by The Detonator Thu Sep 09, 2010 4:28 pmLight and Darkness Dragon has to be among the most complicated monsters in the Yu-Gi-Oh TCG. It causes many ruling errors and is sometimes misunderstood by even the most advanced duelists. This guide to Light and Darkness Dragon will show you the rulings, the weaknesses and the strengths of this card in detail.
I. The basics of LaDD
II. The Rulings behind the Dragon
III. Weaknesses
IV. Strengths
V. Tips and common strategies.
VI. Closing
The effect text:
This card cannot be Special Summoned. While this card is face-up on the field, its Attribute is also treated as DARK. When a Spell or Trap Card is activated, or the effect of an Effect Monster is activated, that activation is negated and this card loses 500 ATK and DEF. When this card is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard, select 1 monster in your Graveyard. Then destroy all cards you control, and Special Summon that monster.
Orange: Condition
This is a condition. Conditions are not effects which means that they cannot be negated by other cards such as Skill Drain or Forbidden Chalice. No matter what this card cannot be Special Summoned.
Green: Continuous Effect
This is a Continuous Effect that is applied as soon as Light and Darkness Dragon is Normal Summoned or Flip Summoned. We know 3 things about Continuous Effects.
- Continuous Effects are Spell Speed 1.
- Continuous Effects do not start a chain (Cannot be negated by Divine Wrath).
- Continuous Effects are applied immediately (before the activation of any Spell Speed 1 or Spell Speed 2 card).
This means that Light and Darkness Dragon will be treated as a DARK monster as well as a Light monster as soon as it is placed on the field.
Blue: Quick Effect
This is a Quick Effect that activates when an effect starts a chain. We know 4 things about Quick Effects but Light and Darkness Dragon breaks the rules, I'll explain why:
- Quick Effects are Spell Speed 2
- Quick Effects can be activated in the Damage Step.
- Quick Effects can be activated during either players turn.
- Quick Effects can be activated multiple times per chain.
So what is the reason for Light and Darkness Dragon not being able to activate more than once in a chain? If he was allowed to do so, he would end up in a continuous loop trying to negate himself (since he too is an effect that is activating). For this reason it was ruled that Light an Darkness would need to bend the rules in order to avoid negating itself over and over until it could not negate anymore. Also note this effect is Spell Speed 2, it is too slow to negate a Counter Trap Card like Divine Wrath or Solemn Judgment.
Blue: Underlined
This is a part of the Quick Effect that we will call a "resolution condition". In order for Light and Darkness Dragon to successfully negate a card it must also be able to lose 500 ATK and 500 DEF at the same time. Understanding this, will tell us that Light and Darkness Dragon cannot negate a card if he has less than 500 ATK or less than 500 DEF.
Red: Mandatory Trigger Effect
This is a Mandatory Trigger Effect because it must happen when the condition is met, there is no option given. From Mandatory Trigger Effects we know the following:
- Mandatory Trigger Effects are Spell Speed 1.
- Mandatory Trigger Effects can and will activate in the Damage Step.
- Mandatory Trigger Effects must activate, they cannot Miss the Timing.
- If a Mandatory Trigger Effect is supposed to activate in the middle of a chain or while a chain is resolving, the chain will first resolve fully, and the effect will activate and start a new chain when the current chain is over.
Mandatory Trigger Effects all follow the above rules. When Light and Darkness Dragon is destroyed it is important to also note that destroying all cards you control is not a cost required to summon a monster. If you have no cards to destroy on your field you will still summon a monster from your graveyard. This effect also does target at activation, so you must select your target when Light and Darkness Dragons Trigger Effect activates, then Special Summon the monster while it is resolving.
Now that we understand the basics behind the effects of Light and Darkness Dragon lets look at the rulings in depth and with proper explanations to allow expert understanding of how they work.
Q. If LaDD has less than 500 ATK or DEF will his effect still activate?
A. Yes, LaDD will always activate its effect in response to a Spell/Trap or Effect monster's effect. It is not until the resolution of the effect that LaDD will negate or not negate the card. Like stated earlier the underlined part of his effect text is what i call a "resolution condition". If the condition cannot be met at resolution the effect disappears. So for example:
Player A control a Light and Darkness Dragon with 800 ATK and 400 DEF. Player B activates Smashing Ground.
