Rubic

Yu-Gi-Oh! Archetype

Yu-Gi-Oh! Yu-Gi-Oh! Archetypes undefined

Rubic

An archetype of DARK Cyberse Monsters, harnessing Synchro, Xyz, Link Summoning and revolving around moving cards on the field, inspired by trigonometry^↗ and Rubik’s cubes^↗.

Cards

type	count
Tuner	x3
Ritual	x1
Synchro	x4
Xyz	x3
Link	x6
Spell	x8
Trap	x9

Monsters

Main Deck

card	Level	ATK/DEF	Type
Rubic Angular	3 ★★★	900 / 0
Rubic Axis	3 ★★★	0 / 900
Rubic Sine	3 ★★★	600 / 300	Tuner
Rubic Cosine	3 ★★★	300 / 600	Tuner
Rubic Secant	6 ★★★★★★	900 / 1800
Rubic Cosecant	6 ★★★★★★	1800 / 900
Rubic Driangle	9 ★★★★★★★★★	3000 / 1800	Ritual
Rubic Token	3 ★★★	300 / 0	Token

Extra Deck

card	Level/Rank/Link	ATK/DEF	Type	Material
Rubic Versine	6 ★★★★★★	2400 / 1800	Synchro	1 ‘Rubic’ Tuner + 1 ‘Rubic’ non-Tuner Monster
Rubic Vercosine	6 ★★★★★★	1800 / 2400	Synchro Tuner	1 ‘Rubic’ Tuner + 1 ‘Rubic’ non-Tuner Monster
Rubic Haversine	9 ★★★★★★★★★	3000 / 2400	Synchro	1+ ‘Rubic’ Tuners + 1+ ‘Rubic’ non-Tuner Monsters
Rubic Arcsine	12 ★★★★★★★★★★★★	3600 / 2700	Synchro	1+ ‘Rubic’ Tuners + 1+ ‘Rubic’ non-Tuner Monsters
Rubic Exsecant	3 ★★★	2100 / 1500	Xyz	2+ Level 3 ‘Rubic’ Monsters
Rubic Excosecant	6 ★★★★★★	2700 / 2100	Xyz	2+ Level 6 ‘Rubic’ Monsters
Rubic Arcsecant	9 ★★★★★★★★★	3300 / 2700	Xyz	2+ Level 9 ‘Rubic’ Monsters
Rubic Radian	Link-1	1000	Link	1 ‘Rubic’ Monster
Rubic Diagonal	Link-2	2000	Link	2 ‘Rubic’ Monsters
Rubic Perpendicular	Link-2	2000	Link	2 ‘Rubic’ Monsters
Rubic Vertex	Link-3	3000	Link	2 ‘Rubic’ Monsters
Rubic Quadrangle	Link-4	4000	Link	2 ‘Rubic’ Monsters
Rubic Hexangle	Link-6	600	Link	3 ‘Rubic’ Monsters

Spells

display

card	property
Rubic Plane	✦ Field
Rubic Algorithm
Rubic Permutation
Rubic Solution
Rubic Function	⚡︎ Quick
Rubic Construction	∞ Continuous
Rubic Slice	+ Equip
Rubic Dragonometry	⟡ Ritual

Traps

display

card	property
Rubic Scramble
Rubic Execution
Rubic Rotation
Rubic Megaminx
Rubic Reset
Rubic Revenge
Rubic Destruction	∞ Continuous
Rubic Inverse	↵ Counter
Rubic Transverse	↵ Counter

Overview

The different classes of Monsters within the archetype each serve different purposes. This is especially apparent in the Extra Deck Monsters, where each type has a speciality – Synchro Monsters break the board and attack for kill, Xyz Monsters control the board and move cards, Link Monsters search cards and spawn Tokens.

Level 3 non-Tuners

These are the best Normal Summon choices, sharing the following effects:

If this card is Normal or Special Summoned: You can Special Summon {…}.

You can banish this card from your field or Graveyard; {…}.

On Summon, Angular Summons any Lv3 Rubic Monster (ideally Axis), while Axis spawns a Rubic Token to each field, both quickly swarming Material. They can be tuned with Lv3 Tuners for Lv6 Synchros, or overlayed for Rank 3 Xyzs. Once in the Grave, they can banish themselves for extra advantage – Angular can bury any Rubic Monster straight from the Deck, giving a free search, and Axis can recover any banished Rubic Monster (including itself if helpful).

