How to Play Yu Gi Oh!

Set Spells and Traps. Spells and Trap cards can be set from the hand during the Main Phase. When they are set, they are placed face-down in an open Spell & Trap Zone. If you set a Trap or Quick-Play Spell, it can't be activated until the next turn.

Prepare your monster for Battle: If your monster is in Attack Position during your Battle Phase, you can attack an opposing monster with it. If your opponent controls no monsters, you can attack directly. Each monster can only declare an attack once per turn. If the monster it battles with is face-down, it is flipped face-up just before damage calculation.

Calculate damage.

• If both are in Attack position, the one with less ATK is destroyed, and its controller takes damage equal to the difference.
• If they have equal ATK, both are destroyed.
• If one is in Defense position and it has less DEF than the attacking monster’s ATK, it is destroyed but its controller does not take damage.
• If it has more DEF, the attacking monster’s controller takes damage equal to the difference, and neither is destroyed
• If the ATK and DEF are equal, neither is destroyed.
• In a direct attack, the opponent takes the ATK of the monster as damage.

Trigger a replay: If, during your attack, the number of monsters your opponent controls is changed, a replay is triggered in which you can choose to attack with the same monster, attack with a different monster, or not attack. You can also choose a different attack target. If you attack with a different monster, the first monster is considered to have already attacked, and cannot attack again for the rest of the turn.

Position yourself for battle: A monster can be in either Attack Position or Defense Position. The position they are in determines which of their stats are used for damage calculation; therefore, monsters with high attack should be in attack position, and monsters with low attack should be in defense position. Also, if one of your opponent’s monsters has a higher attack than all of yours, your monsters should be in defense position to protect you from taking damage. Battle position can be changed manually once per turn for each monster, during your Main Phase. You cannot change its battle position if it was summoned, was set, or had attacked during that turn.

Link cards with chains: To Chain a card or effect is to activate it before another effect has a chance to resolve (be applied). The activation of a card or effect will start a Chain Link. After it is activated, the other player can choose to chain a card to it, which will then become Chain Link 2. This continues until neither player responds to the chain, after which it resolves, starting with the most recent Chain Link. While a Chain is resolving, cards and effects cannot be activated.

• For example: Player A activates “Torrential Tribute”, which becomes Chain Link 1. Player B responds by activating "Seven Tools of the Bandit" to negate it by paying 1000 Life Points. He pays the LP now because that is a cost to activate the card, and happens during the activation and not the resolution. Player A passes on chaining more cards, and so does Player B, so now the chain resolves. Resolution begins with the most recent Chain Link - "Seven Tools". Seven Tools negates “Torrential Tribute”, so it does not destroy any monsters.

Spell speed. Only Quick-Play Spell Cards, Trap Cards, and Quick Effects can be chained to another card as Chain Link 2 or higher. Quick Effects will be designated either by saying they are a Quick Effect or by being able to be activated during either player's/your opponent's turn. An effect must be either Spell Speed 2 or higher or a Trigger effect in order to activate outside of your Main Phase. Quick-Play Spells can only be played during your opponent’s turn if set the previous turn. If a Counter Trap Card is activated, the only cards that can be chained to it are other Counter Trap Cards.

Add an Extra Link: An Extra Link is a way to use Link Monsters to take your opponent's Extra Monster Zone. In order to do this, you need Link monsters that are co-linked to each other (both point to each other) leading from your Extra Monster Zone to the opponent's. Once you have that, you can summon the final Link monster in your opponent's Extra Monster Zone, co-linked to your monster, and that zone's yours while the Link monster sits there. The Links can be summoned in a 'u-shape' or diagonally, in a v-shape. You can also use monsters your opponent controls to complete an Extra Link - if your opponent has 3 co-linked monsters in a row in their Main Monster Zones, summoning 2 Links to the Extra Monster Zones co-linked to those 3 will allow you to complete the Extra Link.

