The Hand Trap Problem everyone is talking about in Yugioh....

[@T34rl3ss]

there is only 1 way to fix handtraps. Its called archtype specific handtraps instead of generic ones like herald of the orange light.

[@ChrisDaAce27]

And limiting how much your opponet can activate on your turn.

[@HerbaceousM8]

i mean its a symptom of needing to be able to deal with a deck that has 15 cards that draw the win con on turn one. you have to run more hand traps than someone can hold in the turn one hand to actually play the game going second

[@SoraBell]

Archetype hand traps would’ve been the correct solution because tuning the power of individual hand traps would be a lot better than the what has happened.

[@truesdale7388]

No…that just drives up the price of those decks, making them completely inaccessible to anyone that don’t use their whole paycheck for it, handtraps do what they do…you just deal with it…and the heralds aren’t even archetype specific, they are type specific

[@Emac000]

!THIS!

[@Gxuice]

What's crazy is that the handtraps litterally just make the 1 card combo decks even stronger then they normally are. Not only are u playing against Yubel, Snake eyes and Tempai, ur also playing against 20 handtraps its insane.

[@slowdownex]

The only thing crazier is the literacy skills here, to think 12 people resonated with that nonsense. Your phone literally autocorrects for you, try that feature sometime.

[@kidavebeats5345]

When I try to use a mulcharmy it’s always “ASH BLOSSOM!”

[@Realdeal958]

@@Gxuice at least for me, it's happened a lot in Master Duel where my opponent will literally have 3 hand traps and still have enough gas next turn to finish me off. It really is crazy

[@voluntarism335]

It became that way because outright losing to an ash blossom sucks, so no wonder konami makes decks that play right through an ash

[@four-en-tee]

This is basically just a symptom of Konami's awful game balancing. We need to return to more frequent and harsher ban lists, and Konami needs to scale back powercreep during future products. The problem is that Konami won't because they need to sell new product and they don't want to piss off people who own and enjoy older decks. Engage is at 3... A +1 non-OPT ROTA is at 3 copies. That alone should tell you the state of powercreep, this card is a Pot of Greed exclusive to a single archetype and it is at 3 copies right now because Sky Striker is just not that much of a problem compared to everything else. MIND YOU, I'm not saying that I want to limit Engage again. I'm just saying that a card like Engage should feel busted in modern Yugioh, and it doesn't because powercreep has just spiraled THAT MUCH out of control.

[@CNIKConfine]

I definitely agree. Furthermore, they could do what magic has a tendency to do and give players warning in advance when a ban is coming to mitigate that anger from their players. From what I've seen that doesn't seem to happen (correct me if I'm wrong). It feels wild to me that most new sets tend to drop some crazy expensive staples or new top tier deck archetype. It can be very difficult to keep up with the unchecked powercreep, especially financially.

[@NateBullock-ow6on]

Banning things all the time is just a Band-Aid

[@dylanhelvetios2300]

They could hard ban old cards and make new rules to stop that solitaire meta and then print 2016 level new cards that would still sell well if the meta go back to 2016 era.

[@Yangblaze11]

@@NateBullock-ow6on Banning things with a long term plan for rebalancing the game could work.

[@N12015]

@@CNIKConfine It is what the OCG often does. "Oh BuT mAxX c", yes, I know that card is overly polarizing and cuts 9 cards, and even with that the OCG is better.

[@GhostintheMachine25]

The biggest issue I see is like Cali said, these deck cores are too small allowing room for 20+ handtraps. I dont agree that limited the most common ones would help the problem since that will just make more room for other hand traps. I still say Konami needs to stop making one card combos. No one card should be able to special summon itself, search when it hits the field, AND do something when it leaves the field or is just sitting in the grave. That’s way too much use for no cost. If a card is going to have that many effects then it needs to come at an appropriate cost to balance it out. Lock into its intended archetype and cant summon anything else, you can only play certain type/attribute, cant deal lethal damage on the same turn, discard AND the card discarded cant activate as a result. Just throwing some ideas out there.

[@TheAireaidLord]

yeah thats why I hate this format and the modern decks. So many can run like 5 core cards and then overload the main deck with hand traps. Its nonsense

[@sofarsogood8680]

Yup , so many handtraps, one card combo and floaters right now without any cost or restrictions. Like they can draw 4 handtraps + 1 card sterter combo and make a full board. And even if we able to battle or destroy it by using card effects, the monsters can revive itself , milling from deck etc.

[@chicabu67]

@@GhostintheMachine25 saying that one cards combos shouldn't exist is also wrong Or you believe aleister for example was broken?

[@anthill350]

5:22 he was SPITTING spitting. Decks with restrictions tend to make yugioh feel more interactive and more exciting overall. We need more decks with a bigger and more archetype specific boss monsters or combo lines to bring us back to when it felt good to play

[@TheHairyHobbe69]

When a deck averages at 20 hand traps and has 9 to 15 one card starters, then what's the point of playing? The game hasn't been skill based for a while as you can not even play 99% of cards

[@djt08031996]

@@TheHairyHobbe69 yeah. That's not an (insert archetype here) deck. That's a hand trap deck with an (insert archetype here) engine

[@TheHairyHobbe69]

@djt08031996 That's the issue, I'd love to be able to play the game, not watch solitaire. I've played against a lot of top tier/tier0 decks without hand traps with a deck that has none as well and had a nicely timed back and fourth game. Hand traps are the crutch that has to be kicked out, or konami will lose more and more people. They have to revise the game, and sadly, errata cards and make a more reasonable banlist

[@djt08031996]

@TheHairyHobbe69 I know. I was agreeing with you. But people refuse to talk about how we've been in a tier 0 hand trap format for years because Konami's only hitting the engines that go with it

[@TheHairyHobbe69]

@djt08031996 Same here, I like your comment, I think that we are a few of the many frustrated players who like to play but dislike the direction the game has gone

[@exiaR2x78]

I agree. Its kind of a loop now Konami prints some absurd archetype/card and the only way things to keep them in check (sometimes they cant) is the hand traps. I think the power creep elememt of ygo has been hitting that tipping point

