The Ghost of Game History

Good night, good morning and good welcome dear readers to another installment of articles where I eschew analysis of video game history in favor of delving into strategy for modern card games, and one of the better ones to boot, Yu-Gi-Oh! The current game has evolved to the point that first turn combos are so consistent and powerful that the only way to give yourself a chance when you go second is to pack cards that can be played at any stage of the game, namely, the broadstrokes unofficial term hand traps. In this guide, I want to cover most of the relevant ones (as well as a few more scarce options) to give you the most information going forward so that you have a good general understanding of which cards are good, which are situational and which to avoid. I don’t want this guide to function as advice of what to play in the current metagame, and in fact, I’ll probably avoid any considerations of what’s strong in a particular format. Instead, I want to list the pros and cons of each in a vacuum and you can make the decision for yourself which cards sound the most appealing to you. Few disclaimers before I start:

1. To loosely define, a hand trap is any card that you can play from the start of the duel, even if you don’t go first. It can also apply to a few Trap cards that you can play without setting them if you meet some condition. Some hand traps have more limited activation windows than others. The criteria for what counts will be subjective.

2. Similarly, all praise and critiques will be subjective in nature. While I will give an objective overview of what advantages and disadvantages each card has, how I view their quality will be just my opinion. Again, the purpose here is to give you information and let you decide which cards sound good for you.

3. If you’re not familiar with the cards, I’ll post the whole text in bold before I analyze it. With all that being said, let’s dive into that disruption!

Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit

When a monster on the field activates its effect, or when a Spell/Trap that is already face-up on the field activates its effect (Quick Effect): You can send this card from your hand or field to the GY; destroy that card on the field. You can only use this effect of “Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit” once per turn.

Ogre basically kicked off the modern hand trap craze. The OG one of the more unique cards in this list, but this doesn’t always work in the card’s favor. The first big thing is that Ogre doesn’t negate the offending monster effect, except in niche situations. This is usually disastrous because effect on summon monsters’ primary goal is to get their effect off; whether they live or die is irrelevant. Ogre can also hit Spells and Traps, but again, only in specific situations. The card must already been face up and activate an effect after its initial activation window. This means that it does nothing to Field spells like Magical Meltdown that do something only on activation. Ogre is really only advisable in this day and age when there are a lot of Continuous Spells and Traps in the format that generate advantage, or monsters that need to stay on the field to resolve their effects, like Naturia Beast. In any other setting, there are just cards that fill Ogre’s role better than she does. She does have two unique qualities that may override this however. Ogre is unique among hand traps for being able to pitch herself from the field as well as the hand, so she provides a lot of extra utility in cases where you can easily bring her out, which files into my next point. She’s a level 3 Psychic Tuner, so she can easily be summoned off of Emergency Teleport, either for Synchro plays, or the aforementioned on field disruption.

Ghost Reaper & Winter Cherries

If your opponent controls more monsters than you do (Quick Effect): You can discard this card; reveal 1 card in your Extra Deck, then look at your opponent’s Extra Deck, also banish all cards in their Extra Deck with the same name as that revealed card. You can only use this effect of “Ghost Reaper & Winter Cherries” once per turn.

Reaper has a decidedly niche effect in an environment where flexibility is king. Ghost Reaper’s appeal is locking your opponent completely out of an Extra Deck Monster that’s needed to complete their combo. In formats past, this could be very devastating, as decks like ABC relied on very specific cards in order for their gameplan to function in any capacity. Nowadays, most decks have versatile Extra Decks that don’t rely on any one card for their gameplan. Reaper’s problem is that it has some significant drawbacks that make it highly inadvisable to run except in only the most blowout of situations. The first is that unless you’re able to chain it in response to an effect that activates, say a Fusion Spell, Reaper will always be a -1 in card advantage without the benefit of affecting your opponent’s resources. You’ll be giving up advantage to simply reduce their decision tree. Secondly, you must have the card that you’re trying to hit in your own Extra Deck, which drastically lowers the practically of the card. Its versatility then becomes limited to how many different targets you want to prepare for, and most decks don’t have the Extra Deck space to be filling them for the niche situations Reaper calls for. The best application in modern Yu-Gi-Oh for a card like Reaper is to call Dragoon in response to Verte Anaconda’s effect, but then again, an Effect Veiler or Infinite Impermanence does the same thing, with much lower risk and with more applicability against other decks. This will be one of the few hand traps that I outright disrecommend regardless of the meta; Reaper’s time to shine has passed.

Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring

When a card or effect is activated that includes any of these effects (Quick Effect): You can discard this card; negate that effect.
● Add a card from the Deck to the hand.
● Special Summon from the Deck.
● Send a card from the Deck to the GY.
You can only use this effect of “Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring” once per turn.

Ash is the undisputed reigning champion of hand traps. What makes Ash so ubiquitous is its versatility; any search, draw, summon or dump effect can be countered by it, and Ash was unique on debut for being able to hit Spell and Trap cards when most hand traps could only affect face up monsters. Other reasons Ash is busted include that it discards so you can drop it even under banishment effects, and it negates the effect, so they won’t be able to activate another copy of the card if it’s a one activation per turn effect. The only significant downside is that Ash must be chained directly to the effect to negate it, so that means it can be chain-blocked against to protect certain effects from getting hit by it. Because almost every deck in existence has some effect that’s countered by Ash, I really see no reason not to main 3 in every deck that you’re able to.

