One of the most interesting abilities that a card can have is the ability to change one type of card into another. Some of these, like Trap Monsters, have been around for years, but now that Xyz Monsters and Order of Chaos are here, there are two new things you’re going to see a lot: monsters becoming Xyz Materials, and monsters turning into Equip cards. Read on to learn how these cards work.

Xyz Monsters are Summoned by placing the Xyz Materials underneath the monster that you Summon. What happens to the cards that are underneath? The rulebook tells us that they are no longer considered cards on the field, but that effects that activate when a monster leaves the field don’t activate. Since they aren’t “cards on the field”, they’re unaffected by card effects, unless the card’s effect specifically deals with Xyz Materials, like Space Cyclone. IfDimensional Fissure is active, detached Xyz Materials will go to the Graveyard, because they aren’t considered monsters anymore, they’re Xyz Materials. This can be tricky to come to terms with, but if you remember these basic rules then it’s pretty easy to remember how they work.

The Inzektors from Order of Chaos have effects which equip other Inzektors to them as Equip Cards. If you’re not sure how the Inzektors work, don’t let it “bug” you, it’s actually less complex than it seems. When a monster is equipped to another monster, it stops being a monster, becomes an Equip Spell Card, and starts following the rules for Equip Spells I talked about here. Using some Inzektor cards, here’s a simple combo that demonstrates how this works.

If you control Inzektor Dragonfly and have an Inzektor Hornet in the Graveyard, you can use Dragonfly’s effect to Equip Hornet to it. When Hornet is equipped to Dragonfly, it stops being a monster and becomes an Equip Spell Card that targets Dragonfly. Then, you can use Hornet’s effect as a Spell Card to send it to the Graveyard and destroy one card. Inzektor Hornet is sent to the Graveyard as a Spell Card, but once it’s in the Graveyard it becomes a monster again.

Here are the key rules for monsters that are changed into Equip Spell Cards:

Trap Monsters are a fairly old cards with very unique effects. After they are activated, they are Special Summoned to a Monster Card Zone. Unlike monsters that become Equip Cards, however, Trap Monsters are both Trap Cards and monsters while on the field. Some Trap Monsters have high DEF points, like Metal Reflect Slime, and others have effects that apply while in the Monster Card Zone. Copy Knight can be activated when you Normal Summon a Warrior—type monster, creating a duplicate of the monster you just Summoned, and Tiki Curse and Tiki Soul both have effects that help make your other Trap Monsters more powerful. Here are the rules regarding Trap Monsters:

By following these simple rules, you’ll easily be able to remember how each of these interesting effects work. These rules are becoming more important than ever with more new cards arriving all the time, so learn these well so that you’re ready to tackle whatever cards are used against you!