Brave

Archaelancer1 — An example of a brave card.

Brave (ブレイヴ ; bureivu) is a card type in the game Battle Spirits. Although sometimes the card type can act like Spirit, it is classified as a different card type due to its speciality: the ability to combine with a Spirit/Ultimate. There is a technical term for the action of combining, which is "brave".

For the above reason, each Brave has two BP displays: the top one is used when it is not braved, and the bottom is added to the host Spirit/Ultimate when it is braved. Each Brave must always have a Brave condition, which is used to notify the player which kind of Spirits/Ultimates the Brave can brave to. It is also a way to restrict the level of power after braving. Additionally, not all Braves have symbols, so when confirming the color of the Brave, always refer to its border.

When a Brave is on the field and is not braved, it is treated as a Spirit (technical term is "Spirit-form Brave"). However, any effects that target Braves can affect it.

Brave Condition[]

As mentioned above, each Brave must have a Brave condition. However, it is not all the time that a Brave condition is being clear. Before the release of Ultimates, Brave conditions never needed to specify which kind of card types the Braves can brave to, because they could only brave to Spirits. Right now, also with the introduction of Grandwalker Nexuses, there are mainly five kinds of Brave conditions. For examples:

Brave condition: Cost 3 or more
Brave condition: Cost 3 or more Ultimate
Brave condition: Cost 3 or more Spirit/Ultimate
Brave condition: Ogre Wizard
Brave condition: Purple & Grandwalker Nexus

With reference to only card types, Braves with conditions (1) and (4) can only brave to Spirits; Braves with condition (2) can only brave to Ultimates; Braves with condition (3) can brave to either Spirits or Ultimates; and Braves with condition (5) can only brave to Grandwalker Nexuses.

In short, as long the Brave condition does not specify a card type, then the Brave can only brave to Spirits.

As an additional note while (5) only applies to Grandwalker Nexuses, Braves with such conditions are in general Saga Braves and they could normally brave with Spirits/Ultimates via a different Brave condition as stated on the card.

To add on, one more thing to notice is that some Brave conditions may appear with a comma, such as the Brave condition of Setsuna F. Seiei［A.D. 2312］ being "MS & Cost 5 or more, "Exia"-named". In this case, it means that Setsuna can brave to either a Cost 5 or more "MS" family Spirit, or an "Exia"-named Spirit. The "Exia"-named Spirit does not have to be in the "MS" family nor does it have to be Cost 5 or more. That is the importance of comma here.

The Formation of a Braved Spirit/Ultimate[]

When a Brave and a Spirit/Ultimate braves together, it is considered as one Spirit/Ultimate, called a Braved Spirit/Ultimate. However, do note that not all aspects of the Brave are passed onto the Spirit/Ultimate.

What is passed on:

Cost
BP the Brave adds to the Spirit/Ultimate during brave
Color
Symbol
Effect under the Brave condition

What is not passed on:

Card type
Name
Family
Reduction symbols
BP when the Brave is in Spirit form
Effect above the Brave condition

During your Main Step, you can freely exchange your Braves between two Braved Spirits/Ultimates, if the conditions are met. Also in the same step, you can freely separate your Braved Spirits/Ultimates.

When an exhausted Brave braves to a refreshed Spirit/Ultimate, the Braved Spirit/Ultimate is exhausted. Similarly, when a refreshed Brave braves to an exhausted Spirit/Ultimate, the Braved Spirit/Ultimate is exhausted.

When a Braved Spirit/Ultimate separates, and the Brave stays, the owner can always move additional cores from his Reserve/Field to the Brave. Also, any effects that are originally applied to the Braved Spirit/Ultimate pass onto the Spirit/Ultimate. For example, the Braved Spirit gets -5000 BP by a Magic effect during that turn, after it separates in the same turn, the Brave does not get the -5000 BP effect, but the Spirit gets it.

Direct Brave[]

When you summon a Brave, you can undergo the process of direct brave. This means that the Brave does not need to be summoned as a Spirit first before braving with another Spirit, instead it can directly brave to the Spirit, skipping the “Spirit-form part”. This is direct brave, and can occur at any moment, as long a Brave is summoned.

There are four things that one should remember:

When direct brave occurs, you can put additional cores from your Reserve/Field to the Braved Spirit/Ultimate.
When direct brave occurs, the Brave follows the state of the Spirit/Ultimate (e.g. if the Spirit is exhausted, the Brave is also exhausted).
When direct brave occurs on a Spirit/Ultimate that is during battle, it will become a Braved Spirit/Ultimate in battle instead.
Direct brave can only occur when a Brave is summoned. A Spirit/Ultimate cannot be summoned and direct brave to a Brave that is already on field.