Ghost Belle & Haunted Mansion

When a card or effect is activated that includes any of these effects (Quick Effect): You can discard this card; negate that activation.
● Add a card(s) from the GY to the hand, Deck, and/or Extra Deck.
● Special Summon a Monster Card(s) from the GY.
● Banish a card(s) from the GY.
You can only use this effect of “Ghost Belle & Haunted Mansion” once per turn.

Belle is the Graveyard counterpart to the Deck-decker Ash, and that fact alone should tell you the gap in their playability. But while Grave effects aren’t nearly as omnipresent as Deck effects, Belle’s similarity to Ash makes in highly playable in some formats, if only to act as more copies of Ash that can be used even after you’ve activated Ash in the same turn. Like Ash, Belle can hit Spells and Traps that meet its requirements, making it excellent against Monster Reborn-style effects. Perhaps Belle’s best use, however, is that it’s one of the few cards that can stop Called By the Grave in its tracks, allowing your other hand traps to go through unimpeded. Now that Called By is at 1, that’s less applicable, but if it ever gets freed off the list, Belle’s usage could see another incline. With Belle the key is to always be reading cards to see if they can be unexpectedly hit by it. For example, Nadir Servant is a card that searches and is therefore regularly Ash’ed but some people might not realize that it also gives you an option to add from Grave as well, meaning you can catch your opponent slippin’ even after you’ve burned your Ash on something else. One more thing to keep in mind is that Belle, unlike Ash (for some reason) negates the activation and not merely the effect. This means that if you use it on a card that can only be activated once per turn, like the aforementioned Nadir, they can activate another one because your prevented the activation.

Ghost Sister & Spooky Dogwood

During either turn, except the End Phase (Quick Effect): You can discard this card; apply this effect this turn. You can only use this effect of “Ghost Sister & Spooky Dogwood” once per turn.
● Each time your opponent Special Summons an Effect Monster(s) during the Main Phase or Battle Phase, you gain LP equal to that monster’s ATK. If you did not gain LP by this effect, your LP are halved during the End Phase.

A great deal of players have a misconception about how important Life Points are in a duel of Yu-Gi-Oh. Sure, you should always keep up with your LP and use the number to make calculated risks, but you should almost never go out of your way to acquire more. I feel like playing Dogwood is a learnable moment for these players. The idea is for it to function as a sort of discount Maxx C; your opponent will choose not to over commit because they don’t want you to have an insurmountable LP lead. The thing is, most life totals are very surmountable, except when the match is close to over due to time rules. Thus includes the only viable use for Dogwood: siding it in when time is close to being called and getting a free win when your opponent summons a monster or two. In situations other than that however, you are putting yourself at a disadvantage by losing a card and getting no advantage in return. It’s like someone Confiscation’d you at the start of the duel. Worst case scenario, you play it wrong and YOU become the one down on life. It’s almost always better to play cards that stop your opponent outright than giving them the choice to extend or not, especially when all there is to lose is the LP advantage in time. If you play this, you’re nearly conceding that you expect all your matches to go to time, and my best advice for players who want to know what to do about time rules is don’t ever let it get that far.

Ghost Mourner & Moonlit Chill

If your opponent Special Summons a monster(s) face-up (except during the Damage Step): You can discard this card, then target 1 of those face-up monsters; negate its effects until the end of this turn, also if that face-up monster leaves the field this turn, its controller takes damage equal to its original ATK. You can only use this effect of “Ghost Mourner & Moonlit Chill” once per turn.

Probably the worst of the ghost girls, at least from a design perspective. This is literally an Effect Veiler with a little zest garnished on top. Playability wise, it’s just ok. When deciding if you want to play it, you really only need to compare it to Veiler and Infinite Impermanence. Like Imperm, this can be dropped at any phase, but also has the drawback of its activation window being only when your opponent Special Summons a monster. This fact only kills its applicability in my mind because a large plurality of targets for disruption happen to be Normal Summoned monsters, which this doesn’t touch at all. The lone caveat that keeps this card from being utterly outclassed is that if the monster goes away, they get burned for a not insignificant amount. This essentially makes Mourner the card Dogwood wants to be, as not only can it help win in time, it actually disrupts your opponent’s plays proactively. It may not cause your opponent to contemplate ending their turn like Dogwood, but it acts as a Gnomaterial in some situations. Sadly, the arousal of fear of slight burn damage is not enough to Main Deck this card and since it’s simply average at stopping your opponent’s plays, it’s really not worth considering for your Side Deck, as you want to use those limited slots to cover as many bases as possible.

Effect Veiler

Target 1 face-up monster your opponent controls; negate its effects (until the end of this turn), then, if this card was Set before activation and is on the field at resolution, for the rest of this turn all other Spell/Trap effects in this column are negated. If you control no cards, you can activate this card from your hand.

