Subterror Guide

Overview

Subterrors were introduced to Duel Links on May 20, 2019, and this archetype revolves around "Subterror Behemoth" flip effects, and the recursion of the central card, Subterror Nemesis Warrior, that summons Subterrors from the deck. Despite the inherently slow nature of Flip monsters by themselves, the core trap card, Subterror Final Battle, greatly speeds up the deck and can enable some swift OTKs. Some advantages this deck has over other decks in Yu-Gi-Oh! is that Final Battle gives this deck the ability to play under Destiny HERO - Plasma, Necrovalley, Fiendish Chain, and other monster-effect suppression cards, and even a way to dodge certain spot-removal/board wipe cards like Herald of the Abyss, Karma Cut, and Needle Ceiling.

Many variations of the deck have been experimented with since its release. The most successful ones nowadays are the pure and the Winda variant. Other known options used Ties of the Brethren, Trap Monsters, or a small Invoked engine. Out of all of these, the pure variant remains the most consistent, but the Winda variant is currently recommended as Spiritual Beast Tamer Winda is a fantastic counter to the deck's biggest weakness (nontargeting destruction).

The pure version is most consistently able to take advantage of World Legacy Pawns to activate your Flip monster effects on the opponent's turn, while the Winda version has a much-improved matchup against decks like Cyber Dragons, Gaia, and Desperado, which typically do not get rid of monsters by means of nondestructive removal.

Some potential support cards to look out for in the future for Duel Links are Subterror Guru (a searcher + "Book of Moon" Flip monster to add consistency), The Hidden City (a searcher + disruptor Field Spell to add stability), and Subterror Nemesis Archer (an aggressive nondestructive removal option that is also an answer to Black Rose Dragon). There are other support cards, but for Duel Links, this is all we realistically need.

Also of note, in the Duel Links Meta Discord within the #subterror channel, you can check the Pinned Messages for an FAQ that will be frequently updated, but you can definitely feel free to ask questions there for quick answers as well!

Gameplay Demonstration

Here are lots of example duels showcasing Subterrors in action! Some of these duels are from old metas, and some from new metas, but we hope these give you the gist of what this deck can do! If you're struggling with a given matchup and one of them is listed here, hopefully that will help you with key interactions! (Links are clickable)

Hybrid Builds vs. Pure / Trap Monster Builds

Before we proceed, let's just briefly ask ourselves why people continue to experiment with hybrid builds, among those who continue to use a pure or a Trap Monster build. Keep in mind if you are in the DLM Discord, you are always free to ask members of the channel to help build your deck! Please ask if you want to see builds (especially those not shown in "Sample Decks"), and we will provide. NOTE: Builds that are no longer recommended include Darklord, Invoked, and Thunder Dragon hybrids, so they were omitted.

What do these non-pure versions add?

• The Winda version provides Spiritual Beast Tamer Winda, who floats into the Ritual Beast Ulti-Fusions, which makes matchups against decks containing nontargeting or massive destruction effects much easier, such as Cyber Dragons (Overflow), Gladiator Beasts (Gyzarus), or Shiranui (Ballista Squad, Raigeki Break, etc).