Jon-Stark wrote:You can in that case ONLY because its on the field where its stat is verifiable (has a number or is otherwise always counted as 0) . In cases where its in a private location (hand/deck) its always considered unverifiable. So for instance you cannot choose a ??? monster for Aqua Dolphins effect.
Take a closer look at
Nightmell the Dark Bonder's effect. Nightmell doesn't check the numerical ATK and DEF values. It checks the
original ones. So even if a monster with question mark ATK and DEF is put on the field so it then has its on-field ATK and DEF set to 0 or something, its original ATK and DEF will still be question marks.
That ruling regarding
Neo-Spacian Aqua Dolphin doesn't apply here to Small World or Nightmell. This is because Dolphin only checks and compares numerical values, and question mark monsters like you said have their ATK set to 0, or some other numerical value, while on the field, but remain question marks in the hand. Dolphin's ATK is 600, and such numerical values are never equal to, less than, or greater than, question marks.
Cards such as Small World and Nightmell on the other hand are capable of checking both numerical and non-numerical values, such as 0 ATK, 600 ATK, and question mark ATK; and one monster's question mark ATK can still be considered the same ATK as another monster's question mark ATK.
In other words, question mark ATK is only unverifiable when checking to see if it's less than or greater than another ATK value, but when checking to see if it's
equal to another ATK value, they can be compared like normal.
