Burst Protocol Set Guide

Overview

Burst Protocol is the first core booster set of 2026. Its 101 cards break down into 50 Commons, 26 Super Rares, 14 Ultra Rares and 10 Secret Rares, plus 25 Starlight Rares: one for every Ultra and Secret Rare, and one card printed only at Starlight Rare.

100 of the 101 cards are new. The one reprint is Stardust Dragon/Assault Mode (BPRO-EN101), first released in 2009 and printed here only as a Starlight Rare.

The set spreads across many themes rather than a few. Elfnote and Archfiend get nine cards each, GMX gets six and Fur Hire five, with smaller runs for Rokket and Borrel, Darklord, the /Assault Mode cards and the Magnet Warriors.

Cards and rarities

Burst Protocol has 101 set codes, each starting BPRO-EN and printed under the artwork on the right. Where a card comes at more than one rarity, every version shares its code, so the table counts set codes at each rarity and a code printed at two rarities is counted twice.

The 24 Ultra and Secret Rares count again in the Starlight Rare row, which is why the rows add up to 125 printings for 101 set codes. Set completion in TurnZero HQ counts the distinct set codes you own against the set's total, so a card printed at two rarities counts once, with an every-rarity count beside it for collectors chasing each version. How set completion works →

Archetypes

Elfnote and Archfiend get the most cards in Burst Protocol, each with monsters, Spells and Traps of its own. GMX, Rokket and Borrel, and Darklord get smaller packages built around a Fusion or Link Monster.

Elfnote Lucina

BPRO-EN010

Special Summons itself from your hand to your center Main Monster Zone and searches another Elfnote monster in your Main Phase. On your opponent's turn it can swap places with your center monster, then return a Level 6 or lower monster they control to the hand.

Elfnote Tinia

BPRO-EN011

Places an Elfnote Continuous Spell from your Deck face-up in your Main Phase. On your opponent's turn it can swap places with your center monster, then banish a random card from their hand until the End Phase. Limited.

Archfiend Emperor

BPRO-EN031

A Pendulum Ritual Monster Summoned with Throne of the Archfiends. Ritual Summoned from the Extra Deck, it banishes every monster on the field outside the Extra Monster Zones.

GMX Applied Experiment #55

BPRO-EN096

Excavates your Deck until it finds a GMX monster and a Dinosaur monster, costing 400 LP per card excavated, then can Fusion Summon a GMX Fusion Monster using the excavated monsters.

Borrelshroud Dragon

BPRO-EN047

A Link-5 for 3+ Effect Monsters. Once per turn, as a Quick Effect in the Main Phase, it negates a face-up card your opponent controls and destroys one of your Rokket monsters, and your opponent cannot respond.

Darklord Eveningstar

BPRO-EN036

A Fusion of 2 Level 6 or higher DARK Fairy monsters that your opponent cannot target with card effects. When Fusion Summoned, it Sets a Darklord Spell and a Darklord Trap from your Deck.

Cards worth knowing

Several of the new cards work outside a single archetype or support an older one.

Forbidden Crown

BPRO-EN067

A Quick-Play Spell. Until the end of the turn, one face-up monster has its effects negated, cannot attack, be destroyed, be Tributed or be used as material, and is unaffected by other activated effects. Neither player can respond with monster effects.

Fallen of the White Dragon

BPRO-EN024

Always treated as Fallen of Albaz. When Normal or Special Summoned, it Special Summons an Ecclesia monster from your hand, Deck or GY.

Zalen the Shackled Dragon

BPRO-EN042

A Synchro Tuner. When a card or effect is activated in response to another activation, it can negate and destroy either the first or the second, once per turn.

Shiina, Twin Tempests of Celestial Thunder

BPRO-EN027

While you control a WIND monster, it Special Summons itself from your hand when your opponent activates a card or effect, then returns all other face-up monsters, or all Spells/Traps, on the field to the hand depending on what was activated.

The chase card: Forbidden Crown

Forbidden Crown

BPRO-EN067

Rarity Starlight Rare

Set code BPRO-EN067

1st Edition market price, September 30, 2026 $219.03

The Starlight Rare Forbidden Crown is Burst Protocol's chase card. At $219.03 on September 30 it was the most valuable printing in the set.

It is a close race. The Starlight Rare Fallen of the White Dragon was $210.67, less than $9 behind, so the top spot could change with a week of sales.

Forbidden Crown comes at two rarities in the set. The Secret Rare was $60.86, a little over a quarter of the Starlight Rare's price.

Every Forbidden Crown in Burst Protocol

Every version shares the set code, so the foil is what tells them apart. Check it before you price the copy in your hand. Reading the set code and rarity →

Chase cards and prices

Burst Protocol's value sits in its Starlight Rares. Three were above $100 on September 30, and four of the eight most valuable printings are Fallen of the White Dragon and Ecclesia and the Dark Dragon, cards that support Fallen of Albaz.

These are TCGplayer's 1st Edition market prices on September 30, 2026. Prices for a new set can move a long way in its first months, so treat them as a snapshot. Each card's page shows today's price for every printing. How Yu-Gi-Oh! card prices work →

Playing it

Elfnote Tinia is the only Burst Protocol card on the Forbidden & Limited List as of October 1, 2026. It is Limited, so a deck can run one copy.

The Elfnote cards care about your center Main Monster Zone. Elfnote Lucina, Tinia and Fortuna Special Summon themselves there, and Elfnotes: Welcome Home and Elfnotes: A Plea for Help protect whatever monster is in it, so where you place each monster matters.

Several cards support older archetypes rather than new ones: Fallen of the White Dragon and Ecclesia and the Dark Dragon for Fallen of Albaz, the /Assault Mode monsters for Assault Mode Activate, and Exosister Karmael and Exosister Betrayal for Exosister. They work best alongside the cards they name.

Deck building rules and the Forbidden & Limited List →

Frequently Asked Questions