Instructions for playing Karakuri

By Zen Published Dec 15, 2021 Updated May 21, 2022

Among Machine monsters, Karakuri is a card race that provides both high attack power and defense thanks to the ability to automatically change the card's position. Not only that, this deck also has the ability to harass opponents when it can change the position of the opponent's monster. So to play this deck well, what cards do you need to own?

Sections covered in this guide:

overview

Karakuri is an extremely fast Synchro deck with a mechanic that focuses on changing the position of monsters. Karakuri Anatomy helps pull through your deck and is supported by Karakuri Cash Cache and the boss monster, Karakuri Shogun mdl 00 "Burei" . The main support monster is Karakuri Komachi mdl 224 "Ninishi" , a Tuner that allows a second summon; Karakuri Merchant mdl 177 "Inashichi", search for any Karakuri card. Due to the speed at which Karakuri draws through the deck, tech cards like Offering to the Doomed support the deck's OTK abilities and are often used a lot.

ADV and disadv

Karakuri is very strong in resource exploitation, jamming and OTKing the enemy, however, the biggest weakness lies in the effects of all Karakuri monster cards: they will be forced to attack if possible. That means you will have a very high chance of defeat if you let the opponent go first and disrupt the combo of summoning Synchro monsters that are not forced to attack. At that time, even if the ATK is weaker, the Karakuri monsters are forced to attack to end their turn. Therefore, when playing this deck, it is important to clean up the opponent's backrow cards that can ruin your combo.

Skill

Firm as the EARTH (Skill Card) (10%)

Your Karakuri monsters will gain 500 ATK and reduce 400 DEF, but are usually left unused due to having no other effects.

Level Augmentation (Skill Card) (90%)

To help summon level 7 Burei and level 8 Bureido , pros often use this skill to create mutations in the match, calling out appropriate monsters for each situation. Furthermore, this skill makes an important contribution to Synchro as will be discussed below.

Core Cards

A Karakuri deck to climb rank must have the following cards:

Karakuri Merchant mdl 177 "Inashichi" (x1)

Well, so why is this card limited? That's thanks to the ability when normally summoned to help players search for a Karakuri card from the deck to their hand, regardless of whether it's magic, traps or monsters. When you have this card in your hand, you can take it up. Karakuri Bonze mdl 9763 "Kunamzan" to perform a Synchro summon combo immediately produces the boss card Karakuri Shogun mdl 00 "Burei" , or in other cases you can take the card Karakuri Gold Dust to increase ATK or Karakuri Cash Inn to neutralize the effect of enemy monster.

Karakuri Bonze mdl 9763 "Kunamzan" (x2-3)

With the ability to call out to the field very easily, this monster is often used as a material with another 2 or 3 star Karakuri monster to summon Synchro, creating pressure for the opponent right from the first turn. For example, normal summon Inashichi first and use its effect to get Kunamzan to your hand. Then special summon Kunamzan to summon Burei . If you already have this monster in your hand, you can normal summon Sazank then special summon Kunamzan to create Bureido . Changing battle position is actually unconditioned, so you can basically special summon Kunamzan easily, whereas changing the battle position of your Karakuri monster is really useful for activating Anime Anatomy .

Karakuri Komachi mdl 224 "Ninishi" (x2)

Ninishi is a 3-star Tuner monster that, once per turn, allows you to Normal Summon a “ Karakuri ” monster one more time. As a Tuner, this card's effect aids in summoning other monsters on the field which is great for Synchro summoning.

Normal Summon Ninishi and increase its Level by 2 using the Level Augmentation skill showing the Inashichi card in your hand. Normal summon Inashichi to use its search effect. Summon Synchro Burei with your leveled up Ninishi and Inashichi .

If you want to change the monster's fighting position, special summon Nishipachi with Burei 's effect; If you don't want to change your opponent's fighting position, special summon Nisamu for additional damage.

If you don't have Karakuri Merchant mdl 177 “Inashichi” in hand, you can use Karakuri Cash Cache to get it into your hand. Additionally, you can still summon Burei with Ninishi and combine with any level 4 Karakuri .

