effect between chain links, so if it's going to be destroyed by Torrential Tribute, you can chain a Card that reduces your Hand size, have Guardian's effect kick in before Torrential resolves, and Guardian won't be destroyed. Similarly, if Guardian is attacked, you can activate some Cards to reduce your Hand and prevent it from losing the battle completely. Note that you would still take Battle Damage, so make sure to place it in Defense Position.

Shortly after their release in the WC09 videogame, Infernities received some support in core sets, like Infernity Beast:

If this card attacks while you have no cards in your hand, your opponent cannot activate Spell or Trap Cards until after the Damage Step.

This effect is very similar to that of the Ancient Gear monsters. Similar to Guardian and Dwarf, this is a Continuous Effect with the additional requirement of having no Cards in your Hand. As soon as you declare an attack with Infernity Beast, the opponent cannot activate S/T Cards. But as the text mentions, only the Cards themselves cannot be activated. The opponent can still activate the effect of already active S/T Cards like Scrubbed Raid. Finally, if an effect makes you have 1 or more Cards in your Hand, this effect stops being applied. It won't be very likely since half of your opponent's choices are locked, though.

From the same set as Beast, we get Infernity Force:

Activate  only when an "Infernity" monster is selected as an attack target while you have no cards in your hand. Destroy the attacking monster and Special Summon 1 "Infernity" monster from your Graveyard.

This Normal Trap Card is extremely similar to Sakuretsu Armor, with heavier activation requirements but a much better payoff. You activate this Trap when the Infernity Monster is chosen as the attack target. Upon activation, this Card targets two monsters: The attacking monster and 1 Infernity Monster in your Graveyard. Note that you need an Infernity Monster in your Graveyard, and you must be able to Special Summon during this turn (that means Vanity Fiend prevents its activation). After that, this Card performs two actions that are not simultaneous: First, the attacking monster is destroyed. If you succeed, the targeted Infernity Monster is Special Summoned from the Graveyard (and the last thing to happen is only the Special Summon). If you fail to destroy the attacking monster (such as, if it is unaffected by Trap Cards or it is no longer on the Field), then you do not Special Summon the monster. Finally, having zero Cards in your Hand is only an activation requirement for this Trap Card, so even if your Hand size increases, it still resolves properly.

We advance one set and find Infernity Necromancer:

When this card is Normal Summoned, it is changed to Defense Position. While you have no cards in your hand, this card gains the following effect: Once per turn, you can Special Summon 1 "Infernity" monster from your Graveyard, except "Infernity Necromancer".

Finally something different! Necromancer has three effects. The first effect is a mandatory Trigger Effect that activates when Necromancer is Normal Summoned. Cards like Pulling the Rug may negate this effect. The second effect is somewhat hidden. The sentence that explains how Necromancer gains its third effect is actually an effect by itself: A Continuous one. If this effect is negated, then Necromancer cannot activate its third effect. Finally, the third effect is an Ignition Effect that targets 1 Infernity Monster. The second effect allows you to activate the third one, but once you target the monster you wish to revive, these two effects are no longer dependant from each other: If your Hand is larger than zero Cards, then the third effect will resolve properly, as you have already activated it.

At this point, it's pretty obvious that I saved Infernity Archfiend for the end. Yay for being evil!

When you have no cards in your hand and draw  this card, you can reveal it to Special Summon it. When this card is Special Summoned, if you have no cards in your hand, you can add 1 "Infernity" card from your Deck  to your hand.

As everyone in the neighborhood knows, Archfiend is one of the two main Card needed to get the Infernity Deck in motion. It also has some weird rulings, which you should definately keep in mind whether you are part of the million players that wish to play this Deck, or one of the many that will end up facing Infernity Archfiends in almost every tournament they attend to.

Archfiend has two Optional Trigger Effects. And like you may have guessed, both can miss the timing. The first effect asks you to draw into Infernity Archfiend when you have zero Cards in your Hand. You reveal Archfiend as a cost, then Special Summon it when it resolves. You can read its trigger as "moving from zero Cards in your Hand to drawing Infernity Archfiend". It doesn't matter if you draw Archfiend alone, or if you use a Card like Morphing Jar to move from zero to five Cards. This is also relevant for Cards that reduce your Hand size and immediatly increase it by a similar amount, such as Hand Destruction: If you have 2 Cards in your Hand, you would move from two, to zero (your lucky number), to two Cards. You drew into Archfiend while you had zero Cards, so you can Special Summon it. This effect can miss the timing if you draw Archfiend in the middle of a chain, or during an effect that hasn't finished resolving. The obvious example would be Allure of Darkness. Finally, this effect cannot be activated during the Damage Step, due to its nature (Trigger Effect that Special Summons the monster from the Hand without specifying that it can be activated at DS).

The second effect activates when Archfiend is Special Summoned. You must also have no Cards in your Hand during the activation AND the resolution of this effect, so if your Hand size increases, you will not add a Card to your Hand. Note that this effect can search for any Card that includes Infernity in its name, be it a Monster, Spell, or Trap Card. This effect can be activated during the Damage Step. This effect can miss the timing if Archfiend is Special Summoned as link 2 or Summoned in the middle of a chain.

As a final act, let's look at both effects at the same time. Notice how the second effect doesn't trigger the first one if you search for Infernity Archfiend: You are adding it to the Hand, not drawing it. Also, a common question has been the misinterpretation of the ruling of drawing into two or more Infernity Archfiends. If you draw both at the same time when you had zero Cards, you can Special Summon both. However, when you do, one of them will be link 2 of a chain, so that Archfiend cannot activate its effect to add a Card to the Hand. The one that is link 1 certainly can.

Well, that's all about Infernities for now. And the least we see of them, the better. Stay tuned for more themes from Shining Darkness. If you have any questions, feel free to drop me an e-mail at ness00[at]gmail[dot]com.