[@GetThePizza]

Handtraps aren't the problem, they are a tiny bandaid over a massive open wound that is called uncontrolled powercreep

[@siquilva7984]

THIS, if the best decks were around the power Level of like Red-Eyes, or like Bugs. Hand Traps aren't necessary

[@benoliver5593]

When most decks is designed to actually stop you from playing or having cards to play as a main feature

[@Kirin_the_Bouncing_Unicorn]

THIS THIS THIS THIS x100

[@BboySquidfoot]

📠

[@Anonym-mh7sz]

Not THE Problem but A PART of a bigger Problem nontheless. They are a poorly designed badait to keep the powercreep in check. The Problem shifted from 8 negates on board to 4 negates in the opening hand but you can't see what can be negated. IMHO thats even worse than specific negates on board as you at least know what you need to play around. only thing worse is negates ion the field and in hand. And omninegate spamfests. The whole concept of negates is terrible. Same are floodgates. More cards that limit the user in their possibilities instead of shutting them down would be way more fun. Nibiru for instance is great design.

[@wonthangsoop]

Whoever thinks the game is fine as it is and we should just "adapt" is high off that copium. If the game is "fine" then why do all pro players feel the need to slow down the pace of the game with 28 hand traps?

[@blazingfuryoffire1]

I'd say ban link summon as a whole and the game would slow down.

[@rmelo2382]

@@blazingfuryoffire1 the game is too far gone imo . power creep has been put pf hand . one card combos are fine if not too consistent. getting rid of link summoning would be a step in the right direction bit there’s way too many way to search cards anyway. think about it basically most archetypes have their own version of pot of greed essentially. also floodgates should be monsters that are very hard to summon so that you can’t just make a board out of them . 1 is fine but there literally dozens of monsters that just negate

[@yodxxx1]

​@@rmelo2382yea, generic negate and floodgate bosses are the main problem in the game in my oppinion Without them people could just play the game, and wouldnt neet to interrupt their opponents constantly with handtraps The interaction of "i need to interrupt you or i wont be able to play at all" is whats driving all the toxicity forward in the game

[@rmelo2382]

@ floodgate bosses are not an issue if they would be hard to get out like the god cards as for the rest i agree 100% master duel is basically unplayable because its just a bunch of combos that you either handtrap or its ggs

[@illseeyaonthedarksideofthemoon]

I mean, they say the same about you...

[@arisen456]

"0 card combo decks" imagine a card says "if this card is in your deck special summon it and a dark magician from your deck"

[@Telados]

Charmers have cards that can summon themselves from your deck

[@C_0_N]

If it is archetype reliant then fuck yeah

[@pirateFinn]

Big boards aren't even a problem, the fact the cost for making one is so little and can be done through multiple interrupts is what's so stupid. They are a symptom to the speed of our game and we absolutely need the ceiling brought down *massively*, IMO to around early to pre-MR4 levels in speed.

[@jomelledominguez8465]

Hear me out. What if they impose a special summon limit into the game. Like how you can only normal summon once, unless you have a card like double summon. And I think the limit should be 4 maybe 5 but that’s pushing it, special summons per turn, I think that would fix a lot of things.

[@slowdownex]

You really want to slow down a game that already has single turns that can last up to five minutes? I know you didn’t specify specifically, but you’re talking about bringing the ceiling “down”. Not that you’re even really saying much here in the first place.

[@slowdownex]

@@jomelledominguez8465thats never gonna happen. There are so many standard plays that take that many special summons, and even though can be shut down easily. You can try to say they can wait till the next turn, but I think we both know there will not be in next turn for a lot of viable strategies. So no, just unilaterally banning all special summons at some arbitrary number is totally stupid and you’ll never see it. I seen a lot of other people commenting the same thing, so don’t take it personally.

[@theinsanewraith1]

@@jomelledominguez8465 I agree

[@31Ghost31]

Hand traps are an issue. Special summoning being unchecked is the real issue.

[@ayoubammor2795]

@@31Ghost31 this, there is decks that can special summon more than 30 monster in a single turn this is much worse than handtraps

[@arbogast4950]

We need a new master rule that limits how many cards can be played per turn or how many times you can special summon.

[@aleksandrnovakov2578]

@@arbogast4950 Absolutely this!

[@maniacslap1623]

This is big facts. Handtraps only became an issue because turn 1, folks can load up the board off special summons.

[@tiredguy2753]

@@31Ghost31 this is true (though I argue hand traps being overused because of how fast the game is , is stil an issue) however I don’t think Konami cared about unchecked special summoning. YuGiOh sells well enough , retains enough players that any players who quit YuGiOh because special summoning is as common as breathing is a minor , probably negligible loss.

[@TheVideoGameReject]

Handtraps are a symptom of a larger problem. Snake-eyes and Yubel are the single most deciding factors as to why this game is so completely unfun right now. I can go to locals, draw a perfect hand, then still lose because those decks have so many outs that its unbelievable.

[@Sigmaairav]

Imo the best most fun decks are the ones with the shortest most explosively strong combos as opposed to solitaire combos that make single turns feel like they take a slow sloggish eternity to play out/sit through. Short, sweet, speedrunning every turn in as few actions as possible without losing momentum while also putting as few ubiquitous hand traps as possible in the deck is how I roll.

[@The_Silverware]

Bro got me chanting "RDA! RDA!" Red Dragon Archfiend goes so hard and never feels like I am curb stomping the opponent unfairly

[@Volron265]

The problem with hand traps isn't shutting down exploding, obnoxious decks. It's that the hand traps are so generic and easy to use that if you play anything *BUT* the same 4 explosive, obnoxious decks, then you just can't even play the game. Galaxy-Eyes is a great example. A fun deck requiring strategizing and trying to predict what protects from the deck you need, and it needs chains that can be interrupted. Play against a 20 hand trap, microengine deck and you watch a normal summon, 3 special summons, 2 searches for next turn, a spell, and a trap all get negated with 3 hand traps. You then watch the trapper explode the board with a turn so long and convoluted with special summons, synchros, XYZs, links off of them, links off of links, fusions from nowhere, etc., that sometimes they run out of time before they can even attack. If I wanted to watch someone play cards by themselves I'd visit an old folks home. I came to play against a deck, not a coin.

