"New Cards" and Areas: The Moment an Effect Evaporates
The same physical card becomes a different card when it changes areas
Playing BT25-080 Witchmon or BT25-083 LadyDevimon means cards constantly hopping areas — trash a card and return the same card, trash an Option from digivolution cards and then use it. Once you get Comprehensive Rules 3-1-3-1 (new cards) and 15-4-4-3 (pending effects), every can-it-activate question snaps into focus.
What a "new card" is (3-1-3-1)
Comprehensive Rules 3-1-3-1:
A new card is treated as a different card from the one in its previous location, carrying over none of its conditions or states (see 3-1-3-1-2).
In short: when a card leaves one area for another, the post-move card is a "new card." Pending effects and states tied to the pre-move card don't come along.
A new card is treated as a different card from the one in its previous location, carrying over none of its conditions or states (see 3-1-3-1-2).
In short: when a card leaves one area for another, the post-move card is a "new card." Pending effects and states tied to the pre-move card don't come along.
When pending effects die (15-4-4-3)
Comprehensive Rules 15-4-4-3:
"When a card with an effect that's pending activation becomes a new card before the effect activates, the effect can no longer be activated. (Example: When an [On Play] effect is triggered by a card being played, if the card leaves the battle area before the effect activates, the effect can't activate.)"
Triggered but unresolved + the card changes areas = the effect is gone.
"When a card with an effect that's pending activation becomes a new card before the effect activates, the effect can no longer be activated. (Example: When an [On Play] effect is triggered by a card being played, if the card leaves the battle area before the effect activates, the effect can't activate.)"
Triggered but unresolved + the card changes areas = the effect is gone.
Example 1: Trash it, return it — the "when trashed" effect is dead (BT25-080 Q6383)
BT25-080 Witchmon's [On Play] [When Attacking] effect: "by trashing 1 card in your hand, you may return 1 ... card from your trash to the hand."
- The effect trashes a card that reads "when this card is trashed from your hand ..."
- The same effect then returns that card from trash to hand
- Q6383: the returned card's "when this card is trashed from your hand" effect can NOT activate
Why: the effect triggered on the trash and went pending — but the card then moved trash → hand, becoming a new card (3-1-3-1), and pending effects don't survive that (15-4-4-3).
- The effect trashes a card that reads "when this card is trashed from your hand ..."
- The same effect then returns that card from trash to hand
- Q6383: the returned card's "when this card is trashed from your hand" effect can NOT activate
Why: the effect triggered on the trash and went pending — but the card then moved trash → hand, becoming a new card (3-1-3-1), and pending effects don't survive that (15-4-4-3).
Example 2: But OTHER cards' triggers survive just fine (BT25-080 Q6384)
Q6384 is the mirror image.
- Witchmon's effect trashes a card from hand and returns it to hand
- Can a "when you trash a card from your hand" effect (on some OTHER card) still activate afterward? → **Yes**
Why: "when you trash a card from your hand" already met its trigger condition at the moment of trashing. What happens to the trashed card afterward is irrelevant to that other card's trigger.
- Basis: 15-5-3 (a trigger fires when its conditions are met where it can trigger)
- Basis: 15-8-3-1 (a trigger-type effect always triggers once its conditions are met)
Q6383 vs. Q6384 in one line: Q6383 is the trashed card's OWN effect (killed by its own area change); Q6384 is ANOTHER card's effect triggered by the event (immune to the card's later travels).
- Witchmon's effect trashes a card from hand and returns it to hand
- Can a "when you trash a card from your hand" effect (on some OTHER card) still activate afterward? → **Yes**
Why: "when you trash a card from your hand" already met its trigger condition at the moment of trashing. What happens to the trashed card afterward is irrelevant to that other card's trigger.
- Basis: 15-5-3 (a trigger fires when its conditions are met where it can trigger)
- Basis: 15-8-3-1 (a trigger-type effect always triggers once its conditions are met)
Q6383 vs. Q6384 in one line: Q6383 is the trashed card's OWN effect (killed by its own area change); Q6384 is ANOTHER card's effect triggered by the event (immune to the card's later travels).
Example 3: A used Option placed into digivolution cards (BT25-083 Q6395 / Q6396)
BT25-083 LadyDevimon's [When Digivolving] [When Attacking] effect: "by trashing 1 Option card from your Digimon's digivolution cards, you may use 1 Option card with the [Three Musketeers] trait from your trash, reducing its cost by 3."
- Q6395: using the very Option card you just trashed from digivolution cards is **allowed** (15-1-2: an effect processes in text order / 4-15-1: trashing = placing in the trash / 3-6-1: the trash)
- Q6396: if that used Option's [Main] effect places it into a Digimon's digivolution cards, its "when this card is trashed from digivolution cards by an effect" effect can NOT activate (3-1-3-1 new card / 15-4-4-3 pending effects die on area change)
The card traveled digivolution cards → in-use (no area) → digivolution cards. Each hop made it a new card, and the original "when trashed from digivolution cards" pending effect was lost on the way.
- Q6395: using the very Option card you just trashed from digivolution cards is **allowed** (15-1-2: an effect processes in text order / 4-15-1: trashing = placing in the trash / 3-6-1: the trash)
- Q6396: if that used Option's [Main] effect places it into a Digimon's digivolution cards, its "when this card is trashed from digivolution cards by an effect" effect can NOT activate (3-1-3-1 new card / 15-4-4-3 pending effects die on area change)
The card traveled digivolution cards → in-use (no area) → digivolution cards. Each hop made it a new card, and the original "when trashed from digivolution cards" pending effect was lost on the way.
The checklist and rules sections
When in doubt:
1. Did the card change areas during the effect?
2. If yes, the post-move card is a new card (3-1-3-1)
3. Any effect that was pending on it before the move can no longer activate (15-4-4-3)
4. OTHER cards triggering off the event ("when you trash...", "when ... leaves...") are unaffected by the card's later movement (15-5-3)
Sections:
- 3-1-3-1 to 2 (new cards)
- 15-4-4-3 (pending effects die when the card becomes new)
- 15-5-3 (trigger condition timing)
- 15-8-3-1 (trigger-type rules)
- 4-15-1 (trashing) / 3-6-1 (the trash)
1. Did the card change areas during the effect?
2. If yes, the post-move card is a new card (3-1-3-1)
3. Any effect that was pending on it before the move can no longer activate (15-4-4-3)
4. OTHER cards triggering off the event ("when you trash...", "when ... leaves...") are unaffected by the card's later movement (15-5-3)
Sections:
- 3-1-3-1 to 2 (new cards)
- 15-4-4-3 (pending effects die when the card becomes new)
- 15-5-3 (trigger condition timing)
- 15-8-3-1 (trigger-type rules)
- 4-15-1 (trashing) / 3-6-1 (the trash)
Key point Two rules of thumb: a card's OWN pending effect dies when the card changes areas; OTHER cards' triggers, once fired by the event, don't care where the card goes next. The same "when trashed" wording lands differently depending on whose effect it is.