Dryconix

This is my absolute favourite deck of all time. Despite having 9 Ritual Monsters, single copies of staples, and nearing 60 cards, it’s still surprisingly consistent, insanely versatile, and can definitely hold its own.

Preview

Main Deck

Extra Deck

Cards

archetypes	Drytron, Dogmatika Herald
cards	60
decklist	DuelingBook, DuelingNexus

Monsters

Main Deck

card	copies	notes
Drytron Alpha Thuban	x3
Drytron Zeta Aldibah	x2	Dropped to x2 cuz it’s ridiculously tight on space. I really wish it could recover Ritual Spells from the Grave, since it becomes rather useless late game.
Drytron Delta Altais	x2	My favourite Drytron, the draw is always insane.
Drytron Gamma Eltanin	x2	Pivotal for comebacks, but I don’t need the extension normally.
Drytron Beta Rastaban	x1	Saviour against Runick or Dimension Shifter, seriously clutch.
Ultimate Knight Alpha Ursatron	x2	Not perfect support by any means (since it’s unsearchable and can’t be used as Material for Mu Beta Fafnir or Herald of Mirage Lights) but being able to search Fafnir for negate protection is wonderful.
Drytron Meteonis Draconids	x1	Very strong against certain archetypes, and epic for OTKs.
Drytron Meteonis Quadrantids	x1	Ruins backrow.
Amorphactor Pain, the Imagination Dracoverlord	x1	My favourite Ritual Monster after White Zoa. Being able to actually play it is so wonderful.
Odd-Eyes Gravity Dragon	x1	Great to leave on an endboard, and clearing threatening backrow before my opponent realises what’s going on.
Blue-Eyes Chaos MAX Dragon	x1	Often underestimated, but super versatile against decks that just can’t handle both targeting and destruction immunity and high ATK – Labrynth, Runick, even Tearlaments and Kashtira.
Shinobaron Peacock	x1	Insane removal, especially against Avramax, Mirrorjade or HEROs.
White Relic of Dogmatika	x1	Surprisingly good for OTKs, and an easy out to an Accesscode Talker if didn’t manage to strike for game.
White Knight of Dogmatika	x1	Great when we’ve got nothing else.
White Zoa of Dogmatika	x1	Technically Alba Zoa now, but whatever, White Zoa is the better name. Anyway, the ace of the deck!
Diviner of the Herald	x3	Does scare people into thinking this is Herald Drytron, but nooo, we’re going into Lv7 Synchro toolbox B)

Extra Deck

card	copies	notes
Drytron Mu Beta Fafnir	x2	Insane consistency tool. As long as we can get 2 Drytrons on the field, this’ll guarantee any missing pieces we need. If we don’t end with Amorphactor Pain, it even provides a negate to protect against boardbreakers. Unfortunately, for Extra Deck space I’ve had to cut this down to 2 copies, but rarely does that come back to bite.
Linkuriboh	x1	Pivotal for optilical combo sequencing. Clutch when you need it.
Relinquished Anima	x1	Hilarious when it works, perfect for plucking back a Lava Golem too.
Herald of Mirage Lights	x1	This, this, is the missing piece I spent so long looking for – too often do I end with extra bodies (especially if I’ve used Gamma) which don’t do anything, and I can’t clean up for anything else (IP Masquerena would take even more Extra Deck space for other staples, which I refuse to resort to) – but what would really help is a recovery option. That’s exactly what Herald of Mirage Lights does, grabbing back not 1, but 2 Ritual cards – how awesome is that! No longer do I need to rest on the Heart of the Cards every time my opponent dismantles my board and I have no more Rituals left in hand.
Clear Wing Synchro Dragon	x1	This is my favourite Synchro Monster, so naturally I was delighted when I realised I could throw it in Drytron. A stellar option if we don’t have enough to bring out a double-Tribute Ritual Monster.
Wind Pegasus @Ignister	x1	Works under Amorphactor Pain and in the Grave, even has Spell/Trap removal for followup.
Herald of the Arc Light	x3	Of course, the perfect Monster to bury from our Extra Deck. And with Drytron, the more Rituals in hand, the better. We can even Synchro Summon it with Ash Blossom (Lv3 Tuner) and a Drytron (Lv1), which is better than keeping Ash in hand, since this can negate any card or effect – with a search right after too! Aside from working under Amorphactor Pain (since it Tributes itself as cost, so its effect won’t be negated), it even blocks Droplet by preventing anyone from sending cards to the Grave as cost. Just insane value.
Elder Entity N’tss	x1	One’s enough, just for the situations where we really need it.
Garura, Wings of Resonant Life	x1	For Super Polymerization and any effect that buries from the Extra Deck.
Lyrilusc – Assembled Nightingale	x1	If the opponent has an unbreakable board but no interruptions, then it’s time for an emergency OTK with Assembled Nightingale and White Relic!
Raidraptor – Ultimate Falcon	x1	I actually love this card, considering my first deck was Raidraptor. So many decks just cannot handle this being dropped on them.
Infinitrack Fortress Megaclops	x1	Waking the Dragon moment, what can I say…

