Basic FAQ: Breakdown of the Battle Phase

You cannot enter the Battle Phase if you are the starting player. Entering your Battle Phase is optional, except where special conditions apply (like if you control a face-up Attack Position "Berserk Gorilla"). If you do not wish to enter the Battle Phase, you must immediately proceed to your End Phase, without proceeding to Main Phase 2. You may enter the Battle Phase even if you do not control any monsters, or if all monsters you control are in Defense Position.

TCG Battle Phase
Start Step
The Turn player now declares that he/she is entering the Battle Phase.

The Turn player has priority to activate Spell Speed 2 cards now.

Decide if conducting battle. Note: entering Battle Phase doesn't mean you have to declare attacks. If you do not, go straight to End of Battle Phase

Battle Step
The Turn player must declare that he/she is entering the Battle Step.

Attack declaration
The Turn player has priority to activate Spell Speed 2 cards now, that may, but not have to, respond to the attack declaration.

When an attack is declared, the Turn Player may retain Priority to activate effects. At this time he/she is free to activate cards that perform an action when a monster attacks or any other effect with timing he/she can meet.

If the Turn Player decides that he/she will pass, the opponent is given a chance to activate effects that respond to the attack ("Sakuretsu Armor", "Mirror Force", etc.) or any other effects with timing he/she can meet.

If the Turn Player passes, and the opponent passes as well, the chance to activate cards like "Sakuretsu Armor", "Mirror Force", "Magic Cylinder", etc. is GONE.

Before Damage Step
Cards that don't need to be activated in direct response to the attack declaration, but before the Damage Step, can/may be activated here. Note, that several different chains can be created before both players agree to enter Damage Step.

Damage Step
The Damage Step is composed of a series of events. The start of the Damage Step, flipping the face-down attacked monster face-up, damage calculation, inflicting Battle Damage, activating the Flip Effect of the flipped monster, and sending a monster destroyed by battle to the Graveyard are separate events that all happen during the Damage Step.

The Damage Step has specific rules that govern what can or cannot be activated. Some cards can't be activated at all, while others can only be activated during very specific events that occur within the Damage Step:
Cards that can be activated at Damage Step:
Counter Trap Cards (e.g. Seven Tools of the Bandit)

Spell Speed 2 Effects that alter the ATK/DEF of monsters (e.g. "Rush Recklessly")

Effects that have activation timings, unless they specify otherwise (e.g. "Wind-Up Factory")

Quick Effect (Multi-Trigger) Monster Effects that negate (and only negate) the activation of a card/effect

"Attack and Receive", "Chthonian Blast", "Desrook Archfiend", "Michizure", "Null and Void", and "Numinous Healer"

Please refer to pgs. 35-37 of the rulebook (ver. 8.0) before reading this post.

Substep 1: Start of the Damage Step
First, apply the Continuous Effects of monsters at this time, like “Steamroid”, “Rampaging Rhynos”, “Crystal Beast Topaz Tiger”, “Etoile Cyber”, “Super Robolady”, “Super Roboyarou”, “Black Veloci”, and “Jain, Lightsworn Paladin”.

Next, activate the Trigger Effects of monsters that activate at this time, like “Neo-Spacian Grand Mole”, the “Mystic Swordsman” cards, “The Six Samurai - Irou”, “Razor Lizard”, “Sasuke Samurai”, and “Sasuke Samurai #4”.

Most of these effects destroy a battling monster. If a battling monster is destroyed, it is not flipped face-up (so you do not activate Flip Effects) and you do not perform Damage Calculation.

If such a monster is face-down, its effect cannot be activated and you perform Damage Calculation normally.

The effect of “Nanobreaker” starts a Chain if it is attacking a face-up Level 3 or lower monster. “Disciple of the Forbidden Spell’s” effect starts a Chain if it is attacking a face-up monster with an Attribute that was selected by its effect. “Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke’s” effect activates if it attacks a face-up, Defense Position monster. (These effects won’t activate if the opponent’s monster is face-down.)

