Introduction:It is time for me to submit my very own Custom Mechanic, Drive. Some of you may have already seen it, but I'll throw it in here anyways. Let's go ahead and look at it, shall we?
What are Drive Monsters?Drive Monsters reside in the Main Deck and are all things considered regular monsters. Drive Monsters come with a second effect box that state their Drive Effects and have
Energy, which is represented on the left side of the Drive Effects. Energy is what literally drives these monsters!
Drive EffectsTo use a Drive Monsters' Drive Effects, you first have to
Engage them. This is just an Action you can perform during your Main Phase in an open game state by declaring to Engage a Drive Monster in your hand and revealing it. The monster stays revealed until it is no longer Engaged. Keep in mind, however, that you can only have one Engaged Drive Monster at any given time.
Drive Effects are always preceded by an operation, like [-1] or [+3]. These operations represent the Energy changes done to activate their Drive Effects. For example our Sample Card "Salvation via Automation" has the following effect:
[-4], (Quick Effect): Target 1 LIGHT monster in your GY, except "Salvation via Automation"; Special Summon it, but it cannot be used as Fusion, Synchro, Xyz or Link Material for a Summon.
To be able to activate this effect, you need to first Engage "Salvation via Automation", which has a Base Energy of 13. You can then activate the effect of it which will reduce the Energy from 13 to 9 like a cost. Drive Effects can have additional costs, and as said before, can also gain Energy for their effects. One thing to definitely keep in mind, however, is, that you can only use each Drive Effect once per turn!
Drive Summoning and OverdriveNow, if your Engaged Monsters', in this case "Salvation via Automation", Energy is equal to their Level, which in this case is 5, you can
Drive Summon it. This is an Inherent Summon and can yield a multitude of additional effects, or trigger other effects, like the Self Summon Effect of "Salvation via Automation". However do not fret about overpaying if your Drive Monster has a Drive Effect which is preceded with [OD], because this is an
Overdrive Effect and can only be used if your Engaged Monsters' Energy drops below it's Level, which "Salvation via Automation" can hit by herself, which leaves her at 1 Energy after 3 Activations of the effect I stated prior. Overdrive Effects are meant to be not as easily accessible but therefore rather powerful. However, if you use the Overdrive Effect of your Engaged Monster, it's Energy will always drop down to 0!
Now I said your Drive Monster stays revealed until it is no longer Engaged. There is only 2 ways to achieve that: Either by Summoning it (this includes Drive Summon) or if it's Energy drops down to 0 in which case it is sent to the GY.
Of course, over time there is going to be cards that do a lot more wack stuff with the Drive Formula, and I am very much looking forward to see that happen, but this is the base premise for Drive.
The Drive Starter Pack:https://imgur.com/a/1NNVGHm
