Card Rulings:Waboku

TCG Rulings

Mentions in Other Rulings

• Kuribon: If you cannot take Battle Damage because of the effect of “Waboku” or “Tornado Wall” you cannot activate the effect of “Kuribon.”

• Reanimation Wave: If you take no damage due to Waboku you will still Special Summon the Synchro Monster.

• X-Saber Airbellum: This effect will only activate if you attack your opponent directly and successfully inflict damage. If your opponent took 0 damage because of “Waboku,” this effect will not activate.

Judge Program Forum Rulings

• There can be multiple chains in the Battle Step before entering the Damage Step. Only the initial chain can directly respond to the attack, and only in this Chain can you activate cards such as "Mirror Force", "Sakuretsu Armor", and "Magic Cylinder" (Cards that can only be activated when your opponent's Monster declares an attack). Cards that do not have this restriction ("Book of Moon", "Compulsory Evacuation Device", "Waboku", etc) can still be activated in another Chain before entering the Damage Step.

OCG Rulings

• You cannot activate the effect of "Kuribon" if you would not take Battle Damage, such as when a Defense Position "Kuribon" is attacked, or when "Waboku" has been activated.

Previously Official Rulings

• "Waboku" is a Trap Card that is flipped during your opponent's Battle Phase to stop his attack and protect your monsters. No damage is taken by either player; no monsters are destroyed on either side. Face down monsters are flipped face up. This ends the Battle Phase when "Waboku" is flipped.^[Q&A]

• "Waboku" makes Battle Damage dealt by your opponent's monsters to your monsters and to your Life Points become zero.

• "Waboku" applies to ALL of the monsters on that player's side of the field for the entire turn.

• To illustrate how "Waboku" works, here are some scenarios and their results:
  • SCENARIO 1: Player A's "Mega Thunderball" attacks Player B's "Mega Thunderball", and Player B activates "Waboku". RESULT: Player A's (attacking) "Mega Thunderball" is destroyed. Player B's "Mega Thunderball" (with equal ATK) is NOT destroyed.
  • SCENARIO 2: Player A activates "Waboku". Player A's "Mega Thunderball" then attacks Player B's "Mega Thunderball". RESULT: Player B's "Mega Thunderball" is destroyed. Player A's (attacking) "Mega Thunderball" is NOT destroyed. So you can use "Waboku" "offensively" when attacking an equal ATK monster.
  • SCENARIO 3: Player A activates "Waboku". Player A's "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" then attacks Player B's "Sanga of the Thunder". Player B uses "Sanga of the Thunder"'s effect (during the Damage Step). RESULT: Player A's "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" (ATK 0) is not destroyed, nor does Player A lose any Life Points, because of Player A's "Waboku".
  • SCENARIO 4: Player A's "Mega Thunderball" attacks Player B's "Mega Thunderball". Player B activates "Fairy Box" or "Mirror Wall". Player A activates "Waboku". RESULT: Player A's "Mega Thunderball" (with reduced ATK) is not destroyed, nor does Player A lose any life points, because of Player A's "Waboku". But because Player A's "Mega Thunderball" had reduced ATK, Player B's "Mega Thunderball" is not destroyed either.

• When a monster declares an attack, the game allows for one Chain to be built that responds to the declaration of the attack. This is the opportunity for cards that activate in response to the attack, like "Mirror Force" and "Sakuretsu Armor". After this Chain has resolved, or if both players decide that they do not want to activate effects in response to the attack, the opportunity to activate cards like "Mirror Force," etc. is lost. Effects that do not specifically activate in response to the attack can still be activated during the Battle Step, like "Waboku".^[Q&A]

Mentions in Other Rulings

• After the Struggle: Even if the Battle Damage is reduced to 0 by the effect of "Waboku", ... etc., both the attacking and defending monster are still destroyed during the End Step by this card’s effect.

• Airknight Parshath: If the opponent activates "Waboku" ... to reduce the Battle Damage to 0, you do not draw.

• Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the End: If "Waboku" is chained to the effect of "Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the End", it will not prevent the damage because "Waboku" only applies to Battle Damage. Also, "Waboku" will still be on the field when "Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the End"'s effect is applied, so it will still count for 300 points of damage to the opponent.

