Typal Battle Searchers

Overview

While testing some designs for EARTH Rock Flip decks, I was getting annoyed with Giant Rat not being a Rock monster, as I had to waste card slots on a monster that couldn’t be used to Special Summon Megarock Dragon. I couldn’t think of any easy Rock searchers, particularly not Goat format legal ones. On double checking, I confirmed that there wasn’t one that Special Summoned a Rock monster on being destroyed by battle, so I decided to make one: Tower Golem. Once it was done, I had the itch to fill out the cycle for all the other monster Types lacking battle searchers, so I made Angelic Egg and continued from there.

As far as design decisions go, none of them are particularly complicated or show much creativity. Each of the existing ones is Level 3 or 4, has between 1100 and 1400 ATK/DEF, and has basically the same effect:

When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the GY: You can Special Summon 1 [SAME TYPE] monster with [1500 or less ATK | 1500 or less DEF | 2000 or less DEF] from your Deck.

All that really needs to be settled on is which ATK/DEF restrictions to use, depending on the monster Type and how much it could abuse more lenient restrictions, to pick the Level, ATK, and DEF more or less at random, barring any compelling reason for a specific stat value, and to edit together an artwork that fits the monster Type.

Note that my custom designs will not not cover Dragon, Insect, Zombie, or Wyrm monsters, as their respective typal destroyed-by-battle searchers – Masked Dragon, Howling Insect, Pyramid Turtle, and Unmasked Dragon – are the official cards that gave rise to this cycle.

Lava Eye

① When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the GY: You can Special Summon 1 Pyro monster with 1500 or less ATK from your Deck.

On my Reddit post for Vengeful Arbor, one Redditor suggested a Pyro searcher limited to monsters with 300 to 2000 DEF, thinking to try and exclude Snake-Eyes monsters with that range. So, I figured I’d have a crack at doing the Pyro searcher next. Because DEF condition between two specific values would break the pattern of the rest of the cycle, I opted to give my Pyro searcher a 1500 ATK restriction to constrain the most likely culprits for abusing the searcher. Looking at Snake-Eyes, and as someone else in the aforementioned comment thread pointed out, the 200 DEF theme is not one that they seem to embody or care about. With how fast today’s meta is, even if they did embody or care about that theme, I doubt modern decks would even give old typal searchers a second glance, on account of being too slow and doing too little. Therefore, I’m not particularly worried about Snake-Eyes abusing it nowadays.

Instead, that theme as an archetypal quirk for FIRE-based Attributes took off with and was supported by the Flamvell archetype in the Synchro era, with concurrent and later FIRE archetypes like Laval, Evol, Fire Fist, and Fire King Avatar having maybe a couple of members with 200 DEF but not focusing on it, until two Laval-related cards (Birth of the Prominence Flame and Lavalval Exlord) provided the only further support for that theme within the last few years. A typal destroyed-by-battle searcher would have had some utility during the Synchro era without being particularly broken, I think, so I did opt to give Lava Eye 200 DEF to let it synergise with that theme. Being Level 2 with 400 ATK seemed like good, even stats to round out its design.

Lava Eye is based on typal destroyed-by-battle searchers like Masked Dragon and Pyramid Turtle. It’s art is Fire Eye’s art horizontally reflected and rotated, with the iris changed to red, and the background replaced by Big Wave Small Wave.

Vengeful Arbor

① When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the GY: You can Special Summon 1 Plant monster with 2000 or less DEF from your Deck.

When I posted Vengeful Arbor on Reddit, I thought it would be fun to parody the Lorax in its title and description, so I put together this rhyme based on its art and name:

I am an arbor, I speak for us trees.

And we would like our revenge, if you please.

You’ve drained all our water, you’ve polluted our air.

You’ve chopped down our kin, and we say, “That’s not fair.”

So I’ll Summon a monster to take your Life Points.

A monster, a Plant, with 2000 Defense Points.

Reddit seemed to like that, since it got more engagement than its immediate predecessors, so I’ll definitely be keeping that in mind if I have similarly goofy but fun ideas when posting other custom cards.

As for the design itself, making the Plant searcher an EARTH monster was an easy choice. Because Plants give me the vibe of being more DEF-focused than ATK-focused, I wanted to make Vengeful Arbor a searcher with a DEF-based restriction. I settled on 2000 DEF to give it more flexibility in its Special Summoning options. As a DEF-based searcher, I wanted to make its DEF as high as its Level would allow, but I also wanted it to be Level 2. So I did some research on the highest DEF monsters in Goat format, and found D.D. Scout Plane was the clear winner with 1200 DEF. 800 ATK and 1200 DEF seemed like good stats for Vengeful Arbor, so I copied those from D.D. Scout Plane.

