Krawlers, A Fundamental Guide.

It is the summer of 2017. The sky is dark with pendulous rainclouds, small spits of water falling upon a graveyard. After the post-master rule 3 disaster, many burials were occurring. We come to a congregation of humanoid creatures, all gathered around many freshly filled graves.

The elderly insectoid priest raises his scripture to the podium. His mandibles open with a click, as he begins to speak.

“We gather here today over the graves of our flip archetype ancestors to pay our respects and allow their spirits to pass into the extra deck.
Our dearest companions, who paved the way to our success, their bodies do lie still in their tombs, with their eternal rest but may they be in facedown defense position, to flip face up in the afterlife.

Blessed be, Konamus Moneus.”

A stranger, tall, dark, handsome. He steps in front of the congregates, a bouquet of deep red roses in his hand.

He speaks in a monotone drone: “Tragic. In their day, they may have even been tier one. May they rest in peace.” He lies the roses upon a headstone marked ‘ghostrick’
The stranger turns to leave, just as fast as he arrived. He is paused by a hand on his shoulder.

A woman. Frail and timid, and in the right light, slightly demonic. “Who are you? Did you share many memories with them as well?”

The man ponders solemnly.

“They were children to me, although naught but tools in their day. They gave me riches and fame. If given another chance, I would do it all over again, but right this time.”

A small tear rolls down his cheek, while the woman extends a kerchief towards him.

“Well, this little one here has no home.”

A small insectoid child peeks from behind the woman’s dress.

“Maybe you could take him in?” She suggests with a halfhearted smile.

The child, scared and young, timidly approaches the man and with a silent bow, he takes the child by the hand.

“What is your name, young one?” the man asks.

“umm… Krawler.” The boy squeaks out.

“I’m Konami” the man replies. “Let’s go home.”

Hey welcome to my Krawler guide.



Have you ever seen evidence of an angry god? Well Krawlers are here to bring forth the endophobic responses of your opponents in perhaps the most visceral flip deck known to man, while also lying just under the radar as to not provoke the wrath of komoney. As a personal note, I have no idea why these little dudes aren't seeing play. The absolute shenanigans this deck can pull off are somewhat vulgar and leave a bad taste in the mouths of opponents.

First up let's look at the ability that all krawlers have, their float effect.

If this face-up card in its owner's control leaves the field because of an opponent's card effect: You can Special Summon 2 "Krawler" monsters with different names from your Deck in face-down Defense Position, except "Krawler ----".

A few things to note here. Firstly, This effect specifies "leaves the field" so in that regard it is much like Unification of The Cubic Lords, So this will include -

• Destruction


• Banishment (Face up)


• Bounce to hand

Return to deck effects do not apply to this rule, as a card in the maindeck cannot activate it's own effect unless otherwise specified [source]. Do remember this for mirror matches or even if you just get cheated by that one friend who plays the deck. I don't blame you if you came here looking for how to beat krawlers if you were having trouble. We'll get to that later though.

Now the strengths of this are tenfold. If a krawler's flip effect on your field is negated and the monster destroyed by your opponent, it's other effect triggers and allows you to not only have the chance to swarm, but in essence, for your opponent to out-resource your removal and completely brick your field, they will have to either allow you to have your way with their field, or use two negates per monster. The main perk of krawlers is that if an opponent attempts to stop the wrong effect, they may only be helping you, and the deck is full of inherent +1's and really easy to gain a card advantage with.

With that out of the way, let's have a change of pace and look at the spells first.
The entire archetype plays really well with other flip archetypes, and most of that results from the field spell, World Legacy in Shadow. While not only being your additional summon engine, This card offers much in the way of protection and intimidation. While the 300 att/def buff may not seem to be much, Krawler Spine has an effective defense of 2400 with this card on the field, making for a pretty beefy level 2 that can soak an unexpected attack, as well as the effect of non-targeting send to graveyard removal on the battle destruction of a flip monster.

[Author's note: Please don't summon Blue-Eyes Chaos MAX Dragon against krawlers. No matter how hilarious it is to see it be thrown into the grave like trash. You're just embarrassing yourself.]

On the second effect, you get a free special summon from hand of a level 2 or lower insect monster in face up or face down defense position. Enough said. Run 3.

Next up is World Legacy Survivor, a normal spell card that lets you fill up your grave by excavating the top five cards and adding a "Krawler" or "World Legacy" card to your hand from them, and pitching the rest. Be mindful that you will not be able to special summon monsters from the extra deck except for link monsters (if you are summoning other than links, bully for you.) A really good card for adding consistency, and giving your monsters graveyard targets along with being able to dig for answers or the cheeky graveyard trap. Mandatory 3 of unless you are running a mixed variant hybrid build, then try running 1 or 2.

Next up are the traps, and boy are these great.

