[TCG] April 2023 Look at Hand traps

Since Photon Hypernova and the much anticipated boost of Kashtira, the Yugioh Meta has swung back an forth like a pendulum. First, the "full lock out" that Kashtira could achieve resulted in players changing their lists to strictly board breakers like Evenly Matched and cards to prevent them from getting that far, using cards like Nibiru. This resulted in Kashtira switching their play-style and ended on Arise-pass to simply have the banish effect and the walking Macro-Cosmos.

The change to Arise-Pass resulted in players simplifying their board breakers, tossing the Evenly and Nibiru out the window and swapping them for good old fashioned cards like Lava Golem and Kaijus. This cycle has repeated a handful of times at the local level and noticeably twice at the Regional/YCS level. For those trying to keep up with the meta and what to side, it can be taxing to the average player. However way you spin it, decks are building and siding around however Kashtira is playing and not so much around the other big contenders in the meta, such as Spright, Runick, Labrynth, and Branded.

So what are the solid hand traps for this format? It is a big question but I want to tackle that to the best of my ability in this blog, while also providing some insight with some of the decision making in the process. Hopefully, by the end of this, you, the reader, will have a better idea of how to deck build and side-deck for your locals.

Ash Blossom

First up on the block, Ash Blossom. Ash Blossom has been a mainstay in the format for a long time and very rarely does it fall out of fashioned. This is one of those formats where it is still the go-to for a lot of players. Prior to this format, the dreaded Tearlament Format, Ash was essentially a dead card because the deck-to-beat simply had too much gas-power that a single Ash was not going to end the turn. That cannot be said for this format. Ash has found itself in a very valuable spot with the current meta, almost always landing a 3-of spot in the main deck. Why? Well, lets look at the targets.

Kashtira's lists have been decreasing monster count consistently in the format meaning that the deck's reliance on consistency cards like Pot of Prosperity, Unicorn, and Kashtiratheosis become essential. Unless the player opened up with several names and Kashtira Birth, Ash Blossom on a Kashtiratheosis can sometimes end the turn, or forcing the player to rely on plan-Bs like Prosperity which would have been better used on a the clap-back turn.

Spright and Runick also have several choke-points that Ash hits: Spright Starter, Gigantic Spright, Hugin, the Runick Wings, and Runick Fountain are all solid hits for Ash this format. Spright starter is often the weaker of the two Spright hits. By the time the player gets to Gigantic Spright, they often will have Spright Red alongside it for the negate. For Spright Starter, there is just too much value the player gets from it to NOT hit it. Starter leads to Blue, which leads to Jet, which leads to Smashers or Double-cross and then they still get to Gigantic. All off of one card. Not even using their normal summon for the Nimble Beaver which Spright Players always tend to have. 

Runick on the other hand really relies on the one-for-one advantage it gets from Fountain and Hugin. Ash on either them can really cut off the Runick package as a whole. Unfortunately, Runick is just that right now, a package. We see more often than not, Runick being mixed with another theme like Spright, Fur Hire, and even Adventure. Whereas Ash Blossom on Runick Fountain's Draw 3 effect will cut it off for at least another turn, you sill still have to deal with whatever else is coming alongside it. Even still, when Runick is mixed with anything else, it is often more valuable to Ash the Fountain than anything else in the deck given that Fountain can draw the player into the other engines they play, causing a steady snowball.

Labrynth and Branded both lose the hardest to Ash. The issue with both of Labrynth and Branded is their reliance on single cards to get their decks going. For Branded, it is Branded Fusion and for Lab, Welcome and Big Welcome. These decks live and die by the chance to see those specific cards and Ash Blossom cuts those decks off instantly. Ash's prevalence in the meta is possibly one of the highest contenders for why these two decks are often not making it to finals or top-four at larger YCS events.

When it comes to Ash Blossom, Ash Blossom is a must-have for the current meta. It hits decks like Lab and Branded very hard, hits Runick at crucial choke-points, and can significantly cut down the extent in which decks like Kashtira and Spright can assemble their boards.

Nibiru

Nibiru is another one which has swayed back and forth between players but has rightfully found itself as a meta favorite this time around. As mentioned earlier, Nibiru was used to counter the very effective and consistent "lock-out" that Kashtira could accomplish. But beyond that, with the exception of rogue decks, Nibiru was lacking in the meta. Even though it is a solid 50/50 on whether or not Nibiru will be effective, one thing cannot be denied, Nibiru being cut from the Tearlament meta for so long has lead to players being very greedy with their combos, often playing into lines that don't counter Nibiru prior.

Now, I will state that there are a lot of decks in the current meta that do not play into Nibiru. Spright, Runick, Labrynth, and often Branded will find themselves either setting up a negate prior to the fifth summon or simply not summon enough. Because Kashtira is so afraid to extend to the point where they essentially throw the game, wiser Kashtira players often aim to go Arise-Pass and call it a day, once again, sometimes not falling into Nibiru's traps but sometimes doing so.

