The Battle Phase (Expert Gameplay)

The Battle Phase is the most complicated Phase in the Game. This is where a lot of things take place and the order of which effects and substeps take place can confuse players that are new to the game and even players that know the game very well. In this tutorial i will go through the 4 Main Steps of the Battle Phase and the 7 substeps of the Damage Step (one of the four main steps) and what happens in which Substep.



MAIN STEP 1 - THE START STEP:
This is where the turn player announces that she/he will be entering the Battle Phase. Remember that if you are the turn player you cannot enter the Battle Phase on the first turn of the duel. Once you have declared that you will be entering the Battle Phase you have Priority to activate Spell Speed 2 cards, then your opponent may respond.

NOTE: When you enter the Battle Phase you do not need to declare an attack. It is perfectly legal to enter the Battle Phase even if you can't attack with a monster.

Once you have entered the Battle Phase you may proceed to Main Step 4: The End Step, or proceed to Main Step 2: The Battle Step.



MAIN STEP 2 - THE BATTLE STEP:
The Battle Step has two substeps in itself. As the turn player you must declare that you will be entering the Battle Step.

SUBSTEP 1 - START/ATTACK DECLARATION:
During this substep you will announce which of your monsters will attack which of your opponents monsters. You have Priority to activate a Spell Speed 2 card when you declare an attack and your opponent can respond accordingly. Once the turn player declares an attack, the opponent may respond to the attack and begin a chain.

NOTE: Only one chain can be started in response to an attack. When the chain resolves the attack will go on as per normal UNLESS a Battle Replay occurs.

SUBSTEP 2 - BEFORE THE DAMAGE STEP
Multiple Chains are allowed during this substep. Also cards that do not need to be activated in response to an attack or can be activated before the Damage Step may be activated here. After both players do not wish to activate any more cards, you may enter Main Step 3: The Damage Step (if a monster is attacking) or the Main Step 4: End Step (if no monster is attacking and you do not wish to attack with any other monster).



MAIN STEP 3 - THE DAMAGE STEP:
The Damage Step has 8 Substeps and each one has specific rules about what can and can't be activated, some cards cannot be activated at all in the Damage Step, while others can only be activated in specific substeps. You must be careful with the activation and resolution of card effects in the Damage Step. I have numbered in order what happens in each substep and the way you should go about activating cards and how the Gameplay works.

SUBSTEP 1 - START OF THE DAMAGE STEP:
1). Continuous effects of monsters activate at this time. THis will include cards such as Crystal Beast Topaz TIger.
2). If your monster is attacking a face-down monster the monster is not yet flipped up at this substep of the Damage Step.
3). Trigger effects like Neo-Spacian Grand Mole will now activate and resolve without flipping the monster, if a monster is removed from the field during this substep, the rest of the Damage Step will not continue through.
4). If a face-down monster is attacked its effect cannot be activated.
5). Cards that increase or decrease ATK/DEF points of a monster can now be activated (even if it is a Spell Speed 2 card such as Shrink).
6). No other cards may not be activated in this step.

SUBSTEP 2 - FLIPPING THE FACE-DOWN MONSTER FACE-UP:
1). Face-down monsters that have been attacked are flipped face-up.
2). Flip effects and Trigger effects (such as cards like Ryko, the Lightsworn Hunter) are NOT activated at this time (see substep 6 for the activation and resolutions of such effects).
3). Once the monster is flipped up any continuous effects it has are now immidiantly applied, this will include cards like Jinzo.
4). If a continuous effect of a Spell or Trap also exists on the field it is now applied immidiantly to the monster, this includes cards such as Skill Drain (even though it is Spell Speed 2, its effect is continuous and is applied throught the duel).
5). Any effects that activate before Damage Calculation are now applied, you may also activate the effect of a card that increases or decreases ATK/DEF
points at this stage of the step (even if it is a Spell Speed 2 card such as Shrink).

NOTE: As you can see cards like Honest can be activated both BEFORE and AFTER a monster is flipped face-up, this is important to note because some players think that when a monster is flipped face-up, it is too late to activate Honest's effect. This is not the case.

SUBSTEP 3 - BEFORE DAMAGE CALCULATION:
1). You can now activate effects that activate before Damage Calculation in this substep. This will include cards such as Drillroid, where the face-down monster has been flipped up and before Damad Calculation. These type of effects will have something like "without applying Damage Calculation" or similiar in their effect text.
2). Card effects that activate when they are flipped face-up, such as Penguin Knight are activatd here.

NOTE: Card effects that involve being flipped face-up are NOT the same as FLIP effects. FLIP effects do not activate in this step.

3). Any damage inflicting effects that a monster has are applied at this time.
4). Effects that increase/decrease ATK and DEF can now be activated (even if they are of Spell Speed 2 like Shrink).
5). Multiple chains are allowed, for example: if your Shrink is negated by Solemn Judgment, you may activate another Shrink.
6). After resolving cards and effect during Damage Calculation you must move immidiantly to Substep 4.

SUBSTEP 4 - DURING DAMAGE CALCULATION:
1). Effects that activate during damage calculation like Injection Fairy Lily will activate at this time.
2). Only one chain can be activated during damage calculaion. Multiple chains are not allowed.
3). Effects that increase/decrease ATK and DEF cannto be activated at this time. However their are exceptions to the rule. One notable exception is Honest, whos effect can be activated at any time in the Damage Step.
4). After all continuous effects are applied any Battle Damage is inflicted to players.
5). You must decide if a monster is destroyed by battle in this substep (however monsters are not removed from the field).
6). Cards such as Kuriboh can also be discarded at this substep to prevent and Damage from taking place.