Build a deck. To play Yu-Gi-Oh, you must have a deck. The number of cards in a deck must be greater than or equal to 40 cards and less than or equal to 60 cards. It is usually better to have closer to 40 cards in your deck. Your deck should have a good balance of spells, traps, and monsters. A good ratio is 15-20 monsters, around 9-12 spells, and around 5-8 traps. This ratio is not a requirement and does not need to be followed if you already know about deckbuilding. It actually means nothing in practical play. Most of the monsters should be below Level 4, with only about 1-4 (if any) of the higher levels that can’t be summoned any other way. The spells and trap cards should cover for the weaknesses of your deck, and you should have a handful of each of the following: attack protection, effect negation, summon negation, spell/trap destruction. Of course, these numbers are not absolute and will vary depending on your deck, so use what works for you. Your deck will be more consistent if it focuses around a single central archetype or theme.

• An Extra Deck is not necessary for a duel, but is recommended for most decks. Fusion, Synchro, and Xyz monsters are placed in the Extra Deck instead of the Main Deck. You can look through your Extra Deck at any time during the duel, and you can special summon monsters from it during your turn. There is a maximum of 15 cards that can be in the Extra Deck. Your opponent cannot view your Extra Deck, except with an effect.
• The Side Deck is also limited to 15 cards. It is optional, and is good for matches in tournaments. A match is a set of three duels, in which the player who wins two out of three is the winner. A Side Deck contains cards to be used against specific decks that are common or pose a major threat to your deck, but are too situational to put into your main deck. It is not to be used during a duel, but you can swap cards between it and the main and/or extra deck between the duels in a match. After siding, the number of cards in your Side deck must be the same as what you started with.
• You can only have three copies of a single card in your Main, Extra, and Side decks combined. Certain cards are banned or limited for use in tournaments, so make sure your deck is legal if you are going to participate in them.

Start a duel. To start a duel, find someone else to duel with. Shuffle each other’s decks and decide who goes first. This can be done by playing rock-paper-scissors, flipping a coin, or some other suitable method. The player going first cannot draw or attack. Decks that like to set up a field early or use effects that prevent themselves from battling will find it more advantageous to go first, while decks that need extra hand advantage to start their plays or respond to what the opponent does will prefer to go second. Both players start the game with 8000 Life Points.

Place your cards in the right positions. Place your Extra deck at the left of the bottom row, and your deck at the right, with space for five cards in between. These five spaces will be your Spell/Trap zones. Above your deck and extra deck will be your left and right Pendulum zones. The top row will contain the Field Spell zone (on the left) and the Graveyard (on the right). The five spaces in between these will be your monster zones. The banish zone is usually to the right of the graveyard.

Draw your starting hand. Both players draw 5 cards at the beginning of the game as their starting hand.

• Your hand is revealed to you and not your opponent. They can only look at your hand through a card effect. It is important to keep your opponent from seeing your hand and learning about your strategies. During the End Phase, if you have more than 6 cards in your hand, you must discard until you have 6.

Draw a card. You draw a card from your deck at the beginning of your turn, during the Draw Phase. The player who goes first can't draw.

Enter the Standby Phase. Certain effects activate during the Standby Phase. Otherwise, just ignore it.

Move on to the Main Phase. The Main Phase is the most important part of the turn, being the phase in which you will take most of your actions. In this phase, monsters can be summoned, effects can be activated, a monster’s battle position can be manually changed, and spells and traps can be activated or set.

Battle. You can attack using Attack Position monsters you control during the Battle Phase. Entering the Battle Phase is optional. If you do not enter the Battle Phase, you move on to the End Phase and you do not enter Main Phase 2. The player who goes first cannot conduct the Battle Phase.

Conduct your second Main Phase. After Battle Phase, you enter Main Phase 2. In this phase, the same actions as in Main Phase 1 can be performed, except you cannot change the battle position of a card that attacked during the Battle Phase. You cannot enter this phase if you have not entered the Battle Phase.

End your turn. The End Phase is the end of your turn. Certain effects may activate in this phase. After this, it becomes the next player’s turn.