Labrynth Primer

The Labrynth Playstyle

The Labrynth archetype’s main gimmick is assigning additional value to Normal Trap cards, in particular the Normal Trap cards which result in a monster card leaving the field, which is an action that triggers the secondary effects of many Labrynth cards - often beneficial to the Labrynth player, as nearly every such effect replenishes your resources, putting the Labrynth player in a stronger position the longer the game progresses. As such, we can deduce that the Labrynth engine is fundamentally tailored towards a Control-adjacent playstyle.

Due to Control or Control-adjacent not being recognized as official terms in Yugioh when talking about a deck’s playstyle, this guide will assume the following is completely or mostly true for the deck to classify as a Control strategy:

The Deck is played in a sustained manner, carefully weighing how much card resources should be invested in which point during the Duel.
The Deck’s win condition is to slow down the gamestate into a pace comfortable for the pilot of the strategy.
The Deck runs out of card resources at a slower pace than the average Deck, resulting in the Deck in question having valid plays for more turns.

So far, Labrynth as a base strategy fulfills all three of the points mentioned above but how does Labrynth play, really?

As stated previously, Labrynth seeks to increase the value of Normal Trap cards in their arsenal with the ability to access them more consistently by setting them directly from the Deck, as well as the potential to access Normal Trap cards used previously in the Duel.

But in which way does Labrynth add additional value to Normal Traps?

• If a monster leaves the field because of an effect of your Normal Trap card while Lovely Labrynth of the Silver Castle is on the field, you can destroy 1 card on the opponent’s side of the field without targeting, or destroy 1 random card in the opponent’s hand.
• If a monster leaves the field because of an effect of your Normal Trap card while Arianna the Labrynth Servant or Ariane the Labrynth Servant is on the field, you can draw 1 card, then either Special Summon a Fiend monster from the hand, or set a Spell/Trap from the hand.
• If a monster leaves the field because of an effect of your Normal Trap card while Labrynth Stovie Torbie is in the GY, it can Special Summon itself.
• If a monster leaves the field because of an effect of your Normal Trap card while Labrynth Chandraglier is in the GY, it can return itself to the hand.
• If your opponent activates a card or effect in response of your Normal Trap while Arias the Labrynth Butler is in the GY, it can Special Summon itself.
• If a monster leaves the field because of an effect of your Normal Trap card while Welcome Labrynth is in the GY, except the turn it was sent there, it can Set itself into the S/T zone.
• If a “Welcome Labrynth” Normal Trap Card is activated while Labrynth Labyrinth is in the Field Zone, the Welcome trap can gain an additional effect to destroy a card on the field without targeting.
• If a non-Welcome Labrynth Normal Trap is activated while Labrynth Labyrinth is in the Field Zone, Labrynth Labyrinth can Special Summon a Fiend monster from the hand or GY.
• If a Normal Trap is activated while Lady Labrynth of the Silver Castle is on the field, she can set a Normal Trap with a different name from the Deck.
• If a Normal Trap is in your GY, you can Set it to your S/T zone using the effect of Lovely Labrynth of the Silver Castle, but it cannot be activated, unless you control a Fiend monster.
• If Lovely Labrynth of the Silver Castle is on the field, your opponent cannot respond to the activation of your Normal Trap cards with monster effects.

With all these points in mind, it’s safe to assume powerful Normal Traps will always make for a good addition in a Labrynth strategy, regardless of build. For more information about building a Labrynth Deck, head to the Card Overview section of this site.

Interactions

As already mentioned, Labrynth is a control deck, and while some control decks have clear combos, Labrynth does not. There is no combo spreadsheet you can just learn and suddenly know how to play the deck “good enough”. You need to study the effects of your cards, both engine and non-engine, and know about all the interactions between them, evaluating when to use them and how to generate enough advantage to flip the game in your favor. Here is a list with many of the common interactions:

Turn 0 Furniture Combos

Lady Labrynth of the Silver Castle + Either Welcome -> Instant Activation of any Normal Trap

You have the opportunity to set and activate any Normal Trap in your Deck, if you have Lady Labrynth of the Silver Castle on board and are able to activate either Welcome:

