Bugs. Love ’em or hate ’em, they’re pretty “persist-ant”. Okay, so abysmal puns aside, Krawlers were the runt of the litter coming out of Circuit Break. With hardly any fanfare they were the scrub archetype. They’re based on the slow, outdated, much maligned “Flip” mechanic (ugh!) and they don’t even have the decency to dress up – the whole set (excluding Qualiark) is common.

But we did get a lot of them – unlike F.A. – Krawler got 6 main deck monsters, 3 link monsters, a field spell, a trap and other cards that work well together – in the same booster, no less! So if you’re looking for a really cheap, quirky, modern format compatible deck – this isn’t a bad place to start.

Game Heroes on TCGPlayer, can offer you nearly the complete archetype (as of the time of this article) for less than a cup of coffee. It’s the most budget deck designed in the link format to date – without exception.

But what are they all about – well, in short the “end game” so to speak, is:

Spam a bunch of little monsters

Make links

Spam more monsters

Rinse and repeat till you’ve got a whole field

Use buffs and direct attacking effs to go for game

It’s actually pretty simple and the deck isn’t too bad at it. You’d want to be running Multiplication of Ants to spam out tokens, now in a perfect world – this would be “Worm Bait” instead, but that is neither budget nor easily accessible, but it’s an amazing card in this deck.

So lets build this out a little bit and i’m going to go through the cards in a bit of a different order, the field and links – to show what you’re setting up for and then we’ll cover the trap and the main deck monsters so you can see how we get there.

So World Legacy in Shadow is our Krawler field spell. We gain 300 on both stats and you get a free Lv.2 or lower insect once per turn. You also have a nice little bonus where if your monster (face down) is destroyed by battle you can send the monster who did it to the GY. That’s a nice touch, sending is far superior to destroying it, but banishing or bouncing it would be overkill. So i’m pretty ok with that. You also have the option of summoning that Lv. 2 face up or face down – depending on the situation, if you feel you *need* to go into that link – you might want face up.

So we have a link 2, 1800, needs earth monsters and provides the following buffs to monsters this card points to:

+300 ATK/DEF

can attack twice

can’t be destroyed by battle

So that’s not a bad little package, it’s not grotesquely overpowered but it makes your (otherwise small) bugs a little bigger, more aggressive, and harder to kill. Could he be better? Probably, but again, within the trappings of the archetype it’s sufficient.

He also has a parting shot ability, if Synaphysis is destroyed by battle or leaves the field because of an opponent’s card effect (while you control it) you get to special summon two unique Krawlers from GY face down.

So he does have something of a dead-man’s switch to maintain field presence.

Next is a 1900, Link-2 that requires 2 insect monsters. Also very easy to go into. Neurogos is similar to Synaphysis in terms of what he provides to monsters:

+300 ATK/DEF

Can’t be destroyed by battle

Double damage (when battling opponent’s monsters)

Ok so a little variety at the end there, it’s not amazing, and considering that you want to be attacking directly it may seem a little out of place. But I can deal with it. Neurogos also has the parting shot effect of Synaphysis to summon 2 unique Krawlers from GY (face down) if it’s destroyed in battle or leaves the field because of an opponent’s card effect.

So our last link monster keeps tradition in the sense that he needs 2 monsters (Krawlers) and is Link 2. He’s bigger than the others with 2000 ATK and essentially serves as the archetype’s Boss monster. He’s got bottom corners as opposed to left/right of the others and also has that same parting shot. But his regular effects are around counting Krawlers:

2. All monsters +300 ATK/DEF

4. The opponent’s cards and effects can’t activate during the battle phase

6. Your monsters can attack directly

Now of course, monsters means that it’ll effect anything (not just Krawlers) but Qualiark counts “Krawlers” so you’re just as well to stay in archetype.

So if you go on a special summon spree – you end up with these guys on your field and it could go like this:

With two Krawlers (not hard to do), your field spell (decent chance for this or terraforming), and 2 worm baits (heart of the cards, right there).

Summon a Krawler

Worm bait for two tokens

Then Field effect to summon the other Krawler face up

Link the Krawlers for Qualiark

Link tokens for Neurogos

Worm bait two more tokens

Link into Synaphysis or a 2nd Neurogos

With this field you have two open extra monster zones and the Neurogos in the middle is 2800 ATK with 2 attacks and can’t be destroyed by battle (or does 2x damage to monsters).

Now that is an extraordinary situation when you would have all of that available.

But the deck does have potential to turbo somewhat and something like Soul Charge can be brutal in this deck.

1 Krawler, 3 Multiplication of Ants, Soul Charge:

Summon Krawler

Tribute Krawler to use Ants

Tokens to Link (Neurogos or Synaphysis)

Tribute Link to use Ants

Tokens to Link (Neurogos or Synaphysis)

Tribute Link to use Ants

Tokens to Link (Neurogos or Synaphysis)

Soul Charge your Links and Krawler back

So there is a lot that can be done, it’s very easy to go into your links and make things happen. But the deck isn’t just the sum of it’s Link monsters, so why don’t we go through the rest of the cards.

