This page notes some changes that I’ve thought about making, but haven’t implemented because I’m not entirely convinced they’re good/necessary yet. So I put them here to make sure I don’t forget, and maybe get a second opinion at some point.
Onu-Koro, Village of Earth
Field SpellYou can target up to 5 EARTH monsters in your GY; shuffle them into the Deck, then gain 600 LP for each card shuffled into the Main Deck this way. If your LP are higher than your opponent’s: You can send 1 EARTH monster from your hand or field to the GY, then pay LP in multiples of 1000 (max. 3000); draw 1 card for every 1000 LP paid, then, if your LP are lower than your opponent’s, send that many cards from your hand to the GY. You cannot Normal or Special Summon monsters the turn you activate this effect, except EARTH monsters. You can only use each effect of “Onu-Koro, Village of Earth” once per turn.
There’s several small tweaks I’d like to make to Onu-Koro and related cards just to make its intended strategy run a bit more smoothly. For the Field Spell itself, I’m thinking about no longer requiring you to send a monster for the draw, because having that on top of all the other restrictions for an effect that draws up to 3 feels somewhat silly in a world where Runick Fountain exists. For the shuffling effect, I’d like to change it so you gain LP for each target regardless of where it ends up going, so recycling both Extra Deck monsters and Midak is possible without leaving you short of LP to get the actual payoff.
Turaga Whenua
Link Effect MonsterLink-2 [▼ ▶] | EARTH Spellcaster | ATK 14502 monsters, including an EARTH Warrior monster
Each time an EARTH monster(s) is sent from your hand or field to the GY, gain 400 LP for each. If this card is Link Summoned: You can pay 1000 LP; add 1 Level 4 or lower EARTH Warrior monster from your Deck to your hand, with a different name from the cards in your GY. You can only use this effect of “Turaga Whenua” once per turn.
For Whenua, the tweak is very small indeed: Changing the cost of a search from 1000 to 800 LP would mean you break perfectly even after sending 2 monsters to the GY, which leads to the overall math working out a lot better in practice.
Matoran Tender Midak
Effect MonsterLevel 2 | EARTH Warrior | ATK 500 / DEF 500If you control a “Matoran” monster, except “Matoran Tender Midak”: You can send this card from your hand to the GY; send 1 EARTH monster from your Deck to the GY, and if you do, gain 400 LP. If this card in your GY would be returned to the Deck by a card effect, you can add it to your hand instead. You can only use each effect of “Matoran Tender Midak” once per turn.
In Midak’s case, I want him to be usable when searched by Whenua, so the base Onu- combo actually functions consistently without needing a convenient leftover Matoran on the field. To that end, the condition simply needs to change to “If you control a “Matoran”, “Toa”, or “Turaga” monster”.
Matoran Racer Onepu
Effect MonsterLevel 2 | EARTH Warrior | ATK 700 / DEF 500When this card is Normal Summoned: You can target 1 of your banished EARTH monsters; place it on the bottom of the Deck, then you can reveal any number of “Matoran” monsters in your hand, and if you do, gain 500 LP for each. During your Main Phase: You can Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower Beast “Rahi” monster from your hand or GY, but banish it when it leaves the field. You can only use each effect of “Matoran Racer Onepu” once per turn.
Finally, Onepu should get an upgrade to his Normal Summon effect that I left out – in hindsight mistakenly – the last time I updated the card. For that effect to be at all worth spending your one Normal Summon, it really should just draw you a card, and then it can maybe also do the LP gain part afterwards somehow.
Po-Koro, Village of Stone
Field SpellIf a monster(s) you control would be destroyed by battle or card effect, you can banish 1 Rock monster you control instead of destroying 1 of those monsters. If you Fusion, Synchro, Xyz, or Link Summon using an EARTH monster as material: You can banish 1 EARTH Warrior monster from your GY; you cannot conduct the same type of Summon for the rest of this turn, also Special Summon “Sculpture Tokens” (Rock/EARTH/Level 1/ATK 0/DEF 0) equal to the number of EARTH monsters used as material. You can only use this effect of “Po-Koro, Village of Stone” once per turn.
