Unofficial Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG Rules for Two-on-Two Team Dueling
1. Seating
Teammates sit on the same side of the table, facing their opponents. To determine who goes first, a member of one Team flips a coin and a member of the opposing Team calls heads or tails. Whichever Team wins the toss chooses which of the four players will take the first turn, that player is player 1. Players 1 and 3 are the members of Team A and players 2 and 4 are the members of Team B.
2. Victory Condition
Each player has an independent Life Point total, starting at 8000 points. If a single player has his Life Points reduced to 0, or cannot draw a card from their Deck, that player is eliminated. When both players on a team are eliminated, the opposing team wins the Duel.
If a single player achieves a victory by a card’s effect, such as “Final Countdown”, “Destiny Board”, or “Exodia the Forbidden One” that player’s team wins the Duel.
3. Play Order
Turns proceed in the order illustrated above. Player 1A goes first, and then player 2B, then 3A, followed by 4B, then back to player 1A. Players 1A, 2B, and 3A all skip their Battle Phase during their first turn. Player 4B is the first player who may conduct a Battle Phase.
Two teammates cannot take their turns consecutively. If player 3A is eliminated because his Life Points were reduced to 0, the turn order would become 1A, 2B, 1A, 4B, 1A, 2B… If player 2B is then eliminated, the turn order would become 1A, 4B, 1A, 4B, like a standard Duel.
4. The Dueling Field
The Dueling Field is now divided into quarters, not sides. Any card that refers to “your side of the field” should be read as “your quarter of the field”. Any card that refers to “your opponent’s side of the field” now requires you to select 1 of your two opponents, and the card affects “the chosen opponent’s quarter of the field”. Selecting an opponent in this manner is not considered targeting an opponent. Cards that affect both sides of the field will affect the entire field.
Examples: You (player 1A) activate “Raigeki”. You must choose either player 2B or 4B, so you choose player 4B. All monsters on 4B’s quarter of the field are destroyed.
You activate “Dark Hole”. Monsters on all 4 quarters of the field are destroyed.
You activate “Banner of Courage”. Monsters on your quarter of the field increase their ATK by 200 points during your Battle Phase. During your teammate’s (player 3A) Battle Phase, his monsters do not increase their ATK by the effect of “Banner of Courage”.
You control “Frontier Wiseman” and your teammate controls “Celtic Guardian”. The opponent may still activate “Ring of Destruction” and target “Celtic Guardian” because it is not on your quarter of the field, so the effect of “Frontier Wiseman” does not prevent it from being a target.
5. Cards that Reference Players
Cards that reference players should be interpreted as follows.
“Your opponent” means one selected opponent.
“You and your opponent” means yourself and one selected opponent.
“Both players” means one selected member from your team, and one selected member from the opposing team. Selecting an opponent for any of these purposes is not considered targeting.
Examples: You (player 1A) activate “Confiscation”. You choose one of your opponents (player 4B), look at his/her hand and select a card. That card is discarded.
You (player 1A) activate “Card Destruction”. You select one of your opponents (player 2B). Both you and the selected opponent discard your hands and draw the same number of cards. Players 3A and 4B do nothing.
You (player 1A) have a Set “Cyber Jar” and player 2B attacks it with “Celtic Guardian”. All monsters on the field are destroyed. You then select players 3A and 4B to be the “both players”. Those two players each pick-up 5 cards and complete the effect of “Cyber Jar”. Players 1A and 2B had all their monsters destroyed, but do nothing after that.
6. Priority
Priority still passes between the turn player and the opponents as standard, except now that there are two opponents. The opponents share their priority spot, they must talk amongst themselves to decide which of them (if any) what to activate an effect at that time; after one of the opponents has activated an effect, or both decline to, priority passes back to the turn player.
Example: Player 3A is the turn player and activates “Monster Reborn” and targets “Dark Magician” in his Graveyard. Priority passes to the opponent’s and player 4B activates “Disappear” targeting the same “Dark Magician”. Priority passes back to the turn player (3A) who activates “Call of the Haunted” in an attempt to save his monster. Priority passes back the opponents and player 2B activates “Seven Tools of the Bandit” and pays 1000 Life Points to negate “Call of the
Haunted”. Priority goes back to player 3A who has no more effects to activate, so priority passes back to the opponents, and neither of them wishes to activate another effect. The chain resolves “Seven Tools of the Bandit” negates “Call of the Haunted” 􀃆“Disappear” removes “Dark Magician” from play 􀃆“Monster Reborn” cannot resolve because the targeted “Dark Magician” is no longer in the Graveyard.