Chain Link 1: Smashing Ground.
Chain Link 2: Light and Darkness Dragon (still activating even though it has less than 500 DEF)
Chain Link 3: Player A activates Castle Walls targeting LaDD.
--- Chain Resolves Backwards ---
Chain Link 3: LaDD now has 800 ATK and 900 DEF.
Chain Link 2: LaDD loses 500 ATK and 500 DEF and negates Smashing Ground.
Chain Link 1: Negated, Smashing Ground is sent to the Graveyard.
As you can see as above, the effect of LaDD does activate when he has less than the needed amount of ATK or DEF to negate a card. If an effect will cause LaDD to have enough ATK and DEF when he is trying to resolve his effect then the effect resolves normally just like in the above example.
Q. LaDD vs. ATK/DEF changes? (applies to all ATK/DEF changing cards)
A. Let's look at the above situation again. We saw Castle Walls change the DEF of LaDD then we saw LaDD reduce its new DEF to resolve its effect and negate Smashing Ground. So its new ATK/DEF values when that chain finishes is 300/400. At the end of the turn when Castle Walls no longer applies, the 500 DEF boost it provided will disappear as usual and LaDD will become 300/0.
Q. LaDD vs. Shrink?
A. Like above, LaDD will lose ATK equal to half its original ATK when targeted by Shrink. If LaDD has 2400 ATK and is targeted by Shrink it will lose 1400 ATK and be left with 1000 ATK. During that turn if LaDD uses its effect and further decreases its ATK by 500, then at the end of the turn LaDD will only regain the lost 1400 ATK from Shrink bringing it back to 1800 ATK.
Q. Does LaDD's Special Summon effect target?
A. Yes, LaDD targets a monster in your Graveyard during the third effects activation (as soon as he is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard). Your opponent can then use cards like D.D Crow to remove your target from play. If this happens, you still destroy all cards you control but will not be able to Summon the targeted monster. Remember effects that are resolving after being activated need to resolve as much as possible, so this is why all your cards will still be destroyed even though your summon target has disappeared.
Q. Will LaDD still Special Summon a monster even if i control no cards when he is destroyed?
A. Yes, remember the effect needs to resolve as much as possible when triggered, just like with the previous example, even if you have no cards to destroy, the rest of the effect of Special Summoning a targeted monster needs to still resolve.
Q. What if i have no monsters to Special Summon from my Graveyard when LaDD is destroyed?
A. Then you will still destroy all cards you control just like with the above examples. This is an important lesson to learn about resolving effects, if a part of the effect cannot resolve after successful activation, the rest of the effect still resolves normally.
Q. What happens if LaDD is destroyed by a card while he is not on the field?
A. LaDD states in his text: "When this card is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard..." This implies that LaDD does not need to be on the field when destroyed by a card effect. For example, if LaDD is destroyed by the effect of Solemn Judgment and sent to the Graveyard, then his effect will activate even though his Summon was negated. Because LaDD was still destroyed, the condition in which the effect triggers is met.
Q. LaDD vs Book of Moon? (applies to all flip-face down effs)
A. If LaDD is flipped face down before his effect can resolve in a current chain, his effect will disappear. Also, any loss to his ATK/DEF are reset and he returns to 2800/2400 when he is flipped face-up again. For example:
Player A controls a face-up LaDD with 1800 ATK, 1400 DEF.
Chain Link 1: Player B's flip Summons Ryko and targets LaDD.
Chain Link 2: LaDD activates.
Chain Link 3: Player B's Book of Moon
--- Chain resolves backwards ---
Chain Link 3: Book of Moon flips LaDD face-down, all ATK/DEF values are reset and he return to 2800/2400
Chain Link 2: LaDD attempts to negate Ryko but since he is face-down he cannot resolve the condition of losing 500 ATK and 500 DEF, nothing happens.
Chain Link 1: Ryko destroys LaDD and send the top 3 cards from Player B's Deck to the Graveyard.
Q. LaDD vs Skill Drain?
A. If Skill Drain is active on the field when LaDD is Summoned then LaDD's first effect to change his attribute to Dark is negated. LaDD's second effect will always still activate when a Spell/Trap or Effect monsters effect is activated (Skill Drain does not negate an activation of a card, only the resolution) but it will not successfully resolve at resolution due to Skill Drain's negation and LaDD will not lose 500 ATK and 500 DEF. LaDD's final effect will still activate since it is activating in the Graveyard, not on the field. Since it does this, LaDD will destroy all cards you control and Special Summon your targeted monster from your Graveyard successfully.
