A Winged Beast Rahi, to be specific. Been a while since the last one, but this is the final big Type grouping, so let’s fly right into it.
See also:
- The Rahi Spreadsheet – The data all of this is based on
- The Shapes and Sizes of Rahi – Overview of all Rahi groupings
Current Members
The expansions thus far have populated the sky with a familiar number of 9 Rahi with the Winged Beast Type, their Attributes split between EARTH and WIND with a touch of FIRE and their Levels mostly ranging from 2 to 4 with outliers at 5 and 6.
Level 2
As usual, these are Tuners with handtrap effects, with both of the Winged Beast pair hailing from BBTS.
Pokawi, Flightless Bird Rahi
Tuner Effect MonsterLevel 2 | EARTH Winged Beast | ATK 300 / DEF 600(Quick Effect): You can banish this card from your hand or field and 1 “Rahi” monster from your GY; monsters your opponent controls lose 500 ATK for each of your banished “Rahi” monsters, until the end of this turn.
The Pokawi is a representative of the EARTH Winged Beasts, or the flightless birds as its name states. The ATK reduction effect represents a deterrence tactic employed by Pokawi swarms, in which they abruptly scatter to disorient predators and flee in the confusion.
Mata Nui Fishing Bird, Rahi
Tuner Effect MonsterLevel 2 | WIND Winged Beast | ATK 500 / DEF 400(Quick Effect): You can banish this card from your hand or field and 1 “Rahi” monster from your GY, then target 1 card your opponent controls; banish it until the End Phase, and if it was a face-up monster with 2000 or more ATK on the field, banish 1 random card from your opponent’s hand face-down. You can only use this effect of “Mata Nui Fishing Bird, Rahi” once per turn.
The Mata Nui Fishing Bird is the aerial WIND representative in this smallest size range, with an effect based on how it habitually annoys much larger creatures.
What both of these effects have in common at a glance is banishing – the Pokawi’s ATK reduction scales with the number of your banished monsters and the Fishing Bird is a banisher in and of itself.
This is not so much an early attempt at a Winged Beast gimmick as just something that came about because the Rahi handtraps are generally heavy on banishing, but maybe it can be transitioned into the former as well. After all, banishing is a mechanic with a lot of meanings in the design language, from different dimensions to freezing, so why shouldn’t “abducted by a bird” be a valid reading? Though in that case I guess it best fits the WIND ones …
Level 3 and 4
Following the standard pattern, these are the non-Tuner Pendulums with GY/banish triggers at Level 3 and granting effects to Synchros at Level 4.
Kewa, Vulture Rahi
Pendulum Effect MonsterLevel 3 | Scale 2/2 | WIND Winged Beast | ATK 1400 / DEF 400Pendulum Scale = 2
[ Pendulum Effect ]
If you control no other cards: You can add 1 WIND monster from your Deck to your hand, except “Kewa, Vulture Rahi”, and if you do, destroy this card during the End Phase. You can only use this effect of “Kewa, Vulture Rahi” once per turn.
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[ Monster Effect ]
If this card is sent to the GY: You can Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower WIND monster from your GY, except this card. If this card is banished: You can add 1 “Rahi” card from your GY to your hand. You can only use 1 “Kewa, Vulture Rahi” effect per turn, and only once that turn.
The Kewa belongs to the former category, and is also part of a series we’ve previously seen with the Ussal . Just like that one floated into other EARTH monsters, this one floats into other WIND monsters, and it’s for more or less the same lore reason: Matoran used Kewa as airborne steeds, so in a Le-Koro deck this can combo with an accomplished pilot such as Kongu . The Pendulum Effect to search any WIND if you control no other cards is similarly splashable support (and possibly a bit too generic), while the recycling of Rahi cards on banish is mostly useful in its native archetype.
Infernavika, Lava Bird Rahi
Pendulum Effect MonsterLevel 3 | Scale 2/2 | FIRE Winged Beast | ATK 1100 / DEF 800Pendulum Scale = 2
[ Pendulum Effect ]
Once per turn, at the start of the Battle Phase: You can target 1 face-up monster you control; this turn, when that target battles an opponent’s monster, destroy both monsters at the start of the Damage Step, except FIRE monsters.
