Hey guys, Harper here, admin of DN, DGA, and ADA. This is a very long article but also very helpful. The original inspiration for this article was frustration at the lack of knowledge about summons with people on Dueling Network, but I figured instead of complaining about it, why don't I do something about the general lack of knowledge on the subject? So here you go, a comprehensive guide to all types of summons.

As you probably already know, there are two very broad categories of summons: Normal Summons and Special Summons. You are allowed to perform a Normal Summon once per turn during your Main Phase 1 or Main Phase 2 if you did not perform a normal summon during Main Phase 1. Certain card effects allow you to Normal Summon more than once per turn, such as Double Summon an Ultimate Offering. Ultimate Offering also allows you to Normal Summon during the opponent's Battle Phase, a point many people overlook. Note also that Tribute Summoning and Gemini Summoning a Gemini monster DO count as your Normal Summon for the turn. Other than that, that's all there is to Normal Summons. Easy, right?

Next, we come to Special Summons. Theoretically, you are allowed to Special Summon as many times as you wish during a turn. However, you cannot simply decide to Special Summon something instead of Normal Summoning it, you can only Special Summon by card effects or game mechanics. There are many, many, MANY kinds of Special Summoning, and this is where everyone gets confused. But I'm going to break this down for you so it's easier to understand. When you look at it from the viewpoint of there being Synchros, XYZ, Monster Reborn, and countless other cards that Special Summon, it seems overwhelming, but it's possible to break down Special Summons into two categories: Inherent Special Summons and Special Summons By Card Effects.

Inherent Summons:
Special Summons that do not need an outside force to summon it. They are summoned either by game mechanics or by their own effect. In other words, these Special Summons do not start a chain.

Summons By Card Effects:
Special Summons that are summoned by an outside force, whether it be by another monster's effect, a spell effect, or a trap effect. In other words, these Special Summons start a chain.

Random Guy: "Ok ok, but why does it matter Harper? Why bother classifying Special Summons?"

The reason is this: not everything that can negate Special Summons can negate both Inherent and Effect. In fact, VERY FEW cards negate both. It's usually one or the other. As an example, let's look at one of the most highly used cards in any deck right now: Thunder King Rai-Oh. Let's say you have Rai-Oh chilling on your field, and your opponent activates Monster Reborn. What happens? Thunder King Rai-Oh states:

"During either player's turn, when your opponent would special summon a monster: You can send this face up card to the graveyard; negate the special summon and destroy it."

Random Guy: "So I can tribute Thunder King to negate Monster Reborn right?"

WRONG. Thunder King does NOT negate activations of effects, whether it be spell, trap, or monster effects.

Random Guy: "But I can negate the monster's summon right? Yu know, even if I can't negate Monster Reborn itself?"

Wrong again. The reason is because of how chains work: Thunder King can't "barge in" so to speak when a chain is resolving. As we talked about before, Special Summons By Card Effects start a chain. Here's an everyday example of how chains work:

Let's say you have Trap Dustshoot face down, and your opponent has 5 cards in hand. They activate Mystical Space Typhoon. You can then chain Trap Dustshoot, right? But how does that work? Chain Link 1: Mystical Space Typhoon, Chain Link 2: Trap Dustshoot. Chains resolve backwards, so Trap Dustshoot returns a monster in their hand to the deck, then Mystical Space Typhoon destroys Trap Dustshoot, which really does nothing. But, can you use Compulsory Evacuation Device after you return a monster with Trap Dustshoot? Of course not! Mystical Space Typhoon still hasn't resolved at that point. You could chain Compulsory Evacuation Device to Trap Dustshoot, making it Chain Link 3, but you can't use it when the chain is still resolving. Simple enough, right? Let's look at something more complicated:

You have Light And Darkness Dragon with 2300 attack as well as Book of Moon and Mirror Force face down. The opponent has Stardust Dragon. The opponent decides to attack with Stardust Dragon, so you activate Mirror Force. As you may or may not already know, Stardust Dragon cannot negate Mirror Force because Light And Darkness Dragon has a mandatory negation effect, meaning he HAS to negate Mirror Force, whether you want to or not. Optional effects such as Stardust Dragon's take the back seat when compared to mandatory effects. So Chain Link 1: Mirror Force, Chain Link 2: Light And Darkness Dragon. But why stop there? Since Light And Darkness Dragon can only negate once per chain (he would negate himself otherwise), you may then chain Book of Moon to flip Light And Darkness Dragon face down. As you probably know, monsters have no effect while face down. So, of course, the chain resolves backwards, Chain Link 3 (Book of Moon) flips Light And Darkness Dragon face down, Chain Link 2 (Light And Darkness Dragon negating) fizzles because Light And Darkness Dragon is no longer face up on the field, and then Chain Link 1 (Mirror Force) resolves, destroying Stardust Dragon.