Q. If I fill my field with Scapegoat tokens or similar, how will LaDD's effect to Special Summon a monster work?
A. LaDD's effect to Special Summon a monster happens at the same time as all your cards are destroyed. If there is no room on your field for a monster to be summoned, you will still destroy all cards you control but you will not summon a monster (since your field was full as you were destroying things). For Example:
Player A controls a face-up LaDD with 800 ATK, 400 DEF and another face-down monster. Player B activates Smashing Ground and destroys LaDD.
Chain Link 1: LaDD's third effect activates and Player A selects a monster to summon.
Chain Link 2: Player A activates Scapegoat.
--- Chain resolves backwards ---
Chain Link 2: Player A Summons 4 tokens to the field bringing filling the monster card zone.
Chain Link 1: LaDD attempts to destroy and summon the selected monster at the same time, since all monster card zones are full, the summon cant take place, all cards are destroyed.
Q. Does LaDD negate the effects of cards like Ultimate Offering which was activated before LaDD was summoned?
A. No, LaDD cannot negate the activation of Ignition like effects of Continuous Spell/Trap cards or Field Spell Cards. LaDD's effect to negate the "activation" of a Spell or Trap card only applies to the first activation of that Spell or Trap Card (which is when it is first placed onto the field). So cards like Ultimate Offering, provided they were face-up on the field before LaDD was Summoned, can have their effects activated and resolved without being negated.
Q. LaDD vs Destiny Hero Diamond Dude?
A. When the effect of a Normal Spell Card is activated in the Graveyard due to the effect of Destiny Hero - Diamond Dude, LaDD's second effect will not activate because the Normal Spell Card is not “activated” only the effect is. This is similar to the above situation with cards like Ultimate Offering.
--- IN CONSTRUCTION ---
I. The basics of LaDD
II. The Rulings behind the Dragon
III. Weaknesses
IV. Strengths
V. Tips and common strategies.
VI. Closing
I. The basics of LaDD
To unravel this monster we will begin by looking at the card text. The way it is worded will help us to understand how it works and how it's effects work. The key to any card is to read its text carefully. Most of the time simple rulings can be solved just by re-reading a card and understanding what it does. Below is Light and Darkness Dragons effect text coloured to demonstrate its different effects. Light and Darkness has 3 separate effects (Green, Blue and Red). Let's move through them step by step.The effect text:
This card cannot be Special Summoned. While this card is face-up on the field, its Attribute is also treated as DARK. When a Spell or Trap Card is activated, or the effect of an Effect Monster is activated, that activation is negated and this card loses 500 ATK and DEF. When this card is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard, select 1 monster in your Graveyard. Then destroy all cards you control, and Special Summon that monster.
Orange: Condition
This is a condition. Conditions are not effects which means that they cannot be negated by other cards such as Skill Drain or Forbidden Chalice. No matter what this card cannot be Special Summoned.
Green: Continuous Effect
This is a Continuous Effect that is applied as soon as Light and Darkness Dragon is Normal Summoned or Flip Summoned. We know 3 things about Continuous Effects.
- Continuous Effects are Spell Speed 1.
- Continuous Effects do not start a chain (Cannot be negated by Divine Wrath).
- Continuous Effects are applied immediately (before the activation of any Spell Speed 1 or Spell Speed 2 card).
This means that Light and Darkness Dragon will be treated as a DARK monster as well as a Light monster as soon as it is placed on the field.
Blue: Quick Effect
This is a Quick Effect that activates when an effect starts a chain. We know 4 things about Quick Effects but Light and Darkness Dragon breaks the rules, I'll explain why:
- Quick Effects are Spell Speed 2
- Quick Effects can be activated in the Damage Step.
- Quick Effects can be activated during either players turn.
So what is the reason for Light and Darkness Dragon not being able to activate more than once in a chain? If he was allowed to do so, he would end up in a continuous loop trying to negate himself (since he too is an effect that is activating). For this reason it was ruled that Light an Darkness would need to bend the rules in order to avoid negating itself over and over until it could not negate anymore. Also note this effect is Spell Speed 2, it is too slow to negate a Counter Trap Card like Divine Wrath or Solemn Judgment.
