In the game of Yu-Gi-Oh! Is there a difference between discarding a card and destroying a card from the hand?

Question

So I have a dinosaur Yu-Gi-Oh! deck, and I am wondering about the effect of Fossil Excavation...

[Activate this card by discarding 1 card, then target 1 Dinosaur-Type monster in your Graveyard; Special Summon that target. Negate the effects of that monster on the field. When this card leaves the field, destroy that monster. When that monster is destroyed, destroy this card.]

...in combination with either Babycerasaurus

[If this card is destroyed by a card effect and sent to the Graveyard: Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower Dinosaur-Type monster from your Deck.]

...and/or Petiteranodon?

[If this card is destroyed by a card effect and sent to the Graveyard: Special Summon 1 Level 4 or higher Dinosaur-Type monster from your Deck, but it cannot attack this turn.]

Also, is there a difference between a discard and destroying a card from the hand?

? · Accepted Answer

Discarding, banishing, tributing, destroying, are all forms of 'sending' a card from one location to another.
They are all forms of send, so anything that says 'when this is sent from hand to graveyard' would trigger from a discard, or destruction in hand from anything that can do that (not many do, but it can happen).

However the terms themselves are in no way interchangable. Discarding a card, or tributing a card, NEVER counts as 'destroying' it. Even if they're coming from the same place, and ending up in the same place, they are two distinct game actions and a trigger condition that looks for one, will only ever accept that exact one.

So, you can discard Babycerasaurus or Petiterandon for Fossil Excavation, but you are not destroying them and they will not trigger. Also note, their activation condition says 'by an effect', and that's also an important thing to remember because paying a cost is not 'part of the effect' so even if they did trigger from a discard, they could only trigger from a resolution that discards them and not a cost (this is how Dark World monsters work).

In the game of Yu-Gi-Oh! Is there a difference between discarding a card and destroying a card from the hand?

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