At the time of this writing, the core archetypes of the new Mask of Light set are currently being worked out and getting their first few cards made. Usually, a good place to start doing this is at the start, or rather the starter – the first step in the combo that kicks off everything else. The design for this part is pretty straightforward, it’s simply a card that gets you to your other cards that do the stuff you’re trying to do. But what I’ve found recently is that things get a lot more fuzzy once you advance to the second step – the first card that you get to that then further enables the stuff you’re trying to do. Intuitively, this is something that extends your combo, so it’s easy to assume we can just apply the widely used term “extender” and be done, but as I’ll go on to elaborate, not every second step in a combo necessarily has the properties people tend to associate with extenders.
Let’s begin by defining more specifically what I mean when using these words. My understanding may differ slightly from that of any given reader or even the general community, especially as the use of terminology has evolved and continues to evolve with the game, so we won’t get anywhere without cleary setting out what things mean for the purpose of this writeup.
The combo is the sequence of plays leading towards a certain game state a deck was built to achieve. Some decks have a single linear combo, some have many different paths leading to the same goal, others have multiple paths and goals, and again others just use their combo to accumulate resources and use them for a control style of gameplay. Any such sequence falls under the umbrella of “combo” here, not just the ones found in big spreadsheet decks. For the purpose of our examples, we’ll specifically consider a combo that leads to a field of two monsters A and B, potentially with some further advantage like B searching a Spell/Trap or whatever.
A starter is a card which, if present in your opening hand, holds the potential to access the combo, with no prior setup required on your field, GY, or banishment. Starters that also work if nothing else is in your hand are 1-card starters, while those that need resources from the hand but aren’t picky are 1.x-card starters (where x is arbitrarily chosen based on how hard it is to satisfy the requirement). A card that only works as a starter if (n-1) other specific cards are present in your hand is a n-card starter, and I suppose it’s also valid for a starter to require setup on your opponent’s side (we could call this a conditional starter).
An extender is a card that allows you to execute some portion of the combo, if and only if certain conditions are fulfilled in your field, GY, and/or banishment (in rare cases, other values like LP may be involved as well). Aside from being crucial to follow up your starter and actually make it into a combo, having an extender in your opening hand also allows you to extend and continue playing if your starter is stopped; this is the specific property I would argue is inherent to extenders, but not always to a “second step”.
The second step in the combo is specifically the thing you do immediately after your starter resolves. What exactly it is depends on the form of the combo, in many cases it can also act as an extender, but its one and only defining property is, as the name suggests, the point at which it comes up in the combo.
Now for some different design approaches.
Design 1: The Taketomborg
The most classic extender-style second step, a monster that is added to the hand by the starter and can Special Summon itself from there if you control a monster from some category (e.g. archetype) that also includes the starter. So if everything resolves, you get to the goal of the combo with only the investment required by your starter, and if the starter is stopped, having the extender already in hand allows you to keep going and end up in the same place, just with 1 less extra card.
However, if you draw a card of this type as your initial piece of engine, you won’t be able to fulfill that condition to Special Summon it, making it either a brick or a Normal Summonable alternative starter – generally for a line not quite as good as the main starter’s, because otherwise that one wouldn’t be the main starter.
Finally, it’s worth noting there are a few seemingly exchangable, but actually quite distinct ways to write a “Special Summon self from hand” effect on card B.
a) If you control "A", you can Special Summon this card (from your hand).
Technically not an effect, but a procedure – doesn’t activate, can’t be hit by effect negates, but is vulnerable to the rarer Summon negates. At this particular point in time, the fact that this type of Special Summon plays around K9 can also be considered a significant advantage.
b) If you control "A": You can Special Summon this card from your hand.
Activates in the hand, thus can be chained to and negated. Arguably a strictly weaker version of the above, but also easier to adjust for synergy with more specific archetype gimmicks (for example, you can make it a Quick Effect). I’m also fond of this one because it can be covered by a regular HOPT clause along with the on-field effects, rather than needing its own “can only Special Summon … once per turn this way”.
c) If you control "A": You can Special Summon this card from your hand, then you can [...].
Not so much a variant as it is an extension of the (b) approach. This is an effect that activates in the hand, and then, while it resolves, performs an additional action rather than leaving that to a separate on-Summon trigger. Put simply, in the case where the action consists of searching something, this plays around Imperm at the cost of losing harder to Ash Blossom. Bit of an all eggs in one basket tradeoff.
Within the Bionicle YGOPro Expansion, somewhat straightforward examples of this design are Tamaru (who also works from the GY with a discard cost) and Midak (who sends an EARTH monster instead of directly Summoning himself).
Design 2: The Faris
Where the major weakness of Design 1 was its inability to leverage the free Special Summon in situations without the conditions provided by at least attempting to use a regular starter first, this next one aims to also cover those cases … for a price, that is.
The essence of this approach is a Special Summon that does not rely on particular preconditions, but just asks you to invest resources from your initial pool of cards and/or LP. The titular example I’ve chosen is Vision HERO Faris, who can be Special Summoned from the hand with an activated effect discarding another “HERO” as cost, and then advances your game plan once he has hit the field. As a classic second step, you can use this after Normal Summoning Stratos and searching it, but there’s also the option to Special Summon it as the first step if you open it directly.
A more modern example is Diabellstar, who instead gets brought out with a non-activated summoning procedure and has a far more generic cost, but functions much the same in principle – you can extend with it when you’re already playing, or start your plays by investing a resource less critical than the prized Normal Summon.
All of this, however, is contingent on being able to pay the cost. If you have zero cards in hand and your draw for turn is Faris, you can only Normal Summon it (and not even that is possible with the Level 7 Diabellstar). Worse, if your draw is Stratos, searching Faris won’t do anything, even though this would be full combo under Design 1. We also should not overlook that, in terms of card economy, having to pay even a small cost is going to add up in the long run; the tradeoff for greater starter/extender versatility is, in this case, being a bit less efficient at each of those things.
In BYE, a curious example of this design exists in the form of Taipu , whose Special Summon is seemingly free, but actually comes at the “cost” of restricting your attacks for that turn. Can be a surprisingly big problem outside of turn 1.
Design 3: The Poplar
Now for a category that has recently gained popularity: The second steps that, somehow, manage to not be extenders. They achieve this by having their effects that bring them to the field trigger specifically when added to your hand (by a card effect, or by any means except drawing, or even by any means except the normal draw), which is just what the first step of the combo does.
The namesake of this design is, of course, Snake-Eyes Poplar, which summons itself as the second step of the combo if added by the starter Snake-Eye Ash. What’s notable about the titular Poplar is that it’s a very powerful card even in isolation, capable of acting as a starter itself by searching Original Sinful Spoils and providing additional setup or recovery when it hits the GY. So I suspect that this particular design was chosen to conserve the power budget, so to speak, making sure you’re not able to access all these benefits for free unless you manage to resolve the preceding combo steps that search Poplar – having it in your hand already won’t help you if your Ash gets Ash’d.
Of course, technically having a card with this design can still increase the number of traditional extenders in your deck, because it grants that role to e.g. any Spell that’s able to search it. It’s certainly no coincidence Poplar and Bonfire were released only months apart.
And I guess it bears mentioning that, even though it has become the name everyone associates with this kind of effect, Poplar didn’t actually invent it. Machina Unclaspare had the exact same clause years before, and R-Genex Oracle did it (in a more archetype-locked fashion) all the way back in 2010.
In BYE … we haven’t used this yet, the design work so far mostly happened before this fad started. But it may just pop up somehwere sooner or later, since it is a pretty neat trick for giving something the second step role without directly increasing the number of extenders.
Design 4: The Deep Sea Diva
I know what you’re thinking. “Deep Sea Diva? That one’s not a second step! It’s just a starter!” Which, yes, but the end result of using the starter is suspiciously similar to the two-step combos where A searches B and then B comes down to the field. By having the starter Summon directly from the deck, the second step has been rolled into the first.
So what’s the advantage of doing it like this? Well, it lets you include a much wider range of cards into that basic setup of two monsters on the field, not just the ones that provide their own way to make the jump from hand to field. Diva enables this for all low-level Sea Serpents, and even less generic incarnations like the modern powerhouse Ice Ryzeal give access to their whole archetype without needing to use up any additional effects.
And the downside? Mainly that it spends power budget like crazy, hence why both Diva and Ice only do their thing if you invest the Normal Summon into them. It also concentrates a lot more power in a single card, making it a much more enticing and valuable target for any disruption your opponent may have. To top it off, if you’re using this kind of effect to bring out cards that otherwise cannot Special Summon themselves, that very trait means they won’t work as extenders if you do get disrupted – though Ryzeal has solved this issue quite handily by still giving everything in the archetype some ability to self-Summon, Ice just lets you skip that step so you can use it to extend later.
The example for this in BYE is Takua , who mixes in a bit of a fancy excavation gimmick, but ultimately works out to a guaranteed Special Summon of any Chronicler’s Company member from the Deck if you invest your Normal Summon.
Closing Thoughts
All in all, which design should we use? It depends™. If you want your card B to also work as an extender if card A is stopped, then the free conditional Special Summon fits best. But if card B is useful to bring out all by itself as well, it may be worth adding a cost so you can do that without requiring a condition or using the Normal Summon. Finally, designs 3 and 4 act as more specific adjustments to the power budget of the individual cards, the options they give you in deck building, and how effectively your opponent can interact with the combo. Hard to make a general statement on those, but it’s certainly worth keeping them in mind as options.
What awaits at the end of evolution? This, apparently.
With the aesthetic group shot out of the way, actual readable card images are still found on the BPEV page, or you can watch everything nicely presented in the demo compilation below. I recommend the latter, for one thing it took way more effort to make.
(Note: Some decks from previous versions, like the Toa Nuva builds that relied on Isolde, have now been removed.)
Much like the previous set, this finalized release consists of maintenance and cleanup on all the card texts and scripts, including swapping out those auxiliary function calls that got deprecated right as I finished everything else (thanks Edo). Some cards actually got away without any PSCT changes, if you’re curious you can try to find them on the Card Viewer page.
Anyway, that by itself of course doesn’t explain the big version number jump from 4.8.3 to 4.8.6. That part is justified by some last-minute experimentation and functional updates to stuff like the Vahi cards that still needed to cook for a bit – let’s get into the meat.
You can only control 1 “Vahi” Equip Spell. If another “Kanohi” Equip Spell becomes equipped to the equipped monster, destroy this card. The equipped monster cannot attack or activate its effects, also your opponent cannot target it with card effects. Once per turn, while this card is equipped to a “Toa” or “Makuta” monster you control: You can add 1 “Vahi” card from your Deck or GY to your hand, except an Equip Spell. If this card is destroyed or banished by your opponent’s card effect: Both players skip their next Battle Phase.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.8.3)
Vahi Freeze
Quick-Play Spell
Activate 1 of these effects; ●Add 1 “Vahi” Equip Spell from your Deck or GY to your hand. ●If you control a “Vahi” Equip Spell: Target 1 face-up card on the field; until the end of this turn, its effects are negated, also it cannot be destroyed, or banished, by card effects. If this card is sent from the field to the GY: You can draw 1 card, but skip your next Draw Phase. You can only use this effect of “Vahi Freeze” once per turn.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.8.3)
4.8.6
Legendary Kanohi Vahi, Mask of Time
Equip Spell
If another “Kanohi” Equip Spell becomes equipped to the equipped monster, destroy this card. The equipped monster cannot attack or activate its effects, also your opponent cannot target it with card effects. If you control the equipped monster: You can add 1 “Vahi” card from your Deck or GY to your hand, except an Equip Spell. You can only use this effect of “Legendary Kanohi Vahi, Mask of Time” once per turn.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.8.6)
Vahi Freeze
Quick-Play Spell
Activate 1 of these effects; ●Target 1 face-up monster on the field; equip it with 1 “Vahi” Equip Spell from your Deck, GY, or face-up field that can equip to it. ●If you control a “Toa” or “Makuta” monster equipped with a “Vahi” Equip Spell: Target 1 face-up card on the field; until the end of this turn, its effects are negated, also it cannot be destroyed, or banished, by card effects. If this card is sent from the field to the GY: You can Set it, and if you do, skip your next Draw Phase. You can only use this effect of “Vahi Freeze” once per turn.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.8.6)
I did mention these weren’t quite there yet by the time of the previous release, so some major restructuring happened in those last few minor versions. In summary, the Vahi itself slimmed down, losing its weirder restrictions to simply become a monster-locking archetype searcher; special thanks to DuDono from the EDOPro Discord for setting me on the right path with that. The new incarnation is somewhat similar to Grief Tablet, including the fact that the effect to search is no longer locked behind an archetype requirement. Instead, that restriction has moved to the time-freezing effect of the search target, because really it makes much more sense to check for proper Kanohi usage qualifications at the point where the actual time powers get used.
Other than that, Vahi Freeze has experienced two significant changes: Its first effect, instead of simply adding the Vahi, equips it directly to a monster, and can even change the equip target of a copy that is already on the field (think Tailor of the Fickle). This adds a ton of versatility, letting you use the lockdown effects as a (fairly weak) form of disruption or shift the burden from one of your monsters to another depending on who you need available. The floating effect that skips your Draw Phase also has a different payoff now, resetting the card itself instead of granting a random draw. By doing so, the problem where the cyclic Vahi “engine” will sometimes run out of gas all on its own has been mostly fixed, and the flavor of it all is much more befitting of a “Freeze” that simply keeps the card on the field and the top card of your Deck out of reach.
The lore element where breaking the Vahi destroys time has been lost in this streamlining, but I’m probably just going to make a new card about that when it actually becomes relevant.
“Bohrok Gahlok-Kal” + “Bohrok Kohrak-Kal” + “Bohrok Lehvak-Kal” Must first be Fusion Summoned, or Special Summoned by Tributing the above cards you control. (Quick Effect): You can banish up to 3 “Bohrok” cards from your GY, then target 1 monster in either GY, or if you banished 2 or more, you can target 1 monster on the field instead; equip it to this card. If you banished 3 cards to activate this effect, your opponent cannot activate cards or effects in response. If this card is sent to the GY: You can target 1 “Bohrok” Xyz Monster in your GY; Special Summon it, and if you do, attach this card to it as material. You can only use each effect of “Bohrok-Kal Kaita Ja” once per turn.
“Bohrok Gahlok-Kal” + “Bohrok Kohrak-Kal” + “Bohrok Lehvak-Kal” Must first be either Fusion Summoned, or Special Summoned from your Extra Deck by Tributing the above cards. (Quick Effect): You can banish 1 “Bohrok” card from your GY, then target 1 other face-up monster on the field or in either GY; equip it to this card. Your opponent cannot activate cards or effects in response to this effect’s activation. If this card is sent to the GY: You can target 1 “Bohrok” Xyz Monster in your GY; Special Summon it, and if you do, attach this card to it as material. You can only use each effect of “Bohrok-Kal Kaita Ja” once per turn.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.8.6)
Some changes are planned in advance, others come up suddenly when you run into a card text that balloons beyond all good sense if outfitted with the final coat of PSCT polish. In this way, the Bohrok-Kal Kaita Ja went back to a version I tested mid-development and deemed “not interesting enough”, where it just banishes 1 card at a time for its it cost and gets the full package of equipping from hand/field while not allowing responses. Realistically, making these Kaita is so convoluted that the buff from this change shouldn’t be an issue, and this way it still works as a looming threat of uncounterable removal you can theoretically make (to defeat Wairuha Nuva , of course).
Link Effect MonsterLink-1 [↖] | DARK Zombie | ATK 0
1 “Bohrok” or “Krana” monster Cannot be used as Link Material. If an opponent’s monster this card points to battles a “Bohrok” monster, that opponent’s monster’s ATK/DEF become 0 during the Damage Step only. A “Bohrok” Xyz Monster that has this card as material gains this effect. ●This card can attack directly, also if it attacks, your opponent cannot activate cards or effects until the end of the Damage Step.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.5.6)
4.8.6
Krana Yo-Kal, Excavator
Link Effect MonsterLink-1 [↖] | DARK Zombie | ATK 0
1 “Bohrok” or “Krana” monster Cannot be used as Link Material. If an opponent’s monster this card points to battles a “Bohrok” monster, that opponent’s monster’s ATK/DEF become 0 during the Damage Step only. A “Bohrok” Xyz Monster that has this card as material gains this effect. ●This card can attack directly, also if it attacks, your opponent cannot activate monster effects until the end of the Damage Step.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.8.6)
A slight change to the Krana Yo-Kal for lore reasons: Instead of its tunneling ability guarding you against all responses while attacking, it only covers monster effects, so that the Bohrok-Kal don’t have a built-in way to escape devastation at the hands of Nuva Overcharge . This was always primarily meant to guard the effects of Pahrak-Kal and Krana Xa-Kal , so keeping those safe from boss monsters that negate activations still mostly accomplishes the mission.
If only your opponent controls a monster, you can Special Summon this card (from your hand). If this card is Normal or Special Summoned (except during the Damage Step): You can Fusion Summon 1 Fusion Monster from your Extra Deck using this card and 1 monster in your hand as material. If this card is used as material for a Fusion Summon, except by its own effect: Target 1 Special Summoned monster on the field; send it to the GY. You can only use this effect of “Energized Protodermis Chamber” once per turn.
If only your opponent controls a monster, you can Special Summon this card (from your hand). If this card is Normal or Special Summoned (except during the Damage Step): You can Fusion Summon 1 Fusion Monster from your Extra Deck, using this card you control and 1 monster from your hand as material. If this card is used as material for a Fusion Summon, except by its own effect: Target 1 Special Summoned monster on the field; send it to the GY.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.8.6)
The mandatory effect of Energized Protodermis Chamber has lost its hard once per turn clause, after all the substance isn’t going to stop being destructive just because you already threw something in that turn. This is something of a buff as you can now fuse away multiple in a turn to clear multiple Special Summoned monsters, but that also requires multiple other cards to enable the Fusion Summons and only matters against established boards, so it should be fine. However, the mandatory effect on Flow did maintain its limitation, so no milling out the whole Extra Deck with bullshit loops turn 1.
