Can you equip monster cards such as Iron Chain Snake from your hand or would have to summon them first?

You can't equip monster cards like Iron Chain Snake from your hand. You must summon them to the field first before they can be equipped.

Here's why:

* Equip Spell Cards: Equip cards like "Iron Chain Snake" are Spell Cards that require a monster on the field to be activated.

* Targeting: When you activate an equip spell, you target a monster already on the field.

* Summoning: You need to summon a monster to the field first before you can equip it with cards like "Iron Chain Snake".

Let me know if you have any other questions about Yu-Gi-Oh! mechanics!