I have a really basic but embarrassing Q about YGO CG.
Can you set a monster on one Main Phase and Normal SAummon one on the other?
Please don’t look at me like that, I’m really not stupid.
Nope.
You can set/summon only one monster turn (not phase, turn). You can, however, special summon (monster reborn, etc.) and regular summon in the same turn.
Ok. I was always confused by the rules stating that you can make only one normal summon or set, and then would repeat it for the other main phase.
Don’t worry, I made a similar mistake when I first read the rulebook. Since I only play against my roommate, no one corrected us. Only when we started playing the GameBoy Advance version of the game months later did we realize we’d misread the rules.
The rulebook is confusing. Add to that confusing English translations of card effects, and I’m sure there are a lot of people who play the game wrong without realizing it. I’m one of them 
Ever heard of a card called Avatar of Apopolis (sp?)?. Pretty sweet way to summon multiple monsters per turn, especially if you lost a kay monster in your own battle phase.
I didn’t see it in a search of card names. What set is it from?
Thank god for this thread.
No, really.
My son loves Yu-Gi-Oh and constantly wants to “duel” me. Everything he knows about the game comes from the Cartoon (forgive him; he’s six). So I decided to read the rules and teach the game to him (I caved a while back and bought him the set of Kaiba cards so he could get BEWD)… except I can’t make heads nor tails of what the hell we’re supposed to do. Watching the cartoon doesn’t seem to help–sometimes they play one card, two cards, one card up/one card down, etc. Sometimes they attack, sometimes they don’t, and invariably somebody plays some sort of deus ex machina card that makes this monster immune to that monster’s something and bounces back some flashy light that wipes out the other monsters of the bad guy who’s been cheating all along, anyway.
So… Not a Hijack, but more of a Piggy-Back question: In the most basic way, how the hell do you play this game?
M’kay. First of all, realize that they cahnge the rules several times over the TV series. The card rules most closely resemble the later episodes.
Each player makes a deck, with no fewer than 40 cards. Each player draws five cards before the game starts. Flip a coin or something, with the winner going first.
Each turn goes like this:
A. Draw a card (if you win the first move, you don’t do this one your first round)
B. Standby - this phase is only used if there are some card effects on the field that take effect during it.
C. Main Phase. The Good stuff. You can now play one monster card, set a monster card, and play/set magics and set traps.
D. Battle Phase. As advertised. Pretty simple.
E. Main Phase 2. Meet the new mainphase, just like the old main phase.
F. Discard - You must discard down to 6 cards if you have more than 6 in your hand.
Monster cards can be set or played. If played in defense mode, they are face down, sideways on the field. I think your opponent cannot attack them if they are set, but they can’t be used until you flip them.
Magic cards are played and then usually discarded to the graveyard. Some types hang around, like equip of field magic cards. They just do what they say.
Trap cards are like magic cards, but tend to counter other abilities or make life hard for you enemies. You must set them, and then may activate them (flip) when your opponent triggers the right circumstances. many of them are triggered when the enemy attacks.
One thing pretty accurate from the TV show is the chain of ability and counter ability. If you want to mess with your opponent, the chain lists on page 20 is pretty clear.
Fusion cards (which you probably don’t have) are put into a seperate deck as described.
Your opponent can attack set cards: indeed some cards have effects that are triggered only when the opponent attacks them when they are set.
Oh, and if you are first to draw your whole deck: you lose. Most rules limit a deck to exactly 40 cards.
It’s Avatar of Apophis. I don’t know if it’s out in English yet. It basically works as a trap card that you can set one turn, and then flip up to become a monster (with fairly good stats) anytime you need it. Great for getting together all-at-once high-level summons (if you have a monster out, and this card set, you can activate it and then tribute summon anything requiring 2 tributes)
Page 20 of the rulebook, I assume? If so, this could explain a lot: the only rules I knew of were a small fold-out pamphlet of instructions that came with the cards!
I thank you both for the help. I’ve a follow-up question, though: During the main phase you can either play or set cards (and it sounds like you can play or set almost any number of cards)–what’s the difference? Is “Play” a face-up card (monster or magic) that is instantly ready to enter the battle phase, whereas “Set” is a face-down card that is either a monster in defense mode (although I get the idea that you can “play” a card in defense mode and just have it hang out on your side), a trap card, or a magic card.
(Another small problem is that his grandma sent him several supplimental packs for his recent b-day–lots of cool, new cards… but they’re all in Japanese!)
In English rules, you can either “normal summon” a monster in face up attack mode, or “set” it in face down defense mode (after which you can “flip summon” on your next turn.) Unlike the show, you cannot place a monster on the field in face up defense mode. You can change a monsters mode only ONCE per turn, and you can’t change it on the turn you placed or summoned it.
Set monsters are automatically “flip summoned” when they are attacked (which activates their “flip” effects, if the card has any. However, if they are destroyed by magic, traps, or other effects, their “flip effects” are not activated.
You can play or place any number of magic cards in either main phase. You can also place any number of trap cards in either main phase. However, you can only have five magic/trap cards active on the field at any one time (and if you have five trap/magic cards set on the field, you cannot play a magic card even if it is an instant, non-lasting effect): just like with monsters, you have five slots for magic/traps on your side of the field, no more.
Field magic is the only exception: when you play field magic, you place it next to the entire playing field, replacing any previously played field magic. It does not count as part of your five slots (though it can be effected by cards like Harpy’s feather duster or Cyclone).
It all sounds confusing and really complicated, but it’s actually pretty simple once you get the basic ideas down.
