Spells(in depth)

A Normal Spell Card, formerly known as a Normal Magic Card (Japanese: 通つう常じょう魔ま法ほうカード Tsūjō Mahō Kādo), is a Spell Speed 1 Spell Card, so it cannot chain to other effects, even those of other Normal Spell Cards, but can be chained to by Spell Speed 2 or Spell Speed 3 cards.

The turn player may Set a Normal Spell Card and activate it on the same turn, which is useful if the player plans to use effects of cards that discard from your hand (such as "Card Destruction" and "Morphing Jar") to keep their useful Spell Cards from being discarded. Normal Spell Cards can only be activated during the turn player's Main Phase 1 and Main Phase 2, with the exception of "Curse of Fiend" which can only be activated during the Standby Phase.

After the Chain in which the Normal Spell Card was activated resolves, it is sent to the Graveyard, unless any the Normal Spell Card specifies that it remains on the field (such as "Swords of Revealing Light").

An example of a normal spell would be dark hole, which allows you to clear the whole field of monsters.

--------------

A Continuous Spell Card, known as a Permanent Magic Card (Japanese: 永えい続ぞく魔ま法ほうカード Eizoku Mahō Kādo) in the OCG, is a Spell Speed 1 Spell Card that stays on the field once it is activated. Spell Ruler, previously known as Magic Ruler, was the first TCG Booster Pack that contained Continuous Spell Cards.

The effects of most Continuous Spell Cards do not start a Chain, but there are some which do, for example "Soul Absorption" has a Trigger-like Effect, and "Valhalla, Hall of the Fallen" has an Ignition-like Effect.

These card are required to summon "Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder"

An example of this card would be Burning Land.

Here's a picture of said card for you to study.

--------------------------

An Equip Spell Card, known as an Equip Magic Card (Japanese: 装そう備び魔ま法ほうカード Sōbi Mahō Kādo) in the OCG, is a Spell Card that is a card that is equipped to a face-up monster on the field. Equip Spell Cards are a type of Equip Card; Equip Cards can also be Trap Cards or monsters that are treated as Equip Cards.

When you activate an Equip Spell Card, you must target a face-up monster on the field to equip the card to; the Equip Spell Card's effect applies to that monster as long as it is equipped. Equip Cards constantly target the monster they are equipped to; even while negated, Equip Cards remain equipped and continue to target the monster. If the equipped monster is no longer face-up on the field, or is no longer a valid target, the Equip Card is immediately destroyed. Because of this inherent rule of Equip Spell Cards, they are exempted from requiring the word "target" in their effects as part of Problem-Solving Card Text, unless they target a monster outside of the field upon activation.

Unless specified, Equip Cards can be equipped to monsters controlled by either player, and changing control of a monster does not cause control of an Equip Card to change. While the equipped monster can be the opponent's, the Equip Card's controller is the one referred to "you" in the Equip Card's card text, not the controller of the equipped monster.

Examples

An ATK-boosting Equip Spell Card is "Axe of Despair".

A DEF-boosting Equip Spell Card is "Horn of Light".

Some Equip Spell Cards revive a monster from the Graveyard and equip to that monster, such as "Premature Burial" and "Re-Fusion". In this case, they target the monster while it is in the Graveyard.

Some Equip Spell Cards change control of the equipped monster, such as "Falling Down" and "Snatch Steal".

Equip Spell Cards can grant other effects, such as piercing ("Big Bang Shot"), the ability to attack twice ("Twin Swords of Flashing Light - Tryce") or the ability to attack an opponent directly ("Opti-Camouflage Armor").

Some Equip Spell Cards with a negative effect are "Mask of Brutality" and "Darkworld Shackles".

____________________________________________

Quick-Play Spell Cards, known as Instant Magic Cards in the OCG (Japanese: 速そっ攻こう魔ま法ほうカード Sokkō Mahō Kādo), are a type of Spell Card that are Spell Speed 2. The turn player can activate Quick-Play Spell Cards from their hand during any Phase of their turn; either player can activate Set Quick-Play Spell cards during any Phase in either player's turn, except during the turn they are Set.