Recent deckbuilding adventures have brought to my attention that Po-Koro is kind of a pain in the ass to use, because the moment you make Tokens you irrecoverably seal off an entire category of combo lines. That means if you for instance do it off a Link Summon, as you’re meant to do in combination with Onewa , you’re usually going to need Synchro access or your turn ends right there – you can’t Xyz with Tokens, and Fusion Summoning is even harder to set up. Conversely, if the trigger is a Synchro Summon, no more Synchro climbing for you that turn, and even then you have to have found a Tuner first. Fusion, again, is even harder because you need an effect that fuses, and Xyz would be easy if not for the fact that it doesn’t always give you the GY setup to even activate Po-Koro. Thus, Link into Synchro has proven to be the most reliable route, but even that feels like a struggle sometimes and isn’t even all that rewarding because the Tokens are just Lv1 and thus don’t contribute much towards big boss monsters.
Now, for the most part, this complexity is intentional as a way to encourage cooking up fancy combo lines as per the principle of creation, and also as a strict balancing restriction because this card was made shortly after the Linkross ban. But in the frustration of just not being able to do this or that line during testing, I thought about some possible tweaks that may open up more interesting possibilities.
One option is to not lock the mechanic for the whole turn, but rather just make the summoned Tokens unavailable for it. However, I did eventually find a way around the issues that made me think of this one, so maybe it’s not needed.
Another daring approach would be to remove the once per turn clause, so you get Tokens for each different summoning method you manage to use. That does sound kind of fun, and to be really crazy we could even combine it with the above change of only locking the Tokens … no let’s not, that’s an infinite loop waiting to happen.
Or maybe the Level of the Tokens should simply match the EARTH Warrior you banished to activate the effect, to give you some more options there. Though that also provides new avenues to screw up a combo if you fail to put the right stuff in the GY.
Aside from changing the card, it could also suffice to just make additional support that helps take advantage of the current design – possibly at some point while covering Mask of Light and MNOG2. Specific ideas I have are a Level 4 or so EARTH Warrior Fusion (“Master Crafters of Po-Koro”) that acts as a Tuner under certain Po-Koro-friendly conditions and also resummons itself as a Tuner if banished to activate a Spell Effect, and a Level 8 or so EARTH Rock Synchro (“Path of Prophecies”) with some kind of defensive effect and a benefit when banished, as you’d do with Po-Koro’s destruction replacement ability.
Oh yeah, and that replacement should probably be a one-for-all trade if it already doesn’t work against most boardwipes due to banishing off the field only. I don’t think the phrase “instead of destroying 1 of those” has been used on any official cards in years.
Toa Mata Lewa
Effect MonsterLevel 6 | WIND Warrior | ATK 2200 / DEF 1900To Tribute Summon this card face-up, you can Tribute a WIND or “Toa Mata” monster in your hand, except “Toa Mata Lewa”, instead of a monster you control. Once per turn, if a monster(s) is Special Summoned from the hand, Main Deck, and/or GY while you control this card: You can target 1 monster on the field; return it to the hand, then, if it was a monster you controlled, you can return 1 additional monster on the field to the hand.
The ability to bounce any monster on the field whenever a Special Summon from an appropriate location occurs can be pretty annoying if you’re on the receiving end, so it might be healthy to give it some more restrictions. I want to keep the generic trigger condition (because it’s part of the Toa Mata design philosophy) and the non-targeting bounce option (because it’s really cool), but maybe requiring the initial target to be a monster other than what was just Summoned would work. That way, bouncing back something right as it comes out has the elevated cost of bouncing one of your own first so you can use the second non-targeting bounce. However, I’m not sure if this wouldn’t be overbalanced, since the current version just seems a bit annoying to play against, rather than legitimately broken.
