It were good when special summoning monster is still something that considered hard to do. But with a lot of deck revolves around special summon nowadays, it's become a relic of old times
There's another reason Trap Monsters failed, but has since been rectified. They used to occupy BOTH a monster zone AND an S/T zone simultaneously, which greatly limited what you could do since you only had 6 card zones, effectively - and that's counting the Field Spell Zone, which you weren't using.
Yes, before the intro of link monster(or maybe the pendulum), the trap monster that says "this is still a trap card" had to occupy 2 spaces because they were by both a monster and a trap.
@@OneOfTheLoveless yep I believe in the ocg it was part of the april master rule revisions and at the start of this year confirmed that it also applied to the TCG
@@thatman666 that restriction still applies, fun fact. They have not made a blanket rule change for Unions for that; older union monsters without a recent reprint are still subject to that restriction due to it being in their card text.
The reason why Tiki Curse and Tiki Soul specifically failed is because their monster effects ONLY happen when ANOTHER trap monster (the sort that's both monster AND trap) battles. Curse is a post battle pop, and Soul let's you reset your trap monster if it would be destroyed - keep in mind that you cannot activate a trap card the same turn it's set. So you couldn't chump block very well with Curse, and Soul's defense doesn't matter unless you're specifically running your own monsters into your opponent's bigger monsters to trigger Curse's effect.
Yeah, one CAN see what they were thinking when they made the Tikis, but they messed up when translating the thoughts into real cards. Maybe they thought they were too powerful if they worked as they thought, so they tried nerfing them and went completely overboard? We'll never know, but the Tikis are a big case of "What Could Have Been"...
@@reikolupus136 Yeah, in a trap monster deck, you only ran Tiki Soul because it was copies 4 through 6 of "Level 4 Xyz/Synchro material." Tiki Soul was often dropped for Imperial Custom; further damning Soul was when Quantum Cat and Swamp Mirrorer we're made. Note: Tiki Soul was used over Embodiment of Apophis because 1800 DEF was better than 1600 ATK, and Soul's effect could technically come up.
NO, the Tikis were meant to be used in decks with a LOT more trap monsters. Their effects apply to all trap monsters on the field except themselves. So, if you have two of the same tiki on the field, then they affect each other. As well as giving effects to OTHER trap monsters that may have effects of their own.
@@jerfuhrer2581 Yeah, the problem with that design was it simply doesn't work as intended. If you have both Curse and Soul on the field, the opponent can simply attack Curse first to not worry about it's destruction effect and then kill Soul. Curse will be able to return the following turn, but having a 2 cards combo that everything it does is simply return one of those monsters to your field the next turn when destroyed by battle is not exactly good... One could argue that if you have multiple of each Tiki on the field it gets more complicated... But if you need to have multiple copies of 2 unsearchable cards on the field to get a pseudo-loop that gets ruined by a single removal effects, then there are A LOT of problems with your strategy. What the Tikis should have done is simple: Include themselves. If Soul would be destroyed (Or any other Trap Monster), it Sets itself back. If Curse battles, at the attack declaration it activates it's effect so at the end of the damage step the monster that battled it (Or any other Trap Monster) is destroyed (At the end of the Damage Step to not make it TOO good). And even like this they wouldn't have been a particularly strong strategy at the time they were released. But at least they would do what they are supposed to do.
I never gave much thought to this but my favorite Archetypes, Phantom Knights, Traptrix and Paleozoic are all about trap cards, even though I'm not particularly a fan of Trap cards. I just think they have the most creative and fun card designs.
Small correction. Paleozoic Cambroraster doesn't need to send one of YOUR cards in order to set a paleo from deck. You can use it as non-destruction set spell/trap removal of one of your opponents cards and even if they chain the card to your effect the card will be sent to the grave by the paleo effect because cards aren't sent to the grave until the whole chain resolves.
As of present, trap monsters are doing well in anti-spell event. They have a lot of use when you don’t have spell cards to help you special summon monsters out.
Yeah, they're not the best, arguably not even good, but splash in something like Imperial Custom which very hilariously says that continuous traps (except itself) can't be destroyed by battle, and you'll find out really quickly how few people actually read.