Cards like "Scapegoat" and "Rush Recklessly" are examples as Quick-Play Spell Cards.

Mechanics

Players may activate Quick-Play Spell Cards from their hand at anytime during their own turn (except the Damage Step, unless ruled otherwise), but cannot activate them from their hand during the opponent's turn.

Face-down Quick-Play Spell Cards can be activated during either player's turn, but they cannot be activated the turn they are Set, very much like Trap Card.[1] i.e. If a player Sets a Quick-Play Spell Card during their own turn, they cannot activate it until the beginning of their opponent's next turn.

Quick-Play Spell Cards are Spell Speed 2, and can be Chained to other cards.

Example

Assuming Player A is the turn player.

Usage during the player's turn

Player A activates "Dark Hole".

Player B chains "Imperial Order".

Player A chains "Mystical Space Typhoon" from their hand.

Usage during the opponent's turn

Player A activates "Level Limit - Area B"

Player B chains "Twister" after he set it the previous turn.

--------------------

Field Spell Cards, formerly Field Magic Cards (Japanese: フィールド魔ま法ほうカード Fīrudo Mahō Kādo), have the advantage of being able to change the entire state of play for its controller's or for both players' side of the field. They are Spell Speed 1 and are placed on the Field Zone, apart from the Spell & Trap Zones.

Most Fields center around boosting ATK and/or DEF for cards with Specific Attributes, Types or Archetypes. However, many Field Spells have other effects, such as recycling cards ("Madolche Chateau", "The Grand Spellbook Tower"), weakening the opponent's monsters ("Shien's Castle of Mist"), searching monsters and/or swarming the field ("Naturia Forest", "Shrine of Mist Valley", "Scrap Factory") or even preventing the Field from being swarmed ("Summon Breaker"). Most Field Spells affect all players, but some apply their effects only its controller's side of the Field ("The Seal of Orichalcos", "Mount Sylvania", "Closed Forest").

A player may activate or Set a Field Spell Card at any time during their Main Phase. If the player already has a card in their Field Zone, the existing card is sent to the Graveyard first. Field Spells must remain on the field to resolve, so their effect(s) are not applied if they are destroyed before they can resolve (for example, if "Mystical Space Typhoon" or "Cosmic Cyclone" is chained to that Field Spell Card's activation).

Trivia

"The Seal of Orichalcos" is the only Field Spell Card that can be activated only once per Duel.

"Dragon Ravine" was the first Field Spell Card to have been Forbidden.

The "Ghostrick", "Triamid" and "Trickstar" archetypes are currently tied for the most Field Spell Cards of any Archetype, with 3 each ("Mansion", "Museum" and "Parade" for "Ghostrick", "Cruiser", "Fortress", and "Kingolem" for "Triamid" and "Light Stage", "Light Arena" and "Live Stage" for "Trickstar").

These Field Spell Cards are also the only Spell Cards that support these archetypes.

------------------------------------------------

My personal favorite type of spell.

Ritual Spell Cards (Japanese: 儀ぎ式しき魔ま法ほうカード Gishiki Mahō Kādo), known as Ritual Magic Cards in the TCG prior to Magician's Force and the OCG, are a type of Spell Card used to Ritual Summon Ritual Monsters.

Ritual Spell Cards typically require the following conditions to be met in order to be activated:

A free Spell & Trap Zone to activate the Ritual Spell Card in, if the Ritual Spell Card is not already Set.

The corresponding Ritual Monster in your hand. Or in the stated zone, if any, and stated otherwise.

Monsters in your hand and/or on your side of the field whose total Levels are at least the Level of the Ritual Monster. (Some Ritual Spell Cards require the total Levels to be exactly equal to the Level of the Ritual Monster.)

