Pendulum Summoning

Now, I know what you are all thinking.

OOOOOOOOH Zeus-chan, we love you so! No? Well, that was my first bet.

I'm guessing the next bet is that you're all eager to learn about Pendulums! Really? More excitement over that than your own Head Master? I see how it is. I'll remember this, don't you worry.

Any who. Pendulum summoning is a new type of Summoning that was introduced with the newest season of Yu-Gi-Oh!, the Series. What you all need to understand is that Pendulums came out with a few new rules, as well as whole new game mechanics. I'm going to explain each one seperately and in as much detail as I can spare.

First: New Rulings
The first Ruling is quite simple. From here on out, the First turn player doesn't draw for the start of their Turn. That means the First turn player starts out with a Hand disadvantage, but is allowed to set up. Whenever choosing whether or not you're going to go first can decide the game, now more than ever.

The second Ruling is simple, too. From here on out, both players are allowed a Field Spell on the field at the same time. That means that whenever Player A activates a field spell card while Player B has a field spell, both Field Spells will remain on the field and both effects will be active to the players. This changes up a lot of Deck's viability in duels, because now Necrovalley is much harder to get rid of, as well as Dark World's Gate, and anything that Malefics would run. Although both players get a Field Spell card, in a tag duel, only 1 Field Spell card is permitted per side of the field. This means that you cannot have 1 field and your partner have another. 1 field per side.

Now, pendulums. Before I go any further, I'm gonna show you this helpful little piece of information:


This explains the basics of Pendulum summoning. As many times per turn, you can activate 1 Pendulum Monster from your hand to a Pendulum Zone. Whenever you go to Pendulum Summon, you take the Blue Scale of the Left Pendulum and the Red Scale of the Right Pendulum. This tells you the monsters your allowed to summon: You are allowed to summon any number of monsters from your Hand or that are Face-up in the Extra deck that are BETWEEN those numbers. That means numbers 1 and 8 = 2~7.

This summon is counted as a Game Mechanic, meaning the declaration of the Summon doesn't start a chain. Once all the monsters hit the field, you can start activating effects. Torrential Tribute will destroy all monsters summoned, with every other monster on the field. Solemn Warning can only negate the summoning of 1 Monster, meaning you get to pay 2000 and choose which of the monsters they just Pendulum summoned is destroyed. Same with Rai-Oh. Bottomless will banish all appropriate targets. Etc.

Although you can activate as many Scales per turn, you can only Pendulum Summon once per turn. You must summon all monsters that you wish to Pendulum Summon right then, because you won't have the chance to redo it. You can only Pendulum Summon per turn, but you summon Multiple monsters in 1 Pendulum Summon.

Likewise, although you can activate as many Scales per turn, you cannot destroy a currently active Scale just to activate another one. Scales can be destroyed by effects that destroy Spell/Trap cards, but are specifically counted as Spells. This means Mystical Space Typhoon, Judgment Dragon and Dust Tornado can all destroy Pendulum Scales. Once a Scale is destroyed by a card effect, you may activate another immediately, if it's your turn.

Finally, the tricky part begins. If a Pendulum monster (Monster that looks like Half Spell Half Monster) would hit the graveyard, it is sent to the top of the Extra Deck - Face-up - instead. Pendulum monsters cannot hit the Graveyard. Bottomless sends them to top of Extra deck. Mystical Space Typhoon sends them to top. Etc. This is why you can also Pendulum Summon monsters that are Face-up in your extra deck; you are capable of reviving past Pendulum monsters. The only reason a Pendulum monster would ever hit the Graveyard is if it was Overlayed with and then detached to activate the Xyz monster's effect. Using them as Fusion, Synchro, Tributes or Ritual fodder will cause them to go to Top of Extra deck.

That's the rundown on Pendulum monsters and how to use them. Good luck, happy dueling, and grand Pendulums!

ZEUS-CHAN!