Mastering Forbidden Lance: A Comprehensive Guide
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Forbidden Lance is a powerful Quick-Play Spell Card in Yu-Gi-Oh! that offers incredible versatility and strategic depth. Its primary function is to protect your monsters from the effects of other cards, but it can also be used offensively under specific circumstances. In essence, you can use Forbidden Lance in two primary ways:
- Protection: By targeting one of your own monsters, you make it unaffected by other Spell/Trap card effects until the end of the turn. This can save your key monsters from destruction, negation, or control-altering effects.
- Weakening: If you target a monster with less than 800 ATK, its ATK becomes 0, and it becomes unaffected by other Spell/Trap card effects until the end of the turn. This can weaken powerful opponents for your attacks.
The strategic timing of Forbidden Lance is crucial. It’s a Quick-Play Spell, meaning you can activate it during your opponent’s turn, essentially turning their attempts to disrupt your field against them. The ability to activate it in the Damage Step (before damage calculation) further increases its utility. Mastering these timing nuances is key to maximizing the card’s potential.
How to Use Forbidden Lance for Protection
The most common use of Forbidden Lance is to shield your monsters from your opponent’s card effects. Here’s how it works in practice:
Countering Removal Effects
Imagine your opponent activates a card like Bottomless Trap Hole or Raigeki targeting your crucial monster. By chaining Forbidden Lance, you can render their effect useless, as your monster becomes unaffected by Spell/Trap cards. This ability to preemptively protect your monsters makes Forbidden Lance an essential tool in any deck.
Dodging Negation
Cards like Solemn Judgment or Effect Veiler can negate the effects of your key monsters. By activating Forbidden Lance in response, you can prevent your monster’s effect from being negated and ensuring your strategy goes as planned.
Safeguarding Against Control Takeovers
If your opponent uses an effect that would take control of your monster (like Mind Control), chaining Forbidden Lance will prevent this. This protection is especially valuable for strong boss monsters or ones that require specific conditions to remain on the field.
How to Use Forbidden Lance to Weaken Opponents
While primarily a defensive card, Forbidden Lance can also be used offensively to weaken your opponent’s monsters. Here’s how:
Reducing ATK to Zero
If an opponent’s monster has less than 800 ATK, targeting it with Forbidden Lance makes its ATK become 0. This opens up opportunities to attack over it with smaller monsters or deal significant damage, making it a surprising offensive tool in certain match-ups.
Removing Opponent Protection
If a monster is being protected by some other card effects like from a field spell, you can target it with Forbidden Lance to make it unaffected by Spell/Trap card effects and still attack, even if it becomes 0 ATK.
Timing and Activation in the Damage Step
A crucial aspect of Forbidden Lance is its ability to be activated in the Damage Step. This is a restricted time frame where most card effects cannot be used, but Forbidden Lance, being a spell card that alters ATK/DEF can.
Activating Before Damage Calculation
You can activate Forbidden Lance during the Damage Step, from the Start of the Damage Step up until before Damage Calculation. This allows you to protect your monster from any battle-related card effects or use it offensively as described above.
Examples of Damage Step Uses
- If your opponent attacks into your monster, and your monster has an effect that you need to protect to use, you can chain your Forbidden Lance and protect it from monster effects like Honest.
- If an opponent’s monster with less than 800 ATK attacks your monster, you can use Forbidden Lance to weaken it and deal damage.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are some frequently asked questions about Forbidden Lance to further clarify its usage:
1. Can Forbidden Lance be used on your own monsters to make them unaffected?
Yes, you can target your own monster with Forbidden Lance to make them unaffected by Spell/Trap card effects until the end of the turn.
2. Can Forbidden Lance be used during the Damage Step?
Yes, you can activate Forbidden Lance during the Damage Step from the Start of the Damage Step to before Damage Calculation.
3. Does Forbidden Lance negate monster effects?
No, Forbidden Lance does not negate monster effects. It only makes the targeted monster unaffected by other Spell/Trap card effects.
4. Can Forbidden Lance be used to reduce a monster’s ATK to 0?
Yes, if the targeted monster has less than 800 ATK, its ATK will become 0, and it will become unaffected by other Spell/Trap card effects until the end of the turn.
5. What happens when Forbidden Lance is activated on a monster that already has its effects negated?
If a monster is already affected by some negation effect, using Forbidden Lance on it will still cause the targeted monster to be unaffected by other Spell/Trap card effects.
6. How does Forbidden Lance interact with Continuous Spell/Trap cards?
A monster protected by Forbidden Lance is unaffected by Continuous Spell/Trap card effects that would impact the monster.
7. Can Forbidden Lance be activated in response to a monster effect?
Yes, as a Quick-Play Spell, you can activate Forbidden Lance in response to an opponent’s monster effect, as long as you’re not in the damage step.
8. Does Forbidden Lance protect against monster effect destruction?
No, since it doesn’t negate the monster effect, it won’t protect against monster effect destruction. The monster will be unaffected by only Spell and Trap effects.
9. Can Forbidden Lance protect against card effects that would flip a monster face-down?
Yes, since effects that flip a monster face-down are usually Spell/Trap cards, it would protect against this, making your monster unaffected by them.
10. Can Forbidden Lance be used during the Battle Phase?
Yes, Forbidden Lance can be activated during the Battle Phase, including within the Damage Step up to before damage calculation.
11. What if you activate it before your attack goes through?
You can activate it during the battle phase. But if you target an opponent monster, your attack will still be able to go through.
12. Does Forbidden Lance target?
Yes, Forbidden Lance targets a monster.
13. Does Forbidden Lance negate continuous effects?
No, the effect of “Forbidden Lance” does not negate any effects; it only makes the target monster unaffected by Spell/Trap card effects.
14. How does Forbidden Lance interact with Skill Drain?
If “Skill Drain” is active, and “Forbidden Lance” is activated, your monster will become unaffected by Skill Drain.
15. Is there any card effect that can activate in the entire Damage Step?
No, effects can only be activated in the Damage Step during the substeps before damage calculation. And at the End of the Damage Step for trigger effects.