A free Monster Zone into which to Summon the Ritual Monster, or at least one monster on the field that you are planning to Tribute for the Ritual Summon.

Playing style

Ritual Spell Cards tend to be demanding to use, due to their highly specific activation requirements and heavy cost, and for that reason they are arguably the least used type of Spell Cards. To make up for these design flaws, they contain numerous generic support cards to search them, such as Pre-Preparation of Rites, Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands, and Herald of the Arc Light.

Historically, "Advanced Ritual Art" was often used over other Ritual Spell Cards due to its ability to use monsters from the Main Deck instead of the field or hand. While the aforementioned generic support cards have made it less necessary, decks like Blue-Eyes Chaos MAX Dragon OTK still utilise it for its synergy with Normal Monsters.

Some Ritual Spell Cards, such as those for "Divine Grace - Northwemko" and "Garlandolf, King of Destruction", "Ritual of Grace" and "Ritual of Destruction" respectively, have secondary effects that can be activated by banishing the Ritual Spell Card from the Graveyard. Gishki Aquamirror infamously allowed itself to be returned to the deck to recover a Gishki Ritual Monster from the graveyard, allowing for GishKill FTK to become possible; this would lead to the introduction of the "hard" once per turn restriction on modern cards. When the Nekroz archetype was released, graveyard effects on Ritual Spells became a staple in their design, with each of the Nekroz Ritual Spells having the ability to banish themselves and a Nekroz Ritual Monster to get another Ritual Spell.

The "Impcantation", "Gishki" and "Nekroz" archetypes support Ritual Monsters and Ritual Spell Cards in general. In addition, the "Djinn of Rituals" series of monsters supports Ritual Spell Cards by being able to banish themselves from the Graveyard in place of or in addition to the monsters required by the Ritual Spell Card.

Trivia

"Forbidden Arts of the Gishki" is the only Ritual Spell Card that allows its controller to Tribute the opponent's monsters.

"Gishki Photomirror" is the only Ritual Spell Card that requires its controller to pay Life Points instead of Tributing monsters.

"Nekroz Kaleidoscope" is the only Ritual Spell Card that can Ritual Summon multiple Ritual Monsters simultaneously.

"Machine Angel Absolute Ritual" is the only Ritual Spell that allows the player to return Fairy and Warrior monsters from the Graveyard to the deck in place of Tributes.

In some early video games, Ritual Spell Cards were colored blue like Ritual Monsters in the OCG/TCG, instead of the usual green.

There are multiple Traps that function as Ritual Spells, altough they are not called "Ritual Traps"; examples are "Renewal of the World" and "Vendread Reunion".

------------

Dead info

Layout

The layout of Spell Cards is noticeably different from Monster Cards, but quite similar to that of Trap Cards (except the border color).

Border

The most noticeable difference between Spell Cards and Monster Cards is the border color. While most Monster Cards are yellow or orange, Spell Cards are blue-green.

Card name

Example Spell Name

This part of the card contains only one significant difference from Monster Cards—the Attribute symbol is replaced by a Spell symbol due to the fact that Spell (and Trap) Cards do not have Attributes.

Card type

Example Card Type Spell The card type is located below the name, where the Level is normally found on Monster Cards. This piece of text indicates that the card is a Spell Card. An icon next to the "Spell Card" text inside the brackets indicates the card's type (refer to the symbols above).

The card artwork is also present here and shows the player a visual interpretation of the used card. The artwork of a given card may be different between its OCG and TCG printings. For example, in the case of "Monster Reborn", its artwork is that of an ankh symbol in the OCG but was redone when it was brought over to the TCG in order to avoid religious connotations.

Card text box

Example Spell Effect Unlike the Monster Card text box (which provide the monster's Type, ATK and DEF), Spell cards' text boxes serve only one purpose - providing the card effect.

Other elements

All other basic card elements can also be seen in Spells. These include the Edition text, Set Number, passcode, copyright text and the Eye of Anubis Hologram.

-----------------