Effects that increase, decrease, halve, or double the ATK and/or DEF of a monster can be activated at this time. This includes cards like “Shrink”, “Limiter Removal”, “Rush Recklessly”, “Rising Energy”, and “Mirror Wall”.

Substep 2: Flipping the face-down monster face-up
If the monster being attacked is face-down, it is flipped face-up at this time. If the monster has a Flip Effect or a Trigger Effect that activates when it is flipped face-up, the effect will not activate at this time unless otherwise stated by the card text.

If a monster is flipped and it has a Continuous Effect, then you apply the Continuous Effect. This includes the Continuous Effects of monsters like “Star Boy”, “Hoshiningen”, “Jinzo”, and “Spell Canceller” that apply as long as the monster is face-up on the field.
Effects that would prevent the flipped monster from being attacked, like “Command Knight’s” effect, are not applied at this time, because the monster is already being attacked. If the monster survives the battle, its effect will be applied against any following battles.

If the flipped monster has a Continuous Effect that causes it to destroy itself under certain conditions ("Giant Kozaky", "Zombie Mammoth", "Thunder Nyan Nyan", etc.), then the monster is not immediately destroyed and Damage Calculation is still conducted. If the monster is destroyed by the battle, its effect is not applied. If the monster survives the battle, it is destroyed by its effect after damage calculation.

Effects that increase, decrease, halve, or double the ATK and/or DEF of a monster can be activated at this time.

Substep 3: Before damage calculation
The effects of cards like "Drillroid" and "Ehren, Lightsworn Monk" activate at this time, after the face-down monster has been flipped face-up and before damage has been calculated. Sometimes these effects will state something similar to “without applying Damage Calculation”, which means that damage calculation will not occur and will actually be skipped over. (The remainder of the Damage Step that occurs AFTER damage calculation will continue as normal.)

Cards like "Blast Sphere", "Adhesive Explosive", "Kiseitai", and "Ancient Lamp" have effects that activate when they are flipped face-up by an attack and their effects are activated at this time. These cards typically have effects that state that they are activated without applying Damage Calculation.

The damage-inflicting effects of “Reflect Bounder”, “Yubel”, and “Yubel - Terror Incarnate” also activate at this time.

Effects that increase, decrease, halve, or double the ATK and/or DEF of a monster are typically activated at this time.

You are allowed to have multiple Chains for the use of activating these types of effects.

Example: If you activate “Rush Recklessly” and it is negated by your opponent’s “Magic Jammer”, you can start another Chain by activating “Rising Energy”.

Substep 4: During damage calculation
Some effects in the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG are applied "during damage calculation". Damage Calculation is a specific event in the Damage Step during which we compare the ATK and/or DEF of the monsters in battle and inflict Battle Damage, if appropriate, following the rules on Pages 35-36 of the rulebook (Version 7.0). Some effects applied during this very specific event, like "Injection Fairy Lily" and "Kuriboh", begin a Chain, while Continuous Effects that are applied during damage calculation do not.

We only get one Chain with which to activate effects that are activated "during damage calculation". Only effects that are activated "during damage calculation" and effects that negate them, such as Counter Trap Cards and the effects of cards like "Herald of Orange Light" and "Light and Darkness Dragon", can be activated at this time. Effects that increase, decrease, halve, double, etc. the ATK and/or DEF of a monster cannot be activated at this time, unless they are specifically allowed to be activated "during damage calculation". This means that cards like "Shrink", which are not specifically activated "during damage calculation", cannot be activated, while "Injection Fairy Lily's" effect can be activated.

Any Continuous Effects specific to damage calculation are applied (turn on) before the "during damage calculation" Chain begins, but some can be applied or disappear during the Chain's resolution if the conditions of the battle change (ATK/DEF change, Life Point change, etc.) After the "during damage calculation" Chain has finished resolving and all appropriate Continuous Effects have been applied, the results of the attack are determined and any resulting Battle Damage is inflicted.

