How it works#
Two different restrictions share the same everyday name.
Soft once per turn — "Once per turn, you can…"
The limit applies to each individual copy. Two copies of the card on the field are two separate uses. If the monster leaves the field and comes back, its counter resets and it may be used again.
Hard once per turn — "You can only use this effect of [card name] once per turn"
The limit applies across every copy you control or own, and it does not reset. Naming the card is the tell: once the effect has been used, no other copy may use it that turn, no matter where it came from.
Worked example#
You control two copies of a monster whose text reads "Once per turn, you can…".
Both may use the effect this turn. That is a soft once per turn.
Now the text reads "You can only use this effect of [card name] once per turn". The first copy uses it and the second cannot — and neither can a third copy summoned later, nor the same copy after leaving and returning to the field.
Common misconceptions#
Does running three copies of a hard-once-per-turn card triple the effect?#
No. It gives you three chances to draw the card, which is valuable, but the effect still only happens once per turn. This is why hard once per turn cards are so often played at one or two copies rather than three.
Does a hard once per turn reset if the monster leaves the field?#
No. That reset is the defining property of a soft once per turn. A hard once per turn is tracked for the turn regardless of what happens to the card.
Does a negated activation still use up the restriction?#
Yes. The effect was activated, so the once per turn is consumed even though nothing happened. An effect that missed the timing, by contrast, was never activated and consumes nothing.
Do both players share the restriction?#
No. Once per turn restrictions are per player. Your opponent using their copy does not stop you using yours.
Interactions and rulings#
- Some cards carry both: a soft once per turn on one effect and a hard once per turn on another. Read each effect separately.
- "Once per turn" without "during your turn" applies during either player's turn, but only once across both.
- When a card says "you can only use each of the above effects of [card name] once per turn", each numbered effect gets its own independent hard limit.