“Toa Mata Pohatu” + 1 “Energized Protodermis” monster If this card is Fusion Summoned: You can add 1 “Nuva” Spell/Trap from your Deck or GY to your hand, then discard 1 card. (Quick Effect): You can destroy Spells/Traps your opponent controls, up to the number of Rock monsters you control +1. You can only use this effect of “Toa Nuva Pohatu” once per turn.
“Toa Mata Pohatu” + 1 “Energized Protodermis” monster If this card is Fusion Summoned: You can add 1 “Nuva” Spell/Trap from your Deck or GY to your hand, then discard 1 card. (Quick Effect): You can destroy 1 Spell/Trap your opponent controls, or up to 2 if you control a Rock monster. You can only use this effect of “Toa Nuva Pohatu” once per turn.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.8.6)
Another change with credit attached, this time to u/RedRedditReadReads on, well, Reddit. The infinite scaling on Pohatu Nuva’s backrow destruction, while a cool mathematical trick, is kind of overtuned for no reason if you ever manage to make the guy in an actual Rock deck. So I’ve lowered the ceiling to 2 like his Mata form , leaving the benefits of the Nuva upgrade as “only” the free activation timing and the fact that neither card has to be targeted. Good enough, I say.
If another “Kanohi” Equip Spell becomes equipped to the equipped monster, destroy this card. While equipped to a “Toa Nuva” monster you control, your opponent must keep their hand revealed. If this card is sent to the GY, and you have not activated any “Kanohi” Equip Spell effects in the GY this turn: You can banish 1 monster from your GY; Set 1 “Nuva” Trap directly from your Deck, also if you control a “Toa Nuva” monster, look at your opponent’s hand.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.6.5)
4.8.6
Great Kanohi Akaku Nuva
Equip Spell
If another “Kanohi” Equip Spell becomes equipped to the equipped monster, destroy this card. While this card is equipped to a “Toa Nuva” monster you control, your opponent must keep their hand revealed. If this card is sent to the GY, and you have not activated a “Kanohi” Equip Spell effect in the GY this turn: You can banish 1 monster from your GY; Set 1 “Nuva” Trap from your Deck, also if you control a “Toa Nuva” monster, you can banish 1 random card from your opponent’s hand, until the End Phase.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.8.6)
I was always a bit uncomfortable with the Akaku Nuva just casually granting full hand knowledge as the bonus of its GY effect, so during the final tweaks I pulled the trigger and downgraded that a bit, by making it a hand snipe similar to what already existed on the base Akaku . This effectively gives you knowledge of 1 card only, while seeing the rest requires finding a way to properly equip the mask, and in theory it could even take out some kind of handtrap (though that isn’t likely to matter). Note that unlike other bonuses, this one is optional, so you can still get a Trap from Deck even if there’s nothing in your opponent’s hand.
3 Level 8 monsters After this card was Xyz Summoned during your turn using a “Toa” monster as material, your opponent cannot activate cards or effects for the rest of that turn, except during the Main Phase 2 and End Phase. You can detach 1 material from this card; add 1 “Nuva” Spell/Trap from your Deck or GY to your hand. You can only use this effect of “Akamai, Toa Nuva Kaita of Valor” once per turn.
3 Level 8 monsters You can detach 1 material from this card; add 1 “Nuva” Spell/Trap from your Deck or GY to your hand. You can only use this effect of “Akamai, Toa Nuva Kaita of Valor” once per turn. After this card was Xyz Summoned during your turn using a “Toa” monster as material, apply these effects for the rest of that turn, except during the Main Phase 2 and End Phase. ●Your opponent cannot activate cards or effects. ●You cannot Special Summon monsters.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.8.6)
Akamai Nuva, whose concept is basically “Azathot but for beatdown only”, obtained an additional restriction to guard against twisting the idea into more unfun directions. That is, it now also locks its own controller out of Special Summoning for the same duration the opponent’s effects are turned off, so you’re not getting to do any setup combos under that protection. Just search yourself an Aki Nuva , go to battle, and unga that bunga like the dev intended. Use your Normal Summon if you absolutely have to put another body on the field in Main Phase 1, that’s always an option.
3 Level 8 monsters When your opponent activates a card or effect while this card has a “Toa” monster as material (Quick Effect): You can detach 1 material from this card; negate the activation, and if you do, you can banish both that card and the top card of either player’s Deck. Then, if you banished 2 different card types (Monster, Spell, Trap), draw 1 card. You can detach 1 material from this card; add 1 “Nuva” Spell/Trap from your Deck or GY to your hand. You can only use 1 “Wairuha, Toa Nuva Kaita of Wisdom” effect per turn, and only once that turn.
3 Level 8 monsters You can detach 1 material from this card; add 1 “Nuva” Spell/Trap from your Deck or GY to your hand. When your opponent activates a card or effect while this card has a “Toa” monster as material (Quick Effect): You can detach 1 material from this card; negate the activation, then you can banish both that card and the top card of either player’s Deck, and if you banished 2 different card types (Monster, Spell, Trap), draw 1 card. You can only use each effect of “Wairuha, Toa Nuva Kaita of Wisdom” once per turn.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.8.6)
Wairuha Nuva got a much subtler change of making both of the effects usable in the same turn. I initially didn’t do this because negating a response to a search that can add a card that makes it unaffected felt a bit toxic, but on further consideration, making this with a Toa so it gets the negate requires enough effort and previous disruptable play that you really should be allowed to do that. After all, a properly made Akamai Nuva also guards his own search with the lockdown effect.
Target 1 Warrior monster you control; Tribute it, and if you do, Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower Warrior monster from your hand or Deck, with the same original Attribute, but a different original name and a higher original Level than the Tributed monster. You can banish this card and 1 Warrior monster from your GY, then target 1 face-up monster you control; its name is treated as the banished monster’s, until the end of your opponent’s turn. You can only activate 1 “Naming Day” per turn.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.8.3)
4.8.6
Naming Day
Spell
Target 1 Warrior monster you control; Tribute it, and if you do, Special Summon 1 Warrior monster from your hand or Deck with the same original Attribute that the Tributed monster had on the field, but 1 or 2 Levels higher than its original Level. You can banish this card and 1 Warrior monster from your GY, then target 1 face-up monster you control; its name becomes the banished monster’s name, until the end of your opponent’s turn. You can only activate 1 “Naming Day” per turn.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.8.6)
The final card in the set also gets a bit of a fix for its second appearance in a release. Where Naming Day previously had a hard limit to Level 4 or lower, it now instead supports any jump of 1 or 2 Levels; so 1->4 no longer works, but 2->4 and 3->4 are fine, and lots of new options like 4->5 and 6->8 have appeared. The main motiviation for this was a deckbuilding issue I came to notice: If you have Level 4 Warriors you want to Summon with this, they’re probably also good to simply draw and Normal Summon, so you’re going to run multiple copies, and as a mostly unsearchable Spell Card the same is likely true of the Naming Day itself. This then leads to fairly probable situations where your hand has a Level 4 + Naming Day, which is a combination where the Spell does nothing! Now, however, you have the theoretical option to include a 1-of Level 5 or 6 (e.g. a Toa), maybe even a 7 or 8 to build off that, and so on. You might choose not to, but the possibility being there feels good, and the additional targets shouldn’t enable anything too broken considering Transmodify has always been able to do more or less the same for all Types.
Target any number of “Rahi” monsters you control; all monsters your opponent currently controls lose ATK/DEF equal to the total ATK of those monsters you control (until the end of this turn), then you can destroy 1 monster your opponent controls with 0 ATK or DEF. You can banish this card from your GY; Special Summon 1 Fish, Sea Serpent, or Aqua “Rahi” monster from your GY or banishment, but its ATK/DEF become 0. You can only use 1 “Rahi from the Depths” effect per turn, and only once that turn.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.7.3)
4.8.6
Rahi from the Depths
Trap
Target any number of “Rahi” monsters you control; all monsters your opponent currently controls lose ATK/DEF equal to the total ATK of those monsters you control (until the end of this turn), then you can destroy 1 monster your opponent controls with 0 ATK. You can banish this card from your GY; Special Summon 1 Fish, Sea Serpent, or Aqua “Rahi” monster from your GY or banishment, but its ATK/DEF become 0. You can only use 1 “Rahi from the Depths” effect per turn, and only once that turn.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.8.6)
For Rahi from the Depths, the destruction option was slightly downgraded to only consider the ATK stat, though it still lowers both ATK and DEF. What I actually wanted to do was “0 ATK and DEF” rather than “or”, so it doesn’t trivially deal with big monsters that happen to not be so big the other way, but then it wouldn’t have worked on Link Monsters at all, so this is how it ended up.
And that’s it for the final tweaks on BPEV! But wait, there’s more. Because the Rahi Update also occured during this development cycle a few months ago, there are additional changes to be reported on that end as well.
Add up to 2 “Rahi” monsters with the same Type from your Deck to your hand, then, if you added 2 monsters including an Effect Monster, banish 1 card from your hand, face-down. You can banish this card from your GY, then target 1 face-up Monster Card you control; Special Summon 1 “Rahi” monster with the same Type and an equal or lower Level from your GY. You can only use 1 “Rahi Swarm” effect per turn, and only once that turn.
Bionicle: Challenge of the Rahi (v4.7.3)
4.8.6
Rahi Swarm
Spell
Add up to 2 “Rahi” monsters with the same Type, but different names, from your Deck to your hand, then, if you added 2 monsters including an Effect Monster, banish 1 card from your hand, face-down. For the rest of this turn after this card resolves, you cannot Pendulum Summon, except “Rahi” monsters. You can banish this card from your GY, then target 1 face-up Monster Card you control; Special Summon 1 “Rahi” monster with the same Type and an equal or lower Level from your GY. You can only use 1 “Rahi Swarm” effect per turn, and only once that turn.
Bionicle: Challenge of the Rahi (v4.8.6)
The omnipresent search Spell Rahi Swarm was simply outfitted with a Pendulum Summon lock to only Rahi. This does not matter at all in-archetype, but I felt it might be necessary since you can technically add a pair of Normal Pendulums for a generic 1-8 scale at no cost.
[ Pendulum Effect ] Once per turn, if a monster(s) in your possession is destroyed by battle or card effect: You can destroy 1 card in your Pendulum Zone, then Special Summon 1 Beast or Winged Beast “Rahi” monster from your hand or GY, with a different name from the cards you currently control, and if you do, it gains 1000 ATK until the end of this turn. —————————————- [ Flavor Text ] Surprisingly, the Kane-Ra Bull is not a herd animal. Unlike some beasts, it does not require others of its kind for protection.
[ Pendulum Effect ] Once per turn, if a monster(s) you control is destroyed by battle or card effect: You can destroy 1 card in your Pendulum Zone, then Special Summon 1 Beast or Winged Beast “Rahi” monster from your hand or GY, with a different name from the cards you currently control, and if you do, it gains 1000 ATK until the end of this turn. —————————————- [ Flavor Text ] Surprisingly, the Kane-Ra Bull is not a herd animal. Unlike some beasts, it does not require others of its kind for protection.
Bionicle: Challenge of the Rahi (v4.8.6)
One of those Normal Pendulums, the Kane-Ra, got the trigger condition of its Pendulum Effect downgraded so it only reacts if a monster on your field is destroyed. This change specifically targets the main intended combo between Kane-Ra and Muaka , where you pop a Rahi to search another one and then Special Summon that right away. Getting to do such a strong play without even needing to invest some kind of Summon just felt like one step too far.
[ Pendulum Effect ] You can target 1 face-up monster you control; Special Summon 1 Insect “Rahi” monster with a lower or equal Level from your Deck in Defense Position, also you cannot Special Summon monsters for the rest of this turn, except Insect monsters. You can only use this effect of “Nui-Rama, Fly Rahi” once per turn. —————————————- [ Flavor Text ] A harsh buzz fills the air…a rustle of wings…a dark shape flying out of the sun…the warning signs of a Nui-Rama attack.
[ Pendulum Effect ] You can target 1 “Rahi” monster you control; Special Summon 1 Insect “Rahi” monster with a lower or equal Level from your Deck in Defense Position, also you cannot Special Summon monsters for the rest of this turn, except Insect monsters. You can only use this effect of “Nui-Rama, Fly Rahi” once per turn. —————————————- [ Flavor Text ] A harsh buzz fills the air…a rustle of wings…a dark shape flying out of the sun…the warning signs of a Nui-Rama attack.
Bionicle: Challenge of the Rahi (v4.8.6)
For the Nui-Rama, I believe I already pointed out in the release post that it has no actual reason to let you target any monster for its Insect Summon, so now that’s limited to Rahi.
1 “Rahi” Tuner + 1+ non-Tuner monsters If this card is Synchro Summoned: You can send 1 “Rahi” card from your Deck to the GY; this card gains 500 ATK. You can only use this effect of “Kirikori-Nui, Locust Rahi” once per turn. You can banish this card until the Standby Phase of your next turn; destroy 1 card on the field.
1 “Rahi” Tuner + 1+ non-Tuner monsters If this card is Special Summoned, or when this card declares an attack: You can send the top 3 cards of your Deck to the GY; until the end of this turn, this card gains 500 ATK for each “Rahi” card sent to the GY this way. You can only use this effect of “Kirikori-Nui, Locust Rahi” once per turn. You can banish this card until the Standby Phase of your next turn; destroy 1 card on the field.
Bionicle: Challenge of the Rahi (v4.8.6)
What I also previously mentioned is that the Kirikori-Nui sending a card of your choice as cost is a poor design and would be replaced once I think of a good alternative. Well, I thought of one: It sends random cards as cost, and by being able to repeat that when attacking each turn, it highlights the cyclic nature of the locust swarms vanishing, returning, and feeding again and again. Very neat flavor, and doesn’t even lose any of its previous utility if you simply hit the right cards. Get it twisted.
If this card is in your hand (Quick Effect): You can banish 1 “Rahi” monster from your GY or face-up Extra Deck; Special Summon this card, and if you do, you can negate the effects of 1 face-up monster your opponent controls, until the end of this turn. You can only use this effect of “Electric Bug, Zapping Rahi” once per turn.
If this card is in your hand (Quick Effect): You can banish 1 “Rahi” monster from your GY or face-up Extra Deck; Special Summon this card, and if you do, you can negate the effects of 1 face-up monster your opponent controls that has activated its effect on the field this turn, until the end of this turn. You can only use this effect of “Electric Bug, Zapping Rahi” once per turn.
Bionicle: Challenge of the Rahi (v4.8.6)
The Electric Bug felt ever so slightly overtuned compared to the other handtrap-type Level 1 Insects, being able to just drop a non-targeting negate on your opponent to both disrupt plays and deal with established end board pieces. Now it has been restricted to pretty much only the former use case, through a fancy and unusual condition of only going after monsters that actually activated an effect this turn. You do still have a way to use this against a boss monster if you just bait its activation with something else and then chain the Electric Bug, but that is what I would consider a “banger play” and therefore 100% fine to allow.
1 “Rahi” Tuner + 1+ non-Tuner monsters When your opponent activates a card or effect (Quick Effect): You can target 2 face-up monsters on the field, including this card; place them face-up in their owners’ Spell & Trap Zones as Continuous Spells. You can only use this effect of “Ranama, Lava Lurker Rahi” once per turn. Once per turn, during the Standby Phase, if this card is a Continuous Spell: You can destroy 1 other Monster Card in a Spell & Trap Zone, and if you do, Special Summon this card.
[ Pendulum Effect ] Once per turn: You can destroy up to 2 “Rahi” Monster Cards you control, and if you do, Special Summon 1 Reptile “Rahi” Synchro Monster from your Extra Deck whose Level is less than or equal to their total Levels (this is treated as a Synchro Summon), then place it face-up in your Spell & Trap Zone as a Continuous Spell. —————————————- [ Monster Effect ] If this card declares an attack: You can inflict 300 damage to your opponent for each Monster Card in your Spell & Trap Zone. If this card is destroyed: You can place 1 Reptile “Rahi” monster from your GY or face-up Extra Deck face-up in your Spell & Trap Zone as a Continuous Spell. You can only use each effect of “Bog Snake, Venomous Rahi” once per turn.
1 “Rahi” Tuner + 1+ non-Tuner monsters When your opponent activates a card or effect (Quick Effect): You can target this card you control and 1 other face-up monster on the field or in your GY; place them face-up in their owners’ Spell & Trap Zones as Continuous Spells. You can only use this effect of “Ranama, Lava Lurker Rahi” once per turn. Once per turn, during the Standby Phase, if this card is a Continuous Spell: You can destroy 1 other Monster Card in a Spell & Trap Zone, and if you do, Special Summon this card.
[ Pendulum Effect ] Once per turn: You can destroy up to 2 “Rahi” Monster Cards you control, and if you do, Special Summon 1 Reptile “Rahi” Synchro Monster from your Extra Deck whose Level is less than or equal to their total Levels (this is treated as a Synchro Summon), then place it face-up in your Spell & Trap Zone as a Continuous Spell. —————————————- [ Monster Effect ] If this card declares an attack: You can inflict 300 damage to your opponent for each Monster Card in your Spell & Trap Zone. If this card is destroyed: You can place 1 face-up Reptile “Rahi” Pendulum Monster from your Extra Deck in your Pendulum Zone, also you cannot activate the effects of “Bog Snake, Venomous Rahi” for the rest of this turn.
