Shield

Shields are a set of cards put face down to protect the player against a direct attack.

Details

At the start of the duel, both players put the top 5 cards of their deck face-down in front of them before drawing. Whenever a shield is broken or destroyed by an attack, it goes directly to your hand unless dictated by another card's ability. Whenever all of your shields are broken, the opponent may attack you directly to win the Duel.

Castles that are fortifying shields are also placed here.

While face down, they are considered to be private information. Neither player may look at them unless a card effect allows them to.

The Shield Plus ability allows you to add additional cards onto a single shield.

Shield Zone

The Shield Zone is a gameplay zone (that is placed to the left of your Deck) where your Shields are put at the start of a game and is located between the battle zone and mana zone. Some cards allow you to place extra shields into your shield zone. There is no limit to the number of shields in your shield zone. When all shields in this zone are broken, another attack is needed to win the duel.

Sending cards to the shield zone is a very effective way for neutralizing a threat, as while it may seem like benefiting the opponent, The shield zone has even fewer recovery options than the Mana Zone or Graveyard and cards in there may not be recovered before the end of the game. This is especially true for matches against Deck-out decks, as these decks do not attack to win and cards in there may remain dormant for the rest of the match until the player is defeated.

Shield Trigger

When one of your shields is broken, it is put into your hand (unless dictated otherwise by another card's effect). If it has a symbol and says "Shield Trigger" next to it in its effect box, then you may use its Shield Trigger ability.

In this case, you may cast a spell or summon a creature with this ability for no cost immediately after it goes from your shield zone to your hand, unless dictated by a card effect.

Rulings

• When a new card is added to the shield zone, they must be distinguished from the other shields that were in the zone from the start of the game.
• Tios, Guardian of Fate counts "each card in your shield zone", including cards from Shield Plus or Castles.
  • However, Soul Advantage only counts the number of shields.

Related Categories

• For cards that put additional shields into your shield zone, see Shield Addition.
• For cards that remove your opponent's shields, see Shield Burn.
• For cards that prevent your shields from being destroyed, see Shield Saver.
• For cards that put your opponent's cards into his shields, see Shield Feed.
• For cards that let you look at face-down shields, see Shield Peek