Dark World Cards Clarifications, Part 1: Discarding

Hello everybody. In these articles (there are going to be 1-2 more) we are going to clarify a few things about the Dark World cards. Just a few days ago, the well known Structure Deck was published worldwide, thus making the use of the new Dark World monsters available. Because of that, a really big number of players is running the particular deck, which means that there are many misunderstandings regarding it. Below, we'll begin by explaining how Discarding Cards works.

As we all know, almost all Dark World monsters need to be discarded from your hand to their graveyard, so that their effects can activate. I bet you've seen the following phrase more than a thousand times:

If this card is discarded to the Graveyard by a card effect...

This means that if an effect causes the particular card to be discarded, then the following will happen. What a lot of duelists fail to understand is that this does not mean that if the monster is discarded as part of a card's cost, it will still activate its effect. Let's say, for example that you activate Card Destruction and discard Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World. Since discarding Goldd was a part of CD's effect, Goldd will activate its effect and special summon itself on your side of the field. Let's take another example, in which you activate Phoenix Wing Wind Blast and discard Goldd to activate its effect. Even though Goldd was discarded to the graveyard, it was not by a card's effect, but in order to pay a card's cost. This means that it does NOT get to activate its effect.

In order to help you understand it even further, let's see a few commonly seen cards and determine whether the Dark World monster activates its effect when it is discarded, or not.

Fabled Raven - Discarding is a part of the effect, therefore the monster's effect activates.

Divine Wrath - Discarding is a cost that is paid, therefore the monster's effect doesn't activate.

Morphing Jar - Discarding is a part of the effect, therefore the monster's effect activates.

Lightning Vortex - Discarding is a cost that is paid, therefore the monster's effect doesn't activate.

Into the Void - Discarding is a part of the effect, therefore the monster's effect activates.

Dark Grepher -  Discarding is a cost that is paid, therefore the monster's effect doesn't activate.

Now, one may wonder, "How can I know if discarding is a cost or part of the effect?" It just requires some experience in the game (since there are a few cards which do not state the cost directly, therefore confusion is caused) and of course the ability to read the text. The following article, published in KONAMI's Official Blog, will help you understand how to read cards and determine whether discarding is a card's effect's cost or part of a card's effect.

Problem-Solving Card Text, Part 3: Conditions, Activations, and Effects

Having told these, let's see two card texts and analyze them, in order to understand why they require discarding.

Card Destruction

Each player discards their entire hand, then draws the same number of cards they discarded.

No colons or semicolons, therefore there are no conditions or costs in this card's effect. This means that discarding a monster is part of its effect, and not a cost.

Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier

Discard any number of cards to the Graveyard; return the same number of cards from the field to the hand.

There it is! A semicolon! This means that the text before it forms the card's cost, in order to activate its effect. Therefore, discarding the Dark World monster won't trigger its effect!

I hope you've now understood a few more things about the Dark World cards. We'll continue this discussion in our next articles, until we've settled most issues regarding the specific archetype.
Until then,
- Adreus.