Resolve As Much As Possible

When an effect resolves, the game performs every part it still can given the current game state, and skips only the parts that have become impossible. An effect does not silently fail in full just because the board changed after activation. Whether a part can be skipped, or instead forces the whole effect to do nothing, is decided by the conjunction word joining the parts of the card text.

This is the resolution-time companion to Effects Act Only on Cards in the Zone They Specify: conjunctions decide whether a part is attempted; the location rule decides whether that part can find its target when attempted.

The conjunction words that control partial resolution

Read the exact word joining the two halves of the effect:

• "and" — all-or-nothing. "Do A and B." If you cannot do both, you do nothing.
• "also" — independent. "Do A, also do B." Neither part requires the other; do as much as you can.
• "then" — A gates B. "Do A, then do B." If A does not happen, stop. If B cannot happen, A still resolves.
• "and if you do" — like "then" (A gates B), but timed as resolving together. If A fails, stop; if B fails, A still stands.

Only "and" makes a failed second part undo the first. With "then" / "and if you do" / "also", the first/independent part keeps its result and only the impossible part is skipped.

Exception — negate-and-destroy. "Negate the activation and destroy it" effects (Gladiator Beast War Chariot, Dragonmaid Sheou) are a recognized exception to the "and = all-or-nothing" reading at activation: they can be activated to negate even when the "destroy" cannot apply (target in the GY / off the field). The negation resolves and the destruction is skipped — see An Effect Needs a Legal Target / a Possible Application to Activate. Do not cite the "and" rule to forbid this.

Why a part can become impossible mid-resolution

A part is skipped at resolution when the game state it needs no longer exists — most commonly because the card it refers to has left the location it activated from. A "Special Summon this card" clause summons the card from where the effect is operating; if the card has since moved (banished, returned to Deck/hand, shuffled), the "this card" reference has nothing to act on and that part is skipped while the rest resolves. This is the general class behind cards with a "then you can Special Summon this card" rider.

Worked example — Mitsurugi vs. D.D. Crow

Ame no Murakumo no Mitsurugi — "If this card is Tributed: You can add 1 'Mitsurugi' card from your Deck to your hand, except 'Ame no Murakumo no Mitsurugi', then you can Special Summon this card."

Player A Tributes Ame no Murakumo no Mitsurugi; it goes to the GY and its Tribute effect activates there. Player B chains D.D. Crow, targeting that Ame no Murakumo no Mitsurugi in the GY and banishing it. What happens when A's effect resolves?

— Answer: A still adds 1 "Mitsurugi" card from the Deck to hand, but cannot Special Summon Ame no Murakumo no Mitsurugi. The halves are joined by "then": the add (A) resolves first and is not undone, but the Special Summon (B) refers to "this card" from its activation location, the GY. D.D. Crow removed it from the GY, so the "this card" reference can no longer be summoned and that part is skipped. Because the join is "then" (not "and"), the failed summon does not cancel the completed search.

"Special Summon this card from your hand" fails if the card left your hand — Nibiru, the Primal Being

A "Special Summon this card from [location]" clause needs the card to still be in that location when the clause resolves — the same "this card" reference rule as the Ame no Murakumo no Mitsurugi example above. If a Chain Link disruption moves the card out first, the earlier parts still resolve while that summon — and anything gated behind it — is skipped.

Nibiru, the Primal Being — "… You can Tribute as many face-up monsters on the field as possible, and if you do, Special Summon this card from your hand, then Special Summon 1 'Primal Being Token' … to your opponent's field."

Nibiru, the Primal Being is activated (Chain Link 1). Before it resolves, a chained effect removes Nibiru, the Primal Being from the hand — e.g. it is discarded as part of a Labrynth Stovie Torbie / Labrynth Chandraglier effect (Chain Link 2). What happens when Nibiru (CL1) resolves? — Answer: All face-up monsters are still Tributed, but neither Nibiru, the Primal Being nor the Primal Being Token is Summoned. The Tribute resolves; but "Special Summon this card from your hand" can no longer find Nibiru in the hand (it's in the GY now), so that part is skipped — and because the Token is gated behind Nibiru's own Special Summon (joined by "then"), it doesn't happen either. The board is wiped with nothing Summoned back.

The same shape appears whenever a "Special Summon this card / a specific card from [zone]" step is disrupted at a later Chain Link: the cost/early parts resolve and only the now-impossible summon is skipped. Eldlixir of Scarlet Sanguine (whose Special Summon is similarly one part of a larger effect) behaves the same way when its summon becomes impossible at resolution.

A monster-equip effect is not negated by the host leaving — the target is sent to the GY, not left alone

"Resolve as much as possible" has a counterintuitive edge for equip effects. A "Special Summon this card" rider that becomes impossible is simply skipped (above), and nothing is sent anywhere. But an effect that equips a monster to this card is not harmlessly skipped when "this card" is gone: the equip still resolves as far as it can, and a monster left with no valid host to attach to is sent to the Graveyard by the equip-card rule.

Thousand-Eyes Restrict / Relinquished — "Once per turn: You can target 1 monster your opponent controls; equip that target to this card." Destiny HERO - Plasma has the same "equip an opponent's monster to this card" mechanic.

You activate Thousand-Eyes Restrict's effect (Chain Link 1) targeting your opponent's monster. Your opponent chains a card that destroys / banishes / flips / bounces Thousand-Eyes Restrict (Chain Link 2). CL2 resolves first, so Thousand-Eyes Restrict is no longer face-up when CL1 resolves. What happens to the opponent's targeted monster? — Answer: it is sent to the Graveyard. The equip effect is not negated, so it still resolves; with no face-up Thousand-Eyes Restrict to attach to, the targeted monster cannot be equipped, and a monster that was to become an Equip Card with no valid host is sent from the opponent's Monster Zone to the GY.

