Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring is guaranteed to be a card you’ll come across in higher-level competitive play, so it’s important to know what it can and cannot be used against. Now that we have its English text, and with Maximum Crisis only weeks away, this is a good opportunity for a refresher on the different rulings we’ve (already) posted for it.
Here you’ll find translations of these rulings from the Japanese database regarding Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring. (You’re not supposed to site these for TCG purposes, but we’ve looked them over and every single one is supported by its English text, so you shouldn’t have any issues.)
You’ll find these and more here, if you set the page to Japanese.
● The effect of Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring is a Quick Effect that is activated in the hand.
● Discarding Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring from your hand is the cost to activate its effect.
● The effect cannot be activated during the Damage Step.
● The effect of Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring does not target. It is an effect that must be activated by chaining directly to a Spell/Trap Card, Spell/Trap effect, or monster effect that includes the listed actions.
A: When your opponent activates the effect of Maxx “C” from their hand, you can chain the effect of Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring. Since the effect of Maxx “C” is negated, your opponent does not draw a card each time you Special Summon a monster(s) this turn.
A: When your opponent activates Interrupted Kaiju Slumber, you can chain the effect of Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring.
A: When your opponent activates Reasoning, you can chain the effect of Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring. Since the effect of Reasoning is negated, your opponent does not excavate any cards.
A: When your opponent activates Shaddoll Fusion, you can chain the effect of Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring. (Whether or not you control any monsters Special Summoned from the Extra Deck does not matter.)
A: When your opponent activates Wavering Eyes, you can chain the effect of Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring. (The number of cards present in the Pendulum Zones does not matter.)
A: When your opponent activates Book of Eclipse, you can chain the effect of Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring. (Whether or not you control any face-down Defense Position monsters does not matter.)
A: When your opponent activates the effect of an Xyz Monster gained from Zoodiac Ratpier, you can chain the effect of Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring. In this scenario, although that effect is negated, Zoodiac Drident remains face-up in the Monster Zone, and its other effects are not negated.
A: When your opponent activates Dark Magical Circle, you can chain the effect of Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring. In this scenario, although the effect that allows your opponent to look at the top 3 cards of their Deck is negated, Dark Magical Circle remains face-up in your opponent’s Spell & Trap Zone, and its other effects are not negated. Furthermore, when your opponent activates the effect of Dark Magical Circle that banishes a card when Dark Magician is Normal or Special Summoned, you cannot chain the effect of Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring.
A: The effect of Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring only negates the effect it was chained to. In this scenario, the effect of Macro Cosmos that can Special Summon a Helios – The Primordial Sun from the hand or Deck is negated, but the effect that banishes cards that would be sent to the Graveyard is not negated.
A: Even if the effect of Dimensional Fissure is applying, so that monsters that would be sent to the Graveyard are banished instead, the effect of Foolish Burial is still considered one that includes sending a card from the Deck to the Graveyard. In this scenario, when your opponent activates Foolish Burial, you can chain the effect of Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring.
A: If your opponent Fusion Summoned Infernoid Tierra using 5 or more Fusion Materials with different names as Fusion Materials and activates its effect, you can chain the effect of Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring. (In that case, none of the “●” effects of Infernoid Tierra are applied.) Note that if Infernoid Tierra was Fusion Summoned using 4 or less Fusion Materials with different names, you cannot chain the effect of Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring to its effect.
A: If Granmarg the Mega Monarch was Tribute Summoned without Tributing any EARTH monsters, you cannot chain the effect of Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring.
A: When your opponent activates the effect of Card Trooper that increases its ATK, you cannot chain the effect of Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring.
A: When your opponent activates the effect of Cyber-Stein, you cannot chain the effect of Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring.
A: When your opponent activates the Pendulum Effect of Oafdragon Magician, you cannot chain the effect of Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring.
A: When your opponent activates the effect of Zaborg the Mega Monarch, you cannot chain the effect of Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring.
A: When your opponent activates Spellbook of Power, you cannot chain the effect of Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring. Furthermore, when the monster affected by Spellbook of Power destroys an opponent’s monster by battle and the effect of Spellbook of Power is activated, since that effect activates in the Damage Step, you cannot chain the effect of Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring.
A: When your opponent activates Gold Sarcophagus, you cannot chain the effect of Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring.
So, those were what have been posted as official OCG rulings. There might be other cards players ask about, but the idea is that any card/effect that will, can, or might do the 3 things listed in its text (Special Summon from the Main Deck, add cards from the Main Deck to the hand INCLUDING DRAWING, or sending cards from the Main Deck to the Graveyard). It’s very similar to how Solemn Warning works, regarding effects that “include” Special Summoning, but has the advantage of also working against Spell/Trap effect activations, not just Spell/Trap Card activations.
One question that was asked: Why can it be used against the effect of Granmarg the Mega Monarch and Infernoid Tierra only under certain conditions, but always against Wavering Eyes or Shaddoll Fusion, even if the conditions are not met for them to perform the listed actions? Shouldn’t Infernoid Tierra always be considered an effect that includes sending cards from the Deck to the Graveyard? From what I can see, the difference is that the conditions that determine how the effect of Infernoid Tierra resolves are set BEFORE the effect is activated (in its case, the number of Fusion Materials it used), but Shaddoll Fusion and Wavering Eyes determine this at resolution. For example, if you activated Shaddoll Fusion when there were no monsters on the field Special Summoned from the Extra Deck, your opponent could still chain their Fullmetalfoes Fusion and control such a monster by the time your Shaddoll Fusion resolves, thus allowing you to send Fusion Materials from your Deck. Conversely, there is nothing that can be chained to the effect of Infernoid Tierra that might alter the number of Fusion Materials it already used.
Another thing you may wonder is why it can be used against Book of Eclipse‘s activation, but not Spellbook of Power‘s initial activation. This is because the drawing effect of Book of Eclipse is the result of the effect that applied when the card was activated. Spellbook of Power will create a new chain for the effect that adds a “Spellbook” card to your hand, therefore it is considered a separate effect. The key here is that one does not start a new Chain, and the other does. (The only reason you cannot use Ash Blossom’s effect against Power’s second effect is that it activates in the Damage Step.)
Other than that, it shouldn’t be too hard to figure out.