Aftermath of a Braved Spirit/Ultimate[]

When a Braved Spirit/Ultimate is removed from the Field, the owner can choose to have the Brave remain on field, or follow where the Spirit/Ultimate goes. When the owner chooses to have the Brave staying on field, he also has a choice to move more cores from his Reserve/Field to the now Spirit-form Brave.

Do note that when the Brave follows the Spirit to the deck, the player who sends them decides the order of going back (e.g. If your opponent sends your Braved Spirit to the top of your deck, your opponent chooses to whether have the Brave to deck first, or the Spirit to deck first).

When a battling Braved Spirit/Ultimate is removed from the Field, if the owner chooses to have the Brave staying on the Field, there are three situations that can occur, depending on how the Braved Spirit/Ultimate is removed:

The opponent uses an effect to remove the Braved Spirit/Ultimate before he declares a block: in this case, if the Brave remains, it continues the attack.
1. If the opponent declares a block, then the Spirit-form Brave compares BP with the blocking Spirit/Ultimate.
2. If the opponent chooses not to block, the Spirit-form Brave will take his life (no life can be taken if the Spirit-form Brave is symbolless).
The opponent blocks and the Braved Spirit/Ultimate is destroyed through BP comparison: in this case, the Brave remains on field and the battle ends.
The opponent blocks and the Braved Spirit/Ultimate is removed through effects (aka before BP comparison): in this case, the Brave continues the battle with the blocking Spirit/Ultimate, and compares the BP with its Spirit-form BP.

If the battling Braved Spirit/Ultimate is simply separated, but not removed from the Field, the Spirit/Ultimate always continues the battle.

Imagine Braves[]

Please refer to Imagine Brave.

Saga Braves[]

Please refer to Saga Brave.

Multi-Brave[]

In the game, there are several Spirits/Ultimates that have the effects to allow one Spirit/Ultimate braving to two or more Braves at the same time. Obviously, there are more rules for these situations.

Firstly, the 2nd Brave (and so on) works according to the information given by the Braved Spirit as a whole. For example, normally, a Cost 3 Spirit cannot brave to a Brave with the Brave condition: Cost 5 or above. However, if the Cost 3 Spirit braves to a Cost 2 Brave, after that it can brave to a Brave with the condition: Cost 5 or above. This applies to all additional Braves later on.

Obviously, Spirits can only double brave by effects, so when this effect is lost, the owner has to separate the Braved Spirit until one Brave is left on the Spirit. Also, when a Braved Spirit with multiple Braves leaves the field, the owner can choose to have any number of the Braves staying on the field.

When a Braved Spirit/Ultimate with multiple Braves is removed from the Field during a battle, if the Braves are chosen to stay, then again there are three situations that can happen, depending on when it is removed:

The opponent uses an effect to remove the Braved Spirit/Ultimate before he declares a block: in this case, if more than one Brave remains, the owner chooses one Brave to continue the battle, while the other Braves stay outside of the battle.
1. If the opponent declares a block, then the Spirit-form Brave compares BP with the blocking Spirit/Ultimate.
2. If the opponent chooses not to block, the Spirit-form Brave will take his life (no life can be taken if the Spirit-form Brave is symbolless).
The opponent blocks and the Braved Spirit/Ultimate is destroyed through BP comparison: in this case, the Braves remain on field and the battle ends.
The opponent blocks and the Braved Spirit/Ultimate is removed through effects (aka before BP comparison): in this case, one of the Braves is chosen to continue the battle with the blocking Spirit/Ultimate, and compare the BP with its Spirit-form BP. The other Braves are outside of the battle.

Meanwhile, the Imagine Braves work a bit differently. First of all, when an effect simply states, “This Spirit can brave with up to two Braves”, then that Spirit can only brave with normal Braves. It is only when the effect states, “This Spirit can brave with up to two Imagine Braves” that the Spirit can brave with Imagine Braves. Currently, only The ShineGodKing Gale-Phoenix-Overray, and the revival version of The ShineCentaurusDeity Sagitto-Apollodragon can double brave Imagine Braves.

When a Spirit double brave two Imagine Braves, it must brave to the left side of one Imagine Brave, and the right side of another Imagine Brave, at the same time. When a Spirit double braves with two Imagine Braves, other Spirits can also brave to the empty side of each Imagine Brave.

Saga Braves work the same way as normal Braves.

