Oh, Konami and your labeling of effects...

Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon wrote:

You can remove from play 1 Dragon-Type monster you control to Special Summon this card.

"To" would seem to signify a cost, like it always does, which means this summon would start a chain...except it doesn't. Why? What makes this wording any less of a cost than Dark Simorgh?

Because Konami Says So.

If you havent noticed in ygo, even if 2 cards had the same exact txt doesnt mean they have the same rulings, each card has its own rulings, in tourneys if they run into smthn that wasnt encountered before they just get a judge he makes up the ruling on the spot and that makes it official, thats how it works . so u can compare stuff, but if a ruling of the exact situation says smthn, doesnt mean it will apply for all similar cards

I think it has to do with the way the effects are originally written in Japanese. The way Simorgh's effect is worded is very subtle in making it an effect, iirc, and when translated, was just another opportunity for Konami to confuse its international players.

it's not always a translation error. everyone thought that Herald of Orange Light was translated incorrectly but it was actually a TCG exclusive lol.

and i hate making up rulings on the spot. especially if its for a card that nobody really uses. PSCT makes it a lot easier to do now though.

Was it translated wrong then? I guess violet would know since he plays ocg

Dark Simorgh was errata'd, making his Summoning officially an Effect just based on reading it, and not BKSS.

Also, Red-Eyes was errata'd in Duel Terminal 4, and he'll be errata'd again when Dragonic Legion hits TCG, probably to something like this:

"You can Special Summon this card (from your hand) by banishing 1 face-up Dragon-Type monster you control..."