[@chaosbug7]

I’m of the opinion that handtraps inherently aren’t bad, but a critical mass of them is a symptom to a larger problem with Konami’s design philosophy. My solutions would be •Limitations on the more broad handtraps •Printing reasonably priced decks that can compete without feeling overtuned •Adapt the banlist to be one that’s more akin to Duel Links. Have certain cards be on a list where you can only have a certain number of cards on that list overall. Say on this list, Droll, Imperm, and Ash Blossom are at 3 on that list. That means you can only have 3 total of those combination of cards in your deck

[@RyusparkX]

The last one is what Duel Link's Limit 3 list is which wouldn't be a bad idea to have in the TCG.

[@Shadowrulzalways]

@@RyusparkXor OCG as well

yu gi oh is bad. hearth stone is better

[@YukiFubuki.]

personally i think there should be some restriction on how some handtraps can be used instead of just simply discarding/sending from hand to grave like the pair of dominus traps that cant be used if the deck wants to be able to use effects of monsters of a certain attribute for example but not as harsh like maybe only 1 other effect from hand for the rest of the turn, banish 1 random card from your hand facedown till the end of the next turn or till end of your next turn you can only summon monsters from the extra into the EMZ or zones a link monster points to bascially create some nuance around using them

[@chaosbug7]

@ I actually like some of these ideas, especially the condition that limits extra deck spam

[@DrAlberts]

Kind of agree with Joshua, Handtraps have become a bullshit level problem, but it's an evil to fight the bullshit level tier 0 decks that konami keeps releasing. Yu-Gi-Oh at its core is a terrible mess that only a reset could fix...but i don't think fans would agree to have their cards become invalidated by a new format. And when Konami had the chance to reset the game (Duel Links) they just let power creep in as it meant more money in their pockets. Enjoy the game as you can, because there's no fixing it.

Nope, just ban all hand traps and infinite combos, I dont play this game seriously at all anymore, I just come back on master duel to beat meta decks with lava golem since they're all the same garbage that do the same thing

[@jacobjones1849]

The argument that “hand traps are evil, but they’re stopping evil decks” is a flawed argument. They’ve had a couple resets available, master duel is just as bad

[@DrAlberts]

@jacobjones1849 master duel is not a reset. It's just a different ecosystem as it mixes both tcg and ocg players so metas can differ

[@thegreatbeavers]

Or get a Jinzo that negates all Hand Traps. A New Jinzo that Negates all Hand Traps would balance the meta again. Time and Time again people are fools because they forget Jinzo negating overly broken Traps. You get a monster that negates Hand Traps permanent in duels, that'll fix the problem. For Example.. Duelist A: " I summon this effect monster.. No negates? Effect activated. I place 2 cards face down and I end my turn. " Duelist B: " My turn.. I draw a ca- " Duelist A: " Drop Of- " Duelist B: " I activate a Hand Tra- " Duelist A: " Can't. My effect monster on the field states when it's active on the field, negate all Hand Traps and Destroy them and you can't activate Hand Traps. New card Konami just made. " Duelist B: " REALLY?! " * Yeets self out of building *

[@darkrevelation109]

@@thegreatbeavers We do have a monster already that can stop (monster) hand traps from activating, Majesty's Fiend. People won't play it due to being awfully slow and would much rather play more hand traps to counter the opponent's hand traps. Also what about the duels where you just don't get to draw your new monster? It would just be a repeat of Mystic Mine format, sure, you can beat it if you draw your MST, but what if you don't?

[@bigfudge2031]

The problem isn't hand traps themselves, the problem is power creep, hand traps are just a necessary evil. Every monster card has 16 different effects these days. Also, link summons are just stupid... having the ability to link summon together a Dragon and a Robot to make an anime girl makes no sense. Back in my day when you combined 2 cards together, the resulting card looked somewhat realistic. Imo, Konami needs to get the ban hammer out and hit everything across the board to start lowering the power level of the game again, nobody enjoys sitting around for 5 minutes while your opponent plays solitaire and the duel doesn't even get to turn 4.

[@maxstrike3022]

Musician King says what's up

[@Thermascorch]

Also hand traps become less prevalent when you need to see more in engine cards to put up boards. Forcing players to build decks that have to run more engine in the main deck reduces the slots for handtraps

[@BIGKAB797]

Yugioh isn't a game of beating your opponent anymore, it's a game of stopping your opponent from doing anything at all, but i will say we need at least another version of called by the grave, but make it specifically hit stuff activated from the hand

[@smolderedcub6590]

The trap XX-Clusion comes to mind for me, but the problem Is that it's a trap so it's slow.

[@BIGKAB797]

@smolderedcub6590 exactly all the current handtrap counters are way too slow, hence why a specific "called by" like counter card is way overdue, especially for people like me who play decks where engine is an absolute must

[@smolderedcub6590]

@kbone797 what archetype you rocking? I'm going full Yusei with Synchron.

[@BIGKAB797]

@@smolderedcub6590 well I would say my go to archetype will always be myutant coz I absolutely love how they play and unlike a lot of other myutant decks I've seen I don't play shifter and I've made it more focused around myutant cry to go into ultimus more often as it is a good negate, I even combined it with other archetypes such as gold pride horus of which surprisingly work reasonably well all thing considered, I even made a gold pride horus deck which Is basically just psychic end turbo hahaa 😂 best bit for that deck I make good use of lullaby of obedience to steal an opponents ash blossom as everyone forgets it's a level 3 tuner, and using lullaby declaring ash blossom is brilliant as they either put it in your hand giving you one of their own handtraps to use against them or they put it on my field ready for me to spam out a level 8 horus monster to synchro into psychic end 🤣

[@smolderedcub6590]

@kbone797 loving it, man. My all-time fav monster will always be Junk Warrior, so my deck focuses on boosting its attack to then use the quick play spell "Scrap Fist" and "Rush Warrior" to double its attack to OTK. Using Lullaby is genius, and if you don't mind, I might have to use it as well.