Bionicle: Challenge of the Rahi (v4.8.6)
Finally, a paired update on the Reptiles: The Ranama got subtly enhanced with the ability to pull monsters from your own GY into the backrow, which provided room to narrow the focus of the Bog Snake’s destruction effect down to placing only Pendulums into the proper Pendulum Zones – something the deck struggled to do before. Of course, when the Snake can destroy itself with its own Pendulum Effect (soft once per turn due to space limitations) and then re-scale itself, that opens up some unfortunate looping potential (well, looping twice), so to address that, I finagled a fresh type of quasi-HOPT that extends from the monster effect to the Pendulum Effect. Notably doesn’t cover the other monster effect that does burn damage, but since it only triggers when attacking, there’s no reasonable fear of FTKs here.
And now we’re actually done.
In Hindsight …
With another milestone cleared, this is a good moment to reflect on my design, testing, and documentation approaches of the past few years. For the most part, things have worked decently well, but there are a few key points where I see room for improvement in future development:
Design-wise, I’d like to move away from archetypes that just repeat the same pattern for the six elements. Having a shared structure and maybe some basic common effects is fine, but looking at the trends of modern card design, I feel like I really should be giving each monster more of an individual role in gameplay. This is just a bit tricky from an adaptation standpoint since we’re still in the era of clone sets that didn’t really get much individual story focus, but I’ll be doing my best to figure something out.
For testing and documentation, I revised my approach once more while working on the final BPEV showcase video, so next time I really should be at the point where I can just filter each card and pull out the footage I need to put that thing together. But that’s a behind-the-scenes matter anyway.
Not being able to make a Best of Test for Toa Nuva and Bohrok-Kal until the very tail end of development (because I spread their cards out all the way) was kind of annoying, so I’ll try to take that into account when planning the order of releases for the next set.
Coming Soon to Theaters
Except not really, Mask of Light is direct-to-DVD. But still, look forward to the first release from the BMOL (three guesses what that stands for) expansion this summer! I’ve also started working on a Toa vs Bohrok campaign for Dungeon Duel Monsters that I’ll try to get up on their Discord later this month, so come check it out there if that sounds interesting.
Otherwise, see you again with the next release, sometime before the end of human history.
Where there are heroes, there must also be … misunderstood cleanup professionals just trying to get their job back on schedule. Now, the time has come to awaken the Bahrag and unleash the swarms once more!
The Bohrok-Kal
A team of six elite Bohrok, to be activated in the event that the regular operations of the Bohrok swarms face a critical obstacle such as having their commanding queens sealed away.
Far more advanced than their regular brethren in both powers and intelligence, they have been realized as a suite of Rank 4 Xyz Boss monsters for the archetype here. Shared between all of them are two special features: The ability to attach “Krana” monsters from hand/field/GY as additional material, and the fact that their detached materials return to the Deck (which keeps you from re-attaching the same Krana and plays into the general Bohrok resource loop).
2 Level 4 “Bohrok” monsters Place materials detached from this card on the bottom of the Deck instead of sending them to the GY. Once per turn: You can attach 1 “Krana” monster from your hand, field, or GY to this card as material. (Quick Effect): You can detach 1 material from this card, then target 1 face-up monster your opponent controls; it cannot attack or activate its effects this turn, also you can detach 1 material from this card, and if you do, destroy all monsters your opponent controls with less than 2000 ATK. You can only use this effect of “Bohrok Tahnok-Kal” once per turn.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.8.6)
The lightning powers of Tahnok-Kal manifest at two levels: The “stun” setting that was mostly used in the story so things don’t get too violent for Lego, and the straight-up Raigeki thunderbolt it should theoretically also be capable of. Not quite Raigeki, though – any monsters at 2000 ATK and above, such as all the Toa, will survive this quick effect boardwipe.
2 Level 4 “Bohrok” monsters Place materials detached from this card on the bottom of the Deck instead of sending them to the GY. Once per turn: You can attach 1 “Krana” monster from your hand, field, or GY to this card as material. At the start of the Battle Phase: You can detach 1 material from this card, then target 1 face-up monster on the field; it cannot attack until the end of your turn, then you can equip 1 monster adjacent to it or in its column to it. You can only use this effect of “Bohrok Gahlok-Kal” once per turn.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.8.6)
Gahlok-Kal uses its magnetism to make foes stick to the ground (preventing them from attacking) or to each other (acting as non-targeting removal given sufficient proximity). Since this happens at the start of either Battle Phase, it can be fun to have people (and/or AIs) run into it due to careless zone placement.
2 Level 4 “Bohrok” monsters Place materials detached from this card on the bottom of the Deck instead of sending them to the GY. Once per turn: You can attach 1 “Krana” monster from your hand, field, or GY to this card as material. You can detach 2 or more materials from this card, then choose that many Main Monster Zones and/or Spell & Trap Zones; return as many cards in those zones to the hand as possible, also any of those zones that are unused after that cannot be used until your next Standby Phase. You can only use this effect of “Bohrok Nuhvok-Kal” once per turn.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.8.6)
Nuhvok-Kal gets a bit fancy with the mechanics, applying its gravity powers to both “float” cards off the field back to the hand and to “crush” the zones they were in into an unusable state. Since you pick the zones rather than the cards, this is essentially non-targeting mass removal.
2 Level 4 “Bohrok” monsters Place materials detached from this card on the bottom of the Deck instead of sending them to the GY. Once per turn: You can attach 1 “Krana” monster from your hand, field, or GY to this card as material. At the start of the Damage Step, if this card battles: You can detach 1 material from this card, then target 1 monster your opponent controls; banish all cards they control in its column. Then, if this effect banished exactly 1 card, inflict 1200 damage to your opponent. You can only use this effect of “Bohrok Pahrak-Kal” once per turn.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.8.6)
When Pahrak-Kal fires its plasma, it does so in the straight line of a column, obliterating everything in its path and burning the opponent behind it if not met with sufficient resistance. Being an upgrade of the battle-focused Pahrak , this happens in the Damage Step, so response options are limited.
2 Level 4 “Bohrok” monsters Place materials detached from this card on the bottom of the Deck instead of sending them to the GY. Once per turn: You can attach 1 “Krana” monster from your hand, field, or GY to this card as material. During the Main Phase (Quick Effect): You can detach 2 materials from this card; change all other face-up monsters on the field to Defense Position, also negate their effects until the end of this turn. You can only use this effect of “Bohrok Kohrak-Kal” once per turn.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.8.6)
What Kohrak-Kal does is stun everything around – friend or foe – with a sudden massive blast of noise, negating their effects and switching them to Defense Position. Which, it just so happens, provides a pretty decent setup for some Zeus action as well.
2 Level 4 “Bohrok” monsters Place materials detached from this card on the bottom of the Deck instead of sending them to the GY. (Quick Effect): You can target 1 other card you control or in either GY; attach it to this card as material. If this card has 5 or more materials: You can detach all materials from this card, and if you do, destroy up to that many cards your opponent controls, then you can attach 1 of those destroyed cards to this card as material. You can only use each effect of “Bohrok Lehvak-Kal” once per turn.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.8.6)
Lehvak-Kal twists the formula a bit by replacing the standard Krana-attaching effect with a more broad Quick Effect that can also steal stuff from the opponent’s GY. This is the “suck” component of its vacuum powers, with the “blow” coming into play once it has (usually over the course of several turns) gathered enough material to unleash it all in a destructive blast. In short, this one both sucks and blows, which paradoxically makes it pretty good.
And in case even this elite squad isn’t enough, they also possess the ability to combine into Kaita, either the usual way by Bohrok Swarm Fusion or more easily throug a contact fusion procedure (since getting the materials in the first place is already hard enough).
“Bohrok Tahnok-Kal” + “Bohrok Nuhvok-Kal” + “Bohrok Pahrak-Kal” Must first be either Fusion Summoned, or Special Summoned from your Extra Deck by Tributing the above cards. You can banish up to 3 “Bohrok” cards from your GY; until the end of this turn, this card gains 1000 ATK for each, also it can make up to that many attacks on monsters during each Battle Phase this turn. If this card is sent to the GY: You can target 1 “Bohrok” Xyz Monster in your GY; Special Summon it, and if you do, attach this card to it as material. You can only use each effect of “Bohrok-Kal Kaita Za” once per turn.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.8.6)
The Kaita Za primarily deals with monsters that would resist our effect-based removal attempts, by simply getting big and hitting over them. It also gains multiple attacks (on monsters) when doing so, granting it board-clearing and game-ending capabilities depending on the situation.
“Bohrok Gahlok-Kal” + “Bohrok Kohrak-Kal” + “Bohrok Lehvak-Kal” Must first be either Fusion Summoned, or Special Summoned from your Extra Deck by Tributing the above cards. (Quick Effect): You can banish 1 “Bohrok” card from your GY, then target 1 other face-up monster on the field or in either GY; equip it to this card. Your opponent cannot activate cards or effects in response to this effect’s activation. If this card is sent to the GY: You can target 1 “Bohrok” Xyz Monster in your GY; Special Summon it, and if you do, attach this card to it as material. You can only use each effect of “Bohrok-Kal Kaita Ja” once per turn.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.8.6)
The Kaita Ja, bearing the glorious mantle of “has appeared in the story”, serves as a thing you can theoretically build up to in the face of big negation boards. Since its brand of Quick Effect removal cannot be responded to, it can simply grab a problematic monster without giving it a chance to defend itself, and then do that again every turn as long as you have enough Bohrok to banish. In terms of lore, this usage tracks with its victory over Wairuha Nuva , who is, wouldn’t you know it, a boss monster that negates.
What both of those have in common is the second effect, which tries to offset the big material investment by floating into a regular Bohrok-Kal and kindly attaching itself as material. By doing that, it’s also in a position to go to the GY and trigger again next turn, so if you get to the point where you can make these Fusions, they actually have a stealth benefit of infinite revival baked in.
And another thing of note is that, due to requiring specifically named materials, the Kal Kaita are in fact still compatible with the material replacement effect of Premature Bohrok Beacon … if you’re not making them by Contact Fusion, that is. One good reason to actually run the Fusion Spell even with these.
The Krana-Kal
To walk back the earlier staement about the intelligence of the Bohrok-Kal a bit, technically that part belongs to the Krana-Kal who pilot those mechanical shells. Their 8 variations are just enough to make one round trip of all the Link Arrows, so they’re implemented as a bunch of Link-1 monsters with two effects each: One for utility, based on the direction of the arrow (Down: Xyz Summon with a single Bohrok / Up: Battle debuff for opponent’s monsters / Side: tag out into a Bohrok from hand or GY), and one granted to a Bohrok-Kal that attaches it, representing the unique special power of that Krana-Kal.
Link Effect MonsterLink-1 [▼] | DARK Zombie | ATK 0
1 “Bohrok” or “Krana” monster Cannot be used as Link Material. Once per turn: You can target 1 Level 4 “Bohrok” monster this card points to; Special Summon 1 “Bohrok” Xyz Monster from your Extra Deck, by using that target as material. (This is treated as an Xyz Summon.) A “Bohrok” Xyz Monster that has this card as material gains this effect. ●If this card inflicts battle damage to your opponent: You can place up to 2 of your banished “Bahrag” Pendulum Monsters in your Pendulum Zone(s), then you can add 1 “As It Was in the Before-Time” from your Deck or GY to your hand.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.8.6)
The Xa-Kal carries the crucial task of awakening the Bahrag once contact is made, thus fulfilling the mission. In game terms, “making contact” here means dealing damage, and “awakening the Bahrag” means getting them out of their banished state (where they were put by, say, a Toa Seal ) back into the Pendulum Zone so that the swarms can proceed to make Mata Nui clean, As It Was In The Before-Time .
Za-Kal
Krana Za-Kal, Overseer
Link Effect MonsterLink-1 [↗] | DARK Zombie | ATK 0
1 “Bohrok” or “Krana” monster Cannot be used as Link Material. If an opponent’s monster this card points to battles a “Bohrok” monster, that opponent’s monster’s ATK/DEF become 0 during the Damage Step only. A “Bohrok” Xyz Monster that has this card as material gains this effect. ●Once per turn, when a card or effect is activated that would destroy a “Bohrok” card(s) you control (Quick Effect): You can detach 1 material from this card; negate the activation, and if you do, destroy that card.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.3.3)
The Za-Kal handles telepathic communication and coordination, protecting the group by reading the minds of potential threats and countering them with a negate once they attempt to strike.
Vu-Kal
Krana Vu-Kal, Transporter
Link Effect MonsterLink-1 [↘] | DARK Zombie | ATK 0
1 “Bohrok” or “Krana” monster Cannot be used as Link Material. Once per turn: You can target 1 Level 4 “Bohrok” monster this card points to; Special Summon 1 “Bohrok” Xyz Monster from your Extra Deck, by using that target as material. (This is treated as an Xyz Summon.) A “Bohrok” Xyz Monster that has this card as material gains this effect. ●Once per turn (Quick Effect): You can banish this card until the End Phase, and if you do, you can add 1 “Bohrok” card from your GY to your hand.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.8.6)
The Vu-Kal holds speed and flight powers, mainly used to let its holder dodge away from the field. Doing so comes with the side benefit of recovering a Bohrok card from the GY, befitting its role as a “Transporter”.
Ca-Kal
Krana Ca-Kal, Seeker
Link Effect MonsterLink-1 [↙] | DARK Zombie | ATK 0
1 “Bohrok” or “Krana” monster Cannot be used as Link Material. Once per turn: You can target 1 Level 4 “Bohrok” monster this card points to; Special Summon 1 “Bohrok” Xyz Monster from your Extra Deck, by using that target as material. (This is treated as an Xyz Summon.) A “Bohrok” Xyz Monster that has this card as material gains these effects based on the number of “Bahrag” Monster Cards with different names in your field and banishment. ●1+: Cannot be destroyed by battle. ●2+: Once per turn: You can draw 1 card, then discard 1 card.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.8.6)
Where the Xa-Kal awakens the Bahrag, the telepathic link of the Ca-Kal is the key ingredient to finding them in the first place. This has been translated to benefits granted from the mere existence of banished Bahrag: Being in contact with just one already makes your Seeker Bohrok-Kal not fall in battle, and with two, you get to draw deeper into your deck to accelerate the quest.
Yo-Kal
Krana Yo-Kal, Excavator
Link Effect MonsterLink-1 [↖] | DARK Zombie | ATK 0
1 “Bohrok” or “Krana” monster Cannot be used as Link Material. If an opponent’s monster this card points to battles a “Bohrok” monster, that opponent’s monster’s ATK/DEF become 0 during the Damage Step only. A “Bohrok” Xyz Monster that has this card as material gains this effect. ●This card can attack directly, also if it attacks, your opponent cannot activate monster effects until the end of the Damage Step.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.8.6)
The Yo-Kal grants the ability to tunnel through the earth and sense underground movement, making it excellent for suprise attacks. Specifically, it lets a Bohrok-Kal attack directly while simultaneously limiting responses during the Damage Step further, which has some obvious synergy with the pictured Pahrak-Kal.
Ja-Kal
Krana Ja-Kal, Tracker
Link Effect MonsterLink-1 [◀] | DARK Zombie | ATK 0
1 “Bohrok” or “Krana” monster Cannot be used as Link Material. You can Tribute this card; Special Summon 1 Level 4 “Bohrok” monster from your hand or GY in face-up or face-down Defense Position, but place it on the bottom of the Deck when it leaves the field. A “Bohrok” Xyz Monster that has this card as material gains this effect. ●Once per turn: You can declare 1 card name; until the end of your opponent’s turn, “Bohrok” cards and Set cards you control are unaffected by the effects of cards with that original name.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.8.6)🎉
The Ja-Kal’s job is to detect and track distant obstacles, so what it allows you to do is “sniff out” what your opponent may try to use against you in the future and render it ineffective in advance.
Su-Kal
Krana Su-Kal, Demolisher
Link Effect MonsterLink-1 [▲] | DARK Zombie | ATK 0
1 “Bohrok” or “Krana” monster Cannot be used as Link Material. If an opponent’s monster this card points to battles a “Bohrok” monster, that opponent’s monster’s ATK/DEF become 0 during the Damage Step only. A “Bohrok” Xyz Monster that has this card as material gains this effect. ●This card gains 800 ATK/DEF and cannot be destroyed by card effects.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.3.3)
The Su-Kal is simply a boost to power and thoughness, so it gives bonus stats and effect protection.
TBo-Kal
Krana Bo-Kal, Visionary
Link Effect MonsterLink-1 [▶] | DARK Zombie | ATK 0
1 “Bohrok” or “Krana” monster Cannot be used as Link Material. You can Tribute this card; Special Summon 1 Level 4 “Bohrok” monster from your hand or GY in face-up or face-down Defense Position, but place it on the bottom of the Deck when it leaves the field. A “Bohrok” Xyz Monster that has this card as material gains this effect. ●Once per turn: You can look at all Set cards your opponent controls, also look at as many random cards in their hand as possible, up to the number of “Bohrok” monsters you control.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.8.6)
The Bo-Kal grants all kinds of vision through darkness and walls, and the private information of Set cards and hand is no exception. In order to not make looking at the hand too easy, it’s tied to how many Bohrok you have managed to put on the field, for which I engineered a novel “as many random cards as possible, up to” phrasing so you don’t have to go through an ingame dropdown where you’d always select the maximum anyway.
The Plan
We have the mecha-brawn and we have the bio-brains, so how do we proceed from here? First of all, we must set the scene. Gahdok and Cahdok have been sealed away, there is cleanup still to be done, and so the Bohrok-Kal arise to the sonorous sounds of Red Hot Chilli Peppers. Enter Bohrok Kalifornication.
