Help: Damage Step

 This is part of a series of articles on the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game, written to assist players participating in the Cup of Greed tournament, hosted by Pod of Greed (the only podcast officially sponsored by KaibaCorp).

 

As the game of Yu-Gi-Oh! matures like a fine, censor-friendly nonalcoholic fruit juice, certain rules have begun tilting from "incidental" to "crucial". Consider the Damage Step.

The Damage Step comes after a monster declares an attack, and is the time during which the stats of battling monsters are compared, determining what gets destroyed and how much damage is inflicted. In other words, during the Damage Step, you do a simple math problem. Naturally, this requires five sub-steps to accomplish.

The Damage Step is broken down into the "Start of the Damage Step", "Before damage calculation", "Damage calculation" (the actual comparison of stats), "After damage calculation", and the "End of the Damage Step". Different things happen in these sub-steps; for example, if a face-down monster is being attacked, it isn't flipped face-up until Before damage calculation. The Damage Step has all sorts of strange quirks, but I want to draw your attention to a single key feature: only certain effects are allowed to activate during the Damage Step. This is something that can be used to your advantage (and disadvantage).

The Damage Step is part of the Battle Phase, and during the Battle Phase, only Traps, Quick-Play Spells, Quick Effects (a Spell Speed 2 monster effect; any monster reprinted since the introduction of Problem-Solving Card Text has any Quick Effects explicitly labeled (Quick Effect)), and Trigger Effects (effects that activate in response to something happening, like "When this card is destroyed by battle") can be activated. In the Damage Step, there are further limitations on what can be activated. You are limited to these:

1. Effects that modify ATK and DEF. Examples include Rush Recklessly, Forbidden Chalice, and Inverse Universe. You can activate these cards and effects at the Start of the Damage Step, and Before damage calculation. After that point, they can no longer be activated until the Damage Step concludes.
   
2. Effects that state they activate during the Damage Step. Neo-Spacian Grand Mole activates at the start of the Damage Step. Kuriboh activates during damage calculation. Savage Colosseum activates at the end of the Damage Step.
   
3. Counter Traps. Counter Traps get carte blanche to be activated during the Damage Step. In the Duel Monsters Spirit World, they call this "Spell Speed 3 privilege".
4. Effects that negate the activations of cards or effects. Along with Counter Traps, other effects that negate activations can be activated. Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV8 and Light and Darkness Dragon are two examples. Note the wording, "negate activations". Trap Stun negates the effects of Traps, so it cannot be activated in the Damage Step.
5. Mandatory effects. While the rules claim that mandatory effects (that is, effects that must activate) activate during the Damage Step, I am going to call "Doubt" on the accuracy of this. Flip effects, despite (usually) being mandatory, are delayed until after battle because of Damage Step rules. Even some Continuous effects get delayed by the Damage Step, even though they don't even activate. That aside, don't worry too much about this one.
   

Let's look at an example of Damage Step rules in action:

•  I control Flamvell Firedog (1900 ATK) and have Book of Moon in my hand. My opponent has Blackwing - Bora the Spear (1700 ATK) and a face-down card. I attack Bora. My opponent immediately responds by activating their face-down Forbidden Lance, targeting Firedog to lower its ATK by 800. Because they activated Lance immediately (during attack declaration, which is part of the Battle Step), I can activate Book of Moon from my hand. I do so, flipping Bora face-down. Since it only has 800 DEF, Firedog is still able to destroy it.
• My opponent shouldn't have activated Forbidden Lance so quickly! Let's take the above scenario, but instead they wait until the last possible moment (Before damage calculation) to activate Forbidden Lance. Because it's now the Damage Step, I can no longer activate Book of Moon. My 1100 ATK Flamvell Firedog crashes into their 1700 ATK Bora the Spear, and it gets destroyed.
  

When EDOPro asks if you want to activate an effect, it will tell you the current Step or sub-step. Don't activate your cards too early - or too late. If you want to read more about the Damage Step, Yugipedia has an appallingly extensive page on the subject.