Traptrix

"Traptrix" (蟲 (こ) 惑 (わく) 魔 (ま) Kowakuma) is an archetype of Level/Rank 4 female EARTH monsters of both Plant and Insect type that debuted in Judgment of the Light and are used by Ageha Yusa in Yu-Gi-Oh! OCG Structures.

"Traptrix Trap Hole Nightmare", "Traptrip Garden" and "Traptantalizing Tune" are not part of the "Traptrix" archetype because they do not have「蟲 (こ) 惑 (わく) 魔 (ま) 」in their Japanese names.

Etymology[]

With the exception of "Traptrix Sera", "Traptrix Atypus", and "Traptrix Cularia", who are Link Monsters, the ATK and DEF of each monster totals up to 2800. They have the appearance of young girls in their own artworks, but the artwork of "Traptrix Trap Hole Nightmare" suggests the girls are either vicious creatures in disguise or bait to lure prey for their pets. They may be based on the concept of aggressive mimicry, where predators or parasites use harmless appearances to lure in prey.

The Dueling Guide that came with the Structure Deck: Beware of Traptrix confirms this as it states "The Traptrix are mysterious creatures that live deep in the southern forests and prey on organisms that wander too close." and "Traptrix capture prey that is lured by their attractive appearance."

The artwork of "Trap Trick" also seem to imply that the girls would lure potential victims into the various Trap Holes. Evidence of this can be found on the artwork of Terrifying Trap Hole Nightmare. Remains of their prey can be seen in the artworks of "Dionaea", "Genlisea", "Holeutea", "Rafflesia", "Pinguicula" and the trap "Trap Tracks".

With the exception of "Traptrix Rafflesia", which is based on a parasitic plant, the pets/true forms of the "Traptrix" girls are based on carnivorous plants, insects or arachnids known for using holes to trap their prey:

Members[]

Traptrix	ATK/DEF	Insect/Plant	"Hole" Supporting Effect (other than being unaffected)	"Traptrix" Supporting Effect
Allomerus	2200/600	Allomerus	If a monster(s) your opponent controls leaves the field because of your card effect, and is now in the GY or banished: You can detach 1 material from this card, then target 1 of those monsters; Special Summon it to your field.	You can detach 2 materials from this card; Special Summon 1 Level 4 Insect or Plant monster from your GY.
Arachnocampa	1300/1500	New Zealand Glowworm	The first time each Set card in your Spell & Trap Zone would be destroyed by card effect each turn, it is not destroyed.	Once per turn, if you control a "Traptrix" monster, you can Special Summon this card from your hand during the Main Phase, also you can only summon Plant or Insect monsters from your Extra Deck for the rest of the turn.
Atrax	1800/1000	Australian Funnel-web Spider	You can activate "Hole" Normal Trap Cards from your hand. The activation and effects of Normal Trap Cards activated on your side of the field cannot be negated.
Atypus	1800/-	Purseweb Spider	All "Traptrix" monsters you control gain 1000 ATK while a Normal Trap is in your GY. Once per turn, you can target face-up cards your opponent controls equal to the number of Plant and Insect monsters you control and negate their effects until the end of the turn. You can then banish one Normal Trap from your GY to destroy one of the targeted face-up cards.
Cularia	1800/-	Sanderson's Bladderwort	After activating a "Hole" Trap Card, you can Set it instead of sending it to the Graveyard.	You can Special Summon one "Traptrix" monster from your Graveyard in Defense Position during your End Phase.
Dionaea	1700/1100	Venus Flytrap	If Special Summoned, target 1 "Hole" Normal Trap Card in your Graveyard; Set that target, but banish it during the End Phase of your next turn if it is still on the field.	If Normal Summoned, target 1 "Traptrix" monster in your GY; Special Summon that target in Defense Position.
Genlisea	1200/1600	Corkscrew Plant	You can Tribute this card; Set 2 "Hole" Normal Traps with different names, 1 from your Deck, and 1 from your GY, but banish them when they leave the field.
Holeutea	400/2400	Hortaea	You can activate this card the turn it was Set by discarding 1 Normal Trap.	You can banish this card from your GY, then target 1 "Traptrix" monster in your GY; Special Summon it.
Mantis	1500/1300	Pink Orchid Mantis	Once per turn (Quick Effect): Target 1 Set Spell/Trap you control; return that target to the hand, then you can Set 1 Spell/Trap from your hand.	When Normal Summoned, add 1 "Traptrix" monster from your Deck to your hand.
Myrmeleo	1600/1200	Antlion	If Normal Summoned, add 1 "Hole" Normal Trap Card from your Deck to your hand. If Special Summoned, Destroy 1 Spell/Trap Card your opponent controls.
Nepenthes	800/2000	Tropical Pitcher Plant	If you activate a "Hole" Normal Trap Card (except during the Damage Step), Special Summon or add to the hand 1 "Traptrix" monster except "Traptrix Nepenthes".
Pinguicula	2500/300	Butterwort	While with materials, also unaffected by activated effects of the same type as the materials. If your opponent's monster(s) is sent to the GY or banished by a card effect, you can attach one to Pinguicula as material.	Once per turn, You can detach 1 material to add 1 "Traptrix" card from the Deck to your hand.
Pudica	900/1900	Underground Pitcher Plant		If Normal Summoned, once per turn you can add one "Traptrip Garden" from the Deck to your hand. If Special Summoned, once per turn you can target one opponent's Special Summoned monster and banish it. If you do, your opponent can Special Summon one of their banished monsters during the next Standby Phase.
Rafflesia	300/2500	Rafflesia	Once per turn, (Quick Effect): detach 1 Xyz Material and send 1 "Hole" Normal Trap Card that meets its activation conditions from your Deck to the GY; this effect becomes that Trap Card's effect when that card is activated.	"Traptrix" monsters cannot be targeted by your opponent nor be destroyed by battle or card effects.
Sera	800/-	Sundew	If a Normal Trap Card is activated: Special Summon 1 "Traptrix" monster from your Deck, with a name different from the cards you control. If your other "Traptrix" monster's effect is activated: You can Set 1 "Hole" Normal Trap directly from your Deck.
Vesiculo	1400/1400	Waterwheel Plant	You can send one of your Set Traps to the GY to Special Summon this card from your hand, or if you have no cards in your Spell and Trap Zone, you can banish this card from your GY to set one "Hole" Normal Trap from your GY to your field.

