Deck Tech: Budget Traptrix - The Best Budget Deck in 2023

Traptrix is an archetype composed of female monsters of the type Insect and Plant and of the Earth attribute, which interact with the sub-archetype of "Trap Hole" trap cards. And, though it is an old archetype, it got excellent support earlier in the year with the release of the Structure Deck: Beware of Traptrix.

Ever since then, the deck is a very good option for those who want to have a competitive deck without spending absurd resources on it. Besides being accessible in price for the standards of Yu-Gi-Oh!, another advantage to this deck is that it has good matchups against the current meta in the Advanced Format. This way, if it's well-piloted by a casual player, there are still good chances of winning against the strongest decks in the game, which makes the duel more balanced.

Check out below how the Traptrix deck works!

Decklist

Main Deck

Here are your main starters, Traptrix Myrmeleo being the "Hole" traps searcher and Traptrix Mantis the "Traptrix" monsters searcher. Though they are unable to create an extensive combo on their own, they can give you at least one interaction.

Traptrix Pudica is a pseudo-starter due to its effect of adding field spells from your archetype to your hand, but, it doesn't work very well when it is the only monster in your hand. Besides that, it is a very strong interaction when brought to the field through special-summon.

As for Traptrip Garden, it is one of the greatest cards in your deck, as it works as an extender and also as protection for "destroyed by battle" effects.

Traptrix Arachnocampa is your go-to main deck extender, and it only isn't better because it prevents you from summoning Plant and Insect monsters, preventing you from accessing your Rank 4 generic monsters after activating its effect. On the other side, it has a nice effect of protecting your spells/traps on the field.

Traptrix Dionaea is a key piece in your combo as it recycles your "Trap Hole" or your "Traptrix". Though it isn't a good card to have in your initial hand, it is an excellent "normal summon" for the grind game, when it is very important to recover your resources.

Traptrix Holeutea is possibly the best support card this deck has received, and it is very important in your initial combo as it is an extender (now searchable) in the shape of a trap card, a role that before was only performed by The Phantom Knights of Shade Brigandine, which despite not belonging to this archetype, has great synergy with it. Besides that, "Holeutea" also works as an interaction and/or follow-up due to its effect of summoning "Traptrix" monsters from the graveyard.

The "Trap Hole" traps are usually your main forms of interaction, but, it is interesting to not use them in big quantities, once it is very important to have space for techs. Despite that, it isn't hard to put them on the field, once the deck is quite consistent and can search them or play them directly from the deck quite easily.

To start on the techs, Harpie's Feather Duster is quite useful and interesting in many matchups, and, as it is a limited card, there won't be the risk of having an opening hand with multiple copies of it against decks which don't tend to play cards in the backrow.

The other techs are a mix between handtraps and boardbreakers, a trend that is coming up in the format again after the last banlist was released.

The main highlight goes to Evenly Matched, a card which is totally geared towards the "go in second" strategy being used in the main deck of a deck that intends to go first every time it has a chance. But, that isn't completely contradictory, once if you have it in your initial hand while you're going first, you can use it as discard fodder for your Traptrix Holeutea.

Extra Deck

Traptrix Sera is for sure the best card of this archetype and its strategy focuses around it, which can access your monster interactions when summoning them, or play your traps directly from your deck.

As for Traptrix Atypus, besides being a negate, can be very important to help you finish games due to its effect of increasing "Traptrix"' ATK in 1000 points.

Aussa the Earth Charmer, Immovable is quite a useful card in a deck composed of Earth Attribute monsters. Besides searching for follow-up strategies when destroyed, it can be very useful by "stealing" strong monsters from the opponent's graveyard, such as a Kashtira Fenrir, for instance.

In case you can't finish the duel using only the "Traptrix", Borrelsword Dragon is an excellent option to help you end your opponent's health points, due to its effects during the battle phase.

Traptrix Rafflesia is your most important xyz card and, besides protecting your "Traptrix" from being destroyed due to effects, it is capable of protecting you against handtraps and also dealing with monster effects in the opponent's graveyard or field.