Spells

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card	copies	notes
Meteonis Drytron	x2	Always nice to have 2, just in case one gets banished, or to allow more than 1 Ritual Summon in later turns.
Drytron Fafnir	x3	Eh, the search is cool and all, but I’m here for negate protection – that feeling when your opponent Solemns Meteonis Drytron and is left confuzzled as to why it didn’t work – also, the level manipulyzacion effect that no one pays any attention too can really disrupt any Synchro or Xyz decks.
Cyber Emergency	x3	Quality searcher, can grab a Draconids or Quadrantids to Tribute for White Zoa too if needed.
Drytron Nova	x3	This deck needs all the consistency it can get.
Dogmatikabre	x1	Just for White Zoa, but also useful with the lower Level Dogmatika Rituals if I have Herald of the Arc Lights in the Grave.
Nadir Servant	x2	Insane value, searching an extra Ritual Monster to Tribute and any Ritual card (by sending Arc Light). Had several games where topdecking this instantly turned the fight around.
Dogmatikatrix	x2	Just incredible searching power, especially if going second, and leaves Drytrons free to search for other Ritual cards. Once we’ve got White Zoa out, we can even scout out our opponent’s Extra Deck or bury any Monster from our own for even more value.
Where Arf Thou?	x2	Another searcher for consistency, can search Droll & Lock Bird if I’ve got all the Drytron modules I need.
Preparation of Rites	x1	Searches Odd-Eyes Gravity Dragon for opening setup, or White Relic of Dogmatika for OTK, and a free recovery (especially for Dogmatikabre to revive Zoa).
Pre-Preparation of Rites	x1	Searches Dogmatikabre and a free Dogmatika Ritual Monster to Tribute, and acts as an Ash bait, even if it is a dead draw later on.

Traps

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card	copies	notes
Drytron Meteor Shower	x1	It’s hilarious how few people actually know Drytron even has a Counter Trap, but it’s not bad at all, despite having no Grave effects like those of so many other archetypes. Hitting a Summon can often be just as devastating as negating an effect, undoing all the work put into bringing out a duel closer.

Staples

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card	copies	notes
Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring	x1	I didn’t use to run this, since stopping people from playing the game isn’t fun, but… man am I tired of Maxx C… and Branded Fusion into Mirrorjade… and Chixiao into Chengying – you get the idea. Also, most of the time I Normal Summon it, and tune it with a Drytron to make a spare Herald of the Arc Light! Insane value.
Droll & Lock Bird	x1	Can’t use it against Maxx C since it literally locks myself, but searchable with Where Arf Thou? and shuts some decks down nicely. Quite a mean handtrap tho.
Lava Golem	x1	Such a powerful boardbreaker. Fits perfectly with Drytron since it can’t be Normal Summoned, and Drytron doesn’t really need a Normal Summon anyway.
Nibiru, the Primal Being	x1	A really horrible handtrap, but I run it just for Crossout.
Called by the Grave	x1	Unfortunately, handtraps exist.
Crossout Designator	x1	Well, I thought, if I’m already running literally every staple card at 1 copy, I might as well play Crossout to counter any of them, y’know?
Forbidden Droplet	x1	Another reason to leave spare Drytron modules on board. Splendid in Drytron, especially when going second, since the modules don’t really care if they’re in the Hand or Grave.
Super Polymerization	x1	A wonderful boardbreaker, if a bit toxic.
Ultimate Slayer	x1	People should give this more recognition honestly. Perfect against Synchro decks to send a Herald of the Arc Light for an extra search, or against Fusion decks to send a N’tss for a free pop. Nicely avoids Mirrorjade and Chengying’s effects.
Triple Tactics Talent	x1	Quality response and all too easy to trigger.
Infinite Impermanence	x1	Why only 1, I know. I don’t really play it as interruption (unless it’s Aluber or Chixiao), but rather an opener when going second to neutralise a threat or draw out a negate.
Evenly Matched	x1	Actually cracked.
Waking the Dragon	x1	Not a staple, I know. Yet the amount of times this has worked and saved me by bringing out Ultimate Falcon or Infinitrack Megaclops is staggering.

