Understanding your cards: Inherent Summons

Sometimes there's more to understanding your - and your opponents' - cards than simply knowing the rulings. Often this comes down to understanding gameplay rules but people don't always understand these eventhough they form the basis on which we play.

Many a time I get asked questions which don't address the problem at hand and players don't get the answers they need. As a result I'll be posting regular short "articles" explaining how certain problematic effects work and accompaning rulings.

Today's one is a simple clarification on the differnce between an inherent special summon and a non-inherent special summon.

What is the difference?
The basic difference between the 2 is that the one starts a chain while the other doesn't.
Inherent summons are summoning conditions rather than "effects" as we know it. They describe the way to summmon a monster.
Effect summons are as the name says effects. They activate, start a chain and special summon the monster at resolution.

How do I spot them?
This is not always easy. In fact, while typing this I can't seem to find a good way to describe it. The best bet is to find out which category each card falls into as text doesn't make it apparent always.

How do I deal with each?
Inherent summons can only be negated by cards which negate summons. Non-inherent summons are effects and thus the effect activated needs to be negated to prevent the summon from happening. Cards which say "negate the summon" can only be used against inherent summons.

Examples of Inherent Summons:
Machina Fortress
Grapha..
Swap Frog
Chaos Sorcerer
Synchro Summons
Contact Fusions
Xyz Summons

Examples of Effect Summons:
Gorz, Emissary of Darkness
Plaguespreader Zombie
T.G. Warwolf
Ritual Summons
Spell and Trap cards which special summon

So now you can go back to your cards and read them to figure out which are best for working against those monsters you want to stop.

If you have questions regarding this please post here. If you have a specific question you'd like addressed please PM me.

So I can Thunder King a Swap Frog! Nice. KK

Am I supposed to add some constructive criticism?

If you want. The purpose is simply so that everyone understands how these work. If it isn't apperent I can fix it or answer follow up questions.

Yes you can. hehehe

I actually don't know too much about rulings. I know this stuff nowadays. But thanks yo. I think I should judge a tournament one day.

MutG wrote:

I actually don't know too much about rulings. I know this stuff nowadays. But thanks yo. I think I should judge a tournament one day.

lol. i some how doubt anyone would accept your rulings.
they'll still go to uqail.

I'm pretty sure about the rulings when I say so. Like Honest, for example. Where you were unsure and I was sure.

MutG wrote:

I'm pretty sure about the rulings when I say so. Like Honest, for example. Where you were unsure and I was sure.

loooooool. it isn't a matter of surity. most cpt yugi players will only ever go to uqail.
evidently i am not running tournament. hence i did not pass ANY kind of judgement and suggested that any questions be directed to Uqail.
we've had ruling issues before when people commented on what they THOUGHT the rulling was and that resulted in the player who should have won losing. so i no longer add my two cents unless i am absolutely 100% SURE that i know what i am talking about.

that's what judging should be about.
UQAIL the PVZ KING

Uqail doesn't know half the time either...

I took a judging test on DN for the fun of it, think we should all do it and see how we do.