Monster	Angular	Axis
card
summon	Summon a Lv3 Rubic Monster from hand or Grave	Summon a Rubic Token to each field
banish	bury a Rubic Monster from deck	add a banished Rubic Monster to hand

Level 3 Tuners

These are central to the archetype, sharing the following effects:

You can target 1 card on the field; move it to an appropriate adjacent zone, and if you do, Special Summon this card from your hand or Graveyard.

If this card is banished: You can add 1 {…} from your Deck to your hand.

Instead of generating advantage when Summoned, they must be banished to do so – and this can be achieved through the Level 6 non-Tuners.

Monster	Sine	Cosine
card
search	non-Tuner Monster	non-Normal Spell/Trap

Level 6 non-Tuners

These are very helpful in accessing the higher Level Synchro Monsters and higher Rank Xyz Monsters, while providing some offensive and consistency.

They can Summon themselves by banishing any other available card, which while costly early game, quickly becomes easily accessible as more cards enter circulation. Banishing a Rubic card gives them a bonus effect on resolution, which can help to neutralise problematic threats.

You can banish 1 other card from your hand, field or Graveyard; Special Summon this card from your hand or Graveyard, then if you banished a ‘Rubic’ card, you can {…} 1 card on the field {…}.

Moving them triggers their effect to bury a Rubic card. Secant searches another Monster, while Cosecant buries a Trap, which can be recovered or banished for its effect.

If this card moves to another zone: You can send 1 ‘Rubic’ {…} from your Deck to the Graveyard.

Monster	Secant	Cosecant
card
summon	negate the effects of a card on the field for a turn	flip a card on the field facedown
move	bury a Monster from deck	bury a Trap from deck

Ritual

The Ritual aspect of the archetype is really an afterthought, but provides surprising value.

The Ritual Spell Dragonometry can easily be searched by Rubic Diagonal if needed, and can Summon the Ritual Monster Driangle from anywhere, with requirements that are relatively easy to fulfill. Usually your field and Grave are a given, but the hand is often depleted, in which case the opponent’s field provides the third location (with a Rubic Token Summoned there).

Rubic Driangle is a highly threatening addition to any endboard, with a non-targeting banish and dangerous floating effect. Notably, it can move the Summoned Monster to any adjacent zone, making protecting it through occupying adjacent zones much harder. Its floating effect is also difficult to avoid (especially since Rituals can be returned to the hand), and dropping a surprise Angle Link Monster can be devastating for the opponent.

card	Driangle	Dragonometry
card

Synchro Monsters

The primary aces of the archetype, able to use multiple Tuners and/or non-Tuners as Material.

Several pairs of Monsters have similarities:

Versine and Vercosine generate advantage upon being Summoned.
Versine and Haversine have a once-per-chain non-targeting removal effect. As such, they usually make strong endboard constituents.
Haversine and Arcsine gain immunity if Accel Synchro Summoned, and can triple the battle damage they inflict.

Monster	Versine	Vercosine	Haversine	Arcsine
card

Xyz Monsters

The Xyzs feature a diverse set of powerful effects, including negates and removal.

Exsecant is superb support, easily generating huge advantage. Its effect can be used to trigger the effects of other cards during the opponent’s turn, or move itself to search a Monster. It is only that useful in certain situations though, since Summoning it will often remove Tuners that could be used for Synchro Summons.

If its Material is depleted, it can turn into a strong form of interruption through Excosecant, which can either inherently rank up on top of Exsecant or overlay Level 6 Monsters (Lv6 non-Tuners or Lv6 Synchros). This is the only Monster in the archetype with quick effect speed negation. With 2 Materials, it can negate and banish a card just by itself.

Arcsecant is the final Xyz evolution, and an incredibly versatile boss Monster. It protects all Rubic cards from destruction, can replenish its Material through non-targeting non-destructive removal, and has a negate that bypasses negate protections (by replacing the effect instead of negating it at all).

Monster	Exsecant	Excosecant	Arcsecant
card

All of the Xyz Monsters can be normally Xyz Summoned, though this is difficult (and unviable) with Arcsecant (since Lv9 Monsters are powerful enough already). Excosecant can inherently rank up over Exsecant, but does not transfer Materials, unlike usual rank-ups. The best way to bring out the higher Rank Xyzs is through Function, which functions (hah) as both a quick rank-up and link-up spell. It can rank up any Cyberse Xyz Monster into a Rubic Xyz Monster up to 3 Ranks higher, or a Rubic Link Monster into one up to 2 Link Ratings higher. While it lacks recursability, it is easily searchable with Algorithm or Cosine, and even gives the ranked up Xyz Monster an extra Material.

