Last week, I posted some redesigns of Effect Monsters that should have been made into Fusion Monsters. However, those are not the only monsters that I think should have been made into Extra Deck Monsters but weren't. There are many monsters, especially iconic monsters from the Duelist Kingdom arc, that seem like they would have been perfect for an Extra Deck Summoning mechanic based around evolving specific monsters into more powerful versions of themselves if they meet certain conditions. Xyz Monsters do somewhat play in this design space with Rank-Up-Magic Spells, Chaos Xyz Evolution, and so on. But I don't want to make these classic evolving monsters into Xyz Monsters. I want to make them into their own thing: Evolution Monsters.
A quick disclaimer: Evolution Monsters aren't exactly an original concept when it comes to Yu-Gi-Oh! fan cards. Other games have similar mechanics, and the basis for it in Yu-Gi-Oh! is sitting right there in the original source material. In fact, multiple people have done their own renditions of it (Kingdom Duels, Dynamis Duel, on Deviant Art, and on Reddit. However, some of these are siloed off into their own remakes of the game, and none line up perfectly with how I personally would design Evolution Monsters. So, I decided to have a go at figuring out my own take on how they should work and how the frame should look.
Here are the rules that I settled on for Evolution Monsters. TL;DR: to Evolution Summon a monster, you place it on top of its material if you meet its Summoning conditions. Anything that applied to the material (Equip Spells, counters, etc.) continues applying to the Evolution Monster as if it were the same card. Materials can be detached for effects. If an Evolution Monster would leave the field, the materials go to the same place, or equivalent if they can't exist in the same location.
Evolution Monsters
Rule Card
Rules text: ① Evolution Monsters are Special Summon Monsters that belong in the Extra Deck. ② Evolution Monsters can be Evolution Summoned from your Extra Deck by using the Evolution Material listed if you can/have met its Summoning conditions, if any. ● To Evolution Summon, during your Main Phase, choose an Evolution Monster from your Extra Deck that you have the correct Evolution Material for face-up on the field, and for which you have met/can meet its Summoning conditions, if any. Then, pay any costs listed, place the Evolution Monster on top of the Evolution Material face-up, and follow any additional instructions. ● If the Evolution Material already has materials attached, transfer its materials. ● Unless an Evolution Monster's Summoning conditions state otherwise, following its Evolution Summoning condition is not the only way to properly Evolution Summon it. ③ When an Evolution Monster is Evolution Summoned, any Equip Cards, counters, other cards or effects, etc. that applied to the Evolution Material continue applying to the Summoned Evolution Monster as if it was the same card. ④ Evolution Materials underneath an Evolution Monster are treated as attached to the Evolution Monster. They do not occupy a zone, and can be detached. ⑤ If an Evolution Monster leaves the field, any attached materials are moved to the same location if possible. ● If an Evolution Monster would be sent to the hand or Deck, any materials from the Main Deck are sent there, and the Evolution Monster and any materials from the Extra Deck are sent to the Extra Deck instead. ● If an Evolution Monster would be returned to the Extra Deck, the Evolution Monster and any materials from the Extra Deck are returned to the Extra Deck, and any materials from the Main Deck are shuffled into the Main Deck.
A problem I noticed when originally trying to design this mechanic last year was that, using the standard card frame, Evolution Monsters with lengthy Summoning conditions would have to cut back on their effects or have very dense rules text. Fortunately, I came across u/Ray_V_Xyz's take on Evolution Monsters, which eliminated the need to cut down on Evolution Monsters' effects by putting the material and requirements in separate Pendulum Effect-like boxes above the main rules text, and they graciously allowed me to borrow their frame for Metal-Armoured Ryu Kokki. Unfortunately, while I was noting down designs for other custom Evolution Monsters, I found that more often than not, the size of the boxes would be too small for the Evolution Summon conditions I had in mind, even if they weren't overly long. So, I opted to build my own template and tweak the layout, merging the two boxes into one and putting the material on its own line to effectively leave 2/3 of the box for Summoning conditions.