World Legacy Pawns is a continuous trap card that allows you to flip face down monsters face up, as well as letting you recycle krawlers from your graveyard back to your deck to flip them face down again. Sadly, a very hard once per turn and vulnerable to being targeted as it is a very easy destruction, and allows you to cheat out some flip effects. Personal choice is 3, but if you find yourself clogged, don't be afraid to drop it down to 2 or 1.

Now an odd mix, Crusadia Krawler serves three purposes in descending order:

• Summon to a zone a link monster points to search out a world legacy card


• Summon as emergency link material


• use during battle phase to block an attack

While the least expected 2'nd wave support for krawlers being a trap monster, it nestles it's way nicely into the deck at 3 or 2, being a good "plan-b" to whatever is going on at the time, or just to give our next card a target. Or even just to access Crusadia Spatha for some quick link fixes.

Finally for our traps we have World Legacy's Mind Meld (say that 3 times fast). While many of the support cards released for Krawlers revolved around their flip effects, this takes a drastic turn and sucker-punches your opponent in the face, forcing them to play the game the way you want to play it. This card is also one of the very few cards that change an opponent's monster's effect to something else. Mainly, you will be using this card to interrupt your opponent's handtrap or monster effect that would negate one of the flip effects of your buggo boyes, and force them to dig the hole they will die in. The card also has a graveyard effect that you can use to summon a krawler from hand, deck, or grav- sorry, GY to a zone a link points to. Personal testing has led me to saving it for when I lose a krawler link just to summon it again with the 2+ posse of little shitlins. A useful chain-block if you need to just get out the kids as well.

Run at 3 and verbally assault people who aren't.

Now we get to the monsters (finally). Keep in mind the generic effects that they have, as mentioning it every time is just a headache that nobody needs to feel.

First up we have our sweet children.

• Krawler Spine and Krawler Axon are sisters, not twins. Spine destroys a monster on flip while Axon destroys a spell/trap. Simple and easy, 2 each will suffice unless you find yourself hurting for more bugs.


• Krawler Glial is the recovery and main graveyard interaction of the deck. Mostly used to rush out the smaller friends from hand or recover a link back to the field. Run 3.


• Krawler Receptor (or receptionist if you have a sense of humor) Searches out your maindeck boys, and is great negate bait. almost always useful, it's good to run at 3 or 2.


• Krawler Ranvier is not only hard to say, but is great for recurring your spent links and graveyard monsters. The +2 to hand comes in handy when you need to have a summon + field spell play for the next turn. Personal choice of 2.


• Krawler Dendrite is a... unique monster. It allows you to send any monster from your deck to the grave. Normally just run it at 1, and if you need another, remember you don't have to summon Foolish Burial.

Oh, and our new baron of Up-Fuc*ery, Deus X-Krawler. Let me explain why this is one of the best cards in the archetype.

Deus (it's ok if i call you Deus, right?) is one beast of a bug. The first of it's kind, an effect monster that activates while face down, If it is targeted by an opponent's card or effect while it is face down, you can flip it face up to negate and destroy that card.

Quoth the raven - bitchin', man.

But that's not all. Oh no, there is much more. After the card is turned face up, Monster effects that are activated on the field are negated for your opponent. They cannot interact with your deck with monsters. Essentially a searchable Skill Drain without the banlist that doubles as a "don't touch me" Solemn Warning without a cost.

Finally it has a 3'rd effect that lets you search a level 9 when it is destroyed that isn't itself (different type and attribute). You won't be using that much, unless you're running that subterror or... Amaterasu? At that point, your actions are questionable, and you've made me very proud.

I normally run 2, just because he's summonable from deck and is inevitable if your opponent... you know... plays yugioh?

Finally for the in-archetype cards, we have the extra deck.

X-Krawler Qualiark, along with having the coolest middle-school shaking name, is your main boss monster for the extra deck in terms of flavor. In reality, he is a good starter piece, but loses out on the utility front to some of the other choices for starters like Subterror Behemoth Fiendess and the newly announced Seraphim Papillon. Great for if you are playing a pure deck though, as the more Krawler monsters you have on the board, the better they all are. This strategy is good only if your opponent can't shatter it like glass, otherwise, go hog wild kid. They're dead.

3 of just for the name, or 1 if you're not concerned.

Real talk though, two things of importance.

• You face the Crimson Nova Trinity the Dark Cubic Lord problem that I mentioned in my Fundamental Cubic Guide.

"At any point you could get him out, you should have won the game already. Let it be a sign that you are probably dragging things out beyond the capabilities of the Cubics themselves."
Qualiark is a great choice for starting, and offers a way to get out of the link zone, but if at any point you are relying on him for your endgame, you won't be able to recover from any sort of interruption. Always try to expect it and not encounter it, and not vice-versa. Similar to Nova Trinity, you shouldn't be gunning for him to be your endgame, as the unexpected happens. A lot. Survivability wins more games than brute force.

