Deck Idea: Turaga Nui Turbo

Do you enjoy unnecessarily long combo lines? Is linking off your Link Monsters to make more Link Monsters one of your primary sources of endorphins in these trying times? Do you consider the existence of handtraps and disruption a mere myth that can be safely ignored? Are you a truly skilled player with the ability to draw exactly the right combination of three cards every game? Do you respect your elders for their wisdom and ability to utilize Noble Kanohi as well as minor elemental powers? Then boy, do I have the deck for you.

As the name may suggest, the centerpiece of this silly little strategy is Turaga Nui, a card first included in version 3.19.4 of the expansion.

Turaga Nui

Effect MonsterLevel 9 | LIGHT Spellcaster | ATK 2000 / DEF 3000

Cannot be Normal Summoned/Set. Must be Special Summoned by its own effect. You can send this card from your hand and 1 “Noble Kanohi” Equip Spell from your Deck to the GY; reveal 1 “Turaga” Link monster in your Extra Deck, and if you do, Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower Warrior monster with the same Attribute from your hand. When your opponent activates a card or effect, while you have 6 or more “Turaga” Link Monsters with different names in your GY (Quick Effect): You can Special Summon this card from your GY, and if you do, negate the effects of all face-up cards your opponent currently controls. You can only use each effect of “Turaga Nui” once per turn.

Bionicle: Coming of the Toa (v3.21.6)

This supremely wise sage is the united form of six different Turaga, and like many combination models from the early years, was never ever formed in canon. Similarly, the card’s summoning condition of having 6 different Turaga Link Monsters in the GY makes it so it will likely never hit the field in a sane player’s hands, considering the Turaga aren’t even meant to be used together in the first place. However, if you do make it happen, it acts as an omninegate that hits your opponent’s entire field at once, so that’s a decent motivation to try anyway.

The Deck

Basically, the idea is to go through an elaborate Link climb that ideally ends up putting 4 Turaga Link Monsters plus Turaga Nui into your GY while establishing a board consisting of (a relatively small) The Arrival Cyberse @Ignister and Knightmare Gryphon, and then completing the setup using the effect of Dogmatika Maximus.

The main engine carrying the Link climb part are the C.C. Matoran (AKA The Chronicler’s Company), a sub-archetype of Matoran across all Attributes that work together to swarm the field with appropriate Turaga materials. Helping them out is the classic combo of Neo Space Connector and Neo-Spacian Aqua Dolphin, which gets to Isolde while potentially taking out a handtrap, thus increasing the chances of actually pulling off the best-case scenario. For the Dogmatika part, we have Maximus as the crucial piece plus six searchers for it in Nadir Servant and Ecclesia, as well as a Dogmatika Punishment to have an alternate search target for Ecclesia in case we draw Maximus.

While the stated goal is to fully set up the Turaga Nui in one turn, accomplishing that is a bit of a pipe dream, since even in the absence of all disruption, you still need to actually find no less than three different pieces to even stand a chance: A Warrior starter to get you to Isolde, some way to access Dogmatika Maximus, and, curiously enough, a C.C. Matoran Tamaru that is not required to make Isolde – more on that in the following section. Failing that, you can usually still get to the Arrival + Gryphon part of the payoff, which may keep you alive for another turn to finish the job.

The Combo

One of the most ideal combo lines I found is showcased in the above video, and starts with the following cards:

1. Activate Matoran Nui and select Tamaru, Taipu, and a third Matoran of your choice – it doesn’t actually matter which one ends up in your hand, but the most efficient case is Tamaru, so let’s assume that (so Taipu + other Matoran go to the GY)
2. Normal Summon Connector and use its effect to Special Summon Aqua Dolphin
3. Optional: Use Aqua Dolphin to discard 1 and look at your opponent’s hand – you can only afford this if Tamaru is in your hand!
4. Connector + Dolphin -> Isolde, search anything that isn’t mentioned in the following steps
5. Use Isolde to send two Noble Kanohi to the GY and Special Summon Takua
6. On Summon, use Takua’s effect to stack Hafu on top of the deck and become EARTH
7. Discard one of your spare cards to activate Takua and Special Summon Hafu, who in turn Summons Taipu from your hand or GY
8. Isolde + Hafu -> Onewa in the Extra Monster Zone
9. Takua + Taipu -> Whenua into a zone Onewa points to – the Taipu summoned with Hafu’s effect gets banished when it leaves the field, so Onewa can immediately summon him back and Whenua can search a second copy
10. Whenua or Onewa + Taipu -> Amaja-Nui (placed so it points to a free zone), on Summon send Turaga Nui to the GY
11. Use Amaja-Nui to Summon Takua from your GY to the zone it points to, on Summon stack Kapura on top of the Deck so Takua becomes FIRE
12. Special Summon the second copy of Taipu from your hand
13. Takua + Taipu -> Vakama
14. Use Vakama’s effect to Special Summon Kapura to your field and a Vision Token (or some FIRE Warrior they happen to be playing) to your opponent’s
15. Special Summon the Tamaru in your hand (by discarding itself for cost) or in your GY (by discarding a spare card)
16. Tamaru + Kapura -> Matau
17. Onewa + Vakama + Matau -> The Arrival Cyberse @Ignister (in the Main Monster Zone pointed to by Amaja-Nui, so the upwards arrow only points to the Extra Monster Zone at most)
18. Activate The Arrival to destroy your opponents Vision Token and give yourself an @Ignister Token
19. Amaja-Nui + @Ignister Token -> Knightmare Gryphon (co-linked with The Arrival, and not pointing to the opponent’s field)
20. Optional: If you still have a spare card to discard, you can activate Gryphon’s effect on Summon to draw a fresh card and maybe set a useful Spell/Trap from your GY
21. Activate Nadir Servant, sending one of your remaining Extra Deck monsters to add Ecclesia (sadly no Turaga can be used here due to their ATK being all below 1500)
22. Special Summon Ecclesia (linked, because Gryphon!), on Summon search Maximus
23. Banish something that isn’t a Turaga from your GY to Special Summon Maximus (linked, because Gryphon!)
24. Activate Maximus, send Nokama and Nuju from your Extra Deck to your GY

Final payoff: Full Turaga Nui setup in the GY, 3000 ATK The Arrival and a Knightmare Gryphon on the field

Many hands fall short of fully achieving this combo due to lacking access to either the Dogmatikas or the free Tamaru to make Matau, but even those tend to manage putting up enough material for Arrival, Gryphon, or both. And if you don’t have a complete Turaga Nui setup, you actually don’t need to leave the previously summoned Turaga in the GY and can instead tribute off stuff like a leftover Token or the Dogmatikas for Onewa + Komau (preventing your opponent from activating the effects of their weakest monster while they control multiple) and/or Vakama + Huna (giving you a draw should something else be destroyed by battle, while not being available as an attack target himself).