Q&A[]

Summoning Braves[]

Q1. When a Brave is summoned in Spirit form, can it attack on the attack step of that turn?
A1. Yes, it can.

Q2. When a Brave is summoned in Spirit form, can more core be put on it than necessary for its Level 1 cost?
A2. Yes, any number of core can be put on it.

Q4. When a Brave is summoned and direct braves to a Spirit, does its "when summoned" effect activate?
A4. Yes, it activates.

Q5. When a Brave is summoned in Spirit form, is its "when summoned" effect blocked by Armor?
Q5. No, the effect is not blocked. The Brave is treated as a Spirit, but its "when summoned" effect is a Brave effect.

Q6. When a Brave is summoned and direct braves to a Spirit, is its "when summoned" effect blocked by Armor?
Q6. No, the effect is not blocked. The effect comes from a Braved Spirit, but its "when summoned" effect is a Brave effect.

Q7. When a Brave is summoned in Spirit form, can it be targeted as a Spirit by an effect activated by its "when summoned" effect?
A7. Yes, as it is summoned in Spirit form, its "when summoned" effect will activate and it will take the effect.

Q10. When a Brave is summoned in Spirit form, do "when a spirit is summoned" effects activate?
A10. No, even when summoning in Spirit form it is still treated as summoning a Brave. Therefore, "when a Brave is summoned" effects may activate, but not "when a Spirit is summoned" effects.

Q11. When a blue Brave without a symbol is summoned in spirit form, does Heavy Armor: Blue block its summon effect?
A11. Yes, it does.

Q12. When a blue Brave without a symbol is direct braved to a red Spirit, does Heavy Armor: Red block its summon effect?
A12. Yes, it does.

Braving/Exchanging/Detaching[]

Q1. What is braving?
A1. Braving is placing a Brave card on top of a Spirit/Ultimate/Grandwalker Nexus that meets its brave condition.

Q2. Is a braved Spirit treated as two Spirits?
A2. No, a braved Spirit is treated as a single Brave Spirit. The brave Spirit's cost, BP, symbols, effects, and colors are a combination of the Brave and Spirit. However, the Braves' reduction symbols, family, and card name are not added to the brave Spirit.

Q3. Can The CannonDragon Bal-Gunner with a brave condition of cost 4 or more brave to the cost 6 The SunDragon Sieg-Apollodragon?
A3. Yes, they can brave.

Q4. Can The SunDragon Sieg-Apollodragon, already braved with The CannonDragon Bal-Gunner, additionally brave with The FangEmperor Cerbelord?
A4. No, it cannot. Each Spirit can only brave with one Brave.

Q5. Can Braves brave with other Braves?
A5. No, they cannot.

Q7. What is switching?
A7. Detaching a Brave from a brave Spirit and putting it on a non-braved Spirit, as well as exchanging the Braves between two brave Spirits counts as switching.

Q8. When switching, can the Brave condition be ignored?
A8. No, both Spirits to be braved must meet the brave condition or they cannot switch.

Q9. Does putting the brave into Spirit condition and braving it to a different Spirit count as switching?
A9. No, the Brave does not go into Spirit form when switching. At this time, there is no moving of core, However, when braving or detaching cannot be done, switching cannot be done either.

Q10. What is detaching?
A10. When a brave Spirit goes from the Spirit and Brave being together to being separated, each with enough core to suffice their Level 1 cost and treated as Spirits. When detaching, core can be moved to the Brave from the Reserve/Field.

Q11. When detaching an exhausted brave Spirit, do both the Spirit and Brave stay exhausted?
A11. Yes, they stay in the same position they were in before detaching.

Q12. When the brave condition is not met after braving, is the brave Spirit forcefully separated?
A12. Yes, they are detached. This applies to when a Spirit advents/switches place. If the Brave is chosen to stay on Field, cores need to move to it to meet the Lv1 core requirement.

Q13. When a Cost 3 Spirit is braved with a Cost 4 Brave to become a Cost 7 brave Spirit, can it switch Braves with another brave Spirit whose Brave has a condition of cost 4 or more?
A13. No, if the Spirit itself is not Cost 5 or more, they cannot switch. The brave condition refers to the Spirit before braving.

Q14. When a spirit-form brave is braved with a spirit, must all the core from both be placed on the brave spirit?
A14. Yes, they must all be placed on the brave spirit at first. After that, the core can be sent to other spirits or the reserve.

