Difference between negating a card's effect or its activation

[Jape]

What is the difference between negating a card's activation than its effect?

[Seraphon]

When a card's activation is negated, effectively that activation never happened.

So if you target Spirit Reaper with an effect, but that effect activation is negated, Spirit Reaper doesn't die from his own effect. If you have Royal Magical Library and activate a Spell Card, but that spell card's activation is negated, you don't add a counter.

When only the effect is negated, that chain link is resolving, just does nothing. But the chain link and the activation still 'happened', so in the above cases, Spirit Reaper would die, and you'd get a spell counter on Royal Magical Library.

[masterwoo0]

It can also make the difference when that card can be activated, since Counter Traps effectively can be activated in nearly every game phase whether they are negating effects or activations. Certain other effect must either negate one or the other to be activated in the Damage Step or Damage Calculation, and for the most part, only effects that negate activations have that timing, if they are not Counter Traps.

[Jape]

This is probably going to sound really stupid, but if only the activation is negated, does the effect still happen

[D1Case]

No.. If the activation is negated, there is never an effect to resolve.

Enjoy