[@eclipse3479]

The super handtrap decks are also combo decks, playing 18 handtraps instead of 23 ist just as big of an issue

[@Galaxy-Eyes-Tears]

So basically, what I'm getting from this is that because we don't have set rotations and new archetypes releases generally get more and more powerful over the years, Konami has to have hand traps in an attempt to balance their own game? Otherwise I'd assume most competitive decks would just dominant if they go first.

[@Chimeratech_O.D.]

Pretty much; there are stupid combo decks that aren't in the meta. Not because they're worse perse, but because you build to assume your opponent has a 1-card combo, a recovery for it, and 3 handtraps every opening hand.

[@troytheboy1985]

Magic biggest format is just our format right now. People like you want the death of the game. I swear set rotation, now everyone gotta buy a deck every two years people bitch about buying 3 new handtraps after 5 years, other games aren't doing better pokemon i see them tearing there hair out even the pokemon pocket game every deck has 2 pot of greeds and 2 rota in a deck with 20 cards and that's there 1st set a braindead format a helmet format

[@fateric007]

Put Called by the Grave back to 3.

[@CorruptxOmega]

Heck yeah 👍

[@yuseifido5706]

You think you want this, but you don't. This would only make going 1st and combo decks stronger and would make the game worse overall

[@Ether_Liner_Ado_Edem]

Hell nooo. Just gonna make it easier for tier 1 decks to combo off. Im saying this as someone who loves called by in rogue like decks

[@wonthangsoop]

We can't. Then combo decks will do what they want. Trust me, you DON'T want that.

[@Alex-Omega]

Classic casual take of someone who dont know much about the game

[@SamBsound]

9:25 the sad reality here though, once that takes over, it just goes full circle and one card combos are OP again until the core issue gets fixed

[@neogalactic1195]

The solution to the hand trap problem is to make more hand traps, make so many hand traps so that you can just say no to your opponent, normal summon thunder king raioh, and go on a top deck war

[@PseudoJudgement]

At this rate, it's just a matter of time til an effect of a card is "when this card is drawn, show it to your opponent and win the duel"

[@BassMessiah100]

You misspelled Poplar

[@AlexM-zp2ti]

Just the duel? Not the match? Sounds kinda weak not gonna lie

[@GrizzlyWarfare]

Being an OG player, I miss the grind game of decks. Slow pace and the game not ending in one turn. I wish we had stronger turn 2 cards with multiple effects.

[@shanavalkyria3438]

I built a deck whose entire purpose was to stall the field while i gained like to otk an opponent. The deck would get crushed like a blind puppy fighting godzillia. once played it ina turnament game 1 took 43 minutes. it was a best of 3

[@LechugaBelica]

Im sad how the powercreep has left many of my loved decks useless. Most die to 2 HT or need 2 cards to combo.

[@RebelliousKorlath]

Maybe limit each handtrap to 1? That way it becomes a matter of properly and tactically timing the trap instead of just "You don't get to play. Ever."

[@Chimeratech_O.D.]

Not viable with the power level of combo decks now; 23 handtraps is bad, but it just becomes inevitable when going second with no handtraps is a death sentence.

[@RebelliousKorlath]

@Chimeratech_O.D. Wishful thinking on my part. Would love to get back into the game, but... getting more difficult with each expansion. Hoping Six Samurai makes another big comeback!

[@BGLoscar]

5:20 100% XENO Locks are necessary for all new archetypes. If only Konami added a XENO lock for all new archetypes then the game would be more balanced. Every time Konami creates a new deck that has no restriction, the generic extra and main deck cards suffer. Hand traps should be limited or semi limited or create a Master Rule 6 where you can only activate 1 hand trap per turn. This limits the mechanic but it does not kill it.

[@ApaulloYGO]

I like idea of limiting the best handtraps, it can even be rotated every banlist or adjusted. Or have a seperate banlist similar to the duel links banlist in addition to our traditional banlist. Ash imperm and velier to 2, impulse, purge and mulcharmy to 3

[@yuseifido5706]

That would only hurt budget players and make going 1st even stronger

[@XoticDuelist]

One thing Konami could do is create cards specifically for older archetypes. Basically hand traps for hand traps. A monster that can special summon itself, or discard itself for another effect when your effect is negated in that situation. Or a trap that lets you draw a card or get one back from the grave if a normal or special summon is negated. But the cards specifically be a part of older, less used archetypes

[@ricardoaffonso2261]

The problem isn't the HT's, they are just a symptom, the real issue is the amount of one card combos that are ALSO extenders, the roof of the plays and the little space in the deck that it occupies

[@TrueReverse74]

I like a solution suggested by someone else by making in archetype hand traps, Like nekroz of trishula, but another thing is that one card combos should be restricted to one card in an archetype, I can see one card combos being healthy for the game, the problems starts when EVERY card is a 1 card combo, Allowing for 20 hand traps in a deck. These all in one cards that solve every problem individually and do everything requires little thinking and it's no longer a back and forth.

[@rizqihidayatullah6474]

Well, that's one of the main mechanic of the game right? It's also function similar to cards like Quick-Play Spell and Trap cards or Quick Effect from Monsters on board. It might be back to each player's luck at the start of the game, whether each of them managed to get some core cards and enough handtraps or comeback cards to interrupt opponent's setup while setting up their own. Especially when waiting for uninterrupted setting up one board is taking forever, only to be unable to play anymore by opponent's lockdown and many Omni-Negates

[@NY-Buddy]

Everybody has their type of fun. But you're not going to sit here and tell me that the equivalent to playing Uno with all reverse cards in your hand and one wild draw four is a fun way to play. FOH *ANYTHING THAT DIMINISHES SKILL IS NOT FUN!* Yes, the game is probability which means that it's always going to be partially random but it should be puzzle level of skill play when you see a board and you figure out the correct path to get through it. Not "oh i drew it, i guess i win" or "I didn't draw it, i guess i lost"

[@NY-Buddy]

