The Legendary Six Phases

The Legendary Six Phases

In the Game Yu-Gi-Oh, there are a Total of Six Different Phases in each player's turn. Those Phases are the Draw Phase, Standby Phase, Main Phase 1, Battle Phase, Main Phase 2, and the End Phase. In turn goes in that order, or take the alternate route if they choose not to battle. Here is an example of how the Phases may go.

Draw Phase --> Standby Phase --> Main Phase 1 --> Battle Phase --> Main Phase 2 --> End Phase.
That is a Basic Turn in which all the phases are used.

Draw Phase --> Standby Phase --> Main Phase 1 --> End Phase
That is a turn in which the players does not conduct the Battle Phase. If the Battle Phase is skipped, then the player must proceed to the End Phase. This kind of turn is mandatory for the Player that goes first as they cannot conduct their Battle Phase.

Draw Phase --> Standby Phase --> Main Phase 1 --> Battle Phase (No Battle) --> Main Phase 2 --> End Phase
As you can see, I marked down "No Battle," this is because you can enter the Battle Phase and declare no attack, you then proceed to the Main Phase 2.

Those are just Basic Turns. But each Phase it's own rules to them.

Draw Phase

The Draw is the first Phase. In this Phase, turn player will draw a Card, that is always the first thing to happen, no cards can be activated until the Card is Drawn, there are only a few exceptions to this. Hino-Kagu is one of them, as he says in his card effect that it happens before the player draws.

Once the card is drawn, Players may now respond to the action. With Turn Player going first as an Act of Priority

Another thing about the Draw Phase is that it contains a way of Winning. If the Turn Player has no card to draw, they lose.


Standby Phase

The Standby Phase is where certain cards take affect. Cards like Treeborn Frog activate here. Most Cards with a Maintenance Cost are also paid in the Standy Phase.

In the chances of having more than one card that can activate in the Standby Phase, Turn Player chooses which one to do first.


Main Phase 1

The Main Phase 1 is called Main Phase 1 because there are 2 Main Phases. It is called the main phase because this is the Phase where most things happen. It is the Phase the Turn Player can Summon and use Ignition Effect. Use Normal Spell Cards, Synchro/Xyz/Fusion/Ritual Summon, and Contact Fusion.

Most of those can only happen in the Main Phase because they either have no spell speed or have a spell speed of 1.

Turn Player may also manually change the battle position of monsters.

With every move, Turn Player has Priority, so He/She will always be the first one to respond/chain to an action.


Battle Phase

Now, the Battle Phase is full of lots of possible things. Many things can happen in the Battle Phase and it's broken up into 4 Main Steps to make it easier to understand when and what happens.

Start Step

The Start Step is first thing to happen in the Battle Phase. Not much else happens here, players can respond here, but not much else.

Battle Step

The Battle Step is where Turn Player declares an Attack on either a Monster, or if able to, a Direct Attack. Once the attack is declared, players respond to it with effects, with the opponent given the chance to respond with effects like Mirror Force or Dimensional Prison

After the time to respond is over, we proceed to the Damage Step.

Damage Step

The Damage Step is the longest of the Steps because it has it's own Sub Steps. Lucky for me, I don't have to go in detail since it's been broken down by Vantagesp in his Thread:
7 Wonders of the Damage Step

End Step

The End Step is simply the End of the Battle Phase, it happens when the turn players has declared no more attacks. Players are given one final chance to respond here before proceeding to Main Phase 2.

Now, the Battle Phase repeats itself because more than one monster can attack. It can go like this:

Start Step --> Battle Step --> Damage Step --> Battle Step --> Damage Step --> Battle Step --> Damage Step --> End Step
That is an average Battle Phase, as most will have a lot of monsters to attack with. However, it can simply go like this:

Start Step --> End Step --> Main Phase 2

Main Phase 2


Will Finish this up later on, gotta go for now. This article will be very informative when I'm done with it, that's a promise!

Looks good so far, except for:

Turn Players has Priority

There is an s where an s should not be.

Whoever netdecking with this card



Should read this article, (but again those kind of type never want learning and just want trolling)

OH great, you're here to ruin a thread already. Good job.

You should add a section for cards that allow you skip certain phases or skip your opponent's certain phases =)

Nebuwah wrote:Looks good so far, except for:

Turn Players has Priority

There is an s where an s should not be.

Dang, that "S" changes everything, thanks for catching that.

I'll edit it now, and I'll try to finish up the Battle Phase!

Zero2Hero wrote:

Nebuwah wrote:Looks good so far, except for:

Turn Players has Priority

There is an s where an s should not be.

Dang, that "S" changes everything, thanks for catching that.

I'll edit it now, and I'll try to finish up the Battle Phase!

It could have been catastrophic. Good thing I caught it in time.

Nice try buckaroo. You forgot the pony phase. What do you think I am, stupid? Really, it's right there when you duel on dn.

Smokay wrote:Nice try buckaroo. You forgot the pony phase. What do you think I am, stupid? Really, it's right there when you duel on dn.

Why did you assume I made the Thread specifically for you?

I like making Threads like this, and it's great looking at my work when it's complete.

What about the all-known Scoop Phase?

(Can't wait to see the rest of this. It can definitely come in handy.)

Zero2Hero wrote:

Smokay wrote:Nice try buckaroo. You forgot the pony phase. What do you think I am, stupid? Really, it's right there when you duel on dn.

Why did you assume I made the Thread specifically for you?

I like making Threads like this, and it's great looking at my work when it's complete.

Well, you're missing the pony AND scoop phase. You're either not finished, or trying to pull off some sort of blasphemy.

Tcbskater wrote:What about the all-known Scoop Phase?

(Can't wait to see the rest of this. It can definitely come in handy.)

He also forgot Rape Phase the one that comes before Scoop Phase

Banners for each phase with a different "The legendary six samurai" on each one would look pretty nice on this.
Would you like someone to make them for you...?

LuzCeleste wrote:You should add a section for cards that allow you skip certain phases or skip your opponent's certain phases =)

● skip Draw Phase: e.g. Yata-Garasu, Fenrir, Soul Devouring Bamboo Sword
● skip Standby Phae: e.g. solomon's law book
● skip Main Phase 1: e.g. Timeater
● skip Battle Phase: e.g. Great long nose
● skip Main Phase 2: e.g. Terminal World
● skip whole turn: e.g. Arcana Force XXI