And the Trap Hole archetype has literally existed for the entirety of Yu-Gi-Oh’s history. The first original Trap Hole card was released in the first booster pack of Yu-Gi-Oh in both the OCG and TCG, and different cards from the Trap Hole archetype are still a part of sets in modern times. But then comes the age-old question: which Trap Hole card is the best? If you’re wondering this too, then check out our ranking of the entire Trap Hole archetype.
16. D.D. Trap Hole
Once upon a time, D.D. Trap Hole was probably a decent card. Nowadays, you’d probably never see this card unless it’s on another list like this one. D.D. Trap Hole allows you to target a monster that was just set by your opponent, and then a monster you control, and destroy them both. The problem with this card is that unless you’re playing a specific archetype, no one really sets exactly 1 monster, which is oddly specific. However, if you do see your opponent set a monster and end their turn, chances are they couldn’t do anything and are losing anyway. So you’re probably better off keeping your monsters since you’re probably winning.
15. Acid Trap Hole
Acid Trap Hole is a very similar variation of D.D. Trap Hole, but is a little better since it doesn’t require you to destroy one of your own monsters. With Acid Trap Hole, you can target one of your opponent’s set monsters and destroy it, but only if its defense is 2000 or less. And unlike D.D. Trap Hole, you don’t need to activate this when your opponent sets a monster – you can do it anytime. The only caveat is that if the monster you targeted has 2000 or more defense, then you just wasted a trap card.
14. Giant Trap Hole
Giant Trap Hole is essentially just a really bad version of Torrential Tribute, so you probably also want to avoid this card if you can. You can activate this card when your opponent special summons 2 or more monsters onto the field, and if they do, all monsters on the field are destroyed. This card works great against Pendulum decks. Apart from that, there aren’t too many cases where you’ll find your opponent summoning 2 monsters at once. But a cool combo with this card is activating Nightmare Archfiends and then Giant Trap Hole to deal 2400 damage to your opponent and clear the field at the same time.
13. Adhesion Trap Hole
With Adhesion Trap Hole, our list kind of starts to get more useful – but still isn’t quite there yet. When your opponent summons a single or multiple monsters, you can activate Adhesion Trap Hole to half all of their attacks. One benefit of this card is that it doesn’t target, so it won’t set off some card effects. And it’s great that it affects multiple monsters at once. On the other hand, this card feels a bit lackluster. Because although it does weaken your opponent’s monsters, that’s really all it does, and isn’t too much of a problem for your opponent.
12. Trap Hole
Finally, we get to the classic Trap Hole. Although it was very powerful when it was first released, it now leaves much to be desired. When your opponent normal or flip summons a monster onto the field that has at least 1000 attack, you can activate Trap Hole to target that monster and destroy it. Trap Hole is very specific about the conditions. And normal/flip summoned monsters are usually weak, so this wouldn’t be too bad of a blow to your opponent. Plus with the current meta, losing a normal summon isn’t the end of the world, since there are so many card effects that allow you to special summon multiple monsters.
11. Break Off Trap Hole
Depending on the deck you’re playing, Break Off Trap Hole could either be great or mediocre at best. When a Link monster is summoned, you can activate this card and destroy all monsters on the field that are not linked to. Obviously, this card only works if at least 1 player is using Link monsters. But this card also works great in a Traptrix deck, since those monsters are unaffected by Trap Hole cards. Otherwise, you’re going to have to be very meticulous in your monster placement if you want to use this card effectively in another deck.
10. Double Trap Hole
Speaking of getting useful, Double Trap Hole is finally a card that I can see being used in some decks. You can activate Double Trap hole when your opponent special summons a monster in defense position, and when activated you can banish that monster. This card will absolutely destroy decks that special summon monsters in defense position, like Cloudcastle or Superheavy Samurai Warlord Susanowo. Another great thing about this card is that it banishes rather than destroys, so you can often avoid many effects that trigger upon a monster’s destruction.
9. Treacherous Trap Hole
With the introduction of different spell cards and what we call, “hand traps”, you can often get away with not having any traps in your deck. Luckily, this is great news for people who want to use Treacherous Trap Hole. As long as you have no traps in your graveyard, you can activate Treacherous Trap Hole to destroy 2 monsters on the field at no cost. It’s quite simple but very strong. If you do want to use this card in a normal deck, you can pair it with Soul Release, which allows you to banish up to 5 cards in your graveyard.
