Card Rulings:Rivalry of Warlords

TCG Rulings

 * When "Rivalry of Warlords" is activated, each player must send monsters to the Graveyard so that he controls only 1 Type of monster face-up. You don't select or name a Type when "Rivalry of Warlords" is activated; instead, you make it so you have only 1 Type. If, after this, your monsters are destroyed so you have no monsters on the field, you are free to play any Type again, and that new Type becomes the Type that you must play. (So if you send monsters to the Graveyard so you control only Spellcaster-Types, and your Spellcaster-Type monsters are destroyed, you may play a Dragon-Type monster, but can then only play Dragon-Type monsters as long as you control 1 or more face-up Dragon-Type monsters. If all your monsters are again destroyed, you can again play whatever Type you want.)


 * This also means that when "Rivalry of Warlords" is active, each player can control a different face-up Type than his opponent.


 * You can activate "Rivalry of Warlords" when either or both player(s) does not have any face-up monsters on the field, in which case once a player does have a face-up monster that monster's Type becomes that player's Type for purposes of "Rivalry of Warlords" (as long as the monster remains face-up on that player's side of the field).


 * When "Rivalry of Warlords" is activated, it has no effect on monsters that are face-down at that time and does not flip those monsters face-up.


 * While "Rivalry of Warlords" is active, you can still Set monsters face-down if they are a different Type than the Type you control. If your face-down monster of a different Type is attacked, then the monster is destroyed after damage calculation. If the destroyed monster of a different Type was a Flip Effect Monster, its Flip Effect is still activated, and then the destroyed monster is sent to the Graveyard. If your face-down monster of a different Type is flipped by "Swords of Revealing Light", "Book of Taiyou", etc., then it is destroyed as necessary.


 * As long as "Rivalry of Warlords" is active, you cannot Summon, Flip Summon, or Special Summon an inappropriate Type face-up (including "Jinzo"), but you can Special Summon face-down with "The Shallow Grave", "Morphing Jar #2", etc.


 * If you have only 1 monster on the field face-up, you may not Tribute it for a monster that is a different Type.


 * If you have 2 monsters on the field face-up of the same Type, you cannot Tribute 1 of them for another monster that is a different Type (even "Jinzo") as you would then have 2 different Types.


 * If you have 2 monsters on the field face-up of the same Type, you cannot Synchro Summon them for another monster that is a different Type than the ones face-up on the field


 * If "Cyber Jar" is activated while "Rivalry of Warlords" is active, you can Special Summon different Types of monsters face-down without penalty, or Special Summon 1 Type face-up and all the others face-down. But if you Special Summon different Types of monsters face-up, you have to destroy monsters to make it 1 Type.


 * When "Rivalry of Warlords" is active, and you change the Type of all of your monsters with "DNA Surgery" or "Parasite Paracide" or "D. Tribe", you now only have 1 Type so you are OK and no monsters are destroyed, and you can also Summon, Flip Summon, and Special Summon additional monsters that do not have that printed Type on the card and they will be considered that Type and are not destroyed.


 * If you activate "Magical Hats" while "Rivalry of Warlords" is active, the cards Special Summoned with "Magical Hats" are unaffected by "Rivalry of Warlords" because they have no Type.


 * When "Rivalry of Warlords" is active you can activate "Dragonic Attack", but if you have other face-up monsters that are not Dragon-Types then the targeted monster is destroyed.


 * If "Rivalry of Warlords" is active and you take control of your opponent's face-up monster with "Change of Heart" or "Snatch Steal", and that monster is a different Type than your other face-up monster(s), your opponent's monster is destroyed.


 * If you have only 1 Gladiator Beast on your side of the Field (e.g. Gladiator Beast Laquari), then you can only activate its effect if you have also another GB monster in your Deck with the same Type (Beast-Warrior).After it is returned to the Deck as the cost, since you don't have any face-up monsters on the Field, you are free to Summon any GB monster of any Type you want.So when you're resolving the effect of Laquari, you can Special Summon any GB monster of any Type you want (e.g. Bestiari).If you Special Summon a monster of a different Type, your opponent can ask to check your Deck to confirm that you really had a GB monster with the same Type as the one that you returned to the Deck (except that one) so you didn't cheat by activating the effect without a GB monster in your Deck of the same Type.But if you Special Summon a GB monster with the same Type as the one that you returned to the Deck (Beast-Warrior), the the opponent cannot check your Deck, since he does not have to confirm something. You had a GB monster with the same Type as the one that you returned (the Special Summoned one).