SUBSTEP 5 - AFTER DAMAGE CALCULATION:
1). Cards that destroy themselves due to specific conditions on the field, like Thunder Nyan Nyan are destroyed by their effects in this substep.
2). Effects that activate when Battle Damage is inflicted, like Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer activate here.
3). Cards that have "when you take 'x' amount of damage" or similiar in their card effect can now be activated here (even if the card is Spell Speed 2).

SUBSTEP 6 - RESOLVE EFFECTS:
1). Monsters are now considered destroyed from this substep of the Damage Step (however they still do not leave the field).
2). Once a monter is considered destroyed in this substep, its continuous effects no longer apply.
3). FLIP effect monster effects and trigger effect monsters are activated at this time.
4). All targets must be selected and effects must be resolved.

NOTE: cards like Penguin Soldier cannot target themselves during this substep. This is because even though Penguin Soldier is still on the field. It has been already been destroyed by battle.

SUBSTEP 7 - END OF THE DAMAGE STEP:
1). Monster(s) Destroyed by Battle are Sent to the Graveyard (or removed from play if a card like Macro Cosmos is active).
2) If the monster destroyed by battle has an effect that activates when it is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard, its effect starts a Chain.
3). Cards that activate when they are sent to the Graveyard now activate in this substep, this includes cards like Sangan.
4). A monster that activates its effect when it destroys a monster by battle and sends it to the Graveyard such as Blackwing Shura the Flame are also activated at this time.
5). Effects that activate at the end of the Damage Step like Ryu Kokki wil then activate.
6). Monsters that are destroyed by battle and have effects that activate in this step will not be affected by cards like Skill Drain as they are no longer considered to be on the field.



MAIN STEP 4 - THE END STEP:
The Battle Phase ends when you have no more monsters to attack with or can no longer declate an attack. you will now immidiantly activate effects like the effects of Gladiator Beasts and proceed into you Main Phase 2.


I hope this tutorial breaks down the Battle Phase well as it is your guide to knowing when and what can activate where and how they are affected by everything else on the field.

Happy dueling everyone!


--The Detonator--

Wow! This is the most useful, accurate and clear tutorial I've read!

This is REALLY helpful, since most people really screw things up when it comes to the battle phase and, most importantly, the damage step

About the Substep 6 :

1) I have a Ryko set and there's a Skill Drain face up on the field.
2) My opponent attacks Ryko with a monster.
3) Let's skip things up to Subster 4. Ryko is has already been flipped face up and it will be destroyed by battle.
4) Let's skip again to Substep 6. Ryko is already destroyed BUT still on the field. Even though, continuous effects don't apply to him since he counts as destroyed so Skill Drain won't affect Ryko. Ryko then activates and resolves his Flip Effect because Skill Drain doesn't affect him as I said before.


Is the above example correct? I want to be sure about the Continuous Effects that don't affect destroyed monsters, even though they are still on the field.

Thanks again for sharing this awesome guide

Skill Drain will negate Ryko. If you see, i noted continuous effects the destroyed monster has will not apply. So if you had a Jinzo, in substep 6, its trap negation will not apply because it is destroyed at this time continuous effects will still affect him until he leaves the field.

Skill Drain will negate ryko because it will continue to affect him as long as he is face-up on the field, even if he is destroyed at the time.

Reading without glasses FTL xD

I just read the whole guide again more carefully, and yeah, where it said "its continuous effects no longer apply." I read "continuous effects no longer apply." That did sound strange to me so that's why I asked, seems like it was my mistake after all.

So, this should be correct :

1) I have a Banisher of the Radiance on the field and my opponent attacks with a monster with an attack higher than 1600
2) During the Substep 6, Banisher's effect will disappear since he is destroyed. From this moment and on all cards are sent to the grave since Banisher's effect no longer applies.

However, what about cards that state "As long as this card is face-up on the field"? Even if they are destroyed, they are still face up on the field, so their effects should still apply?

Examples : Banisher of the Light, Spell Canceller, etc

And another question :

1) I have a set Ryko on my field, and my opponent attacks it with a Banisher of the Radiance.
2) During substep 6, Ryko's effect will activate and destroy Banisher of the Radiance. Now, since Ryko's effect that destroys a card on the field has alreadt been resolved, he's effect to mill 3 cards must be resolved now as well. Ryko's effect to destroy a card on the field resolves BEFORE the effect that mills 3 cards to the grave. So, Banisher will be destroyed BEFORE you mill 3 cards, and not at the same time, so the cards will be milled when Banisher has already been destroyed, therefore the cards will go to the graveyard and in the substep 7 Ryko will go to the grave as well.

Is the above example correct?

Cards that say: "As long as this card remains face-up on the field" is a continuous effect. As soon as that monster is destroyed, even if it is face-up on the field, that continuous effect disappears. Rule of thumb, the continuous effect of a card disappears as soon as that card is destroyed.

The example you gave is 100% correct

THANK YOU! This guide has actually taught me a little bit. I thought i knew everything about the battle phase.. But I did not know that Damage Substep 6 that monsters are considered destroyed at that point.

Thank you for this I just learned something new!