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[ Monster Effect ]
If this card is sent to the GY: You can Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower FIRE monster from your GY, except this card. If this card is banished: You can banish the top card of your Deck; add this card to your Extra Deck face-up. You can only use 1 “Infernavika, Lava Bird Rahi” effect per turn, and only once that turn.
The Infernavika, introduced one expansion later, is the FIRE member of that same series, but lacks the usual justification because nobody rides these. They’re more known for living around stuff so hot nobody dares approach them, which is a trait nicely implemented by the Pendulum Effect. The banish trigger, meanwhile, is a rare example of a Level 3 Rahi that does further banishing in hopes to trigger another, so that’s one more point in favour of banishing being a Winged Beast thing (though again not on a WIND one).
Moa, Bird Rahi
Pendulum Effect MonsterLevel 3 | Scale 2/2 | WIND Winged Beast | ATK 1300 / DEF 600Pendulum Scale = 2
[ Pendulum Effect ]
You can banish 1 “Rahi” Pendulum Monster from your Deck; this card’s Pendulum Scale becomes the same as that monster’s, and if it does, destroy this card during the End Phase. You can only use this effect of “Moa, Bird Rahi” once per turn.
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[ Monster Effect ]
If this card is sent to the GY: You can shuffle 1 of your banished “Rahi” cards into the deck. If this card is banished: You can Special Summon 1 Level 3 or lower “Rahi” monster from your hand. You can only use 1 “Moa, Bird Rahi” effect per turn, and only once that turn.
For an actual WIND example of that concept, we have the Moa‘s Pendulum Effect, which banishes straight from the Deck as cost, providing a way to trigger any other Level 3 Rahi. The monster effects are just sort of arbitrary utility things, so not much to be said about those. Actually it’s kind of weird this is even WIND when it’s a probably flightless Po-Wahi creature …
Speaking of which, Husi time.
Husi, Ostrich Rahi
Pendulum Effect MonsterLevel 4 | Scale 5/5 | EARTH Winged Beast | ATK 1700 / DEF 1100Pendulum Scale = 5
[ Pendulum Effect ]
If a card in your Pendulum Zone is destroyed: You can Special Summon 1 face-up Level 4 or lower “Rahi” Pendulum Monster from your Extra Deck. You can only use this effect of “Husi, Ostrich Rahi” once per turn. If you control no monsters: You can Special Summon this card from your Pendulum Zone.
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[ Monster Effect ]
A Synchro Monster that was Summoned using this card as Synchro Material gains this effect.
●If this card is destroyed by a card effect and sent to the GY: Target 1 “Rahi” monster in your GY with a lower Level than this card; Special Summon it.
All the abilities here are pretty much based on the Husi trading going on at Po-Koro’s markets: The Pendulum Effect “trades” itself destroyed in the scale for a Rahi in the face-up Extra Deck, and a Synchro that used it as material gains a similar effect for the GY. I think there’s probably more interesting things that could be done from that foundation, especially if we put aside the standard Level 4 effect pattern and that weird destruction-based Rahi subtheme that never really worked. But what exactly that is will probably depend on the result of this current Winged Beast analysis.
Taku, Duck Rahi
Pendulum Effect MonsterLevel 4 | Scale 5/5 | WIND Winged Beast | ATK 1400 / DEF 1700Pendulum Scale = 5
[ Pendulum Effect ]
During your End Phase: You can add 1 “Rahi” Pendulum Monster from your Deck to your Extra Deck face-up. If you control no monsters: You can Special Summon this card from your Pendulum Zone.
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[ Monster Effect ]
A Synchro Monster that was Summoned using this card as Synchro Material gains this effect.
● When a Spell Card is activated (Quick Effect): You can shuffle 1 face-up “Rahi” Pendulum Monster from your Extra Deck into the Deck; negate the activation, and if you do, destroy that card.
The Taku represents yet another subtheme, namely the negate-granting we previously saw with the Kofo-Jaga . This little ducky takes care of the Spells, and its Pendulum Effect is meant to help provide the fodder you need to pay the negate cost.