Vengeful Arbor is based on typal destroyed-by-battle searchers like Masked Dragon and Pyramid Turtle. It’s art is Ancient Tree of Enlightenment’s art with the wood colour darkened. To give it a “climate change has gone too far and the trees want revenge” vibe, I changed the eyes to red, and replaced the background with Final Destiny.

Grassland Warrior

① When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the GY: You can Special Summon 1 Beast-Warrior monster with 1500 or less DEF from your Deck.

Unlike the immediately preceding monster Types, Beast-Warrior does not have an existing typal destroyed-by-battle searcher that I could find, so Grassland Warrior is filling that niche without competition. As a Beast-Warrior, I figured making it an EARTH monster was a no-brainer. This time around, I went with a 1500 DEF restriction, and I wanted Grassland Warrior to be as chonky as reasonably possible in the same stat, so I gave it 1500 DEF as well, with lower ATK to counterbalance that. The working name for it that I was considering was Mountain Sentry, as it uses Mountain Warrior’s art as the starting point. However, once I settled on Sogen as the background because it benefits Beast-Warrior monsters, I pivoted to Grassland Warrior, so that its name mirrored Mountain Warrior’s in the same way that Swamp and Lava Battleguard mirror each other.

Grassland Warrior is based on typal destroyed-by-battle searchers like Masked Dragon and Pyramid Turtle. It’s art is Mountain Warrior’s art but horizontally reflected, re-coloured, and with the background replaced by Sogen.

Legendary Samurai of the Wasteland

① When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the GY: You can Special Summon 1 Warrior monster with 1500 or less ATK from your Deck.

As with Machine, Fairy, and Spellcaster monsters, Warrior monsters do already have a destroyed-by-battle searcher. Two, in fact: Warrior Lady of the Wasteland, and Red Sparrow Summoner. However, both have their issues. For Warrior Lady of the Wasteland, she can only Special Summon Earth Warrior monsters, rather than any Warrior monster fitting her ATK restriction. For Red Sparrow Summoner, it’s the fact that it must be destroyed by an opponent’s attacking monster for its effect to activate, as well as the fact that it itself is not even a Warrior monster, but a Spellcaster monster, so it can’t even Special Summon more copies of itself. As such, these flaws leave the Warrior slot in this cycle open for another card.

For Legendary Samurai of the Wasteland, as its name and background nod towards Warrior Lady of the Wasteland, I wanted it to be compatible with her. So, I opted to make him an EARTH monster with 1300 ATK. As a nod towards Marauding Captain, I ended up making him Level 3 as well. Because Warrior is one of the most prolific monster Types, I opted to give Legendary Samurai of the Wasteland the 1500 ATK restriction to avoid it being abused to Special Summon high-ATK beatsticks.

Legendary Samurai of the Wasteland is based on typal destroyed-by-battle searchers like Masked Dragon and Pyramid Turtle. It’s art is Zanki’s art with the colours re-done using samples from Masaki, the Legendary Swordsman, Warrior Lady of the Wasteland, and Marauding Captain, as well as Zanki himself, and the background replaced with Wasteland, re-coloured with colour samples from Warrior Lady of the Wasteland, and the buildings in the background of Warrior Lady of the Wasteland’s art inserted at the horizon in front of the sky.

Assistant Magician

① When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the GY: You can Special Summon 1 Spellcaster monster with 1500 or less ATK from your Deck.

Like Machine and Fairy monsters, Spellcasters do already have a destroyed-by-battle searcher: Apprentice Magician. However, it can only Special Summon Level 2 or lower Spellcaster monsters, and only in face-down Defense Position. (I believe it was meant to synergise with Old Vindictive Magician specifically rather than low-Level Spellcaster monsters, as Old Vindictive Magician was a Level 2 Spellcaster that benefitted from being Special Summoned face-down on account of being a Flip Monster, and both were originally released side-by-side in North America in Magician’s Force as MFC-066 and MFC-067 respectively, and then released worldwide in the TCG in Dark Revelation 1 as DR1-EN121 and DR1-EN122 respectively.) In any case, the restrictions deviate from the rest of the series, leaving the Spellcaster slot open for another card.

With Assistant Magician, I wanted to have it nod towards Apprentice Magician and still work with it, so I made it a Level 2 monster so that it and Apprentice Magician could Special Summon each other. Given that synergy, I figured making it a DARK monster like a lot of the Spellcaster monsters in the Dark Magician series was appropriate, and a small ATK/DEF in the ballpark of Apprentice Magician’s would be appropriate. As Spellcaster is one of the more numerous monster Types, I felt it would be good to have it Special Summon monsters with up to 1500 ATK rather than a DEF-based requirement, so as to limit the number of monsters that could potentially abuse it.

Assistant Magician is based on typal destroyed-by-battle searchers like Masked Dragon and Pyramid Turtle. It’s art is Boo Koo’s art with the colours modified using samples from Apprentice Magician as a starting point, and the background replaced with Dark Magical Circle with its saturation and colouration modified so it doesn’t look so pale and faded.