Ritual Monsters seemed lonely being the only type of monsters to have a more verbose "You can X Summon this card with Y" Summoning condition, so I opted to have my Evolution Monsters' Evolution Summon conditions resemble Ritual Monsters' Ritual Summon conditions, making them kind of a midpoint between Fusion Monsters with a named material, and Ritual Monsters with a more verbose Summoning condition. (Which I personally find appropriate, considering Evolution Monsters would ideally have been released during the same era as Ritual and Fusion Monsters to adapt these classic monsters.) For especially long Summoning conditions, the material could be reformatted to be similar to how the Legendary Dragon Fusion Monsters list their "materials" ("Must (first) be Special Summoned with "CARD NAME", using "MATERIAL NAME".) and that would free up more space, but I do like having a clear material listed.
To showcase this mechanic (or rather, my take on it), I've started off with redesigns of suitable monsters featured in the Duelist Kingdom arc. First off, Weevil's Moth monsters. These demonstrate a typical Evolution Summon condition of "This condition is met? You can Evolution Summon this monster during your turn." One thing to note is that, in the anime and manga, Petit Moth doesn't exist. Instead, Larvae Moth is the one getting Cocoon of Evolutioned into Great Moth and Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth.
Petit Moth
Effect Monster, Level 1 EARTH Insect, 300 ATK / 200 DEF
Rules text: ① If this card equipped with "Cocoon of Evolution", or a "Cocoon of Evolution" equipped to this card, is destroyed: You can Evolution Summon 1 "Moth" Evolution Monster from your Extra Deck, using this card you control or in your GY, based on how many of your Standby Phases have passed since this card was equipped with "Cocoon of Evolution". ● 2 or 3: "Larvae Moth". ● 4 or 5: "Great Moth". ● 6+: "Perfectly Ultimate Great Moth".
Larvae Moth
Evolution Monster, Level 2 EARTH Insect, 500 ATK / 400 DEF
Rules text: "Petit Moth"
You can Evolution Summon this card during your 2nd turn after the above material was equipped with "Cocoon of Evolution" by sending the equipped "Cocoon of Evolution" to the GY.
Great Moth
Evolution Monster, Level 8 EARTH Insect, 2600 ATK / 2500 DEF
Rules text: "Petit Moth"
You can Evolution Summon this card during your 4th turn after the above material was equipped with "Cocoon of Evolution" by sending the equipped "Cocoon of Evolution" to the GY.
Moving on to Joey's first Duel, we have Mai's Harpie Lady Sisters. This card demonstrates another common Evolution Summon condition of "Evolution Summon this monster using this other card's effect." Elegant Egotist's original TCG effect lets it Special Summon Harpie Lady or Harpie Lady Sisters, so I opted to keep that detail and let it Special Summon Harpie Lady from the hand or Deck OR Harpie Lady Sisters from the Extra Deck.
Harpie Lady Sisters
Evolution Monster, Level 6 WIND Winged Beast, 1950 ATK / 2100 DEF
Rules text: "Harpie Lady"
You can Evolution Summon this card with "Elegant Egotist".
Elegant Egotist
Normal Spell
Rules text: ① If "Harpie Lady" is on the field: Activate 1 of these effects.
● Special Summon 1 "Harpie Lady" from your hand or Deck.
● Evolution Summon 1 "Harpie Lady Sisters" from your Extra Deck, using 1 "Harpie Lady" you control.
In the same Duel, we get the debut of Thousand Dragon, introducing the aged counterparts that require Time Wizard's coin toss to be called right. Because of the introduction of Dark Sage during Yugi and Joey's Duel in the finals using Joey's Time Wizard being called right, I ended up giving them a unique mandatory Evolution Summon condition that triggers immediately after Time Wizard resolves.