• Activate your Welcome, and chain Lady Labrynth of the Silver Castle to set any Trap of your choice.
• What you Special Summon with the Welcome depends on which one you used:
  • Welcome Labrynth: In this case you must special summon Arianna the Labrynth Servant and use her effect to search Labrynth Cooclock
  • Big Welcome Labrynth: there are two possible ways to play this. Which one you use depends on the exact gamestate, but generally option B) gives you the better follow-up, as next turn you are potentially able to bounce Arianna the Labrynth Servant with the GY effect of Big Welcome Labrynth, triggering all your Labrynth effects and allowing you to use Arianna the Labrynth Servant again:
    • A) Special Summon Labrynth Cooclock and bounce it
    • B) Special Summon Arianna the Labrynth Servant, bounce Lady Labrynth of the Silver Castle, and use her effect to search Labrynth Cooclock
• Now you can use the Labrynth Cooclock, allowing you to use the Trap Lady Labrynth of the Silver Castle set. Focusing on setting with Lady Labrynth of the Silver Castle is not always the best strategy to go for, but this is one simple way to do it when needed. There are many lines that allow you to do so, this one is just a breakdown of a general simple gamestate allowing you to.

Turn 0 Bounce

If you draw Lady Labrynth of the Silver Castle, Big Welcome Labrynth and either Labrynth Chandraglier or Labrynth Stovie Torbie there is a combo to use the GY effect of Big Welcome Labrynth during T0. Use the Furniture and discard Big Welcome Labrynth. Now you can Summon Lady Labrynth of the Silver Castle at any point, which will allow you to bounce an opponents card with the GY effect of Big Welcome Labrynth now that you control a LV 8 or higher Fiend.

Cursed Dodge

This Deck has two ways to dodge Infinite Impermanence, using either Big Welcome Labrynths on-field effect, or its GY effect. Using the on-field effect to dodge an Infinite Impermanence often requires you to show your opponent that you have this option, e.g. by setting it via Arias the Labrynth Butler or using the T0 Furniture combo to get it live.

However, there is a more cursed way to dodge Tou can use the GY effect to dodge Infinite Impermanence without telegraphing this to your opponent. If you have either of the Furnitures together with Big Welcome Labrynth in your hand, you can discard the Furniture together with it as CL2 to the CL1 Infinite Impermanence, then as CL3 use the Big Welcome Labrynth GY effect and bounce your monster.

Nibiru, the Primal Being (or a Bystial) + Furniture

There is an interaction between the furnitures and sequential effects (primarily Bystials & Nibiru, the Primal Being) that you need to know.

During the Main Phase, if your opponent Normal or Special Summoned 5 or more monsters this turn (Quick Effect): You can Tribute as many face-up monsters on the field as possible, and if you do, Special Summon this card from your hand, then Special Summon 1 “Primal Being Token” (Rock/LIGHT/Level 11/ATK ?/DEF ?) to your opponent’s field. (This Token’s ATK/DEF become the combined original ATK/DEF of the Tributed monsters.) You can only use this effect of “Nibiru, the Primal Being” once per turn.

If you read closely, you will see that effect of Nibiru, the Primal Being is sequential (indicated by the then conjunction). If you use this effect, and later in the chain discard it with a furniture the following will happen:

• The furniture will resolve, setting a Labrynth S/T
• Nibiru, the Primal Being will tribute all monsters on the field, however as it can no longer summon itself, due to it being in the GY, no token will be summoned, as a token only appears if Nibiru, the Primal Being also reaches the field.

The Primal Being Token commonly is a problem for Labrynth to out due to its usually high stats, requiring to use a valuable removal on it. Or sometimes you just do not want a monster on your or the opponents side of the field. By discarding it in the same chain with a furniture you can safe yourself from this. Just be aware that now that Nibiru, the Primal Being is discard to the GY as cost, it can be hit with Called by the Grave. The bystials work the same way, they will banish their target, however will not summon themself due to being in the GY.

Chaos Angel Looping

Chaos Angel is a Synchro monster easily accessible to the Labrynth strategy due to it’s ability to treat LIGHT and DARK-attribute monsters as Tuners, meaning that Labrynth pilots can make it with any combination of Labrynth monsters whose level equal 10. Easy combinations for this are either of the servants + Arias the Labrynth Butler, or Lady Labrynth of the Silver Castle/Lovely Labrynth of the Silver Castle + Labrynth Stovie Torbie, allthough there are some weirder combinations that work like double Labrynth Chandraglier + either servant.

Chaos Angel has a powerful effect which triggers whenever it’s Special Summoned (note: not just Synchro Summoning, but rather any kind of Special Summon!), which allows you to target a card on the field and banish it.

An important thing to keep in mind is that this effect does not have a hard once-per-turn, allowing you to potentially banish multiple cards in a single turn if you can summon him multiple times.

