A Brief Explanation: Chain Links, Chains and Spell Speeds.

So somebody has asked for someone to post something about chain links as they don't really understand them too much and I feel that by helping that one person publicly with this post, that it will help others to understand this.

A chain link is one step within a chain. Each effect that is chained will add yet another link to that chain. Something that needs to be remembered when resolving a chain of effects, is that the chain will always resolve backward. So the last card that was added to the chain, will be the first to resolve and the cards at the beginning of the chain will always be the last card to resolve. Each chain link may only have a single card effect, but there is nothing that would restrict a card from activating its effect more than once within a chain, at least in a general sense.

Something that must also be taken into consideration is the spell speed of the card you are chaining to, and the spell speed of the card you are using to chain to that card. Spell speeds are not something that are obvious to new or inexperienced players, and must be read about in the rule book or on the internet in order to understand how you can work out what spell speed a card is. Now a spell speed doesn't just apply to spells, it applies to all cards. Monsters, Spells and traps. The way to work out what spell speed a card is, is an easy one once you understand it.

Now when chaining a card, the card you chain must be of an equal or greater spell speed to the card you are chaining to. There are 3 spell speeds: 1, 2 and 3.

A spell speed 1 card are all of the following:
Normal Spell Card.
Field Spell Card.
Continuous Spell Card.
Equip Spell Card.
Ritual Spell Card.

Flip Effects.
Ignition Effects.
Trigger Effects.
Ignition-Like Effects.
Trigger-Like Effects.

These spell speed 1 cards, cannot chain to anything. The only time these cards can exist in a chain at a higher chain link that the very first chain link, is if their effects activated at the exact same time, which if you look up "Simultaneous Effects Go On Chain", this will explain how they work.
(Wrote an article on this here: https://northacademy.forummotion.com/t3762-a-brief-explanation-simultaneous-effects-go-on-chain)

Then you have spell speed 2 cards, which are things such as;
Quick Play Spells.
Normal Trap Cards.
Continuous Trap Cards.
Quick Effects.
Quick-Like Effects.

These spell speed 2 cards can be chained to spell speed 1 effects and other spell speed 2 effects, but not spell speed 3 effects.

Then you have the fastest cards in the game, spell speed 3 cards which are only counter traps. Counter traps such as Solemn Warning are the only cards at spell speed 3, and can be chained to spell speed 1, 2 and other spell speed 3 cards.

I really hope this helped. If you need any more info then please let me know!

Wow, alot of info to take in

OMG judgement dragon ty veryyyyyyy much i apreciate it man that u did this <3

LightPhoenix wrote:

Wow, alot of info to take in

Yes, there is quite a bit of info here, but after all this is just a brief explanation and should help those who lacked this knowledge before, a lot in the future as this is a pretty big part of the game.

blue eye dragon123 wrote:

OMG judgement dragon ty veryyyyyyy much i apreciate it man that u did this <3

No problem, I'll try and help people as much as I can!

niceee JD didn't know u had it in u...well i did but still...

Why didn't you think I had it in me? I'm a casual duelist, but not a complete noob. xD

tbh judgement dragon always is very helpfull.

*Judgment Dragon* wrote:

Why didn't you think I had it in me? I'm a casual duelist, but not a complete noob. xD

i just said u did...and when did i say u were a noob xD but u help me and the other guys alot so thank u

Wow, never knew spell speed was a thing until now

A continuous effect never start a chain so will not be affected by this rule

Thank you Blue Eyes, I try to be as helpful as I can.

Whatthe101, you said "I didn't think you had it in you... Well I did" xD So not sure what you're trying to say here. xD

Shadeoscurus, it is a thing, and a very important thing, so remember it when you want to chain something, so you can figure out if what your trying to chain can chain.

Patrick, continuous effects do not start a chain, otherwise I would have put "continuous-type effects" but when you activate a card that is a continuous one, then it can be chained to.

lets just say what i said was bullshit xD

Alright then, I can take that! Ahaha!

btw JD i heard macro and fissure can be effected with qli....how?

During either players turns monster effects are also spell speed 2.

whatthe101 wrote:

btw JD i heard macro and fissure can be effected with qli....how?

To answer this question, we need to understand that effects override mechanics due to the nature of this game.

Since Pendulums go back to the extra deck when they hit the grave, if a card like D. Fissure or Macro Cosmos is on the field, they never hit the grave to begin with, instead being banished. Because they're banished, they can't return to the extra deck. This only happens when they are able to hit the grave.

Hope that helps.

noob teacher doesnt even know spell speed 4 what a basic bitch

nice lesson

RustyGloves wrote:

whatthe101 wrote:

btw JD i heard macro and fissure can be effected with qli....how?

To answer this question, we need to understand that effects override mechanics due to the nature of this game.

Since Pendulums go back to the extra deck when they hit the grave, if a card like D. Fissure or Macro Cosmos is on the field, they never hit the grave to begin with, instead being banished. Because they're banished, they can't return to the extra deck. This only happens when they are able to hit the grave.

Hope that helps.

Thanks for clearing that up for me, I was playing with my band at the local club, so I was unable to be on, in order to answer the question, so thank you Rusty.

I haven't got anything to add to this, other than saying, if you pendulum summon let's say, 3 pendulum monsters. They are all summoned at the exact same time, and because of the way Solemn Warning is worded in its card effect; "when your opponent would Special Summon a monster", you can negate the summon of all the pendulum monsters that would be summoned within that pendulum summon. This is because the text doesn't specify how many monsters you can negate and says "a monster" this means you would be able to negate all the monster's summons.

With this in mind when you negate the summon of pendulum monsters, they will go to the grave instead of the extra deck and if you had d-fissure or macro on the field, they would then be banished. If you mind crushed their hand for let's say "Qliphort Scout" and for some reason they have two, they would then go to the grave, but end up banished because you had macro or d-fissure.

So macro and d-fissure will both work against pendulums, given the correct circumstances.

Shrek wrote:

noob teacher doesnt even know spell speed 4 what a basic bitch

How are you even an admin? Why do they let hormonal bitches take the spot of administrator when so many more people could do twice as good a job as yourself? I'm not even going to respond to you in future, because all you're looking for is a flame war, and I haven't got the energy to keep responding to your illogical and idiotic comments.

Kalin wrote:

nice lesson

Thanks Kalin, just thought I would post it seeing as people were asking for it.

I used to think counter traps where spell speed 2 until now and thought there was no such thing as spell speed 3 you were so helpful to many players me included and thank you for your lesson.

adrianek1 wrote:

I used to think counter traps where spell speed 2 until now and thought there was no such thing as spell speed 3 you were so helpful to many players me included and thank you for your lesson.

Aah, well now you know! If people want more lessons from me, then I will be happy to do so, just post what you want to know about and I'll try and get round to it!