History

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card	copies	notes
Drytron Eclipse	x1	Surprisingly clutch, super useful for recovering a Drytron mech to sacrifice for White Zoa, and the ATK boost is splendid with Draconids for OTKs.
Pot of Extravagance	x1	Drytron wasn’t too dependent on the Extra Deck, so this was great (even if it did lock Delta Altais), but now… yeah no, no way we’re losing cards out of the Extra Deck.

Strategy

End Board

The dream endboard consists of White Zoa, Amorphactor Pain, Odd-Eyes Gravity Dragon, Elder Entity.

White Zoa needs 3 cards to Ritual Summon – itself, Dogmatikabre, and a Draconids or Quadrantids in Hand to Tribute (or we could have a Lv8 Ritual and banish an Arc Light from the Grave, that works too). Regardless, it’s quite a lot to ask, and while it has stellar protection and a devastating effect, it’s probably not enough to hold up on its own – which means we can’t just abandon the Drytron side of things. So, I’ll only bring it out if I can still Ritual Summon other Ritual Monsters with Meteonis Drytron.

Luckily, Drytron’s got… wouldn’t say plenty, but definitely enough cards to search out all the Ritual Spells and Monsters we need. Nadir Servant is great for searching any missing piece we need, and if we go second Dogmatikatrix can grab both White Zoa and Dogmatikabre all in one go, or even another copy of itself if we’ve already got one of those.

Strengths

Drytron is definitely strong. It’s fallen behind the meta, sure, but it can still do things, and is plenty powerful if left unchecked. The archetype is by no means ‘grindy’, but grinds decently well – cycling the modules each turn for virtually no cost, and gaining card advantage through Drytron Alpha and Delta.

Due to the way it’s structured, Drytron has a few niche advantages. The effects of our modules don’t activate on the field, and their search is part of resolution, which means we can play under Skill Drain and other effects that relate to the field. Of course, the Rituals we’re aiming to end on won’t work, but luckily their high ATK means generally we can win through plain beatdown. We also don’t rely on Summoning from the Extra Deck too much, so while a lock or floodgate does hurt a bit, it doesn’t hurt anywhere as much as with other decks. Funniest of all of course, is how we benefit from burying from the Extra Deck – almost half of our Extra Deck is very useful when sent to the Grave.

Weaknesses

As strong as it can be, Drytron is chock-full of weaknesses. Of course, the most pressing is consistency – unlike most other archetypes with 1-card starters, we need at least 2 Drytron modules to actually combo. And being a Ritual deck, we need to accumulate so many different cards to be able to even bring out any kind of boss Monster, so any negated search could be combo-ending. Don’t forget that all the effort is so resource-intensive that we’re often left with an empty hand after dropping everything we can, so a comeback in turn 3 too often relies on Heart of the Cards. Drytron can indeed have a pretty high ceiling, but do remember that we’re hard capped by 2 or 3 Ritual Summons each turn (and really only 1 in late game), and this requires having an opening hand with pretty much every card being live.

What hurts most, though, is that it’s vulnerable to almost every form of interruption. Handtrap-wise when going fist, you’ve got Ash Blossom and Ghost Belle negating the modules, Infinite Impermanence, Effect Veiler and even Ghost Ogre choking Mu Beta Fafnir, and of course Maxx C and Droll & Lock Bird which are utter pain. Don’t even mention Bystials. Any grave disruption or floodgate, of which there is plenty – Called By The Grave, Ishizu shufflers, Abyss Dweller – totally kills the deck.

Matchups

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Adamancipator Blue-Eyes Branded Despia Bystial Dark Magician Dinomorphia Dogmatika Eldlich Floowandereeze Kashtira Labrynth Marincess Mathmech Pendulum Magician Runick Sky Striker Spright Swordsoul Tearlaments The Weather –

Adamancipator

Blue-Eyes

Blue-Eyes Jet Dragon is such a pain. Luckily, Draconids can’t be targeted by it, and has excellent removal in case the opponent has a higher ATK Monster. Ironically, the best weapon against them is their own ace Monster – Blue-Eyes Chaos MAX Dragon.

Branded Despia

This is actually so fun to play against, even if I do end up losing most of the time. Since its speciality is removal and doesn’t have negates at all, it presents a far more interesting challenge to overcome – many of my most exhilarating and memorable duels have been against Branded Despia. I love playing against duelists who really know the deck and don’t just play it cuz meta. Especially those who take it further and stretch its capabilitys, like Fusion Summoning twice in one Chain Link with Lubellion and Branded in Red.