As you say Yu-Gi-Oh Strategy. Whats Strategic in hoping for an abundance of random. It's not like it's Cait Sith from Final Fantasy where you rolling the dice and the dice gives you a better buff. But even if you roll bad, you're still doing something. This is just gambling the entire game

[@mixodeficto]

@@NY-Buddy it’s not about “randomness”, it’s about deck balance; building a deck that has the ability to assert itself on the field regardless of what you draw to counter your opponent’s plays. People put all the emphasis on extended combos as THE expression of skill in YuGiOh: it’s not - a deck which can access the necessary cards at the right time is not pure “luck”, it’s the result of thoughtful deck building and play testing. Sadly Konami’s answer is just raising power levels with generic omninegation and the most telegraphed combo lines possible splashed with a few (or a lot, with how easy win cons are to reach now) of tech cards, which make the game feel like a foregone conclusion imo

[@mixodeficto]

TLDR; YuGiOh is about creating order out of chaos, that’s why it’s fun

[@NY-Buddy]

@@mixodeficto I'm talking about specifically these 25 hand trap decks. Those decks are not a strategy. Thier simply, i hope i got it and thats the game. But they have such an abundance that they pretty much will have it every time

[@mixodeficto]

@@NY-Buddy yeah, I would put hand traps in the "tech cards" category - since you can comfortably run less than 50% engine with the current decks people abuse the most un-synergised and disruptive generic tech cards to shut down their opponent without compromising their strategy. You can't just point to hand traps as the problem and not address the fact that decks which can still function with 1:3 engine ratios are just terrible card design and fundamentally unbalanced

[@Linkirby]

I agree with the RDA statement. For future decks to be printed, they should more restrictions to those future archetypes. When i first encountered snake-eyes i thought they were restricted to fire and dark monsters until they summoned zelantis

[@kollinpoindexter8859]

The biggest problem with hand traps is that they don't normally interact with each other. If you play 18+ hand traps, and your opponent plays 18 hand traps then the game will be player 1 gets hand trapped and runs out of gas, player 2 gets hand trapped and runs out of gas, and the game sort of fizzles out into who can play an engine that interacts with the least hand traps. This introduces a slower format, where players now bring consistent over time value in the form of floodgates and engines that don't proc most of the popular hand traps. Then this encourages people to add back row removal, and cut down on hand traps. As hand traps and become less common (18 per deck down to 9), and the floodgates are countered people start playing more combo. In order to stop the combo decks people go back to heavy hand trap decks. The wheel just keeps spinning. I think if they really wanted to fix this "problem" it would need to be done with a master rule. A card alone wouldn't solve it. Maybe something like updating the format of the ban list like the FK format. Or maybe adding a turn 0 that allows people to set backrow cards. It has to be a fundamental change if they want to avoid the triangle. That said... they don't necessarily need to avoid the triangle. It might be on purpose that they make a broken 1 card combo in set 1, make the counter in set 2, reduce the consistency in set 3, then hype up the next 1 card combo for next year. I would imagine it would sell some packs.

[@Eastside318]

The problem is not the hand traps it’s toooo many one card combo deck

[@ArtmelHiggs-t9s]

Create a hand trap that when a card is activated from the hand your opponent cannot activate anymore cards fron the hand that turn,or if they do, they pay half their life points.

[@brianaguilar8283]

Red Reboot is a hand trap that costs half your life points and is banned

[@eondrache7786]

I think the way we move forward will be searchable hand traps. Not that I want it, but we'll likely start to get hand traps in archtype so that if you do have your 1 card combo then you'll be able to grab a negate for your hand rather than summoning a negate that can be interacted with before it can go off. I feel like they may actually put up a rule that states only 1 card can be activated from your hand per turn or something to have to stop it. But that may have other side effects for cards that aren't hand traps that still activate in hand.

[@KorinIta]

Please, for the love of god, I JUST WANT TO PLAY RED ROSE DRAGON-

[@legozackproduct111]

back in my day, the only hand traps that were available were veiler, maxx c, honest and herald

[@mirimiri98]

I might be a bit of biased because i am a returnee to this game after 10 years, my last memory about that time is about the release of onslaught of the fire kings structure deck, dragon rulers were also recent-ish, pendulum was about to arrive but it was not fully adopted yet...I still remember responses and all were not that much about hand traps, but more like "the stronger deck wins under its own strategy", sure there were removals and some ways to negate effects, but it was not as defining as it is today. Turning the sight back to the present...I feel a bit annoyed with the hand trap concept, I wish i could have 9 to 12 hand traps tops and define more cool and innovative ways of playing yugioh without being demolished without ash blossom. Also the power creep and speed of the game has increased a lot, so it is pretty demanding for the players themselves.

why come back to a terrible game? I play master duel and beat people with old cards since all their decks are the same mechanics

[@jeanmemmler5865]

My mind set as to handtraps is to print more mid range decks, like Voiceless, or even Ryzeal. Keep in mind, I am a little biased as these styles of decks are what i like. I think printing more decks that can play through handtraps and don't keep you from playing yugioh on your turn end up balancing themselves, for handtraps become less impactful than consistency. Look at what is happening in the OCG. Ryzeal players have started playing less and less handtraps, and it would seem the ryzeal and Maliss "dominated" Meta is pretty well liked across the board, from what I read at least. So Mid range is the way, all out combo like Snake Eye or yubel are to be avoided. Just my two cent

[@sinnohan2225]

My opinion is that the problem is that most of the best starters for modern decks are also insane extenders to the point of you open multiple starter/extenders, you can just do your full board through several HTs. People wouldn’t need 20+ HTs if their opponents couldn’t consistently make unbreakable boards through multiple HTs.

[@alexemp6201]

I don't know if this could be a solution, but I think konami should address this card category as its own like minsters spells and traps and put a limit to how much you can put in a deck, like 15 or smth. Again, I'm no expert and I don't know if this could be an actual solution, but I'm curious to hear others' opinion on this

[@gabrielpujol4709]

My backrow heavy decks literally steals games rda because people aren’t worried about backrow as much I remember when traps spells monsters and hand traps were used I wrote this before you talked about this and your right

[@dylanhelvetios2300]

What if we make extradeck handtraps? Would both limite the 1 card combo bs and offer a 100% chance to have counters in your openning hand.