Bohrok Kalifornication
Continuous Trap
If your opponent controls a face-up card, you can activate this card the turn it was Set, by banishing 2 “Bahrag” monsters with different names from your Extra Deck. During the Main Phase: You can send 1 “Bohrok” or “Krana” card from your hand or face-up field to the GY, then target up to 2 “Bohrok” monsters in your GY; Special Summon 1 “Bohrok” Xyz Monster from your Extra Deck, and if you do, attach the targeted monsters to it as material, but return it to the Extra Deck during your opponent’s End Phase. You can only use this effect of “Bohrok Kalifornication” once per turn.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.8.6)
This is possibly my favorite card name I’ve ever made, and it works just as described above: When facing a populated field, just set and activate it, banish the Bahrag to provide the conditions for Xa-Kal and Ca-Kal to work, and start trading your Bahrag cards in hand or field for a (somewhat temporary) Bohrok-Kal every turn. One neat trick you can actually do is attaching a Vu-Kal to a monster Summoned this way and banishing it before it would leave, thereby making it forget its expiry date and stay around permanently once it returns.
(As a side note, at the very end of development I noticed it would be better to have the Bahrag banish as an alternative effect activation cost rather than part of the accelerated card activation condition, so you can more reliably set up that board state. Didn’t want to change it at this point, but might happen in a legacy update eventually.)
Of course, simply arriving is not enough to accomplish the great task ahead. After all, the Toa Nuva and their mighty elemental powers are sure to stand in our way. Now watch and learn, here’s the deal: The Nuva Symbols we shall steal!
Bohrok-Kal Strategy
Continuous Spell
When this card is activated: You can Special Summon 1 “Bohrok” monster from your hand. If a “Bohrok” monster(s) is Special Summoned to your field (except during the Damage Step): You can activate 1 of these effects, or, if the Summon is an Xyz Summon, you can activate both, in sequence; ●Target 1 other Spell/Trap on the field; destroy it. ●Add 1 “Bohrok” Spell/Trap from your Deck to your hand, except “Bohrok-Kal Strategy”. You can only use this effect of “Bohrok-Kal Strategy” once per turn.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.6.5)
If Kalifornication is one of my favorite names, then Bohrok-Kal Strategy is more generally one of my favorite designs in this set. A Continuous Spell that triggers every time you Special Summon a Bohrok (face-up, is the tricky part) and gives you the first trigger as a freebie with a Special Summon from hand. Either you get to destroy another Spell/Trap, which is great against floodgates and of course represents the lore aspect of stealing the Nuva Symbols, or you search another Bohrok Spell/Trap to help with your setup. If you properly Xyz Summon (note that Kalifornication does not do this!), you even get to activate both together for some insane value.
Well then, everything’s ready for our Counterattack. Oh look, a “Counter” Counter Trap, someone call Battlin’ Boxers.
Bohrok Counterattack
Counter Trap
When your opponent activates a Spell/Trap Card, or monster effect, while you control a “Bohrok” monster or only face-down monsters (min. 1): Send 1 “Krana” monster from your Deck or Extra Deck to the GY; negate the activation, then you can attach that card to 1 “Bohrok” Xyz Monster you control as material.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.8.6)
It’s just a standard archetypal negation backrow, worded so it also works with the usual plain Bohrok setups but actually gets rid of the negated card if the Bohrok-Kal are in play. Getting a Krana into the GY does also come in handy.
And finally, when victory is at hand, the Krana-Kal unleash their last secret: The Silver Shield protecting the Bohrok-Kal from all interference as they cross the finish line.
Bohrok Silver Shield
Quick-Play Spell
Target 1 “Krana” monster you control or in your GY; either return it to the hand or attach it to a “Bohrok” Xyz Monster you control as material. At the start of the Battle Phase: You can banish this card from your GY; until the end of this turn, “Bohrok” Xyz Monsters you control are unaffected by card effects, except their own, while they have a “Krana” Link Monster as material. Neither player can activate cards or effects in response to this effect’s activation. You can only use each effect of “Bohrok Silver Shield” once per turn.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.8.6)
The activation effect is just basic utility to recycle or attach a Krana – doing this without activating a monster effect is actually a pretty good trick to have up your sleeve. But the main point lies in the GY effect, which triggers at the start of the Battle Phase to turn the Krana-Kal attached to your Bohrok-Kal into some of the most potent protection the game has to offer, ensuring your attack to trigger the Xa-Kal will go through uninterrupted. About the only thing that could stop you at that point is a form of negation that makes the Bohrok-Kal fall to its own power, but surely nothing like that exists .
Sterling Silver? Link-8? Match Winner? Whatever are you talking about? I fear you may have had too many expired Vuata Maca Fruits, friend.
Unlike the Toa Nuva, where a variety of decks came from the question of what to mix them with, Bohrok kind of just don’t mix with anything. The Kal all require archetypal materials only, cards like Strategy or Kalifornication need you to draw other Bohrok stuff to do anything, and so on. As a result, the different builds included in the expansion are more a consequence of limited Extra Deck space – with 8 Krana-Kal, 6 Bohrok-Kal, 2 Bahrag, and 2 Kaita, the numbers just don’t work out for a deck that does everything. However, since the differences are pretty minimal, I won’t bother going over them all and instead leave it at a quick rundown of the lore-accurate “awaken the Bahrag” build.
Its core is a Bohrok package of Gahlok , Nuhvok , and Pahrak , the three breeds that can use their effects and still remain on the field to serve as material. But in some cases you may value more potent removal over maximum efficiency, so the side deck also has a Lehvak to swap in. All of these come with their respective Bohrok Va for additional field presence and utility. Partnered with them are Bohrok Spells/Traps both new and old, as well as a Therion Regulus that Rank 4 lines can search by way of Merrymaker into Sargas.
The Extra Deck features the Bahrag we seek to awaken as well as the Xa-Kal and Ca-Kal to enable that, plus an useful (but necessarily incomplete) selection of other Krana-Kal and Bohrok-Kal. Of course Zeus is here too, it’s an Xyz deck.
Best of Test
Best of Test: Bohrok-Kal
Some assorted duel footage that shows not only the above build in action, but also those “minimally different” others that focus either on more general Bohrok-Kal spam or on making the Kaita.
Conclusion
The Bohrok-Kal, but perhaps more so the associated Krana-Kal and the various new Spell and Trap cards, take the slowly ramping Flip Monster strategy of the old Bohrok and augment it with such useful abilities as “building a board going first” or “breaking a board going second”. While their general reliance on archetypal cards makes it hard to put together anything other than a pure deck, the wide variety of Extra Deck monsters added with this support introduces some significant choices to be made in that process. Meanwhile, the Main Deck still contains all the flippy goodness of the Bohrok swarms, which can serve as a surpisingly powerful fallback strategy once the big bombs have been exhausted.
At long last, the appointed time of eventually™ is upon us. The BPEV archetypes are (for now) complete and ready to get their guides. Where else to start than the heroes of the story?
And that’s a thing now too I guess, in case you want the key points in one nicely portable image. For more detail on every single card involved here, simply proceed right on.
If only your opponent controls a monster, you can Special Summon this card (from your hand). If this card is Normal or Special Summoned (except during the Damage Step): You can Fusion Summon 1 Fusion Monster from your Extra Deck, using this card you control and 1 monster from your hand as material. If this card is used as material for a Fusion Summon, except by its own effect: Target 1 Special Summoned monster on the field; send it to the GY.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.8.6)
Just mentioned here for the sake of completeness and for reference; the stuff that fuses with the Toa Mata to turn them into the Toa Nuva. They have their own Theme Guide, so no need to say much more than that here.
The Toa Nuva
In essence, they are upgraded forms of the Toa Mata, made by fusing each of the six with an Energized Protodermis monster. This grants them +400 on both ATK and DEF, as well as replacing the thematic trigger effects representing their elemental powers with more freely available (and somewhat adjusted) Quick Effects.
“Toa Mata Tahu” + 1 “Energized Protodermis” monster If this card is Fusion Summoned: You can add 1 “Nuva” Spell/Trap from your Deck or GY to your hand, then discard 1 card. If your opponent controls a monster (Quick Effect): You can target 1 other Attack Position monster on the field; its ATK becomes 0, and if it does, this card gains ATK equal to that monster’s original ATK, until the end of this turn. You can only use this effect of “Toa Nuva Tahu” once per turn.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.8.6)
Tahu retains his role as a battle-focused source of big damage by burning away another monster’s ATK to boost his own. Notably, this can also target your own monsters for added utility against e.g. untargetable bosses, but won’t work if your opponent’s field is empty to keep the potential damage output in check. Look, what can I say, this was designed way before Tenpai was a thing.
“Toa Mata Gali” + 1 “Energized Protodermis” monster If this card is Fusion Summoned: You can add 1 “Nuva” Spell/Trap from your Deck or GY to your hand, then discard 1 card. (Quick Effect): You can target 1 other Effect Monster on the field; negate its effects until the end of this turn. You can only use this effect of “Toa Nuva Gali” once per turn.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.8.6)
Gali’s targeted monster negate has been vastly increased in usefulness by not needing to chain to specific other effects, making her one of the Toa Nuva most suitable for a traditional endboard setup.
“Toa Mata Onua” + 1 “Energized Protodermis” monster If this card is Fusion Summoned: You can add 1 “Nuva” Spell/Trap from your Deck or GY to your hand, then discard 1 card. During the Main Phase (Quick Effect): You can target 1 card in either GY; place it on the top or bottom of the Deck, then gain 1000 LP. You can only use this effect of “Toa Nuva Onua” once per turn.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.4.4)
Onua is still the guy you need to control the GY, but now he can do it every turn without waiting for stuff to get sent there, and offers a stable LP gain instead of needing to aim for low-ATK monsters specifically. From disruption to recycling to locking the opponent’s draws in very simplified game states, the Toa of Earth can do a whole lot despite not interacting with the field at all.
“Toa Mata Pohatu” + 1 “Energized Protodermis” monster If this card is Fusion Summoned: You can add 1 “Nuva” Spell/Trap from your Deck or GY to your hand, then discard 1 card. (Quick Effect): You can destroy 1 Spell/Trap your opponent controls, or up to 2 if you control a Rock monster. You can only use this effect of “Toa Nuva Pohatu” once per turn.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.8.6)
Pohatu benefits a lot from losing the trigger condition that tied him to Extra Deck monsters, because now he’s also reliable backrow removal against the likes of stun decks. Instead of a non-targeting bonus pop for controlling a Rock, this effect now scales for every single Rock you control … which doesn’t make much of a difference in regular Nuva builds, but could come up in some esoteric brew I guess.
“Toa Mata Kopaka” + 1 “Energized Protodermis” monster If this card is Fusion Summoned: You can add 1 “Nuva” Spell/Trap from your Deck or GY to your hand, then discard 1 card. Once per turn, during the Main Phase, if you control no other monsters (Quick Effect): You can target 1 monster your opponent controls; banish it. While this card is in face-up Defense Position, your opponent’s monsters cannot target other monsters you control for attacks, also your opponent cannot target other cards you control with card effects.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.8.6)
Kopaka continues to dual-wield effects, with an offensive banish and a defensive continuous protection that covers your whole field. The former, as usual, has been upgraded to a full Quick Effect, but needed to be balanced to only working when he’s alone, as he prefers. The latter now also protects all of your other cards from targeting by effects – can be somewhat funny paired with floodgates if you’re evil.
“Toa Mata Lewa” + 1 “Energized Protodermis” monster If this card is Fusion Summoned: You can add 1 “Nuva” Spell/Trap from your Deck or GY to your hand, then discard 1 card. During the Main Phase (Quick Effect): You can target 1 monster on the field; return it to the hand, also, after that, if it left your field by this effect, you can return 1 additional monster on the field to the hand. You can only use this effect of “Toa Nuva Lewa” once per turn.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.8.6)
Lewa is another very traditionally viable form of Quick Effect interaction, a targeting bounce that can be upgraded to be non-targeting in much the same way you could for his Mata form.
All of them also share an additional effect to search a “Nuva” Spell/Trap when Fusion Summoned, ensuring you have the ability to make full use of their various other powers listed below.
Nuva Symbols
As the Toa ascended to their new forms, the elemental powers they each wield also manifested physically into the six Nuva Symbols. Both a source of power and a critical weakness, these Continuous Spell Cards operate on a clear-cut pattern of three effects: A consistency helper that trades the Symbol for the matching Toa Mata, or a Energized Protodermis card if you already have that; a benefit that enhances the capabilities of the Toa Nuva in some way; and a mandatory punish that robs them of their power and deals the player harmful backlash should the Symbol ever be removed from the field.
You can shuffle this card you control into the Deck; either add 1 “Toa Mata Tahu” from your Deck to your hand, or reveal it in your hand and add 1 “Energized Protodermis” card instead. You can only use this effect of “Nuva Symbol of Burning Courage” once per turn. If your “Toa Nuva” monster battles, your opponent cannot activate cards or effects until the end of the Damage Step. If this face-up card leaves the field: Target 1 “Toa Nuva” monster you control; negate its effects, and if you do, skip the Battle Phase of your next turn.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.8.6)
A simple effect to ensure your Toa Nuva cannot be stopped in battle, but if lost, you will find yourself unable to battle at all. Probably one of the more low-risk, low-reward Nuva Symbols.
Flowing Harmony
Nuva Symbol of Flowing Harmony
Continuous Spell
You can shuffle this card you control into the Deck; either add 1 “Toa Mata Gali” from your Deck to your hand, or reveal it in your hand and add 1 “Energized Protodermis” card instead. When a card or effect activated by your opponent in response to your “Toa Nuva” monster’s effect activation resolves, you can negate that effect, and if you do, destroy that card. You can only use each of the preceding effects of “Nuva Symbol of Flowing Harmony” once per turn. If this face-up card leaves the field: Target 1 “Toa Nuva” monster you control; negate its effects. You cannot activate monster effects in response to this effect’s activation.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.8.6)
Counters any responses your opponent may have to your Toa Nuva’s effects, but also limits your responses to its own punish (mainly so you can’t activate the targeted Toa’s Quick Effect one last time before it’s lost). Because this negates continuously, as Spell Cards are wont to do, it even shuts down Counter Trap Cards.
Deep Wisdom
Nuva Symbol of Deep Wisdom
Continuous Spell
You can shuffle this card you control into the Deck; either add 1 “Toa Mata Onua” from your Deck to your hand, or reveal it in your hand and add 1 “Energized Protodermis” card instead. If a “Toa Nuva” monster you control activates its effect: You can pay 1000 LP; draw 1 card. You can only use each of the preceding effects of “Nuva Symbol of Deep Wisdom” once per turn. If this face-up card leaves the field: Target 1 “Toa Nuva” monster you control; negate its effects, and if you do, banish 1 card from your hand face-down.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.8.6)
Replenishes your hand whenever you use a Toa Nuva’s effect (at the small cost of your LP), but rips something out of it if removed. Combines especially well with Onua Nuva, who not only gives you the LP to spend on this, but can also stack any card from your GY to be the draw you get.
Granite Tenacity
Nuva Symbol of Granite Tenacity
Continuous Spell
You can shuffle this card you control into the Deck; either add 1 “Toa Mata Pohatu” from your Deck to your hand, or reveal it in your hand and add 1 “Energized Protodermis” card instead. If a monster(s) is Special Summoned, and you control a “Toa Nuva” monster: You can Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower monster from your hand or GY. You can only use each of the preceding effects of “Nuva Symbol of Granite Tenacity” once per turn. If this face-up card leaves the field: Target 1 “Toa Nuva” monster you control; negate its effects, then Tribute 1 other monster.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.8.6)
Lets you call forth all kinds of allies to aid your Toa Nuva, but forces you to sacrifice one of them if removed. One neat trick with this, for example, would be bringing back Energized Protodermis Chamber to make an additional Toa Nuva.
Frigid Serenity
Nuva Symbol of Frigid Serenity
Continuous Spell
You can shuffle this card you control into the Deck; either add 1 “Toa Mata Kopaka” from your Deck to your hand, or reveal it in your hand and add 1 “Energized Protodermis” card instead. If a face-up “Toa Nuva” monster(s) you control leaves the field because of an opponent’s card: You can banish 1 card from your opponent’s hand (at random) or their field. You can only use each of the preceding effects of “Nuva Symbol of Frigid Serenity” once per turn. If this face-up card leaves the field: Target 1 “Toa Nuva” monster you control; negate its effects, then your opponent can add 1 of their banished cards to their hand.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.8.6)
Strikes back at the opponent’s field or even their hand if they take out your Toa Nuva (such as a Kopaka protecting everything else), but also gives them an opportunity to recover lost resources if removed.
Soaring Vitality
Nuva Symbol of Soaring Vitality
Continuous Spell
You can shuffle this card you control into the Deck; either add 1 “Toa Mata Lewa” from your Deck to your hand, or reveal it in your hand and add 1 “Energized Protodermis” card instead. If a face-up “Toa Nuva” monster(s) you control leaves the field by card effect: You can target 1 Level 8 or lower monster in your GY; Special Summon it. You can only use each of the preceding effects of “Nuva Symbol of Soaring Vitality” once per turn. If this face-up card leaves the field: Target 1 “Toa Nuva” monster you control; negate its effects, and if you do, you cannot Special Summon for the rest of this turn.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.8.6)
Recovers your own field presence if a Toa Nuva leaves – including by your own effects, e.g. Lewa Nuva – but locks you out of Special Summons if removed. In addition to bringing back a lost Toa Nuva itself, you’re also free to get the Toa Mata that was material, the Chamber that can make you another Fusion, or anything generic so long as it’s Level 8 or lower.
Beyond the six symbols, there is something that gathers it. An artifact of such might and significance that … it’s completely forgotten by the lore and never mentioned after its introduction even in the scene where the act it was meant to be used for happens. Hello, Nuva Cube.
