Now, normally I wouldn't do two Card Discussions in a single day, but I don't want to forget this. Because of this, I'll probably skip Card Discussion tomorrow and work on other features.
One of my friends asked me something today that rang an alert bell in my memory. Basically, he was under the impression that because Cyclone is a Quick-Play Magic, it could not only destroy, but counter Magics and Traps. I've heard other players online talking about this, and after doing a tad bit of research to make absolutely sure, I've got the results.
Cyclone cannot counter anything. It can only destroy. One of quotes from the rules of a game called Magic: the Gathering is "Destroying the source of an effect does not destroy the effect." This is also true in Yu-Gi-Oh!, but just telling you the ruling on this isn't enough. I'm going to explain the entire process of how this works; keep reading, you may learn something.
When a Magic card is played, you need to have an empty slot in your Magic/Trap Zone. Have you ever wondered why that is? Well, although players never actually do this because it would slow-down the game, the Magic card actually sits in this slot for a second. While it is sitting there, it's effect still hasn't gone off; this is when either player can choose to respond to the Magic with a Quick-Play Magic, Trap, or Counter-Trap card.
If someone does respond, then a chain is formed. The first Magic(let's pretend it was Thunderbolt) is placed at the bottom of the chain. Whatever responded to it(in this example, Cyclone) is flipped over. It's effect does not go off, as it has to give both players another chance to respond. The Cyclone's effect is stacked on top of the effect of Thunderbolt, and if someone responds to Cyclone, that effect will be stacked on top of the Cyclone, until both players decide not to respond.
When this happens, the effects start to go off, starting with whatever is on the top of the stack. Let's say that only the Cyclone(top of the stack) and Thunderbolt(bottom of the stack) are on the stack. Cyclone goes off, and it targets Thunderbolt to be destroyed. BAM! Thunderbolt's card flies off the field and into the Graveyard. However, the Thunderbolt card has no power anymore, as it's effect is all that matters, and the effect is already on the stack. Cyclone has done it's job, so the card is discarded to the Graveyard. Now, Thunderbolt's effect can go off, and it will kill all of your monsters. Normally the Thunderbolt card would be put in the Graveyard at this point, but it is already gone due to the Cyclone. The chain is over.
So, while Cyclone is indeed fast enough to respond to anything but a Counter-Trap, you can't actually counter anything. Still, I'm not bad-mouthing this card, just clarifying. This card is great, and it's a major card that every deck should at least consider playing. After all, when face-down, it looks like a Trap, so it can fool your opponent. As I've said before, bluffing and scaring your opponents are good strategies. If they try to destroy your Cyclone, the card is quick enough that it can activate, destroy one of your opponent's cards, and then be gone. Your opponent will have wasted a card.
Also, don't forget that Cyclone can quickly take care of Permanent Traps,Permanent Magics, and Field Magics, although it is important to remember that it does not counter them. Rather, it can destroy them as soon as they are played, and since a these 3 types of cards usually don't have effects that get stacked, they will never do anything.
I hope I helped improve your understanding of the card Cyclone! ^_^