Great Kanohi Kaukau
Equip SpellIf another “Kanohi” card becomes equipped to the equipped monster, destroy this card. If the equipped monster is a “Toa” or “Makuta” monster, it is unaffected by your opponent’s card effects, unless they target it. If this card is sent to the GY: You can banish 1 monster from your GY; add 1 “Toa Mata Gali” from your Deck to your hand. You can only use this effect of “Great Kanohi Kaukau” once per turn.
🎉This one is about a mechanical issue rather than balance. If you look at Underworld Goddess, the main example of immunity to non-targeting effects in the official game, you will notice that her protection only extends to activated effects, while the Kaukau covers all effects. This difference means I’m in a bit of a gray area with some rulings – for example, Crackdown is a targeting effect that currently cannot affect a Kaukau-equipped monster because the control change is coded as a separate, non-targeting continuous effect.
This might actually be correct, and if I find solid evidence that it is, I am going to keep this version because continuous effect immunity matches the idea of “protection from environmental effects” I was going for super well. But if it’s wrong, we’ll just have to add that little word “activated” to ensure things work as they should.
Turaga Vakama
Link Effect MonsterLink-2 [◀ ▼] | FIRE Spellcaster | ATK 14002 monsters, including a FIRE Warrior monster
During your Main Phase: You can activate this effect; each player reveals the top card of their Deck, and if a player revealed a FIRE Warrior monster, they Special Summon that monster. Otherwise, they Special Summon 1 “Vision Token” (Warrior/FIRE/Level 3/ATK 1500/DEF 0) in Attack Position, but it cannot be Tributed or used as material for a Synchro or Link Summon. If a monster is destroyed by battle: Draw 1 card. You can only use each effect of “Turaga Vakama” once per turn.
The effect that draws a card whenever any (other) monster is destroyed by battle might be problematic in that it directly powercreeps any effects that draw when a particular monster runs something over (e.g. the classic Airknight Parshath). Of course, the game is long past the point where effects of that type are really good, but if I really wanted to respectfully leave a niche for those old cards, I’d probably change this one to demand involvement of a FIRE or FIRE Warrior monster (which is conviently provided as a Token anyway). Probably not worth the extra words, though.
Turaga Nuju
Link Effect MonsterLink-2 [◀ ▶] | WATER Spellcaster | ATK 11002 monsters, including a WATER Warrior monster
If this card is Special Summoned: You can target 1 face-up Spell/Trap you control; until the end of the next turn, while you control a WATER monster, that target cannot be destroyed by card effects (even if this card leaves the field). Once per turn: You can target any number of cards your opponent controls; change face-up monsters you control to face-down Defense Position, equal to the number of targeted cards, and if you do, return those targeted cards to the hand.
The protection effect for face-up S/T could probably drop the “face-up” requirement and barely anything would change. It would just add a tiny bit of extra utility.
Turaga Nui
Effect MonsterLevel 9 | LIGHT Spellcaster | ATK 2000 / DEF 3000Cannot 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.
Given the requirement to draw this card and have a Noble Kanohi still in Deck, the first effect would probably fine being able to also Summon at least from the GY. Deck might be excessive without further restrictions, though.
If I wanted to really buff this to take it from a dumb gimmick to a dumb gimmick that almost automatically wins you the game if you pull it off, I’d change the one-time negate on Summon to a continuous negation of all cards your opponent controls while this card is on the field. I just don’t know if I really want that.
Diminished Matoran Kaita
Xyz Effect MonsterRank 2 | LIGHT Warrior | ATK 1200 / DEF 15003 Level 2 “Matoran” monsters
Cannot be destroyed by battle while it has material. If this card is Xyz Summoned: You can detach up to 3 materials with different Attributes from this card, then apply the following effect(s) based on their Attributes, in sequence. You can only use this effect of “Diminished Matoran Kaita” once per turn.