Nuva Cube
Continuous Trap
While you control a “Nuva” Continuous Spell, your opponent cannot target this card with card effects. Once per turn: You can target up to 6 “Nuva” Continuous Spells with different names on your field and/or in any GY(s); shuffle them into the Deck, then you can apply any of the following effect(s), in sequence, based on the number shuffled. ●1+: Place 1 “Nuva” Continuous Spell from your Deck face-up in your Spell & Trap Zone. ●3+: Negate the effects of 1 other face-up Spell/Trap on the field until the end of this turn. ●6: Special Summon up to 2 of your banished monsters.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.8.6)
Odd as its existence may be, this thing’s connection to the Symbols and role in the 2003 storyline are clear enough to construct some fitting effects. Basically, it uses the different Nuva Continuous Spells – the Symbols – as fodder (in such a way that you can dodge removal, and thus, punishes) to achieve a stacking lineup of benefits. Shuffle back 1, and you get to replace it. Shuffle back 3, and it’s also a Spell/Trap negate (none of the Toa do this!). Shuffle back all 6 … and “awaken the Bahrag”. That last one is purely for flavour, you’re not expected to ever do this. Also it has targeting protection in the presence of Nuva Symbols, because you can’t get to it if those are covering it, right?
Kanohi Nuva
With new forms came new masks, holding more or less the same powers as before. Except now, those powers can be shared with others, and gameplay-wise that ability ended up being tied into a series of effects that aid the overall Nuva ecosystem.
If another “Kanohi” Equip Spell becomes equipped to the equipped monster, destroy this card. If the equipped monster is a “Toa Nuva” monster, it cannot be destroyed by battle, also you take no battle damage from battles involving it. If this card is sent to the GY, and you have not activated a “Kanohi” Equip Spell effect in the GY this turn: You can banish 1 monster from your GY; place 1 “Nuva” Continuous Spell from your Deck face-up in your Spell & Trap Zone, also if you control a “Toa Nuva” Monster, all face-up monsters you currently control cannot be destroyed by battle this turn.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.8.6)
Kaukau
Great Kanohi Kaukau Nuva
Equip Spell
If another “Kanohi” Equip Spell becomes equipped to the equipped monster, destroy this card. If the equipped monster is a “Toa Nuva” monster, it is unaffected by your opponent’s card effects, unless they target it. If this card is sent to the GY, and you have not activated a “Kanohi” Equip Spell effect in the GY this turn: You can banish 1 monster from your GY; place 1 “Nuva” Continuous Spell from your Deck face-up in your Spell & Trap Zone, also if you control a “Toa Nuva” monster, all face-up monsters you currently control cannot be destroyed by card effects this turn.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.8.6)
Pakari
Great Kanohi Pakari Nuva
Equip Spell
If another “Kanohi” Equip Spell becomes equipped to the equipped monster, destroy this card. If the equipped monster is a “Toa Nuva” monster, it gains 1000 ATK, also if it attacks a Defense Position monster, inflict piercing battle damage. If this card is sent to the GY, and you have not activated a “Kanohi” Equip Spell effect in the GY this turn: You can banish 1 monster from your GY; place 1 “Nuva” Continuous Spell from your Deck face-up in your Spell & Trap Zone, also if you control a “Toa Nuva” monster, all monsters you currently control gain 600 ATK until the end of your opponent’s turn.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.8.6)
Kakama
Great Kanohi Kakama Nuva
Equip Spell
If another “Kanohi” Equip Spell becomes equipped to the equipped monster, destroy this card. If the equipped monster is a “Toa Nuva” monster, it can attack all monsters your opponent controls, once each. If this card is sent to the GY, and you have not activated a “Kanohi” Equip Spell effect in the GY this turn: You can banish 1 monster from your GY; Set 1 “Nuva” Trap from your Deck, also if you control a “Toa Nuva” monster, all face-up monsters you currently control can attack directly this turn, but when they do so using this effect, their ATK is halved during damage calculation only.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.8.6)
The “sharing” effect on this one is notably different from the one it grants while equipped, because the Kakama Nuva includes an additional power that needed to be represented: The ability to phase through solid objects while moving at high speed. This manifests as direct attacks, though with reduced ATK because your monsters aren’t quite touching the opponent either.
Akaku
Great Kanohi Akaku Nuva
Equip Spell
If another “Kanohi” Equip Spell becomes equipped to the equipped monster, destroy this card. While this card is equipped to a “Toa Nuva” monster you control, your opponent must keep their hand revealed. If this card is sent to the GY, and you have not activated a “Kanohi” Equip Spell effect in the GY this turn: You can banish 1 monster from your GY; Set 1 “Nuva” Trap from your Deck, also if you control a “Toa Nuva” monster, you can banish 1 random card from your opponent’s hand, until the End Phase.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.8.6)
The hand-sniping effect from the base form was dropped here, simply for space reasons. But just taking a look is good on its own anyway, so maybe that was never truly needed.
Miru
Great Kanohi Miru Nuva
Equip Spell
If another “Kanohi” Equip Spell becomes equipped to the equipped monster, destroy this card. If the equipped monster is a “Toa Nuva” monster, negate any effect activated by your opponent that targeted it. If this card is sent to the GY, and you have not activated a “Kanohi” Equip Spell effect in the GY this turn: You can banish 1 monster from your GY; Set 1 “Nuva” Trap from your Deck, also if you control a “Toa Nuva” monster, your opponent cannot target the face-up monsters you currently control with card effects this turn.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.8.6)
If sent to the GY, half of these get you a free Continuous Spell and the other half prepare a Trap, all while applying a communal version of their respective abilities to your field at the time – provided you have a Toa Nuva around to access that power. Optimally, you’re adding these with a Toa Nuva and then discarding them to essentially get a different Spell/Trap for free, but they can also serve as setup tools. Be aware of the strange activation condition, however – it essentially means all of the Kanohi Nuva share a single hard once per turn, and you have to activate them before any other Kanohi you may be using!
So, other than the Nuva Symbols and the Cube they go on, anything else we can get out of these? Oh yes.
Other Nuva Spells/Traps
Tales of the Nuva
Continuous Spell
When this card is activated: You can add 1 “Energized Protodermis” card from your Deck to your hand. If a “Nuva” Spell/Trap(s) is sent from the hand and/or Deck to your GY: You can target 1 of them; Set it to your field. If your opponent activates a monster effect: You can send this card to the GY, then target 1 “Toa Nuva” monster you control or in your GY; shuffle it into the Deck, and if you do, you can Special Summon 1 “Toa Nuva” Fusion Monster with a different name from your Extra Deck. You can only use each effect of “Tales of the Nuva” once per turn.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.6.5)
On the Continuous Spell side, we have a more low-investment option to consider if you don’t want the risk and Toa Mata attachment the proper Symbols bring with them. With Tales of the Nuva, you can basically just play some Energized Protodermis stuff – which it searches if properly activated – and make the Fusions using something like a King of the Swamp. Its other abilities include an additional way to offset the discard from the Nuva searches and a one-time swap from one Toa Nuva into another, letting you branch into different types of interaction as the game unfolds. While this is a card tuned to be more practical than the lore-focused Nuva Symbols, the benefits it offers are somewhat more subtle and its search effect, notably, is not available if placed with a Kanohi Nuva, so there are legitimate reasons to be playing the proper Symbols instead of, or more likely alongside, it.
Nuva Emergence
Trap
Fusion Summon 1 “Toa Nuva” Fusion Monster from your Extra Deck, by shuffling its materials from your hand, GY, and/or banishment into the Deck. If your opponent controls a monster, you can also banish up to 1 monster from your Deck as material. During the Main Phase, except the turn this card was sent to the GY: You can banish this card from your GY; add 1 “Nuva” Spell/Trap from your Deck or GY to your hand, except “Nuva Emergence”, then discard 1 card. You can only use each effect of “Nuva Emergence” once per turn.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.8.6)
When it comes to Traps, one that’s crucial is the Normal Trap Nuva Emergence, granting you the ability to Fusion Summon on your opponent’s turn and thus make the most of your strictly limited efficient Kanohi Nuva searches. Furthermore, if your opponent has already put a monster on the field, this doesn’t just shuffle back materials, but also banishes one straight out of the Deck, which lets it act as an additional disruption or as removal by triggering the mandatory “drawback” of Energized Protodermis Chamber. In the GY, it does the Toa Nuva’s on-summon search, but without needing to go into a Fusion first, so that’s good to have when you need to rebuild from a position of low resources.
Nuva Overcharge
Counter Trap
When your opponent activates a monster effect on the field, while you control a “Toa Nuva” monster and have a “Nuva” Continuous Spell/Trap on your field or in your GY: The activated effect becomes “banish this card”. During the End Phase, if this card is in your GY and you control a “Toa Nuva” monster: You can Set this card, but banish it when it leaves the field. You can only use each effect of “Nuva Overcharge” once per turn.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.8.6)
And somewhat more optional, there’s also the Counter Trap Nuva Overcharge. Depicted on it is the final move the Toa Nuva used to stop the Bohrok-Kal at the last second: Channeling their elemental energies through the stolen Nuva Symbols, overcharging the Kal who were holding them and causing their own powers to destroy them. Hence the gimmick of rewriting a monster effect into self-removal (thus bypassing even the “unaffected by other cards” kind of protection!), on the condition that both Toa Nuva and Nuva Symbol (or Tales, let’s call that artistic license) are in place. And to approximate the fact that this move took out all the Kal rather than a single one, it resets itself in the End Phase to be used again next turn – which also means you can discard it with a Nuva search going first and still get it.
Toa Nuva Kaita
And to go even further beyond, the mighty Toa Nuva retain the Mata’s ability to combine into even more powerful forms. Now, when the base components are already Extra Deck boss monsters that are meant to be the payoff of the strategy, it’s kind of though to add another level of upgrades that contribute anything meaningful. So to some extent, these are just entirely optional fluff. But I believe I’ve also managed to devise a way for them to be reasonably useful anyway, if you build your deck a certain way.
3 Level 8 monsters You can detach 1 material from this card; add 1 “Nuva” Spell/Trap from your Deck or GY to your hand. You can only use this effect of “Akamai, Toa Nuva Kaita of Valor” once per turn. After this card was Xyz Summoned during your turn using a “Toa” monster as material, apply these effects for the rest of that turn, except during the Main Phase 2 and End Phase. ●Your opponent cannot activate cards or effects. ●You cannot Special Summon monsters.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.8.6)
Great Kanohi Aki Nuva
Equip Spell
If another “Kanohi” Equip Spell becomes equipped to the equipped monster, destroy this card. If the equipped monster is a “Toa Nuva” Xyz Monster, it cannot be destroyed by battle, gains 1000 ATK, and can attack all monsters your opponent controls once each, also if it attacks a Defense Position monster, inflict piercing battle damage. While this card is equipped to a monster: You can reveal 1 “Toa” monster from your Deck or Extra Deck, then target 1 face-up monster you control that has a Level; its Level and name become the same as the revealed monster (until the end of this turn), then destroy this card.
3 Level 8 monsters You can detach 1 material from this card; add 1 “Nuva” Spell/Trap from your Deck or GY to your hand. When your opponent activates a card or effect while this card has a “Toa” monster as material (Quick Effect): You can detach 1 material from this card; negate the activation, then you can banish both that card and the top card of either player’s Deck, and if you banished 2 different card types (Monster, Spell, Trap), draw 1 card. You can only use each effect of “Wairuha, Toa Nuva Kaita of Wisdom” once per turn.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.8.6)
Great Kanohi Rua Nuva
Equip Spell
If another “Kanohi” Equip Spell becomes equipped to the equipped monster, destroy this card. If the equipped monster is a “Toa Nuva” Xyz Monster, it is unaffected by your opponent’s card effects, also your opponent must keep their hand revealed. While this card is equipped to a monster: You can add 1 “Nuva” Normal or Quick-Play Spell from your Deck to your hand, then destroy this card. You can only use this effect of “Great Kanohi Rua Nuva” once per turn.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.6.5)
The core abilities of the Kaita and their Kanohi are basically carried over from their Mata counterparts, but with slight adjustments. Akamai is still the unga bunga guy who just unstoppably charges into battle to clear the field with his massive buffs from the Aki Nuva, but now he also locks your opponent down before you even enter the Battle Phase. This is largely the result of me getting obsessed with doing a version of Azathot “without the really broken parts” – decide for yourself if I was successful with that. Anyway, Wairuha is also still a negate that is protected from all effects (and looks at the hand) thanks to the Rua Nuva, but the little “wisdom game” where you have to match up card types has been rolled into the negation effect itself (mainly to save space) and given a more consistent payoff.
Now, careful readers may notice that those effects are generally reliant on having a “Toa” monster as material, but the monsters themselves can be made generically. This is the little trick that actually makes them playable as more than winmore superbosses, because using some generic R8 engine like Horus to go into these actually lets them start Toa Nuva plays, by adding any of the Spells or Traps to your hand – without the usual discard! Okay, “start” may be a strong word since this doesn’t search any one-card starters, but it can get you a missing piece at least; also ensures you have access to the Aki Nuva/Rua Nuva if you make the Kaita in their full superbossly glory.
Speaking of which, those two Kanohi have some bonus effects tacked on, because it’d would be hard to justify playing them if all they offered were boosts for Kaita exclusively. The Aki Nuva lets you adjust names and Levels to enable Xyz and Fusion Summons (also for the Mata Xyz), while the Rua Nuva searches some types of “Nuva” Spells not covered by the other Kanohi Nuva.
Wait, what Spells would those be? Exactly the following one: Our very own Nuva Rank-Up Magic Protodermic Evolution.
Nuva Rank-Up-Magic Protodermic Evolution
Quick-Play Spell
During the Main Phase: Target 1 Warrior monster you control with “Toa” in its original name; Special Summon from your Extra Deck, 1 Warrior Xyz Monster whose Rank is 2 higher than that target’s Rank or 2 lower than that target’s Level, by using it as material, and if you do, you can attach 1 card from your hand or face-up field to the Summoned monster as material, except this card. (This is treated as an Xyz Summon. Transfer its materials to the Summoned monster.)
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.8.6)
The gimmick on this one is that you get to swap one of your Toa into a Warrior Xyz along one of the following routes:
Level 6 Toa (= Toa Mata) -> Rank 4 Xyz
Rank 6 Toa ( = Mata Xyz) -> Rank 8 Xyz ( = Nuva Kaita)
Level 8 Toa (= Toa Nuva) -> Rank 6 Xyz ( = Mata Xyz)
Rank 8 Toa (= Nuva Kaita) -> Rank 10 Xyz (?)
Feel free to consult the database to find out what generic Warrior options this actually enables, but before you get too excited let it be known that I already did that and there weren’t any super broken ones. Standouts include Dempsey for the Battlin’ Boxer pivot, Photon Strike Bounzer for a negate, or Giantrainer for lots of draws. In a deck that’s already playing Toa in some capacity, the in-archetype options are probably the best thing you can be doing – but feel very, very invited to prove me wrong on that!
Sample Decks
Over the 2-and-some years of development and testing, I ran a few different deck types centered on the Toa Nuva, evolving along with both custom and official card releases and ban list movements. Due to that, some decks here are no longer playable, but historically interesting nonetheless – scroll down a bit more if you’re only interested in up-to-date builds.
Above is the last version of the standard Toa Nuva deck empowered by both Isolde and Spright Elf. The combo line here was basically making Isolde with either Neo Space Connector or the C.C. Matoran , adding a Toa Mata of your choice, and sending some number of Kanohi Nuva to get another Warrior to the field. With those sent Kanohi Nuva, you could then get the Nuva Symbol matching the Toa Mata in your hand and trade that out for Energized Protodermis Destiny . Next step would be linking Isolde and your random Warrior into Spright Elf, using it to revive a C.C. Matoran, and then targeting that monster with Destiny to trade for Energized Protodermis Chamber and finally make a Toa Nuva. Because Chamber is itself Level 2, Elf could further bring it back during the opponent’s Main Phase to make another Toa Nuva … and repeat that every single turn as long as it survives and you keep getting Toa Mata into your hand. Was pretty neat, but of course Elf getting banned in the TCG took away that essential piece.
To cope with that, I tried out a few different alternatives, with probably the most normal of them being one that just locked in on the 4 Toa Nuva grouped in the WATER and EARTH Attributes while supplementing the lost Elf capabilities with the then-newly introduced Nuva Emergence.
This was obviously quite a bit weaker, but still worked, and then Isolde got banned. I did not try to salvage it after that, instead opting to consider some completely new approaches.
One question I asked myself was if there wasn’t a way to use the Toa Nuva without the Toa Mata as Main Deck bricks, perhaps by leveraging a substitute material like King of the Swamp. As it so happens, that card has also seen play in the banlist-ravaged remains of Tearlament decks, so I picked that as a shell and got to work. Ideally, this build tries to do the standard Kashtira -> Dracossack -> Cherubini line to get the King into rotation, most of the time bringing out Rulkallos since you can usually also go into Spright Sprind and send Merrli to finish setting that up. But many combinations of cards will also let you make a Toa Nuva, and once that engine is running, Emergence and Tales pretty reliably ensure continued access to various end board pieces that really add to the solid Tearlament base. Since this was probably the most straightforward and functional version as of the latest release, it also got Nuva Overcharge added in there as a Counter Trap option that conveniently Sets itself from the GY once you get to a Toa Nuva.
Next, a build that was created in conjunction with the Toa Nuva Kaita, taking advantage of the fact that their existence provides a Rank 8 route into Nuva plays. Horus monsters are probably the easiest way to get the 3 materials for that together, which lines up decently with both Tales and the Kanohi Nuva being able to exploit mills and discards. One particular thing I appreciate about this list is that it does also find room for the Toa Mata and Nuva Symbols, so we can use our Rank-Up or the modulation effect of the Aki Nuva to access the OG Akamai and Wairuha , or Mata Combination Storm for some fun.