If a monster is destroyed by a card effect during damage calculation ("Divine Wrath", etc.), any remaining effects on the Chain finish resolving. After the Chain finishes resolving, damage calculation stops. No battle damage is inflicted and neither monster is destroyed by the battle. The monster that is destroyed by a card effect is not considered to have been destroyed by battle, because damage calculation stopped and this determination wasn't made. The remainder of the Damage Step continues as normal.

Honest issues
"Honest" is a bit odd, because it can be activated any time from the start of the Damage Step up to and including damage calculation. A player's ability to respond to its effect will depend on when "Honest's" effect is activated. Some card texts do not indicate that a card can be activated during damage calculation, but their card rulings do, like "Injection Fairy Lily" and "Honest". Be sure to check the FAQ and Judge Forum if you are uncertain. (Keep in mind that a very, very small number of cards use this specific portion of the Damage Step.)

Example 1: Injection Fairy Lily and Rising Energy
Player A has "Dark Magician" in Attack Position and "Rising Energy" set in his/her Spell and Trap Card Zone. His/her opponent has "Injection Fairy Lily" in Attack Position. Player A attacks "Injection Fairy Lily" with "Dark Magician". During damage calculation, Player A's opponent activates "Injection Fairy Lily's" effect. Player A cannot chain "Rising Energy" to increase the ATK of "Dark Magician".

Example 2: Injection Fairy Lily and Divine Wrath
Player A has "Goyo Guardian" in Attack Position and "Divine Wrath" Set in his/her Spell and Trap Card Zone. His/her opponent, Player B, has "Injection Fairy Lily" in Attack Position. Player A attacks "Injection Fairy Lily" with "Goyo Guardian". During damage calculation, "Injection Fairy Lily's" effect is activated. Player A chains "Divine Wrath" to negate the effect of "Injection Fairy Lily" and destroy it. Damage calculation stops, no Battle Damage is inflicted to Player B's Life Points, and "Goyo Guardian's" effect does not activate because "Injection Fairy Lily" was destroyed by the effect of "Divine Wrath" and not by battle. The remainder of the Damage Step continues as normal.

Example 3: Injection Fairy Lily and Skyscraper
Player A has "Skyscraper" in his/her Field Spell Card Zone and "Elemental Hero Wildedge" in Attack Position. He/she attacks her opponent's Attack Position "Injection Fairy Lily". During damage calculation, his/her opponent activates "Injection Fairy Lily's" effect, increasing its ATK to 3400. After "Injection Fairy Lily's" effect resolves, "Skyscraper's" Continuous Effect is applied to increase the ATK of "Elemental Hero Wildedge" to 3600.

Example 4: Honest Vs. Honest
Player A has "Honest" in his/her hand and "D.D. Warrior Lady" in Attack Position. His opponent, Player B, has "Honest" in his/her hand and "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" in Attack Position. Player A attacks the "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" with "D.D. Warrior Lady". During damage calculation, he activates the effect of "Honest". If Player B wants to activate the effect of their "Honest", they would need to chain it. They cannot wait until after Player A's "Honest" resolves and start another Chain, because when the current Chain finishes resolving damage will be calculated and the timing to activate the effects of cards like "Honest" will have passed. Thus if Player B activates his "Honest", his "Honest's" effect would resolve first. Then Player A's "D.D. Warrior Lady" would have 1500 more ATK than "Blue-Eyes White Dragon", destroying "Blue-Eyes White Dragon".

Substep 5: Battle damage - after damage calculation
If the flipped monster had a "self-destruct" effect ("Giant Kozaky", "Zombie Mammoth", "Thunder Nyan Nyan", etc.) and it has survived the battle, it is destroyed by its effect at this time if its proper field conditions are not met.

If a monster destroyed by the battle has a Continuous Effect that is applied while the monster is face-up on the field ("Jinzo", "Spell Canceller", etc.), the Continuous Effect is no longer applied. Continuous Effects that change where a monster goes when it is removed from the field at the end of the Damage Step are unaffected ("Crystal Beast" monsters, "Dark Magician of Chaos", etc.).