Link Monsters

The archetype very much requires link climbing – almost all of the Link Monsters require exactly 2 Rubic Monsters as Material. Those with lower Link Ratings act as excellent support, especially in spawning Rubic Tokens. Most share a trigger effect when Link Summoned to generate advantage, and a trigger effect to spawn Tokens when a card is placed in a zone they link to.

Monster	Radian	Perpendicular	Diagonal	Vertex
card
summon / continuous	bury Algorithm or Scramble	Set 1 Spell/Trap from Grave	searched Dragonometry + recover banished ‘Angle’ Monster	targeting protection to self and Monsters it links to
trigger / ignition	attach as Xyz Material	move 1 of each player’s Monsters and boost your Monster’s ATK by half of the opponent’s	spawns 2 Tokens	spawns 3 Tokens

The higher Link Rating Monsters are quite unique, acting as terrifying lone aces. Quadrangle is a prime option for the first turn if little is accessible – either through link climbing or Function – with stellar protection against Monsters and a slew of powerful effects. Hexangle takes this even further, with immunity from xenotive activated effects, and an ability to steal opponent’s Monsters which can quickly snowball if undealt with. However, its immunity and ATK are volatile, and so it requires careful planning and execution to keep protected.

Monster	Quadrangle	Hexangle
card

Algorithm & Scramble

The drivers of the archetype, both of which can be searched by Radian, and can recover themselves if a card on the field moves. They lock the player into activating only the effects of Rubic Monsters that turn.

Algorithm is the core of the archetype, comparable to Sky Striker Mobilize - Engage!^↗ or Meteonis Drytron, and once in circulation reliably provides a search and move each turn, not to mention recovering a banished Rubic card – though if there is a lack of them, looping it back each turn may prove difficult. This card gives the archetype its consistency (in searching exactly the card needed), versatility (in searching any card needed), and most importantly, longevity, continually searching and recovering cards no matter what the opponent does to them.

Scramble, while inconspicuous at first, can become immensely powerful in conjunction with other cards. Moving Rubic Monsters triggers many of their effects, both beneficial and disruptive. Moving the opponent’s cards can disrupt Link swarm strategies, and trigger the disruptive effects of the Rubic Xyz Monsters. If Plane is active, Scramble can even provide protection to Rubic cards. And unlike Algorithm, Scramble can be used during both player’s turns, giving fast effect movement every turn.

	Algorithm	Scramble
card
activated	move a card to search a Rubic card	move up to 3 cards
trigger	return a banished Rubic card to recover itself	reset itself

Spell Support

All of the Spells provide consistency and support. The archetypal Field Spell Plane helps in small ways that make constructing boards easier and facilitate disruption. Permutation is almost as powerful a consistency tool as Algorithm. Solution is the archetypal revival Spell, although requires Link Monsters to work. Slice is a welcome addition for SAKs, and even has recursability.

Spell	Plane	Permutation	Solution	Slice
card

Trap Interruption

With such an efficient and consistent but xenophobic engine, the archetype has plenty of powerful Traps (although none that activate from the hand) to provide disruption.

Execution is likely the most devastating, able to banish several Monsters with a developed board, although often cannot find its targets due to them being blocked from moving. Rotation is a unique removal option, ideally swapping a spare Rubic Token on our field. Reset can work wonders if dropped correctly, resetting the board exactly how we like, while ripping Materials from the opponent’s Xyz Monsters – we can protect our own Xyz Monster by setting that as the one target that isn’t banished. There are even 2 Counter Traps, Inverse being a generic negate and Transverse being a poly-negate, although the latter requires more specific setup. Transverse’s extra effect in the Grave is not to be underestimated either, often surprising the opponent if they have placed their Monsters uncarefully.

Trap	Execution	Rotation	Megaminx
card

Trap	Reset	Revenge	Inverse	Transverse
card

Tokens

Many cards Summon Rubic Tokens, and to either player’s field too. Just like construction lines in geometry, these Tokens are pivotal to the archetype’s strategy.

Since all of the Extra Deck Monsters only require archetypal Material, Rubic Tokens are perfectly fine to use as Material for their Special Summons. They can be tuned with Lv3 Tuners for Lv6 Synchro Monsters, or more oftenly, used as Link Material for link climbing.