And finally, the most recent cute combo I cooked up to Fusion Summon Toa Nuva, by using Power Tool Braver Dragon to trigger multiple Kanohi. Of course, what’s pictured above is a somewhat more deranged pile which also uses that move to smoothly acquire a Kanohi Vahi , has a novel way to get a “Toa” on the field by activating Naming Day on Gen or Ken for Prisma, and tops it all off by including the Exo-Toa engine enabled by Exo Autonomy . Simply put, it plays as many of the new things from the final batch of BPEV cards as possible, making it very efficient for testing. Sometimes it even works.
Best of Test
Best of Test: Toa Nuva
Featuring some representative and/or interesting duels out of the many, many that were had over two years of gradual development and testing.
Conclusion
As upgraded forms of the Toa Mata, the Nuva retain the general outline of effects found in the original team, but with several significant upgrades: They live in the Extra Deck, they can do their disruption as true Quick Effects, and they also give you access to an array of “Nuva” Spell/Trap Cards. Those include the Nuva Symbols for risky bonus effects, Traps to fuse on the opponent’s turn or counter their effects, and the Kanohi Nuva that give buffs and put the other cards directly on the field.
While one approach is to add Toa Nuva to an existing deck of the Toa Mata and their support cards, it is just as possible to leave out the Mata entirely and instead have the Nuva lend their services to other powerful Fusion strategies by means of substitute materials. The Toa Nuva Kaita open up yet another avenue of using Rank 8 engines to establish Nuva access, and so on. When it comes to possibilities in deckbuilding, it seems clear that the Toa are now truly “more than they were”.
No, not whatever the Karzahni Artakha was doing in ’07; this is a neat little combo that has been possible for a while but I just figured out the other day. And by “the other day”, I mean it was like a month and a half ago last year, but I accidentally left the write-up in drafts. Whoops.
Basically, from a single activation of known culprit Emergency Teleport, we will climb into a successful Fusion Summon of any Toa Nuva of our choice. How? Through the power of explosions, of course.
First of all, the Teleport will get Psi-Reflector, a fairly traditional choice. We proceed to perform the usual combo line of adding Assault Beast, discarding Assault Beast to get the Assault Mode trap, and revealing it with Psi-Reflector’s effect to revive that same Assault Beast. We will increase its Level by 4, thus setting us up for a Level 1 + 8 = 9 Synchro Summon into Power Tool Braver Dragon.
When Special Summoned, Braver Equips up to 3 Equip Spells to itself, and in this case two of those have to be specifically one of the Toa Mata’s Great Kanohi and one of its Nuva counterparts, preferably from the half that searches Continuous Spells. For the sake of illustration, let the pair be Pakari and Pakari Nuva . As Kanohi, both of those cards destroy themselves when another Kanohi becomes equipped, so what if we put on two simultaneously? Yes Rico, kaboom. Both are destroyed immediately and go to the GY, which conveniently triggers their respective effects.
On Chain Link 1, the Pakari Nuva (which you have to be careful to activate first here) will banish Psi-Reflector to put Nuva Symbol of Deep Wisdom on the field. On Chain Link 2, the Pakari will banish Assault Beast to add Onua Mata from your Deck to your hand. It’s important that the Nuva Symbol matches the Toa Mata in this step, because next we will use the Symbol’s first effect to return it to the Deck, showing off the Onua that’s already in our hand to acquire a search of Energized Protodermis Destiny . Activate Destiny targeting Braver Dragon, go through the immersive steps of melting it down into a puddle of Energized Protodermis for lacking a great destiny, and Special Summon Energized Protodermis Chamber from your Deck. Its effect will trigger to fuse with the Onua in your hand – and there’s your Onua Nuva ! You even still have Assault Mode Activate in the hand as a discard for the on-Summon search, and your Normal Summon remains entirely unused.
The choice of Onua Nuva in this example is not entirely arbitrary, because he specifically comes with the side benefit of putting any single card from your GY back on top of your Deck, while his matching Nuva Symbol lets you draw after using a Toa Nuva effect. So if you spend the search on getting that Nuva Symbol set up a second time, you can actually just add a card from your GY back to your hand. That allows this curious combo to end on not just a Toa Nuva, but on one equipped with the Kanohi Vahi – which you get into the GY by picking it as the 3rd equip to Braver. This usage can be observed in the video below.
You may also notice that the thing doing the heavy lifting with regards to Nuva access in this combo isn’t actually the Emergency Teleport or the Psi-Reflector, but rather the Power Tool Braver Dragon lurking in the Extra Deck. It should, in theory, be entirely possible to integrate a Nuva line into any deck that can make a Level 9 Synchro – but unfortunately I haven’t yet been able to find time to experiment with that beyond the straightforward combo above.
While we’re at it, I’d like to add that there are various other deckbuilding tasks like that which are stuck in limbo and won’t make it into the schedule. If you’re reading this and happen to be interested in doing that kind of thing, please leave a comment or otherwise get in touch with me. At this point I’m legitimately willing to pay someone to take that workload off my hands.
Let’s see how well the plan worked out this year, and how it looks for next year.
All releases planned for 2024 were accomplished smoothly, including the gargantuan task of finishing the Rahi Update in one push so the Kal Saga finale could also fit in. Additionally, the EDOPro repository now massively simplifies installation, and this year’s April Fools’ joke established an alternate route to pursue if Yugioh ever becomes unviable. Quite productive.
For next year, the major milestones will be:
April 2025: Finalized BPEV release, with all the cards checked and cleaned and all the decks in working order.
August 2025: First look at Bionicle: Mask of Light, the 5th expansion pack! This will feature a small sample of each planned archetype.
December 2025: “Search for the Seventh Toa”, the first regular BMOL release. It will cover the archetype that centers on the protagonists of the movie, Jaller and Takua, as well as the Kanohi Avohkii whose bearer they are seeking out.
As for the progress report on side quests:
EDOPro repository has been implemented, done.
mse2cdb Windows build has seen some progress, but no clue when I’ll actually get it to work. Good thing the Linux version is still doing the job perfectly.
Dungen Duel Monsters Campaigns:Mika’s DDM presents an interesting new opportunity to do card-based storytelling, and does actually let you make campaigns with customs. Doesn’t seem too complicated either, so that might just happen if there’s a good window of time.
And that’s that. I’m feeling very excited about a lot of the things coming up, and I hope so are you.
Through troubles and time, this final batch of lore from the first half of 2003 brings us to the end of the Time of Troubles. Surely the island of Mata Nui will be safe and nothing bad will ever happen again from here on, right?
… right?
New Cards (and one update)
Deprived of their elemental powers and repeatedly outmaneuvered by the Bohrok-Kal, the Toa Nuva follow the trail of their adversaries deep beneath the ground, heading to a final confrontation where the sealed Bahrag yet slumber. But before reaching that far, they bear witness to the sight of … Exo-Toa moving on their own!?
Exo Autonomy
Spell
Special Summon 1 “Exo-Toa” from your hand or Deck, but it cannot activate its effects, also destroy it during the End Phase. During your End Phase: You can banish this card from your GY and shuffle 1 “Exo-Toa” from your GY or banishment into the Deck; add 1 “Toa” monster from your Deck to your hand, then you can Set 1 “Exo Armaments” from your Deck, GY, or banishment. You can only activate 1 “Exo Autonomy” per turn.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.8.3)
It’s a small scene, but the one comic page where these underutilized Aliens references move as autonomous battlebots to stop the intruding Bohrok-Kal grants me an opportunity to inject new life into the always kinda janky and at this point also outdated design of my Union Monster take on them. The basic idea of Exo Autonomy is to act as an independent (autonomous, you may say) engine starter that gives you all the pieces for powerful Exo-Toa plays.
Through a main effect that just puts a body on the field (2k ATK and Level 6 does have some utility by itself) and an End Phase effect that follows it up with some specific searches, we end up in a situation where a Toa is in hand, an Exo-Toa is in the Deck, and Exo Armaments – the complementary Trap that requires just these conditions – is Set and ready to go next turn. But because that alone didn’t yet work as envisioned, the Trap itself also gets a bit of a touch-up in this release.
Exo Armaments
Trap
Special Summon 1 “Toa” monster from your hand, then equip 1 “Exo-Toa” from your Deck or GY to it, but that Equip Card cannot activate its effects this turn. If you control “Exo-Toa”: You can banish this card from your GY, then activate 1 of these effects; ●This turn, if an “Exo-Toa” you control battles, your opponent cannot activate cards or effects until the end of the Damage Step. ●This turn, “Exo-Toa” you control cannot be destroyed by your opponent’s card effects, also your opponent cannot target them with card effects. ●Target 1 “Exo-Toa” you control; destroy 1 other card in the same column as that target. You can only use this effect of “Exo Armaments” once per turn.
Bionicle: Beware the Swarm (v4.8.3)
Specifically, the clause that banned all Special Summoning for the rest of the whole turn now just locks that specific Exo-Toa you put on the field from activating its standard Union effect to unequip. This preserves the original intent while not making the card a huge liability, though if I’m being honest it probably wouldn’t be a problem to drop this restriction entirely- it’s a Trap that summons from hand, putting two monsters on the field isn’t exactly crazy in that context. The other upgrade is that its GY effect, the actual “Armaments”, can now be activated the same turn it went to the GY, to suit the current speed of the game.
So, if all goes through, the final payoff from an activation of Exo Autonomy consists of whatever you used the Special Summoned Exo-Toa for, as well as a 4k+ vanilla sitting on the field with a Quick Effect in the GY to either pop a card in its column (or that of the Equip Card), protect it from effects, or isolate it while it battles. That’s decent enough to finally justify the inclusion of an Exo-Toa at least in decks that already use the Toa Mata – it might even be somewhat splashable in combation with last release’s Shadow Toa .
Anyway, after passing through that whole situation, the Toa Nuva finally catch up to the Bohrok-Kal, but the attempt to stop them in the final moments of their task is once again thwarted – by the sudden appearance of a Silver Shield.
Bohrok Silver Shield
Quick-Play Spell
Target 1 “Krana” monster you control or in your GY; return it to the hand or attach it to a “Bohrok” Xyz Monster you control as material. At the start of the Battle Phase: You can banish this card from your GY; until the end of this turn, “Bohrok” Xyz Monsters you control with a “Krana” Link Monster as material are unaffected by card effects, except their own. Neither player can activate cards or effects in response to this effect’s activation. You can only use each effect of “Bohrok Silver Shield” once per turn.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.8.3)
The Krana-Kal have turned to silver to promote a blind pack collectible gimmick project an impenetrable shield and prevent any outside interference! That’s precisely what this card does if if’s in the GY at the start of the Battle Phase, granting you free reign to resolve the effect granted to your Bohrok-Kal by a Krana Xa-Kal and thus awaken the Bahrag. But before that point, it acts as a way to recycle your Krana or attach them to the Kal without using a monster effect, which can come in handy for example if you’re staring down a monster negate and have a Krana Za-Kal at your disposal.
Out of options, Tahu resorts to one last trick up his sleeve to quite literally buy some time: He dons the Kanohi Vahi.
Legendary Kanohi Vahi, Mask of Time
Equip Spell
You can only control 1 “Vahi” Equip Spell. If another “Kanohi” Equip Spell becomes equipped to the equipped monster, destroy this card. The equipped monster cannot attack or activate its effects, also your opponent cannot target it with card effects. Once per turn, while this card is equipped to a “Toa” or “Makuta” monster you control: You can add 1 “Vahi” card from your Deck or GY to your hand, except an Equip Spell. If this card is destroyed or banished by your opponent’s card effect: Both players skip their next Battle Phase.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.8.3)
Vahi Freeze
Quick-Play Spell
Activate 1 of these effects; ●Add 1 “Vahi” Equip Spell from your Deck or GY to your hand. ●If you control a “Vahi” Equip Spell: Target 1 face-up card on the field; until the end of this turn, its effects are negated, also it cannot be destroyed, or banished, by card effects. If this card is sent from the field to the GY: You can draw 1 card, but skip your next Draw Phase. You can only use this effect of “Vahi Freeze” once per turn.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.8.3)
Now, Legendary Kanohi are something that will become a much bigger deal way down the line with the Ignika, so I approached this one as a bit of a test run. The idea in my head was that wearing the mask would render a monster incapable of doing anything but access the powers contained within, represented as an archetype of cards the Kanohi lets you search while equipped to a worthy user. Because the sole usage shown in the story by this point was temporarily freezing the Bohrok-Kal in time, there’s also only one search target introduced here: Vahi Freeze, which renders a targeted card equally impotent and immovable.
Attached to this basic idea comes some side utility: The Vahi’s shutdown of other functions isn’t limited like the search is, so it can be used against the opponent’s monsters as well, it also grants targeting protection (they can’t penetrate the timey-wimey stuff I guess), and Vahi Freeze lets you add the Kanohi to your hand so it doesn’t matter in which order you open the pieces.
All of this still didn’t quite feel like enough time fuckery to me, so I engineered another neat little thing onto Freeze: If sent from the field to the GY – primarily after activating it, so it acts as a bonus effect for both of the available options – you get a draw at the cost of “freezing” your next Draw Phase. This helps you access resources before your opponent has a chance to stop you, and actually generates real positive card advantage if you manage to do it on both your own and your opponent’s turn. In a way, it’s a built-in miniature version of Runick Fountain with a drawback that appropriately messes with the flow and timing of gameplay.
The Vahi itself also has a slight drawback in that it skips the next Battle Phases if your opponent destroys or banishes it, to represent the part of the lore where breaking it would also break time within the Matoran Universe. This is set up in a way that hopefully makes it get in the way as little as possible, but I still see some cases where it can be annoying as hell (imagine a Runick banishing this from the Deck). May need some more refinement.
… which can be said for both of these cards in general, honestly. I’m not yet convinced this experiment can be called a successful one. In theory, being able to search a negate turn 1, use it turn 2, and add it back to use again turn 3 while going +1 along the way seems decent enough, but in testing I experienced various situations where the math doesn’t math that well. Like, what happens if you use the Freeze on turn 3 but then you need to keep grinding? You can’t add it back a second time right away, so you’re missing your negate for a turn and also skipping your Draw Phase after that – a perfect opportunity for the game to slip away. Similar issues crop up going second. While these are fairly reasonable weaknesses, they feel somewhat frustrating given that the Kanohi Vahi itself already forces various handicaps onto you; you need to bring out a Toa or Makuta (neither of which is super easy) only to pretty much sacrifice all benefits of having it on the field by locking it under the Vahi, and well-timed backrow removal from your opponent can really screw you over.
A major reason this felt so bad in testing is that the deck I built for super consistent Vahi access just kind of lacked the ability to do much else at all, and particularly couldn’t do much to recover from suboptimal situations. So it may just be a matter of figuring out a better strategy, or maybe the Vahi’s built-in drawbacks need to be toned down a bit. But if an actual redesign is needed, one funny idea I had is that the search could be implemented as something that replaces the equipped monster’s effect (instead of just locking its activation), which would let it be a Quick Effect and thus immediately resolve the math issues. A bit more mechanically weird than I’d usually like to be, but on the other hand it would be a suitably unique thing to establish as the gimmick for Legendary Kanohi.
Well, enough of that, let’s get on with the story. Their little time-out lets the Toa Nuva figure out that they may just be able to take down the Bohrok-Kal by channeling their elemental powers through the Nuva Symbols still held by the creatures, which leads the Kal to lose control of their own powers and self-destruct because they were only protected from outside harm.
Nuva Overcharge
Counter Trap
If your opponent activates a monster effect on the field while you control a “Toa Nuva” monster, and there is a “Nuva” Continuous Spell/Trap on your field or in your GY: That effect becomes “banish this card”. During the End Phase, if this card is in your GY and you control a “Toa Nuva” monster: You can Set this card, but banish it when it leaves the field. You can only use each effect of “Nuva Overcharge” once per turn.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.8.3)
That’s the idea of Nuva Overcharge, our searchable Counter Trap that functionally negates monster effects with a rewrite into “banish yourself NOW”. Since it’s a Counter Trap, this works even during the Damage Step, and because the banishing is done by the monster’s own effect, it correctly penetrates the Silver Shield we saw above (yes, rewrites work against unaffected monsters, I’ve seen it happen in MD with Gossip Shadow vs Crystal Clear Wing). No Krana-Kal will be resolved to awaken the Bahrag in this card’s presence. To stay in the realm of reasonable balance, this only hits one monster rather than destroying all the Bohrok-Kal at once like in canon, but you can slightly emulate the use against multiple targets by resetting it from the GY once – which also makes it an efficient search target if you get two Toa Nuva effects in a turn or just aren’t playing any Kanohi Nuva.
With the threat vanquished, the Time of Troubles was finally considered over, and the Turaga called together the Matoran to celebrate and avoid legal issues honor great achievements in the grand festival of Naming Day.
Naming Day
Spell
Target 1 Warrior monster you control; Tribute it, and if you do, Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower Warrior monster from your hand or Deck, with the same original Attribute, but a different original name and a higher original Level than the Tributed monster. You can banish this card and 1 Warrior monster from your GY, then target 1 face-up monster you control; its name is treated as the banished monster’s, until the end of your opponent’s turn. You can only activate 1 “Naming Day” per turn.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.8.3)
A slightly unusual card for this expansion: It’s generic Warrior support! With a somewhat narrow focus of swapping a low-Level Warrior you control for a slightly higher-Level one of the same Attribute. How truly odd that this doesn’t seem to have any application with the Matoran made so far, those are all Level 2. Oh well, at least we can turn Takua into Gen or Ken. Or Jala into Razen. Or Taipu into Morning Star. Those are all pretty amusing.
Taipu is also a good use case for the GY effect, which is a more literal take on the spirit of the name-changing holiday. Simply do a C.C. Matoran combo into a big boss monster, and then dub it a C.C. Matoran to bypass the attack restriction on Taipu’s Special Summon procedure. Though to be completely clear, this effect was written entirely under the vague idea of “surely you can do something cool with this”, with nothing more specific in mind.