8. Deep Dark Trap Hole
At first, Deep Dark Trap Hole probably seems like a great card to get rid of special summons. That is, until you remember there are things like XYZ monsters and Link monsters. When your opponent special summons a level 5 or higher effect monster, you can use Deep Dark Trap Hole to banish that monster. Not only does this avoid targeting, but it also has a very lenient requirement. But as I mentioned before, this doesn’t work on Link monsters and XYZ monsters since they don’t have any levels. Even so, this is a great card to run in your side deck in case your opponent mostly uses other card types.
7. Network Trap Hole
Network Trap Hole is one of the newer cards on this list, and actually works quite well in the current meta. You can activate this card when your opponent special summons a single or multiple monsters from the deck or graveyard. Those monsters are then banished face down. Like other Trap Hole cards, this one doesn’t target, which is always a nice bonus. And with pesky cards like Virtual World Kyubi – Shenshen, Network Trap Hole is a reliable way to get rid of it – since Shenshen can easily revive itself.
6. Trap Hole of Spikes
Trap Hole of Spikes is a very similar card to Magic Cylinder if you happen to remember that card. When your opponent attacks with a monster that was normal or special summoned that turn, you can activate Trap Hole of Spikes to destroy the monster and inflict damage equal to half of the original monster’s attack. Essentially, this card is a variation of the other Trap Hole cards, but also does some significant damage to your opponent. The only problem is that this card only affects monsters summoned during the current turn. But that really isn’t a problem at the beginning of a duel.
5. Void Trap Hole
This is getting a bit repetitive, but Void Trap Hole is also extremely similar to a lot of the other Trap Hole cards on this list. Void Trap Hope is activated when your opponent special summons a monster with 2000 or more attack. You can then negate the effects of that monster and destroy it. Since this card negates the monster’s effect, it allows you to destroy the monster without worrying about whatever insane effect that monster probably has. For example, this will protect you against cards like Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier, which banishes multiple cards on your side of the field when it is summoned.
4. Bottomless Trap Hole
Bottomless Trap Hole is definitely one of the stronger cards on this list because of its versatility. Using this card’s effect, when a monster (or multiple monsters) is summoned to the field with 1500 or greater attack, those monsters are all destroyed, and then banished. In a situation where some monsters are summoned with less than 1500 attack, only the monsters with greater than or equal to 1500 attack would be destroyed. This effect is very strong because 1500 attack is not very high. So this requirement is easy to meet. Unfortunately, this effect causes the monsters to be destroyed first, which can cause some problems at times from monster effects.
3. Traptrix Trap Hole Nightmare
These days, in most scenarios, a powerful monster effect is definitely more preferable over raw attack strength. With Traptrix Trap Hole Nightmare, when a monster special summoned this turn activates its effect (which is almost always) you can negate the effect and destroy the card. I’d say Traptrix Trap Hole Nightmare will definitely be useful against cards like Divine Arsenal AA-ZEUS – Sky Thunder, which can wipe the field if the player controlling it chooses to do so. Additionally, this effect also works with cards like Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier, which I mentioned before.
2. Time-Space Trap Hole
Time-Space Trap Hole could have easily taken the number 1 spot. But because it’s not foolproof, it sits right here. When your opponent special summons from their hand or extra deck, you can return those monsters back to the deck by using this card. Since this card returns and doesn’t destroy, you can avoid a whole ton of cards that have an effect when targeted, destroyed, or banished. Unfortunately, you must pay 1000 life points for each returned monster, which can definitely get pricey if you decide to do this on a pendulum summon.
1. Floodgate Trap Hole
Out of all the cards on this list, if you had to choose one, you definitely want to put Floodgate Trap Hole in your deck. When your opponent summons monsters, you can activate Floodgate Trap Hole to change all those monsters to face-down defense position. And once this is done, your opponent cannot change those monster’s battle positions. Doing this has many benefits. For one, your opponent cannot activate the effects of those cards, and your opponent cannot use those cards for special summoning from the extra deck. In fact, the only reliable ways to get rid of them are to use them for a tribute summon, have them be destroyed by battle, or use a card effect like Dark Hole. Overall, this card reduces the amount of space your opponent has for monsters, and renders those monsters useless, which severely hinders their combos.
