Talk:Dancing Magician, Tetsuya/@comment-10794218-20150818021337/@comment-26069426-20150818135855

Since they insist on using a PDF and not a web page, I can only link to the detailed rules:

In TCGs like Magic, YGO, and Force of Will, there is a stack/chain/chase. When you cast something, you begin the stack/chain/chase, and subsequent castings will add to it. Then, during resolution, the chain will resolve in a last-in-first-out order.

In Buddyfight, there is a similar feature. When a player triggers an effect, another player can choose to counter. Think of it like a handshake. In the above games, A and B can go back and forth until they run out of cards. In Buddyfight, an exchange is limited to 1 card per player, just as you're limited to 1 hand per handshake.

The Battle rule is that each battle can only have 1 handshake before the battle has to be resolved. But each phase can have any number of handshakes.

That being said, the "counter rule" is a misnomer. It should be named for the fact that it governs the triggering of an effect, and the opposing player's ability to trigger an effect in response.

Your best bet is to come up with whatever verbiage helps you explain this to the other people at your locals. I like to think of it like handshakes.

The matter of counter is a matter of timing; part of the requirements to trigger an effect.

In the case of Bloody King, his ACT ability says, discard a card from your hand to trigger my effect. If my effect triggers, you can choose a size 2 or less monster on your opponent's field and retire it. (For the handshake, this is you extending your hand to your opponent.) Your opponent triggers the effect of Dragon Barrier, which only needs to be declared since it has not Cost. (Your opponent takes your hand and you shake). The two effects resolve, last-in-first-out. Dragon Barrier prevents a size 2 or greater from leaving the field. Then Bloody King tries to make that size 2 or less retire, but it does not, so the effect fizzles (it doesn't complete successfully).

In the above example, you could have tried to cast Breathen Gard, but then that would have been the second hand you put out, and an all-together different handshake, so it couldn't have targeted a spell from a previous handshake.

Pardon the long post, and pardon if my tone comes off as condescending. If you already understand all of this, great. But I've only recently figured this all out, and hope that I can share my new knowledge with others. Hope it helps.