[@TylrSolvein]

Semi limit Imperm, ash and Veiler is the best answer. Make them less consistent counters compared to weaker hand traps.

[@Yangblaze11]

Semi limiting these cards will not solve the problem.

[@gabrielpujol4709]

All these hand traps were out before then you have people copying each other with the deck full of hand traps

[@Lobomaru02]

Hand traps are the most toxic aspect of the game and the Ghost Girls were a mistake.

[@vittoriomassaro8131]

They should lower the powercreep. Bring more decks that needs 2 cards combo or at least make the 1 card combo ones hight risk hight reward. Make the engines bigger instead of shrinking them. Keep banning every generic boss monster and start limiting generic handtraps. In other words: SLOW TF DOWN!

[@areono460]

Yeah i just simply hate handtraps at this point

[@Callum-r4q]

@@areono460 womp womp too bad they are needed

[@nicksnovelreviews8733]

@@Callum-r4q Yugioh was fine before them. People complain and say they are to stop combo decks. Then combo off after using them.

[@Callum-r4q]

@ “ yugioh was fine before them” because they weren’t as many insane combo decks as now hand traps are necessary for yugioh now 🤷‍♀️

[@nmr7203]

This game sucks

[@PrimeHunter3195]

Id like to see just limiting or semi limiting all handtraps. YGO nowadays isnt about fun, but stopping the other player from playing

[@Gamer_Girl_Noire]

This would make this problem bigger. Good luck going thru an entire non interrupted board state of any deck in the past 7 years.

[@Perfect_Dark_77]

@@Gamer_Girl_Noirewow super poly

[@Gamer_Girl_Noire]

Decks already play around it well enough.

[@WarBuilder5426]

An idea I've had before, though I'll admit that it's something that will require a lot of reworking of the game as it is a big fundamental change, is imposing limits in the starting turns. What form this would take, I'm not sure, but one idea I had was locking the ability to interact with the opponent's board until after the first battle phase. I'll admit a large chunk of this does come from the mindset of a player who has been in situations multiple times in the past where the hand trap gods weren't kind, I was forced to watch my opponent build a board that pushes the turn 2 player into either surrendering, or being told "Nope" whenever they try a play until they end their turn.

[@Hitman-zp5wi]

I have said it before I will say it again the mere existence of hand traps gives Konami justification for not hitting a deck as hard as they would should or as hard as we the community would like them to Because Kami says well, you have these counters to X just run the counters and we can still make money off of this deck

[@pincopallino1135]

Handtraps are the healthiest check for the game, the problems are the new max c and decks that uses 15 core cards and 25 HT, without handtraps who goes first always wins

[@Rockstar-bq5fm]

People complaining about Running a half deck of hand traps or Max C in Masterduel seem to forget there is a deck called TENPAI!!!!’ That will fucking destroy you without them. Even with them you’re pretty fck’d most of the time

[@tommasogiuliani611]

I actually think that to able to stop all those “three negats cards” the hand traps are too important. Konami should balance the power creep between “boss monster” and “hand traps”.

[@Xardion55]

Or add the text 'once per Duel'.

[@Ryan_Wiseman]

I think the problem is that people will just construct some deck they see at the most top level plays, import that, and then almost exclusively play that deck as a means of an auto win. With this new Master Duel season, the amount of top placing meta decks I’ve seen isn’t fun to play against. It’s nice I can still climb to Gold with my shitty Branded Deck, just frustrating that 3/4ths of the Duels I played in SILVER were of the top ranking decks. Like I get joy out of beating these annoying decks because it’s funny. The beginner who wants to play a fun archetype that loses 9/10 matches because they don’t play meta is one that will drop the game.

[@Artfullounger1]

honestly called by to 3, and since everyone runs the handtraps, run crossout and side the handtraps that are popular.

[@shigesohma]

I think the way to help the hand trap problem is to make them function like the psyframe hand traps. Restrict their use to only being playable if you control no monsters (though I'd prefer if it was control no cards at all). That's how you guarantee that the hand traps are used as intended and only as intended (To slow down the deck going first).

[@jackbishenden3386]

The way I'd solve it boils down to 3 steps: First - Xeno Lock archetypes, or full archetype lock if its an archetype that runs multiple different types in it. Think how Buster Blader has Warrior, Machine, Dragon, Spellcaster, etc. This stops people just souping together multiple micro engines and encourages full archetype play. Second - add a card suffix like Tuner, Union, etc. to all hand trap style cards, then drop a master rule that limits how many of those you can bring in a deck, to say, 6. Third - Stop adding multiple one card starters to new archetypes. Or if you're going to add multiple one card starters that do different things, give them the harpie lady treatment and have them have effects that treat their names all as the same thing. This makes hand traps less than an 8th of your deck at 40 cards. And if you're Xeno locked, you can't soup together multiple strong engines. It also stops the problem of one card starters if your deck can only have 3 of them, especially if they have different effects that influence your plays in different ways. Either double down on an effect or combo that you really want to get off, or create flexibility, all without having too much gas.

[@mobgabriel1767]

"i dont think having over half of your deck be made of handtraps because playing with this deck is fun" But is it fun to play against a deck that is over 50% handtraps?! Because as far as i know yugioh isnt a single player game dude

[@moncala7787]

So engines being compact and allowing for 20+ non engine slots is part of the issue for sure. But another component of it is that those small engines still have incredible power output. It would be fine if you could play a compact proactive strategy with a lower ceiling with room for tons of defense. Or choose to play a larger but more powerful engine with much less flexibility in its defenses.

[@os1r1s_210]

Deck Devastation Virus type card to get rid of them

[@michaelh.1484]

I'd say do a ban list like how speed duel does. Like you can have 3x droll, dimension shifter, but you can't have 3x of both in your deck. And they even go further like you can cyber dragon, you can have book of moon, but the second you have 1 there goes the other. Makes deck building more interesting

[@illseeyaonthedarksideofthemoon]

The problem with handtraps is much more complex than people realize, as it's a symptom on how the game and its mechanics work nowadays and the need there is to interrupt combos that make unbreakable boards, otherwise there's no real way to balance going second without changing the game rules to its core. People hate being ashed or imperm, but if you are the second player and open without interruptions, the complaints become on how you can't do anything.