Karakuri Ninja mdl 339 "Sazank" (x2-3)

The removal effect is a welcome addition to the deck. The most optimal way to activate it is by placing Sazank face down on the field and turning it upside down with Burei 's effect. You can also place Sazank face down and wait for your opponent to attack it. This is an optimal way to defeat the opponent's main monster cards, somewhat causing certain disadvantages for the opponent.

As a level 3 monster, you can combine Sazank with a specially summoned Kunamzan to form Bureido .

Karakuri Cash Cache (x2-3)

Inashichi and Cash Cache are great cards to pull off a perfect combo. These cards will get into your hand any Karakuri monsters you need to pull off your combos, with Inashichi also able to get Spell / Trap Karakuri. Cash Cache should prioritize finding Ninishi as your only Tuner. If you already have Ninishi in hand, prioritize Inashichi not your Tuner to perform the combo mentioned in the previous section; If you already have Sazank or Inashichi , you should prioritize getting Kunamzan into your hand.

Karakuri Muso mdl 818 "Haipa" (x2-3)

If you can't summon Burei or Bureido right away, you can still use Haipa as a second method in addition to being a Synchro material. With a high ATK index of 2100, Haipa will easily destroy monster cards when combined with Karakuri Gold Dust or Runaway Karakuri . Furthermore, if you attack, at the end of the turn this monster will change its fighting position. You can take advantage of this to activate Karakuri Anatomy or Karakuri Trick House.

Karakuri Gold Dust and Runaway Karakuri (x2-3)

To provide high combat ability, Runaway Karakuri and Karakuri Gold Dust are extremely necessary. In particular, Karakuri Gold Dust offers great coordination when you take advantage of monsters whose attacks have ended to optimize the amount of damage to the opponent. In addition, as Quick-Play Spell cards, these two cards can also counterattack the opponent when you activate them to increase the ATK of the Karakuri monster right in the opponent's attack turn.

Karakuri Strategist mdl 248 "Nishipachi" (x0-1)

Is another Tuner card besides Ninishi , capable of rotating the monster's position as soon as it is summoned, often used to coordinate with Sazank or Karakuri Trick House. If you face Zombie monsters, you will have a great advantage because most Zombie monsters have a DEF index of 0 or extremely low.

Karakuri Cash Inn and Karakuri Trick House (x2-3)

Brings great interference ability to Karakuri decks.

Cash Inn is a great way to negate search cards like Blackwing - Simoon the Poison Wind and Aleister the Invoker . This won't eliminate your opponent's monsters, but the unconditional negation will be enough to hinder your opponent from building their ideal combo. Cash Inn 's graveyard effect can be used to change the fighting position of your opponent's monsters, allowing you to counterattack your opponent's powerful monsters.

Trick House , on the contrary, although the effect cannot be denied, can destroy cards, break the opponent's combos or the opponent's main monster.

Karakuri Soldier mdl 236 "Nisamu" (x0-1)

Use Nisamu as a way to prevent damage from the opponent as well as call Ninishi to the field to perform combos next turn.

Karakuri Anatomy (x1-2)

Karakuri Anatomy is a great representation of Karakuri gameplay, specifically changing battle positions and increasing resources. It's easy to get 2 points on this card because all of your Karakuri monsters have an innate effect that changes their battle position. Cash Cache is a good search card that also helps support Anatomy to thin the deck effectively.

Here's an example of a full combo you can make, giving you a total of 3 searches and 2 draws!

Normal summon Inashichi and activate the monster's search effect. Activate Karakuri Anatomy.
Special Summon Kunamzan and change Inashichi's battle position.
Activate Cash Cache to search and change Inashichi's battle position.
Activate Anatomy to draw 2 cards.

Summon Synchro Burei and use the card's search effect.

This combo involves a lot of cards but is actually quite consistent and works well.

