It’s a (hand) Trap!

October 15, 2012

by Paul Clarke

What’s up guys? I’m sure a lot of you are preparing for upcoming regional tournaments as well as the YCS in Providence, Rhode Island. One of the most important factors to keep in mind when building your deck is to minimize the amount of “dead” cards in your deck. In my opinion, Maxx “C” seems to fit in that "dead" spot pretty perfectly right now. In a format such as this one, where there are 3 Mystical Space Typhoon, 1 Heavy Storm, and possibly even more spell and trap removal cards in each and every deck, Trap cards aren’t the most reliable answers to threats. Effect Veiler and Maxx “C” are great at handling these threats when you don’t have the trap cards to back you up. Hand traps will remain prevalent for as long as the game exists, but the amount needed will always change. Right now I believe Effect Veiler outclasses Maxx “C” in a variety of ways and I would like to prove why with this article.

Sure, sure, sure, Maxx “c” is the bane of Wind-Ups existence, but what is it aside from that? Well, lets take a look at some of the top decks of the format in order to see which hand trap would have a bigger impact in each matchup.

#1 Wind-Up ( Maxx “C” Yes – Effect Veiler Yes)
Against Wind-Up, both Maxx “C” and Effect Veiler are put to great use. A timely Effect Veiler can stop them just as well as Maxx “C.” Without any hand traps in hand, it may be difficult to stop your opponent from amassing a field of over 8,000 damage.

#2 Geargia (Maxx “C” No – Effect Veiler Yes)
Geargia is a deck that is very similar to Wind-Up. The only real difference is that Geargia doesn’t really have any cards that Maxx “C” can chain to in order to net some advantage. Sure you can chain it to an MKII or a Geargiarsenal, but they will simply get a Geargiarmor and flip it down. Effect Veiler, on the other hand, can stop just about every card in the Geargia deck.

#3 HERO (Maxx “C” No – Effect Veiler No)
Effect Veiler can only really stop Stratos, a card which Hero can easily pick up on turn one, so unless you have Veiler turn one, it looks like it will sit in your and for the rest of the duel… dead. Maxx “C” is only going to hit Miracle Fusion and Monster Reborn… in order to just one-for-one. Don’t bank on either of these cards against Heros. They are pretty terrible in that match-up.

#4 Chaos Dragon (Maxx “C” No – Effect Veiler Yes)
Hand traps aren’t that bad versus Chaos Dragons, but they aren’t that good either. Maxx “C” can only hit Tour Guide from the Underworld or Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon’s effect. I don’t think that it is very good versus Chaos Dragons, but Effect Veiler is all right versus it. Chaos Dragons do a solid job of making sure that annoying backrow cards like Torrential Tribute and Bottomless Trap Hole don’t get their full value, thanks to the Lightsworn cards, Lyla and Ryko. What Effect Veiler can do is make sure that those Lylas and Rykos don’t destroy your monster removal. This means you can save that removal for their big dragons! You can also use veiler versus Tour Guide, Red Eyes Darkness Metal, Dark Armed Dragon, and some XYZ monsters.

#5 Dark World (Maxx “C” Yes – Effect Veiler No)
Against Dark World, Effect Veiler is pretty useless. Effect Veiler is stuck in the same predicament is in versus Hero. All you can really hit with it is Tour Guide. Maxx “C” on the other hand is pretty good versus Dark World. When your opponent summons a Dark World, you can use Maxx “C,” putting them into a situation where they are stuck with a small Darkworld Monster on the field, or they can special summon Grapha and let you draw a card. You can also use Maxx “C” against cards like Monster Reborn, Tour Guide, Beiige, Sillva, and Goldd. Overall, Maxx “C” is solid versus Dark World.

#6 Inzektor (Maxx “C” Yes – Effect Veiler Yes)
Effect Veiler is obviously great versus Inzektors. It stops them from both destroying with Hornet and getting their Centipede/Dragonfly effect. I know a lot of players used to say Maxx "C" was terrible versus Inzektors, but in actuality, it isn't the worst. In any build that runs Inzektor Sword - Zektkaliber, you can really get them with Maxx "C" when they destory their own Sword with Hornet, in order to get 2 special summons.

#7 Rabbit (Maxx "C" Yes - Effect Veiler Yes)
It is awesome when you can chain Maxx "C" to a Rescue Rabbit effect or a Leviair that is special summoning Rescue Rabbit, but other than that, Maxx "C" isn't going to do too much when staring down at a Laggia or Dolkka. I would rather have a direct form of removal for those big Dragons than have these hand traps and that is why I side these out versus this match-up. Effect Veiler can at least stop their Laggia, Rabbit, or Tour Guide for a turn, but they will without a doubt have removal to keep those monsters on the field for another turn, so Effect Veiler also doesn't do too much in this match-up. Don't get me wrong, both of these cards are soemwhat needed in this match-up, but they also aren't very good when your opponent has already made an Evolzar. I guess the best way to put it is.. you have to be lucky and open these hand traps!e

#8 Agent (Maxx "C" No - Effect Veiler Yes)
Maxx "C" isn't the worst card in the world against this deck. All you are really going to hit with it is The Agent of Creation - Venus, but if your opponent keeps paying, you can get some serious card draw going off Maxx "C." Other than that, it doesn't really do too much, so I don't really like it in this match-up. Effect Veiler, on the other hand can stop a good amount of cards. You can stop, The Agent of Mystery - Earth, The Agent of Creation - Venus, Master Hyperion, Tour Guide from the Underworld, Archlord Kristya, and possibly even some other monsters if they run them. If your opponent has a Kristya and you have a hand of Effect Veiler + Gorz, you could possibly Veiler their Kristya and drop Gorz if they have the audacity to attack!

Overall that is 4 decks where Maxx "C" is solid and 6 where Effect Veiler is solid. I think you should keep that number in mind when building your deck. If you want to run 3 hand traps, maybe 2 Effect Veiler 1 Maxx "C" is the way to go. If you want to run 2 hand traps, maybe you should just run 2 Veiler. Don't forget that there is a side deck! I strongly suggest you side some Maxx "C"s in order to combat Wind-Up and Effect Veilers in order to combat Geargia if you aren't main decking enough to handle those decks. I hope this article helped you figure out your hand trap ratio for the next couple of weeks. Until next time, play hard or go home!