Finally we get to one of the most iconic hand traps, and among the first we ever had that proactively disrupts the opponent. Veiler is simple and to the point: it stops effects, no matter what they might be. There’s quite a few factors that makes Veiler stand out in the vast sea of hand traps. Firstly, it’s a blanket effect; it doesn’t just stop one effect the opponent has, it stops all of them on that single card. For cards that have multiple effects they can use in the same turn, this is huge. Secondly, it’s not once per turn, so you can drop several Veilers in the same turn, which is unheard of in today’s Yu-Gi-Oh, where having cards that can activate multiple times in the same turn is frowned upon. Sadly, Veiler’s relative oldness means it features some dated qualities that work against it as well. It has to send for cost, meaning you can’t activate it if there’s any banishing effect on the field, like Macro or Dimension Shifter. More importantly, its activation window is solely on your opponent’s turn, specifically in their Main Phase. This means it’s always dead on your turn, unless you choose to use it in a pinch as a level 1 tuner (which can come up, depending on the deck). These drawbacks keep it from being among the cream of the crop as far as hand traps go, but Veiler is relatively inexpensive and nearly every deck is affected by it, so it’s a fine choice for people playing on a budget. Lastly, its Tuner/Spellcaster status means it can easily be slotted in your deck for access to the Halqifibrax>Selene>Accesscode Talker line.

Infinite Impermanence

One of my favorite cards in the game and probably my favorite hand trap, Imperm is at the top of the rankings for me because of how many different ways you can play it. To start, let’s compare it to its predecessor, Veiler, since those scenarios will constitute the majority of its usage. The first turn of the game, you can use it in the same way Veiler is used: to flat negate a monster’s effect with no strings attached. Imperm is arguably better as it can target a monster in any phase of the game. This probably doesn’t come up often, but an example of this being relevant would be a Kozmo player using an Emergency Teleport to bring out a Tincan specifically to dodge Veiler. On the other hand, the restriction that you must control no cards to activate it straight from hand can bite the Impermanence player if the opponent gives them a card, like with Set Rotation, a Lost World Token, or an Iblee. Overall, both cards shine as consistent, effective means of stopping monster effects on the 1^st turn of the game. Where Imperm really shines is how it can be played on your turn to act like a Forbidden Chalice, negating a monster floodgate, or baiting a negation. This is huge, because you get the purpose of Chalice and Veiler without having to compromise and play both. Not only that, but if you go first, you can just choose to set it like a normal Trap card and possibly get the bonus effect to erase a Spell or Trap that was so foolishly played in the card’s column. Admittedly, this aspect isn’t up to you, but if it works just 1 game out of 100, that’s still extra value that you get as a bonus. And if your opponent has an annoying floodgate that’s already on board, you can just put this in that card’s column and out it easily without having to touch your side deck. Lastly, effects that negate specifically Traps are less common than ones that negate specifically Monsters, so anti-hand trap cards like Called By the Grave do nothing to Impermanence. I try to main 3 Imperms in any deck I can, along with 3 Ash Blossoms, because they’re the two most versatile and efficient hand traps to run.

Nibiru, the Primal Being

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.

Nibiru is probably the least straightforward of all the hand traps being discussed. Basically, it’s an anti Summon spam card. If your opponent summons 5 times, they’re vulnerable to having this dropped on them and to get a huge token in return. Meanwhile, you get a very respectable 3000 beatstick for your troubles. If you get the Yeet Rock dropped on you, it’s probably the end of the game, because it WILL ruin your board and your momentum. The problem is meeting its narrow conditions. A lot of decks can summon an impressive board in under 5 summons, or at the very least put out a monster negate that renders Nibiru ineffectual. It’s the ultimate risk/reward card for both players. And while the big token should be trivial to out for most players, if your deck can’t do it without burning too many resources, it may be worth not playing this. Nibiru can be a great side deck card against a lot of combo decks, but many meta decks are either control, midrange, or a combo deck that can play around or through this. This means that Nibiru’s greatest strength is really punishing lower tier combo decks.

Droll & Lock Bird

If a card(s) is added from the Main Deck to your opponent’s hand, except during the Draw Phase (Quick Effect): You can send this card from your hand to the GY; for the rest of this turn, cards cannot be added from either player’s Main Deck to the hand.

Droll has the potential to be the most impactful card in this article. Your opponent gets one search, you drop this, and they’re done for the turn. It has Maxx C levels of turn stopping when played against the right decks. That’s the key though; very often you will drop this on your opponent and it will do nothing to them. Droll doesn’t respond to an activation, it triggers at the resolution of a search. Meaning it is always a -1 in card advantage. Obviously, that minus is mitigated if it shuts your opponent out of draws and searches that would plus them, but against decks that only search one time, you’re essentially handing them an effective plus. This is why you must be very careful not to Main Deck Droll under the wrong circumstances. It’s usually only good in the main if your local meta is flooded with decks that search, and search often. Keep in mind that a lot of Tier 1 decks don’t even search that much in any given meta. That’s why I always side Droll. It can be killer against the right matchup, and only by keeping it in the side can you assure it’s not dead versus anything else. Also, keep in mind that you can’t drop this if a banishment effect is in play, and it locks you out of your own adds too, if your deck is structured to do that.

Artifact Lancea

You can Set this card from your hand to your Spell & Trap Zone as a Spell. During your opponent’s turn, if this Set card in the Spell & Trap Zone is destroyed and sent to your GY: Special Summon it. During your opponent’s turn (Quick Effect): You can Tribute this card from your hand or face-up field; neither player can banish cards for the rest of this turn.

