Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG: Can You Compete Without Hand Traps?

Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG is known for its combos, as well as one of the biggest "power creeps" in the history of card games. Because of these two factors, handtraps slowly became one of the most popular mechanics in the meta. When you're going second, they're your main way to prevent your opponent from building an "unbreakable" board.

However, in today's article, we'll see what else you can play to interact with your opponent and check whether we can play competitively without any handtraps!

"Handtrap" is the unofficial term for cards you can activate from your hand as an answer to an enemy play. The idea behind them is to interrupt your opponent's combo, or, at least, lower their power level ceiling so your engine can overcome the "weaker" version of the board they manage to build.

As such, we can say handtraps are a way to prevent your opponent from building the best deck they can. They're great against combo decks that build "unbreakable" boards or that want to win with a FTK (First Turn Kill). For instance, Mermail is currently unbeatable if you don't play handtraps while going second.

Despite their advantages, handtraps aren't fail proof. As power creep in Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG increased throughout the years, new decks have become more and more resilient against this type of interaction. Today, we need a combination of two or more handtraps to really disrupt the main decks in the meta. Still, many decks have a "plan B" to keep interacting on the opponent's turn.

Another problem is that many cards negate handtraps or even punish you for activating them. These cards are so strong that many players consider them unfair, and they're often crucial to win the game.

If you think handtraps aren't effective, or if you simply prefer not using them for any reason, you can use boardbreakers. Boardbreakers are "going second" cards that "break your opponent's board", and effectively disable the final board they build.

This way, whereas handtraps deal with your opponent's "plan A", board breakers let them build a strong board, but deal with it later on.

While you need to combine a few handtraps to make them work in the meta nowadays, boardbreakers tend to affect multiple cards at once, either destroying them, negating their effects, or disabling the enemy board in other ways.

To sum up: the main idea behind boardbreakers is using a single card to deal with many enemy cards at once.

However, just like handtraps, boardbreakers have their problems. Firstly, they can't protect you against FTKs. Secondly, some decks also split their interaction between their board (with monsters or their backrow), graveyard, and even their hand.

This means they can play around boardbreakers, and make their strategy more resilient against them.

At its peak (so, before Original Sinful Spoils - Snake-Eye was banned), Snake-Eye split its interactions well, and could play around board breakers rather well.

Yes, we can play Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG competitively without any handtraps, but you'll have to consider a few factors, such as the deck you're playing and the current metagame. By the way, depending on the situation, boardbreakers are more efficient than handtraps.

The key to this challenge is understanding what each does and seeing which one is the best way to deal with the decks you'll face.

The Difference Between Handtraps and Boardbreakers

Handtraps interrupt your opponent's combo before they can build their strongest board. Boardbreakers, meanwhile, let them build their board and only break it directly afterward.

When Do You Use Each?

Though you can compete without any handtraps, deciding whether you'll use them or not depends on the deck you're playing and the deck your opponents are playing. Not using them against oppressive decks is risky because your boardbreakers might not be able to deal with their final board.

The best moment to leave handtraps behind is when the meta is full of decks with a lower power level ceiling. In this case, you'll be able to deal with any final board your opponents build. However, you'll still have to play the right boardbreakers.

As such, you'll have to consider each meta carefully and pick the right tech cards for each situation. If you don't, you'll probably lose.

Example 1: Ryzeal is the best deck in the current format, and its main monster is Ryzeal Detonator. As this deck plays cards that make it more resilient, like Ryzeal Cross, Ryzeal Plugin, and Eclipse Twins, you'll hardly be able to deal with it with handtraps. Boardbreakers will be better.

Example 2: Another popular deck nowadays is Blue-Eyes Primite, which usually builds a board with many interactions in the backrow, including Majesty of the White Dragons, True Light, and Primite Drillbeam. To deal with this board, you'll be better off with boardbreakers that destroy spell and trap cards. That way, you'll be removing at least 3 enemy interactions with just one of your cards.

Example 3: Maliss is also one of the biggest headaches for Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG players right now. Because of how dynamic and resilient it is, interacting with it is difficult, even if you use handtraps. The main cards you'll need to beat or destroy are typically Knightmare Gryphon or Maliss Q Hearts Crypter. Negating Gryphon's effect is often enough, but you'll have to remove Hearts Crypter from the enemy board without sending it to the graveyard - otherwise, your opponent will simply summon it again.

Do you prefer playing handtraps or boardbreakers? Or maybe a secret third thing…

Tell us your thoughts in our comment section below.

To learn more about Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG, keep browsing our articles.

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