Blue: Underlined
This is a part of the Quick Effect that we will call a "resolution condition". In order for Light and Darkness Dragon to successfully negate a card it must also be able to lose 500 ATK and 500 DEF at the same time. Understanding this, will tell us that Light and Darkness Dragon cannot negate a card if he has less than 500 ATK or less than 500 DEF.
Red: Mandatory Trigger Effect
This is a Mandatory Trigger Effect because it must happen when the condition is met, there is no option given. From Mandatory Trigger Effects we know the following:
- Mandatory Trigger Effects are Spell Speed 1.
- Mandatory Trigger Effects can and will activate in the Damage Step.
- Mandatory Trigger Effects must activate, they cannot Miss the Timing.
- If a Mandatory Trigger Effect is supposed to activate in the middle of a chain or while a chain is resolving, the chain will first resolve fully, and the effect will activate and start a new chain when the current chain is over.
Mandatory Trigger Effects all follow the above rules. When Light and Darkness Dragon is destroyed it is important to also note that destroying all cards you control is not a cost required to summon a monster. If you have no cards to destroy on your field you will still summon a monster from your graveyard. This effect also does target at activation, so you must select your target when Light and Darkness Dragons Trigger Effect activates, then Special Summon the monster while it is resolving.
Now that we understand the basics behind the effects of Light and Darkness Dragon lets look at the rulings in depth and with proper explanations to allow expert understanding of how they work.
II. The Rulings behind the Dragon
Below are the common questions and rulings about Light and Darkness Dragon (LaDD)Q. If LaDD has less than 500 ATK or DEF will his effect still activate?
A. Yes, LaDD will always activate its effect in response to a Spell/Trap or Effect monster's effect. It is not until the resolution of the effect that LaDD will negate or not negate the card. Like stated earlier the underlined part of his effect text is what i call a "resolution condition". If the condition cannot be met at resolution the effect disappears. So for example:
Player A control a Light and Darkness Dragon with 800 ATK and 400 DEF. Player B activates Smashing Ground.
Chain Link 1: Smashing Ground.
Chain Link 2: Light and Darkness Dragon (still activating even though it has less than 500 DEF)
Chain Link 3: Player A activates Castle Walls targeting LaDD.
--- Chain Resolves Backwards ---
Chain Link 3: LaDD now has 800 ATK and 900 DEF.
Chain Link 2: LaDD loses 500 ATK and 500 DEF and negates Smashing Ground.
Chain Link 1: Negated, Smashing Ground is sent to the Graveyard.
As you can see as above, the effect of LaDD does activate when he has less than the needed amount of ATK or DEF to negate a card. If an effect will cause LaDD to have enough ATK and DEF when he is trying to resolve his effect then the effect resolves normally just like in the above example.
Q. LaDD vs. ATK/DEF changes? (applies to all ATK/DEF changing cards)
A. Let's look at the above situation again. We saw Castle Walls change the DEF of LaDD then we saw LaDD reduce its new DEF to resolve its effect and negate Smashing Ground. So its new ATK/DEF values when that chain finishes is 300/400. At the end of the turn when Castle Walls no longer applies, the 500 DEF boost it provided will disappear as usual and LaDD will become 300/0.
Q. LaDD vs. Shrink?
A. Like above, LaDD will lose ATK equal to half its original ATK when targeted by Shrink. If LaDD has 2400 ATK and is targeted by Shrink it will lose 1400 ATK and be left with 1000 ATK. During that turn if LaDD uses its effect and further decreases its ATK by 500, then at the end of the turn LaDD will only regain the lost 1400 ATK from Shrink bringing it back to 1800 ATK.
Q. Does LaDD's Special Summon effect target?
A. Yes, LaDD targets a monster in your Graveyard during the third effects activation (as soon as he is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard). Your opponent can then use cards like D.D Crow to remove your target from play. If this happens, you still destroy all cards you control but will not be able to Summon the targeted monster. Remember effects that are resolving after being activated need to resolve as much as possible, so this is why all your cards will still be destroyed even though your summon target has disappeared.