I’m sure veterans of H.A.T. format were shocked to learn that when this card became popular that it was the only Artifact that could be dropped from hand to activate! Lancea is also a heavily meta dependent turn ender, but I like it more than Droll because you can use it any time on your opponent’s turn so there are possibilities to plus off of it. Effects that require banishing are admittedly much rarer than actual searching, but because this can respond to things, it actually feels better to resolve this against just one effect as oppose to Droll. One thing I like about Lancea is that it can also be used as a protective card as oppose to play disruption. It can blank the effects of Cosmic Cyclone and Evenly Matched like no other hand trap, and usually you remove those threats as a bonus in addition to whatever plays you were trying to stop. Like Ghost Ogre, you can activate its effect while it’s on the field, which doesn’t come up often, but I’ve seen it happen before. One last tiny detail is that it Tributes itself to activate, which means it’s immune to Macro-like effects, but oddly gets shut out by Mask of Restrict. Just remember if Restrict is in vogue to be cautious with Lancea.

Chaos Hunter

When your opponent Special Summons a monster (except during the Damage Step): You can discard 1 card; Special Summon this card from your hand. Your opponent cannot banish cards.

A somewhat underrated pick, Hunter has some qualities going for it that makes it better than Lancea in some situations. Obviously, Hunter is a permanent effect, denying banishing as long as he (she?) remains on the field. Not only that, but it’s a one sided effect, so you’re free to banish with impunity. Additionally, 2500 ATK makes it a considerable beatstick, so it can help pressure your opponent. Hunter has some pretty significant flaws, however, that I feel make it non-viable in comparison to Lancea. Firstly, the activation requirement: Hunter requires your opponent to Speccial Summon in order to drop him. Now, I know what you might be thinking. “But Ghost, everyone spams Special Summons in this day and age! It should be easy to get an opportunity to play Hunter!” This may be true, but the fact Hunter has this requirement in the first place means that it’s not an interruption that’s proactive for you. You’re at the whim of your opponent to give you permission to interrupt them. This means your opponent can activate an effect that that banishes prior to having a chance to lock them out of it. A Normal Summoned Tri-Brigade will summon without a fuck given, Thunder Dragons can feel free to Gold Sarcophagus and Allure of Darkness to set their hand up. Not only that, but the effect being tied to a body means that if your opponent develops the means to get rid of the Hunter, they can go back to banishing like nothing happened. As if it couldn’t get any worse, Hunter requires you also to discard a card to drop him, which honestly makes him a liability if he ever gets removed. Hunter’s primary advantage, that he’s a more permanent anti-banisher is not that great of a strength in today’s game where momentum can be amplified and stopped completely in the span of a single turn. I’d avoid this one in favor of Lancea in just about all metagames.

Fantastical Dragon Phantazmay

If your opponent Special Summons a Link Monster(s) (except during the Damage Step): You can Special Summon this card from your hand, draw cards equal to the number of Link Monsters your opponent controls +1, then shuffle cards from your hand into the Deck equal to the number of Link Monsters they control. When your opponent activates a card or effect that targets a monster(s) you control (Quick Effect): You can discard 1 card; negate the activation, and if you do, destroy it. You can only use each effect of “Fantastical Dragon Phantazmay” once per turn.

Thanos Dragon is also a hand trap that sticks to the board, giving you some presence. Unlike Hunter though, his effect goes off instantaneously, meaning you’re not worried if he gets removed later, and he’s a +1 instead of a -1. That plus is one of the primary reasons to play him, as very few hand traps can give you more resources than you lose. He not only adds to the board, but let’s you see more cards and filter the ones you don’t need back into your deck. Unlike most cards on this list, however, he doesn’t do anything to disrupt your opponent. He can help you draw into more disruptions, but keep in mind that his body on board will lock you out of things like Infinite Impermanence and the PSY-Frames. Phantazmay was a great card in Master Rule 4, when you could nearly guarantee your opponent would summon a Link Monster at some point. With the new rules in effect, you can’t be sure that Phantazmay will be live against any particular deck. Even then, you’re going to want to play him in deck that has a lot of other hand traps, to maximize his value. In certain circumstances, he can very much be worth it, as a card that out-advantages your opponent easily.

D.D. Crow

Quick Effect): You can discard this card to the GY, then target 1 card in your opponent’s GY; banish that target.

Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but this should be the absolute O.G. hand trap (battle hand traps don’t count, sorry Kuriboh). And despite that, it remains one of the most playable. The activation requirement is super flexible, allowing you to drop it during either player’s turn at any time for any reason, so long as they have a card in Grave. It can hit Monster, Spells and Traps, adding to its versatility. In many ways, Crow is still the best hand trap to stop grave effects because it not only stops a card like Monster Reborn outright, but banishing it means that later revival effects can’t bring the monster back either. The only real cons I can see are that it’s relatively low impact and it won’t affect a lot of decks. But for my money, Crow is among the best hand traps to side for its ease of access and flexibility. Oh, and like Veiler, you can drop multiples in the same turn.

Ally of Justice Cycle Reader

During either player’s turn: You can discard this card to the Graveyard, then target up to 2 LIGHT monsters in your opponent’s Graveyard; banish those targets.

