In Konami’s Gradius games, one thing was always the same: a lone ship was always sent to face an armada. After surviving attacks from a seemingly endless swarm of ships, you’d emerge into the “calm” of space and find yourself facing down one gigantic ship with an abundance of weaponry.
But those ships always had a weakness, and that weakness was often right at the center of the ship, in its “big core.” All that stood between you and the ship’s core was a series of shields—which were easily broken down by your carefully timed fire.
Things went smoothly for a while, until you faced the dreaded “Boss Rush.” The fleet’s largest Core carriers assembled together to assault your little ship, one after another. Each ship came at you with its own tactics and attack patterns, keeping you guessing until the very end. With the release of Elemental Energy, this Boss Rush has finally been brought to the game of Yu-Gi-Oh!
Big Core: Your First Opponent
The battle begins with Big Core, which was introduced in the Rise of Destiny expansion. The text of Big Core says, “Put 3 counters on this card when you Normal Summon it. This card is not destroyed as a result of battle. If this card battles a monster, remove 1 counter from this card at the end of the Damage Step. If this card battles without a counter, destroy this card at the end of the Damage Step.”
When Big Core is successfully normal summoned onto your side of the field, it receives three counters. These three counters represent the shield layers that protect the core from destruction. Every time Big Core is involved in battle with one of your opponent’s monsters, one of its shields is destroyed, causing you to remove one of its counters at the end of the damage step. When Big Core battles without any counters to protect it, Big Core will be destroyed at the end of the damage step.
It’s important to remember that these counters are not spell counters. Anything that affects spell counters, or would add spell counters to a card in play, will not help Big Core. It’s also important to remember that your opponent cannot destroy your Big Core in battle. He or she can only hope to defeat Big Core by causing it to lose all of its counters, eventually forcing it to battle without any counters to protect it. Only then will Big Core be destroyed by its own effect.
However, keep in mind that it is still possible to destroy Big Core and its sister ships by using card effects. Their counters will not protect them from cards like Sakuretsu Armor and Lightning Vortex. When your opponent declares an attack, if you can use a card effect like Magic Cylinder or Negate Attack to negate your opponent’s attack, Big Core won’t have battled, and thus it won’t lose a counter. But a card that doesn’t stop the battle from occurring, like Waboku, won’t help protect your Big Core.
The counters can also be lost whenever Big Core is turned face down. Flip summoning it afterwards will not replace the lost counters, because Big Core only receives the counters when it’s normal summoned.
Big Core was just the beginning. Its defeat only served to aggravate the Bacterian Empire, leading to the creation of their next generation of models.
The Bacterian Empire Ships
The first of the new fleet to appear was B.E.S. Crystal Core, which was released in the Cybernetic Revolution expansion. “Put 3 counters on this card when you Normal Summon it. This card is not destroyed as a result of battle. If this card battles a monster, remove 1 counter from this card at the end of the Damage Step. If this card battles without a counter, destroy this card at the end of the Damage Step. Once per turn, during your Main Phase, you can change 1 face-up Attack Position monster on your opponent's side of the field to face-up Defense Position.”
While Big Core is normally summoned by tribute summon, B.E.S. Crystal Core’s alignment with the Water attribute allows it to be normal summoned without tributes. This can easily be accomplished by using A Legendary Ocean, found both in the Fury from the Deep Structure deck and in Dark Beginnings 2. By reducing B.E.S. Crystal Core’s level to 4, it no longer requires any tributes when it’s normal summoned.
Once per turn, you can activate B.E.S. Crystal Core’s ignition effect, targeting one of your opponent’s face-up attack position monsters. When the effect is resolved, the targeted monster is shifted into face-up defense position. With B.E.S. Crystal Core’s initial ATK value of 2100, this can spell trouble for many commonly played monsters.
Newly introduced in Elemental Energy, B.E.S. Tetran brings another form of power to the Bacterian Empire: the ability to destroy spell and trap cards. “Put 3 counters on this card when you Normal Summon it. This card is not destroyed as a result of battle. If this card battles a monster, remove 1 counter from this card at the end of the Damage Step. If this card battles without a counter, destroy this card at the end of the Damage Step. Also, by removing 1 counter on this card, destroy 1 Spell or Trap Card on the field. You can only use this effect once per turn.”
Just like Big Core and B.E.S. Crystal Core, B.E.S. Tetran acquires three counters when you normal summon it. While most of the other ships in the fleet hold onto their counters to protect themselves, B.E.S. Tetran is willing to sacrifice its counters to further the Empire’s purposes.
