A targeting effect can be recognized by simply thinking to yourself: "Which card do I choose at the time of activation for this specific card effect." Even though it gets more deep than that, I will show you different effects that do target and some that don't. A player must declare the target at the activation of the effect before either player can Chain. Knowing card effects that target are vital because some simply mistake can turn the game around. Now let me start with some examples:
Graveyard target effects:
Effects that specifically choose a card(s) in the graveyard targets. Some card examples would be: Debris Dragon, Gottoms Emergency Call, Pot of Avarice, etc. For now I'll be working with those 3 cards. I'll start with Debris Dragon:
Situation 1: Your opponent has a Ryko and a Dandylion in the Graveyard and you have a D.D. Crow in hand.
In the summoning of Debris Dragon, if your opponent wishes to activate the effect, he/she must BEFORE you can respond, call the target. In this case, lets say his target is Dandylion. Once your opponent has targeted Dandylion in the grave, you can drop your D.D. Crow to remove from play the Dandylion. In this case, Debris' effect won't allow him to re-select another monster such as Ryko, simply because his original target at activation is no longer in the Grave.
Situation 2: You summon XX-Saber Fulhelmknight. In your backrow you have a Gottoms Emergency Call. In your graveyard you have: XX-Saber Darksoul, XX-Saber Boggart Knight and XX-Saber Pashuul. Your opponent has a Gottoms Emergency Call for backrow, and no monsters on the field.
When you summon XX-Saber Fulhelmknight, your opponent wishes to activate Gottoms Emergency Call. Upon activation of this card your opponent must declare his targets. If he chooses XX-Saber Darksoul and XX-Saber Pashuul, you can activate your Gottoms Emergency Call and take the 2 monsters your opponent declared. Since your Gottoms Emergency Call will resolve first, you get the 2 targets, and since your opponent cannot Re-Select targets, his Gottoms E-Call will not resolve, due to the fact that the original targets are no long in the grave, but on your side of the field.
Situation 3: You have 6 monsters in your graveyard (which ones is irrelevant). And you play "Pot of Avarice." Your opponent has a D.D. Crow in hand.
Upon activation of Pot of Avarice, you must declare all 5 monster that you target to return to your deck. If your opponent uses D.D. Crow's effect, eliminating one of your 5 targets, the activation of Pot of Avarice will not resolve because one of the 5 targets are gone. And you can't choose the 6th target to replace the other target that is now not in the grave anymore.
Card effects that target on the field:
Cards that specifically choose a card(s) on the field for the effect to resolve. I won't go deep into this one cause it is a very understandable subject. Effects such as: Book of Moon, Dimensional Prison, Caius, and Raiza target. Effects like Mirror Force, Black Rose Dragon, and Dark Hole do NOT target because they simply don't target a specific card on the field. Even if there is only 1 of that card. You can see in the cards text. Since Black Rose Dragon and Dark Hole say the world "ALL" in their text, it destroys every monster (and in general all cards if we are thinking about Black Rose Dragons effect) on the field. Even if there is only 1 monster on the field.
Cards that DO NOT TARGET!
Any card that says "ALL" in the description like I stated above, in most cases do NOT target. Counter-trap cards do not target either. There are some cards that seem to target, but really don't. I'll use Drill Warrior as an example in this case.
When you RFG Drill Warrior by his effect, and when he comes back in the Standyby Phase, if your opponent wishes to drop a D.D. Crow to remove from play, lets say, Dandylion, you can go ahead and select Quickdraw Synchron to add to your hand instead. Drill Warriors effect resolves AFTER D.D. Crow's does, therefore even if D.D. Crow removes Dandylion, you can still bring back a monster to your hand, since Drill Warrior resolves after D.D. Crow.
For any further questions regarding Targeting effects since I may have forgotten something due to the fact that I am a busy guy and take my time to make this for you guys, please feel free to ask below or private message me, I'll be glad to help.
