abstract
| - A hand trap is an unofficial term used to describe monster effects that are activated from the hand in response to an opponent's actions. They are not actual Trap Cards in any way, but function similarly as a previously unseen card effect used to surprise or disrupt the opponent. In fact, depending on their effects they can be even more ubiquitous than actual Trap Cards, as cards in the hand tend to be less vulnerable than cards on the field. One of the first hand traps released was "Kuriboh", which could be discarded to nullify the battle damage from an attack. Hand traps first became popular during the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX era with cards such as "D.D. Crow", "Gorz the Emissary of Darkness", and "Honest", and became ubiquitous in the metagame as further hand traps such as "Effect Veiler" and "Maxx "C"" were released. There are several categories of hand traps. Some hand traps are used to inhibit or punish an opponent, such as those listed above, while other hand traps can be used to turn the tide of battle or stop a battle altogether such as "Swift Scarecrow" and "Battle Fader". Some archetypes and series such as ""C"", "Ghostrick", "PSY-Frame", and "Nekroz" contain numerous hand traps.
|