[@awsomegooseattack]

Idk I feel like people over-estimate hand trap usefulness too. Like Ash in my opinion is a low-impact hand trap. Combine it with its HOPT and a lot of decks are able to play through it. Even veiler and imperm can be rather low-impact although you can play more than one. veiler has the restriction of only being used on your opp turn too. The more hand traps you run the more you risk bricking. Sure you may be able to stop an opp from building an unbeatable board but if they even get a somewhat ok board state up with a hand trap of their own you could just be cooked on your turn. Cards like crossout encourage playing a variety of hand traps. You’re also encouraged to play less multiple copies of most cards unless you really need the consistency because of HOPT. In my experience people’s decks will run out of steam if they run too many multiple copies of cards. I think the discussion is more nuanced which you definitely touched on and the “triangle” effect does balance things out in the long-run. I do agree that most archetypes just plain suck along with most cards in yugioh. This card game probably has the biggest discrepancy between good cards and bad cards than any other card game I’ve played which is the real big issue for me. Yugioh is so unique that there is no rotation and they have a ban list that isn’t outright and allows for limited and semi-limited, but the effective card pool to actually play competitively is so small in reality that any given meta can get stale quickly. There’s a whole bunch of other issues but I actually think the use of hand traps is rather low in the grand scheme of things.

[@Disappointed_Philosoraptor]

triangles though have the problem that, to use an analogy, rock loses to paper by default. interaction, then, exclusively happens in the prep phase, but the actual match lacks gameplay because the copuntered deck folds by default.

[@orlandorivera3452]

Gotta love that Eric Andre reference 😂🔥

[@jdp3578]

Limit the hand traps, force players to fill the deck with either a lot of different hand traps, or just other cards in general, alter consistency, limits the chance of getting hand trapped into oblivion, and hopefully the consistency hit makes it harder to 1 card combo. Also with only say 1 of every hand trap, players have to be certain of what they want to negate on both sides, and using crossout is more of a risk.

[@thecalieffect]

I agree with you, but Konami has their own plans lol.

[@Po-tp3xm]

Yugioh community needs to really speak up and stand up to konami. This isnt yugioh anymore when you play the same style, same deck ,up against same o decks 1 - 2 turn games.

[@Kurohige93]

I feel like that family guy clip sums it up perfectly, if I hand trap you three times and you still go full combo I’m flipping this table and going home

[@koraptenshi8709]

wish there would be more thumbs up in this video. COMPLETELY agree with everything! The fact that they created problems by printing more cards does not mean that they can sell sollutions by printing more

[@STEPHxCA]

Doesn’t making over half your deck handtraps just increase your chances of opening and only drawing into them?

[@TrueReverse74]

While yes, it also means that you are running a deck that can full combo off any random card in your engine.

[@alexandermendez6136]

Konami should make a continuous spell that prevents either player from activating cards or effects from their hand super busted floodgate that even playing field, but you know what the problem is. Konomi is not gonna do that because it makes too much sense because and traps are profitable that’s why cards like called by the grave are still at one because they want to sell their new hand traps Like the mulcharmies but this is just my opinion

[@brianaguilar8283]

We have Mind Drain but it’s a trap card

[@talex3844]

This is just based on my recent experience, but I think that there are enough decks that can either field a ton of handtraps or that have a ton of interaction that there's a level playing field in YGO at the moment. Bologna is proof. Some of these decks are just more fun than others - Kashtira Fiendsmith has multiple win conditions and multiple routes to powerful endboards. The most complicated decision a Ryzeal player will have to make is "Hmm, do I play Duo or Detonator first?" I think in order to have fun playing YGO, you need a fun deck.

[@Ray01360]

Also, Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon is another style of card with a limited negate function. That is something to consider with the current meta.

[@roundishcap]

if they just errated mistake or you're finished to be activatable from hand they would demolish combn heavy decks. It would force the opponent to either ignore the activation window like Nibiru, or run anti trap removal instead of more negation.

[@chankthetank817]

35 hand traps + exodia = turn 36 victory \o/

[@RyusparkX]

I can't get behind having a deck with that many hand traps cause that's a brick hand waiting to happen at the worst time (And getting beat by a deck that can dodge hand traps). I go for 6 - 9 hand traps and just hope for the best at that point.

[@undershade3006]

The game is done. Can't be entered by new players, old players are leaving, it's dead. It needs to be reinvented and done right. Just like 1-2k cards and waaay less extra deck focus

[@YhighNinja]

Hand traps are a necessary evil when you have desks that can put min 4 negates and others that can hand loop you leaving you with one card at the start of your turn. Hand traps are our only saving grace giving us a chance to play the game.

[@YhighNinja]

Some hand traps are a bit too much, Droll and Shifter needs to go or limit to one.

[@brandoncastellano1858]

I got hand looped by genex the other day with 3 hand traps. He still could’ve ripped 4 cards out.

[@williamstegall5148]

yeah bro you right but thats a sympton of the great power level that konami made to the game

[@frig7014]

@@brandoncastellano1858 you gotta veiler or imperm that link 1, nothing else really matters

[@brandoncastellano1858]

@@frig7014 I tried. Got Crossed out

[@jarlili1946]

No deck should be able to play through 3 hand traps

[@ProxyLimit]

I like this optimistic take on what is to come, I’m looking forward to more Yugioh 🎉

[@LocalMaple]

I wonder how much can be fixed by having rotations like in Pokémon. Old cards that are banned due to new combos: gone. An archetype that was too strong, rotated out. Yugioh can even make more money by producing Rotation-Survival sets of the same cards with an updated rotation mark and artwork (you can still use old cards of the same name and effect).