Some decks that Nibiru does hit very hard are new-age Floowandereeze, Dark World, and the newly revived Mathmech deck and other Cyberse-Adjacent decks. Floowandereeze only got one hit on the most recent ban list and it was Barrier Statue of the Stormwinds. Previously Floowandereeze could summon that statue on fifth summon or sometimes earlier, completely throwing out the possibility of summoning Nibiru since Nibiru is a LIGHT monster, not a WIND. With that gone, Floo is now susceptible to Nibiru IF they decide to push 5 summons, which Floo will do if they are trying to push for lethal.

Dark World has been slowly on the come up since the Dark World Structure Deck dropped a couple months back. One thing this deck is that is a stack of 40 cards that almost all read "draw a card". If a Dark World Player opens up a couple Danger Monsters and at least one or two Dark World names, they will pop off. When i say "pop-off", I'm talking about 15 minute turns where that player is drawing and discarding and summoning and all that good stuff, probably while hand ripping you in the process. The largest take-away from Dark World is it often requires  Dark World on field to recycle their Grapha back to hand. Dark World also leans heavy on Sillva to hand-rip the opponent as soon as they can. Nibiru is effect against this deck because shrinking their board before they can get to Apolloousa or before they can start kicking off the hand-rips from Sillva will drastically hinder the overall end-board the deck makes as well as possibly save you several cards in your hand.

Since Bystials have sided out of the meta, Mathmech has returned and historically always struggled against Nibiru. Mathmech will quickly lock themselves into Cyberse monsters so they don't have the luxury of making cards like Apollousa, a main-stay in most link strategies. To counter Nibiru, Mathmech has resorted to playing Crossout because they have such an issue to blow-out hand-traps like Nibiru.

Graveyard Packages

Next up, I want to talk about a series of handtraps, primarily the ones that affect the graveyard. For this, we're referring to D.D. Crow, Ghost Belle, and the Bystial Brigade. During the previous format, with Tearlament running essentially rampant, these cards were seen as the last guard of the format alongside the highly controversial Dimension Shifter. Now, it is up for debate where they stand.

Keeping in context of the big meta decks we've discussed for this format, (Kashtira, Branded, Labrynth, Runick, Spright, and the occasional Floowandereeze, Dark World, and Mathmech decks), graveyard manipulation is really hit or miss. Also, granted, each of these hand traps has different high-lights compared to different decks. For example, D.D. Crow and Bystials do essentially nothing to Runick engines but Belle can completely shut down the draw from Runick Fountain that the deck relies on so much to keep going. It would be better to showcase these 3 and how they fare against each of the decks.

Kashtira does very little targeting in the graveyard and often will profit off their cards being banished. On top of that, there are no considerable targets for Bystials to be detrimental to their strategy. All three are essentially dead cards here.

Spright does not rely as heavy on the graveyard since the banning of Elf. In fact, they do not really touch graveyard in most game states. Once again, proving that these three would not be suggested calls for the side-deck. You could get away with throwing a Bystial down before Gigantic Spright activates and locks both players into summoning 2s. But unless you have the necessary follow-up, a Bystial won't do all too much.

Branded is a little more susceptible here. Branded will often play their own Bystials so using a D.D. Crow or your own Bystial on their targets can knock them down a body or two but the key card to high-light is Branded in Red. Branded in Red needs to add the target from graveyard back to hand in order to get their fusion, which is often Guardian Chimera. Belle, Crow, and Bystials can all shut this down and deny a lot of value from the player. Branded will often rely on Chimera to provide them with follow-up, as well as Cartesia.

Labrynth is a deck that runs very few monsters, primarily their Lady Labrynth plus a couple other names. While they do have ways to use their trap cards to revive their Ladies, chaining to trap cards with any of the mentioned graveyard handtraps can effectively throw the deck's grind game out the window. Unless the player is playing direct counter to these strategies, banishing their Ladies can provide you with a notable advantage. Highly recommend Crow, Bystials, and Belle for these match-ups.

On the flip side, Floowandereeze does very little with the graveyard, all of their most important cards banish themselves upon leaving the field so there is simply no targets for cards like Crow or the Bystials to even hit. Floowandereeze players often will use Stri to extend their game-state and using a D.D. Crow on the target can effectively end the turn if they do not have the necessary extenders. That is about the only use Crow will have in the match-up.

Dark World suffers from graveyard disruption. Tearlament's use of the Ishizu recyclers was part of the reason why Dark World wasn't more popular during their initial launch. Where Grapha and Reign-Beaux do not start chains when they return themselves, they cannot, however, save themselves from being targeted by a Bystial or D.D. Crow. Grapha and Reign-Beaux are both incredibly important keys to Dark World being able to abuse a lot of their non-once-per-turn effects and sniping them as they hit the graveyard is a winning strategy against the deck. Would recommend Bystials and Crow for this match up but not so much Belle here.