Synchros
We’ve had Tuners and we’ve had non-Tuners, so how about we put them together? Conveniently, the existing Winged Beasts also provide Synchros for that purpose.
Dikapi, Ostrich Rahi
Synchro Tuner Effect MonsterLevel 5 | EARTH Winged Beast | ATK 1000 / DEF 16501 “Rahi” Tuner + 1+ non-Tuner monsters
When this card is Synchro Summoned: You can choose a number from 1 to 4; reduce this card’s Level by that number, then take damage equal to that number x 300. When using this Synchro Summoned card as a Synchro Material, you can use 1 face-up “Rahi” Pendulum Monster in your Extra Deck (and no other monsters) as the other Synchro Material.
The Dikapi is even a Synchro Tuner, and a pretty flexible one since it comes with built-in Level modulation and the ability to reuse Pendulums as Synchro material. Works in just about every kind of Rahi deck.
Gukko-Kahu, Hawk Rahi
Synchro Effect MonsterLevel 6 | WIND Winged Beast | ATK 2500 / DEF 10001 “Rahi” Tuner + 1+ non-Tuner monsters
If this card is Synchro Summoned: Draw 1 card. If this card is sent from the field to the GY: Add 1 “Rahi” monster from your Deck to your hand. You can only use each effect of “Gukko-Kahu, Hawk Rahi” once per turn.
And one Level higher, the Gukko-Kahu provides the double utility of drawing and searching as the greatest example of a domesticated Rahi. Also very generically useful, and unfortunately that makes it hard to glean any ideas for unique Winged Beast mechanics from it.
What we see here is an actually already pretty complete package of Tuners, non-Tuners, and Synchros, but without much unifying them beyond matching Levels. There’s the banishing concept, but even that feels pretty questionable at this point …
Hopefully the unimplemented Rahi of this Type can provide some enlightenment.
Potential Members
With 11 more unimplemented, there’s about as much here as what we’ve already covered. The dominant Attribute is unsurprisingly WIND, with individual specks of WATER, FIRE, EARTH, and LIGHT, as well as a few DARKs (already covered in the other article). So pretty much everything, but EARTH in particular actually only appears one additional time despite previously looking like a major group of “flightless birds”.
Level 2 and 3
Being covered togethere here because frankly, with birds it’s always hard to tell whether they’re really smol or just kinda smol. So anything I’ve noted down for one of these Levels could very well fit the other.
Ko-Metru’s Ice Bats probably go on the smaller end since they’re generally talked about in terms of large swarms, and being a Level 2 Tuner with a handtrap effect (as is the current concept, which may or may not survive) would well fit their nature as pests causing constant property damage. We’ve previously heard of these critters over at the Beasts as the Crystal Climbers’ favorite food, so it’d probably pay off to have something mechanically a little unique so the Climbers can interact with the Bats specifically.
The sole LIGHT Winged Beasts are the Klakk, releveant in the 2008 storyline because their screams conveniently happen to be the cure for all kinds of inner light drain. This suggests an effect that brings back stolen monsters, cures debuffs, or stuff like that – perhaps even a “banish a monster and return it to the field under its owner’s control” that would do all of that. Which, by the way, is another mark on the banishing tally.
Then there’s the Smoke Hawk, a Xian bird you’ve probably never heard of because it only showed up once and got no description whatsoever. The only reason to adapt this one is if we want to do something specific with the FIRE Attribute, since just by the name it could go in there.
And finally, the already discussed DARKs are Cliff Screecher and Necrofinch, which we may as well cover together because for some reason they’re both WAY up there on the edge scale. Cliff Screechers are bats said to be immortal because they keep their soul outside their bodies, and even outside of mythology they hunt by killing their prey through the shock of repeated near-death experiences. Put together, this sounds like a monster that just keeps coming back, and has an effect to (temporarily) sacrifice itself in order to wear down the opponent’s resources. The Necrofinch, meanwhile, can “remaing singing after it is deceased”, which just makes me think of a Tuner that Synchro Summons from the GY.