This is probably THE most overrated hand trap that continuously sees meta play. It’s basically a side-grade to D.D. Crow; it can banish up to one more target from Grave at the expense of only being able to target specifically LIGHT monsters. Some people feel as though the ability to hit twice the targets is relevant against certain decks that go all-in on the LIGHT strategy. Here’s my take: I’m never going to want to eschew the versatility of Crow for the chance to have a slightly bigger blowout against a specific deck. We only have 15 side deck slots to choose from, and I prefer to have those limited slots cover as many match-ups as humanly possible. Siding something like this is tacit admission that you’re devoting whole slots to cover against a singular deck, which is wasteful. Perhaps it could be justifiable if the deck in question is Tier 0, but even then, there is going to be a large proportion of the time where you only banish 1 card with this, in which case it was just a worse Crow. That Crow can banish monsters of ANY attribute as well as Spells and Traps. If you feel comfortable in your deck with the exception of fearing one matchup where Cycle Reader blows out, then feel free to side this, but otherwise, I’m more inclined to pick cards that can be used against a multitude of strategies.

Skull Meister

When a card effect is activated in your opponent’s GY (Quick Effect): You can send this card from your hand to the GY; negate that effect.

Meister is an oft-forgotten about card that has some interesting applications. Unlike Crow, it actually negates the effect being activated, which is relevant in some instances. For example, the True Draco Spells and Traps effects to pop cards can be negated by this, where D.D. Crow does nothing to stop them. It’s kind of tricky to find spots where Meister does a better job than Crow, because a great deal of Grave effects involve moving a card out of the Grave, which Crow does a better job of addressing. Now one advantage Meister does have is that some Grave effects you would need to hit preemptively with Crow, whereas Meister can respond to the activation, thus blowing up once per turn effects. While you could Crow Orcust Knightmare before it has a chance to activate, if they dump another one, you’d be helpless to stop the second from activating. Here Meister stops the effect outright. Like with Cycle Reader, Meister has some applications that make it better than Crow, but overall, Crow will just be more effective against more cards and decks. That being said, I think Meister is different enough to warrant inclusion over Crow if the meta calls for it. Just try to do a mental tally of all the prominent cards each one can hit before you choose one or the other. One final consideration for Meister is that his 1700 ATK for a 4 star or less monster makes him much beefier that your standard hand trap, and that extra ATK in a pinch could extend lethal in a way that most of these 0 ATK cards can’t.

Dimension Shifter

If you have no cards in your GY (Quick Effect): You can send this card from your hand to the GY; until the end of the next turn, any card sent to the GY is banished instead.

It may not be immediately apparent, but your predisposition to this card could say a lot about your psychology. If you like safe, assured bets, this may not be the card for you. But if you revel in making decisions that are high risk, high reward, Shifter is bae. If you manage to land it, Shifter will shut out a majority of decks to the point that will just have to pass turn. The first issue is that Shifter also affects you, and if you drop it on your opponent’s first turn, you will have to bear the brunt of its wrath when it comes back to your turn as well. This is why it is highly inadvisable to run Shifter in any deck that uses the Graveyard in the slightest. There’s no cheating the drawback; you WILL be under its effects no matter how you choose to play it. In decks that don’t use the Graveyard, Shifter can be a powerful one-sided blowout that will almost always win you the game against the right deck. However, even when put into the right deck, Shifter has a weakness that is impossible to avoid. Every deck will put SOMETHING into the Grave a few turns into the game, so Shifter will always be dead when you topdeck it. Is it really worth including a blowout card that’s completely useless if you don’t draw it in your opening hand? I can’t decide that for you, but I would recommend you consider all these downsides before making a determination whether it’s worth it.

PSY-Framegear Gamma/(Delta)/[Epsilon]

Cannot be Normal Summoned/Set. Must be Special Summoned by a card effect. When your opponent activates a monster/(Spell Card)/[Trap Card] effect while you control no monsters (Quick Effect): You can Special Summon both this card from your hand and 1 “PSY-Frame Driver” from your hand, Deck, or GY, and if you do, negate that activation, and if you do that, destroy that monster (Spell Card) [Trap Card]. During the End Phase, banish the face-up monsters Special Summoned by this effect.

This entry will primarily concern Gamma, since it appears to be the only relevant of the three PSY-Frame hand traps, but I will discuss the viability of the other two here since they’re similar cards. These are more high risk, high reward cards. You have to control no monsters to drop them and you have to run a brick in Driver in order to even run them, but they represent possibly one of the most powerful interruptions a hand trap can have. First, to get the elephant in the room out of the way, the Spell and Trap ones are too situational and not even powerful enough to warrant their huge drawbacks. I mean, can you think of any must-stop Trap that activates on an empty board? Even the Spell one is mediocre because the big advantage the PSY-Frames have is destroying the card, and Ash does effectively the same thing without the drawbacks. That leads into why Gamma is so good. As you know, Monster effects are omnipresent in the game, and Gamma can counter other hand traps as you start your plays, as well as negate a starter for your opponent AND destroy it. Destroying is the crucial line of text here, as merely Ashing a Stratos or a Halqifibrax is ok, but leaves an important body on board. Negating and destroying them outright is a huge setback for your opponent. Another devasting attribute about Gamma is the fact that it puts two bodies out. On your opponent’s turn, they can block two hits, which could very well save you. But if you drop Gamma on your own turn, you’ll have so much momentum that it will be hard for you to lose. You can drop a free Omega or Halqifibrax without even sniffing your Normal Summon, AND whatever must-negate threat you activated will push through. Clearly, Gamma is one of the best hand traps for these reasons, but personally, I’m still pretty cold on it. Unlike other hand traps that need no further deckbuilding but to just slot in, Gamma requires you to play a useless brick in Driver, which not only balloons your deck count, but adds a scary possibility to draw a terrible card in your opener. Additionally, as soon as you summon a Monster, the engine becomes dead. As if that weren’t enough, additional copies become dead as soon as they banish at the End Phase, assuming you didn’t Summon anything with them or your opponent didn’t swing on them. Gamma should not be a card you throw into your deck willy nilly. If you intend on playing it for defensive purposes, you should be playing key starters that don’t require a Monster on field. These can be Spell cards, monsters that activate in hand or Grave, or even Monsters that Tribute themselves for cost like Rescue Cat. No matter what your use, you really shouldn’t play it in any deck that’s already over laden with bricks. I have no idea why people play it with the Dragoon package, because you’re adding three high level vanillas in the year two-thousand and twenty-one. If you like to high roll, that might be good odds for you, but don’t try it if you have even more bricks in your engine, like with Monarchs.

