Card Rulings:The Shallow Grave

"The Shallow Grave":

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TCG Rulings

Mentions in Other Rulings

• Dark Simorgh: If "Call of the Haunted" is Chained to the activation of "The Shallow Grave" and "Dark Simorgh" is Special Summoned as a result, the controller of "Dark Simorgh" will Special Summon a monster with "The Shallow Grave" but the opponent will not.

• Gaap the Divine Soldier: You can activate "The Shallow Grave" while "Gaap the Divine Soldier" is on the field, but the monsters that are Special Summoned will be immediately changed to Attack Position.

• Gale Dogra: You cannot Special Summon a monster sent from the Extra Deck to your Graveyard with cards like "Monster Reborn," "The Shallow Grave," or "Call of the Haunted."

• Scary Moth: If your opponent has already Special Summoned this turn and “Scary Moth” is face-up on the field, you may activate “The Shallow Grave.” If you do, only you will Special Summon a monster.

• Scary Moth: If you activate “The Shallow Grave” while “Scary Moth” is face-up on the field, it will count as the one Special Summon per turn for both players.

• Summoning Curse: If both players Special Summon a monster simultaneously due to The Shallow Grave, Summoning Curse only triggers once but both players must remove from play 1 card in their hand. The turn player has to remove from play his card first.

OCG Rulings

• "The Shallow Grave" targets two monsters: one from each Graveyard.

• To activate "The Shallow Grave", there must be at least one legal target in each Graveyard.

• This is treated as both a Special Summon and a Set.

• The Turn Player selects first.

• If you gain control of the monster Special Summoned to your opponent's field, then you can change its Battle Position.

• "Chain Destruction" cannot be activated when a monster is Special Summoned face-down by "The Shallow Grave".

• "The Immortal of Thunder" needs to be flipped for you to lose Life Points when it is sent to the Graveyard. If it is Special Summoned and sent to the Graveyard without being flipped, then you will not lose Life Points. If it is Special Summoned by "The Shallow Grave" and then flipped and then sent to the Graveyard, you will lose Life Points since it was flipped.

• You can Set a "Special Summon only" monster (Semi-Nomi monster) from the Graveyard if it has been properly Summoned previously.

• While "Dark Simorgh" is on the field, the opponent cannot Set cards on the field, so he cannot activate the effect of "Book of Moon", and neither player may activate "The Shallow Grave".

• With "Black Garden", when a monster is Special Summoned face-down (such as with "The Shallow Grave"), "Black Garden"'s effect still activates. The monster's ATK is not halved, but you still Special Summon a "Rose Token".

• You can activate "Giant Trap Hole" when one monster is Special Summoned to each player's side of the field, such as by "Spear Cretin" or "The Shallow Grave".

• When the Turn Player Sets a Spell/Trap/Monster Card by the effect of "Book of Moon"/"The Shallow Grave"/etc or from the hand, he may not use Priority to activate the Ignition Effect of a monster. If the Turn Player does not use Priority to activate an Ignition or a Spell Speed 2+ Effect in response to the Set, then the opponent can activate a Spell Speed 2+ Effect in response to the Set. Also, the Turn Player cannot Set multiple cards simultaneously - he must Set one, then pass Priority, and then Set the second, etc.

• While the effect of "Koa'ki Meiru Drago" is active, LIGHT and DARK monster cannot be Special Summoned in face-down Defense Position by effects like "The Shallow Grave" or "Spear Cretin".

• The effect of "Koa'ki Meiru Tornado" can destroy face-down monsters, such as monsters Special Summoned face-down by "The Shallow Grave" or monsters that were Special Summoned and then flipped face-down by "Book of Moon".

• With "The Shallow Grave", it is treated as each player Special Summoning one monster. Thus, if "The Shallow Grave" is activated while "Summon Limit" is active, then afterwards each player can Normal Summon/Flip Summon/Special Summon one more time.

• You can activate the effect of "Catoblepas and the Witch of Fate" when "The Shallow Grave" Special Summons monsters face-down. In this case, only the opponent's Special Summoned monster will be destroyed.

• Q: I activated the effect of "Flower Cardian Boardefly" that prevents my opponent from activating card effects in the GY and Special Summoning monsters from the GY. In this situation, can either player activate "The Shallow Grave"?

A: The effect of "The Shallow Grave" makes both players Special Summon a monster from their own GY. In this scenario, since the effect of your "Flower Cardian Boardefly" is applying and your opponent cannot Special Summon monsters from the GY, neither player can activate "The Shallow Grave".

Mentions in Other Rulings

• Heat Wave: While "Heat Wave" is active, you cannot activate "Call of the Haunted" or "The Shallow Grave" (etc) by targeting an Effect Monster. You cannot activate "The Shallow Grave" unless both players have a non-Effect monster in their Graveyards.

• Torrential Tribute: You can activate "Torrential Tribute" even if a monster(s) is Special Summoned face-down by an effect like "The Shallow Grave" or "Cyber Jar".