P.S. Again, this is an outdated article that I wrote over a year ago, just decided to post this here for you guys. Maybe it can help some of you understand this concept better. Enjoy!
Graveyard target effects:
Effects that specifically choose a card(s) in the graveyard targets. Some card examples would be: Debris Dragon, Gottoms Emergency Call, Pot of Avarice, etc. For now I'll be working with those 3 cards. I'll start with Debris Dragon:
Situation 1: Your opponent has a Ryko and a Dandylion in the Graveyard and you have a D.D. Crow in hand.
In the summoning of Debris Dragon, if your opponent wishes to activate the effect, he/she must BEFORE you can respond, call the target. In this case, lets say his target is Dandylion. Once your opponent has targeted Dandylion in the grave, you can drop your D.D. Crow to remove from play the Dandylion. In this case, Debris' effect won't allow him to re-select another monster such as Ryko, simply because his original target at activation is no longer in the Grave.
Situation 2: You summon XX-Saber Fulhelmknight. In your backrow you have a Gottoms Emergency Call. In your graveyard you have: XX-Saber Darksoul, XX-Saber Boggart Knight and XX-Saber Pashuul. Your opponent has a Gottoms Emergency Call for backrow, and no monsters on the field.
When you summon XX-Saber Fulhelmknight, your opponent wishes to activate Gottoms Emergency Call. Upon activation of this card your opponent must declare his targets. If he chooses XX-Saber Darksoul and XX-Saber Pashuul, you can activate your Gottoms Emergency Call and take the 2 monsters your opponent declared. Since your Gottoms Emergency Call will resolve first, you get the 2 targets, and since your opponent cannot Re-Select targets, his Gottoms E-Call will not resolve, due to the fact that the original targets are no long in the grave, but on your side of the field.
Situation 3: You have 6 monsters in your graveyard (which ones is irrelevant). And you play "Pot of Avarice." Your opponent has a D.D. Crow in hand.
Upon activation of Pot of Avarice, you must declare all 5 monster that you target to return to your deck. If your opponent uses D.D. Crow's effect, eliminating one of your 5 targets, the activation of Pot of Avarice will not resolve because one of the 5 targets are gone. And you can't choose the 6th target to replace the other target that is now not in the grave anymore.
Card effects that target on the field:
Cards that specifically choose a card(s) on the field for the effect to resolve. I won't go deep into this one cause it is a very understandable subject. Effects such as: Book of Moon, Dimensional Prison, Caius, and Raiza target. Effects like Mirror Force, Black Rose Dragon, and Dark Hole do NOT target because they simply don't target a specific card on the field. Even if there is only 1 of that card. You can see in the cards text. Since Black Rose Dragon and Dark Hole say the world "ALL" in their text, it destroys every monster (and in general all cards if we are thinking about Black Rose Dragons effect) on the field. Even if there is only 1 monster on the field.
Cards that DO NOT TARGET!
Any card that says "ALL" in the description like I stated above, in most cases do NOT target. Counter-trap cards do not target either. There are some cards that seem to target, but really don't. I'll use Drill Warrior as an example in this case.
When you RFG Drill Warrior by his effect, and when he comes back in the Standyby Phase, if your opponent wishes to drop a D.D. Crow to remove from play, lets say, Dandylion, you can go ahead and select Quickdraw Synchron to add to your hand instead. Drill Warriors effect resolves AFTER D.D. Crow's does, therefore even if D.D. Crow removes Dandylion, you can still bring back a monster to your hand, since Drill Warrior resolves after D.D. Crow.
For any further questions regarding Targeting effects since I may have forgotten something due to the fact that I am a busy guy and take my time to make this for you guys, please feel free to ask below or private message me, I'll be glad to help.
P.S. Again, this is an outdated article that I wrote over a year ago, just decided to post this here for you guys. Maybe it can help some of you understand this concept better. Enjoy!
