I have a question about a ruling that was made during SJC Columbus, this past weekend.

We all know about the Demise OTK decks that have been running around, and despite your opinons on how good the builds at the SJC were, they were present, and most players felt the need to counter them, either in the Shonen Jump, or in the Regional event the day after.


Our team had decided to ask a few judges on Cloak and Dagger, as a viable option, to counter Demise. It was ruled that Cloak could not, and we asked to appeal the ruling, and ask the Head Judge of the event.
- It was ruled by the Head Judge as well, that Cloak and Dagger could not stop Demise, although the decision came after quite a bit of deliberation, and discussion.


I'm trying to understand why Cloak would not stop Demise, if the ruling was correct, and if it is not, how it works, exactly, to prevent a similar ruling at other events.



The way I understand it, after we've attempted to study what is going on, is this.
- Cloak and Dagger is activated, in response to Advanced Ritual Art.
- No other effects are added to the Chain, and the second link of the Chain, Cloak and Dagger, resolves.
- Advanced Ritual Art resolves, and upon it's resolution, Demise is selected, and the appropriate monsters are sent from the deck to the graveyard.


At this point, is where I feel that I am most confused about what actually happens, and it seems that multiple other people, when asked, had the same confusion.

This is how I interpret what would happen next.

- Cloak and Dagger is a trigger-effect. When the Trigger is fufiled, Cloak's destruction abilty, being a trigger-based effect, is added to the Chain, before the turn player would recieve Priority to use Demise's Ignition effect.
- Cloak and Dagger's trigger is added to the Chain, as Chain Link 1, therefore "stealing" the turn player's priority.

Demise is an ignition based effect, and is therefore Spell Speed 1. Demise, King of Armageddon cannot activate it's Ignition based effect, in response to Cloak and Dagger, because as stated in the 6.0 Rulebook, Igniton based effects are Spell Speed 1, and cannot be added to the Chain, in response to other effects already on the Chain.


At this point, as I understand it, Cloak and Dagger's Trigger-Effect would resolve, removing both itself, and Demise, King of Armageddon, from the field.




Is this how this would be correctly resolved? If not, could someone please explain what does happen, in this situation?
- If anything was not explained clearly enough, I apologize. I have recently started to play this game, and this SJC was my first event. If anything needs to be elaborated on, or explained more clearly, please say so, and I'll do my best to make the situation as clear as possible.

I actually don't know why it wouldn't work on Demise...

Mortals!!! Where art thou?

I don't see any reason why they ruled it otherwise unless Jeff misinterpreted one of the rulings, which indicentally I had to read a couple of times to make sure myself.

I believe that he read too much into this one
instead of referring to these two,
Indeed, because it the effect of Demise being an Ignition Effect, it would be removed once the chain resolves and the turn player will NOT have priority to active its effect.

Remember that triggered effects will begin a chain automatically and essentially "steal" priority from a player.

Think of Exiled Force vs. King Tiger Wanghu

I don't see why they would've ruled it like that . . .

You can use things like Fake Trap to save your trap cards, Solemn Judgement which is a solid side for any type of deck, Waboku, Royal Oppression, Skill Drain, My Body as a shield, but Cloak and Dagger should work as well. Just pick which fits best in your build. Cloak has some very good uses such as what you mentioned, anti reinforcement of the army, SPON, Treeborn, etc. It's actually pretty versitile.