Amorphactor Pain is my greatest weapon against them, but even then they can easily battle over it, and if I want to dismantle their board, Mirrorjade presents a difficult challenge to remove.

Bystial

Well, I’ma head out.

Yeah no, Bystial totally kills Drytron.

Dark Magician

Its only real interruption is the banish from Dark Magical Circle, which could be critical if we’ve got a weak hand, but is usually easy to overcome. Quadrantids is lethal against Dark Magician, since they can’t recover their Spell/Traps, and if they’ve activated Eternal Soul then they just end up nuking their own field.

Dinomorphia

Dinomorphia’s pretty powerful at control, which Drytron tends to struggle against. Luckily while Rexterm’s ATK-modifying effect neutralises our Battle Phase, which will be our main way to deal with their Monsters, it doesn’t stop our modules from activating their effects since they don’t activate on the field. If we manage to get Odd-Eyes Gravity Dragon on the field, they’re royally screwed. If we get an Amorphactor Pain with that too? Yeah, that’s gonna be rough. The only issue is stopping the opponent from just running over them.

Dogmatika

Haha, I’m afraid you just milled my 3 ARC LIGHTS – yeah, the mirror match is hilarious if they blindly mill my Extra Deck.

Eldlich

Again, Chaos MAX Dragon. Can be a challenge to play against sometimes if they manage to snipe Meteonis Drytron in the Grave with Huaquero.

Floowandereeze

What a pain to play against.

Kashtira

Aside from it being a horribly generic, efficient, vicious deck, Kashtira actually can’t handle targeting protection, and it can’t go over 3000 ATK, making Chaos MAX Dragon a fantastic weapon against them… if I can actually bring it out in the first place, what with all my Zones locked.

Labrynth

Blue-Eyes Chaos MAX Dragon insta-win. Labrynth can’t handle targeting and destruction protection or that 4000 ATK, unless they bring out Skill Drain. Then we’re screwed.

Alternatively, they trigger Waking the Dragon and we drop Ultimate Falcon on them, which is a definitive insta-win.

Marincess

This shouldn’t be that hard to beat, but it is. Y’know what, returning to the original Ritual Monsters works wonderfully – Draconids and Quadrantids keep pressure on them by clearing their Spell/Traps each turn, and Odd-Eyes Gravity Dragon really hurts since they combo so much.

Mathmech

I also play Mathmech myself, so I’m really familiar with how it works. And it can be really dangerous if we’re uncareful. Luckily skipping their Main Phase 1 with Amorphactor Pain neutralises the threat of an OTK, and if they don’t read and overlay into Alembertian or Laplacian while it’s on the field then things will be much more difficult for them.

If they go first and drop Superfactorial early, then counterplay is really quite difficult with the resource rip and negate. Draconids is probably the most effective here, to remove materials before they can Synchro into Final Sigma or Link into Accesscode.

Pendulum Magician

Never did I think I would hate such a cool deck (since I absolutely loved Yuya’s deck in Arc-V), but the endboards it creates are really, really toxic, and literally none of the cards are actually archetypical. Apollousa is enough to kill Drytron, but a Baronne de Fleur, Hope Harbinger, Borreload Savage Dragon, and Time Pendulumgraph too? Even if I draw Forbidden Droplet, it’ll cripple my Hand, and I don’t run Dark Ruler No More anymore.

Runick

Honestly makes me want to crawl up and die. Whenever I face this, the race is on to grab Chaos MAX Dragon before they banish it, since just like with Labrynth, it’s an insta-win. It feels soo good crashing into a Hugin to deal perfectly 8000 damage. Unless they have Skill Drain… and they probably do. In which case, Quadrantids is our only good option, since whenever they destroy it it’ll bring back more Drytrons, hopefully to attack directly. Unless they have There Can Be Only One. Oh my days. What an absolute pain. And Dimensional Fissure. ALL the floodgates.

Sky Striker

It’s beyond me how this deck even manages to put up a fight – maybe they just always catch me on a subpar hand.

Spright

Well, this is really tough to beat. Since everything in Drytron is an activated effect, negates really hurt, and Spright is full of them. Amorphactor Pain can’t keep them at bay, and Chaos MAX Dragon falls to Spright Double Cross or a boosted Gigantic Spright.

If I want to win, I have to play as viciously as I can, which means not letting Spright play at all. Currently the best strategic I’ve found is to clear their field, which means they can’t use their innate Special Summons. Hitting their Normal Summon with Meteor Shower or Draconids kills them entirely, unless they have Starter. If they start with Starter we’re basically screwed, unless they Summon Gigantic with nothing else on the field, in which case hitting that with Draconids clears their field.

