Dinoruffia has recently been announced by Konami, and it's challenging a philosophy that duelists have been reiterating. "Life points are just a resource." In modern Yu-Gi-Oh!, close to nobody really cares about life points. Cards like Solemn Judgment and Solemn Strike feel like they don't really have a cost or downside. You stop your opponents' best cards for a measly cost of half your life points. Does it matter? Not really, unless you're going into time. You just win if you set up a decent board backed up with these cards. Today let's examine an archetype that pushes this idea to the limit.
Dinoruffia Main Deck Monsters
We start with Dinoruffia Therizia. She's the Marionetter of the deck, which is always nice! Not only that, but special summoning also procs her effect, which is a sweet added bonus. On top of that, she has a second effect - a floating one. This recurs throughout the archetype, which is cool for plusses AND is also thematic to Dinosaurs since they proc when destroyed. Therizia summons a level 4 or lower monster from the GY if she's destroyed, by banishing 1 trap (any trap) from the graveyard.
So who does Therizia summon? That would be Dinoruffia Diplos. Yes, as of writing, there are only 2 main-deck Dinoruffia monsters. (Well, you could say 9 since Fossil Dig is still a thing). If Therizia sets a trap directly from the deck, Diplos sends a card from the deck to the GY. This is a little bit underwhelming but still gets your GY setup, which as you'll find out later, is essential to the archetype. Of course, he also has the floating effect on destruction.
Dinoruffia Fusions
Dinoruffia Stealthbegia is a key part of the deck. It makes it so that if your life points are 2000 or less, you don't need to pay life points to activate Trap cards or Dinoruffia monster effects. Yes, that includes generic traps like Judgment and Strike! Its other effect is kind of meh, as it only deals damage when an opponent's monster activates its effect.
Dinoruffia Kentregina has 4000 ATK. I just wanted to get it out there. It's scary to see a level 6 monster have that much ATK, but it does lose some equal to your current life points. She has a very interesting effect, where you need to pay half your life points and banish a Dinoruffia normal trap from the grave. This allows the effect to copy that of the banished trap. The interesting thing, as you'll see later, is that a trap can fusion summon using materials from the deck! Oh and yes... she also floats. You could probably consider Kentregina to be the boss monster of the archetype, and she does look pretty badass!
Not your Normal Traps
Dinoruffia Domain is probably the best trap of the archetype. This bad boy fusion summons using materials from the hand, field, or DECK (after you pay half your LP)! I mean that's crazy, in and of itself already, but it's even better when you take into consideration that Kentregina can get this effect a second time on your opponent's turn! Also, it has another effect wherein if you're 2000 LP or less and your opponent activates a card/effect, you can banish it to prevent damage from opponents' card effects that turn. This is recurring in the normal Dinoruffia traps.
Modern Yu-Gi-Oh! has shifted to a more interruption-oriented meta instead of several hard negates. Dinoruffia Brute fits the bill in that regard. It's like a watered-down Sudden Shift in that you destroy 1 Dinoruffia monster you control and 1 card in your opponent's field (... after you pay half). This is always nice, as you can choose when to disrupt your opponent. Better hit that chokepoint! It also has the recurring effect of damage protection.
Dinoruffia Alert is a bit of a slower one. Doesn't do anything off the bat, but it's insane in the grind game. Being able to bring back 2 monsters from the grave (after you pay half) is a pretty insane follow-up! That's pretty much it, however, aside from the recurring effect of damage protection.
Dinoruffia Counter Traps
This is where it starts to get juicy. Dinoruffia Reversion has an effect unlike any we've seen before. Okay, I lied, there are similarities to other cards, but come on! Copying a counter trap? That's insane! You do still need to pay half, banish the counter trap from the grave AND control a Dinoruffia fusion monster. It also has a recurring damage protection, but this time from battle damage!
What does every trap deck crave? A searchable spell/trap negate! Dinoruffia Sonic brings just that. It does also require setup since you need to control a Dinoruffia monster that you'd need to destroy after the negation, but that's easy! And yes, it destroys, so you'll float into another one, no problem. Other than that, it's just the banish to prevent battle damage.
Dinoruffia Shell is on the weaker side of the spectrum. You pay half to summon a chunky token... That's pretty much it. I'm not sure if it's even worth THINKING about playing.
Tech Cards
Lithium showcased Hope for Escape in his Dinoruffia video, and while I don't necessarily like it, it still can draw you three cards!
Back Jack is an interesting one. Usually, you want to see normal traps. Well, you do want to see your normal traps, especially Domain and Brute. That being said, if you excavate a counter trap and send it to the grave, it's not even bad! Reversion can copy that counter trap's effect! Definitely, something to keep an eye on.
You already have an in-archetype S/T negation, but more layers of protection can't hurt. King of the Sky Prison is a staple for control decks, and Dinoruffia is one, so you could definitely squeeze this in the main or side.
Some Dragon lists play Rivalry of Warlords, and for good reason. If Tri-Brigade is still one of the, if not the best, decks of the format when Dinoruffia arrives in the TCG, Rivalry definitely commands at least some testing. All you run are dinosaurs, so might as well tech it in!
You don't really care about your life points, and you don't really have a lot of normal summons. Cyber-stein can definitely be a spicy option for the deck. Ready to bust out Naturia Exterio for 'free'? I sure am!
Domain summons Kentregina, which can then banish Domain from the graveyard to summon Stealthbegia. It's a 1-card full engine access! If you're going for the trap heavy build (which you probably should), Trap Trick is going to do wonders.
Potential Synergies?
Nadir Servant still is a 1-card Schism into Winda. If the Dogmatika engine is still available to use as a crutch for rogue decks, why not use it? As boring as it is, it does win a lot of games on its own.
Everybody hates it. But Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon is still an extremely good card. An instant boss monster that can negate practically anything and puts immense pressure on board. In addition to that, you don't always need your normal summon. You could just use Domain to summon Kentregina then use her effect to get to Stealthbegia. Seems like a win to me.
Evil Twins get their Link-4 soon and is a pretty decent, compact archetype. It's a 1-card combo that discards, destroys, and draws. Having extra normal summons backed with Domain and/or other traps could potentially be devastating against other decks. After all, having your interruptions in both monster and trap forms has proven to be a good recipe for success in modern Yu-Gi-Oh!
Conclusion
Dinoruffia appears to be a Rogue-level deck as of the moment, but it does have good promise. The life point gimmick is a little tricky and could definitely backfire and end your games quickly. However, it has some strong cards that could just be being slept on as of the moment (like Tri-Brigade Revolt was).
One decent support and this deck could definitely jump to Tier 2 control deck status and steal some games and maybe some tops. It's extremely fun to build and play, as there's a myriad of options to choose from. Just be careful not to pay half too much!