Once during each of your turns, you can activate B.E.S. Tetran’s ignition effect, removing one of its counters to destroy a spell or trap card on the field. Of course, your opponent is free to respond to this, and he or she can activate the same card that you’ve targeted. Be sure to remember that removing the counter is a cost, so even if the effect fails, you will lose your counter.
Now that we’ve covered the fleet, it’s time to engage the final assault.
Boss Rush!
Boss Rush is the Bacterian Empire’s last great offensive. “The controller of this card cannot Normal Summon or Set. During the End Phase of the turn that a monster on your side of the field that includes "B.E.S." in its card name, or is named "Big Core", is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard, you can Special Summon from your Deck 1 monster that includes "B.E.S." in its card name, or is named "Big Core".”
Once you’ve established a Boss Rush, you can no longer normal summon or set monsters. Boss Rush locks you into a battle of titans, with your Big Core and “B.E.S.” monsters leading the assault.
However, it is possible to stop the Boss Rush on your own terms. By simply removing Boss Rush from the field, you will no longer be held back by its effect. You can easily accomplish this by using cards like Mystical Space Typhoon and Emergency Provisions.
In the meantime, let’s see how this Boss Rush works. Begin by summoning a Big Core or “B.E.S.” monster. During your next turn, activate your Boss Rush spell card and begin the assault. From this point forward, during any turn that one or more of your Big Core or “B.E.S.” monsters are destroyed and sent to the graveyard, you’ll be able to special summon another Big Core or “B.E.S.” monster from your deck to your side of the field.
Remember that you can’t normal summon or set a monster and then activate Boss Rush, because Boss Rush doesn’t allow you to normal summon or set monsters while it is active and it won’t allow you to sidestep this limitation by trying to activate it afterwards. This is similar to the popular spell card Scapegoat, which has a similar limitation.
Remember, Big Core and the Bacterian Empire ships have a weakness. They don’t receive counters when they are special summoned. Without counters, your ship can only withstand one attack before it self-destructs. So while Boss Rush will replace the ships with another monster, the newly special summoned monster is not likely to last long either.
What do you do when you run out of Bacterian Empire ships to special summon from your deck, and your Big Cores are toast? You’ll need to get some back into your deck, and in a hurry! Don’t fret, for Elemental Energy has provided us with Pot of Avarice. With it, you can get five of your monsters back into your deck, and you’ll also draw two cards. This will help replenish your deck’s supply of Bacterian Empire ships while also benefiting your hand.
You could also use that nice Exchange of the Spirit promotional card that you received at the Elemental Energy Sneak Preview event. After cycling through enough of your monsters, you’ll eventually reach a point where you will have the necessary amount of cards in your graveyard needed to activate the effect. Your graveyard full of Bacterian Empire ships will switch places with your depleted deck, giving you another armada of ships to command. Your opponent is not likely to be so fortunate.
Some players, while looking through their vast collection of cards, might happen across the monster Grave Protector from Ancient Sanctuary and think, “Maybe I can use this guy.” Unfortunately for Grave Protector, Big Core and the “B.E.S.” monsters cannot be destroyed in battle. Since they cannot be destroyed in battle, they’ll never satisfy Grave Protector’s effect, and won’t be shuffled back into your deck.
Boss Rush faces a strong rule that limits what it can accomplish. Each active copy of Boss Rush will only allow you to special summon one Big Core or “B.E.S.” monster during each turn that you satisfy its effect. Even if you manage to lose three of your Bacterian Empire ships in the same turn, you will still only special summon one Big Core or “B.E.S.” monster.
Knowing this, it will be wise to play with more than one copy of Boss Rush in your deck. You will probably want to have two or three of them active at the same time, so you can use each of them to special summon a Big Core or “B.E.S.” monster during the end phase.
For example, if I have two active copies of Boss Rush and my Big Core is destroyed, during the end phase of that turn, I will be able to use the effect of each Boss Rush spell card to special summon a Big Core or “B.E.S.” monster from my deck. Thanks to this, I could choose Big Core for one of the copies and B.E.S. Tetran for the other copy. That’s right—you don’t have to pick the same monster for each card.
It’s also important to remember that your Big Core and “B.E.S.” monsters do not receive their counters when they’re special summoned. This means they run the risk of being destroyed very quickly, but you can help them avoid this by playing Skill Drain. With Skill Drain, you can negate their effects, allowing them to engage in battle without worrying about counter loss. Doing this also means the ships can be destroyed in battle, so this plan relies on the powers of Boss Rush to take control of the game.
Until next week, send all comments to Curtis@metagame.com