Those Summoned to the opponent’s field are indeed free Tributes or Material (and as DARK Cyberse Monsters, they are highly synchronous with generic Extra Deck staples) but only if the opponent can make use of them – otherwise, an overflow of Tokens can clog their board and slow down combos. With only 300 ATK, they’re unexpected holes in the fortress, perfectly awaiting an attack from Haversine or Arcsine for critical damage.

Strategy

The archetype is highly versative and consistent, able to create a powerful endboard with even the sparsest of hands, or play through disruption and SAK (Single-Attack-Kill) with relative ease. It has strong interactions with the Grave; most of the Main Deck Monsters can Summon themselves from both the hand or Grave, and several Spells and Traps have Grave effects, by either resetting or banishing themselves, giving the archetype significant comeback potency.

Main Deck

The 6 Main Deck Monsters (excluding Driangle) synergise really well together. The Level 6 non-Tuners can banish the Level 3 Tuners, while the Level 3 Tuners can move the Level 6 Tuners, each triggering the other’s effects to gain advantage. The banished Tuners can then be retrieved with Algorithm or Axis. Angular and Secant grant even more consistency, by searching other Monsters.

Formations

The ideal turn one endboard consists of 1 Monster of each Summoning technique, and as many Traps as can possibly be obtained.

card	evolution	notes
Arcsecant / Excosecant	(Exsecant ›) Excosecant › Arcsecant overlay Lv6 non-Tuners (› Function)	dynamic negate and removal
Driangle	Diagonal › Dragonometry	problematic removal and floating effects
Haversine / Versine	Vercosine + Token or Lv3 non-Tuner Versine + Lv3 Tuner	interruptive removal triggered by Traps
Vertex	link climb	targeting protection
Execution	Set by Versine	insane removal
Scramble	searched by Radian / Versine	triggers effects

If going second, a Single-Attack-Kill (SAK) can easily be achieved through attacking with Haversine or Arcsine into a Rubic Token.

Tech Picks

Foolish Exile can banish a Lv3 Tuner to trigger their effect and easily search a card, while also sending them into circulation.
Foolish Burial Trade works nicely too, recovering banished Extra Deck Monsters and recycling Spell/Traps.
Final Vanquish works well, since the archetype utilises every Summoning technique except Fusion.
- The banished Monster can then be retrieved by Axis if needed.
Awakening the Drakon can be highly effective at dropping a surprise Angle Link Monster on the opponent.

Weaknesses

Since several of the archetype’s effects involve moving cards to appropriate adjacent zones, with clever planning and management this can be overcome by the opponent, by placing valuable cards where they cannot be moved – alternatively, spamming cards and blocking every zone entirely works too. As such, the deck also suffers from overextending itself, since having too many cards on the field restricts movement.

Deck

Last updated: June 2023

Tips

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Hover over a card to view its card text.

Notes

The cards are ordered in a logical order rather than by properties.
The number of copies are not exact – they only indicate a card’s place within the deck.
The staples provided are not exhaustive – they are only those that synergise especially well with the deck.

display

Main Deck

❶ If this card is Normal or Special Summoned: You can Special Summon 1 Level 3 ‘Rubic’ Monster from your hand or Graveyard. ❷ You can banish this card from your hand or Graveyard; send 1 ‘Rubic’ monster from your Deck to the Graveyard. You can only use each effect of ‘Rubic Angular’ once per turn.

❶ If this card is Normal or Special Summoned: You can Special Summon 1 ‘Rubic Token’ (Cyberse/DARK/Level 3/ATK 300/DEF 0) to each player’s field in the same column. ❷ You can banish this card from your hand or Graveyard, then target 1 of your banished ‘Rubic’ Monsters; add it to your hand. You can only use each effect of ‘Rubic Axis’ once per turn.

❶ You can target 1 card on the field; move it to an appropriate adjacent Zone, and if you do, Special Summon this card from your hand or Graveyard. ❷ If this card is banished: You can add 1 ‘Rubic’ non-Tuner Monster from your Deck to your hand. You can only use each effect of ‘Rubic Sine’ once per turn.

❶ You can banish 1 other card from your hand, field or Graveyard; Special Summon this card from your hand or Graveyard, then if you banished a ‘Rubic’ card, you can negate the effects of 1 card on the field. ❷ If this card moves to another Zone: You can send 1 ‘Rubic’ Monster from your Deck to the Graveyard. You can only use each effect of ‘Rubic Secant’ once per turn.