Machine Soldier

① When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the GY: You can Special Summon 1 Machine monster with 1500 or less ATK from your Deck.

Machine monsters do already have UFOroid available to them. However, it is Level 6, Special Summons its Machine monster in Attack Position, and is a member of the roid archetype, as opposed to the aforementioned official members of this cycle that are all Level 4 or lower (specifically Level 3 or 4), do not dictate the battle position of the Special Summoned monster, and are not members of any archetypes. Therefore, it does not properly fit with the rest of the cycle of battle searchers, and with how much weaker it is in comparison, it would warrant being replaced anyway with a monster that does fit the cycle’s parameters.

For Machine Soldier, being Level 4 with 1500 ATK / 1000 DEF seemed like even, rigid stats that would be fitting for a Machine monster, and in line with their traditional perception of being more offensive than defensive. As UFOroid restricted its options to monsters with up to 1500 ATK, I felt it would be good to keep that constraint for Machine Soldier, so as not to allow Machine monsters with low DEF but high ATK to abuse Machine Soldier in ways that they couldn’t already abuse UFOroid.

Machine Soldier is based on typal destroyed-by-battle searchers like Masked Dragon and Pyramid Turtle. It’s art is Machine Attacker’s art with the colours modified using samples from Launcher Spider and Pendulum Machine as a starting point, and the background replaced with Machine Conversion Factory with its own colouration tweaked a little bit.

Angelic Egg

① When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the GY: You can Special Summon 1 Fairy monster with 1500 or less ATK from your Deck.

Fairy monsters do already have Nova Summoner. However, it is restricted to LIGHT Fairy monsters. It also has a clause for Special Summoning Airknight Parshath if you control The Sanctuary in the Sky. Therefore, it does not properly fit with the rest of the cycle of battle searchers.

Lacking any good reason for Angelic Egg to be Level 4, I made it a Level 3 monster because fairies evoke the sense that they are smaller, so I figured having a lower Level for the Fairy battle searcher would be appropriate. Similarly, there was no logic to its ATK/DEF beyond 1100/1200 being on the smaller end and having a cute vibe to it that fit the monster Type. Since Nova Summoner already searches for LIGHT Fairy monsters with 1500 or less ATK and LIGHT monsters are the most represented amongst Fairy monsters, I figured keeping the 1500 ATK requirement wouldn’t open up searching for too many monsters that couldn’t already abuse Nova Summoner.

Angelic Egg is based on typal destroyed-by-battle searchers like Masked Dragon and Pyramid Turtle. It’s art is Winged Egg Elf’s art with the colours, brightness, and saturation of the wings, egg shell, and interior modified, and the background replaced with The Sanctuary in the Sky.

Tower Golem

① When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the GY: You can Special Summon 1 Rock monster with 1500 or less ATK from your Deck.

As noted earlier, Tower Golem was the first typal battle searcher I designed, due to my frustrations with Giant Rat. In terms of the design decisions, I made it a Level 4 monster so that it could be used with any other Level 4 monster to Ritual Summon a Level 8 Ritual Monster, to synergise with other designs I’m working on. As Barrel Rock was the basis for Tower Golem’s art, and its ATK/DEF is only slightly outside of the existing range of ATK/DEF values, I figured matching Tower Golem’s ATK/DEF to Barrel Rock’s would be fine. For the searching restrictions, I limited it to Rock monsters with up to 1500 ATK so that it could search for any of the Level 4 or lower Rock monsters I was using in the aforementioned Ritual deck, while barring more aggressive Rock monsters from abusing it.

Tower Golem is based on typal destroyed-by-battle searchers like Masked Dragon and Pyramid Turtle. It’s art is Barrel Rock’s art with the guns removed, its body recoloured using a sample from Canyon, and the background replaced with Rock Bombardment.

Details

Development: June 2025 – Present

Format: Goat Format

Made With: GIMP, www.cardmaker.net

Based on: Official typal destroyed-by-battle searchers like Masked Dragon and Pyramid Turtle

Copyright

Yu-Gi-Oh! is the creation of Kazuki Takahashi and the property of Studio Dice / Konami. All copyright for Yu-Gi-Oh! goes to them. My typal destroyed-by-battle searchers are fan cards I designed based on official typal battle searchers like Masked Dragon and Pyramid Turtle, to fill out the rest of the cycle for monster Types that the official cards don’t cover.

All card artworks used in my custom cards’ artworks were sourced from yugipedia.com and edited in GIMP, and as such I do not own them. Their rules text follows a hybrid of the original Japanese cards’ numbered effect formatting, and the Problem-Solving Card Text format used for English-language cards, using the most recent cards as examples. The finished card images were created using www.cardmaker.net.