Rulings to Know: Tri-Brigade Revolt

Tri-Brigade Revolt

Before we look at specific card interactions, it's important to familiarize ourselves with the card itself. is a normal trap card with the following effect:

Basically, Tri-Brigade Revolt is a for Beast, Beast-Warrior, and Winged Beast monsters which also performs a link summon with the summoned monsters. This is a very powerful ability because not only can or activate their effects after they are linked to ensure you have follow-up plays in your next turn, but you can also summon the mighty during the opponent's turn to banish one of their cards!

Now that we have familiarized ourselves with Revolt, we will take a closer look at some frequent interactions in the current metagame.

Tri-Brigade Revolt vs. Solemn Strike

Before I outline the actual situation, it's important to understand a specific piece of text on Tri-Brigade Revolt. After the monsters are summoned, Revolt reads, "immediately after this effect resolves, Link Summon 1 "Tri-Brigade" Link Monster using only those monsters." The part immediately after this effect resolves tells us that the link summon happens after the effect of Tri-Brigade Revolt has resolved. This potentially opens a window for the opponent to negate the summon of the link monster with cards like .

I said potentially because it's important to differentiate between a couple of different scenarios. A lot of readers might be thinking, "You can't activate cards during a chain! That's why you can't negate the summon from with Solemn Strike!" While it is true that Solemn Strike cannot negate a summon during a chain, like with the aforementioned Monster Reborn or or . In this particular case, however, this might not apply.

Because the summon happens immediately after the resolution of Revolt, you could find yourself in a situation where there are no other cards left to resolve in the chain. In this scenario, the summon happens after the chain has resolved and it can, in fact, be negated by Solemn Strike. If Revolt is chain link 2 or higher in the chain, however, you will not be able to negate the summon with Solemn Strike. In this case, there will be other cards left to resolve in the chain, and you are prohibited from activating new cards and effects during the resolution of a chain.

Please note that the aforementioned "immediately after" text is not unique to Revolt. There are several other cards with that text like or . Those two cards perform a tribute summon after their effects resolve. While you cannot negate a tribute summon with Solemn Strike because it is not a special summon, you can negate it with , as an example.

Knowing this interaction might make the difference of you winning or losing a game in the future. Negating the summon with Solemn Strike will prevent the Tri-Brigade player from reviving the monster with another copy of Revolt during a subsequent turn. Moreover, they will have one less body on the field. So, be sure to remember this interaction!

Tri-Brigade Revolt vs. El Shaddoll Winda

prevents both players from special summoning more than once while she is on the field. When Winda is already on the field, Tri-Brigade Revolt makes two special summons: one special summon of the link materials and one special summon of the link monster. Since Winda prohibits special summoning more than once, Revolt cannot be activated. This is probably unsurprising to most of you.

The situation becomes more interesting when Revolt is activated and Winda is summoned to the field in the same chain before Revolt resolves through a card like or (for example chain link 1 Revolt, chain link 2 Schism). In this situation, Winda comes down before Revolt resolves but after it has already been activated. Many players believe that Revolt, since it has already been activated, will resolve to the degree it can, summoning the link materials, but not special summoning the link monster. However, this is wrong. Actually, Revolt will not special summon any monsters at all in this scenario.

This happens because Revolt does not require targeting the link materials as part of its activation. It only requires that you special summon an appropriate amount of Beast, Beast-Warrior, and/or Winged Beast monsters that can be used as link materials for a link summon afterward. We even have an official OCG ruling for this interaction. You might need your browser to translate that page.

Tri-Brigade Revolt vs. There Can Be Only One

Next, we will take a look at what happens when (TCBOO) is chained to the activation of Tri-Brigade Revolt. This interaction is probably the trickiest in this article. Unfortunately, I cannot give you a definitive answer on this one because at the time of writing this article we do not have an official ruling for this interaction. Currently, there are two different views on the issue.

Since TCBOO is chained to Revolt, it resolves first – this is one way to see it. If the Tri-Brigade player does not control any monsters, they can summon any appropriate amount of monsters for which they have a legal target for a link summon in the extra deck. Hence, they can also summon two Beast monsters if they do not control any Beast monsters at that point. If they already control monsters, they can only summon monsters with types different from those on their field.

After these have been summoned, TCBOO applies its effect, forcing the player to potentially send monsters to the graveyard to fulfill TCBOO's restriction. If it is still possible to summon a link monster from the extra deck after some of the summoned monsters have been sent to the graveyard by TCBOO, the player must perform that link summon. If there isn't a legal target left in the extra deck after some of the monsters have been sent to the graveyard, the remaining monsters just remain on the field.

This ruling has been applied at the most recent German/Austrian/Swiss Remote Duel Extravaganza. Moreover, also the BeNeLux Extravaganza and the UK/Ireland Extravaganza have also followed this ruling. If you are playing in Europe, there is a high chance that this ruling will be applied. However, things look different on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.

In North America, several events have ruled the situation differently. The first part is ruled the same way. However, if any of the monsters that were summoned by Revolt are sent to the graveyard because of TCBOO, the effect stops after the monsters have been sent. This means that you do not get to special summon a Tri-Brigade link monster, even though you have a legal target in the extra deck for the remaining monsters.

At the time of writing this article there is no official ruling on this interaction yet. Since two different views exist on this matter, I would advise you to ask your head judge before an event to find out how they will rule at that specific event. Even though you are playing in Europe, a head judge might follow the North American ruling and vice-versa. If we receive an official (OCG) ruling, I will edit the ruling into this article.

Tri-Brigade Revolt vs. Simorgh, Bird of Sovereignty

In the build of the Tri-Brigade deck, is used to tutor out the or . If the Simorgh is sent to the graveyard, people might wonder if they can summon it with . The Simorgh states that it cannot be used as link material, but Revolt negates the effects of the monsters that are summoned by its effect.

Some players have argued that since Revolt negates the Simorgh's effects, it can be summoned by Revolt and used as a link material. However, this is not possible. The part in Simorgh's text that says that it cannot be used as link material is not an effect but rather a condition (I admit that the word "condition" is not official. However, there is no official term for this occurrence). Such conditions always apply and cannot be negated. The situation at hand is also backed up by an official OCG ruling.

Note that this also applies to a variety of other cards such as or . If Bardiche is negated by or it still cannot be used as link material.

This sums up my summary of rulings involving Tri-Brigade Revolt. Are there any cards or interactions that confuse you or give you headaches? If so, please let me know about them down in the comments. Maybe I will discuss them in a future article!

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