Maintenance cost

A Maintenance Cost is a (mostly optional) cost required to keep a card on the field. Both Monster Cards, Spell Cards, and Trap Cards can possess a Maintenance Cost. These costs are typically paid during a player's Standby Phase, although there are exceptions to this.

Here are some cards with Maintenance Costs:

Monster Cards

 * "Archfiends"
 * "Armor Exe"
 * "The Unfriendly Amazon"
 * "Koa'ki Meirumonsters]]"

Maintenance Costs for Effect Monsters CANNOT be negated by "Skill Drain". Even if you activate "Skill Drain", you still need to pay the cost.

Spell Cards

 * "Messenger of Peace"
 * "Degenerate Circuit"

Maintenance Costs for Spell Cards CANNOT be negated by "Spell Canceller". Even if you activate "Spell Canceller", you still need to pay the cost.

Trap Cards

 * "Fairy Box"
 * "Imperial Order"
 * "Mirror Wall"
 * "The Regulation of Tribe"

Maintenance Costs for Trap Cards CANNOT be negated by "Jinzo" or "Royal Decree". Even if you activate "Jinzo" or "Royal Decree", you still need to pay the cost.

Compulsory Costs
In the case of "Archfiend" Monster Cards, there is no option to destroy the Monster Card if you don't want to pay the cost, since the cost is compulsory. You may, however, use "Pandemonium" to avoid paying these costs for "Archfiend" Monster Cards.

In the case of "Degenerate Circuit", there is no option to destroy this card if you don't want to pay the cost, since the cost is compulsory.

In cases like these,if a player can no longer pay their costs because of an insufficient amount of Life Points,then these cards are destroyed.