Herald of Orange/(Green)/[Purple] Light

When your opponent activates a monster/(Spell Card)/[Trap Card] effect (Quick Effect): You can send this card and 1 other Fairy monster from your hand to the GY; negate the activation, and if you do, destroy it.

The Herald lineup is quite similar to the PSY-Frame cycle, in that there’s one each for Monsters, Spells and Traps, and seemingly only the Monster one is worth playing. Like the PSY-Frames, they all destroy in addition to negating, so the Monster one is particularly appealing. While you don’t have to run bricks in your deck to run this, having to pitch a Fairy in order to activate them presents another set of challenges. Usually throwing two cards away to address one is already a hard sell, but requiring the pitch to be specifically a Fairy means this can only see play in specific decks. Eva has allowed certain decks to not only accommodate the Fairy requirement, but also have the necessary cards in hand to not make it too much of a minus. Eva is usually used to search these to add an additional interruption alongside your current board, and sometimes even to protect it. That’s why the Trap one could be viable to protect yourself from Evenly Matched and Impermanence. The Spell one is a little less useful for this purpose, since it can’t do anything to Dark Ruler No More and Forbidden Droplets.

Maxx “C”

During either player’s turn: You can send this card from your hand to the Graveyard; this turn, each time your opponent Special Summons a monster(s), immediately draw 1 card. You can only use 1 “Maxx “C”” per turn.

Hopefully Maxx “C” stays banned in the TCG indefinitely, but just in case in comes back one day, I figure I might prepare you on what to expect. While in might have been a fair card back in the day when decks could reasonably expect only to Special Summon once or twice a turn, the game has changed irreparably to the point where even low tier decks find themselves Summoning several times just in the course of their normal gameplan. Maxx “C” represents so much card advantage in those situations that the person who dropped it should almost always win. That’s a swing so disparate that if it were to come back, the meta would almost certainly shift to grindier control decks like Eldlich that can get away without summoning more than one or two times. The OCG is able to deal with it easier by virtue of having 3 Called By the Graves as well as 3 Crossout Designators. The only card the TCG has at 3 that can effectively answer it is Ash, and if the C comes back, Ash will be mandatory instead of just a really good option.

Flying “C”

When your opponent Normal or Special Summons a monster(s), except during the Damage Step: You can Special Summon this card from your hand to the opponent’s field in Defense Position. The controller of this card cannot Xyz Summon.

Like Ghost Reaper, Flying “C” is sadly a card that has been invalidated by the way the game has changed over the years. Decks that frequently XYZ summoned were utterly destroyed by this because not every XYZ deck could Synchro , and if they could, likely not with this card specifically. 99% of Fusions couldn’t do anything with it either. But now, Links’ utter ubiquity means that nearly any deck can Link this away and force you to eat an effective -2 that did nothing to hinder your opponent. It could have been a decent counter to Pure Zoo decks before Drident got banned, but that would just about be the only deck it could plausibly see play against, and even then it would backfire if they packed something as simple as a Knightmare Phoenix. There’s also the problem of you having to attack through it if you ever want to start winning the game. It has some theoretical use, but the combination of being very niche as well as extremely punishing if you guess wrong means that it’s not a thought experiment I would recommend attempting.

Retaliating “C”

During either player’s turn, when your opponent activates a Spell Card that includes an effect that Special Summons a monster(s): You can Special Summon this card from your hand. If Summoned this way, while this card is face-up on the field, any card sent to the Graveyard is banished instead. If this card is sent from the field to the Graveyard: You can add 1 EARTH Insect-Type monster with 1500 or less ATK from your Deck to your hand, except “Retaliating “C””.

Probably the only remaining playable “C” card, Retaliating has some interesting uses, if albeit niche. If it wasn’t for the very specifc activation requirement, this would probably follow Maxx on the banlist. As it stands, you can only drop Retaliating when your opponent activates a Spell that Special Summons. The most obvious application is chaining this to Fusion Spells to make sure all their materials don’t make it to Graveyard (fuck you in particular Shaddolls). If Sky Strikers open with Hornet Drones, it can screw them up pretty badly as well. Again, it’s going to be difficult to find really solid uses for Retaliating in any given meta, but it has the potential to be quite the blowout if you can make it work. Unlike Flying “C”, Retaliating actually Summons to your field, so you don’t give your opponent free advantage, you can turn it off whenever you want and you can extend with it. As a bonus, you get to search an Insect if your deck’s built like that (probably only Ballpark and Krawlers bat an eye here) but this effect will become slightly more relevant if Maxx ever does come off the list.