Immediately after inflicting Battle Damage, "Flashbang" can be activated before any other effects activate. If "Flashbang" is activated and resolves properly, then other effects that activate when Battle Damage is inflicted will not activate.

Activate effects that activate when Battle Damage is inflicted to a player’s Life Points, like “Don Zaloog”, “Spirit Reaper”, “Doom Dozer”, “Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer”, “Sasuke Samurai #3”, “Evil HERO Wild Cyclone”, and “Magna Drago”. The effect of “Red Dragon Archfiend” that destroys every Defense Position monster on the defending player’s side of the field also activates at this time. If the attack was a direct attack, the Spell Card “Sebek's Blessing” may be activated.

"Attack and Receive", "Numinous Healer", "Damage Condenser", and the effect of a face-up "Damage = Reptile" may be activated at this time.

Substep 6: Resolve effects
This section deals with the the Flip Effect of the Flip Effect Monster that was flipped face-up by the attack.

The Flip Effect of the monster flipped face-up by the attack activate at this time. If the flipped monster had a Trigger Effect that activates when the monster is flipped face-up (“Royal Keeper”, “Nightmare Penguin”, etc.), it will be activated at this time.

The Trigger Effects of “D.D. Warrior”, “D.D. Warrior Lady”, and “D.D. Assailant” activate at this time. If “Wall of Illusion” was attacked, its Trigger Effect activates at this time.
If the Flip Effect of the flipped monster targets, you cannot select a target that has been destroyed during damage calculation.

Substep 7: End of the Damage Step - monsters destroyed by battle are sent to the Graveyard
Monsters that have been destroyed by battle are now sent to the Graveyard (or removed from play if "Macro Cosmos" is active).

If the monster destroyed by battle has an effect that activates when it is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard, its effect starts a Chain.

Effects that can be activated when a monster is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard (“Tualatin”, "Desrook Archfiend", “Time Machine”, “Destiny Signal”, “Domino Effect”, etc.) may be activated/chained at this time.

A monster that activates its effect when it destroys a monster by battle and sends it to the Graveyard (“Hydrogeddon”, “Elemental Hero Flame Wingman”, etc.) are also activated at this time.

Monsters like “Apprentice Magician” whose effects activate when “destroyed by battle” will activate at this time. If "Apprentice Magician" is removed from play instead (by "Macro Cosmos"), then its will still activate because it does not need to be “destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard”.

Monsters with effects that activate when they destroy a monster by battle, without the additional requirement of “sending it to the Graveyard” (“Fenrir”, etc.), will also activate at this time.

A Counter on a "B.E.S." monster or on "Big Core" is removed. If "Des Mosquito" was destroyed by the battle, 1 counter is removed. If "Spacegate" is active, 1 Gate Counter is placed upon it if the opponent’s monster attacked or was attacked.

Some effects are given specific allowance by Konami that allow them to be activated at this time, like “Michizure” and “Chthonian Blast”. Cards such as these will typically have a ruling on the FAQ mentioning that they may be activated during the Damage Step, and they usually apply at this time.

The effects of cards like "Grave Squirmer", "The Six Samurai - Zanji", "Ryu Kokki", "Getsu Fuhma", "Ancient Gear Engineer", "Chainsaw Insect", and "Gonogo" are applied at this time.

If you have another monster on the field, once you have completed the Damage Step you can go back to Battle Step and declare a new attack. Note even if you have several monsters and you opponent has an open field, each monster must complete the entire process before another monster can declare another attack. Each attack is individual. Only one at a time must be declared and resolved.

End Step

OCG Battle Phase
Start Step
The Turn player now declares that he/she is entering the Battle Phase.

The Turn player has priority to activate Spell Speed 2 cards now.

After both players pass Priority, you enter the Battle Step or the End Step, at the Turn Player's discretion.

Battle Step
At the start of the Battle Step, the Turn Player can act first. Before the opponent can respond, the Turn Player may attack with a monster or activate a Spell Speed 2+ effect.

