Introduction to Traptrix (2026)

Published on December 31st, 2025 by

Introduction

Happy New Year everyone! After another glorious (or inglorious) year of Duel Links I am back once again to welcome in the New Year and celebrate the release of the much anticipated New Years box by bringing you another guide to a control deck that everybody is going to hate, Traptrix! My name is Acier, and while I'm best known as that guy who wouldn't let Ritual Beast go after Elder got nerfed, I'm more recently known as the one who wrote the Subterror guide.

Overview

Traptrix have had a somewhat unfortunate time of it in Duel Links with their first wave consisting of only three cards which released all the way back in 2018 with the Secrets of the Ancients Mini Box alongside the earliest collection of Synchro support. These cards (Atrax, Dionaea and Trap Hole Nightmare) accomplished absolutely nothing like much of the early Synchro support it was released alongside of, being dominated by the already established meta of Vampires, Buster Blader, Gemini, and Blue-Eyes.

It wouldn't be until around four and a half years later with the release of the Borrelsword Slash Main Box that Traptrix would once more be granted the opportunity to shine in Duel Links' proverbial spotlight thanks to the addition of not only brand-new cards, but a brand-new exclusive Skill to go with them! Sadly, their second wave of support once again managed to accomplish absolutely nothing, and the deck faded forever away into the depths of obscurity as it was horrendously overshadowed and outshined by the oncoming storm and meta menace that would be Agents.

But you know what they say, the third times the charm right? Now Traptrix are back with a vengeance to wreak havoc on the meta game with their third wave of support in the New Years Main Box Zodiac Destiny. New Years Boxes have historically been meta shifters, so we shall see if Traptrix will finally trip the meta up with their tricky ways, or if they are forever doomed in Duel Links to live on as the game's eternal 'potential man' — annoying as all hell to play against, but just that, merely annoying and never a real threat.

Archetypal Cards — The Main Deck Monsters

Traptrix are an archetype of Earth Attribute Plant and Insect type monsters who have close synergy with one of the oldest and most storied series of Trap Cards in the history of Yu-Gi-Oh, the "Trap Hole" cards. Each Main Deck Traptrix monster shares the effect that they are unaffected by the effects of "Hole" Normal Trap Cards and we'll begin this guide with a close look at the Main Deck Traptrix monsters before moving onto the archetypes Spells/Traps as well as their Extra Deck line-up.

Traptrix Pudica

Loading... is one of the Decks main starters thanks to the brand-new Skill; she comes with two effects which trigger on Normal Summon and Special Summon respectively:

On Normal Summon she searches the archetype's Field Spell Loading...
On Special Summon she can target a monster your Opponent controls and banish it, but your opponent can Special Summon 1 of their banished monsters during the next Standby Phase.

Pudica's first effect to search the Field Spell allows you to activate the Skill and search for any two "Traptrix" Monsters and/or "Hole" Normal Traps at the cost of a discard of any Card in your hand, turning her into a combo starter.

Her second effect is decent spot removal, although your opportunities to use it on your opponent's turn are limited to summoning her from the Deck using Loading... after you have activated a Normal Trap Card or Special Summoning her from the Graveyard by using Loading... . Something to keep in mind about this effect however is the drawback — that the opponent can Summon ANY one monster that they have banished during the next Standby Phase, it does not have to be the monster that you banished with Pudica. This can be particularly disastrous against Decks like Thunder Dragon which thrive on using the banished pile as a resource Zone. Furthermore, if you happen to have destroyed and banished a particularly important monster with Loading... they can now get it back if they wish thanks to Pudica. Finally, this is treated as a Special Summon, so whatever Monster they Summon back to the field will get any on Summon effects it may have, so be VERY careful when using her as spot removal.

Traptrix Myrmeleo

Loading... is the Decks second play starter and like Loading... has two effects, one activating on Normal Summon and another activating on Special Summon:

On Normal Summon she searches for any "Hole" Normal Trap Card.
On Special Summon she targets 1 Spell/Trap the opponent controls and destroys that target.

Her first effect allows her to search for Loading... which like Loading... can be revealed for the Skill, thereby turning Loading... into a combo starter just like Loading... above. Alternatively, she can search for any other "Hole" Normal Trap that you may wish to have on hand for the particular match-up, making her great at both starting your plays and giving her a wide breadth of versatility when it comes to reinforcing your board with backrow.