Contact “C”

When your opponent Normal or Special Summons a monster(s) (except during the Damage Step): You can Special Summon this card from your hand to the opponent’s field in Defense Position. This card’s controller cannot Fusion, Synchro, Xyz, or Link Summon unless they use this card as material.

You can kind of look at Contact as somewhat of a retrain of Flying “C” for the Link era. It has even more potential to lock your opponent out of the Extra Deck, as it prevents Fusions and Synchros, XYZs and potentially even Links. The problems with it are all shared with Flying “C”: if your opponent has a generic Link somewhere in their Extra Deck, then you just likely helped their gameplan. It can punish some Extra Decks that are more all-in, like the previously mentioned Zoo, but you’re going to have to have a hard read on the meta at the tournament you go to for Contact to have any reasonable chance of being pulled off. Even then, you’ll have Side Deck spaces reserved for very specific decks and I’m always of the opinion that your Side Deck should be packed with cards that can impact multiple decks. I just don’t see Contact “C” doing that, even if a meta comes along where Contact is solid against a few decks. There’s also the risk that if Contact ever becomes a known counter, it would be easily rendered ineffective by people adjusting their Extra Decks to compensate.

Typhoon

Target 1 face-up Spell/Trap on the field; destroy it. If your opponent controls 2 or more Spells/Traps and you control no Spells/Traps, you can activate this card from your hand.

Another of the Actual Trap Hand Traps, Typhoon is a decent pick to answer decks that rely on key Continuous Spells on the first turn to get their plays started. Realistically, this usually only includes Pendulum archtypes, which haven’t been in vogue for a couple years now. It also competes with Ghost Ogre, who has a much safer activation requirement but does nothing to effects that happen on activation like the Field Spells that search cards on activation. This would be a lot better if it could hit Set cards, but as is it just appears to be a mediocre answer to certain Pendulum effects.

Red Reboot

When your opponent activates a Trap Card: Negate the activation, and if you do, Set that card face-down, then they can Set 1 other Trap directly from their Deck. For the rest of this turn after this card resolves, your opponent cannot activate Trap Cards. You can activate this card from your hand by paying half your LP.

The ultimate hand trap for protection against backrow, Reboot is like a supercharged Trap Stun. By virtue of it being a Counter Trap, its effect is almost always going to go through, but you have to be careful. If you don’t kill your opponent that turn, they’ll come back swinging with an additional free Trap, you’ll be out of a card, as well as half of your Life Points. It’s incredibly punishing to wiff with this, though you could theoretically also play it in a deck that can easily remove your opponent’s free advantage. There’s a reason this card’s at 1. Trap focused decks get murdered by it, as your opponent can play with impunity knowing that you can’t respond to their plays. This is a Side Deck only card, as there are usually few Trap focused decks in any given meta. I would also try to only play it in a deck that’s proficient in serving up OTKs.

Sauravis, the Ancient and Ascended

You can Ritual Summon this card with “Sprite’s Blessing”. When your opponent activates a card or effect that targets a monster you control (Quick Effect): You can discard this card; negate the activation. When your opponent would Special Summon a monster(s) (Quick Effect): You can return this card to the hand; negate the Special Summon, and if you do, banish that monster(s).

Now we get into the most niche and unusual picks for hand traps. The key info for this card is its second sentence: you can discard it to negate a card that targets a monster you control. Right off the bat, I’m sure you can tell how situational this is. It’s not a proactive piece of disruption, it can only really protect your plays and help them go through. You can compare it to Called By the Grave, except instead of stopping most hand traps, it protects against more traditional forms of interruption, including Impermanence, which isn’t covered by Called By at all. If that were the end of it, Sauravis probably wouldn’t be worth considering at all, but since it’s a Ritual Monster, it’s actually searchable by a wide variety of support. Any Ritual deck can afford to tech a single copy of this and have a little insurance to help their effects go through. Hell, you could even tech this against Dogmatika and dump Herald of the Arc Light to get a free plus (comes highly unrecommended). Overall, it’s not a great option, but for creative deck builders, it’s an option to provide a searchable way of providing protection for your plays.

Performage Damage Juggler

When a card or effect is activated that would inflict damage to you (Quick Effect): You can discard this card; negate the activation, and if you do, destroy that card. During the Battle Phase (Quick Effect): You can discard this card; reduce the next battle damage you would take this turn to 0. You can banish this card from your GY; add 1 “Performage” monster from your Deck to your hand, except “Performage Damage Juggler”. You can only use this effect of “Performage Damage Juggler” once per turn.

Believe it or not, there’s dozens of cards in the game that either negate cards that do effect damage, or reduce battle damage. But none of them pack both effects in the same card. And they’re all garbage. Back before this card got hit, it was primarily a combo piece that just so happened to have two decent hand trap effects stapled to it. And if it ever saw resurgent play, that combo element would probably have to be present. It is worth considering for its other effects though. Not only does it prevent burn damage, but it can negate the card outright, even if the burn was an inconsequential part of the effect, like with Wavering Eyes back in the day. Lightforce Harmonizer does the same exact thing, but doesn’t add the ability to Kuriboh away some one-time battle damage. It’s also a hand trap that replaces itself. All these factors combine to make a card that’s not great in any one area, but the sum of its parts could make it a nice choice for some decks in certain metas.