Random Guy: "But wait, can't Stardust Dragon negate Mirror Force since Mirror Force is a destruction effect?"

Nope. Stardust Dragon cannot break in the middle of Chain Links 2 and 1 and decide to be Chain Link 1 1/2. Mirror Force MUST resolve after Chain Link 2, which ended up not negating it after all.

Now let's bring that back to the Thunder King Rai-Oh scenario. Chain Link 1: Monster Reborn. Can Rai-Oh decide to be Chain Link 1/2 and negate the monster's summon in the middle of Monster Reborn's resolution? NO. Which brings us to an important point:

NO PART OF A CHAIN CAN BE NEGATED AFTER THE CHAIN HAS STARTED TO RESOLVE, EVEN IF IT ONLY HAS ONE CHAIN LINK

Thunder King Rai-Oh CANNOT negate Monster Reborn, therefore it cannot negate the summon of the monster that Monster Reborn has targeted.

Random Guy: "Well crap, Thunder King is useless then!"

Not remotely. You see, Thunder King Rai-Oh is only limited by not being able to stop Special Summons By Card Effects. Inherent Summons are fair game. But what's the difference? I said Inherent Summons don't start chains, but WHY don't they and HOw can you tell the difference?There are two broad types of Inherent Summons as well:

Inherent Summons By Game Mechanics

Inherent Summons By A Monster's Own Effects

What do I mean by game mechanics? Let's say you Normal Summon Debris Dragon and Special Summon Lonefire Blossom with it's effect. Then you tune them for Black Rose Dragon. What just happened there? Is there an effect on all tuners that you can send them and another monster whose total levels equal a Synchro Monster's level to summon that Synchro Monster? No, but that's what happened wasn't it? See, that's just the rules of the game. Synchro Summoning is just a game mechanic. It is inherent because no outside effects are involved. 

As for the other kind of Inherent Summons, they are distinguished by their ability to summon themselves. Cyber Dragon, Glow Up Bulb, and Master Hyperion are all popular examples of this. Nothing else summons them but their own condition of being special summoned.

So let's break this down really simple:
If it summons itself, it's inherent.
If something else summons it, it's by effect

Random Guy: "Whoa there Harper, hold up a minute. I know for a fact Solemn Warning can negate Monster Reborn."

Well you're correct for once Random Guy. Solemn Warning CAN negate Monster Reborn. Why? Let's read it:

"Pay 2000 life points. Negate the summon of a monster OR the effect of a spell, trap, or effects monster's effect that includes the effect of special summoning a monster, and destroy it."

"Negate the summon of a monster"
This includes Normal Summons and Inherent Special Summons

"OR the effect of a spell, trap, or effect monster's effect that includes the effect to special summon a monster."
This includes Special Summons By Effects

With Solemn Warning, Konami covered all the bases. Now let's look at something people often think to be equivalent with Solemn Warning: Black Horn of Heaven:

"Negate the special summon of one of your opponent's monsters and destroy it."

This only covers Inherent Special Summons. Does it negate Monster Reborn? Nope. Gorz? Nope. Tour Guide? Nope. Normal Summons? Nope.

Now you (hopefully) see why Solemn Warning is such a great card. However, even among more skilled players I have seen some confusion with Solemn Warning. Warning stops pretty much everything, but even it cannot interrupt chains. Here's an example.

Your opponent attacks you directly with Gladiator Beast Equeste while you have Solemn Warning face down and nothing else on the field. Clearly, he's going to go for Gladiator Beast Bestiari to pop Warning. So what do you do? Well it would be nice to not have to worry about Bestiari anymore and Warning stops all kinds of Special Summons, so the pro thing to do would be to wait until Bestiari comes out instead of negating Equeste's effect, right?

Wrong. Once again, we're trying to be that non-existent Chain Link 1/2. Chain Link 1: Equeste's effect activates. You can make Chain Link 2 Solemn Warning to negate Equeste, but if you don't, Chain Link 1 resolves, Bestiari is summoned, Warning is popped, and you are a sad panda.

Another common misconception with Solemn Warning is Warning versus Fusion Gate. The ruling seems odd, but let's think about it:
Is Fusion Gate Special Summoning something when it's activated by being placed in the field spell zone?
No.
Does it Special Summon By Effect?
Yes.
Therefore, Solemn Warning is completely useless here. When Fusion Gate is activated, Warning can do nothing during the activation of Fusion Gate itself, since Gate just sits there until you feel like fusing something. It can't negate the activation of the effect of Fusion Gate, because Warning only negates the activation of the cards themselves, a.k.a. when you place them on the field. And Warning can't negate the fusion itself because that would be trying to be that Chain Link 1/2 that doesn't exist.

Random Guy: "But wait...I can use Bottomless Trap Hole on Fusions summoned with Fusion Gate!"