Q. Will LaDD still Special Summon a monster even if i control no cards when he is destroyed?
A. Yes, remember the effect needs to resolve as much as possible when triggered, just like with the previous example, even if you have no cards to destroy, the rest of the effect of Special Summoning a targeted monster needs to still resolve.
Q. What if i have no monsters to Special Summon from my Graveyard when LaDD is destroyed?
A. Then you will still destroy all cards you control just like with the above examples. This is an important lesson to learn about resolving effects, if a part of the effect cannot resolve after successful activation, the rest of the effect still resolves normally.
Q. What happens if LaDD is destroyed by a card while he is not on the field?
A. LaDD states in his text: "When this card is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard..." This implies that LaDD does not need to be on the field when destroyed by a card effect. For example, if LaDD is destroyed by the effect of Solemn Judgment and sent to the Graveyard, then his effect will activate even though his Summon was negated. Because LaDD was still destroyed, the condition in which the effect triggers is met.
Q. LaDD vs Book of Moon? (applies to all flip-face down effs)
A. If LaDD is flipped face down before his effect can resolve in a current chain, his effect will disappear. Also, any loss to his ATK/DEF are reset and he returns to 2800/2400 when he is flipped face-up again. For example:
Player A controls a face-up LaDD with 1800 ATK, 1400 DEF.
Chain Link 1: Player B's flip Summons Ryko and targets LaDD.
Chain Link 2: LaDD activates.
Chain Link 3: Player B's Book of Moon
--- Chain resolves backwards ---
Chain Link 3: Book of Moon flips LaDD face-down, all ATK/DEF values are reset and he return to 2800/2400
Chain Link 2: LaDD attempts to negate Ryko but since he is face-down he cannot resolve the condition of losing 500 ATK and 500 DEF, nothing happens.
Chain Link 1: Ryko destroys LaDD and send the top 3 cards from Player B's Deck to the Graveyard.
Q. LaDD vs Skill Drain?
A. If Skill Drain is active on the field when LaDD is Summoned then LaDD's first effect to change his attribute to Dark is negated. LaDD's second effect will always still activate when a Spell/Trap or Effect monsters effect is activated (Skill Drain does not negate an activation of a card, only the resolution) but it will not successfully resolve at resolution due to Skill Drain's negation and LaDD will not lose 500 ATK and 500 DEF. LaDD's final effect will still activate since it is activating in the Graveyard, not on the field. Since it does this, LaDD will destroy all cards you control and Special Summon your targeted monster from your Graveyard successfully.
Q. If I fill my field with Scapegoat tokens or similar, how will LaDD's effect to Special Summon a monster work?
A. LaDD's effect to Special Summon a monster happens at the same time as all your cards are destroyed. If there is no room on your field for a monster to be summoned, you will still destroy all cards you control but you will not summon a monster (since your field was full as you were destroying things). For Example:
Player A controls a face-up LaDD with 800 ATK, 400 DEF and another face-down monster. Player B activates Smashing Ground and destroys LaDD.
Chain Link 1: LaDD's third effect activates and Player A selects a monster to summon.
Chain Link 2: Player A activates Scapegoat.
--- Chain resolves backwards ---
Chain Link 2: Player A Summons 4 tokens to the field bringing filling the monster card zone.
Chain Link 1: LaDD attempts to destroy and summon the selected monster at the same time, since all monster card zones are full, the summon cant take place, all cards are destroyed.
Q. Does LaDD negate the effects of cards like Ultimate Offering which was activated before LaDD was summoned?
A. No, LaDD cannot negate the activation of Ignition like effects of Continuous Spell/Trap cards or Field Spell Cards. LaDD's effect to negate the "activation" of a Spell or Trap card only applies to the first activation of that Spell or Trap Card (which is when it is first placed onto the field). So cards like Ultimate Offering, provided they were face-up on the field before LaDD was Summoned, can have their effects activated and resolved without being negated.
Q. LaDD vs Destiny Hero Diamond Dude?
A. When the effect of a Normal Spell Card is activated in the Graveyard due to the effect of Destiny Hero - Diamond Dude, LaDD's second effect will not activate because the Normal Spell Card is not “activated” only the effect is. This is similar to the above situation with cards like Ultimate Offering.
--- IN CONSTRUCTION ---
