Help: Missing the Timing

 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).

 

I'm sorry boys and girls, but today we have to talk about missing the timing. Like Damage Step rules, the concept of missing the timing has existed in Yu-Gi-Oh! from the beginning, but in the 5D's era, it has suddenly become very important. An expert can make it work for them (I am not an expert), but you should at least have a general idea of how it works so it doesn't catch you out.

 

Optional, Optional, Mandatory

The phrase "missing the timing" sounds a bit esoteric. It refers to Trigger Effects, that is, effects that activate at a specific moment. Things like "When a monster is Normal Summoned", "When a monster your opponent controls declares an attack", "When this card is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard".

If a Trigger Effect is mandatory, then it cannot miss the timing. It "gets in line", so to speak, and activates at the next available opportunity. But if that effect is optional, then it can only be activated as long as the conditions for its activation still apply. For example, Botanical Girl's effect is "When this card is sent from the field to the Graveyard: You can add 1 Plant monster with 1000 or less DEF from your Deck to your hand". You can only activate Botanical Girl's effect while Botanical Girl is in the state of having just been sent from the field to the Graveyard. If something else has happened in between Botanical Girl being sent to the Graveyard and now, then you've missed your chance. Botanical Girl has missed the timing. What kinds of things can get in the way? We'll get to that soon.

Before we go any further though, I need to clarify something. Earlier I said that optional effects can miss timing, but I actually told a little fib. If an effect says "When [something happens], you can..." then it can miss timing. If an effect says "If... you can..." then it does not miss timing. Why? I don't make the rules, I just report them.

To be clear:

• Mandatory: Cannot miss timing
• Optional (If... You can): Cannot miss timing (rare, in this era)
• Optional (When.. You can): Can miss timing

What can cause effects to miss timing?

A lot of things. Let's go through several scenarios. I am going to be very disrespectful to Botanical Girl in the following examples. Please understand...it's only because Botanical Girl is very bad.

 

An effect resolving (Costs and effects)

Mystik Wok says "Tribute 1 monster and choose either its ATK or DEF; Gain the same amount of Life Points." Suppose I Tribute Botanical Girl to activate Mystik Wok. The timing for Botanical Girl's effect to activate would be right after being Tributed. However, it can't activate then, because Mystik Wok still has to resolve. Wok resolves, and I gain Life Points, but at this point the last thing to happen is not Botanical Girl being Tributed, but my gaining Life Points.

Botanical Girl has missed the timing.

 

An effect resolving: The Squeakquel (Multi-part effects)

 Some effects have multiple parts. Sometimes these parts are considered by the game as happening simultaneously, and are written in forms like "Do X, and do Y", "Do X, and if you do, do Y", or "Do X, also do Y". But sometimes these parts are seen as happening sequentially, one after the other. This is written "Do X, then do Y". Effects with a then can play all sorts of havoc, and one aspect of that havoc is that they can cause an effect to miss timing.

Soul Taker says "Target 1 face-up monster your opponent controls; destroy that target, then your opponent gains 1000 Life Points". Suppose I target my opponent's Botanical Girl with Soul Taker. The timing for Botanical Girl's effect to activate would be right after being destroyed. However, it can't activate then, because my opponent still has to gain Life Points. By that time that part of the effect is done, the time for Botanical Girl's effect has passed.

Botanical Girl has missed the timing.

NOTE: Now that we've covered these two cases, what if instead of Tributing Botanical Girl with Mystik Wok, I destroyed it with Destruct Potion? Destroying my monster with Destruct Potion is part of the effect rather than be a cost, and the two parts of its effect (destroying and gaining Life Points) happen simultaneously, because they are linked with an "and". Botanical Girl would not miss timing, and I would be able to search out a Plant-Type monster from my deck.

An effect resolving: Blue Harvest (Resolving Chains)

 Let's set aside Botanical Girl for the moment to talk about Bottomless Trap Hole. When a monster is Summoned, BTH destroys and banishes the monster. It does not, strictly speaking, have a Trigger Effect, but for all intents and purposes it can still miss timing.

Suppose I have BTH set, and my opponent activates Reinforcement of the Army. I have nothing to respond with -- but then, my opponent activates their face-down Call of the Haunted, targeting (for example) Thought Ruler Archfiend. Thought Ruler has more than enough ATK to trigger Bottomless, but it hasn't been summoned yet: the Chain has to resolve first. Since Chains resolve backward, first CotH Special Summons Thought Ruler, and last RotA adds a Warrior to my opponent's hand.
Now that the Chain is done resolving, I have an opportunity to respond. But the last thing to happen was not Thought Ruler being summoned, but my opponent adding a card to their hand.

Bottomless Trap Hole has missed the timing.

A summon

 Back to Botanical Girl.

Tribute Summons, Fusion Summons, Ritual Summons, and Synchro Summons all require sending some materials to the Graveyard in order to summon a new monster. In all cases, this is a two-step process, wherein Step 1 is the material monsters going to the Graveyard, and Step 2 is the new monster being summoned.

You've probably guessed the punchline. Whether being Tributed to Tribute Summon Gigaplant, Tributed to Ritual Summon Divine Grace - Northwemko, or tuned with Twilight Rose Knight to Synchro Summon Queen of Thorns... Botanical Girl misses timing in all cases.

And since we're talking about Summons...

IMPORTANT NOTE ON NEGATING SUMMONS: Cards and effects that negate Summons, like Solemn Judgment or the effect of Thunder King Rai-Oh, activate when a monster would be Summoned. Not is -- would be. This is an unusual and restrictive activation window, and because of that restrictiveness, effects that negate Summons cannot activate in response to Summons caused by effects. This is because cards and effects cannot be activated while a Chain is resolving. For example, if I play Monster Reborn to revive my T.G. Hyper Librarian, my opponent cannot negate that Special Summon with Thunder King Rai-Oh. The window when Hyper Librarian "would be" Special Summoned occurs while Monster Reborn is resolving. By the time Monster Reborn is done resolving, the negation window has passed. This is why Solemn Warning was made, as it negates both Summons and effects that Summon.

Conclusion

There you go. I hope I've done the topic justice. You may also want to refer to the Yugipedia page on missing timing. Also, I highly recommend this old but still excellent video on building chains and missing timing by Amanda LaPalme (née DragonDuelistGirl).