Crackdown Rulings

Crackdown is gaining popularity in Control decks such as Altergeist and Subterror.

Here are some common rulings involving Crackdown.

Crackdown

①: Activate this card by targeting 1 face-up monster your opponent controls; take control of it, but while you control that monster, it cannot attack or activate its effects. When that monster leaves the field, destroy this card.

1. Crackdown leaving the field

KONAMI Customer Support [Official]
@konami_support

[Yu-Gi-Oh! OCG Rules Information]
The card with the most inquiries recently is “Crackdown”!
As this is an effect that takes control while targeting the monster, if “Crackdown” is destroyed then control of the monster is returned, and it can perform an attack. #YuGiOh
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2. Book of Moon on activation of Crackdown

Chained to the activation of “Crackdown”, if the targeted monster is changed to face-down Defense Position, how is this resolved?

Question
A face-up “Goe Goe the Gallant Ninja” on the opponent’s field is targeted by “Crackdown”‘s “①: Activate this card by targeting 1 face-up monster your opponent controls; take control of it, but while you control that monster, it cannot attack or activate its effects. When that monster leaves the field, destroy this card.” effect during the activation.

Chained to that activation, if “Book of Moon” is activated, and the target “Goe Goe the Gallant Ninja” is changed to face-down Defense Position, during resolution is the effect applied?

Answer
Even if an effect is chained to the activation of “Crackdown”, to change the targeted monster to face-down Defense Position, during resolution the effect is applied as usual, and you take control of that monster.

As the “while you control that monster, it cannot attack or activate its effects” effect is applied, so even if the targeted monster is flipped face-up later, it cannot attack or activate its effects.

2019-01-11

3. Book of Moon after Crackdown has resolved

Source: @Domiga_rule

Using “Crackdown” ① effect, I have taken control of an opponent’s monster. At this moment, if “Subterror Guru” ② effect change that monster to face-down Defense Position,
[1] will I continue to control that monster? (does it continue to target when the monster is face-down?)
[2] after that, if the monster is flipped face-up, can it attack or activate its effect?

KONAMI Chat Support (in charge of OCG): Control is not returned. That monster can activate its effect and perform an attack.

The source of this ruling is from a screenshot of an allegedly online chat with KONAMI Customer Support. But we could infer from Tuner’s Scheme, a Continuous Trap that takes control of an opponent’s Synchro Monster, which has a similar ruling in the official database that supports this ruling.

After taking control with “Tuner’s Scheme”, the monster is flipped face-down, would control be returned?

Question
A Synchro Monster was taken control by the effect of “Tuner’s Scheme”, if it was flipped face-down by an effect such as “Book of Moon”, etc, what happens to the control of the Synchro Monster?
Answer
If the Synchro Monster that was taken control by the effect of “Tuner’s Scheme” was flipped face-down, it is no longer targeted by the effect of “Tuner’s Scheme”, after that when the monster is flipped, even if “Tuner’s Scheme” leaves the field, the Synchro Monster will remain on the field of the player who gained control of it.

Also, even if the face-down Synchro Monster leaves the field, it will not be banished, and this card will not be destroyed.

2017-03-24

Discussion

The first ruling is regarding Crackdown leaving the field. There is some confusion about this because Crackdown does not state what happens to the monster when it leaves the field.

This is in fact covered by the game mechanic of Continuous Trap. As stated in the Perfect Rulebook Page 125, “The effects of Continuous Traps stop applying immediately when they leave the field.” Thus when Crackdown leaves the field, its effect that takes control of the opponent monster stops applying, and so control of the monster is returned to the opponent.

 

The second and third ruling is a bit more tricky. They may look similar but are two totally different scenarios.

The second ruling is when Crackdown is activated, targeting a monster. Then Book of Moon is activated in a chain, targeting the same monster.

Chain 1: Crackdown ① effect
Chain 2: Book of Moon ① effect

Resolving the Chain 2, Book of Moon will change the monster to face-down Defense Position. Then resolving Chain 1, as Crackdown only requires the monster to be face-up when activating and targeting it, but does not require the monster to be face-up during resolution, it will still take control of the monster while it is face-down.

When you Flip Summon that monster later, the monster is still targeted and affected by Crackdown, hence it will not be able to attack or activate its effect.

If Crackdown leaves the field later, as the monster was still targeted and affected by Crackdown, control of the monster will return to the opponent.

 

The third ruling is when Crackdown has already resolved and taken control of a monster. Book of Moon is then activated to change that monster to face-down Defense Position. In this case, you keep control of that monster, and it is no longer targeted or affected by Crackdown.

As mentioned in the Perfect Rulebook Page 168, “If a monster that has been targeted for an already-applying effect of a Continuous/Equip Spell or a Continuous Trap is flipped face-down, that monster is no longer targeted and that targeting effect is no longer applied.”

If Crackdown leaves the field later, as the monster is no longer targeted or affected by Crackdown, you retain control of the monster.

Conclusion

The second and third rulings are especially important for Subterror players.

By sequencing Crackdown and Subterror Guru in the correct order, you could gain permanent control of an opponent’s monster and even attack with it or activate its effect.

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7 Responses

  1. Stefan0xff says:

    This reminds me of Snatch Steal vs. Tsukuyomi. What I understand now in the context of continuos S/T that target monsters is:

    being flipped face-up: targeting still applies
    being flipped face-down: targeting does not apply anymore

    am I right or missing something? Either way: Thanks for the research^^…

    • Akira says:

      No, you missed the point. The crux is in timing that the monster was flipped face-down. The monster was flipped face-down and then face-up in both ruling 2 and 3, but the end result is different because of the sequencing of the card effects.

    • Stefan0xff says:

      I’m sorry, I was a bit unprecise:

      By

      “targeting still applies/does not apply anymore”

      I meant the moment when you flip it face-up/face-down for the first time after having already gained control of the monster before by applying the effect of Manhunt (i.e. after the effect of Manhunt already was already applied).

  2. Rizky Reza says:

    Subterror just got OP combo

  3. wtf_anon says:

    Where is that ruling in #3 from? And is it reliable?

  4. wtf_anon says:

    Where is that ruling from #3? Looks like Whatsapp? Is it reliable?

    • Akira says:

      It is from the Yu-Gi-Oh! OCG chat support. In Japan players can call in or start an online chat to ask about OCG rulings: https://www.yugioh-card.com/japan/support/

      It would be reliable if the screenshot is real, which is why I linked the ruling of Tuner’s Scheme (a similar Continuous Trap that takes control) from the official database that confirms the same ruling.

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