Traptrix Pinguicula, on the other hand, is one more "Traptrix" monster searcher, and, if combined with Traptrix Pudica, can prevent your opponent from recovering their resources.

Traptrix Allomerus has an effect which is capable of guaranteeing your follow-up, and is usually used when you want to place more monsters on board to go for your otk.

Here we have the Rank 4 generic xyz package of cards in your deck, with varied effect options.

Time Thief Redoer is very interesting when you begin playing, and it offers good control, whereas Number 41: Bagooska the Terribly Tired Tapir is a great way of holding on to the game when it is no longer possible to continue with your standard combo.

Tornado Dragon is a good way to deal with your opponent's backrow. And, lastly, Evilswarm Exciton Knight is quite useful when you go second due to its capability of destroying the entire enemy board.

To finish, Divine Arsenal AA-ZEUS - Sky Thunder is a great boss monster for any deck that uses xyz monsters due to its capability of clearing the board, in a way similar to Evilswarm Exciton Knight, but it has the advantage of sending the other cards to the graveyard without destroying them, and, this way, ignore protections against card destruction.

As mentioned previously, Traptrix's strategy focuses on Traptrix Sera, and you need to keep her on board at all times. During your combo, she'll generate you at least 1 interaction, when playing a "Trap Hole" trap directly from your deck. Besides that, it will also summon a "Traptrix" monster from your deck, which will be used as material for the summoning of a Rank 4 xyz card, which will usually be Traptrix Rafflesia if you opt for a conservative approach, but, it can be any other xyz in case you think it is more interesting.

This way, most times, your final board will be formed by: Traptrix Sera + 1 Rank 4 xyz monster + at least 1 "Trap Hole" trap. Though it looks simple, this is a very strong board, particularly if, besides that, you also have Traptrix Holeutea in your graveyard, enabled to be one more interaction.

Besides creating multiple interactions, this deck has the ability of dividing them between board, backrow and graveyard, something that can be hard to deal with.

Standard Combo

I'll leave down below the standard combo if you open with Traptrix Myrmeleo + Floodgate Trap Hole (it also works with any other "Trap Hole" trap):

>First, normal-summon Traptrix Myrmeleo and activate its effect to add Traptrix Holeutea to your hand;

>Secondly, use Traptrix Myrmeleo as material for the link-summoning of Traptrix Sera;

>Then, play Traptrix Holeutea and activate it, discarding Floodgate Trap Hole as a cost to summon it as a monster;

>After this effect resolves, activate Traptrix Sera's effect and summon Traptrix Dionaea from your deck;

>When summoning Traptrix Dionaea, activate its effect to target Floodgate Trap Hole in your graveyard, and play it on board;

>To finish, use Traptrix Dionaea and Traptrix Holeutea to xyz-summon Traptrix Rafflesia.

This way, your board will look like this:

The main matchup in the format is against Kashtira, and, particularly, it is quite favored for Traptrix. Besides using many techs, including Evenly Matched in the main deck, your match against Kashtira is considered good due to your trap cards, mainly Floodgate Trap Hole, which is excellent against the main deck in the format.

The matchup against Labrynth can also be considered good, once "Traptrix" monsters in the extra decks can't be affected by trap card effects. The variety of your extra deck is also a point which gives you a certain advantage. But, cards such as Skill Drain and Evenly Matched tend to be used by Labrynth, and that can throw the matchup against Traptrix.

To finish, now we have the matchup against Spright Runick Live Twin, which needs to be divided to be analyzed. The "Runick" engine has outs for your trap cards and your monsters, causing it to be very good against you, something that ends up placing "Runick" as the favorite against Traptrix.

However, despite this disadvantage, by playing first, your interactions are quite strong against Spright and Live Twin engines, in a way that isn't hard to stop them. This way, despite it not being a favorable matchup, you can get the advantage if you're lucky and start the match.

So, what did you think of the deck? I hope you enjoyed knowing more about it and I hope you have fun with it.

You're welcome to give your opinion in the comment section. Cards Realm thanks you for your participation!