We're in a meta where you need to open hand traps against combo decks to stand a chance. What's the catch if you don't? You're going to be staring down Vanity's Ruler, Herald of Ultimateness, or True King of All Calamities. These big boys all either lock you down or just straight up negate every single card in your hand. Today we're going to take a look at what main deck hand traps and side deck options are viable in an attempt to prevent these bosses from even coming out.
The Exalted Hand Traps of the Format
Cycle Reader has massively risen in popularity ever since Drytron became one of the most prominent decks of the format. This is, in part, to the ruling that Cyber Angel Benten will not be able to activate if removed from the graveyard when tributed as cost.
Having the ability to banish Drytron's resources while potentially stopping two cards for the cost of 1. That is the selling point of this card. Add that to the fact that control decks cannot really put pressure on Drytron in 1 turn. That being said, they cannot afford to use this next handtrap.
Droll & Lock Bird essentially stops Drytron players' turns in an instant. Obviously, that's if they don't open up their outs - such as Herald of Orange Light, among others. In addition to that, this card isn't exactly too bad against the other top deck contender - Virtual World. This has pushed Droll to new heights since these two decks cannot exactly afford to "play around it" as Dragon Link previously did.
Old Faces in New Places
Ghost Belle is in no way, shape, or form, a new card. It's been three years since it last came out! However, with the rise of Drytrons, this is one of the hand traps that have seen a huge resurgence. Most of the Drytron monsters will be activating and summoning themselves from the graveyard. That instantly brought Ghost Belle to a myriad of duelists' minds.
It didn't take a lot of thinking for people to side or main deck this card. One of the reasons is its versatility. This can hit several cards from popular meta decks aside from Drytrons. Laolao, Jiji, Scarlet Sanguine, Invocation, Nadir Servant, and Ice Dragon's Prison are just a few.
Skull Meister is another one of the forgotten hand traps of old. It just so happened that it also works well against a ton of meta contenders of today. That would include, Drytrons, Eldlich, and Virtual World to a certain extent. Heck, you could even put Dino in there!
Floody Hell!
Floodgates are still a good way to stop combo decks. Instead of interacting via hand traps, you could opt to run floodgates to stop them from comboing off. Now obviously, you'd want to be going first for this to be effective.
Mistake is the most obvious one. This prevents most of the Drytron names from even activating. In addition to that, Virtual World will suffer here too, since Lulu will not be able to search the deck.
Rivalry of Warlords is a little spicy! This came up in a Top 8 Salamangreat list from the previous Remote Duel Extravaganza. This hits the top two decks of the format. Drytron loves putting up Machines on board, and that conflicts with their Fairy boss monsters. As for Virtual World, the entire main deck monsters are composed of Psychics and Wyrms.
Lastly we have Inspector Boarder. Now I know, I know. It's a card that a lot of people hate. But this just absolutely shuts down the top two decks of the format. Drytron would need to hard draw an out, and Virtual World would need to rely on drawing Kauwloon to get into Qinglong with its ammo to negate. It's a little unorthodox, but it's worth a shot for some rogue/control/stun decks out there.
Not quite hand traps
Kaijus have always been a great way to deal with problematic boards. If you can't use hand traps to stop their turn, you just Gameciel their board away! These cards have seen play during the latter part of the Dragon Link era, but have plummeted in popularity on the release of Drytrons since they initially always ended on Vanity's Ruler.
Recently, more Drytron players are switching over to the Herald of Ultimateness build. What this means is that you're not going to be locked out of special summoning. That, in turn, opens up the Kaiju route. You can just tribute their Herald as cost, and give them this shiny blue turtle!
Kaijus do not out double VFD, however. But boy, do we have an answer to THAT. Super Polymerization is another card that has fallen out of favor in the previous format. This was mainly due to the Buster Lock being a thing. With that, I feel that a lot of people have forgotten about this card.
Most Virtual World players will go for the double VFD setup. That opens up the usage of this ever-powerful card! Have y'all forgotten that this CANNOT be responded to? Oh, and before someone goes "Oh but they just activate VFD on standby!" Well... don't let them! You have turn priority, and will be able to take the first action in every phase. You could just activate this card during the draw phase, and they'd be left with just Chuche to interact!
Forbidden Droplet has been seeing a rise in popularity in high-rated online simulator matches as of late. It is absolutely horrendous against Virtual World if they make their full setup. That is if you don't open a trap. Why so? Because they just chain Chuche to pop the VFD and you'd be left with nothing to negate on resolution.
That doesn't make the card absolute horrible in all scenarios, however. I mean, Drytron still IS a deck, after all. Whether they end on Vanity's Ruler or Herald of Ultimateness - this card is still going to do wonders. Oh, and did I forget to mention that this could also deal with that pesky AA-Zeus?
Hand trap alternatives
The Transmigration Prophecy has seen some play in various trap decks since it's a trap version of Cycle Reader. The good thing about this card, aside from its effect, is the fact that it's a normal trap! That just means that this can be set by Trap Trick, giving you more access to much-needed interruption to stop Drytron plays!
Mistaken Arrest is a little bit different. It's Droll & Lock Bird in quick-play spell form. It's kind of still a floodgate. Just... not in floodgate form. Now you might be thinking, "Why in the world would I play this when I can just flip Mistake and let it sit the entire duel?" Well, you'd like to do that, wouldn't you? News flash! People main/side back row removal cards! Lightning Storm, Cosmic Cyclone, Twin Twisters - you name it. They're going to hit the main post siding! And while this only gives you a turn of safety, in some decks that is all you need to finish them the next turn!
Stop the Hand traps!
With Called by the Grave sitting at 1 on the Forbidden and Limited List, and Crossout Designator still not being released - we have very little ways to counteract hand traps this format. That being said, players have utilized whatever tools they have at their disposal, just to aid that cause.
Instant Fusion, albeit limited, has seen play as of late in an attempt to help combat hand traps. The play is to summon Millennium-Eyes Restrict to negate whatever hand trap the opponent might attempt to use. This is extremely prevalent in Drytron lists, due to this monster being a level 1. They can just link it off to Relinquished Anima or Linkuriboh to then climb onto Union Carrier. That is, after they've used up the effect, or have set up their Herald of Orange Lights in hand.
Most hand traps have zero attack. That's all that Aqua Dolphin can be useful. This can snipe out Droll & Lock Bird, Ash Blossom, etc. Again, this is more prevalent in the Drytron lists, but any deck that doesn't need its normal summon can most definitely use this!
Here's a bonus. There's another wildcard option that does something similar to this card. The play is to normal summon Infernoid Decatron and send Infernoid Devyaty to the grave. This allows Decatron to have the same effect as Devyaty, allowing you to negate a hand trap! There's a catch, however - Decatron is Ash-able. Make of that what you will, but I'll also give you the pros! You will not be under the confines of only being able to snag hand traps with attack less than or equal to 600. That means that you're going to be able to deal with stuff like Skull Meister and Nibiru!
Conclusion
While this format still has control decks out and about - Zoodiac, Eldlich, Invoked, Dogmatika, etc, the clear cut top two decks of the format are still combo-oriented. They heavily restrict play on the other side of the table and that pushes players to have answers to their turn to be able to prevent the boss monster from hitting the board.
The techs mentioned here are not the end-all be-all. The strengths of hand traps vary and evolve within a format. We'll just have to keep a close watch on how the meta game, and the players' choices develop!