 * If you have multiple face-up monsters on the Field of the same Type (e.g. two Gladiator Beast Laquari),and you attempt to tag. Then again you can only activate the effect of Laquari if you also have Beast-Warrior GB monsters in your Deck, but during the effect's resolution, Laquari has returned to the Deck, but you still have other face-up Beast-Warrior monsters on the Field, so you can only Special Summon a Beast-Warrior GB monster. (The opponent cannot check your Deck)

Mentions in Other Rulings

 * Amplifier: If you have "Jinzo with Amplifier", your Trap Cards are not negated and their effects are applied, including..."Rivalry of Warlords"...


 * Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys: If "Rivalry of Warlords" is active, and your opponent takes control of your "Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys" while controlling monsters that are not Winged Beast-Type, "Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys" is not considered destroyed by the effect of "Rivalry of Warlords", but rather by a condition that made it impossible for it to exist on that side of the field. So it is not Special Summoned by its own effect during the Standby Phase.


 * Trap Eater: If "Rivalry of Warlords" is on the field blocked by "Royal Decree", and you send "Royal Decree" to the Graveyard to Summon "Trap Eater", the Summon will be successful. However, if you control another Type of monster besides that of "Trap Eater", then "Trap Eater" will be send to the Graveyard.


 * Uria, Lord of Searing Flames: If you control "Rivalry of Warlords" and 2 other face-up Trap Cards, and you control a non-Pyro monster, you cannot send the 3 face-up Trap Cards to the Graveyard to Summon "Uria, Lord of Searing Flames" because "Rivalry of Warlords" prevents you from Summoning monsters of different Types.


 * Vampire Lord: When "Vampire Lord" is Summoned while your opponent's "Rivalry of Warlords" is active and your only monsters are non-Zombie-Type monsters, "Vampire Lord" is destroyed, but is not considered destroyed by "Rivalry of Warlords"' effect and won't be Special Summoned.

OCG Rulings

 * The cards that are "sent to the Graveyard" are not treated as "destroyed".


 * Monsters with different Type than those that are face-up on the Field cannot be Special Summoned or Normal Summoned in a face-up position.


 * Even if this card's effect is applied, it is possible to Normal Set and to Special Summon monsters in face-down Defense Position.


 * If the monster that is flipped face-up has a different Type than the monster(s) that were face-up on the Field, the flipped face-up monster is sent to the Graveyard.


 * Sending the monster(s) with a different Type to the Graveyard does not start a Chain Link.


 * While your opponent controls an active "Rivalry of Warlords" and you control a non-Fiend-Type monster, you cannot send "Rivalry of Warlords" to the Graveyard to Special Summon "Trap Eater".


 * If "Rivalry of Warlords" is active and you only control Warrior-Type monsters, then you can neither Normal Summon nor Flip Summon any non-Warrior-Type monsters. Furthermore, you cannot activate any effect that would Special Summon any non-Warrior-Type monsters.


 * If "Rivalry of Warlords" is active and you only control Warrior-Type monsters, then when a Spellcaster-Type monster is flipped by battle or by an effect like "Swords of Revealing Light", the flipped monster is sent to the Graveyard.


 * If "Rivalry of Warlords" is active, then you can only activate the effect of "Gladiator Beast Laquari" to Special Summon a "Gladiator Beast" monster if you have another Beast-Warrior-Type "Gladiator Beast" monster in your Deck; you cannot activate the effect if you do not have any Beast-Warrior-Type "Gladiator Beast" monsters in your Deck. Also, if "Gladiator Beast Laquari" is returned to the Deck and you control no other face-up monsters, then you can Special Summon a Rock-Type monster like "Gladiator Beast Hoplomus.


 * While "Rivalry of Warlords" is active, when "Creature Swap" is activated, players may exchange monsters of different Types. After a monster switches control, if its new controller also controls a monster of a different Type, then the monster which switched control is sent to the Graveyard.  However, if you only control one monster after the monsters switch control, then you only control one Type of monster, so the monster whose control you gained is not sent to the Graveyard.