As we all know, Shield And Sword switch the original ATK and DEF, then any other effects modify the new stats.

But what happens when I activate Shield And Sword while King Of The Skull Servants is face-up on the field? Does it switch its stats and now its DEF flucuates with the number of Skull Servants while its ATK becomes a pitiful zero?

Well..based on this ruling...

"The original ATK of "King of the Skull Servants" is determined by its effect. This is further doubled/halved by "Megamorph" and other effects that are based off of original ATK. If the number of "Skull Servant" and "King of the Skull Servants" cards in your Graveyard changes, re-calculate the original ATK of "King of the Skull Servants", then re-apply the effect of "Megamorph". If you have "King of the Skull Servants" with an original ATK of 2000 (2 "Skull Servant" cards in your Graveyard), and you equip it with "Megamorph", its original ATK will be 4000 when your Life Points are lower, and 1000 when your Life Points are higher."

...then Shield & Sword WILL switch the "original" ATK and DEF of King of the Skull Servants, thus making it have 0 ATK (original DEF) and its DEF being whatever it was at the time. However, I believe since King of the Skull Servants actually does change its "original ATK" then, depending on the number of other Skull Servant and King of the Skull Servants in your Graveyard, it will recalculate its ATK strength accordingly.

So, in your opinion, if King Of The Skull Servants has 4000 ATK, and I activate Shield And Sword, it ends up with 0 ATK and 4000 DEF.

But then its own effect kicks in and recalculates its ATK, now making it a 4000 ATK/ 4000 DEF Zombie.

Hmmm.....interesting.

I could be wrong though...with the whole situation with cards actually being able to change their original ATK now, some things get more confusing

(previously, "original ATK" always meant the ATK printed on the actual card, which is why Fusilier Dragon, even when Normal Summoned by its effect and had Megamorph attached to it, would jump to 5600 if your LP was lower and just stay at 1400 if they were higher)

...of course, the Shield & Sword ruling helps a bit too..

"This card only switches the original ATK and DEF. All modifiers are then applied (or re-applied, as appropriate) to the new ATK and DEF."

Exactly, I'm surprised no one asked this before.

Still, I find this very fun. This means not only Great Maju Garzett and King Of The Skull Servants are utterly unaffected by Shield and Sword, they also get beefy DEF out of it as well. Now I'm going to try and combo with DNA Surgery and Wild Nature's Release.

Imagine Beast-type King Of Skull Servants with 10000 ATK. Hehehe...

Actually...Great Maju Garzett is completely different from King of the Skull Servants as it does not changes its OWN "Original ATK". It just takes the "Original ATK" of the Tributed monster and applies it for its own current ATK. (so if equipped with Megamorph, its ATK becomes 0 and stays there).

To conclude, it would remain at 0 ATK/4000 DEF.

Its effect to calculate only occurs when the number of cards in the Graveyard changes. Like in the "Megamorph" example, it calculates original ATK once, and then when you use "Shield and Sword", it will switch as a one-time thing. Since "King of the Skull Servants" has already calculated its original ATK, there's no reason it would recalculate.

Oh well...guess you gotta get another Skull Servant/King of the Skull Servants into/out of the Graveyard to get its ATK back =P

Well, if you added one, it would be 1000 ATK/4000 DEF.

i disagree, its constantly checking/rechecking the number and also constantly recalculating its attack. its a continuous effect, not a triggered effect.

also even if you were right, and it stayed 0/4000, if you added another skull servant to the graveyard, how would it become 1000/4000? it would recalculate its attack to be 1000 x the number in the grave, which would be 5, so it'd be 5000 atk not 1000.

i think hdi is correct in that shield and sword would switch the current original attack and defense making it 0/4000, but then kings continuous effect would kick in and make it 4000/4000.

• The original ATK of "King of the Skull Servants" is determined by its effect. This is further doubled/halved by "Megamorph" and other effects that are based off of original ATK. If the number of "Skull Servant" and "King of the Skull Servants" cards in your Graveyard changes, re-calculate the original ATK of "King of the Skull Servants", then re-apply the effect of "Megamorph". If you have "King of the Skull Servants" with an original ATK of 2000 (2 "Skull Servant" cards in your Graveyard), and you equip it with "Megamorph", its original ATK will be 4000 when your Life Points are lower, and 1000 when your Life Points are higher.

It only says "recalculate" when the number of cards changes. Why would it be any different here?

The reason it would be 1000/4000 is that "Shield and Sword" 'freezes' the attack and defense, sort of like "Limiter Removal", and any new modifications just change the current attack for that turn (since it switches original ATK).

At least, I'm pretty sure about the second part.

It merely says if it changes, you would recalculate...doesn't say anything about "freezing" anything that constantly recaclulates...and for Shield & Sword

1. This card only switches the original ATK and DEF. All modifiers are then applied (or re-applied, as appropriate) to the new ATK and DEF.

So..if Shield & Sword switches...then it'd go with the DEF being whatever the "original ATK" of King of the Skull Servants was at the time (4000 for this example)...and then its Continuous Effect would recalculate...

There's no reason it would recalculate. It says "re-applies, if appropriate." As I've said, it's only appropriate to recalculate when the number of the monsters changes.

My head hurts.

It seems we have to agree in which order the effects stack up.

In my opinion, I think we should apply the effect King Of The Skull Servants first, then the effect of Shield and Sword.

So King Of The Skull Servants calculates its ATK first, then Shield and Sword swaps the Stats. End Result? 0 ATK, 4000 DEF.

Then, if another Skull Servant hits the Graveyard, it becomes 0 ATK, 5000 DEF.

In other words, we calculate original ATK first, then apply Shield And Sword.

Of course, I could be wrong. Any more thoughts? How would King Of The Skull Servants interact with Limiter Removal?

Suppose with DNA Surgery and Limiter Removal my KotSS changes from a 4000 ATK Zombie to an 8000 ATK machine, then a Skull Servant is sent to my Graveyard. Does KotSS get 5000 ATK or 10000 ATK?

Now I'm really confused.

no vegetarian, its appropriate for it to recalculate its attack if its original attack isn't equal to 1000 x the number in the graveyard.

like i said before its a continuous effect, therefore it is continuously altering its attack.

the only reason the ruling is worded that way is because usually the only time you actually see it recalculate its attack is when something happens to change it. that doesn't change the fact that its a continuous effect and is always on.

shield and sword does no sort of "freezing" it just does a quick 1 time switch. it doesn't stop the kings effect of changing its original attack.

its just like gradius option, even if you apply another modifier is applied (even one that changes its original attack) gradius options atk and def will still be set back to that of the selected gradius.

by your way of thinking gradius' option would only recalculate its atk/def when the atk/def of the chosen gradius changes. but that would be WRONG, its a continuous effect and always makes its attack equal to the gradius.

just the same king of skull servants is a continous effect and always makes sure its original attack is equal to that of the number of skull servants/king of skull servants in the graveyard x 1000.