Battle of Legends: Monster Mayhem is right around the corner. With its release scheduled for June 12th, Konami has started to show some of the support that the reprints from this set provide.
New P.U.N.K. Cards
Noh-P.U.N.K. Rising Scale
Originally released back in 2024 in the Official Card Game (OCG), Noh-P.U.N.K. Rising Scale adds a powerful extender to the P.U.N.K. archetype.
Once a player starts their combo and seeds the graveyard with another P.U.N.K. card, it’s off to the races.
The moment this card hits the board, it can further extend into another P.U.N.K. monster by adding a non-Level 8 main deck monster to the hand. Given how most of the P.U.N.K. roster is lower than that, a player is spoiled for choice.
This effect is an invitation to be hit by staple hand traps, such as Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring or Droll & Lock Bird, though.
With the right sequencing, however, it can be avoided. At the very least, a skillful player can still break through that point of interaction.
Noh-P.U.N.K. Rising Scale can easily transition into either of the current P.U.N.K. extra deck monsters with the help of the archetype’s tuner monsters (Noh-P.U.N.K. Ze Amin or Gagaku-P.U.N.K. Wa Gon) or P.U.N.K.’s walking fusion spell, Ukiyoe-P.U.N.K. Sharakusai.
Aside from functioning as extra copies of Emergency Teleport, Noh-P.U.N.K. Rising Scale can also be left on the field as a pseudo-Book of Moon.
Rising Scale’s 2nd effect may have a narrow targeting range, but being able to stop a monster effect on the field while bypassing targeting protection is a pretty good deal with how easy this monster is to summon.
P.U.N.K. JAM FEVER!
This XYZ monster card shores up one of P.U.N.K.’s most glaring issues. For an archetype that’s capable of special summoning a large number of bodies to the field, it’s highly susceptible to Nibiru, the Primal Being.
P.U.N.K. JAM FEVER! is not just an anti-Nibiru tool; it can functionally be used against a lot of hand traps that pervade Yu-Gi-Oh!
Given how P.U.N.K. JAM FEVER! can be summoned with just a single in-archetype synchro or fusion monster, however, getting this card out by the fourth summon to shield the rest of the combo may take priority for the sequencing.
If you’re really in a pinch, you could also make use of P.U.N.K. JAM FEVER!’s ability to draw a card.
Admittedly, it’s not the most efficient use of its capabilities, as the archetype already has several ways to draw cards, but having the option and not needing it just adds to Jam Fever's overall value.
More Orcust Support
Galatea-i, the Orcust Automaton
This Link-1 monster card is the combo starter that the Orcust archetype sorely needed.
Orcust may have retrieved Orcust Harp Horror from the Forbidden/Limited list, but aside from Girsu, the Orcust Mekk-Knight, the archetype itself has little in the way of seeding the graveyard with its monsters.
Enter Galatea-i, the Orcust Automaton. This Link monster enhances Orcust’s capability of playing through the initial barrage of hand traps.
Throwing whatever Orcust starter monster that was used into the graveyard not only widens the starting options but gives more breathing room for reprisals.
Depending on how things play out, Galatea-i, the Orcust Automaton can either transition into Orcustrated Babel for the speed modifier or into World Legacy - "World Crown".
Regardless of what’s chosen, though, Galatea-i offers another chance to seed the graveyard with more Orcust cards with its search effect.
If World Crown is the chosen target for Galatea-i’s search, then the controlling player can link climb into the original Galatea, the Orcust Automaton.
This line of play opens a path to Dingirsu, the Orcust of the Evening Star as Galatea-i, the Orcust Automaton cannot be used as a target for Dingirsu’s alternative summoning.
More importantly, this combo keeps Orcust cards in rotation for another round of graveyard effects the controlling player needs.
Enlilgirsu, the Orcust Mekk-Knight
Speaking of rotation, Enlilgirsu, the Orcust Mekk-Knight can offer just that.
Not only can Enlilgirsu bring back a banished Orcust card (not just monsters), but it can also be used to take control of an opponent’s monster if a card is shuffled back into the deck.
This effect is a little costly, but denying a valuable interaction point for board breaking might be worth it.
With some finagling, a player could use I:P Masquerena as a method to send Enlilgirsu into the graveyard to become a non-targeting field removal.
It goes without saying that Enlilgirsu’s capabilities become more flexible if Orcustrated Babel is already on the field.
Enlilgirsu, the Orcust Mekk-Knight won't be anything game-breaking, but a nice bit of tech is always welcome in any archetype that needs it to keep up with modern game conventions.
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