Ragnaraika is back to bug you!
Replays:
Strategic Summary:
Today’s Creative Deck Profile features the return of the Ragnaraika theme (previously translated as Raika) to my channel! This archetype combines Insects, Plants, and Reptiles into one cohesive Link Summoning strategy that reduces, reuses, and recycles its cards. How you ask? Well, whenever any of their Link Monsters are in the GY, such as Ragnaraika Skeletal Soldier, they can shuffle an Insect/Reptile/Plant from your field back into the Deck to Special Summon itself. In particular, this works extremely well with Serpentine Princess, who has a trigger effect when you do so, letting you Special Summon any Level 3 or lower monster from your Deck. While I’ve covered this archetype in a more Plant-focused approach last time around (see my video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MpPPlclVlg), this time, I’m focusing more on Insect-Type support cards, to spread the love around! To that end, Resonance Insect is really the star, so I’ll start with it. Whenever Resonance Insect is sent from the Field to the GY, you get to tutor a Level 5 or higher Insect. So, the goal here is to use it as Link material for your Ragnaraika summons, as many times as possible, tutoring things like Doom Dozer or Heavy Beetrooper Mighty Neptune along the way to extend your summons. Neptune isn’t the only Beetrooper here, as Beetrooper Scout Buggy, Beetrooper Scale Bomber, Beetrooper Assault Roller, and Beetrooper Sting Lancer all share an affinity for Special Summoning extra monsters to use for Link Summons.
Now that we’ve thoroughly covered the outside support, let’s hone in on the actual Ragnaraika cards. First up is Ragnaraika the Evil Seed, a Level 1 Plant that tutors 2 Ragnaraika cards on summon, before making you banish a card from the hand. This goes hand-in-hand with the theme’s Continuous Spell, Ragnaraika Bloom, which lets you Special Summon a Ragnaraika from your GY or banishment each turn. Second is Ragnaraika Samurai Beetle, which lets you Special Summon any Insect/Reptile/Plant from your GY when used as Link Material for a Ragnaraika summon. The last one I’ll cover today is the new Ragnaraika no Himejanome (YGOrg Translation), a Level 4 Insect that when banished, applies a lingering effect to let you draw a card for each Insect/Plant/Reptile you control with a different Type during the End Phase. In most turns, that will be 3 free draws to fuel your future turns. Speaking of future turns, this deck has plenty of tools to stall the duel, whether it is from its helper themes in Traptrix Trap Hole Nightmare or Beetrooper Fly & Sting, to the Ragnaraika cards themselves with Ragnaraika Hunting Dance. The last card is tutored every so easily from the deck via Ragnaraika Monk Mantis, their LINK-3 Insect. For the other Links of note, Ragnaraika Stag Sovereign is the theme’s LINK-5, and it gets to destroy 2 monsters on the field whenever a monster is Special Summoned from the opponent’s Deck or Extra Deck. And lastly we have Ragnaraika Chain Coils, the LINK-4, which prevents the activation of the effects of monsters in either hand, once your opponent activates any monster effect. These tools combine together into one solid Link climbing strategy. Live life by the stinger, with the Ragnaraika!
Provided Decklist:
Monsters: 30
| Beargram, Shelled Emperor of the Forest Crown
| Heavy Beetrooper Mighty Neptune
| Doom Dozer
| Humongous Hive Hegemon – Zexstagger
| Beetrooper Sting Lancer
|| Raika no Himejanome
| Beetrooper Assault Roller
| Traptrix Mantis
||| Serpentine Princess
| Traptrix Arachnocampa
||| Resonance Insect
|| Ragnaraika Armored Lizard
|| Rikka Princess
||| Ragnaraika Samurai Beetle
| Beetrooper Scale Bomber
| Gokipole
|| Beetrooper Scout Buggy
||| Ragnaraika the Evil SeedSpells: 6
| Instant Fusion
| One for One
||| Ragnaraika Bloom
| Beetrooper FormationTraps: 6
| Traptrix Trap Hole Nightmare
| Terrifying Trap Hole Nightmare
|| Ragnaraika Hunting Dance
| Sunavalon Bloom
| Beetrooper Fly & StingExtra Deck:
| Beetrooper Cruel Saturnas
|| Ragnaraika Stag Sovereign
| Giant Beetrooper Invincible Atlas
| Ragnaraika Chain Coils
| Sunavalon Dryatrentiay
| Raika no Kurokamitsuki
|| Ragnaraika Mantis Monk
|| Ragnaraika Skeletal Soldier
| Beetrooper Armor Horn
| Inzektor Picofalena
| Traptrix Sera
| Salamangreat Almiraj
Note: This is continuing the style of Creative Deck Profile articles, designed to showcase a build through replays and an attached summary. If you wish to see a CDP for an archetype, theme, or strategy you love, feel free to private message me on the YGOrg Discord server, the comments section of any of my YouTube videos, or just post a comment in response to this article on our Facebook page or through the site with your ideas for me to keep under consideration! On most YGO-related communities my username is Quincymccoy, so feel free to reach out. Current pending requested profiles include: Fluffal, Valkyrie, Flame Swordsman, Memento, White Woods, XYZ, Buster Blader, Lunalight, Spirit Converter, Trap Monster
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