If you have questions about any of the Japanese cards, I might know what alot of them do, provided they have some sort of identifiable picture. Normally, you can’t use Japanese cards in English duels anyway unless your opponent agrees: the Japanese game environment is much farther along in terms of monster strength and complexity. (They often dumb things down for Americans).
Anyway, most Japanese monster cards still at least will tell you their level (the number of dots above the picture), and their attack and defense strengths (the numbers below the picture). You wont know about their effects of course (if they have any) and of course you can’t tell anything about magic and trap cards except maybe their spell speed level.
The TV show is pretty fun to watch, and to see what cards are out there, but most of the early episodes don’t even try to connect to the card game’s actual rules. As I recall, Yugi once won a duel by having his monster destroy the moon.
Anyway . . .
To bring a monster card to the field:
Normal Summon: Placing a monster on the field face up, in attack position. You can’t normal summon a monster in defense position. You are allowed to do this once per turn, assuming you have an available monster space. Higher-level monsters require “tribute”, or the sacrifice of an already summoned or set monster, to be summoned.
Normal Set: Placing a monster on the field face down, in defense position. You cannot set a monster in attack position. Although it is not considered a summon, higher-level monsters still require tribute to be set, and you only get one normal set OR summon (you can’t do both) for your entire turn.
Special Summon: Card effects allow the player to summon monsters under specific, otherwise illegal conditions. Monster Reborn, for example, allows you to summon a monster that has already been killed (this card is available in all starter decks). These are in addition to the normal set/summon, and you can initiate as many special summons as your cards will allow in one turn. Unless the card says otherwise, you can only special summon face-up, but you can place the special summoned monster in attack or defense position.
Flip Summon: A set card is summoned when it is flipped into face-up attack position. Some monster cards have effects which occur only when this happens. If a set card is attacked, its flip effect takes place before damage is calculated (i.e., even if it is destroyed, its effect takes place), but it may remain in face-up defense position if it surivives.
There’s other types of summons – ritual summons (monsters that can only be summoned with a specific magic card), fusion summons (monsters that are summoned by combining other monster cards), etc – but they are considered special summons.
Oh, actually, I do know where you can go to find out what some of the Japanese cards do. A web site - yugiohrealms.com - keeps a database of most of the cards released in English and Japanese (click “Cardlist” at the top). Most entries have pictures too, but all cards have a “code” printed beneath the lower right corner of the picture. That’s what you can enter into the card search engine of the web site I mentioned, if you don’t know the card’s name in English.
For example, Sogen, the field magic card that comes with the Kaiba Started Deck, has “SDK-045” printed beneath the picture. This indicates which series it’s from (SDK=Starter Deck Kaiba), and its catalog number within the series.
One word of advice - steer clear of the forums on that site. They aren’t the most mature crowd, and many sincere questions are answered with “you idiot”.
Thanks, Daniel, Apos, and smiling bandit! I’m reading your comments… and re-reading your comments… and re-re-reading your comments… and it’s starting to sink in. I guess you have six cards in your hand at the start of a turn, which is the upper constraint on how many cards you can play in a turn–between one and six. I’m sure I’ll be back with more questions on the game and try not to pay too much attention to what’s going on in the Cartoon (like, “What’s the deal with Yugi’s grandfather?” and “Is Kaiba supposed to be good or bad?” and “What’s Joey’s deal?” and…)
And I appreciate y’all not answering with “you idiot”!
—I guess you have six cards in your hand at the start of a turn, which is the upper constraint on how many cards you can play in a turn–between one and six.—
Not necessarily. Some cards and effects allow you to draw extra cards at various times. You can theoretically have as many cards in your hand as you want at any time until you reach a discard phase: then you must discard until you are back down to five cards. There is a magic card, however, that erases this requirement, allowing you to have as many cards in your hand as you want when it is in play.
And of course, if you’ve played lots of cards in one turn, you can certainly start your turn with less than five cards: you only get to draw ONE card in your next draw phase (you don’t draw until you have five cards again). This is why one of the most devious strategies in the game is to use cards that basically destroy your opponents’ hand by making him waste and discard most of it, leaving him with very few options.
Dude.
There’s more to this than I thought!
The card limit is pretty fun to play with, strategy-wise:
-If you have to send a card to the graveyard due to the six-card hand limit, choose a high-level non-ritual monster. Then you can use Monster Reborn or some similar card to bring it to the field as a Special Summon from the graveyard, without having to offer tribute.
-There is a continuous trap card called Forced Requisition - I don’t remember which booster series it’s from - that forces your opponent to discard from his hand every time you discard from yours. I assume this applies to a discard for the six-card limit as well as for card effects.
-The card mentioned by Apos that allows you to have more than six cards at the end of your turn is called Infinite Cards, from the newest English booster series, Labyrinth of Nightmare. My roommate has this card; it’s a continuous magic card (meaning it stays in one of your magic slots indefinitely), but its effect applies to both players.
I think its more like they want to maximize their profits by releasing all the cards like they did before. So they release them in the same order, sort of like they did in Japan.
Yeah, but your opponent can Monster Reborn him as well. Nothing more fun in the GBA game than Trap Holing Kaiba’s Ultimate Blue Eyes then using MR to have it under your control. 
—I think its more like they want to maximize their profits by releasing all the cards like they did before. So they release them in the same order, sort of like they did in Japan.—
Well, this does makes sense as far as the game goes: you steadily up the ante on lifepoints and power and complexity of play so that things never get stale.