•WIND: Add 1 Level 2 “Matoran” monster from your Deck to your hand.
•WATER: This card cannot be destroyed by card effects. •FIRE: This card gains 1200 ATK.
•EARTH: Draw 1 card. •LIGHT/DARK: Special Summon 1 Level 2 “Matoran” monster from your hand or GY.
Since the introduction of Zeus has increased the value of battle protection on Xyz Monsters, I might have to raise the bar for that to at least 2 materials (so you’re limited to a single effect on Summon).
For the Attribute effect, I’m a bit sceptical about how WIND and LIGHT/DARK combined basically make a Special Summon of any Level 2 Matoran from Deck. Probably fair after investing 3 materials, but could be turned off by simply swapping the order of the effects.
Call of the Toa Stones
SpellDiscard 1 card; roll a six-sided die and excavate cards from the top of your Deck equal to the result, and if you do, you can add up to 2 excavated “Toa Mata” monsters with different names to your hand, also shuffle the rest into your Deck. Then, apply the following effect, based on the number of cards added to your hand this way. You can only activate 1 “Call of the Toa Stones” per turn.
â—Ź0: Set 1 “Coming of the Toa” directly from your Deck. It can be activated this turn.
â—Ź1: Add 1 Level 1 Rock monster with 0 ATK/DEF from your Deck to your hand.
â—Ź2: Gain 1800 LP.
The “0” case where you get Coming of the Toa from Deck could get out of hand, specifically the part where it allows you to immediately activate that card. That means a Call in hand, unless you have already summoned a non-“Toa” monster with 2000 or more ATK that turn, can translate into 3 Toa Mata on field if your GY happens to be stacked. Even that is fine if you do it starting from nothing since it gets you a single Kaita at best, but what if you’re already ahead? Widening the gap that easily tends to feel a bit dirty.
My proposed solution would be to qualify the same-turn activation with a condition such as “while you control no monsters with 2000 or more ATK”, mirroring Coming’s own restriction. But that’s an uncomfortable amount of extra words, and I’m not sure it’s worth it just to tone down a hypothetical case where you’re already winning regardless. Then again, we could save a lot of words by making this effect as a whole less convoluted …
Implemented
Archived here are those changes that once were Pending and then happened.
(Implemented: 2022-12-31, v4.2.5)
Matoran Guard Captain Jala
Effect MonsterLevel 2 | FIRE Warrior | ATK 800 / DEF 500While your opponent controls a face-up monster, Level 4 or lower FIRE Warrior monsters you control gain 400 ATK for each “Matoran” monster you control. During your Main Phase, you can Normal Summon 1 “Matoran” or FIRE “Toa” monster in addition to your Normal Summon/Set. (You can only gain this effect once per turn) You can only control 1 face-up “Matoran Guard Captain Jala”.
Matoran Guard Captain Jala
Effect MonsterLevel 2 | FIRE Warrior | ATK 800 / DEF 500While your opponent controls a face-up monster, Level 4 or lower FIRE Warrior monsters you control gain 400 ATK for each “Matoran” monster you control. At the start of the Damage Step, if this card attacks, you can: Immediately after this effect resolves, Normal Summon 1 Warrior monster. You can only control 1 face-up “Matoran Guard Captain Jala”.
The additional Normal Summon here already felt way too forced when I made it, with the whole specific reference to FIRE “Toa”, so I’ve been wanting to change it into something more elegant for a while. Now I have an idea that seems really good: Replace the continuous extra NS with an activated effect that performs a Normal Summon of a Warrior monster on attack declaration! This works with all the same targets as before, fits Ta-Koro’s battle theme, has synergy with Jala’s own ATK boost, and still lets you get Tahu out quickly so you can pull off the OTK.
The only thing it can’t do this way is act as an extra body while you combo off with Takua turn 1, but that wasn’t a particularly significant use case anyway.