Subterror Krawler

So, just to start things off; this is part of a series I'm creating to explore as many Krawler builds as I can where I try to find unique synergies, new takes on existing lists, or tech choices that help the archetype out. This list takes inspiration from Federico H.C.'s Subterror List (March 2022 CSM Top 16). In this list, I included a few more floodgates and interruption tools to see if I could help the deck's consistency. If you find this deck interesting, or my description helpful, please leave a comment and check out the other Krawler decks in this series.

In each of these Krawler deck breakdowns, I like to talk about what Krawlers do well, what their weaknesses are, and how the other archetype(s) I splash synergize with the deck. Krawlers don't have a great normal summon. Krawler Soma, their most recent addition, is a fantastic special summon, but if you are playing pure Krawlers they often normal a level two in order to activate Soma's effect. Krawlers have a great variety of effects, making them very good at toolboxing scenarios. Krawlers can negate on-field monster effects with Deus X-Krawler, but have difficulty negating or surviving Spell/Trap effects. Subterrors have their own strengths and weaknesses. They usually have very weak extra-deck gameplay, not being able to flood the board very easily. They rely on having a board of face-down monsters to special summon the Subterror Behemoths using their inherent effect. Subterrors do have a great ability to search out Guru and Fiendess from the main deck, which flip other monsters face down and negate card or effect activation respectively. Combining these two archetypes produces a stronger and more cohesive deck than either part on its own. Krawlers, now with Soma, can readily access several extra-deck plays, while Subterrors can negate Spell/Trap effects that Krawlers usually struggle against. Subterrors have an amazing normal summon in Guru, especially if the field spell is in play, and they contain several search cards which are much faster than Krawler's search card (Receptor). Subterror's also benefit from having cards in the GY (Fiendess can summon from GY), which World Legacy Survivor can help with. The other, non-archetypal cards I'm including are here because they benefit both archetypes and promote our game plan. 

Here is our prefered opening and game plan: we find/draw Soma and The Hidden City. We use The Hidden City to search Subterror Guru, set Guru, and flip-up Guru using City. Use Guru's effect to search out Subterror Final Battle (we will search Subterror Fiendess on the opponent's turn), and summon Krawler Soma by flipping Guru face-down. From here we can make a few strong link monsters and set up a board before passing, or go into Utopic Draco Future with a set Ghostrick Scare, along with the other cards on board. This is what we want going first, but this list is much weaker going second. In the Side Deck I included a few cards that I would like to make work, but couldn't find a use for, but also a few board breakers that we will undoubtedly need going second. Dark Ruler No More is helpful, but we struggle to make Accesscode in one turn, and so perhaps Raigeki or Lightning Storm would be more useful. Also, seval Spright builds have been experimenting with Enemy Controller, and we can take advantage of this card as well! Its especially powerful to activate after we have used a flip-monster's effect, essentially tributing one of our dead cards to take control of one of the opponent's live ones.

We include Nibiru and Summon Limit as our main deck board breaker and floodgate, respectively. We can search Nibiru off of Small World, and we can use Nibiru to search Soma or Guru using Small World. We play World Legacy Survivor at 2 to lower our chances of drawing more than 1. Subterror Fiendess, usually played at 3, is at 2 in this list. I found myself ending games without using the third Fiendess most of the time, and it is incredibly easy to search. We are playing one-a-piece of Umastryx and Ultramafus. They both have very solid effects, and can be summoned fairly easily in this list, whether we send them to the GY to revive or summon off of Subterror Behemoth Fiendess. Morphing Jar #2 is primarily a Small World bridge, but it can be very effective at wiping a board and summoning face-down monsters for both players, which helps us and slows down our opponent. Subterror Succession is another search tool, and can turn Umastryx or Ultramafus into a Soma or Guru. Calamity Upon the Hidden City is just an excellent card for protecting our set monsters, floating on destruction, and boosting our flipped-face-up cards for game. We play 1 Mind Meld, which could be cut, but I like for openings in which we end on 2 set monsters and Qualiark. Subterror Nemesis Archer can remove hard to destroy monsters, and floats on destruction. Since it is so searchable, it feels fine to include, if a little clunky. A Side Deck card that I wanted to find a place for in the main, but struggle to justify, is Subterror Cave Clash. The recursion is great, but just a little too slow. We usually only have 2 attributes to banish for Accesscode Talker, but you could include another attribute like Pitknight Earlie if you so choose.