Q15. When there is The Doom Coffin on the opponent's field, when a spirit-form brave is braved with a spirit, does it count as "putting on core" and cause the brave spirit to be exhausted?
A15. Yes, it will be exhausted.

Q16. Can you brave your own brave with an opponent's spirit?
A16. No, you cannot.

Q18. Can a spirit-condition brave be switched out with the brave of an brave spirit?
A18. No, it cannot be.

Q19. When only the brave of a brave spirit is destroyed, what happens to the brave and its [When Braved] effects?
A19. When only the brave of a brave spirit is destroyed, the brave is immediately sent to the trash. The [When Braved] effects are all nullified.

Q20. Can a destroyed spirit brave?
A20. No, destroyed spirits cannot brave.

Braves (General)[]

Q1. Can braves without symbols count for reduction?
A1. No, they cannot. The number of symbols rather than cards is counted for reduction.

Q2. When a spirit-form brave without a symbol attacks and the opponent does not block, can it reduce the opponent's life?
A2. No, the life cannot be decreased by spirits without symbols.

Q3. Can a brave in spirit form be destroyed by effects like Sagitta Flame that destroy spirits?
A3. Yes, it can be destroyed. It can be targeted by all effects that target spirits.

Q5. Is a spirit with no printed effects still treated as a spirit with no printed effects for effects like The Outlaw Wasteland when it is braved and gains an effect?
A5. No, it is not. The parts of the brave spirit have effects, so it is not treated as a spirit with no printed effects.

Q8. After you use Invisible Cloak on your spirit and that spirit is braved, is that brave spirit still under the effect of Invisible Cloak?
A8. Yes, it is.

Q9. After you use Invisible Cloak on your brave and you brave that brave, is that brave spirit still under the effect of Invisible Cloak?
A9. No, the effects used on the brave before braving are lost.

Q10. After you use Invisible Cloak on your brave spirit and that brave spirit is separated, is the spirit still under the effect of Invisible Cloak?
A10. Yes, it is. Effects that were put on the brave spirit remain on the spirit, but not on the brave.

Q11. When keeping the brave of a destroyed brave spirit on field, does the core from the brave spirit remain on it?
A11. No, that is incorrect. All core from the destroyed brave spirit is put into the reserve. After that, core from the field and reserve can be put onto the brave.

Q12. Are spirit-form braves that only have [During Brave] effects treated as spirits with no printed effects?
A12. No, they are treated as spirits with printed effects.

Q13. Is the [During Brave] effect of a brave activated by a brave spirit treated as a brave effect?
A13. No, that is incorrect. Braves give their [During Brave] effects to the brave spirit, and are activated as spirit effects.

Q18. Can effects stating "destroy one brave on a brave spirit" destroy braves on brave ultimates?
A18. No, they cannot.

Q20. Can a brave that only specifies ultimates in its condition brave to a spirit that has an effect allowing it to ignore brave conditions?
A20. Yes, it can.

Q21. Can a brave that only has "When this Ultimate Brave Attacks" activate its effect when braved with a spirit?
A21. No, it cannot.

Q22. Can effects targeting a "non-braved spirit/ultimate" target braved ultimates?
A22. No, it cannot. Only non-braved ultimates can be targeted.

Q23. When a brave spirit is separated mid-battle and both the spirit and spirit-form brave are still on field, can you choose which one continues the battle?
A23. No, you cannot. If the spirit is still on field, the spirit continues the battle.

Q24. When there is only one core on a braved spirit and there is no other core on the field or reserve, can the brave spirit be separated?
A24. Yes, it can. In that case, the owner of the spirit decides whether to leave the core on the spirit or the spirit-form brave.

Q25. When a detached brave does not have core put on it, is that brave treated as being destroyed/depleted in spirit form?
A25. No, it is not. It is depleted without going to spirit form, so effects regarding the depletion/destruction of spirits do not activate.

Q26. Can Irritaban and The BladeStar Messiah-Dragon target the [When Braved] "when attacks" effects of braves?
A26. No, they cannot.

Q27. Does "a braved brave" refer to the brave of either a brave spirit or brave ultimate?
A27. Yes, that is correct.

Q28. Can a red spirit's "destroy one braved brave" effect destroy the brave of a braved spirit or braved ultimate with Heavy Immunity: Red?
A28. No, it cannot.

Q30. Do the "when attacks" effects of braves summoned and direct braved through Unsheathe or Catalyze during an attack activate?
A30. The instantaneous effects such as destruction or drawing of that brave cannot activate, as it was not braved at the attack declaration. However, effects that occur at different timings during the battle, flash, and showdown step can activate.