Also, the art for this one was unexpectedly annoying to make, because the close-up of rebuilt Jaller and Takua from the animation wasn’t tall enough to fill a square image frame, and the more zoomed-out shot was completely different in terms of distances between the Turaga and such. AI was able to convincingly add the top half of the sun to the close-up, but also insisted on having the sky fade to an ugly gray, so I had to mask it with the specters of the two Matoran’s diminished forms floating above. Came out well enough in the end, I’d say.
And that’s all for now! See you again for the final BPEV release and a bunch of Theme Guides to come in the near-ish future. Then, finally, we can move on to the next stage – where a hidden mask shall spark a great quest …
New/Changed Sample Decks
Just a quick summary for the sake of documentation, without going in too much detail:
The Tearlament build of Mata-less Nuva got Nuva Overcharge added (you can use it if you mill it!)
The “Awake” build of Bohrok-Kal got Bohrok Silver Shield added (lore-accurate unstoppable Bahrag awakening plays!)
New “Vahi Pile” deck centered on a cute combo that goes from Psi-Reflector via Power Tool Braver Dragon into Onua Nuva with Vahi access; also featuring Exo Autonomy and Naming Day
A deck called “Exo Shadow Toa” that’s actually Centur-Ion and Fiendsmith with Exo Autonomy and Shadow Toa splashed in. Makes both high-Level Synchros and Rank 6 Xyz, but of the latter there aren’t many good options (we archetype-locked the Toa Mata ones …)
In a bit of a break from the usual Type-specific substrategies, we also have an approach to Rahi decks that revolves around one boss monster in particular, and the general DARK Attribute by extension. Meet the Rahi Nui – or what is left of it by the time the Toa Nuva come across it, anyway.
3+ “Rahi” monsters with different names Must be Fusion Summoned, or Special Summoned from your Extra Deck by Tributing the above cards, including a DARK monster. This card’s Type is also treated as the original Types of the materials used for its Summon. If this card is Special Summoned, or your opponent Special Summons a monster(s) from the Extra Deck: You can Special Summon 1 Level 10 or lower “Rahi” monster from your Extra Deck that shares a Type with this card, also this card cannot attack for the rest of this turn. You can only use this effect of “Rahi Nui, Vengeful Chimera” once per turn.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.7.3)
Reassembled after once disintegrating through the treachery of one particularly resourceful group of Toa, this amalgamation of Tarakava , Muaka , Kane-Ra , Nui-Rama , and Nui-Jaga wields its might in pursuit of revenge, lurking in the darkness. That about sums up the design concept here, so let’s unpack that in some more detail.
Being a big (hypothetical) combiner means it’s a big Fusion, though the minimum materials are just a more manageable number of 3 different Rahi rather than the 5 canon ones. Since said canon materials span a variety of Types, the Rahi Nui absorbs those Types into itself, much like it clearly shows traits of them all (yes, big punchy fists are a Reptile trait, never seen a crocodile?). Also, because DARK Rahi are kind of rare throughout the whole lore, it has a Contact Fusion clause if you can get those involved.
Once it hits the field, the multiple Types become relevant, because they now let you cheat out (or in the case of Pendulums, simply bring back) other matching Rahi from the Extra Deck. The vibe here is meant to be like fighting a boss that throws other bosses from earlier in the game at you, which doesn’t have a real reason I’m aware of, but just felt right. In any case, it also does that whenever your opponent Special Summons from the Extra Deck, and that’s where the “revenge” aspect comes in.
You see, the Toa Metru that once felled the beast are, at this point in time, living happily in the Extra Deck as Turaga . So when they appear, the Rahi Nui gets “triggered”, flies into a rage, and ends up stuck in a wall so it can’t attack. Just like that one time with Vakama.
Place of Shadow
Continuous Spell
(This card is always treated as a “Rahi” and “Makuta” card.) Once per turn: You can Tribute 1 monster; take 1 “Rahi” Normal Monster from your Deck or GY, and either add it to your hand or Special Summon it. If you Special Summon it, it becomes DARK. If this card is sent to the GY (except during the Damage Step): You can Fusion Summon 1 “Rahi” Fusion Monster from your Extra Deck, by banishing materials from your field, GY, and/or face-up Extra Deck. You can only use this effect of “Place of Shadow” once per turn.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.7.3)
The location of that incident was the area known as the Place of Shadow, a section of Mata Nui completely under Makuta’s dark influence where the Rahi Nui made its lair. Speaking of which, this name sure sounds like Lair of Darkness, which is why we have an effect that Tributes a monster to bring out a Rahi and make it DARK – both synergyzing with and mimicking that pre-existing Field Spell. And the fact that it gets only Rahi Normal Monsters, which are of course precisely those species that make up the Rahi Nui, creates a bridge between those intended materials and the DARK Contact Fusion clause. Finally, like on most Rahi (and Makuta) Spell/Trap Cards, there’s a GY effect, in this case also to Fusion Summon … exactly the Rahi Nui, because we don’t have other Rahi Fusions. Yet.
Manas, Monstrous Crab Rahi
Effect MonsterLevel 10 | DARK Aqua | ATK 3200 / DEF 2600
Gains 400 ATK/DEF for each face-up Spell/Trap on the field. You can only use each of the following effects of “Manas, Monstrous Crab Rahi” once per turn. You can discard this card; add 1 “Rahi” Normal Monster from your Deck to your hand. During your opponent’s turn, if you control a “Rahi” Normal Monster Card (Quick Effect): You can Special Summon this card from your GY, and if you do, it is unaffected by other monsters’ effects, also return it to the hand during the End Phase.
Bionicle: Challenge of the Rahi (v4.7.3)
As a side note, there actually was already a DARK-themed support card for the Normal Monsters in the very first wave of Rahi: The Manas, which simply searches them out from the hand and then uses their presence to haul its giant ass onto the field during the opponent’s turn. Nothing too amazing, but a consistency card that can also be a big beatstick or at least a shield if push comes to shove sure is nice to have if we’re already focusing on the right Attribute.
1 “Rahi” Tuner + 1+ non-Tuner monsters If a “Rahi” monster you control battles, inflict piercing battle damage. If this card is sent from the field to the GY: You can target 1 “Rahi” Tuner in your GY; Special Summon it. You can only use this effect of “Subterranean Worm Rahi” once per turn.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.7.3)
In addition to the two summoning methods available in the Place of Shadow, there is also one that’s even more splashable by virtue of not requiring any special Main Deck accomodations. Just put a Subterranean Worm in your Extra Deck, find a Level 7 Synchro line that also leaves two additional Rahi out, and there’s your Rahi Nui. Also the Contact Fusion sent the Worm to the GY, so you get back a Tuner to do some Synchro climbing with whatever you’re cheating out.
You do need to put in some work, but having this as an option that’s always accessible is convenient. So convenient that it comes with a slight drawback of both the (supposedly ancient) Worm and the (big and scary) Rahi Nui sharing the Dinosaur Type, meaning you only get to meaningfully inherit Types from the other two materials. Still an excellent choice for something like a Beast deck that easily spams monsters and only needs to access its native Types anyway. Plus, you can always use your Dinosaur-Type Rahi Nui to bring out another Dinosaur-Type Subterranean Worm, in case you need piercing damage.
MKT Fish, Biting Rahi
Tuner Effect MonsterLevel 3 | DARK Fish | ATK 900 / DEF 300
If this card you control would be used as Synchro Material, you can treat it as a non-Tuner. During your opponent’s Main Phase, you can (Quick Effect): Immediately after this effect resolves, Synchro Summon using Fish, Sea Serpent, and/or Aqua monsters you control, including this card. You can only use this effect of “MKT Fish, Biting Rahi” once per turn.
Bionicle: Protodermic Evolution (v4.7.3)
Finally, a DARK Rahi with only tangential relation to this theme: The MaKuTa Fish. You can technically use one of these as Rahi Nui material, but it’s not particularly easy to get on the field, doesn’t provide any benefit to your general strategy, and most importantly there isn’t a single Fish Rahi Synchro in the Extra Deck you’d be able to Summon as payoff. Here, the Attribute really is just owed to the name and dwelling in the deep dark depths; this is meant to be played in Fish/Sea Serpent/Aqua Rahi and nowhere else.
Place of Shadow , Lair of Darkness, same thing really, so here they are both in this Deck. With proper setup, you get to Tribute your opponent’s monster for the effect that fetches a Rahi Normal Monster, and everything is constantly DARK and ready to make a Rahi Nui . Also, Super Poly is a lot easier to use when you know that all monsters are going to have the same Attribute.
However, even without Lair access, this deck is perfectly capable of establishing its big boss monster thanks to multiple routes that get you there. At its simplest, especially a bit later in a game, you just Foolish Burial Goods for a Place and fuse away your spent Rahi. But there’s also combos that provide you with both the setup and the fusion effect from scratch: Special Summon a Taku from the Pendulum Zone, placing either Hapaka or Infernavika in the Extra Deck, use a Fikou to reduce the Taku’s Level by 1 and get to the Level 1+2 = 3 Kirikori-Nui , which on summon sends you (as cost!) a Place of Shadow that can go Taku + Hapaka/Infernavika + Fikou => Rahi Nui. Incidentally, this is the specific interaction that kept me from killing the old mill-as-cost effect of Kirikori-Nui, so expect that stupid line of text to disappear once I wrap my head around a better way to handle this part.
Now, why specifically use Hapaka and Infernavika to fill up the required materials? Because their effects when banished directly offset the banishing cost itself, making them always beneficial in this scenario. The Hapaka returns a monster to the GY, which lets you e.g. maintain Fikou access, while the Infernavika puts a Pendulum back into the face-up Extra Deck so you have it for future plays. Simply pick which fits your situation better. You could also spend those slots on something like an Ussal for a different type of utility, but aside from needing no setup other than the banishing itself, the two I went with are also helpful in other ways: The Hapaka can kind of extend, or at least swap stuff around between hand and field, and by having the Infernavika, summoning a Gukko via Rahi Nui on the opponent’s turn becomes a form of disruption.
Notable inclusions in the Extra Deck are Super Poly targets for the many “DARK” monsters we’ll be facing under Lair (I kinda maybe forgot Starving Venom exists), Mata Nui Cow + Gukko + Nui Kopen (goes crazy with Lair) + Tarakava-Nui as the primary Rahi Nui targets, a Kirikori-Nui for the combo and a Dikapi as an alternative way to get there, and a Subterranean Worm so we have that route as well. Then there’s Crystal Wing and Chengying in case we get to do further climbing with our free Synchro Monsters, but that’s not something that usually happens.
In the Side Deck, we have other bugs we can swap in depending on the matchup, with the Cliff Bug earning itself the default Main Deck spot simply because it could potentially protect us from an Imperm or something going first.
Footage of this deck’s dastardly dark dealings during duels can be found below.
Conclusion
The Rahi Nui itself is a standalone boss monster that, in theory, any Rahi deck can access as an alternative way to bring out other Extra Deck Rahi. Alternatively, Place of Shadow gives you the option to play a dedicated strategy that aims to reliably and efficiently make the Rahi Nui and then spawn Synchros of different Types from there. This approach involves the Normal Pendulum forms of the big ’01 Rahi and a focus on the DARK Attribute, which is a combination that conveniently falls in line with the Manas from BCOR. Also, it goes well with Lair of Darkness, because that’s also quite a shadowy place.
Now that I have your attention, it’s time to cover yet another way to build Rahi. Today’s Type are the Reptiles, lurking in wait and ambushing unsuspecting travelers. As a concept, this is pretty much entirely based on the very memorable Rahi Beasts quote describing Tarakava – “even if you can’t see them, they’re always there”. So let’s start with those, shall we?
Tarakava, Lizard Rahi
Normal Pendulum MonsterLevel 6 | Scale 1/1 | WATER Reptile | ATK 2600 / DEF 1200
[ Pendulum Effect ] When an attack is declared involving an opponent’s monster: You can target 1 Reptile “Rahi” Monster Card in your Spell & Trap Zone; Special Summon it (but it cannot attack directly this turn), and if you do, destroy that opponent’s monster. You can only use this effect of “Tarakava, Lizard Rahi” once per turn. —————————————- [ Flavor Text ] The first thing to remember about Tarakava is that even if you can’t see them, they are always there.
[ Pendulum Effect ] Reptile “Rahi” monsters in your leftmost or rightmost Main Monster Zone gain this effect. ●Once per turn (Quick Effect): You can place this card face-up in your Spell & Trap Zone as a Continuous Spell, or if it is a Pendulum Monster, you can place it in your Pendulum Zone instead. —————————————- [ Flavor Text ] Sand Tarakava are slightly smaller than their Tarakava relatives. Their hunting method is to hide under the sand and wait for unsuspecting prey to come near.
Bionicle: Challenge of the Rahi (v4.7.3)
This pair of punchy Pendulums consists of the classic version that appears from beneath the sea, and the less-known recolor that hides under the sands. Which means the former facilitates the “ambush” – where a lurking Reptile jumps forward to eviscerate an opponent’s monster that has carelessly gotten involved in battle – and the latter sets it up by granting your Reptiles the ability to slide into lurking position. In the simplest case, you have these two cards in the Pendulum Zones, battle occurs, the Tarakava jumps out and starts punching, and then it goes back to do the same thing next turn.
As for less simple cases, you may notice these effects also work with non-Pendulums in the regular Spell & Trap Zones. For example, you could put some Synchros there.
1 “Rahi” Tuner + 1+ non-Tuner monsters When your opponent activates a card or effect (Quick Effect): You can target 2 face-up monsters on the field, including this card; place them face-up in their owners’ Spell & Trap Zones as Continuous Spells. You can only use this effect of “Ranama, Lava Lurker Rahi” once per turn. Once per turn, during the Standby Phase, if this card is a Continuous Spell: You can destroy 1 other Monster Card in a Spell & Trap Zone, and if you do, Special Summon this card.
Bionicle: Challenge of the Rahi (v4.7.3)
The Ranama is built for just that purpose. In fact, it dives down in that direction on its own along with its prey when it senses motion (i.e., an effect activation) and also returns on its own once it has finished digesting. Coupled with a Tarakava ready to pounce on anyone foolish enough to attempt the classic out of “just hit over it”, this is sure to be a thorn in an opponent’s side one way or another.
1 “Rahi” Tuner + 1+ non-Tuner monsters If this card is Special Summoned: You can target up to 2 cards your opponent controls; this card loses exactly 1000 ATK for each targeted card, and if it does, shuffle them into the Deck. You can only use this effect of “Tarakava-Nui, Lizard King Rahi” once per turn. Loses 1000 ATK during your Main Phase only. While this card is a Continuous Spell, “Rahi” cards you control cannot be destroyed by your opponent’s card effects.
Bionicle: Challenge of the Rahi (v4.7.3)
If you’d like some more impact, how about a Tarakava-Nui? It doesn’t have the built-in mobility in either direction, but with help from its smaller (or rather unmutated) relatives, it can easily be put in the backrow as blanket destruction protection and brought forward whenever you need its service of PUNCH THINGS SO HARD THEY GO BACK TO THE DECK. The way this is paid for with ATK creates a slightly fancy dynamic where you get to punch two things if and only if you bring it out outside your own Main Phase as the Reptiles do – a regular old Synchro Summon any Rahi deck can perform will only get you one.
Okay, but how are we making these Synchros? This is the cue to look at the Reptile Rahi Tuners, and as it turns out, there aren’t any. Shit. Guess we’re playing Insects?
While that works to some extent, having an entire substrategy entirely reliant on that shared toolbox doesn’t feel right either. So, with no Reptile Tuners present or forthcoming, we’ll have to snake our way into tunerless Synchro Summons somehow.
[ Pendulum Effect ] Once per turn: You can destroy up to 2 “Rahi” Monster Cards you control, and if you do, Special Summon 1 Reptile “Rahi” Synchro Monster from your Extra Deck whose Level is less than or equal to their total Levels (this is treated as a Synchro Summon), then place it face-up in your Spell & Trap Zone as a Continuous Spell. —————————————- [ Monster Effect ] If this card declares an attack: You can inflict 300 damage to your opponent for each Monster Card in your Spell & Trap Zone. If this card is destroyed: You can place 1 Reptile “Rahi” monster from your GY or face-up Extra Deck face-up in your Spell & Trap Zone as a Continuous Spell. You can only use each effect of “Bog Snake, Venomous Rahi” once per turn.
Bionicle: Challenge of the Rahi (v4.7.3)
The Bog Snake does just that from the comfort of the Pendulum Zone, acquiring the necessary Levels by destroying your Monster Cards – including those stuck in the backrow such as itself, making this a one-card way to access a Ranama. One card more (with at least Level 3), and you’ll even get a Tarakava-Nui. Of course those monsters themselves then immediately go into hiding (before you get a chance to trigger on-Summon effects, it’s worth noting), but bringing them back out is the whole point of this strategy anyway.
In fact, destroying the Bog Snake with its own effect to make a Ranama will also let you put a Reptile into your backrow – even itself, if necessary. That means your lurking Ranama is already well fed and ready to jump to the Monster Zone in the next Standby Phase … which will trigger the Snake again. See, who needs Tuners anyway?
Also if you get it on the field and attack it burns a little, because venomous.
Since there aren’t a lot of Reptiles just yet, the deck is built as a hybrid with Insects, using the usually less splashable Kofo-Jaga engine to get easy access to the Nui-Kopen and thereby a variety of Spells and Traps. The trick here is that we actually don’t particularly care about getting locked out of the monster effects of our Reptiles, because several of our major plays – like making a Synchro with the Bog Snake or ambushing with the Tarakava – are performed entirely through effects those monsters have while treated as Spells, bypassing the lock entirely. The Insect+Reptile combination also meshes well with the use of Samurai Beetle as an additional extender, capable of natively going into a Ranama together with any of the Level 1 Tuners.
