So here we go, expierementing with a ritual deck. Here's Drytons, with a lot of the pieces taken from Eric Meadow's article. His article was a great help for this, so go check it out: https://ygoprodeck.com/drytron-your-guide-to-the-ritual-monster-galaxy/ Back on topic, this is more so an in depth guide on my deck with a playing guide.
Deck list
2x Gamma- Gamma is one of the first smaller Drytons, this time capable of reviving Drytons from the gave. This is great for extending plays as you can use Drytons you already used for ritual summons and the like. I opted to run it at 2 because it could be bricky at 3, although some variants can run it at 3.
2x Alpha- Alpha searches out our ritual monsters, although not just the Drytons, but any ritual. That effect makes it amazing, as it can snatch up any ritual neccesary. I opted to run at 2 for ratio reasons, but in a deck trying to run more regular monsters, Alpha should be run at 3.
1x Beta- Beta recovers cards banished by Draconids and Quadrantis, making it fairly good for recovering resources mid to late game. Although, you want to draw into this card after using their effects, so Beta is best at 1.
1x Delta- Delta, at the cost of revealing a card the opponent will probably already be expecting us to have, allows us to draw a card. This can be fairly good as long as we get a nice top deck.
1x Zeta- Zeta, as the parralel to Alpha, searches out any ritual spell. Although we're only running 1 ritual spell, this is still a great effect for searching it out.
3x Manju- Manju is the deck's only normal summon, which you'll want to do before you go through the minituare Drytons, as they lock you out of the normal summon for the rest of the turn. Manju gives you a ritual or a spell, basically filling in the gaps of your hand and giving you whatever you need.
3x Dawn Knight- Dawn Knight is a very interesting card in this deck. The core idea of it is to summon Union Carrier, and equip it to Union Carrier, then tribute the Union Carrier for a ritual. Since Dawn Knight was equipped, it'll go to the grave and send a card. It's basically a long winded but still great foolish burial. This combo is quite strong and reliable, although in emergency situations you can normal summon Dawn Knight and tribute him directly for a ritual to get his search.
3x Draconids- Draconids is basically the deck's boss monster, and a fantastic one at that. It's a 4k beater that's easy to get out, since the miniature Dryton's add up to 4k without a problem. It's also able to banish monsters from the grave to send an opponents monster. While it does target, sending it directly to the grave is great, as it dodges tons of destruction effects. Draconids also has monster eff protection, which helps it dodge a lot of the plentiful monster negates and such in the current meta.
2x Quadrantids- Quadrantids is basically a secondary boss monster, as I prefer Draconids to it, but it's still fairly strong. Quadrantids has a Harpie's Feather Duster effect, which doesn't target, making it a great counter to decks like Altergeist (get fucked Doug Dzeef). It also has protection against spells and traps, dodging cards like Imperm. And, on destruction, it specials Dryton's from grave who's attack equal 4000.
1x Brionac- Brionac is the first card of the small Nekroz package. Brionac removes extra deck special summoned monsters, which can clear out problem monsters from the field or draw out negates. It can also discard to search out a Nekroz card in order to fill in the gaps of your current hand.
2x Unicore- Unicore negates all effects of extra deck special summoned monsters on the field, which makes it a fantastic one sided Skill Drain on legs. In addition, it can discard itself to add back a Nekroz from your GY, recovering valuable resources.
2x Trishula- Trishula banishes cards from the opponent's hand, field, and grave, all without targeting, making it a fantastic card for removal. Afterwards, it's just a 27k beater to OTK alongside Draconids. Although, it can also discard itself to protect a Nekroz from an opponent's card, which can help protect something weaker like a Unicore or Brionac.
2x Natasha- Natasha is the only Cyber Angel card in here, as I decided to cut down on the amount of Cyber Angels that were originally chosen in the article, in favor of more splashable Nekroz. Anyway, Natasha's on field effects are very forgettable and not worth mentioning. in the grave, though, she can banish another Natasha to ss herself and take control of an opponent's card with no downsides. This effect is amazing, as it's a Snatch Steal on legs with no downsides. It's easy to get multiple copies of Natasha in the grave, with Dawn Knight, Foolish Burial, and using her as fodder for Ritual summons, so that makes this effect even better.