OK, so Pawns is a continuous trap that facilitates your flips. Flip one of your monsters face up or shuffle a Krawler into the deck and flip one of your monsters face down. Only one effect per turn, only once per turn. So it’s pretty restrictive, I’d be less salty if the Krawlers flip effects were more powerful, but that’s not the case. They’re pretty standard flips which already have the “once per turn” built into them so I don’t see the need to have such a restrained support. If they didn’t have the “once per turn” and this didn’t have a “once per turn” – oh yeah, broken as hell. But that’s certainly not the case here. Still useful, i’d run it, but it’s not required by any means at 3 – maybe 2.

Now looking at the Krawlers themselves, lets cover all of the basics:

They’re all Lv. 2, Earth, Insect monsters

They’re all Flips (duh)

and they all have an effect that goes something like this:

Summon 2 Krawlers from the Deck to the field face down (except itself) if it’s removed from the field by an opponent’s card effect

Now your opponent is probably going to try to avoid that last one as much as possible by running them over – but that of course triggers World Legacy in Shadow – and then getting their monster ushered off the field.

So 500/1800 and it will pop a spell or trap. If he’s ejected you can special 2 Krawlers from the deck face down (except itself) and that’s a family effect found on all of the main deck Krawlers. The pop isn’t game-breaking, but it’ll find its uses and the summon is solid. You want them face down to get those flips and two for one is always a good deal. Also, the pop doesn’t specify face up or set – so you can trash whatever back-row you like.

Ranvier’s flip makes for a better “Monster Reincarnation”, a face down summon would’ve been better served, but I won’t fuss, sometimes you need resources in hand and he provides that. By maintaining resources and facilitating plays he’s a good addition. Flip Ranvier on your own turn, get a couple of Krawlers back, use Shadow to special one out. He’s a good piece to have in the mix.

Dendrite is a flip “Foolish Burial” .. I can live with that. GY set up is never a bad thing, you’re running copies of everything so you can spare it, you’re thinning your deck, and all of the Krawlers’ Links summon more Krawlers from GY. There’s no reason you wouldn’t want this resolving and i’m sorry, if you’re not running three of these then you’re not really playing YuGiOh.

Special a Krawler from hand or GY in attack (face up) or defense (face down) except this card. This can be handy. See, set this guy and get him flipped and blown up then you’ve got 3 for 1, that’s not bad at all. I see this guy at 3, easy. Plus if you can have this guy teamed up with Ranvier, he’s adding 2 Krawlers to the hand, Glial summons one, Shadow summons one, and you still have your normal summon (if you baited your opponent on your turn).

Receptor is your searcher, flip him or get him flipped and then cherry pick a Krawler from your deck. Then when he’s in the GY, get something else removed so you can do it all over again. With the toolbox-y nature of the Krawler flip effects it’s important to always have the right effects available. This facilitates that need – run 3.

And that leaves us with Spine, the brute of the group, sporting a bone-crushing 2100 DEF – okay, jokes aside, it’s not bad. He’ll likely get run over (Shadow!) but once and a while you might be able to catch someone off guard given how flimsy the stats on Krawlers are (generally speaking). He’s got a targeted pop on a monster, could be yours but why, once per turn. It’s slow, it targets, it’s not great. But again, you’ll probably get to steal a pop once an a while with this guy and the body is a boon.

But again, overview:

Pop back-row

Add 2 from GY to hand

Foolish Burial (and doesn’t specify Krawler, by the way)

specify Krawler, by the way) Special summon from hand

Add from deck to hand

Pop a monster

And they all special 2 from the Deck if they’re removed from the field by your opponent. I know i’m repeating myself but that’s a pretty solid spread all things considered.

It’s a quirky deck and God help me if you had to watch this deck actually go against Subterrors, but it’s a fun quirky and i’d probably better suited to someone really involved in the archetype or for casuals. But some cards to keep in mind would be…

World Armor can function as a Mini-Boss for your Krawlers, he can special summon from hand when you flip summon a monster. His 2500 is nothing to sneeze at and his “World Legacy” name adds to the count (since there are cards that count “World Legacy”). Also, that epic lore: this is the same card that appears in the field spell (overrun by Krawlers, no less).

Synergy! Banish that Armor from your hand or field and then you can Monster Reborn a pair of Krawlers (or anything else for that matter) from your GY. They can’t attack but that’s not a big deal because 2 Krawlers are all you need for a Link! Sucks that you have to banish that Armor, it wouldn’t be a big deal if you had a way to recycle him back.

So here’s how we recycle World Legacy cards. And you’ve got more of them than you’d think: 3x World Legacy in Shadow, maybe 2x World Legacy Pawns, a couple of World Legacy World Armors, World Legacy Landmark.

Lastly is another Link that flows quite well,

I don’t typically like diluting my archetypes, but this is just a little too good. It gains attack equal to the levels of the subterrors used to summon it x100 (boring!!). But it also allows you to:

Send a flip from your deck to GY if you do – special a monster face down into a space this points to

If a monster this card points to is flipped – add a flip from deck or GY

Why wouldn’t this be interesting?? It’s a 2000 ATK, Link-2 (which is right on pace) and requires two flip monsters. It’s not even out of the way to summon. Now would this potentially interfere with Qualiark? Perhaps. But perhaps you might not go into that (6) effect of Qualiark’s every game. The Subterror Link is nearly as fearsome in this deck as its own – the body is a decent size and he brings: milling, summoning, and searching/recursion. What’s not to love?

These cards play quite well together and you get a pretty coherent deck and I really think that it’s something worth checking out.