Introduction to Drytron

Published on January 30th, 2022 by

Updated on February 11th, 2022

Introduction

Drytron is a Ritual-based strategy that single-handedly brought old Ritual archetypes to the top of the meta. In the TCG, Drytron reigned supreme over several formats. In Master Duel, this still holds true. Drytrons are a high-skill, high-ceiling combo deck that rely on tributing cards within their own archetype, or Ritual Monsters to Special Summon themselves from the hand or GY. The archetype contains powerful Ritual Monsters, but performs at its best when combined with the “Herald” and “Cyber Angel” archetypes.

Core Cards

Main Deck

the drytrons
the fairies

Drytron Alpha Thuban, Zeta Aldhibah

Alpha and Zeta are the centerpieces of the Drytron strategy, and therefore must be played at 3 copies per Deck. Alpha, when Special Summoned by its own effect, searches your Main Deck for ANY Ritual Monster. Similarly, Zeta searches any Ritual Spell, however, you will most likely be searching your Loading... off of that effect. Any variation of the “ideal” Drytron opening will contain some combination of these two cards, or a way to get to them.

Drytron Gamma Eltanin

Gamma is your key recursion piece. When Special Summoned via its own effect, Gamma will Summon any other Drytron monster from your GY. It's strongly advised to actually avoid using Gamma until Loading... has hit the board, keeping it as a comeback option in case of a blowout like Loading... .

Drytron players disagree on how many copies of Gamma to play in the main deck. However, to maximize consistency of the archetype, and guarantee a sufficient number of Drytron names, 3 Gamma is a safe bet.

Drytron Delta Altais

Delta is the final corner of the “Core Four” Drytrons played in competitive builds. When Special Summoned via its own effect, you may reveal a Ritual Monster or Spell in your hand to draw an additional card. While arguably having the weakest effect out of said “Core Four”, Delta is an important tribute outlet for cards like “Cyber Angel Benten”, and can occasionally provide you with the perfect card from deck off of its single draw.

Being that it is the weakest of the “core four”, you shouldn't need to run more than two.

Drytron Nova

Drytron Nova is the archetype's Loading... , granting you access to any Drytron name in your Deck. A mandatory three-of, Nova is by far one of the strongest support cards the Deck has access to. Combo it with a Loading... in the Extra Deck to ensure you can trigger whichever effect you need.

This card is also your primary out to annoying Monsters such as Loading... (Summon any name in ATK position, and crash), or Loading... (bait one negate, attack over).

Meteonis Drytron

“Meteonis Drytron” is by far one of the greatest Ritual Spells ever printed. Contrary to traditional Ritual Cards, Meteonis Drytron uses the ATK points of Machine monsters to Ritual Summon from your hand AND GY. To add insult to injury, Meteonis can reduce the ATK of any Drytron you control to add itself back from GY to hand. This guarantees you at least 2 ritual summons per turn.

Expert Drytron players make the most of this powerful Spell, by utilizing non-traditional materials, such as AA-Zeus after resolving its effect.

While it may be tempting, You should should only play 1 copy of Meteonis Drytron, given it's searchable via Loading... . Any more is excessive, and asking to brick.

Cyber Emergency

Cyber Emergency essentially serves as a Loading... for the Deck, simply adding any Drytron name to your hand. It's very self explainatory why you would want to play three of this, there's no real downside to it and it's a massive consistency boost.

Diviner of the Herald

Diviner is the main Normal Summon. Serving multiple purposes, Diviner can send Loading... to search any Ritual Monster or Spell, and can send Loading... to destroy any card on the field. Additionally, Diviner gains the Level of whatever it sends. More often times than not, Diviner will become Level 6, allowing you to overlay it with Benten to Summon Loading... . This gives you access to additional Drytron names, or Loading... .

Herald of Ultimateness

Look no further for the perfect, all encompassing boss Monster for the Drytron strategy - Ultimateness negates ANY Special Summon or card effect activation. Fueled by your fairies, searched off of Loading... , and summonable off of Loading... - Ultimateness is the card that single-handedly makes the Drytron end board so threatening.

Cyber Angel Benten

In the TCG, Benten is at one on the Limited/Forbidden list. This is for good reason, as Benten is not once per turn, and searches your Deck for ANY light Fairy Monster upon being tributed. She is the one you will almost always search for your Alpha Thuban.

Eva

Newly forbidden in the YuGiOh TCG, Eva allows you to fuel your Loading... with fairies to negate any and all of your opponent’s cards and effects. Its most common usage is to be off of Loading... , searching a Loading... and Loading... in the process.

Herald of Orange Light

An absolutely vital card when it comes to playing through handtraps in Drytron. Not only does Herald of Orange Light fuel your Ultimateness, but it also serves another powerful use in its own effect, discarding itself and another Fairy to negate any one card on the field. This is gonna be your main way to keep yourself safe from handtraps which otherwise blow the Deck into the water, such as Loading... , Loading... and Loading...

Extra Deck

Drytron Mu Beta Fafnir

Mu Beta Fafnir is arguably one of the greatest support cards for any Deck in the history of the game, and as such, he's the key to Drytrons. Acting as an in-archetype Loading... , which Drytron very much appreciates, it boasts an equally as powerful second effect, essentially letting you Ritual Summon with no cost, an absolutely gamebreaking concept.

That being said, Fafnir also poses as one of the Deck's biggest chokepoints, meaning you will have to watch out for negates and handtraps that will come your way when he hits the board.

Herald of the Arc Light

While you won't be summoning it much, Herald of the Arc light is vital due to its synergy with Loading... , granting you those very important searches. You could run one, but if you want your Diviner to give you follow-up two is very much advised.