You can Ritual Summon this card with ‘Rubic Dragonometry’. ❶ If your opponent Special Summons a Monster: You can target that Monster; move it any adjacent Zone, and if you do, banish it, then you can increase the ATK of 1 ‘Rubic’ Monster you control by that Monster’s original ATK, until the end of this turn. ❷ If this Ritual Summoned card leaves the field by an opponent's card: You can Special Summon 1 ‘Angle’ ‘Rubic’ Link Monster from your Extra Deck. You can only use each effect of ‘Rubic Driangle’ once per turn.

❶ ‘Rubic’ cards you control are unaffected by your opponent’s card effects that targeted them while they were in a different Zone. ❷ If a Monster is Special Summoned: You can move 1 card you control to an appropriate adjacent Zone. ❷ If a Spell card or effect is activated: You can Special Summon 1 ‘Rubic Token’ (Cyberse/DARK/Level 3/ATK 300/DEF 0) to either player’s field. You can only use each effect of ‘Rubic Plane’ once per turn.

❶ Move 1 other ‘Rubic’ card on the field to an appropriate adjacent Zone, then Special Summon 1 ‘Rubic’ Monster from your Deck, with a different name than the Monsters you control. ❷ If this card is banished: You can move 1 card on the field to an appropriate adjacent Zone. You can only activate ‘Rubic Permutation’ once per turn.

❶ Target 1 ‘Rubic’ Monster in your Graveyard; Special Summon it to your linked Zone, then you can move it to an appropriate adjacent Zone. ❷ You can banish this card and 1 other ‘Rubic’ card from your Graveyard, then target 1 of your banished ‘Rubic’ Spell/Traps; add it to your hand. You can only use an effect of ‘Rubic Solution’ once per turn.

Activate 1 of the following effects.
❶ Target 1 Cyberse Xyz Monster you control; Special Summon from your Extra Deck, 1 ‘Rubic’ Xyz Monster that is up to 3 Ranks higher, by using that target as Material, then attach this card to the Summoned Monster as additional Material. (This is treated as an Xyz Summon. Transfer Materials.)
❷ Target 1 Cyberse Link Monster you control; Special Summon from your Extra Deck, 1 ‘Rubic’ Link Monster that is up to 2 Link Ratings higher, by using that target as Material. (This is treated as a Link Summon.)
You can only activate each effect of ‘Rubic Function’ once per turn.

❶ Once per Chain, if a ‘Rubic’ Spell/Trap you control moves to another Zone: You can Special Summon 1 ‘Rubic Token’ (Cyberse/DARK/Level 3/ATK 300/DEF 0) to either player’s field. ❷ If this card is banished: You can place your banished ‘Rubic Destruction’ face-up in your Spell/Trap Zone. You can only use this effect of ‘Rubic Construction’ once per turn.

Equip only to a ‘Rubic’ Monster. ❶ If it attacks, inflict piercing battle damage, also your opponent cannot activate cards or effects until the end of the Damage Step. ❷ If this card is banished: You can target 1 ‘Rubic’ Monster you control; equip this card to that target, then you can move it to another Main Monster Zone.

❶ This card can be used to Ritual Summon any ‘Rubic’ Ritual Monster from your hand, Deck or Graveyard. You must also banish 3 ‘Rubic’ Monsters from your hand, field, Graveyard and/or your opponent’s field (but no more than 1 from each), whose total Levels equal 9 or a higher multiple of 3. ❷ If you have not used an effect of ‘Rubic Dragonometry’ this turn: You can target 1 of your banished ‘Rubic’ cards; shuffle this card from your Graveyard into the Deck, and if you do, add that card to your hand.

Activate only as Chain Link 3 or higher. ❶ Target cards on the field, up to the number of ‘Rubic’ Ritual/Synchro/Xyz/Link Monsters you control; move them to appropriate adjacent Zones, and if you do, banish them. ❷ If a ‘Rubic’ card you control would leave the field by card effect, you can banish this card from your Graveyard instead. You can only activate ‘Rubic Execution’ once per turn.

❶ Target 1 ‘Rubic’ Monster you control and 1 Monster your opponent controls; switch control of those targets. ❷ You can banish this card from your Graveyard, then target 1 Monster on the field; until the end of this turn, swap its ATK/DEF, or if it is a ‘Rubic’ Monster, increase its ATK by its DEF instead. You can only use each effect of ‘Rubic Rotation’ once per turn.

