Card Based Removal

Card Based Removal is a form of removal that specifically targets cards.

Details

Ordinary removal cards specify a Card Type as a condition, such as destroying a creature or cross gear, but Card Based Removal doesn't have that condition.

For example, if it targets cards in the battle zone, you can remove the dragheart card types of fortresses and weapons as well.

Because card based removal doesn't specify a card type, it is more versatile than regular forms of removal.

For example, in the case of Lance of Tonginus, you may choose any card in the battle zone, mana zone, or shields and put it on the bottom of the deck. You can target cross gear, fortress, creature and weapons, so a wide range of cards can be dealt with.

It is important to be able to remove fortresses since they were impossible to remove before Dragon Saga.

However, they also provide unique weakness in comparison to other forms of removals. These include devolving Evolution Creatures with potentially lethal bait or dragging out Dokindam X, The Legendary Forbidden, although the latter can be used for the player's advantage.

Rules

• When you can choose a card in a zone, you can choose any card in that zone regardless of card type unless it is Unchoosable.
• When you refer to cards in the battle zone, you may choose creatures, cross gear, weapons, fortresses, cells, impulses, seals and fields.
• When you refer to cards in the zone, you may choose the shields or the castles fortify them.
  • It is a stronger choice to remove the fortified shield itself rather than the castle. However, if you wish to remove the castle of a shield affected by shield plus, it is better to choose the castle.
• When you choose an evolution creature, Psychic Super Creature or another object composed of multiple cards with the effect of card based removal, only a single card is removed.
  • In this case, even if the creature is put into a graveyard, it may not count as being destroyed. Abilities such as Super Trash Train, Fuuma Devil trigger when creatures are destroyed, so attention should be paid.
• After the ruling change of January 17, 2014, the treatment of "card" in the text was changed. When choosing an object in the battle zone or shield zone, instead of all cards in the object moving, only the specified number of cards is moved.

Evolution Creature

• In the case of evolution creatures, one card is removed from the stack of creatures constituting an evolution creature.
  • For example, you could remove the top of an evolution creature, or the evolution source.
  • When you remove the top card, the creature leaves regardless whether the evolution source remains or not. When its put into a graveyard, it will be treated as being destroyed.
  • If the evolution source remains in the battle zone, the evolution source separate into separate creatures. The number of creatures that may remain in the battle zone is up to the number of the evolution sources you originally needed for that evolution creature. For example, a Vortex evolution creature lets you leave 2 creatures.
  • Since the evolution source isn't treated as a creature, if you remove them from the battle zone, even if you put it into a graveyard, it isn't counted as being destroyed.
  • Normally, when under an evolution creature the card is treated as not being in the battle zone and the evolution source loses all characteristics, including card type, but when a card specifies cards present in the battle zone, they may be chosen. The mana cost can be referred to as well.

God

• In a linked god, the specified God is directly removed.
  • This unlinks the God Link of the 2 gods.
  • If a God Linked god is removed by regular removal, then owner can decide which God would leave the battle zone. In the case of card based removal, the removed card is the chosen object, and the target can't be changed.
  • These cards are treated as creatures as they leave play.

Psychic Super Creatures

• For Psychic Super Creatures, they are removed as a single psychic cell.
  • As a creature, you can't use the Link Release ability.
  • Since the remaining psychic cells can't be saved by the Link Release ability, they remain in the battle zone as psychic cells. However, they can't remain the battle zone, so immediately follow into the hyperspatial zone.
  • This allows you to remove an entire psychic creature with only a single card based removal. These cards are not treated as creatures when they leave play.

Cost Card

• In the case of an effect referring to a cost such as Luna Mystery Mansion, it refers to the cost that appears on the singular card, not the cost of the entire object.
  • For example, a linked Heavy, Dragon God and Metal, Dragon God has a combined cost of 12 mana. However, Heavy, Dragon God has a mana cost of 5, so can be bounced by Dragon Pulse Technique - Fortress Destroyer.
  • In the case of psychic super creatures, each cell is treated as zero cost.

• It is important to remember that evolution sources and psychic cells aren't handled as creatures.

• In the case of regular removal such as Terror Pit or Aqua Surfer, the stack of cards in an evolution creature are treated as a single creature. When they would move to a zone other than the battle zone, it moves together with each evolution source underneath it, and is then separated into separate cards at the destination.
  • In the shield zone, one card is able to consist of multiple shield zones, but when an evolution creature is moved from the battle zone to the shield zone, they become independent cards. Evolution creatures are generally excluded from Shield Feed effects however, and this only applies to uncommon cards such as Vibros Heaven, Lord of Dragon Spiritsor Celestial Arc.

Seals

• Seals can be with or without a cost restriction. This is because they are treated as a card with a cost of 0 in the battle zone.
  • However, creatures that are sealed are ignored and treated as not being in the battle zone, so sealed creatures aren't affected by card based removal.
  • If a card such as an impulse is sealed, it's not ignored and can be chosen.

Other

• The rules change allowed various Degenerate strategies to form, based on Senju Splash.
• Dragon Saga began to add various Card Based Removal into the game. This allowed players to deal with Fortress cards that can't be dealt with by regular removal. This was also similar to the previous cross gear card type that had limited form of removal options compared to creatures.
• The Darkness Civilization was commonly known for its destroy removal, and due to this, received very little form of Card Based Removal.

List of Card Based Removal