Elder Entity N'tss

This is the other card Diviner will usually send. As previously mentioned, N'tss can destroy any problematic card on the field upon being sent to the GY. It is a key piece of spot removal, able to remove floodgates like Loading... , or forcing out Monster effect negates.

Beatrice, Lady of the Eternal

Having gained a huge popolarity in Drytron after Diviner's release, Beatrice is the prime fuel for your Loading... , usually achieved by sending two copies of Loading... to the GY, one on your turn and one on your opponent, giving you four negates. However this isn't Beatrice's only usage, as it can also send any Drytron name in case you need to extend your plays, oftentimes being crucial.

Union Carrier

Union Carrier is weirdly synergetic with Drytron. Being a Light Machine which can equip a Monster to itself to rise to 2000 ATK is extremely convenient, and leads to it being able to equip a lot of degenerate things, sometimes not even to itself. The main target to equip will usually be Loading... , which will trigger when the Monster its equipped to (usually Carrier itself) leaves the field, searching two fairies in the process. The second, very unorthodox target would be equpping Loading... to Loading... , turning Ultimateness immune to Spells and virtually invincible.

I:P Masquerena

I:P is a key endboard piece - allowing you to tag out for Loading... , Loading... or even Loading... on your opponent’s turn. Having different types of interruptions is always crucial and I:P fills that role neatly.

Linkuriboh

While Linkuriboh's effect is not exactly the important part, what is important is its synergy with Drytron Nova, seen as playing this allows you to immediately use the effect of the Monster you just Summoned from Deck by linking it off and activating the GY effect. You could technically do without it, but, save yourself the trouble and get him as soon as possible, there will be games where you will absolutely feel its absence.

Tech Cards

Cyber Angel Natasha

Natasha is an optional Fairy target with a CRAZY STRONG effect. After it is successfully Ritual Summoned, you can banish a Cyber Angel from your GY, usually benten, to Summon it back and TAKE CONTROL of any Monster your opponent controls permanently! Natasha outs problematic cards on your opponent’s field, and since it is not once per turn, you can do it up to 3 times per turn by using all of your Bentens. Lets not forget that each time you Summon it, you can gain life points equal to half the ATK of one monster you control, setting you even further ahead of your opponent.

Drytron Meteonis Draconids

The supposed big boss Monster of the archetype, definitely finding itself as more of a tech choice than anything. Fairly strong both difensively and offensively, Draconids is most often used to play around Loading... , seen as it's easy to get out with just a single search and it's the most individually powerful Ritual the Deck can make. Run 1 by preference.

Megalith Engine

Ever since Drytron's release this small Megalith package has been a popular niche engine for the archetype, abusing the incredibly strong effects of Megalith Phul and Ophiel to recycle benten, get monsters onto the board and then tag out into a Megalith Bethor from your Deck to destroy your opponent's entire board on their turn.

Kikinagashi Fucho

A funny cheap alternative that can help survive being hit by a Loading... , Fucho is capable of making itself completly unremovable and indestructable for a turn, meaning you will be able to always stall in case you can't do anything past getting an XYZ Monster out. He's also a great target to turn into a Loading... by attacking a defense position Monster.

Handtrap Choices

Drytron has absolutely no space for handtraps (Excluding Loading... ), meaning you will have to go with just the most important one.

With Loading... around, you don't really have a choice on this, you will want to run 3 Ash Blossoms so you lose to it as least as possible, plus Ash is also of course the most versitile handtrap for going second, as it will always have a use against any deck.

Example Decklist

Sample List by LoganJYA

18 cards

Download

Combo Lines

Alpha + Zeta (4 Negates + I:P Masquerena into Knightmare Unicorn)

The bread and butter combo, this Deck has a lot of possible endboards and combo lines, but it would be best to showcase the most simple and easy, rest will be added in a future update to the article.

Combo:

Activate Loading... , Tributing Loading... to Special Summon Itself, search Loading...
Activate Zeta Aldhibah in the GY, Tributing the newly searched Benten to Summon itself, search Loading...
Activate Benten in the GY, searching Loading...
Overlay your two Drytrons into Loading... and activate its effect, sending Loading...
Normal Summon Diviner of the Herald, sending Loading... and turning Diviner into a Level 6
Activate Herald of the Arc Light to search Loading...
Activate your Meteonis Drytron, detaching a material from Mu Beta Fafnir to Summon your Benten from the GY.
Activate Meteonis Drytron's GY effect, making Mu Beta Fafnir lose 1000 ATK to add it back to your hand.
Overlay your Level 6 Diviner and Benten into a Loading...
Use Beatrice's effect detaching Diviner of the Herald to send Loading...
Activate Eva's effect, banishing Diviner and Herald of the Arc Light for cost to search Loading... and a new copy of Diviner.
Activate Meteonis Drytron again, detaching your last material to Summon Herald of Ultimateness from the hand. You now have 2 negates on the board.
Activate Gamma Eltanin in the GY, tributing the now 1000 ATK, materialess Mu Beta to Summon itself and another Drytron from the Grave.
Make Loading... using Gamma and the Drytron you just Summoned.
On your opponent's turn, use Beatrice's effect again, sending a second copy of Eva and banishing your other Eva and Benten as cost, searching your third copy of Diviner and your second copy of Orange Light.

If you managed to follow this combo step by step, off of just two cards, you are looking at a board of I:P Masquerena and a no material Beatrice to use as a body to link summon into Loading... , shuffling away a card, a Herald of Ultimateness with 4 negates, and, as a backup, you even have two copies Herald of Orange Light in case your opponent has a Loading... or Loading... , no matter what they will have to play at least through 2 Monster negates.

What do you think of Drytrons? Let us know in the comments below!