❶ Move 1 other card on the field to an appropriate adjacent Zone, then Special Summon this card as a Normal Monster (Cyberse/DARK/Level 9/ATK 2400/DEF 3000). ❷ You can banish this card and 3 ‘Rubic’ Monsters (1 Synchro, 1 Xyz, 1 Link) from your field and/or Graveyard; Special Summon 1 ‘Rubic’ ‘Angle’ Link Monster from your Extra Deck.

❶ Target 1 ‘Rubic’ Monster you control; banish as many other Monsters on the field as possible, then Special Summon as many of those banished Monsters as possible to their owners’ fields. ❷ If this card is banished: You can target 1 of your banished ‘Rubic’ Spell/Traps; Set it to your field. You can only use each effect of ‘Rubic Reset’ once per turn.

❶ If a ‘Rubic’ Monster you control leaves the field by an opponent's card: Banish as many Monsters on the field as possible, also after that, Special Summon a number of your banished ‘Rubic’ Monsters, but negate their effects, then immediately after this effect resolves, Special Summon 1 ‘Rubic’ Monster from your Extra Deck, by using only those Monsters as Material. You can only activate ‘Rubic Revenge’ once per turn.

❶ Once per Chain, if a ‘Rubic’ Spell/Trap you control moves to another Zone: You can target 1 card on the field; move it to any adjacent Zone, and if you do, destroy it. ❷ If this card is banished: You can place your banished ‘Rubic Construction’ face-up in your Spell/Trap Zone. You can only use this effect of ‘Rubic Destruction’ once per turn.

Activate only as Chain Link 3 or higher. ❶ Move 1 ‘Rubic’ Monster you control to a Main Monster Zone another ‘Rubic’ Link Monster you control links to, and if you do, negate the activations of your opponent’s cards and effects activated before this card in this Chain. ❷ You can banish this card from your Graveyard; attach to a ‘Rubic’ Xyz Monster(s) you control as Material, up to 3 Monsters on the field that ‘Rubic’ Link Monsters link to.

Shuffle up to 2 of your banished cards with different types (Monster/Spell/Trap) into the Deck, then send that many cars of the same type(s) from your Deck to the Graveyard. You can only activate ‘Foolish Burial Trade’ once per turn.

If this Set card in its owner’s control leaves the field by an opponent’s card, and is now banished or in the Graveyard: You can Special Summon 1 monster from your Extra Deck or Graveyard.

Extra Deck

1 ‘Rubic’ Tuner + 1 ‘Rubic’ non-Tuner Monster
❶ If this card is Special Summoned: You can Set 1 ‘Rubic’ Trap from your Deck. You can only use this effect of ‘Rubic Versine’ once per turn. ❷ Once per Chain, if this card moves to another Zone: You can target 1 card on the field; move it to an appropriate adjacent Zone, and if you do, destroy it.

1 ‘Rubic’ Tuner + 1 ‘Rubic’ non-Tuner Monster
❶ If this card is Special Summoned: You can target 1 Level 6 or lower ‘Rubic’ Monster in your Graveyard; Special Summon it. You can only use this effect of ‘Rubic Vercosine’ once per turn. ❷ Once per Chain, if this card moves to another Zone: You can Set 1 ‘Rubic’ Trap from your Graveyard.

1+ ‘Rubic’ Tuners + 1+ ‘Rubic’ non-Tuner Monsters
❶ If this card was Synchro Summoned using a Synchro Monster as Material, it is unaffected by other Monsters’ effects, except those of ‘Rubic’ Monsters. ❷ If this card battles a Monster in the same column as another ‘Rubic’ card you control, triple any battle damage inflicted to your opponent. ❸ Once per Chain, if this card moves to another Zone: You can target 1 card on the field; move it to an appropriate adjacent Zone, and if you do, banish it.

2+ Level 3 ‘Rubic’ Monsters
❶ You can detach 1 Material; move 1 card on the field to an appropriate adjacent Zone, then Special Summon 1 ‘Rubic Token’ (Cyberse/DARK/Level 3/ATK 300/DEF 0) to either player’s field. ❷ If this card moves to another Zone: You can detach 1 Material; Special Summon 1 ‘Rubic’ Monster from your Deck. You can only use each effect of ‘Rubic Exsecant’ once per turn.