Previously Official Rulings

• If "The Shallow Grave" is activated while "Light of Intervention" is active, the monsters are Special Summoned in face-up Defense Position.

• "The Shallow Grave" cannot be activated if either play has no open Monster Card Zones or if either player does not have a monster in their Graveyard that they can Special Summon.

Mentions in Other Rulings

• Adhesion Trap Hole: "Adhesion Trap Hole" cannot affect monsters Special Summoned face-down with "The Shallow Grave", ... etc.

• Ancient Gear Castle: For “Ancient Gear Castle”, “Set” means to Set from the hand. It does not include ... Special Summoning a monster in face-down Defense Position with ... “The Shallow Grave”.

• Barrier Statue: You cannot activate “The Shallow Grave” while a Barrier Statue is in play if the only monsters in the opponent’s Graveyard are barred monsters.

• Big Burn: You can chain "Big Burn" to effects like..."The Shallow Grave"...

• D.D. Trap Hole: "Set", as a verb (as in the first sentence of "D.D. Trap Hole"), means placing a monster face-down. So you can activate "D.D. Trap Hole" when your opponent Sets a monster from the hand, or Special Summons a monster face-down with "The Shallow Grave", or flips his monster face-down with a card effect.

• D.D. Trap Hole: If your opponent Sets more than 1 monster simultaneously, as with "Cyber Jar", you cannot activate "D.D. Trap Hole". You can only activate it when your opponent Sets 1 (and only 1) monster. (In the case of "The Shallow Grave" your opponent is only Setting 1 monster, even though you are Setting 1 too. So you can activate "D.D. Trap Hole".)

• Dark Magic Curtain: You can Set a monster before or after activating “Dark Magic Curtain”. However, it is not possible to Special Summon monsters face-down, using cards like “The Shallow Grave”, after activating “Dark Magic Curtain”.

• Dark Magician of Chaos: If you Special Summon "Dark Magician of Chaos" face-down with "The Shallow Grave", its effect does not activate.

• Dark Ruler Ha Des: "Dark Ruler Ha Des" cannot be Special Summoned from the Graveyard even if you try to Special Summon it face-down by the effect of..."The Shallow Grave".

• Disappear: When a card that selects a card in the Graveyard as a target, such as..."The Shallow Grave", is activated, you may chain "Disappear" to remove the targeted card from play, and the...[card]...will resolve without effect. This is because these cards select their target at activation, not resolution.

• Giant Trap Hole: You can activate “Giant Trap Hole” when 1 monster is Special Summoned to each side of the field, by “The Shallow Grave”, etc.

• Gravekeeper's Chief: You cannot activate "The Shallow Grave" while "Necrovalley" is active, even if you control "Gravekeeper's Chief", because your opponent cannot Special Summon a monster from his Graveyard.

• Guardian: You can Set "Guardian Elma" face-down without "Butterfly Dagger - Elma", but you cannot Special Summon her face-down with "The Shallow Grave", etc., unless you have "Butterfly Dagger - Elma" on your side of the field.

• King Tiger Wanghu: Monsters that are Summoned face-down (like with "The Shallow Grave") are not destroyed by King Tiger Wanghu.

• Molten Zombie: If you Special Summon "Molten Zombie" face-down with "The Shallow Grave"...its effect does not activate.

• Miracle Flipper: If you have a "Miracle Flipper" face-up on your side of the field, you cannot Special Summon another copy of "Miracle Flipper" with ... "The Shallow Grave".

• Necrovalley: ... "Necrovalley" WILL negate the effect of: ... "The Shallow Grave"...

• Night's End Sorcerer: "Night's End Sorcerer's" effect cannot be activated when it is Special Summoned face-down (with "The Shallow Grave", etc.).

• Rivalry of Warlords: As long as "Rivalry of Warlords" is active...you can Special Summon face-down with "The Shallow Grave"...

• Royal Oppression: You can activate the effect of "Royal Oppression" to negate an effect that Summons 1 monster, or Summons multiple monsters..."The Shallow Grave"...

• Power Filter: Monsters with 1000 or less ATK cannot be Special Summoned face-down with "The Shallow Grave", etc.

• Serial Spell: If you have 2 monsters in your Graveyard, and your opponent only has 1 monster in their Graveyard, you can activate "The Shallow Grave" and chain "Serial Spell", even though you would not normally be able to activate a second "The Shallow Grave" because your monster would no longer have any monsters in the Graveyard. As a result, you will Special Summon 2 monsters and your opponent will only Special Summon 1 monster.

• Soul-Absorbing Bone Tower: If a Zombie-Type monster is Special Summoned face-down (with "The Shallow Grave", etc.) then "Soul-Absorbing Bone Tower"'s effect does not activate.

• Torrential Tribute: When monsters are Special Summoned face-down by an effect, like "The Shallow Grave", "Torrential Tribute" can be activated.

• Vanity's Ruler: ..."The Shallow Grave"...cannot be activated while "Vanity's Ruler" is in play...