From: Anteaus44@aol.com [mailto:Anteaus44@aol.com]
Sent: Wednesday, February 15, 2006 1:51 AM

Subject: Trap Cards to Trap with-Anteaus

Hello, all you Pojo.com fans! It is I, Anteaus, back with another installment of Anteaus' [insert cool name here]!

Anyway, everyone in the metagame today knows the standard Trap line-up, and for anyone who doesn't, let's see it:

3x Sakuretsu Armor

2x Bottomless Trap Hole/Dust Tornado/Widespread Ruin

1x Call of the Haunted

1x Torrential Tribute

Or, this one:

3x Royal Decree

1x Call of the Haunted

1x Torrential Tribute

Yeah, there are the RFtDD (Return from the Different Dimension for anyone who doesn't know) builds, the Trap Hole/Nobleman of Extermination builds, plus some others. But in this article we'll be focusing on two ideas: 1 set up by the legendary Jae Kim, and the other by Ng Leung, of the 2003 World Championships. The first not everyone has seen:

3x Trap Dustshoot

2-3x Mind Crush

2x Sakuretsu Armor

1x Call of the Haunted

1x Torrential Tribute

Yeah, 9-10 traps seems like a lot, but why? Royal Decree is on the decline, Jinzo is starting to see play again...but then again, we have Dark Hole/Smashing Ground/Newdoria/Exiled Force/D.D Assailant/D.D. Warrior Lady/ D.D. Warrior/Bazoo/every Monarch/just about anything else you feel like listing. The point is that we can use a bit more Trap slots because there's not as many cards to negate them. But that's beside the point.

We're going to be focusing on the main part of this Trap line-up, Trap Dustshoot/Mind Crush.

Let's see what they both say first:

Trap Dustshoot

Trap-Normal

You can only activate this card when your opponent has 4 or more cards in their hand. Look at your opponent's hand, then select 1 Monster Card and return it to its owner's Deck. Then shuffle the Deck.

A little situational, but a good opening Trap card.

Mind Crush

Trap-Normal

Declare 1 card name. If your opponent has a declared card(s) in his/her hand, discard all of the declared card(s) to the Graveyard. Otherwise, you randomly discard 1 card from your hand.

Hmm...a little too risky, right?

Wrong. Put them together and BAM! You have a -2 advantage for your opponent. But let's take a look deeper, shall we? Trap Dustshoot is a great opener because a) with 3 or them you're bound to get 1 in your opening hand or in the next few turns, and b) like The Eye of Truth (talked about in a previous article by me), it lets you see your opponent's hand. With Hand Advantage being as huge as it is today, 4 cards in the hand is no problem, and with all the great monsters out there, it won't be hard to choose.

Mind Crush, on the other hand, is a little more situational, but it is still a great Trap to have around. While you don't get to see your opponent's hand, if you know what's in it, it's great. Reinforcement of the Army? Sangan? Compulsory Evacuation Device? All cards that get a Monster to your opponent's hand, and Mind Crush works like a charm against each of them. Same with Trap Dustshoot: you see their hand, now you discard another card with Mind Crush.

Plus, this Trap line-up is another unexpected wake-up call for your opponent. Now, instead of merely keeping cards in his/her hand and playing very conservatively, they now have to accomodate for two new Trap Cards that can be sprung on them, resulting (usually) in either rushed plays, massive S/T sets, or a reliance on Side-decking during a Match in order to deal with it.

Now then, onto the Ng Leung Trap line-up (modified for Advanced):

3x Drop Off

1x Torrential Tribute

1x Call of the Haunted

3x Sakuretsu Armor

8 Traps, OK number in my opinion. But the oddity here is Drop Off, which is a 141 because technically the card that is "Dropped Off" goes to the hand before going to the Graveyard, which can present some problems. However, it's up-sides are more numerous than it's down-sides:

pros:

-1 for your opponent

No draw

Unexpected

cons:

Non-chainable (but then again, what Trap in the standard line-up is?)

Non-effective against Quick-Play Magic Cards

-1 for you

So, it's a 141 technically because both you and your opponent lose a card. Obviously the pros outweigh the cons because really, we only use like 2 Quick-Play Magic Cards: MST and Scapegoat. Some people use Magical Dimension, but whatever. Your opponent doesn't get their draw, which sucks. Couple this with a few Don Zaloogs and you're riding the train to Hand Controlville. Watch out for Dark World, though ;)

Anyway, there are plenty of other Trap line-ups that I didn't mention, but these are the ones that you see most often. By far my favorite Trap line-up is Jae Kim's Trap Dustshoot/Mind Crush, because you're opponent isn't expecting it. But that's just me.

If you want to e-mail me with a tip or anything else, my e-mail is Anteaus44@aol.com.

Cheers,

Anteaus