Karakuri Gama Oil (x1)

Another card that takes advantage of the position change of Karakuri monsters, can revive defeated Karakuri monsters to the field or materials to summon limited Synchro like Inashichi or Ninishi again. Not only that, it also helps the monster increase 500 ATK/DEF with each change in the Karakuri monster's fighting position.

Karakuri Showdown Castle (x1)

Karakuri monsters can only change your opponent's battle position once per turn, but this card will let you do them infinitely, causing discomfort to your opponent. Furthermore, when destroyed and sent to the grave, it allows you to special summon a grave Karakuri monster with 4 stars or less to special summon to the field.

Karakuri Shogun mdl 00 "Burei" (x1-2)

Burei is the Synchro monster you want to take when going first. You mainly want him to Special Summon Nisamu from your deck to increase his presence on the battlefield. When your Nisamu is destroyed in battle, you can maintain a presence in the field by Special Summoning another Nisamu or Special Summoning Ninishi to perform a Synchro during your next turn.

The battle position change effect can be used on your opponent's monsters to reveal their weaker stats. Good against monsters with high ATK but low DEF like Shiranuis , or monsters with high DEF but low ATK like Superheavy Samurai . You can also use this effect on your monsters that have been hit by the Floodgate Trap Hole.

Karakuri Steel Shogun mdl 00X "Bureido" (x1-2)

Bureido is a great resource generator. Karakuri is known for changing his fighting position so the draw effect is easy to trigger. When Synchro Summon Bureido , you can Special Summon Nishipachi in attack position. Target Nishipachi with his own effect and this will also trigger Bureido 's drain effect, replenishing your resource pool after summoning a Synchro monster.

Cash Cache is also a good way to activate Bureido 's draw effect, but make sure you control another Karakuri monster or put Bureido in a defensive position first. Attack position Karakuri monsters are automatically changed to defense position when attacked, allowing you to use the draw effect once per turn on your opponent's turn.

Tech Cards

Samurai Destroyer (x1)

Summon Samurai Destroyer as an attack option. This monster prevents your opponent from activating effects during combat, preventing combat and break traps such as Sphere Kuriboh and Kiteroid , allowing all of Samurai Destroyer 's attacks to pass through.

Assuming this card does not have its defensive position changed, your opponent will most likely escape Samurai Destroyer with its removal effects before entering combat. This is where his floating effect becomes useful for floating into any Machine in your graveyard, including Synchro monsters and Samurai Destroyer himself. This effect can be triggered by any form of removal, making it unavoidable.

Monsters fighting Samurai Destroyer will have their effects negated. This makes Samurai Destroyer a good way to eliminate monsters without activating their floating effect. You can also attack monsters and ignore their ATK increase.

Brionac Dragon of the Ice Barrier (x1-2)

With the ability to put his opponent's cards in his hand, Brionac is absolutely a formidable opponent and causes a lot of discomfort for his opponents. This monster is completely capable of OTK if the opponent's backrow is not secure. Assuming your Burei and Bureido are both destroyed and cannot be retrieved, Brionac is the top choice, then you should think about Samurai Destroyer

Righty Driver and Lefty Driver (x1)

You only really need one Lefty Driver card because Righty Driver can special summon it from anywhere. Adjusting Lefty Driver 's level via skill gives you a lot of flexibility in what you can do, usually with Righty Driver , Lefty Driver , plus a monster as well.

Number 70: Malevolent Sin (x1-2)

Useful if your opponent only has 1 monster on the field or against monsters that the deck cannot afford to ATK. Temporarily eliminating them will allow you to attack directly, potentially becoming an OTK.

Vermillion Dragon Mech (x1)

High ATK and has the effect of removing cards without negating its attacks. The deck has no way to restore banished cards other than Vermillion 's effect, but it doesn't mean you'll win for sure, so you'll have to be careful when using resources to summon.

Mystical Space Typhoon and Ultimate Providence (x1-2)

Mystical Space Typhoon or Ultimate Providence are cards that destroy the opponent's backrow, making your moves safer. Therefore, Karakuri's weaknesses mentioned above are temporarily overcome.