There are several tools that allows us to Special Summon this powerful monster in a turn. Including but not limited to:

• Labrynth Labyrinth - Allowing you to revive a Fiend monster from the GY on the resolution of a chain in which you have activated a non-“Welcome Labrynth” Normal Trap card.
• Muckraker From the Underworld - On top of it’s incredibly useful ability to protect your other monsters from destruction by tributing a Fiend monster, this Link-2 monster can revive a Fiend monster by discarding a card from your hand. Commonly you use the Chaos Angel on field plus another monster to go into her, and then summon the Chaos Angel back to trigger it a 2nd time in a turn.
• Chimera the King of Phantom Beasts - This card has an incredibly potent effect to revive a Fiend monster from your GY on a Quick Effect by banishing itself from GY, making it a target for Dogmatika Punishment worth considering when building a Labrynth Deck.
• Unchained Soul Lord of Yama - An integral part of every strategy involving Fiend monsters, this card has an effect that can be an incredible hindrance to the opponent, due to it’s ability to revive a Fiend monster from the GY after a card(s) under your control is/are destroyed.

Ordering of Furniture Effects

Every once in a while, Labrynth pilots might find themselves in a situation where they can activate either Labrynth Chandraglier or Labrynth Stovie Torbie from their hand. What do you do in that situation?

Usually, the optimal way to approach this situation is to activate Labrynth Chandraglier to discard Labrynth Stovie Torbie - Because, in the occasion that a monster leaves the field because of a Normal Trap effect, Labrynth Chandraglier will return to the hand and Labrynth Stovie Torbie will Special Summon itself - and that would allow Labrynth Stovie Torbie to activate it’s own effect, discarding Labrynth Chandraglier to set another Labrynth Spell/Trap from the Deck.

Ariane

Ariane the Labrynth Servant is a card that allows a new level of gameplay, at the cost of playing one more brick. In the past she was just played as a summon target for grind games where you wanted her draw effect. However, since the introduction of Transaction Rollback she is a combo powerhouse and can create very explosive, downright silly gamestates, which has earned her the nickname of “war criminal”. If she resolves, you usually just win, as she allows you to generate a lot of advantage if you do not get interrupted. Learning how to use her is hard and can not be properly conveyed trough text, you simply have to experience it. Due to the complexity of her combos it is not recommended to play her if you are just starting to learn the deck. At that state only play her for her 2nd effect really, and once you are familiar with the deck feel free to experiment around with using her effect.

She also is one of the few options we have to get Transaction Rollback from the field to the GY, allowing her to combo well with Lady Labrynth of the Silver Castle and Labrynth Set-Up.

Which Pot to play, if any

Labrynth is able to run both Pot of Extravagance and Pot of Prosperity. It is mostly up to preference really which one you want to play, if you want to play them at all. Playing potless Labrynth is a valid strategy. The main things to look out here are the usual problems with the Pots:

• You can not draw via card effects in that turn: This is not really an issue for Labrynth, as the only effects that let you draw are the servants anyways
• If you play Pot of Extravagance you will of course need multiple copies of all ED cards, sharply increasing the price of the deck if you want to play it optimally.

At the end of the day it comes down to the typical Labrynth saying, it depends on your personal preference, there is no right or wrong here.

Strategies for difficult situations

Sometimes your opponent throws things at you that you just need to know how to play around.

Strategy: Timeout

There are not many options for Labrynth to win in time and some of our cards actively hurt us. Any trap that modifies LP negatively (increase opponent’s or lower our own), like e.g. Transaction Rollback and Ichiroku’s Ledger Book must be sided out. Some versions of Labrynth have cards that enable them to burn easily in time, e.g. Beatrice, Lady of the Eternal sending Volcanic Scattershot in Fiendsmith versions, but for most versions you either you get a Battle Phase, or there are only 2 options left:

• Playing a Burn Trap for time, the best option being Secret Barrel. This means you need to get to a point where you can side-in and activate it. So you either need to draw it in your opener, or set it with Lady Labrynth of the Silver Castle. This requires you to dedicate a highly valuable Side Deck slot to it and can easily get blocked by getting your Lady Labrynth of the Silver Castle chain blocked.
• Summoning Gagaga Cowboy, which is only easily possible if you play Ariane the Labrynth Servant (You can do it with just Arianna the Labrynth Servant,but this requires very specific hands). However, if you do play her, basically any combo that allows you to resolve Big Welcome Labrynth will allow you to summon it. Below are two examples of how to reach Gagaga Cowboy, but there are too many options to reach it to show them all.

Strategy: Shifter

Coming Soon!

Strategy: Jinzo/Denko Sekka/Royal Decree

Coming Soon!

Strategy: Backrow removal

Coming Soon!

Strategy: Discard Cards

Coming Soon!

Strategy: Evenly

Coming Soon!