• Dark Scorpion Combination: "Waboku" will prevent your Dark Scorpions from inflicting Battle Damage, even if you use "Dark Scorpion Combination".

• Decayed Commander: "Decayed Commander"'s card-discarding effect only activates when "Decayed Commander" attacks directly AND deals 1 or more points of Battle Damage to the opponent, so if the opponent uses..."Waboku" then "Decayed Commander"'s effect does not activate.

• Dimension Wall: If your opponent already activated "Waboku" this turn, then they cannot take battle damage, so you cannot activate "Dimension Wall". However, you can chain "Dimension Wall" to "Waboku" if the timing is appropriate.

• Elemental HERO Wildheart: If "Waboku" is activated, its effect is still applied to any damage calculation involving "Elemental Hero Wildheart" ^[sic]. This is because "Waboku" is affecting the damage and is not affecting "Elemental Hero Wildheart" ^[sic].

• Fairy Meteor Crush: ..."Waboku" can be used to prevent the damage caused by "Fairy Meteor Crush" because it is Battle Damage.

• Gearfried the Swordmaster: The effect of "Gearfried the Swordmaster" can activate even in the Damage Step. For example, if "Brain Jacker" is attacked by "Gearfried the Swordmaster", and "Waboku" was activated earlier in the turn, "Brain Jacker" will equip to "Gearfried the Swordmaster" and the effect will activate. In this case, the effect of "Gearfried the Swordmaster" will activate after the effect of "Brain Jacker" resolves, and the controller of "Brain Jacker" will select which monster to destroy.

• Gravekeeper's Vassal: The damage that is inflicted to your opponent's Life Points as a result of battle with "Gravekeeper's Vassal" attack is treated as effect damage instead, not Battle Damage. So your opponent cannot use..."Waboku" to prevent the damage, for example.

• Jinzo: If your opponent activates "Waboku" during your Standby Phase and you Summon "Jinzo" in your Main Phase, the effect of "Waboku" is still applied because it resolved before "Jinzo" was Summoned.

• Last Turn: "Waboku" can be activated before "Last Turn", or be chained to the activation of "Last Turn", and in either case the effect of "Waboku" will prevent the activator's monster from being destroyed. This can lead to a DRAW.

• Reflect Bounder: The damage inflicted by "Reflect Bounder"'s effect is not Battle Damage, so it cannot be reduced to 0 with "Waboku".

• Rod of the Mind's Eye: The damage caused by "Rod of the Mind's Eye" is Battle Damage, so it can be reduced to zero with "Waboku"...

• Spear Dragon: If "Spear Dragon" attacks, even if the damage is reduced to 0 by the effect of "Waboku"...it is still changed to Defense Position.

• Spirit Reaper: "Spirit Reaper" only forces your opponent to discard when "Spirit Reaper" attacks directly (such as when your opponent has no monsters on the field), AND when it inflicts at least 1 point of damage to the opponent's Life Points. So if your opponent uses..."Waboku"...to prevent the damage, "Spirit Reaper" does not force the opponent to discard.

• The Dragon's Bead: You can only activate the effect of this card to negate a Trap Card that targets a face-up Dragon-Type monster, so it cannot negate..."Waboku"...

• The Unhappy Girl: If "The Unhappy Girl" is in attack position and her controller uses "Waboku"...to take no damage from the attack, the attacking monster still cannot change battle position.

• Theban Nightmare: If you have only "Kuriboh" in your hand, and no Spell or Trap Cards on the field, and your "Theban Nightmare" battles with a card that has higher ATK/DEF, and you discard "Kuriboh", the ATK of "Theban Nightmare" is increased by 1500 AFTER damage calculation (but "Theban Nightmare" is still destroyed by damage calculation unless an effect like "Waboku" had been activated previously during the turn).

• Triangle Ecstasy Spark: If a Trap Card such as "Waboku" is chained to the activation of "Triangle Ecstasy Spark", the effect of "Waboku" resolves first, and will apply for the rest of the turn regardless of "Triangle Ecstasy Spark". (Just like if "Jinzo" is Summoned after "Waboku" is activated and resolves.)

• Yata-Garasu: If the Battle Damage caused by this card is reduced to 0 (with the effect of..."Waboku", etc.) its effect is not activated.