Mathmech is another deck that becomes fragile when it comes to graveyard disruption. Mathmech Sigma if often their kick-off extender that the deck needs to get things going. Sigma is usually sent to the graveyard right off the bat with Circular. The play is that you send Sigma and then revive Sigma, triggering Circular's effect to search a Mathmech Spell and trap. Since Sigma is a LIGHT monster, the Bystials and Crow both effectively can shut down this kick off play, forcing the player to rely on another extender or attempt a different line of play. One thing to note is that Sigma, much like the Dark Worlds, does not start a chain when it attempts to revive itself so you have to simply hit it upon resolution of it hitting the graveyard. Of course, Cyberse decks will also rely on cards like Transcode and Splash Mage when attempting to push for lethal, both of these cards are also good opportunities to use Crows, Bystials, or even Belle.

When it comes to the Graveyard package, there are some pros and cons. It is very effective to some of the decks returning into the meta like Dark World and Mathmech most notably and can be effective against some more prominent decks like Labrynth, Branded, and Runick (if you use Belle). However, the more power-house decks in the format like Kashtira and Spright don't care about these cards, as well as returning decks like Floowandereeze. I would recommend the player consider what decks tend to be the more difficult match ups and consider their decision on graveyard disruption packages  from there. If it doesn't disrupt your own strategy, I would opt for Dimension Shifter instead because it is a two-turn floodgate that punishes the opponent for playing the game.

Monster Negates

Monster negation is a strong component to yugioh counter play. If you can negate a monster's effect, you can effectively make the card useless and that can result in a lot of outcomes, whether that be protecting your field from power house effects or preventing your opponent from kicking off their strategy. Either way, it is hard to turn down generic effects that say "hey, no". For this reason, we're going to look at Imperm and Effect Veiler.

I'm going to be very broad here but i hope to make this more concise in the long run. Imperm is better than Veiler right now. Veiler was good when Halqifibrax was in the meta. Effect Veiler could serve as a hand trap and a target to summon to extend into further plays. That is not the case anymore. On top of that, decks like Kashtira, Spright, Runick, and in some cases, Mathmech all run Triple Tactic Talents in anticipation of some sort of hand trap. Veiler will unfortunately just play into that further. Imperm does not trigger Talents and, it doesn't have as harsh of a timing restraint on when it can be activated like Veiler. It can be activated at the start of your turn to possibly bait a negation or outright shut down cards like Nat Beast and Bagooska.

Imperm is not the silver bullet for any deck in the current meta, however, it finds itself as a valuable tool in a duelist's toolkit. It can stop opening plays for a lot of the current decks in the meta, often forcing the opponent to kick off right into whatever extender they hope to have left. Spright for example will often set up a Red to protect Gigantic's from Veiler, Ash, or Nibiru, but most likely will not play around a well timed Imperm. Imperm also hurts decks that do not rely on many monster effects, as most effects are probably very crucial to their game-play, most notably here Hugin the Runick Wings and Lady Labrynth. Of course, Imperm can save players from the Kashtira Lock-out by targeting Shangri-Ira or Diablosis when Nibiru isn't readily on hand. For this collection of reasons, I would argue that Imperm is a very strong choice for the current yugioh meta.

Spotlight

Lastly, I want to highlight a couple cards that i think are seeing fringe play in their own capacities. I foresee these being more popular for their own reasons in the future. Droll has slowly found itself back into the meta, if not main deck slots, at least in the side deck. Droll has done a lot of numbers and being a rather insightful meta-call primarily because it does one of two things. One: It can prevent a player from essentially tool-boxing their deck for a whole turn, namely decks like Kashtira, mathmech, Dark World, Floowandereeze, or Runick variants. Two: It can lock the opponent from searching the cards necessary for follow-up play, most notable is Branded and Spright. For these reasons, Droll has been a recurring counter that has put a stop to very extender-heavy strategies. Droll is one of those cards that comes back and forth into the meta and, right now, now that decks have solidified their lists more, Droll is back.

Another card I want to spotlight is Lancea. When people see this card in side-decks, players will draw conclusions in their own ways to how this card is being used and I want to make things more clear for the average player. Yes, Lancea can stop Kashtira from banishing with cards like Unicorn and Diablosis. Yes, Lancea hits Spright Smashers. Yes, Lancea acts as another Droll-like effect to decks like Floowandereeze. I can tell you right now, most of the time it is not used for these reasons. Kashtira may push their board more wide and not try to make their high-impact Xyz monsters on their turn and just wait for your turn, when they do not have to worry about Lancea. Placing you back in the same solution. Once again, since Lancea is only during the opponent's turn, it would be important to note that Smashers if oten not used as a tool to break boards but more as a defensive tool to prevent their board from being broken aka during your turn, not their's. The truth of the matter is that Lancea is specifically to counter the high-prevalence of Evenly Matched. You side-deck Lancea when going first so you can set up your board and then when the opponent pushes to battle phase, you activate Lancea and throw their plan out the window.

I won't tell you to not run Lancea, because Evenly Matched is a hell of a card, however, I will caution you that Lancea is not as effective in the meta as one might think.

I hope that this post was useful for you and you can take this information moving forward to make more informed decisions about your deck building. Yugioh is a complicated game and you always gotta stay one step ahead of your opponent. If you liked this or want me to expand on some other notable choices you have in mind, leave a comment below. Thanks for reading.