Notes & Combos

My stubborn determination to keep getting KoG with Paleozoics continues (I got this KoG around 11/11, bu am submitting it late). Anomalocaris has been a huge boon to the deck, giving it a proper boss monster. The basic game plan is to make sure you survive until your next turn with a Paleozoic on board, and then use that to summon Opabinia and go to town. I usually summon Opabinia first, then Anomalocaris, and sometimes Links after that.

I made the switch from Diva to Frogs, which is kind of in response to the meta. Most of the current meta decks put so much damage on the board very quickly, and/or they have backrow removal that makes it really difficult to survive with a Paleozoic on the field to use the following turn. Swap Frog pretty much guarantees that even if you just have one Paleozoic on the field and nothing else, you’ll be able to Xyz summon with it and start your combos. You can also return Swap Frog to your hand with their own effect to dodge Effect Veiler, Warning Point, etc. which is also a plus. DD Crow on Ronintoadin sucks, but thankfully I’ve only seen that once.

I know Pikaia apparently isn’t used at all in Master Duel Paleo Frogs, and others don’t like it for Duel Links, but I swear by it. Pikaia is great to open with, it’s one of the few ways this deck can gain advantage, and it also lets you keep comboing after you summon Opabinia.

For the other Paleo traps, I run 12 Paleozoics to make Pikaia as live as possible, as well as to summon as much as possible after summoning Opabinia. I only have 1 Dinomischus, and might run 2 if I had 2, but the discard cost can be quite steep. Marrella dumping Lost Wind is a cheeky interaction; sometimes I even activate Marrella preemptively before an opponent’s Extra Deck summon so that I have an additional Trap during my next turn to summon Paleozoics with.

As for the non-Paleo Traps, the Hallowed Life Barriers are a must; it’s always great to open with so you can survive until your next turn. I would run Icy Dragon Prison if I had it, since it solves so many issues for this deck (particularly when facing targeting / destruction protection like Tenyi or Blue Eyes Chaos Max, or dealing with the Black Luster Soldiers or other monsters that could be easily summoned against after bouncing them.) You could try teching a single Drowning Mirror Force, and there have been situations where I would love to top deck it midgame, but it’s risky to play because it may just get removed.