Lesson: Chains

What is a Chain?

A Chain is formed when one player activates a Card effect and his/her opponent responds with an effect of his/her own. For example:

■ Player 1 plays "Raigeki."
■ Player 2 counters with "Magic Jammer".
■ Player 1 responds with "Seven Tools of the Bandit".

A Chain is resolved starting with the last card played and working backward. For example:

Player 1's "Seven Tools of the Bandit" negates Player 2's "Magic Jammer".

"Magic Jammer's" effect is negated, however, Player 2 still has to pay the 1 card required as a discard cost from his hand, for the activation of "Magic Jammer", even though its effect was negated. The chain ends with all three cards going to the Graveyard, plus 1 card from Player 2's hand, and "Raigeki's" effect taking place.

A Chain is started whenever someone activates a card. That card automatically becomes Chain Link 1. If it goes unopposed, the chain still resolves with only one step having been taken.

Declaring an Attack or Summoning a Monster cannot be chained to, since those actions do not possess a Spell Speed. Instead, those actions can only be responded to if it was the last action to have happened on the field. If the Summon or Attack isn't responded to by the opponent (by passing, for example), then a player cannot then use a card that can only be activated in response to a Summon or Attack, such as "Trap Hole" or "Bottomless Trap Hole" (for a Summon) or "Mirror Force" or "Sakuretsu Armor" (for an attack), since the timing has been missed.
Example 1: Player 1 Summons a "Blue-Eyes White Dragon, then in response Player 1 activates "Rush Recklessly" on him. A chain has been started, but therefore the Summon is still the last action to have resolved on the field, and you can still chain "Trap Hole" to "Rush Recklessly

Example 2: Player 1 summons a "Blue-Eyes White Dragon", but Player 2 declines to activate a card in response. If Player 1 then enters the Battle Phase and declares an attack, Player 2 has obviously missed the chance to activate in response to the summon and "Trap Hole" cannot be activated.

You can chain to every monster effect with the exception of Continuous Effects, which come into play as soon as the monster hits the field (Examples: "Jinzo" and "Spell Canceller").

In a Chain, the effects are not activated until the last link in the chain has been declared. Then, starting from that last link and moving back, the effects are activated in reverse order. Take this example:

■Player 1 Summons "Blue-Eyes White Dragon".
■Player 2 activates "Solemn Judgment" as Chain Link 1.
■Player 1 activates "Seven Tools of the Bandit" as Chain Link 2.

Another example:

■Player 1 activates "Call of the Haunted" as Chain Link 1.
■Player 2 chains with "Royal Decree" as Chain Link 2.
■Player 1 chains with "Dust Tornado" as Chain Link 3.
Here, "Dust Tornado" would activate first, without "Royal Decree's" trap-negating effect going off.

The same situation and result would occur if:

■Player 1 activates "Smashing Ground" as Chain Link 1
■Player 2 chains with "Imperial Order" as Chain Link 2
■Player 1 chains with "Mystical Space Typhoon" as Chain Link 3
Also, you can chain to your own cards.

Here is one such example:

■Player 1 attacks
■Player 2 activates "Mirror Force" in response
■Player 1 chooses not to respond
■Player 2 chains "Magic Cylinder" to "Mirror Force"
This is actually a legal move; "Magic Cylinder" would negate the attack, and inflict burn damage to Player 1. Then, "Mirror Force" would resolve, and since its effect requirements have still been fulfilled (namely, a monster has declared an attack, and there is at least 1 face-up Attack Position monster on the other side of the field), it would destroy all of Player 1's Attack Position monsters.

It is possible to win a game Mid-Chain.

■Player 1 has 2500 Life Points, Player 2 has 2000 Life Points.
■Player 1 attacks Player 2 with "Mobius the Frost Monarch"
■Player 2 responds with "Magic Cylinder"
■Player 1 chains "Ring of Destruction"
Here, "Ring of Destruction" would resolve first, destroying "Mobius the Frost Monarch" to inflict 2400 points of damage to both players. Player 1 would have 100 Life Points remaining, but since Player 2's Life Points would drop to 0, he would lose the match before his "Magic Cylinder" would take effect.

However, you cannot declare a win in the middle of a Chain Link. Here is one such example:

■Player 1 has two pieces of "Exodia the Forbidden One" in his hand. He activates a Set "Graceful Charity". When he draws, he gains the last three pieces of "Exodia the Forbidden One".
Here, Player 1 must discard two cards for the effect of "Graceful Charity", and cannot declare a Victory until the effect has fully resolved.

It is also possible to tie in a chain by the effect of "Self-Destruct Button". If this happens, the game ends as a tie instantly-a "Poison of the Old Man" or "Numinous Healer" activated before it in the chain will not allow you to win.

One should be careful though about the difference between simply destroying a card and negating the effects of that card. For example, activating "Mystical Space Typhoon" on "Magic Cylinder" would not stop the damage being reflected back as "Mystical Space Typhoon" does not say 'Negate the effects of...' therefore you have more or less wasted the use of a card.

However, if a card must remain on the field for its effects to work, such as "Call of the Haunted", the effects of that card are negated as the card no longer exists on the field.

Note: There are several mistakes in your article.
First of all, chains will only form with at least 2 chain links. If the neither player respond to a card, no chain is formed.
Second, in a chain link cards do not resolve (resolve is very different from activation, many people get confused by this) before the last card in the chain is activated.
Finally your exodia example is not due to chain links. Exodia can declare win during the middle of a resolving chain (e.g. mirror force, chain gemini spark and draws the last piece of exodia).
For graceful charity example. you are trying to declare win during a resolving effect which is different.