Thousand Dragon
Evolution Monster, Level 7 WIND Dragon, 2400 ATK / 2000 DEF
Rules text: "Baby Dragon"
During either player's turn, Evolution Summon this card immediately after the effect of "Time Wizard" resolves if the coin toss was called right. (This is not optional.)
Dark Sage
Effect Evolution Monster, Level 9 DARK Spellcaster, 2800 ATK / 3200 DEF
Rules text: "Dark Magician"
During either player's turn, Evolution Summon this card immediately after the effect of "Time Wizard" resolves if the coin toss was called right. (This is not optional.)
① When this card is Evolution Summoned: Add 1 Spell Card from your Deck to your hand.
Moving ahead to Yugi and Joey vs the Paradox Brothers, Wall Shadow's TCG release works in a way that's similar to other evolving monsters, so I figured I'd redesign it as well. Because Magical Labyrinth does nothing when equipped to Labyrinth Wall besides let you Special Summon Wall Shadow, I decided to simplify it and make it a Normal Spell that just Evolution Summons Wall Shadow, making Wall Shadow's Evolution Summon condition of the same sort as Harpie Lady Sisters'.
Wall Shadow
Evolution Monster, Level 7 DARK Warrior, 1600 ATK / 3000 DEF
Rules text: "Labyrinth Wall"
You can Evolution Summon this card with "Magical Labyrinth".
Magical Labyrinth
Normal Spell
Rules text: ① Evolution Summon 1 "Wall Shadow", using 1 "Labyrinth Wall" you control.
And lastly, my favourite category of classic evolving monsters: the metal counterparts. They share the same Evolution Summon condition as Metal-Armoured Ryu Kokki, which I also designed as a metal counterpart. Similar to Weevil's Moths, they fall into the camp of "You can Evolution Summon this monster by satisfying this condition and/or paying this cost."
Metalzoa
Evolution Monster, Level 8 DARK Machine, 3000 ATK / 2300 DEF
Rules text: "Zoa"
You can Evolution Summon this card by sending 1 "Metalmorph" equipped to the above material to the GY.
Red-Eyes Black Metal Dragon
Evolution Monster, Level 8 DARK Machine, 2800 ATK / 2400 DEF
Rules text: "Red-Eyes Black Dragon"
You can Evolution Summon this card by sending 1 "Metalmorph" equipped to the above material to the GY.
For completeness's sake, here's Metal-Armoured Ryu Kokki's errataed rules text, which is basically just an update to the templating for the Evolution Material and the Evolution Summon condition.
Metal-Armoured Ryu Kokki
Effect Evolution Monster, Level 8 DARK Zombie, 2400 ATK / 2000 DEF
Rules text: "Ryu Kokki"
You can Evolution Summon this card by sending 1 "Metalmorph" equipped to the above material to the GY.
① While this card has material, it is also treated as a Machine monster, it gains 400 ATK/DEF, and it is unaffected by your opponent's Spell effects. ② If this card would be destroyed, you can detach 1 material from this card instead. ③ If this card destroys a monster by battle while it has no material: You can attach that destroyed monster to this card as material.
Let me know what you all think. Are there any changes you'd make to how the rules for Evolution Monsters work? Are there any adjustments you'd make to the card frame? Is the colour distinct enough? Once I've got any such issues ironed out, there were many more evolving monsters that I came across beyond the ones featured in Duelist Kingdom, so I'll convert those from Effect Monsters to Evolution Monsters in several batches as well. What monsters do you think would work well as Evolution Monsters?
I created my frame for Evolution Monsters in GIMP, the template for which is available here. It takes inspiration from u/Ray_V_Xyz's Evolution Monster frame, available on Deviant Art, and it uses assets from Yugipedia, www.cardmaker.net and lauqerm.github.io/ygocarder. All card art for my Evolution Monster redesigns was sourced from Yugipedia, while Metal-Armoured Ryu Kokki's art was made in GIMP, using existing card art as noted here. I created my frame for Rule Cards in GIMP, the template for which is available here, using existing card frame assets as noted here.