Right you are Random Guy. But you see, Bottomless doesn't chain to the summon, or the activation of an effect. You activate Bottomless in RESPONSE to the monster being successfully summoned. In other words, after the chain is over. Bottomless pretty much says:

"When something big enough to be a threat is summoned, kill it."

And that's how it goes. But not with Solemn Warning. Since you're RESPONDING after the chain is over with Bottomless Trap Hole, it doesn't miss timing. You can RESPOND to Elemental Hero The Shining's Fusion Gate summon with Bottomless Trap Hole. You can RESPOND to Great Maju Garzett's Tribute Summon with Effect Veiler.

Random Guy: "Oh I see now! So I can RESPOND to Stardust Dragon's summon with Maxx "C" and draw a card right?"

Nope. Remember, we're not talking about chains here. Only chains resolve backwards. You CAN respond to Stardust Dragon's summon with Maxx "C", but you will not draw, since Stardust Dragon was actually already summoned...after all, you're responding to it's successful summon.

Well that's plenty of knowledge for one day, I hope you guys enjoyed the article and learned something! Feel free to ask if you have any questions. I went ahead and made you guys a helpful little chart of every summon know to man. Enjoy:


Normal Summons:
A. Normal Summons
   Example: Celtic Guardian
B. Tribute Summons
   Example: Dark Magician
C. Gemini Summons
   Example: Elemental Hero Neos Alius

Special Summons:
A. Inherent Special Summons
   1. Monster Effects That Special Summon Themselves
      Example: Cyber Dragon
   2. Synchro Summons
      Example: Stardust Dragon
   3. XYZ Summons
      Example: Number 39 - Utopia
   4. Contact Fusions
      Example: Gladiator Beast Gyzyrus

B. Special Summons By A Card Effect
   1. Monster Effects That Special Summon Other Monsters
      Example: Tour Guide From The Underworld
   2. Special Summons By A Spell Card's Effect
      Example: Fusions That Need Polymerization
   3. Special Summons By A Trap's Effect
      Example: Call of The Haunted

~Harper7000

bump

Harper7000 wrote:

Inherent Summons:
Special Summons that do not need an outside force to summon it. They are summoned either by game mechanics or by their own effect. In other words, these Special Summons do not start a chain.

Random Guy: "Well crap, Thunder King is useless then!"

Not remotely. You see, Thunder King Rai-Oh is only limited by not being able to stop Special Summons By Card Effects. Inherent Summons are fair game. But what's the difference? I said Inherent Summons don't start chains, but WHY don't they and HOw can you tell the difference?There are two broad types of Inherent Summons as well:

Inherent Summons By Game Mechanics

Inherent Summons By A Monster's Own Effects

What do I mean by game mechanics? Let's say you Normal Summon Debris Dragon and Special Summon Lonefire Blossom with it's effect. Then you tune them for Black Rose Dragon. What just happened there? Is there an effect on all tuners that you can send them and another monster whose total levels equal a Synchro Monster's level to summon that Synchro Monster? No, but that's what happened wasn't it? See, that's just the rules of the game. Synchro Summoning is just a game mechanic. It is inherent because no outside effects are involved.

As for the other kind of Inherent Summons, they are distinguished by their ability to summon themselves. Cyber Dragon, Glow Up Bulb, and Master Hyperion are all popular examples of this. Nothing else summons them but their own condition of being special summoned.

With Solemn Warning, Konami covered all the bases. Now let's look at something people often think to be equivalent with Solemn Warning: Black Horn of Heaven:

"Negate the special summon of one of your opponent's monsters and destroy it."

This only covers Inherent Special Summons. Does it negate Monster Reborn? Nope. Gorz? Nope. Tour Guide? Nope. Normal Summons? Nope.

So horn of heaven cant negate inherent summons meaning it cant negate synchro, xyz gorz tragoedia etc. And that just because inherent summons dont start a chain. I know that, but what about effets which summon monsters like mystic tomato, m. reborn, or call of the haunted. Solemn warning can be activated in response to it and destroy the first tomato with the other remaining in deck or in response to the spells and traps which special summon monsters. But since dark horn lacks that part of the effect, it cant negate such because it cant interrupt a chain, you must wait for m.reborn to activate and then you miss timing o.o the card is useless then....What does dark horn negate then?

other than this xD
ARTICLE PWNS and i learned now clearly about the "no chain interruption" rule its very useful.

One question, i know Dark simorgh is somehow by konami's will NOT being summoned inherently but by effect summon. How is this?
It is very simillar to chaos sorcerer or black luster soldier. o.o

You must have misunderstood, you CAN negate inherent summons with Black Horn. That's what I meant by "it only covers inherent summons". Tbh, I don't know why Simorgh starts a chain, it doesn't make sense to me. Perhaps because the way its worded makes banishing a cost? It's one of the only things that are like that though.

Glad you enjoyed it

question: how can it negate inherent summons if they dont start a chain so basically u cant respond to them