Bread and Butter

[WhiteThunder777]

What is Bread and Butter (BnB)? Simple, it's the very way your archetype in question works.  How all your mechanic of your archetype works.  For example, Invoked's BnB is NS Aliester, search invocation, and then end on Mechaba. Mekk-Knight's BnB is about going 2nd column interaction and moving around them.  This is why you see Invoked Mekk-Knight, because they both can cover each other going 1st and 2nd.  

Now why is this useful - because if you know the number of ways your archetype can work, you can determine the number of BnBs inside them. Going back to the example of the Invoked engine, we see that it ONLY has 1 BnB.  If you can negate the Normal Summon of Aliester the Invoker, it'll end on a very weak monster that can be destroyed by battle.  The more BnBs your archetype can do, the more it can play around hand traps staples like Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring, Effect Veiler, etc.

Union monsters are about equipping/unequipping them to fulfill a dual purpose.  Taking it to new heights would re-energize the mechanic.  

[WhiteThunder777]

However, here are the following tips, if your archetype has multiple BnB combos, there is a chance that the archetype is non-linear.  Why is this? Let's look at Invoked first.  

When you use a hand trap on Aliester the Invoker, you end up on a very weak monster.  This means that the choke point of the Invoked engine is Aliester the Invoker himself. Remember what was aforementioned with Aliester the Invoker searching Invocation into Mechaba - when Aliester the Invoker is negated, it ends on a very weak board.  A monster that can be run over by anything with more ATK than 1800 DEF by battle.  This is why you see Invoked Mekk-Knight because both cover going 1st (Invoked) and 2nd (Mekk-Knight).  Linear archetypes have very specific chokepoints you must cripple.  Cripple these points and the opponent will be forced to end their turn.

A non-linear archetype has multiple BnBs that can adapt on the fly.  Even if 1 path is negated the archetype can still adapt.  They have multiple paths that they can take.  

 

[WhiteThunder777]

Kashtira is an archetype of Level Psychic monsters that are linear in nature because their end goal is to literally zone lock the opponent. But at the same time, their strategy has caused them to be problematic to the opponent because banishing cards face-down is very frustrating for the opponent. In the TCG, Arise-Heart was banned, and in the 2025 yugioh OCG, Fenrir is banned, Unicorn and tearalament Kashtira is limited.

[WhiteThunder777]

Here's another thing - these parts together foreshadow one thing: the types of effects that should be avoided when making yugioh custom cards. This is because it frustrates the opponent.

1. Effects that deny an aspect of the game (Monster, Spell, Trap) cards.

2. Effects that prevent Normal or Special Summon (Rhongo bongo was banned because of that).

3. Effects that lock the opponent's zones (remember Kashtira) in the last example.

4. Effect negation: This should be used sparingly or not at all. The more negates you have, the more the opponent wants to use Dark Ruler No More against your board so they can play.

5. Copying the effects of banned/limited cards: If a card is banned/limited, it should not be copied because the card can break the game.

6. Making the TCG/OCG meta into your custom card archetype and copying it: This shows that the one doing this does not have creativity.  After all, making yugioh custom cards should be about expression.  Elevate your custom cards to greater heights.

Edited 14 hours ago by WhiteThunder777

[WhiteThunder777]

Design space refers to the possibilities that your archetype can do. Think about it, remember the first part when Union monsters were aforementioned in the first part? They were left unexplored, as Unions used to be part of ABC strategy whose BnB was to banish A - Assault Core, B - Buster Drake, and C - Crush Wyvern from the GY to contact fuse into ABC-Dragon Buster, that was very good in the good old days. Now they have the Therion engine where they have put it Regulus as the endboard piece.

But the problem is ... the design space for this was very limited.  The Therion engine has made ABCs forget what made Unions so special - the ability to equip and unequip.  This shows a cautionary tale of what happens when you optimize an archetype for the ever evolving yugioh TCG/OCG meta it limits the design space to be so small.