Two distinctions to keep straight:

• This is a send to the GY, not a destruction. It happens even to a monster that "cannot be destroyed," and it does not count as being "destroyed by" anything for trigger purposes.
• The legacy "fizzle" ruling is superseded. Goat-era rulings said the effect fizzled and the monster stayed on the field. Modern rulings apply "resolve as much as possible," so the monster goes to the GY. Do not cite the old fizzle outcome.
• Different from the lingering-equip case. If the monster is successfully equipped and the host leaves the field later, the now-stranded Equip Card is likewise sent to the GY — but that is the continuous equip-card rule, not this resolution-time case. Both end in the GY; only the timing/reason differ.

This is the opposite outcome from the "Special Summon this card" rider above: there the impossible part is skipped and nothing moves; here the impossible equip leaves a stranded equip card the game must send to the GY.

Counts checked at resolution include costs paid by higher Chain Links

Some effects check a game-state count only when they resolve. If higher Chain Links were activated after that effect and their costs put cards into the GY first, those cards are already there by the time the lower Chain Link resolves.

Sky Striker Mobilize - Engage! — add 1 "Sky Striker" card from your Deck to your hand, then if you have 3 or more Spells in your GY, you can draw 1 card.

"I activated Sky Striker Mobilize - Engage! with 2 Spells in my GY. Higher Chain Links sent more Spells to the GY as activation costs. When Engage resolves, do I draw?"

— Yes, if there are 3 or more Spells in your GY at resolution. Engage checks the Spell in GY count as it resolves, not only at activation. Costs paid for higher Chain Links have already moved those Spells to the GY before Engage resolves, so they count toward the draw.

Do not freeze the count at activation unless the card text says to. Chain resolution changes the board and GY before earlier Chain Links resolve.

Judge calls to watch for

• Identify the conjunction first: "and" = all-or-nothing; "then" / "and if you do" / "also" = resolve the parts still possible.
• A "Special Summon this card" / "this card" rider needs the card to still be in the location it activated from when that step resolves. If it was banished, shuffled, or moved out, that rider is skipped — earlier parts still resolve.
• Do not rule the entire effect fizzled because the last clause became impossible; only "and"-joined effects do nothing on partial failure.
• Do not invent a separate "banish" effect on cards like Ame no Murakumo no Mitsurugi; the interaction is the "then" Special Summon referencing a card D.D. Crow removed from the GY.
• Activation legality is judged at activation; whether each part resolves is judged step by step. See also Conditional Clauses vs. Activation Conditions.
• A "Special Summon this card from your hand" rider (e.g. Nibiru, the Primal Being) is skipped if the card was discarded/moved out of the hand by a later Chain Link — the Tribute (and other earlier parts) still resolve, and a "then"-gated follow-up (the Token) is skipped too.
• An "equip that target to this card" effect (Thousand-Eyes Restrict, Relinquished, Destiny HERO - Plasma) is not harmlessly skipped when the host leaves before it resolves: the effect still resolves and the target is sent to the GY (modern ruling), not left on the field. The legacy "fizzle, monster stays" outcome is superseded.
• If an effect checks a count at resolution (such as 3+ Spells in GY for Sky Striker Mobilize - Engage!), include cards that reached the GY as costs for higher Chain Links before it resolved.

Sources

Konami "Understanding Card Text" Part 7 (Conjunction Functions), https://www.yugioh-card.com/eu/play/understanding-card-text/part-7-conjunction-functions/ ; YGOrganization Mitsurugi rulings, https://ygorganization.com/mitsurugiround1/ ; card text via Konami Neuron DB cid=21054.

Nibiru, the Primal Being: card text via YGOPRODeck API; Yugipedia "Card Tips:Nibiru, the Primal Being" — if Nibiru leaves the hand after activation (e.g. via a Labrynth Chandraglier / Stovie Torbie discard) all monsters are still Tributed but neither Nibiru nor the Primal Being Token is Special Summoned (the "Special Summon this card from your hand" reference fails). Eldlixir of Scarlet Sanguine card text via YGOPRODeck API.

Thousand-Eyes Restrict / Relinquished / Destiny HERO - Plasma equip-disruption: current Konami OCG FAQ via Yugipedia "Card Rulings:Relinquished" (cite 6643) — "When resolving the effect of Destiny HERO - Plasma, Relinquished, or Thousand-Eyes Restrict that equips an opponent's monster to it, if [the host] is no longer face-up on the field, the effect resolution is still applied. In that case, the targeted monster cannot be equipped ... and it is sent from the opponent's Monster Zone to the Graveyard." This supersedes the legacy Goat-format "fizzle, monster stays" ruling (goatrulings.com Thousand-Eyes Restrict). Card text via YGOPRODeck API.

"… and if you do, destroy/banish it" when the card already left its location: db.ygoresources.com Q&A 23949 (2026-06-07) — official blanket ruling (Konami lists ~18 cards, incl. PSY-Framegear Gamma, Vanquish Soul Razen). If a "negate that activation/effect, and if you do, destroy/banish it" effect resolves but the negated card has already left the zone/location it was activated in, the activation/effect is still negated, but the "destroy/banish it" clause fails and the card simply stays where it currently is. Confirms the "and if you do" rule here: A (the negate) stands even when B (destroy/banish) cannot be carried out. https://db.ygoresources.com/data/qa/23949

Sky Striker Mobilize - Engage! text via card database / YGOPRODeck; the 3+ Spell condition is checked during resolution, so costs already paid by higher Chain Links count.