Trigger

"Trigger" (トリガー Torigā) is a card effect included on "Trigger Units", cards colored yellow. There are four trigger effects, and all tournament-legal trigger units are grade 0. During the deck construction, your deck must always contain 16 trigger units, and among them, you may only have up to four heal triggers (even if they have different card names).

Keywords involving Trigger check

Rescue

How it Works

A trigger effect activates in either of these two situations, during a "drive check" or a "damage check". A trigger check is done by putting the top card of the player's deck into his or her trigger zone, and if that card is a trigger unit, its "trigger effect" will be applied immediately. After resolving all effects activated by the check, if the card is still in the trigger zone, it is put into its owner's determined zone, regardless of whether it has a trigger effect or not (this does not mean draw a card).
- Damage Check: Put that card face up into your damage zone.
- Drive Check: Put that card into your hand.
When the player must check for more than a trigger, resolve the currently activating trigger effect first before checking for the next.
To activate a trigger effect, the player who activate it must have at least 1 vanguard or rear-guard with the same clan as that trigger unit.
Trigger effects always must be activated if possible. Therefore, if a heal trigger is activated, you must heal one damage if you fulfilled the condition, even if it causes that an effect disappears, such as a [CONT] Limit Break.
Each trigger has two effects; The "Power+5000" and another one depending on the trigger. The effects from the trigger can be applied on two different units, regardless of the clan of them.

Examples

If "Battleraizer" is revealed, and the player only has "Nova Grappler" units present, the trigger effect activates, choosing the rear-guard "Brutal Jack"- Standing it and give it +5000 power until end of turn.
If "Grim Reaper" is revealed by "Alfred Early", if the player has a "Blaster Dark" rear-guard, the trigger effect activates since a Shadow Paladin unit is present- giving to "Blaster Dark" +5000 power and "Alfred Early" an extra critical until end of turn.
If "Dragon Monk, Genjo" is revealed by Mr. Invincible, but the player does not have any Kagerō rear-guard present, the trigger effect cannot be activated as a result.

Trigger Effects

All triggers share the effect of increasing a unit's power by +5000, which lasts until end of that turn, and this effect is independent from the other trigger effect so it can be given to different units if the player wants to. Every trigger effect is resolved in the order the player likes.

"Draw Trigger" : The player draws a card. It is noted by the color red.
"Critical Trigger" : The player chooses one of his/her units and gives it critical+1 until the end of that turn. It is noted by the color yellow.
"Heal Trigger" : The player chooses a card from his/her damage zone and puts it into his/her drop zone (This action is called "heal"). This can only be done if the player has equal or more damage than his/her opponent. It is noted by the color green.
"Stand Trigger" : The player chooses one of his/her rear-guards, and changes it from rest to stand . It is noted by the color blue.

Frequently Asked Question

Question: If I reveal a heal trigger while I have one damage and my opponent has two damage, can I heal?
Answer: No, since the heal trigger is in your trigger zone while its effect is being resolved.
Question: If an effect causes that a card is put into a player's damage zone, is it a damage check?
Answer: Unless otherwise specified in that effect, it is not a damage check.

Trivia

With the introduction of Booster Set 11: Seal Dragons Unleashed, there are triggers that you can have up to sixteen copies in a deck, bypassing the usual rule of up to four copies in the deck. Currently, the only cards than can do this is Mass Production Sailor and Machining Cicada.
In Cardfight!! Vanguard Anime Season 1, Episode 2, It is shown that Aichi's Yggdrasil Maiden, Elaine has 6000 [Power]. This was either an accident, or Bushiroad is still considering at that moment whether a trigger should have the same power as normal Grade 0 units. It is also possible that the mistake is intentional, as Elaine boosts will allow Gallatin to reach 16000 [Power], enough to force a 10000 [Shield] by Kai when Dragonic Overlord is attacked.
Starting with Booster Set 6: Breaker of Limits, every booster pack comes with one trigger per pack. However, this does not apply to any extra boosters that are released.
In the manga, when the card revealed by a check is not a trigger, it is called "blank trigger".