We continue our Breakers of Shadow week with another hyped up Xyz Monster: Traptrix Rafflesia.

Traptrix Rafflesia is yet another generic Rank 4 monster (as if we didn’t have enough of those), sporting a weak 300 ATK, but a monstrous 2500 DEF. Add in immunity to all Trap effects as long as she has an Xyz Material, and you have a monster that can be quite annoying to deal with.

Her main draw, however, is the ability to send any “Hole” Normal Trap Card from your Deck to the Graveyard and copy its effect, so long as that card’s activation timing has been met. For example, if your opponent summons a monster with 1500 or more ATK, you can send Bottomless Trap Hole from your Deck to the Graveyard and Rafflesia copies that effect, destroying and banishing the monster.

This is an incredibly powerful defensive effect, as the Trap Holes are some of the strongest Trap Cards in the game, but are offset by the fact that you have to draw them early for them to be effective. Rafflesia circumvents the need to draw them by pulling them right out of the Deck (while also making them immune to Spell/Trap removal), so long as you have 2 Level 4 monsters to Xyz Summon with.

The fact that she requires you to run the Trap Holes in the first place may make it seem like she doesn’t have a place in more aggressive combo-oriented Decks, but Rafflesia in fact has notable offensive prowess as well, thanks to the existence of Treacherous Trap Hole. Because you can activate it at will, Rafflesia can be easy spot removal for any two monsters on the board at any point in time, provided there are no Traps in your Graveyard. Since combo Decks tend to run a low Trap count as it is, this shouldn’t be an issue. The best part is that Treacherous Trap Hole is also a potent defensive card, adding more versatility to Rafflesia.

The OCG actually shied away from this card for a while due to the large plethora of stronger Rank 4 monsters at their disposal that didn’t require the use of Trap Holes, but recently she’s started to make appearances in their metagame again (in part thanks to the banning of Shock Master over there finally). The TCG has a significantly weaker Rank 4 toolbox to work with, so there isn’t much reason not to use her if you have a Rank 4 centric Deck. It’s not difficult to splash a Trap Hole or two to make her effective, and she puts a lot of pressure on the opponent.

Rating: 4/5 (not quite the behemoth Cyber Dragon Infinity is, but she’s still a strong card in her own right)

I believe the artwork on Traptrix cards is exceptionally good. Traptrix Rafflesia is a Rank 4 Earth Plant-type XYZ Monster with 300 Atk and 2500 Def. Switching the Atk and Def would create a truly excellent monster, but Plant-type monsters have notoriously low Atk. I love that this requires any 2 Level 4 monsters to XYZ summon Rafflesia. 
 
Shey (she/they) has very useful effects. Traptrix is completely unaffected by Trap effects while it has XYZ material. My first thought is to torrential the field, but with 300 Atk it's not really worth it even with her survival. Except for herself Traptrix monsters on the field are given protection while she is on the field. They cannot be targeted by opponent's effects and cannot be destroyed by anyone's battle or effects. So with that protection you could Dark Hole, lose Rafflesia, but keep all your other Traptrix monsters. Finally, the only effect that has a cost lets you ditch a material to send a 'Hole' Normal Trap Card from your Deck to the Graveyard and activate it as Rafflesia's effect if the timing is correct. 
 
There are many Trap Cards that work, but it is usually a problem to draw them. Rafflesia solves that problem nicely, so long as she has material. The only question becomes do you have space in the Extra Deck for another Rank 4 monster? Time will tell.
 
Score: 4/5 Auto-correct is annoying for Traptrix. 
Art: 4/5 Art is great for Traptrix.
 
-WarlockBlitz

While I admire the effort put into this card's effect, I don't see it being played competitively. Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of potential here- not to mention that this card is way more easy to summon than yesterday's- but there are some considerable downsides here. 

Firstly, it's abysmal 300-ATK; obviously you want to play DEF with this card, but it's not hard for your opponent to switch its position, but that's only if he or she desperately needs to. 

Secondly, while it can save other Traptrix monsters from being destroyed, it doesn't protect itself from battle damage or (non-trap) effects. (On a side note: why would you even run other Traptrix monsters? Once this card is on the field, their usefulness is pretty much moot.)

Thirdly, and most sad of all, Hole Trap cards are pretty much obsolete in modern play. You might see Bottomless Trap Hole once in a while, but it is far outclassed by cards like Dark Hole, Lightning Vortex, Pulling the Rug, and... oh yeah, Solemn Warning. Heck, we're getting another Solemn card soon, so why are you running Holes again?
 
The plus side to this card is that while it has XYZ material, Traps of all kinds don't effect it. She's a pretty solid defense block because of that. Also, her last effect can be fun- basically allowing you to throw a Hole Trap card out of your deck to get its effect at just the right time- but again, I just don't see this working very well outside of casual play. Feel free to try it, but don't expect easy victories. I'm sorry, but I believe the whole Traptrix theme was doomed before it even took off.
 
Score: 2/5