Hey guys I'm back again for the new week. Just a note that now that I've covered the basics I'm taking requests on topics. I can always keep coming up with them, but it's nice to be able to answer what people actually want to hear.

So today I am going to be talking about the many different kinds of special summon, how they all work, how they are negating, and why some can be negated while others not.

So there are two kinds of SS that can be broken down. Ones that start a chain, and ones that do not start a chain.

Starting a chain: As we all know(or should) a summon does not start a chain. A card cannot be chained to a summon, only used in response. So what kinds of summons DO start a chain? Well, an effect that summons a card does. For example Gorz, the Emissary of Darkness is summoned via his effect. This starts a chain, as he has to activate his effect to summon himself. If a monster is summoned via an effect then that effect can be negated. For example, Divine Wrath could be used on Gorz. Really, the summon itself never starts or resolves during a chain. An effect that summons a monster for exmaple Gorz or Monster Rebron, doesnt actually summon the card until the chain resolves.

Not starting a chain: A summon that does not start a chain is called an Inherent Summon. This, for example, would be Cyber Dragon, or Vice Dragon. Monsters that summon themselves via their own effect. This summon must not be part of an effect, Gorz for example is part of an effect, so he is not inherent. Monsters such as Lightpulsar Dragon are inherent. This can be tricky, so if it takes a while to get used to what is inherent and what isnt dont worry about it. Synchro summons and XYZ summons are inherent. Fusion summons are NOT inherent as they rely on another card.

On negating summons. If a card specifies that it NEGATES the summon, for example Thunder King Rai-Oh or Black Horn of Heaven then it can only be used on an inherent summon. This is because a summon that is a result of a chain is automatically successful. Like if i use Monster Reborn, you obviously cant chain thunderking rai-oh because monster reborn isnt a summon. So now monster reborn resolves. The monster is summoned. You then ask your opponent for a response, AFTER the mosnter has been successfuly summoned. Because you cant activate raioh until monster reborn has already resolves, you cant negate the summon. once monster reborn resolves the summon is successful so cant be negated.

Basically, if the summon is a result of a chain(even just 1 link) then it cant be negated. If it doesnt start a chain then it can. This is why solemn warning is better than black horn of heaven, because solemn can be used on monster reborn, gorz, call of the haunted, etc. not just inherent summons.

Also remember, if a monster is semi-normal(chaos sorcerer, Synchros, XYZs, Fusions, BLS, etc) then it must be properly summoned before it can be revived. That means if Solemn or Black Horn is used, then it cannot be revived because the summon was not carried out.


Thats all for today, I hope it made sense and was educational. ^^ Thanks for reading and please give topics youd like to hear about!

PS: sorry for some bad grammar, Im tired :p

There is one exception to this rule: Solemn Warning can negate ANY summon or card effect that WOULD summon (monster reborn, gorz, red-eyes darkness, etc.), but still can't chain to the resolution of the effect (i.e. monster reborn/super poly).

You are correct, that solemn warning can negate the EFFECT that would summon a card. However, it still cannot negate the summon of a resolution of a card effect.