If the Turn Player declares an attack, only one Chain can be used in response to the attack.

Multiple Chains are allowed during this Step. After both players pass Priority, you enter the Damage Step (if a monster is attacking) or the End Step (if no monster is attacking).

Damage Step
Substep 1: Start of Damage Step
If attacking a face-down monster, the monster is not flipped yet. If the monster is face-down, its effect doesn't activate.

"Sasuke Samurai #4", "Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke", "Neo-Spacian Grand Mole", "Mystic Swordsman LV2", "Nanobreaker", etc. activate their effects before flipping the monster.

You can activate cards which increase/decrease monsters' ATK/DEF.

Multiple Chains are allowed during this Substep.

Substep 2: After starting the Damage Step
Flip the monster, if it is face-down:
Flip Effects are not activated yet.

Apply the Continuous Effect of the monster, if it has one.

Apply Continuous Effects to the monster (such as effects which change its Battle Position, like "Gaap the Divine Soldier", "Level Limit - Area B", "Level Limit - Area A", "Final Attack Orders", etc.) and Rule Effects.

Activate effects that activate before Damage Calculation, like "Blast Sphere", "Drillroid", and "Reflect Bounder".

You can activate cards which increase/decrease monsters' ATK/DEF.

Multiple Chains are allowed during this Substep.

Substep 3: During damage calculation
You can activate effects that activate during damage calculation, like "Injection Fairy Lily" or "Kinetic Soldier".

Effects which increase/decrease ATK/DEF CANNOT be activated.

"Honest" and "Prideful Roar" are exceptions, due to their rulings.

After resolving cards, you move onwards. Cards cannot be activated in response to the chain. Only one Chain is allowed during this Substep.

After the chain, apply Continuous Effects like "Skyscraper", "The Wicked Avatar", "The Wicked Dreadroot".

Substep 4: Inflict battle damage
Inflict battle damage, and decide whether the monster is destroyed by battle.

Apply Continuous Effects like those of "Amazoness Swords Woman" and "Susa Soldier".

You can activate the effects of "Kuriboh", "Defense Draw", and "Nutrient Z".

Damage has already been calculated and the monsters have already considered to have battled. If a monster is removed from the field or has its ATK/DEF altered, then do not recalculate the damage.

Substep 5: After damage calculation
Cards and effects cannot be activated.

Determine if the monster is destroyed by battle.

Decide whether the monster will be negated by "Dark Ruler Ha Des".

Decide whether the monster will be removed from play by "Dark Magician of Chaos" or "Divine Knight Ishzark".

If a monster is destroyed, then its Continuous Effect is no longer applied.

Substep 6: Immediately after inflicting battle damage
"Thunder Nyan Nyan", "Spirit Reaper" (if it was targeted), and "Giant Kozaky" destroy themselves.

Trigger Effects like "Airknight Parshath", "Marshmallon", "Gorz the Emissary of Darkness", "Red Dragon Archfiend", "Poison Fangs", and "Begone, Knave!" activate.

Sub-Step 7: Damage result; Flip Effects; destroyed by battle
Flip Effects like "Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo" and Trigger Effects like "D.D. Warrior Lady" activate.

The monster is still on the field, so "Destiny Hero - Plasma", "Rainbow Veil", and "Skill Drain" will still affect the monster.

Substep 8: At the end of the Damage Step
Monsters which are destroyed by battle are removed from the field.

"Dark Magician of Chaos", "Exodius the Ultimate Forbidden Lord", etc. are removed from play.

Apply the effect of "Banisher of the Light", "Banisher of the Radiance", "Dimensional Fissure", "Macro Cosmos", etc.

"Mystic Tomato", "Neos Force", "Coffin Seller", etc. activate when a monster is destroyed.

Effects that activate "at the end of the Damage Step" like "Ryu Kokki", "B.E.S." monsters, and "Neos Wiseman" activate.

Monsters that are destroyed by battle are not on the field, so "Destiny Hero - Plasma", "Rainbow Veil", and "Skill Drain" will not affect the monster.