Frost Monarch's Strip

Continuous Effects are the last type of Monster Effect. They aren't as surprising or as manageable as the other type of effects in a strategic sense, and some of their mechanics scare little children and haunt them in their nightmares. The shortest and probably the most global way to define a Continuous Effect is an effect that doesn't use the chain. Now that's awfully vague, isn't it? After reading a little longer, you'll see that this is the only thing they all have in common.

The most popular form of Continuous Effects are those that are applied all the time, as long as the monster that generates it remains face-up on the Field. An obvious example would be Jinzo's effect of preventing the activation of Trap Cards: You can't chain to it, it is applied all the time, and once Jinzo is no longer face-up, the effect stops. That's simple enough.

The problems start appearing once you take monsters whose Continuous Effect is only active some times. The Rulebook itself uses Mind Protector's effect as an example, quoting its effect that prevents monsters with 2000 ATK or less from attacking. This effect is similar enough to Jinzo's, in the aspect that it only works while Mind Protector is face-up on the Field. However, Protector is only applied when a monster whose ATK is low enough would try to declare an attack. That is to say, it doesn't need to be applied during the Draw Phase, or the opponent's End Phase. The same goes for monsters that attack directly, or monsters that can inflict piercing damage.

Moving on, some monsters have effects that are applied during other Card's resolutions or between chain links. Such blasphemy is possible thanks to Continuous Effects, which do not use the chain, and so, you aren't trying to "activate" an effect while a chain or an effect is resolving. The most common example for this situation are monsters that self-destruct themselves when you don't meet a condition, such as the Earthbound Immortals or Giant Kozaky. These effects will be applied between chain links.

Are you confused yet? Let's take it to the next level. A common example of monsters whose Continuous Effect is applied during other Card's resolution are monsters that can prevent another monster's destruction, or even their own, such as the various Six Samurai or Defender, the Magical Knight. As soon as the destructive effect tries to affect these monsters, you can apply their effects and prevent the destruction, sometimes even causing improper resolutions. For example, if Gemini Spark is used on a Six Samurai monster that prevents its destruction, then the player who activated Gemini Spark will not draw a Card.

As a somewhat obvious note, effects that are applied "all the time" are also applied during other Card's resolutions, such as Cyber Blader's third effect, that will negate effects at their resolution.

Weirdness piles up when Continuous Effects replace other effects, such as how Armed Sea Hunter's negation effect is a Trigger Effect, but Dark Ruler Ha Des' negation is actually Continuous. And just look at Makyura the Destructor, what on Earth is that and how is it Continuous? ARGH >_>

In short, Continuous Effects are extremely miscellaneous, and the only real way to point them out is if one can figure out that they do not use the chain. Individual rulings helps, and so does tradition (such as piercing effects). They can also be identified for wearing a hockey mask and a chainsaw.

And with that lame refference, that sums up Monster Effects. If you have any questions, feel free to drop me an e-mail at ness00[at]gmail[dot]com. 

Ackbar was wrong, "it's a monster!" after all

Quick Effects are the rarest type of Monster Effect, possessed by really few Monster Cards. While they don't have many surprising rulings or intereasting mechanic manipulations, they are usually a nasty surprise to the opponent.

This type of effect used to be called Multi-Trigger a few years ago. The name change isn't too important, but at least it separates them from the wall of text of mechanics that Trigger Effects have. The most important aspect about Quick Effects is that, unlike any other Monster Effect, they have a Spell Speed of two. This allows you to chain them to other Monster Effects, Spell Cards, and most Trap Cards.

Due to that charactheristic, Quick Effects can be activated almost at any time during the Duel, be it the opponent's turn or sometimes even during the Damage Step. A somewhat large number of them also activate from the Hand, and become really hard to predict by the opponent until it is too late. Perhaps the most notable treat about Quick Effects is how some of them manage to activate at the During Damage Calculation Sub-Step, a very exclusive part of the Damage Step that will be dealt with in future articles.

Their activation requirements are similar to the "triggers" of a Trigger Effect, but having a Spell Speed of two opens more possibilities, such as chaining the effect to a Continuous Trap Card in order to negate it. Quick Effects can be divided into mandatory and optional, with the mandatory ones being a really small minority. This may ring a bell if one thinks of Trigger Effects, but there's a slight problem: Mandatory Quick Effects use the SEGOC rule, while optional ones don't. This means that, for example, multiple copies of Doomcaliber Knight, who has a mandatory effect, will form a long chain with each other immediatly according to SEGOC. It also means that optional effects use the basic rules of chaining, where each player takes turns to respond to the last effect activated.

Quick Effects can be identified most of the time by a line telling you that "you can activate this effect during your opponent's/either player's turn". Even though Trigger Effects can also end up activating during your opponent's turn, only Quick Effects have this line. Other Quick Effects aren't as obvious. For example, if an effect tells you that you can negate the activation of (any) Spell Cards, a Trigger Effect is too slow to be chained to them, so it can only be a Quick Effect. Other than that, the individual rulings of the Card are often the best or only way to figure this out.

Some examples:

Stardust Dragon:

You can Tribute this card to negate the activation of a Spell Card, Trap Card, or Effect Monster's effect that destroys a card(s) on the field, and destroy that card.

D.D. Crow:

During either player's turn, you can discard this card to the Graveyard to remove from play 1 card from your opponent's Graveyard.

Shiny Black "C":

When 1 Synchro Monster is Special Summoned on your opponent's side of the field, you can remove from play this card in the Graveyard to destroy that monster.

In these examples, we see that Stardust Dragon tells you that you can negate the activation of other effects, which requires you to chain Stardust Dragon to their effect. This implies that it has a Spell Speed of two, and so, it is a Quick Effect. D.D. Crow specifies that you can activate its effect during either player's turn, which also implies that it has a Quick Effect. Finally, Shiny Black "C"'s text does not give any clues, and in fact, it looks like a Trigger Effect. However, its individual rulings tell us that it is actually a Quick Effect.

Stay tuned for part 4, about Continuous Effects. If you thought things couldn't get worse than Trigger Effects, you are in for a wild ride...

If you have any questions, feel free to drop me an e-mail at ness00[at]gmail[dot]com.