[@jyapp4489]

Hand traps are honestly just a case of the game designers trying to give players a way to slow the game down after seeing how fast it got. What's funny is that the developers and Studio Gallop foresaw this like 10 years before it became a problem with the Meklords, and WROTE THE PLOT AROUND THAT! Of course, the problem was Synchros got way too powerful, changed the people using them for the worse, and the systems allowing the game realized this and unleashed anti-Synchro machines to try to stem the source of the problem (people abusing Synchros). Side note, I absolutely agree that modern Red Dragon Archfiend is by far the most balanced "powerful" deck, though there are a few more that I'd lump in there like Blackwings (like you mentioned) and a more traditional Yusei-style deck that focuses more on diversity and powerful situational counterplay rather than "hey lets spam 3 Shooting Quasar Dragons" (yes I like 5D's, why do you ask?). It's literally what's happening now. After years of making it easier to set up your board and lock your opponent out, with way too many cards running around, they HAD to bring something in to reign in the way too many cards running around that could result in a combo. Think of how many cards that exist that can do 1 or 2 card combo starters? They HAD to make them generic, like how the Meklords were designed as a counter to an entire mechanic. At that point, its a problem with the game overextending in a desperate effort to correct itself, rather than a problem with the correction in isolation. This is part of why my favorite (theoretical) format (that no one but me wants to play) is the no-dupes format combined with a banlist specific to such a format. It solves the problem with game pacing while not completely removing the hand traps nor combos that make the game what it is, and in my opinion is just more fun to play and watch. Knowing that there's only 1 copy of each card makes each card special and count way more, and opens up a lot more room for personalization since with that limitation you really can't counter everything. Do you put a hand trap in your deck knowing you'll slow yourself down as well and potentially limit your own resources for your own combos? Do you go full tilt into trying to make a combo happen? What combo do you even make happen, knowing you can't plan for everything and have to commit to a specific path? What wiggle room do you give to allow for more paths (not just players, but from a designer side)? Hand traps would still have a role, they'd just be limited by the sheer notion that you will likely only get to play each one once per duel rather than once per turn, while your opponent potentially isn't set so far back from just not being able to play the game, and swarming the field with cards that lock your opponent out from playing anyways would be harder to get onto the field (good luck getting your omni-negate back if your opponent is willing to spend enough resources to take it out! It's not impossible, just difficult).

[@themoonlitduelist7395]

about the Red DEMONS DRAGON, that IS SO TRUE Bestie

[@samuelgonzalez-tovar3936]

Imagine if they hand/deck traps a card that said during your at the opponent’s main phase if you control no cards on your field when any effect is activated you can send this card from your deck to the grave yard negate that effect you can only use this effect once per duel

[@elijahtrujillo932]

U know, duel links use to make a limited three per deck kind of banlist. Where u allow 3 restricted cards and can only fill three slots. Say if 1 card was set to 3, 2, or one per deck. U can play 3 limited cards. Or 2 semi, and 1 limited. Or 3 of the i guess “semi semi” limited, but no semi or regular limited cards. Make a restriction like that and just hit a lot of cards to 3 or 2. Solves almost every. Like make ash 3 and unicorn 3. So can only have a combination of those. Maybe 2 unicorn and one ash. Or skip ash entirely for the 3 unicorn.

[@sousukesagara-im3td]

Both handtraps and 1 card combos feel at their absolute in master duel. Especially as we have a duelist cup coming up at the time of writing this. Master duel seems to hit consistently alot which is good for the one card combos, but at the same time games can feel extremely sacky when youre on a Duelist Cup, or you have a mid hand, or a random bad matchup and everything you docgets slapped by a handtrap and you pass on a board of mayne 1 negated monster and a copy of imperm in the backrow

[@Shoyro]

May sound crazy, but there should be a ruling that you can use only TWO hand traps on your Opponent's turn per duel. Might sound counterintuitive, but think about it. It'd not only reduce how many hand traps would be in a deck, but it also adds to strategy. Alternative is a floodgate card or archetype that turns handtraps into dead cards in hand. Honestly, I feel that kind of thing is needed.

[@Pokezarre]

Its fun to get Shifter, Fuwalos, Infinite Impermanance, effect veiler on turn one and then see your opponent combo

[@devontecollins4522]

I agree with a lot of people on this chat. In my opinion, Yugioh has gotten out of hand, not necessarily with the one card combos, but with the access to way too many generic cards. Half of the time, you really don’t even know what someone is playing so that’s snuffs out any meta based decisions sometimes with the side deck. Then let’s not get started on the amount of effects some of them monsters have. I feel as though no monster should have more than two effects, unless of course it’s a boss monster who you actually have to work to get out. I agree that multiple ways to get into certain combs is what makes the game fun. Let’s be real, who wants to play a deck that only has one way of operating? First thing the player will do is concede when that combo gets shut down by a single card.

[@dixogaming926]

where is discard one card to activate a negate?

[@nickw7125]

What I dislike most is that the greater the % of your deck that needs to be handtraps in order to play competitively, the fewer decisions you need or even get to make in the deckbuilding process. This is especially true when the archetypal engines practically build themselves.

[@finalgetsuga4731]

I run a Blackwing deck and I've spent enough time with to beable to play around hand traps it just depends if I have the right cards to do so

[@CNIKConfine]

At this point, I see Konami having two options if they want to change the landscape of the game. (I'm fairly new to YugiOh, so let me know if there's something I'm not thinking about. Came from competitive magic beforehand). One is to go through the extensive list of cards and ban or limit a lot of the problematic one card combos that make these hand traps so essential in the game. It feels real bad when you draw none and your opponent ends the game before you even get a turn by having multiple negates on board or interrupts. Options 2 is to change the mechanics of how the game is played. Combos are just as big a part of yugiohs identity as high rarity and often very expensive staples. There's no real going back at this point since this is a trend that has existed for a long time. I love the game. The high levels of interaction remind me of the cedh games I played a lot. But when over half of your deck basically has to consist of cards required to stop the game from ending before you've had a chance to take a turn...that's over centralization in every sense of the phrase.

[@zereaux56]

Handtraps have been the biggest problem with YuGiOh for years now. Ever since the game plan became "How can i make my opponent play the game as little as possible" instead of "This game is akin to Chess. What strategy do i need to ensure i win?", the game has steadily gon downhill.