Trigger Effect

Trigger Effect
Japanese	誘発効果
Japanese (romanized)	Yūhatsu Kōka
English	Trigger Effect
Other names French: Effet Déclencheur German: Triggereffekt Italian: Effetto Innescato Korean: 유발 효과 Spanish: Efecto Disparado

Trigger Effects (Japanese: 誘発効果 Yūhatsu Kōka; Chinese: 誘發效果 Yòufā Xiàoguǒ) activate whenever a certain condition on the Field, the nature of play, or the progress of the turn, is met.

Trigger effects are considered to be Spell Speed 1, but that doesn't mean you can activate them when ever you want, only when the condition has been met. If Compulsory Trigger Effects or Optional Trigger Effects that do not miss the timing trigger at a time when they cannot be activated, such as if there exists a current chain, each effect that was triggered will start a new chain at the next opportunity afterwards that they can start a chain. For simultaneous activations, the order these effects are added to the start of the new chain follow the rulings for when Simultaneous Effects Go On the Chain (TCG currently handles the ordering differently than OCG.)

The effect of "Zaborg the Thunder Monarch" is triggered when it is Tribute Summoned, and the effect requires it to destroy 1 monster on the field.

Optional Trigger Effects are effects that don't happen automatically when the trigger condition is fulfilled, the controlling player decides whether to activate it or not. These effects involve cards like "Mystic Tomato", "Peten the Dark Clown", or "Dark Magician of Chaos". With "When... you can..." Optional Trigger Effects it is possible to Miss the Timing. However, with "If... you can..." Optional Trigger Effects, the effect can be activated at the first possible opportunity to activate cards and effects after the "If" condition was met (excluding the "Summon negation window.")

When two Optional Trigger Effects try to activate at the same time such as two copies of "Mystic Tomato" destroy each other in battle, neither will miss the timing, as the last thing to happen was both being sent to the Graveyard. Both of the effects trigger at the same time, and form a Chain. The Turn Player's effect becomes Chain Link 1, and the opponent's effect becomes Chain Link 2.

Only the activation of an Optional Trigger Effect can miss the timing. In other words, as long as the effect is activated, the resolution will never miss the timing. So two monsters will be summoned in the above example.

Compulsory Trigger Effects are effects that must resolve, and are not Optional.

Identifying Trigger Effects can be done, for cards made after PSCT change, by looking for a timing related condition, followed by a colon " : ". Some of these cards are not necessarily Trigger Effects, such as Ignition effects, often in the form "Once per turn: You can..." or "During your Main Phase: You can..." If you are not sure, you can look it up. Note that cards like Obelisk the Tormentor with post PSCT text have the word "When" but don't have a colon. Instead, these usually denote conditions.

Example