Tips and Trickstars

Hey all and good morning!

Since Trickstars will soon be making an appearance in the TCG, as well as a fair chunk of new players with the advent of Link Summoning, etc., I thought it might be a good idea to compile some of the ins and outs of their, well, trickier mechanics in one place. Some of these might be a bit more obvious to experienced players, but it's good to get a refresher every now and again! Hopefully this can help both folks looking to try out the Trickstars for themselves and those worried about less than savory players trying to sneak out improper plays.

Shared Effects:
●The damage-inflicting effects of Lycoris, Candina, Holly Angel, and Light Stage do not activate, and so do not start Chains. (This is noted in PSCT by a lack of colons or semicolons.)

{{Trickstar Lilybell}}:
●Yes, the line "If this card is added to your hand, except by drawing it: You can Special Summon it from your hand" means it will work if it's bounced from the field to the hand, in addition to the usual searching from deck/adding from GY. Even {{Exchange}} will work.

{{Trickstar Lycoris}}:
●The Special Summon effect only cares about having a target at activation - it will still Special Summon itself at resolution if the target is gone. This means you can Chain 2+ Lycoris to each other, targeting the same monster, and still summon all of them.
●Much like Lilybell, Lycoris' burn will work even if the cards are bounced from the field to your opponent's hand.
●Lycoris must reveal itself as part of the Special Summon effect. If Lycoris is already revealed due to a card's effect, like {{Respect Play}}, it cannot activate.
Not really mechanics, but things that can be easy to overlook in the text:
●For its Special Summon effect, it Summons itself first and then returns the target to the hand, if any. So you can't use its effect on a full field.
●Lycoris' burn is 200 damage per card added to the hand. Unlike the others, this burn is done all at once if multiple cards are added at once (no trying to get 5 extra burns with a Dark Room of Nightmare or Light Stage!)

{{Trickstar Candina}}:
●This is more for new players, but once Candina's Normal Summon effect is activated, it doesn't matter if the card stays on the field. In other words, using Lycoris to return a Candina to the hand immediately after it's Summoned will not negate the search.

{{Trickstar Holly Angel}}:
● Holly's burn effect happens when Trickstar monster (s) are summoned, so summoning two at once will only burn for 200.
● Holly's ATK gain is an activated effect. If multiple monsters inflict damage with continuous effects (for example, 2 Lycoris each burning for 200), Holly will activate for each instance (creating 2 Chain Links in this example).

{{Trickstar Light Stage}}:
Mostly new player stuff here:
● The effect to target a card in the S/T Zone does activate, and nothing prevents you from activating the targeted card in response (as long as it is the correct timing). Speaking of correct timing, that also applies to the second part of the effect. In other words, you can't just activate a {{Mirror Force}} at the End Phase.
● Since (most) Field Spell effects require the Field Spell to remain in play, removing Light Stage from the field will "free" any Set card it had targeted.

SPECIAL SECTION: DROLL & LOCK BIRD WITH REINCARNATION
Many players now know of the hand-obliterating interaction between {{Trickstar Reincarnation}} and {{Droll & Lock Bird}}, but the timing and reasoning can be a little tricky to the uninitiated. Let's go through the basic steps and then explain.

Step 1: Opponent adds card(s) from Deck to hand outside of their Draw Phase.
Step 2: Immediately after the card is added, activate Trickstar Reincarnation.
Step 3: Chain Droll & Lock Bird to the activation of Reincarnation.
Result: Droll & Lock Bird resolves, the banishing portion of Reincarnation resolves, the drawing portion does not.

This works because Droll & Lock Bird does not have to be the first thing activated in response to your opponent adding the card to their hand, as long as it is still in that activation window (i.e., the Chain). The Chain is also important - if you activated Droll & Lock Bird separately, you wouldn't be able to activate Reincarnation at all (since it makes your opponent draw cards and Droll says "no" to that). But since Reincarnation has already been activated, and the banishing part of the effect is not contingent on whether your opponent can draw cards or not, it "slips through", so to speak. Think of it like the difference between checking for an ID outside of the bar (and denying entry there) vs checking for an ID inside the bar (you still can't drink but you can get in the bar). Or something.

At the moment, that's all I can think of! If there's anything that can be corrected, clarified, or added, please let me know! And of course, the judge will have the final say in any disputes (which could be good or bad depending on how R&D decides to interpret certain effects/stick to PSCT). Happy tricking!