2+ Level 6 ‘Rubic’ Monsters
You can also Xyz Summon this card by using a Rank 3 ‘Rubic’ Xyz Monster as Material. (Do not transfer Materials.) ❶ Once per turn, even during the Damage Step (Quick Effect): You can detach 1 Material; move 1 card on the field to an appropriate adjacent Zone, then if it is not a ‘Rubic’ card, negate its effects. ❷ Once per Chain, if a card moves to another Zone (even during the Damage Step): You can detach 1 Material; banish that card.

1 ‘Rubic’ Monster
❶ If this card is Link Summoned: You can send 1 ‘Rubic Algorithm’ or ‘Rubic Scramble’ from your Deck to the Graveyard. ❷ If a card moves to another Zone: You can target 1 ‘Rubic’ Xyz Monster you control; attach this card from your Graveyard to it as Material. You can only use an effect of ‘Rubic Radian’ once per turn.

2 ‘Rubic’ Monsters
❶ If this card is Link Summoned: You can target 1 of your banished ‘Rubic’ cards; add it to your hand. ❷ You can target 1 ‘Rubic’ Monster you control and 1 Monster your opponent controls; move those targets to the Main Monster Zones this card links to, and if you do, your Monster gains ATK equal to half the original ATK of your opponent's Monster. You can only use each effect of ‘Rubic Perpendicular’ once per turn.

2 ‘Rubic’ Monsters
❶ If this card is Link Summoned: You can add 1 ‘Rubic Dragonometry’ from your Deck to your hand, also you can shuffle 1 of your banished ‘Rubic’ Monsters into the Deck. ❷ Once per turn, if a card is placed in a Zone this card links to: You can move that card to an appropriate adjacent Zone, then you can Special Summon up to 2 ‘Rubic Token’s (Cyberse/DARK/Level 3/ATK 300/DEF 0) to either player’s Zones this card links to.

2 ‘Rubic’ Monsters
❶ This card and cards it links to cannot be targeted by your opponent’s card effects. ❷ Once per Chain, if a card is placed in a Zone this card links to: You can move any number of Monsters this card links to to appropriate adjacent Zones, then Special Summon as many ‘Rubic Token’s (Cyberse/DARK/Level 3/ATK 300/DEF 0) as possible to either player’s Zones this card links to.

2 ‘Rubic’ Monsters
❶ Unaffected by the activated effects of non-Link Monsters while in the Extra Monster Zone. ❷ Other Monsters this card does not link to cannot attack. ❸ Once per Battle Phase (Quick Effect): You can banish all cards this card links to, then apply the following effects, depending on the number of cards that left the field by this effect. • 1+: Double this card’s ATK. • 2+: Inflict 1000 damage for each card banished. • 3+: Banish 1 card on the field.

Trivia

The archetype features every type of Spell and Trap.
The archetype is fairly xenophobic.
- Most effects support only Rubic cards.
- Algorithm and Rubic both lock the player from activating any Monster effects other than those of Rubic Monsters.
- The Lv6 non-Tuners benefit from banishing Rubic cards to Summon themselves.
- Function is the only card to function with any Cyberse Monster.
The gimmicks of the archetype draw parallels to Rubik’s cubes and geometry.
- Moving cards on the field corresponds to turning a Rubik’s cube.
- Spawning Rubic Tokens corresponds to drawing construction lines in geometry.
Axis Summons Tokens to the same column, creating a vertical ‘axis’ between each player’s field.
The Link Arrows of the Link Monsters all point in ordinal directions.
- As such, the archetype can create a tri-Monster Extra Link.
  - This doesn’t achieve much since the upwards arrows will unlock plenty of zones for the opponent anyway.
  - Although, these can be blocked off with Rubic Tokens.
- The arrows of Radian and Perpendicular combine to form the arrows of Vertex.
Hexangle, being the ultimate ace of the archetype, is an exception to several of its trends.
- It is the only card that inherently moves itself (and no other cards).
- Instead of synergising with other cards, it only relies on them being present to boost its own ATK.
- It requires exactly 3 Materials, while the rest of the Link Monsters higher than Link-1 require exactly 2 Materials.
- It is the only Link Monster with Link Arrows in the cardinal directions.
Field Spells cannot be moved to other zones, which makes them immune to many of the archetype’s effects.
A high proportion of the card art is, in fact, shamelessly stolen from existing Yu-Gi-Oh! cards.
- Those archetypes include primarily Mathmech^↗ and Topologic^↗, as well as Deskbot^↗, Cubic^↗ (the irony, I know), Tindangle^↗, and various Cyberse^↗ support.