Level 4
The Lohrak makes its third appearance here after being considered as a Sea Serpent and as a Reptile, and with the benefit of hindsight I think it’s safe to say it fits either of those better than the Winged Beasts. Pretty much everything in here is a proper bird with a beak and all that, so a ravenous poisonous snake would be an odd inclusion, wings or not.
Back to said proper birds, we have the Lava Hawk, which for all intents and purposes is just the Infernavika’s big brother. They hunt literally inside of lava streams and are completely immune to heat, so something like the Archnemeses where a normally self-destructive effect is combined with destruction immunity seems worth considering. Well, that particular example is obviously way too high-powered for a low-Level monster. Also, thinking back to the Smoke Hawk, the one reason I can think of to implement that one is to round the FIRE Winged Beast Rahi out to a trio of Level 2-4. Maybe.
And another repeat performance from the Manutri, previously covered under the Aqua type due to card design precedent for Penguins. All I have on record for them is a vague idea of doing something with equips, which is so far out there we probably don’t need to bother breaking tradition to put them into Winged Beasts. Plus, it would mess with the whole EARTH flightless bird idea to suddenly have one of them as WATER.
Level 5-8
On to the big birds, of which there are surpisingly few.
Nivawk is a named representative of a species of large flying scavenger Rahi, though this particular individual also engaged in nest robbery to feed. It might be DARK in order to synergize with Makuta Teridax, its master, but the broader species without those evil inclinations and connections would probably just be plain old WIND. Starting to sound a bit like Simorgh here, maybe we could see some Tribute Summoning happen?
The Gukko is not to be confused with the already implemented Gukko-Kahu subspecies, but really quite similar in its role as a flying Rahi domesticated by Le-Matoran. That means the two will probably overlap mechanically, providing some manner of utility effects, but since they are in fact distinct creatures and the Gukko plays a fairly significant role in Mask of Light, there does kind of need to be a separate card for this. Maybe we can come up with some cute interaction between the two kinds of Gukko. Could also involve the Taku as another Gukko relative and the Kewa as another flying steed.
And the largest thing the spreadsheet has to offer the Winged Beasts is … not really a bird, despite my earlier claims.
The Vahki Hunter just fell into this Type by virtue of a) having wings, b) not looking like anything else whatsoever, and c) that little joke in Rahi Beasts where they ask Kualus to comment as the resident expert for flying Rahi, because this one has wings too. In any case, it does fill the very empty niche of an actually large boss for Winged Beast Rahi, given the fact that they literally eat Vahki for breakfast. That diet immediately suggest some sort of anti-Machine effect, but to avoid being cripplingly specific, maybe it should be something generic with a lore-friendly bonus when used against Machines? The fact that this thing is also an ambush predator is a topic in its own right …
Conclusion
I can’t exactly say the design direction for Winged Beast Rahi became clear and obvious at any point here, but having reviewed the data we can at least assert some key facts:
- The currently implemented Winged Beasts already contain a solid balance of Tuners, non-Tuners, and mid-Level Synchros.
- The most common Attribute is WIND followed by EARTH, with some interesting smaller groups at FIRE and DARK.
- The Levels cap out at approximately 8, with no actual gigantic final boss in sight.
- A few of their effects involve banishing in some capacity, but not quite enough to consider it an ongoing theme.
I feel like that last point might be worth building on, especially for the WIND Winged Beasts. That Attribute, after all, has a recurring theme of returning to the hand that presumably represents flight, so combining that with (temporarily) banishing opponent’s cards as design language for “snatched by a bird” makes a really straightforward and fitting set of effects. The EARTH Winged Beasts, being mostly covered by the early Rahi in the current expansions already, could then act as the more down-to-earth (haha) combo enablers that don’t bother with the gimmick and instead just provide an efficient route towards making your Synchros. The two or three FIRE monsters could form a nice little engine centered around the idea of being too hot to touch, while the DARKs with their shared undead theming could provide plays in the GY.
That’s a fair variety of playstyles already, and that kind of versatility is probably good to have when there isn’t really the one big payoff we want to go into. Instead, Winged Beast Rahi combos would aim to get easy and repeatable access to their mid-sized Synchros, which then help them win the game without any single one being a full win condition by itself.