Playing style[]

The archetype is centered around using "Trap Hole" and "Hole" cards to activate various effects. Each "Traptrix" is immune to "Trap Hole" cards themselves, while also adding support by tutoring "Trap Holes" or each other. Their Xyz Monsters are immune to all Traps while they have material, and their Link Monsters are immune to all Traps regardless. With these traits, a "Traptrix" deck will usually have good opening moves, since they can react quickly against virtually any monster your opponent may Summon.

Note that "Traptrix Atrax" also extends her anti-negation protection to other Normal Traps, so the Deck can also run "Mirror Force", "Dimensional Prison", and even make a temporary one-sided anti-Trap lock using "Trap Stun".

Further useful yet indirect support exists for the archetype through the use of their types. Insect and Plant support cards may be sufficient to satisfy the deck's hunger for competitiveness. An example to this is "Gigaplant", "Beetron" and "Lonefire Blossom". Also the fact that they are all EARTH monsters are useful since "Grandsoil the Elemental Lord" or "Gigantes" can fit in to support them further.

Due to their reliance on numerous Trap Cards, "Traptrix" is most suitable as an Anti-Meta strategy, by controlling the Field by using Traps and slowly gaining resource via either “Traptrix Allomerus”, “Traptrix Sera”, "Traptrix Myrmeleo", "Traptrix Mantis", and "Traptrix Nepenthes", while at the same time grinding out your opponent's resources. "Traptrix Myrmeleo" can also be splashed in other decks, along with "Traptrix Trap Hole Nightmare" and other "Trap Hole" cards for covering the Deck's weaknesses and giving a little defense boost. "Traptrix Dionaea" can revive a "Traptrix" monster upon being Normal Summoned, which sets up Xyz Summons and can trigger the effect of "Myrmeleo"; it also can set a "Hole" Normal Trap Card from the Graveyard when it is Special Summoned.

H.A.T.[]

The acronym stands for "Hands-Artifact-Traptrix". Depending on whom you inquire, it may be seen as a Meta or an anti-Meta Deck. The idea is to utilize "Fire Hand" and "Ice Hand"; "Artifact Scythe" and/or "Artifact Moralltach" alongside "Artifact Sanctum", sometimes "Artifact Ignition", and "Traptrix Dionaea" and/or "Traptrix Myrmeleo" alongside "Bottomless Trap Hole", "Traptrix Trap Hole Nightmare", "Time-Space Trap Hole" and/or "Void Trap Hole". The "Hands" provide floaters and spot removal; the "Artifacts" provide disruption; and the "Traptrix" provide backrow support and the occasional Xyz Summon via "Dionaea". This deck saw a great success by placing 2nd in 2014 Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship.

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Weaknesses[]

Due to their heavy dependence on "Hole" Trap Cards, en masse Spell/Trap removal will easily bump off these Decks. Similarly "Royal Decree", "Jinzo", "Jinzo - Lord", "Forced Ceasefire", "Dark Simorgh" and similar "anti-trap" cards can severely hinder the Deck unless you control a face-up "Traptrix Atrax", who prevents the activation AND effects of your Trap Cards from being negated. Also, any Decks that running "Forbidden Lance" (or Decks that runs any "unaffected by trap" monsters such as "Troposphere") can evade their Traps easily and still destroy their monsters, making them quite a nuisance.

"Denko Sekka" proves to be horrendous for "Traptrix" decks, preventing almost all Trap cards the deck can utilize useless. Cards that can negate Normal Summons like "Solemn Warning" can help along with cards that can remove "Denko" easily or can negate her effects. "Atrax" can also remove her easily by just activating a "Hole" Trap card from the hand to destroy her or set her face-down with "Bottomless Trap Hole" and "Floodgate Trap Hole", respectively.

Since most of the "Hole" cards can only be activated upon a monster's Summon, "Traptrix"-based Decks may have difficulties against decks that designed to have a large set-up quickly (this is more apparent if you go second), such as against "Karakuri", "Dragunity" and "Six Samurai" Decks. To remedy this, mass-removal cards such as "Mirror Force", "Storming Mirror Force", and "Blazing Mirror Force" are highly recommended. You may also want to fit a few Counter Trap Cards (or even "Breakthrough Skill") to handle a monster with anti-destruction ability, such as "Stardust Dragon" (in case you cannot have "Traptrix Atrax" quickly).

Finally, "Traptrix" monsters have low ATK and DEF and without the proper "Hole" cards backing them up, they can easily be dispatched by well constructed Beatdown Decks and most Meta Xyz and Synchro Monsters.