If it’s Runick Spright, then there’s very little hope, what with the insane advantage Fountain generates and the free Lv2 Special Summons that we just can’t stop.

Swordsoul

Swordsoul and Swordsoul Tenyi, unlike Branded Despia, are such a pain to play against. Which is weird, since both decks feature single-card opening combos and tech in other Monsters of their Summoning tecnique – and I even find Synchro Monsters cooler than Fusion Monsters. I suppose it’s because Swordsoul is so braindead to play, and provides such easy access to high-Level Synchro Monsters that would otherwise be much more difficult to Summon.

Tearlaments

Tearlaments is fine. No really, it dies to Blue-Eyes Chaos MAX Dragon or a turn one Amorphactor Pain. Ofc, Kaleido-Heart and Rulkallos have some pretty wicked effects – almost all effects of our Drytron cards involve Special Summoning, and we each module to be in circulation – but if we manage to pull through, we can certainly take them down.

What’s isn’t fine tho, are the non-Tearlaments cards. Oh man, those are vicious. Ishizu, just like Bystial, totally kills Drytron, and does an even harsher job of it in the late-game, cleansing all of our modules right out of the Grave. And with Drytron’s playstyle, we’ll just be triggering Kelbek’s trigger effect right for them. And if they’ve come prepared, Underworld Goddess is the easy out to Blue-Eyes Chaos MAX Dragon that’ll hurt us when trying to comeback too. Oh, and Abyss Dweller? Just no.

The Weather

The Weather is strangely terrifying to play against, since it has incredible grind game that Drytron happens to have difficulty countering. In particular, it’s their Monsters banishing themselves as cost, and the protection and recovery for their Spell/Traps, that makes them so resilient. We don’t have any real counter to their strategy, and anything I try to bring out just dies to the Thundery Canvas. Really, our best shot is to try and OTK with Lyrilusc – Assembled Nightingale and White Relic of Dogmatika, but that’s not always the easiest to pull off.

Rivals

Mekk-Knight Crusadia Avramax

I:P Masquerena makes no difference for Drytron, as none of our effects involve destruction anyway. It’s the battle invulnerability that’s the most problematic, since we do often rely on our naturally high ATK to take out the opponent’s ace Monsters. So, Shinobaron Peacock is our only non-targeting non-destructive removal option – which sounds bad, but at least it’s searchable. Otherwise, we’d have to rely on drawing Forbidden Droplet or, heaven forbid, triggering Nibiru.

Apollousa, Bow of the Goddess

Drytron’s worst nightmare. Seriously. If we don’t draw a Spell/Trap out to this (or have everything necessary for a Ritual Summon in hand – that’s rare), we’re royally screwed. The issue, you see, is that Drytron cannot simply tank the negates or beat over it, because we rely exclusively on Special Summons, and can’t Special Summon without activating Monster effects. The feeling of having all your modules negated… man, it’s rough. The worst part? Often, Apolloussa is just one of our worries, cuz the opponent will have other interruptions or bodies for us to deal with.

Replays

DuelingNexus

Full
Fuller
Against Branded
Against Kashtira
Against Dogmatika

DuelingBook

Turn One
Insane Turn One

Questions

Why no Cyber Angel Benten?

Yeah, I’d love to reliably have Diviner for Lv7 Synchro Monsters, but I just don’t feel good playing Benten – I don’t really want to spend a Ritual search on it, using it feels like degeneracy, and above all I just don’t like its art… at all.

Why Dogmatikabre instead of Dogmatikalamity?

Sure, Dogmatikalamity lets you Tribute straight from the Extra Deck, but it has 3 major downsides – it can’t Ritual Summon from the Grave, it can’t be searched by Pre-Preparation of Rites, and it locks you out of the Extra Deck.

Being able to revive from the Grave is huge, since it means we don’t need to keep the Dogmatika Ritual Monsters in Hand, and can Tribute them for Drytrons. Even if White Zoa being ripped from our Hand or Deck, we can still bring it back; we can even search it ourselves with Foolish Burial, if needed. It’s just far more flexible and versatile in general, particularly in late game, where Dogmatikalamity would otherwise be dead draw.

Locking us out of the Extra Deck doesn’t matter too much, since we could just drop White Zoa at the end of our combo anyway; but if we have Dogmatikatrix, bringing out a Dogmatika Ritual Monster as soon as possible means we’d be able to see what our opponent is playing, and setup an endboard accordingly, or if we’re lacking cards we need, send an Arc Light from our Extra Deck for a clutch search.

And of course, being searchable by Pre-Preparation of Rites is nice, freeing up our Zeta to search for Meteonis Drytron.