If you would like a combo guide, I can update this description, but for now I'm just going to give general descriptions of combo lines. Starting with Guru in hand is good, but starting with The Hidden City is much better. The Hidden City or Guru with a flip-enabler like Junk Sleep is a fine opening, though much weaker than one with Soma in hand. Soma enables us to use our extra deck, making an I:P Masquerena that can link with our other monsters once they flip face-up, or a Subterror Behemoth Fiendess that can fill the GY as well as summon a monster from hand, and sometimes gets to add a flip monster from deck or GY to hand! Gallant Granite can be made turn 2 with either two Gurus or Guru and Soma after Soma summons one monster. If we use World Legacy Survivor to search out Soma, we can only make link monsters for the rest of the turn, but if we use Small World or naturally draw Soma we can go into our Utopic Draco Future line. Soma summons two Krawlers from deck, one face-up and one face-down. Soma and the face-up mon XYZs summon for Ghostrick Socuteboss, and overlay for Angel of Mischief. Angel detatches Socuteboss for Ghostrick Shot, or Ghostrick Scare if you drew shot, and you use Shot to summon back Socuteboss who overlays for another Angel of Mischief. The new Angel detatches to search your remaining main-deck Ghostrick card, then you use the two Angels as material for Utopic Future, who then turns into Utopic Draco Future. Ending with UDF, 2 set monsters, and 2 set Spell/Traps (if your first monster was Guru) really turns on your deck's ability to interract on the opponent's turn. As long as we have Guru, and often another monster, face-down with one or more flip enabling Traps, we can extend our plays on the opponent's turn.

We have Fiendess/a Subterror Behemoth in hand: In their Draw/Standby phase we flip up Guru with Final Battle, searching Fiendess or a Behemoth. We use Fiendess to negate an effect and flip down Guru, which will summon the Behemoth from hand if we contain no face-up cards (if you have Qualiark, you can get it off field with Mind Meld). We can then activate our Junk Sleep/Ghostrick Scare to flip Guru and our other face-down card face-up, activating the other card's effect and setting up Guru to use it's ability to flip itself and another card (usually the opponent's) face-down.

Small World Lines:

starter  ->  bridge  ->  goal  (note, you can reverse all of these {goal  ->  bridge  ->  starter)

Any Krawler / Subterror Guru / Nibiru/ Lord of the Heavenly Prison  ->  Morphing Jar #2  ->  Any Krawler / Subterror Guru / Nibiru / LotHP

Subterror Behemoth Ultramafus / Umastryx  ->  Morphing Jar #2  ->  Any Krawler / Subterror Guru / Nibiru / LotHP

Ultramafus / Morhping Jar #2  ->  Nibiru  ->  LotHP

Any Krawler / Subterror Fiendess / Subterror Behemoths  ->  Subterror Nemesis Archer  ->  Any Krawler / Fiendess / Behemoths

Morphing Jar #2  ->  Guru / Nemesis Archer / Fiendess  ->  Almost any Krawler (mainly Soma) / Behemoths

Nibiru  ->  Ultramafus  ->  Any Krawler (except Axon) / Fiendess / Nemesis Archer / Morphing Jar #2

I hope this list is interesting, and that you found my writeup informative and enjoyable! Please let me know what your thoughts are in the comments; this is far from a solved deck, and with your help we can get closer to an optimal list! Hope you have a great day!