Gemini Imps

During either player’s turn, when your opponent activates a Spell Card, Trap Card, or monster effect that could make you discard when it resolves: You can send this card from your hand to the Graveyard; negate the activation, and if you do, destroy it. Then draw 1 card.

Here’s another long-forgotten about card with a specific activation requirement. The Imps counter one thing and one thing only: cards that make you discard. The wording here is unfortunate because anything that sends from your hand or shuffles into the deck won’t trigger it. But Imps piques interest because it’s a negation that replaces itself, which means that if it ever gets a slew of new targets, it could be a very rewarding counter. If memory serves, Imps was played in exactly one format: against Dark Worlds, and even then it wasn’t that good because it pretty much only could trigger off Dragged Down and Dark World Dealings. If Imps ever becomes meta, it will be a very targeted solution and will probably backfire, but the reward for it landing could justify its specificity. Don’t hold your hopes up for this one, but keep it in your back pocket just in case it becomes useful in the future.

Engraver of the Mark

During either player’s turn, when your opponent activates a card or effect by declaring exactly 1 card name: You can send this card from your hand to the Graveyard; declare 1 other card name. The card name your opponent declared becomes the card name declared by this effect. Once per turn, during either player’s turn: You can target 1 face-up card on the field; destroy it during the End Phase of the next turn.

You’ve think you seen narrow activation windows before, but you’ve never seen it like this. Cards that declare names are already awfully specific, so this answering them is even less needed. However, it has some potential because it doesn’t just outright negate the card, but it changes the effect basially to declare a different card. Now the only real card this could hit in the past has been Mind Crush, who now sees next to no play due to ruling changes. BUT, and this is a huge but, this can be a creative answer to Crossout Designator if it ever comes to the TCG. Sure, when your opponent declares Ash Blossom, you can just chain this, declare Frog the Jam for the lols and watch as your play goes through. OR, you could declare a card that’s integral to your opponent’s strategy or even another hand trap that you’re scared of and giggle over your effective 2 for 1. In a pinch, it’s even an 1800 beatstick with a really slow destruction effect. I doubt Crossout will be so omnipresent to justify this super specific card, but it’s another card that has a lot of potential if the right situation ever presents itself.

Gnomaterial

If your opponent Special Summons a monster(s) while you control no cards: You can discard this card, then target 1 face-up monster your opponent controls; this turn, that monster cannot be Tributed, or used as material for a Fusion, Synchro, Xyz, or Link Summon. You can only use this effect of “Gnomaterial” once per turn.

Gnomey here can be very devastating to combo decks that need to climb into bigger summons. You drop this on the right card and they may have to pass their turn. Drop it on the wrong card and you just minused yourself only for your opponent to extend through. Gnome requires an intimate knowledge of the meta to get an idea of how powerful the effect will be. It sounds so good on paper, but in practice, I don’t feel like it’s that common to end a player’s turn with this. Another huge drawback is that it can’t be used on Normal Summons. Lonefire Blossoms, Aleisters, Rescue Cats all get to act with impunity. Also, like D. Shifter, it is incredibly dead in the late game because you have to control 0 cards. Not just monsters, 0 cards at all. These drawbacks may be necessary on a more relevant card, but I struggle to see a big enough payoff to justify these huge drawbacks.

Heavenly Zephyr – Miradora

The activation and effect of this card’s effects cannot be negated. If your opponent Special Summons a monster(s) with 2000 or more ATK from the Extra Deck (except during the Damage Step): You can Special Summon this card from your hand. If this card is Special Summoned from the hand: You can target 1 face-up opponent’s monster that was Special Summoned from the Extra Deck; neither player can activate that monster’s effects while this monster is face-up on the field. You can only use each effect of “Heavenly Zephyr – Miradora” once per turn. Let’s close with a really complicated effect that’s relatively recent in Yu-Gi-Oh. Like Ghost Mourner, Miradora can only be dropped on a Special Summoned monster, and Miradora is even more specific in that it has to be one from the Extra Deck with 2000 ATK or more. It doesn’t negate effects; it prevents them from being activated outright. Even better, Miradora can’t be negated so its effect is certainly going through. On top of that, you get a free body to extend with (though if you lose the body, you lose the effect prevention). So clearly, it has some major advantages over the likes of Effect Veiler. But what targets could possibly justify such a specific effect? Monster floodgates are probably the best bet. Apollous, Borreload Savage, and Shiruag are all big Extra Deck monsters with disruptive effects that can give you a bad time. This can clear the way for you and make sure you plays go through, and can even get its effect when dropped from hand in other ways, say with Saryuja. Is it worth running over Impermanence? Probably not. Its chief advantage is stifling non-negation effects that are free to activate whenever like VFD and Abyss Dweller, and one of those is already a non-issue as of right now. I wouldn’t put it past Konami to release monster in the future that be countered by this, but it has decidedly niche applications right now. Stick with Imperm for the much greater versatility and easier activation requirements.

What did you think? Did I leave out any big ones? Was I wrong in my analysis? Comment or email me for any feedback you have!