2x Sauvaris- Sauvaris is a fantastic ritual hand trap that helps to protect your monsters from destruction. While it's rarely summoned, though, it can be summoned going first for a more control oriented style. You can bounce it back to the hand in order to negate a important summon, crippling many combos as long as you know what you're doing.
3x Meteonis- Meteonis is a key card for the deck, as it can summon literally any ritual, not just Drytons. Meteonis also uses monster's attack, not levels, which makes it easier to use cards like Union Carrier for the Dawn Knight combo and such. Meteonis can also recycle itself, by removing 1000 attack from one of your Drytons to bounce it back to your hand.
3x Fafnir- Fafnir is the archetype's obligatory field spell, and one that reminds me of Magical Meltdown somewhat. It adds a Drytron spell upon activation, making it another layer of consistency to get out either Nova or Meteonis. It also adds on another layer of protection for you, making it so ritual spells can't be negated. And, it also allows you to lower the level of monsters by every 1000 attack they have. The last effect, i'm not sure of how to use it, but i'm sure it has a good use in some gimmick.
3x Nova- Nova is another fantastic card for the deck. It allows you to special Dryton's from deck, including the rituals. of course, you'll most likely be wanting to special out the miniature Drytron's, as it allows you to get out more ritual fodder much easier. Although, the only restriction of Nova is that they're destroyed in the end phase. So, you could very well special out a big Quadrantis to get in extra damage, and then you get it's destruction effect in the end phase.
2x Asterism- Asterism is a fairly good piece of monster removal for the deck. You can remove 1000 attack from any Ritual, not just Drytons, to pop an opponent's card. You can easily remove 1000 from one of your worse Nekroz or something less valuable to pop an opponent's boss monster, clearing the board for an OTK alongside Draconid's monster removal.
1x Foolish Burial- Foolish Burial serves as simple graveyard set up, sending either a Natasha for the Snatch Steal eff, or sending whatever minituar Drytron you need to get their SS from grave.
1x Monster Reborn- Monster Reborn is basically insurance as you can revive your rituals and revive the minituare Drytrons to extend plays, getting them out easier than their weird tributing effects.
3x Extrav- Extrav is the deck's main draw power. The extra deck barely matters, aside from Union, so it's just banish fodder.
The extra deck
3x Apollousa- Apollousa is basically just banish fodder. I don't get why you would summon this, as getting out 4 monster sin this deck is insanely hard, but even if you get out 4 you'd rather use them for a ritual than anything. Just banish it
3x Union Carrier- Union Carrier combos with Dawn Knight, which I explained earlier, but i'll explain again. Since Dawn Knight sends when it leaves the field, you'll want to summon Union Carrier and equip it with Dawn Knight. Union Carrier is of the perfect attack stat to be tributed for a ritual, so you tribute him off for a ritual. You then get the search of Dawn Knight, since it was equipped, and send either a Natasha or a miniature Drytron. Remember to shuffle your extra deck heavily when using Extrav, so you don't banish all copies of Union Carrier.
1x Linkuriboh- banish
1x Secure Gardna- banish
1x Nyarla- funny XYZ
Playing guide
After screwing around with this deck, i've come up with somewhat of a strategy. Some of it is taken from the article, but a lot of it is of my own. Basically, you'll first want to normal summon Manju and get off it's search, grabbing whatever you need. Afterwards, you'll want to use the miniature Drytron's effects to **** them out and get enough out to make tons of Rituals. Then, link-2 into Union Carrier if you have Dawn Knight in hand. Equip the Union Carrier with Dawn Knight, then tribute the Union Carrier along with others for a ritual. That'll get Dawn Knight's search, and you can send either a Natasha if you foolished one earlier or send a miniature Drytron for more combos. Then, simply go into a Nekroz or two to remove as many cards from the opponent's board as possible, and then hit the field with Draconids. Rinse and repeat until you OTK.
Things to note: The side deck is up to you, although I included the Drytron's trap because it's only really useful going first, to control the opponent's board. You'll want to not use it going second, as it's probably a dead card then.
Any suggestions or feedback is appreciated. Thank you, have a good day!
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