7. Sharing Information
You may look at your teammate’s Set cards and cards in hand. You can advise each other on strategies, but you cannot activate your teammate’s cards for them. You should still ask permission before touching your teammate’s cards.
8. Spell Card Activation (Team Spellcasting)
In Two-on-Two Team Dueling you may activate your Set Spell Cards during your teammate’s Main Phase 1 or 2. When the turn player has priority, he may ask his teammate if he’d like to activate a Spell Card. If the teammate does so, priority will then pass to the opponents. The teammate’s action takes up the turn player’s priority. The Spell Card still functions the same, so if Player 3A activates “Pot of Greed” during Player 1A’s Main Phase, player 3A is still the player that draws 2 cards.
Example: Player 1A is the turn player and it is his Main Phase 1. Player 1A Normal Summons “Luster Dragon”; priority passes to the opponents and they have no response. Player 1A asks his teammate, player 3A, to activate his Set Spell Card. Player 3A activates “Change of Heart” moving player 2B’s only monster to player 3A’s quarter of the field; the opponent’s have no response. Player 1A then enters his Battle Phase and attacks player 2B directly with “Luster Dragon”.
Set Quick-Play Spell Cards can still be activated at anytime in accordance with the Official Rules. Quick-Play Spell Cards cannot be played from your hand during your teammate’s turn.
9. Trap Card Activation
Set Trap Cards may still be activated at anytime after the turn they were Set, in accordance with the Official Rules.
10. Declaring an Attack
When it is your Battle Phase, you may declare an attack on any monster on either of your opponent’s quarter of the field. If one opponent has two monsters, and the other opponent has no monsters, you may chose to attack the opponent with no monsters directly (see section 10 for more details).
11. Team Defending
In a Two-on-Two Duel you may protect your teammate when they are being attacked directly. Three conditions must be satisfied to declare a Team Defense: (1) your teammate has no monsters on the field, (2) you have at least one monster on the field, and (3) your teammate is being attacked directly. Declaring a Team Defense means that for the remainder of the Battle Phase, your opponent’s Life Points cannot be attacked directly. This causes a replay, and the opponent can now decide to either attack one of your monsters or not attack at all.
A Team Defense must be declared immediately after an attack is declared.
A Team Defense may be declared during any attack declaration in the Battle Phase, it does not have to be the first attack of that Battle Phase.
If after you declare a Team Defense all your monsters are destroyed, the Team Defense ends and either your or your teammate may be attacked directly.
If the three conditions are satisfied, you may declare a Team Defense even when your opponent is attacking your teammate with “Inaba White Rabbit”. This would make it so that the “Inaba White Rabbit” could only attack your Life Points.
12. Eliminated Players
When a player has been eliminated because his Life Points have been reduced to 0, or because he cannot draw a card, all cards that that player owns are also eliminated from the Duel. This includes cards that are under another player’s control, or that may be in another player’s hand or Deck because of a card effect. The eliminated player may still help his teammate, and see the contents of his teammate’s hand and Set cards.
Appendix A. Individual Card Rulings for Two-on-Two Dueling
A.1 Final Countdown
Each players turn counts. So if player 1A activates this card, player 2B’s turn is count 2, player 3A’s turn is count 3, and so on.
A.2 Magic Cylinder
The opponent that controls the attacking monster is the opponent that will take the damage from this card’s effect.
A.3 Monster Reborn
You cannot target a monster in your teammate’s Graveyard. The target must be in either of your opponents’ Graveyards, or your own Graveyard.
A.4 Ring of Magnetism
If one opponent controls a monster equipped with “Ring of Magnetism”, the other opponent’s monsters cannot be attacked, nor can that opponent be attacked directly if they control no monsters.
A.5 Snatch Steal
The opponent that controlled the equipped monster is the opponent that will gain the 1000 Life Points during his Standby Phase.