Dealing with negations

Nobody likes being told "no". Unfortunately, Yu-Gi-Oh! is full of effects that do that, from negating certain actions to negating entire types of cards. It's part of what makes Yu-Gi-Oh! a fast-paced and interactive game, and is a necessary evil as decks become better and better at building unbreakable boards if left to their devices.

As such, you'll often encounter players running cards with effects that negate your cards' effects and/or activations. Knowing how to avoid them (or even when to let them resolve) can make the difference between a win and a loss more times than you'd think.

Every seasoned Fire King player knows the pain of activating Fire King Island's effect, only for an opponent to chain an Ash Blossom. If left to resolve, it has a high potential of ending our turn right there, forcing us to rely on our own handtraps to survive until the next turn.

Thankfully, for every problem, there are potential solutions. Let's take a look at them and see how we can use them to our advantage.

Targeting negation

Cards like Effect Veiler and Infinite Impermanence activate by targeting the monster whose effect your opponent intends to negate.

Due to game mechanics, if a targeted card changes location, the target is no longer considered valid and the card will not be affected by that effect.

As such, if we have a way to change the locations of our cards, we can dodge targeting and get to resolve our effect. And we certainly have one - Fire King High Avatar Kirin. Chaining its Quick Effect allows us to destroy our own card before our opponent's effect resolves, causing it to lose its target.

Promethean Princess, Bestower of Flames's GY effect can also fulfill this role in limited circumstances, and so does any other effect that destroys or changes the location of our monsters in any way (banish, send to GY, return to hand, etc).

Keep in mind this does not work for Continuous, Field, or Equip Cards - they need to remain in the place where they were activated for their effects to resolve.

Example

• Player 1 Normal Summons Legendary Fire King Ponix and declares it's on-summon effect as Chain Link 1, to add a Fire King Spell/Trap from the Deck to the hand.
• Player 2 activates Effect Veiler from hand as Chain Link 2, discarding it and targeting Ponix. At resolution, it will negate Ponix's effect.
• Player 1 activates Fire King High Avatar Kirin as Chain Link 3. At resolution they will destroy a FIRE monster in the hand or field and Special Summon Kirin to their field.
• The chain resolves:
  • Kirin resolves, and Player 1 destroys Ponix, then Summons Kirin to their field.
  • Veiler resolves, but because its target is no longer valid, no effects are negated.
  • Ponix resolves, and Player 1 adds Fire King Sanctuary to their hand.

Non-targeting negation

While some negating effects target, there are plenty that do not, and will just negate the effect they're chained to regardless of the final location of that card. Think Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring, it just says "negate that effect". That makes it trickier to deal with, and we don't have too many ways to avoid that.

For Ash Blossom specifically, we have the [Hiita link-climbing pattern], provided you have a way to get 2 bodies on the field. Don't hesitate to go for it whenever it comes up!

When it comes to in-archetype cards, Fire King Avatar Arvata and Fire King Avatar Rangbali can deal with this class of effects, however getting them on the field is not always trivial. We did showcase a good hand where we had the luxury of Normal Summoning Arvata to counter an Ash Blossom, but that won't happen every time.

Thus, it can be worthwhile to add cards like Called by the Grave and Crossout Designator to your Deck as an additional way to avoid getting your important cards negated (or generally interacted with by your opponent's handtraps).

However, you also need to acknowledge that sometimes you just don't have any way to play around this. You are at the mercy of your opening hand - bad hands are just as common as good hands, so learning how to make the most out of any hand is an essential skill.

Don't give up immediately - you'd be surprised how many decks cannot easily OTK you, even with just a Ponix on board. Your chances of survival increase further if you have some other Fire Kings in hand (think Sacred Fire King Garunix or even an Fire King Avatar Barong), and your own selection of handtraps. Persevere through games and you'll find wins where you least expect them.

In competitive tournaments you also need to learn when to surrender to save time, but that's another discussion. In fact, we would be inclined to say that as a beginner, sticking through every match will benefit you in the long run more than immediately scooping when you brick or end on a poor board.