The basic strategy of a Krawler deck involves playing defensively while slowly but surely building up resources. Their FLIP effects disrupt your opponent, gather or recover cards, and help swarm, and if your opponent decides to negate one, they'll probably do so with a card that also destroys, triggering their powerful effects to swarm further directly from the deck. As you build up resources, you can spend them on their Link Monsters, which turn these innocent insects into powerful attackers with stacking buff effects, and if your opponent does deal with them, you get the resources you spent to make them back.
Some specific techs of note in detail:
- Block Spider can be Special Summoned by the effect of World Legacy in Shadow, triggering its effect for a cheap Link or an attack lock.
- Scapegoat, besides just being general Link assistance, is usfeul for a specific combo: use one Sheep Token to create Link Spider in the Extra Monster Zone, then two more tokens for X-Krawler Synaphysis beneath it, then the Spider and your last token for a second Synaphysis next to it. Their effects affect each other, and the Extra Monster Zone is free to put something else with down-facing arrows in there.
- It's worth noting that besides other Krawlers, Verdant Sanctuary can also search Maxx "C".
- Lose 1 Turn may seem out of place, but with how slow-paced the deck is, Link Monsters remaining in ATK position, and a lot of action happening on your opponent's turn, it hinders you little enough to be worth using it against a Special Summon heavy opponent.
As Side Decks are largely dependent on what you expect to face, I've opted to use it to illustrate other options instead. Besides extra Krawlers for tweaking ratios to taste, and Book of Eclipse - which can blow out certain match-ups but is near-worthless against Link-heavy decks - it contains some spicy techs.
- Karakuri Strategist mdl 248 "Nishipachi" is a Level 3 Tuner that can get you to Naturia Beast with only 1 Krawler non-Tuner, as well as flipping a face-down Krawler to apply its effect. However, the deck can't afford any more Normal Summons.
- Junk Synchron can revive a Krawler to make Junk Warrior, which can gain ATK from any Krawlers you control. This is nothing more than a meme.
- Speaking of memes, Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier can theoretically be summoned with 3-4 Krawlers and any of the deck's odd-leveled Tuners.
- Inzektor Picofarena can help recover resources, as well as an interesting interaction with the Krawlers' floating - it works from the Spell/Trap zone. In addition, you can play actual Inzektors for their effects, and they can be summoned from the deck by tributing a Krawler with Insect Imitation.
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