Woooo here we go, we’re actually getting into the Attack Phase proper now. We begin with an overview of the Attack Phase, the parts of it, and some general rules while in it.

The Attack Phase is broken up into the following 4 steps:

Attack Preparation Step

Attack Declaration Step

Block Declaration Step

Damage Resolution Step

Based on what actions the turn player and the non-turn player take (or don’t take), you can go through the various steps multiple times, or skip some entirely. However, you’ll always go into the Attack Preparation Step and the Attack Declaration Step, unless some effect says otherwise. Also, while you’re in the Attack Phase, you’ll always be in one of the steps. When the game moves to the Attack Phase in any turn, it also moves to the Attack Preparation Step. Thus, the start of the Attack Phase is also the start of the Attack Preparation Step.

While in the Attack Phase, if the turn player controls any Forwards that are required to attack compulsorily, the turn player must attack with all of these Forwards, as long as they can legally attack, and the Attack Phase cannot be brought to an end until this has been done. However, this does mean the turn player doesn’t have to attack with those Forwards first (unless an effect says otherwise), so as long as those Forwards do attack, the turn player can attack with other Forwards as well, and in any order they like.

Effects can basically change anything they want when it comes to the Attack Phase: they can make Forwards be unable to attack; force them to attack; or even have them do more damage to a player if they successfully attack. Just know that I’m mainly talking about the rules as they are, and while I will note things here and there, I won’t keep saying “unless an effect says otherwise” every single time. Assume it’s implied.

Whew, that was a bit serious, wasn’t it? Maybe take a 2 minute break from your toilet break to unwind, then continue on.

I don’t really think there is anything worth doing a red text breakdown about in this overview, so we’ll just move on…

This step is interesting. It basically exists to allow the non-turn player a chance to prevent attacks. While that’s not all it’s for, it’s probably the main intention. Although Attack Prevention Step would probably be a confusing step name, so, uh, I digress, I guess.

All that really happens in this step is priority being given to the turn player. From there, you follow the priority rules, resolve things added to the stack, and continue until the stack is empty and both players pass priority, which then moves the game on to the Attack Declaration Step. The only other relevant information you really need to know is that the turn player returns to this step after each attack, if they can or want to make another attack. It can be an incredibly relevant step sometimes, other times not so much. I guess the important thing to remember here is that if you’re the non-turn player, you have the opportunity after the turn player’s Main Phase to do things, before they attack. So if your opponent just starts turning their cards sideways, and they don’t give you the opportunity to take action before so, get them told!

Pew pew pew. It’s time to do some attacking.

The first thing that happens in this step is the turn player choosing whether to attack or not. I’ll look at what happens when they choose to attack first, then after that I’ll look at what happens when they choose not to attack.

Okay, the turn player now wants to make an attack, but what kind of attack are they making? Is it an attack with a single Forward, or a Party Attack? Well, what I’m going to do is go over this step and the subsequent steps of the Attack Phase as if the turn player is only attacking with a single Forward, then I’ll deal with a Party Attack in its own section. Better to understand the process with one Forward, then see how things change when you have multiple, right?

We’ve now established in this scenario, the turn player is doing a big rawr, and attacking with a single Forward. Let’s roll back slightly and talk about the general conditions that need to be true to declare an attack with a Forward. To attack, a Forward must be active and has to meet either of the following conditions:

Have Haste.

Have been under the control of the turn player continuously since the beginning of the current turn.

If one of these conditions is true, the Forward can legally declare an attack, although if an effect causes the controller to have to pay a cost to declare an attack, in this case, the cost must be paid or the Forward can’t attack. Finally, a Forward can only attack once per turn.

Let me make a few more notes before we continue on. First, when declaring an attack, unless a Forward has Brave, it’s put from active to dull when it declares an attack. Second, once a Forward has declared an attack, preventing it from attacking via abilities or Summons does not stop the current attack its making. It will prevent it from future attacks though (if it can attack more than once). Likewise, dulling or activating a Forward that has declared an attack will not prevent the declared attack.

Bang bang, we’ve now declared our attack, and the attacking Forward is considered by the game as just that: an attacking Forward. Now, the turn player gains priority and you go through all the priority shiz I covered earlier. When it’s time to move to the next step, the game moves to the Block Declaration Step, that is, unless there is no longer an attacking Forward. If the attacking Forward leaves the field or changes controller at any point after it declares the attack (including in subsequent steps after the Attack Declaration Step), then it is no longer considered an attacking Forward. So, in the case that there is no attacking Forward, but an attack was declared, the game moves back to the Attack Preparation Step. Do note that returning to the Attack Preparation Step is not the same as going back to the start of the Attack Phase, so any “at the start of the Attack Phase” auto-abilities (or similar auto-abilities) will not trigger again. Wol’s not that good, geezus.

*rewind noises*

Now let’s say the turn player didn’t declare an attack. When this happens, you continue on in the Attack Declaration Step as normal, meaning the turn player will now be given priority. Once it’s time to move steps/phases, since no attack was declared, the game moves straight to Main Phase 2.

Let’s now simplify some of what I said here down into a few breakdowns.

First, in regards to being able to declare an attack with a Forward.

A Forward must be active and either have been continuously under the control of the turn player since the beginning of the current turn or have Haste to declare an attack.

Second, in regards to which step/phase the game moves to due to priority being passed consecutively.

If the game would move to the next step/phase from the Attack Declaration Step: