Sometimes, you will have multiple Trigger or Trigger-like effects that will try to activate simultaneously, such as when "Mystic Tomato" attacks another "Mystic Tomato", or when two copies of "Sangan" are sent to the Graveyard at the same time by the effect of "Dark Hole". In cases like these, the effects all activate and form a Chain, even if they are Spell Speed 1 effects. This is a special case when Spell Speed 1 effects can be chained to each other, because they are all trying to activate at the same time, and the players are not "choosing" to activate them.
This does not apply to effects that activate or are applied "During the ___ Phase,...", such as "Gladiator Beast" monsters. Effects like these do not form a Chain - instead, they (activate and) are applied separately.
Order[]
Effects activate based on the following order:
- Turn Player's Mandatory Effects
- Non-Turn Player's Mandatory Effects
- Turn Player's Optional Effects
- Non-Turn Player's Optional Effects
- Example 1: The Turn Player controls "Sangan" and "Peten the Dark Clown". The non-Turn Player controls "Sangan" and "Peten the Dark Clown". If the Turn Player activates "Dark Hole", then all four monsters' effects activate at the same time.
- The Turn Player's only mandatory effects is that of his "Sangan", so the effect of his "Sangan" becomes Chain Link 1.
- The non-Turn Player's only mandatory effect is that of his "Sangan", so the effect of his "Sangan" becomes Chain Link 2.
- The Turn Player's only optional effects is that of his "Peten the Dark Clown", so the effect of his "Peten the Dark Clown" becomes Chain Link 3.
- The non-Turn Player's only optional effects is that of his "Peten the Dark Clown", so the effect of his "Peten the Dark Clown" becomes Chain Link 4.
- Afterwards, players can add more cards to the Chain normally.
If a player controls two effects in the same category (for example, the Turn Player controls two Mandatory effects), then the player can activate the effects in any order he wishes.
- Example 2: The Turn Player controls "Sangan" and "Witch of the Black Forest". The non-Turn Player controls "Dandylion". If the Turn Player activates "Dark Hole", then all three monster's effects activate at the same time.
- The Turn Player's mandatory effects are those of his "Sangan" and his "Witch of the Black Forest". These effects will be Chain Links 1 and 2, in the order that the Turn Player wishes. He can place "Sangan" as Chain Link 1 and "Witch of the Black Forest" as Chain Link 2, or he can place "Witch of the Black Forest" as Chain Link 1 and "Sangan" as Chain Link 2. Both are correct.
- The non-Turn Player's only mandatory effect is that of his "Dandylion", so the effect of his "Dandylion" becomes Chain Link 3.
- The Turn Player has no optional effects, so none are added.
- The non-Turn Player has no optional effects, so none are added.
- Afterwards, players can add more cards to the Chain normally.
TCG[]
In the TCG, card effects activate first in the order that they were triggered.
- Example 3: The Turn Player Tributes "Sangan" for the Tribute Summon of "Zaborg the Thunder Monarch". Both effects activate at the same time. However, the Tribute of "Sangan" occurred before the Summon of "Zaborg the Thunder Monarch", so the effect of "Sangan" must be Chain Link 1 and the effect of "Zaborg the Thunder Monarch" must be Chain Link 2.
Furthermore, Spell Speed 1 effects cannot be Chained to Spell Speed 2 effects. You cannot choose to place a Spell Speed 1 effect at a higher Chain Link than a Spell Speed 2 effect.
- Example 4: The Turn Player has "Ojamagic" and "Dark Coffin" face-down on the field. If the Turn Player activates "Heavy Storm", then both "Ojamagic" and "Dark Coffin" will activate. However, "Ojamagic" is Spell Speed 1 and "Dark Coffin" is Spell Speed 2, so "Ojamagic" must be Chain Link 1 and "Dark Coffin" must be Chain Link 2.
OCG[]
The above rules in the TCG section do not apply in the OCG. All effects follow the chart in the Order section, regardless of Spell Speed or which effects were triggered first.
- Example 3: Using the same situation as above, the Turn Player can choose to activate the effects of "Sangan" and "Zaborg the Thunder Monarch" in any order he wishes. If he wants, he can place "Zaborg the Thunder Monarch" as Chain Link 1 and "Sangan" as Chain Link 2.
- Example 4: Using the same situation as above, the Turn Player can choose to activate the effects of "Ojamagic" and "Dark Coffin" in any order he wishes. If he wants, he can place "Dark Coffin" as Chain Link 1 and "Ojamagic" as Chain Link 2.