• The X-Krawler Extra deck monsters have a similar but wildly different effect than the kid Krawlers. This effect trades off the "from deck" in favor of "from graveyard" to summon, so make sure to not get shark'd because you get it mixed up. And in addition to the "removed by opponent's card" it also can trigger by being destroyed by battle. The summon from these cards also summon the monsters in face down, so you can't recur the links. All three of them have this, And mentioning every time will be tiresome, so keep that in mind.

Next is X-Krawler Neurogos. Note, this link requires two Insect monsters as material, so make use of that spent Man-Eater Bug or any other insect tech you throw in. In addition to being great protection as a pseudo Knightmare Phoenix, It boosts the attack and defense of whatever monster it points to by 300, and also doubles their battle damage. Two of these pointing at eachother like a spiderman meme make for a decent field if you are in a slow game where you need some time against a battle-phase deck. Easy 3 of.

For the same song but a different dance, X-Krawler Synaphysis also protects monsters from battle, and can be made with Earth monsters, so feel free to dump some subterror junk away if you need. The perk of this monster is that monsters it points to can make 2 attacks on monsters during the battle phase. Another 3 of.

Finally, we end on our tech cards.

Working our way down from the extra deck, we have Seraphim Papillon. This little butterfly is a new addition to the insect family, and requires 2+ monsters with different names. With three different krawlers, you have yourself a 2700 attack link 3 bug to start. By removing the counters it received as a quick effect, you can summon one of your sweet beans from the grave for additional link summons or to flip back face down with World Legacy Pawns. A great 2 of in the extra deck, just so if one gets dumpster'd by a solemn, the swarm will return and oH GOD IT HAS WINGS!!!

Saryuja Skull Dread. What, you wanted an explanation? Shut up and draw cards, scrub. All the good decks have a dragon in the extra deck. Run just 1.

Mekk-Knight Crusadia Avramax is a tricky lil *****. buy's you some time if you have some bricked link 2s on the field, as well as offering the slightest bit of removal once someone actually does something about it. A good gut check for stun and removal decks. I like it at 1.

Subterror Behemoth Fiendess. Pretty much a staple for any flip deck that is running on that whack earlygame stall. Great for if you just CAN'T get that field spell, assuming you survived turn 2. I like her at 1, since she's a tough ***** and isn't afraid to hide behind the Krawler's own problematic microaggressions.

Now for the controversial pick. Inzektor Picofalena (what is up with these bug names by the way?) is a good one of in this deck for the reason that krawler monsters don't specify that they have to be in the monster zones when they are removed by card effect to get their trigger to summon. Against decks with a good amount of mass S/T destruction, equipping one of your smaller boys from the deck may end up saving you the game if they just try to wipe the S/T zone. She also recycles 3 for a draw, so a good mid to lategame card to pull some of your insect links back into extra or bug babies into the deck for some added length to your combos.

Now my favorite part, the main deck tech.

As an absolute madman for actual trash nobody has touched in years, my loins quake for Ghost of a Grudge. This card is wild. Combined with Deus X-Krawler, you can brick your opponent's entire field warranting them to entirely set up again (without monster effects) while you swing in for pure level 2 insect attack damage. I run 2 just for the cheese, but if you can make 3 work, please call me.

Traptrick is just mean. Drop any of your traps minus Pawns from your deck and activate it. Then beat your opponent about the head and neck with some insect babies. 2 or 3 is great depending on the amount of asshole-ery you are feeling that day.

Chain Hole is the perfect amount of "no u" for that ash or whatever is on the field. If it's an extra deck monster, feel free to tell them Skarot sent you. Get some of this networking done for me. Run at 2 if you are seeing too many handtraps.

Ghostrick Scare. Perfect for the explosive play your heart desires in a flip deck. Run at two or three because I bought an Alucard themed mat 2 days before MR4 was announced. Don't my legacy die.

Terraforming (duh, 2)

For probably the only tech monster you will run in pure, Tindangle Angel holds a dear place in my flip decks just because "end the battle phase" is a real tilter for the enemy, and nothing pleases me more than watching my opponent's life drain from their eyes because of some 2 cent card I found in a bulk bin. run at 2 - 3 if you find yourself needing more face down summon cheese during the battle pha- oh wait its already main phase 2.

For those of you wondering, You can play a bunch of different things with krawlers as well, since they are just happy to be here honestly.

• Subterror Krawler Shaddoll is an odd 60 card variant I devised in a flip deck fever-dream. Consistency is surprisingly high, and for 3 options of endgame, you can't beat these prices.


• Prediction princess Krawlers is a fun deck if you like having rituals do all the work for you. 40 card normally, but everything is searchable, so don't be afraid to spit in the eye of pro-set deck standards.


• Krawler Cubics don't work. I tried. Laugh at my folly.


• Krawler Subterror stall is pretty fun as well, with the guru being out and all.

Anyways, thanks for coming to my ted-talk
Skarot out.