To take advantage of our nearly free searches, this build also includes some of the more situational Rahi Spells/Traps. Siege because it meshes perfectly with our goal to re-summon monsters of both high and low Levels from the Spell & Trap Zone every turn (and there’s literally a Tarakava on it), Devastation because it allows trading Rahi for removal even if they’re lying in wait in the backrow, Ussalry as a way to recycle banished cards, and Encounter in the Drifts for that ambush flavor.
The Extra Deck contains the Rahi needed for both the Reptile and Insect halves of the deck, as well as some standard generic links including Beyond and Exceed the Pendulum. There’s also a Ragnaraika Mantis Monk so we have a way to trigger the Beetle’s revival effect, and a Dawn Dragster since sometimes we do get to make a Level 7 Synchro turn 1, and this one can deal with the significant threat that certain Spells and Traps pose to our entire on-field setup. As for the side deck, it’s yet another approach to ratios for swapping between the handtrap Insect Rahi plus general good stuff.
In the usual fashion, there’s a sample video showing all this working.
Conclusion
Reptiles are a fairly small group of Rahi, but one with a clear focus: Moving between the Monster Zones and the Spell & Trap Zones, leading to a general style of play where you repeatedly stow away and resummon the same monsters while getting in the way of anything the opponent tries to do on the field. Since not having many cards means you can’t really make a pure deck out of them, the best in-archetype approach available right now is probably a hybrid with Insects – which happens to be a Ragnaraika combination, so that’s convenient.
They’ve been crawling all over the decklists of the last few articles, so it might be about time to get out our magnifying glass and take a close look at the Insect-Type segment of the Rahi archetype. Actually, forget the magnifying glass, even on the small side these things look pretty large for bugs. Entomophobes beware.
If this card is in your hand or GY: You can target 1 Level 2 or higher “Rahi” monster you control; reduce that target’s Level by 1, and if you do, banish this card, then Special Summon 1 “Fikou, Spider Rahi” from your hand or Deck. You can only use this effect of “Fikou, Spider Rahi” once per turn.
Bionicle: Challenge of the Rahi (v4.7.3)
And arachnophobes too, because we’re starting with a widely beloved little orange spooder. The Fikou is a prime example of Insects acting as splashable Tuners in other Rahi builds, in this case by costing merely a single Level to bring itself to the field – or rather another copy of itself, if we want to be completely accurate. Needing to run multiples is one deliberate weakness this effect has compared to its much more absurd inspiration Level Eater.
Fikou-Nui, Tarantula Rahi
Link Effect MonsterLink-1 [↗] | EARTH Insect | ATK 1000
1 Level 2 or lower “Rahi” monster If this card is Link Summoned: You can target 1 “Rahi” monster in your GY or banishment; add it to your hand, then place 1 card from your hand on the bottom of the Deck. You can only use this effect of “Fikou-Nui, Tarantula Rahi” once per turn. You can Tribute this card; Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower “Rahi” monster from your hand or GY, and if you do, you can increase or decrease its Level by 1.
Bionicle: Challenge of the Rahi (v4.7.3)
Now that cost of 1 Level may sometimes mess with your desired Synchro lines, which is where the Fikou’s larger relative Fikou-Nui comes in to fix things. This somehow-canon miniboss from a cancelled video game isn’t just Level modulation, but also a fairly flexible recycling option on summon, letting you add your spent monsters back to the hand at a cost or back to the Deck for free (returning to the Extra Deck doesn’t cost you a card either thanks to the way it’s worded).
If this card is in your hand (Quick Effect): You can banish 1 “Rahi” monster from your GY or face-up Extra Deck; Special Summon this card, and if you do, you can destroy 1 Spell/Trap your opponent controls. You can only use this effect of “Hoto, Firebug Rahi” once per turn.
If this card is in your hand (Quick Effect): You can banish 1 “Rahi” monster from your GY or face-up Extra Deck; Special Summon this card, and if you do, you can make 1 face-up monster you control be unaffected by Spell/Trap effects until the end of this turn. You can only use this effect of “Cliff Bug, Hopper Rahi” once per turn.
If this card is in your hand (Quick Effect): You can banish 1 “Rahi” monster from your GY or face-up Extra Deck; Special Summon this card, and if you do, you can negate the effects of 1 face-up monster your opponent controls, until the end of this turn. You can only use this effect of “Electric Bug, Zapping Rahi” once per turn.
Bionicle: Challenge of the Rahi (v4.7.3)
The other Level 1 Insect Rahi Tuners you’ll see in a lot of builds cover three more Attributes, leaving only DARK and WIND open when combined with the Fikou … for now. All of them work the same way: Banish the leftovers of another Rahi, Special Summon, apply a bonus effect – all Quick Effects so you can use these bonuses for disruption when appropriate.
The Hoto burns through the opponent’s backrow, the Cliff Bug from Ga-Wahi protects monsters in a way that’s just Nokama if you squint, and the Electric Bug zaps effect negation on monsters. Being optional bonus effects, none of these target, so they can be quite tricky to deal with.
What do you banish to fuel these effects? Well, any Rahi will do, so that’s good for splashability. But for actually Insect-centric decks, there’s one particular option that offers top efficiency.
[ Pendulum Effect ] If your opponent Special Summons a monster(s) (except during the Damage Step): You can destroy this card, and if you do, that monster(s) loses 1200 ATK/DEF, until the end of this turn. —————————————- [ Monster Effect ] If a face-up Spell/Trap is on the field (Quick Effect): You can Tribute this card; add 1 Insect “Rahi” monster from your Deck to your hand, except “Kofo-Jaga, Scorpion Rahi”. If this card is banished while you control a “Rahi” Tuner: You can Special Summon this card, and if you do, increase its Level by 1, also you cannot activate non-Insect monster effects for the rest of this turn. You can only use each effect of “Kofo-Jaga, Scorpion Rahi” once per turn.
Bionicle: Challenge of the Rahi (v4.7.3)
Not only does the heat-loving Kofo-Jaga search you Insect Rahi including all the above Tuners when provided the cozy warmth of a Spell or Trap, it also shies away from the light straight into the face-up Extra Deck, ready to be banished. And once that happens, it’s suddenly right back on the field (and you’re Insect locked). Also it has a stat debuff Pendulum Effect, ya know the drill, beware its stinger tail and all that.
One detail not to be overlooked is the +1 Level gained upon returning, which sets us up for our primary payoff without any cumbersome Fikou-Nui steps in between.
1 “Rahi” Tuner + 1+ non-Tuner monsters If this card is Special Summoned: You can take 1 “Rahi” Spell/Trap from your Deck, and either add it to your hand or send it to the GY. During the Main Phase (Quick Effect): You can Tribute 1 monster; Special Summon 1 Level 2 or lower “Rahi” Tuner from your hand or GY, but negate its effects. You can only use each effect of “Nui-Kopen, Wasp Rahi” once per turn.
Bionicle: Challenge of the Rahi (v4.7.3)
That payoff is the Nui-Kopen, an archetypal Spell/Trap search on a Level 6 Synchro, and its targets open up some powerful possibilities. Before looking at the list, let it also be said that its secondary ability to tag out for a Tuner doubles as an Imperm dodge.
Now, Rahi Spells and Traps. These are generally generic support much like the Tuners above, but having an Insect deck whose whole bread and butter is getting them to hand or GY means some options could make the cut that most builds don’t bother using. Here’s a quick rundown.
Rahi Hive Showdown
Rahi Hive Showdown
Spell
If your opponent controls 2 or more monsters with 2000 or more ATK: Take control of the monster your opponent controls with the highest original ATK (your choice, if tied), but it cannot activate its effects while you control it. If you control a “Rahi” Synchro Monster: You can banish this card from your GY, then target 1 monster your opponent controls; take control of it until the End Phase, but it cannot declare an attack. You can only use 1 “Rahi Hive Showdown” effect per turn, and only once that turn.
Bionicle: Challenge of the Rahi (v4.7.3)
Perhaps the most topical of them all is Rahi Hive Showdown, a monster stealing card themed entirely around Lewa’s brief period under the control of an infected mask – an incident that prominently involved a Nui-Kopen. Accordingly, both that monster and this Spell have some deliberate synergies built in beyond the blatantly obvious: The Nui-Kopen can Tribute whatever you steal for its second effect to get some immediate value, and since it is itself a Rahi Synchro, using its effect to dump Showdown will enable the GY effect that tends to be much easier to use than the main one.
Infection of the Rahi
Infection of the Rahi
Continuous Trap
You can only control 1 “Infection of the Rahi”. Each time a monster your opponent controls activates its effect while you control a “Rahi” Monster Card, place 1 Comet Counter on that opponent’s monster (max. 1) after that effect resolves. Monsters with a Comet Counter cannot attack, also each time 1 leaves the field, inflict 400 damage to its owner. During your Battle Phase or your opponent’s Main Phase: You can banish this card from your GY or your face-up Spell & Trap Zone; take control of all monsters your opponent controls with a Comet Counter, until the end of this turn.
Bionicle: Challenge of the Rahi (v4.7.3)
While also based on an Insect-related event, Infection of the Rahi is probably too much of a gimmick to be worthwhile even when you can easily search it. The ability to snatch away any monsters that used their effects previously can serve as some decent disruption, but between the turn of setup needed and the potential of playing around it, this is definitely one of those “you have to want it” cards.
Devastation of the Rahi
Devastation of the Rahi
Spell
Destroy any number of other “Rahi” cards you control, and if you do, send the same number of cards your opponent controls to the GY. You can banish this card and 1 “Rahi” monster from your GY, then target 1 card on the field; destroy it, or if you control a “Rahi” Synchro Monster, you can banish it instead. You can only use 1 “Devastation of the Rahi” effect per turn, and only once that turn.
Bionicle: Challenge of the Rahi (v4.7.3)
Based on the battle that once devastated the Charred Forest, Devastation of the Rahi is a removal option that works from both hand and GY, with different dynamics in each case. If activated from the hand, it will clear as many cards as you’re willing to invest while also bypassing targeting and destruction protections, but overall works out to a -1 in card advantage for you. Using it from the GY is much cheaper, but only goes after a single properly designated target, and only offers plain old destruction – unless you have a Synchro out, then it can also banish. Overall, the big consequence of this card’s existence is that it enables the Nui-Kopen to act as removal in a variety of ways, making it more of a threat against established boards.
The Ussalry Arrives
The Ussalry Arrives
Quick-Play Spell
(This card is always treated as a “Rahi” and “Matoran” card.) Target 1 face-up monster you control; Special Summon 1 “Rahi” Pendulum Monster Card with the same Type or Attribute from your Pendulum Zone, GY, or face-up Extra Deck, but banish it during the End Phase. During your Main Phase: You can shuffle this card and 1 of your banished “Rahi” cards into the Deck, then draw 1 card. You can only use 1 “The Ussalry Arrives” effect per turn, and only once that turn.
Bionicle: Challenge of the Rahi (v4.7.3)
As hybrid Matoran/Rahi support, The Ussalry Arrives acts as a fairly flexible extender with the rather unique trait of even being able to Summon out of the Pendulum Zone. But the interesting synergy with Insects, particularly the Tuners that banish stuff, lies in its alternate effect to recycle itself from the GY and a banished “Rahi” card for a draw. Note that says card, not monster, so putting your other Spells and Traps back into rotation is also a possibility!
Siege of the Rahi
Siege of the Rahi
Continuous Spell
If a “Rahi” monster(s) is Normal or Special Summoned to your field, except during the Damage Step: You can activate 1 of these effects, based on the Level of that monster(s) on the field; ●4 or lower: Draw 1 card. ●5 or higher: Change 1 face-up monster on the field to face-down Defense Position. If a Level 5 or higher “Rahi” monster you control would be destroyed by battle or card effect, you can banish this card from your field or GY instead. You can only use each effect of “Siege of the Rahi” once per turn.
Bionicle: Challenge of the Rahi (v4.7.3)
Siege of the Rahi, while depicting the Reptile-Type Tarakava, theoretically has significant applications in Insects as well. Specifically, our key play of Special Summoning a Level 1 Tuner on the opponent’s turn by banishing a Kofo-Jaga that then returns as a Level 5 monster is by itself capable of triggering both of the on-field options, landing you an extra card and your opponent a face-down monster clogging the field. I say “theoretically” because I wasn’t running this in my test Insect deck, but thinking about it in hindsight it would go kinda crazy.
Then there’s some other targets with no particular application to Insect Rahi, such as Encounter in the Drifts or Rahi from the Depths, and one I left out because it’s much more broadly generic and also segues well into our next point: Rahi Swarm. The segue being that it depicts certain large Insect Rahi that make up one half of this Type’s Normal Pendulum pair.
[ Pendulum Effect ] You can target 1 face-up monster you control; Special Summon 1 Insect “Rahi” monster with a lower or equal Level from your Deck in Defense Position, also you cannot Special Summon monsters for the rest of this turn, except Insect monsters. You can only use this effect of “Nui-Rama, Fly Rahi” once per turn. —————————————- [ Flavor Text ] A harsh buzz fills the air…a rustle of wings…a dark shape flying out of the sun…the warning signs of a Nui-Rama attack.
[ Pendulum Effect ] If an Insect “Rahi” monster(s) is Special Summoned to your field (except during the Damage Step): You can target 1 face-up monster on the field; destroy it, and if it was an Insect “Rahi” monster, you can add 1 Insect “Rahi” monster with a different name from your Deck to your hand. You can only use this effect of “Nui-Jaga, Scorpion Rahi” once per turn. —————————————- [ Flavor Text ] Nui-Jaga commonly hunt in packs, which helps to make up for the fact that they are not very fast. One of the creatures will drive prey forward, usually into a canyon, where others wait to strike. Once the target is surrounded, the Nui-Jaga will call to each other. Their cries have been compared to the sound of glass breaking.
Bionicle: Challenge of the Rahi (v4.7.3)
The Nui-Rama lives up to its swarming reputation by reinforcing the monsters already on the field with an Insect straight from the Deck, at the cost of an Insect lock. I made the target required for this completely generic “to synergize with the Nui-Kopen/Showdown combo”, but realistically the Nui-Kopen itself is all you need in that case, so this really is just a bit of an oversight. Oopsie.
The Nui-Jaga is also direct support for the Insect-centric line of play featuring its smaller cousin Kofo-Jaga, sensibly enough. While it doesn’t apply any further locks, its intent is basically to trigger when you bring out the small Tuners, getting you either an extra hit of monster removal or an opportunity to trade the bug you just summoned for another one that can then act as disruption later in the turn. And if you ever find yourself in a mirror match, the value just goes straight through the roof.
1 “Rahi” Tuner + 1+ non-Tuner monsters If this card is Synchro Summoned: You can send 1 “Rahi” card from your Deck to the GY; this card gains 500 ATK. You can only use this effect of “Kirikori-Nui, Locust Rahi” once per turn. You can banish this card until the Standby Phase of your next turn; destroy 1 card on the field.
Bionicle: Challenge of the Rahi (v4.7.3)
Finally, a bit of an odd one out: A Synchro monster you can barely Summon on account of its low Level. Nibbling off a Level 3 Rahi with a Fikou will get you there, but it’s not really something that comes up. If you were to make the Kirikori-Nui, though, you’d be rewarded with sending a card from Deck to GY as cost, a frankly pretty broken ability that probably only ended up here for lack of better ideas and because it really doesn’t matter when you barely make the thing. The effect with proper lore significance is actually the second one, where this voracious locust ravages the field and vanishes, only to return at some point in the future. That part isn’t once per turn, so you can properly do this with a whole swarm even. Well, a swarm of 3.
By their nature, Insect Rahi cards appear in all kinds of builds focused on different Types, so for their solo showing I decided to cram them into a good ol’ Insect pile. Which isn’t something I have more than passing familiarity with, so if anything looks off here all I can say is, uh, sorry.
What’s pretty much going on here is that the standard Insect cards – Resonance Insect, Gokipole, Beargram, Samurai Beetle – set up a Link climb into something like Invincible Atlas or even just I:P/S:P stuff, with Picofalena for recycling and plusses along the way. Beetroopers add more extenders and the ability to get Fly & Sting for negation, and finally the Rahi cards supplement all of this with a Synchro Engine as well as the Tuners’ handtrap effects.
Generally, you try to make a Nui-Kopen to get your hand on one of the Rahi Spell cards included. Here, that means the standard option of Rahi Swarm as a searcher and the pair of Rahi Hive Showdown and The Ussalry Arrives for situational utility and flavour. Alternatively, if you procure an additionaly body to fill up the Levels, you can also go into Diabolantis as kind of a bridge into the other Insect stuff. A Kirikori-Nui is here in theory, but looking at this Deck I’m strongly doubting it even has the ability to make that card. You’d have to Fikou-Nui for a Level 3 Kofo-Jaga and then Fikou that further down to 2, I guess? Yeah, probably not happening.
As for stuff that does happen, you can see some of that in the sample video below.
Conclusion
Unlike other Types, most Insect Rahi are explicitly built to be included generically in Rahi deck. In the Main Deck, they offer their services as Tuner/handtrap hybrids. In the Extra Deck, the Nui-Kopen specifically is your Synchro bridge to those Rahi Spells and Traps any of the various builds would love to access. Together, these tools give Insects a place in most any Rahi deck.
Beyond that, however, there are also the Insects who facilitate a more Type-specific playstyle by granting you massive amounts of free material at the cost of an Insect lock. Bug-based disruption and searching Spells/Traps are still the main plays with this approach, but additionally you have ways to easily bring out non-Tuners and refuel the Tuners in your hand. With clever sequencing, it is even possible to use these advantages as a more generic engine, but they’re most at home in something like the Insect pile above that doesn’t care about the locks to begin with.