Nomenclature

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The name of the archetype is a portmanteau of Rubik (from Ernő Rubik^↗, the inventor of the Rubik’s cube) and cubic (from ‘cube’).
All of the names within the archetype derive from trigonometric or speedcubing terms.
Both Counter Traps (Inverse, Transverse) contain ‘verse’ in their name (for no particular reason).

cards	derivation	card	derivend
Lv3 non-Tuners	geometric terminology	Angular	angle
Lv3 non-Tuners		Axis	axis (graph) axis of rotation
Ritual		Driangle	dragon + triangle
Lv3 Tuners	trigonometric functions	Sine	sine
Lv3 Tuners		Cosine	cosine
Lv6 non-Tuners		Secant	secant
Lv6 non-Tuners		Cosecant	cosecant
Synchro Monsters		Versine	versine
		Vercosine	vercosine (coversine)
		Haversine	haversine
		Arcsine	arcsine (inverse sine)
Xyz Monsters		Exsecant	exsecant
		Excosecant	excosecant
		Arcsecant	arcsecant (inverse secant)
Link Monsters	geometric terminology	Radian	radian (angle unit)
		Diagonal	diagonal
		Perpendicular	perpendicular
		Vertex	vertex
		Quadrangle	quadr- in quadrilateral + -angle
		Hexangle	hex- in hexagon + -angle
Spells	geometric terminology	Plane	plane
		Function	mathematical function
		Construction	construction lines
		Dragonometry	dragon + -ometry in trigonometry
	cubing terminology	Algorithm	algorithm
		Permutation	permutation (as in ‘permutation of the last layer’)
		Solution	solution (as in solving a Rubik’s cube)
		Slice	slice (movement in cubing)
Traps		Scramble	scrambling a Rubik’s cube
		Execution	executing an algorithm
		Rotation	rotating a face
		Megaminx	Megaminx (dodecahedron)
		Revenge	Rubik’s Revenge (4x4x4 cube)
		Inverse	inverse movement (rotating a face counter-clockwise instead of clockwise)
	geometric terminology	Transverse	transversal

Numbers

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Numbers relating to trigonometry and Rubik’s Cubes feature prominently throughout the archetype.

In particular, everything revolves around the number 3 (since triangles have 3 sides), as well as 6 (since Rubik’s cubes have 6 faces).
- Excluding Driangle, there are 3 classes within the Main Deck (Lv3 non-Tuners, Lv3 Tuners, Lv6 non-Tuners), with 6 Monsters in total.
- The archetype utilises 3 Extra Deck types.
  - There are 3 Xyz Monsters and 6 Link Monsters.
- The Levels and Ranks of the Synchro and Xyz Monsters are all multiples of 3.
- The ATK/DEF of every Monster is a multiple of 300.
  - Rubic Tokens have 300 ATK.
- The Ritual Spell Dragonometry requires banishing exactly 3 Monsters from 3 different locations, whose total Levels equal a multiple of 3.
- Execution and Transverse both must be activated as Chain Link 3 or higher.
- There are exactly 3 ways of obtaining Level 9 Monsters to overlay into Arcsecant (instead of through Rank-Up Xyz Evolution, those being Haversine, Driangle, Megaminx.
The ATK/DEF of the Level 3 Monsters total 900 (90° being a right angle).
The ATK/DEF of the Level 6 non-Tuners total 2700 (270° being the reflex of a right angle).
Every Link Monster’s ATK equals its Link Rating x 1000, except Hexangle, who alters its own ATK to reach multiples of 600.
- The highest practical ATK it can reach is 6600, when it links to 5 cards while in the central Main Monster Zone.

Indexed
Yu-Gi-Oh!	What Makes a Good Custom Archetype? / Darquess / Rubic / Soul / Programming Style Cipher Text / Problem-Solving Super Simple and Compact Custom Card Text / Thoughts on Archetypes / A Selection of Yu-Gi-Oh’s Finest Card Art / Favourites / Yu-Gi-Oh! / A Selection of Yu-Gi-Oh’s Finest Card Names / Yu-Gi-Oh! Showerthoughts
Yu-Gi-Oh! Archetypes	Darquess / Lightning / Neuralliance / Next-Gen Code Talker / Next-Gen / Rubic / Soul / Vapour-Eyes / k-Knight