The easiest fix is to errata Temple of the Kings again to remove the Once per turn limitation and instead replace it with a restriction of only working for continuous traps and locking the player out of summoning monster cards the turn it's used. It might be difficult to remember, but this card was originally intended for the Statue series of trap monsters, and was used by Odion like this in the original anime.
No mention of metal reflect slime? Well i guess its more of an ocg thing but there s almost always that one guy who manage to top at least once each format with a stun deck making use of barrier statue of the torrent, necrovalley and god slime. Also can't wait for the new retrain version of apophis, it did see a lot of play in ocg too before tearlament prove to be to much to handle for even eldlich.
My favorite combo with Metal Reflect Slime, The Calculator. A monster that gains 300 attack for each level on your field and you summon a level ten monster.
The strenght of trap monsters was that during pattern period(abusing segoc to go around monster negates) you could abuse imperial custom and all the draw engines(reckless greed, accumulated fortune, duality, demise, into the void, planter was a brick on turn 1, but gold later)(basically half my deck was a draw engine) and sinergized well with necrovalley and cat of ill omen. But the main problem was that you had no real plays turn 1 and because all the space you needed for trap monsters or the spells you could not activate and otherwise had to discard in end, becoming pattern interruptions, you had no real space for negates and floodgates(the main strenght of eldlich, otherwise his trap monster themselves are crap compared to the golden lord itself). But during that period were around both evenly and twister, and later also reboot and storm.
Pattern itself is the best trap monster, probably either azurune or the new apophis being the second, but they are worthless in eldlich. With pattern you would maybe have 1/2 pop more but you can accomplish more with negates, floodgates, or generic traps. Beside pattern alone is worthless. Azurune may be a little bit useful but she negates only special summons, not effects that special summons, making the card not much stronger than pattern. Instead the new apophis is a really good card that alone is not much but can negates multiple cards and sinergize well with floodgates.
Statue of anguish is the most versatile generic trap monster, IMHO. -You get a level 7 (good for a XYZ into big eye). -if you summon another trap monster, the statue becomes immune to card effects. -if you summon another trap monster after the statue, the statue pops a card on the field. It doesn't do much, because it can still be destroyed by monster effects. But it's better than a quantum cat or something really almost useless.
Idk chief, Paleozoics were meta for years in the mid 2010's and it was one of the few decks that didn't really get affected by Master Rule 4 at the time and they got Mistar Boy pretty early in the Link era too.
@@Hclody95 Honestly it's kinda funny how every tier 0 format has a story about some random hillbilly bringing a random deck no one else knows to a huge tournament and absolutely destroys everybody then leaves .
@@andrejv.2834 Well for zoo it makes sense Paleo removal revolves around setting or banishing wich get around the floating effects of zoodiacs and drident can only destroy face ups and since paleos are traps they can't be destroyed before they're activated and since they're unaffected by monsters once they're on board they get around both drident and whiptail. The only thing you could really do is negate canadia with ramram but most likely they can just chain block it with another paleo .
@@imanalligator9694 also paleo had non destruction removal to deal with the normal summon which plays around all the zoo mirror cards like my body or pianissimo
Metal Reflect Slime and Zoma the Spirit were my favorites back then. Slime for good defense and a great target for my Metamorphisis, and Zoma for free damage should they destroy it by battle.
I can see them working if their was some special ruling on them. Something that prevents backrow removal on them after their activation. Where if a card like MTS targets a set “Golden Land”, you can chain it to that card to summon it and making be treat as a monster, causing a mistarget. I feel like that provide a slight competitive edge in removal heavy game.
normal trap monsters like phantom knight won't be destroyed when they targeted by mst and you summon it because "this card is NOT treated as a trap" however continuous trap monsters like tiki curse will still be destroyed when they targeted by mst even if you summon it Because "this card is also still a trap"
That's part of their whole thing really, the ones that are still treated as traps while they're monsters have all the properties of both card types, but that also leaves them with all the vulnerabilities of both. It's like an artifact creature in MTG, they're great for artifact heavy decks/ strategies as a way to have creatures without compromising the amount of artifacts you're playing, but they can be dealt with by both creature removal and artifact removal, so the amount of ways to deal with them goes way up. Trap monsters are extra vulnerable to removal but them still counting as traps can conditionally be very valuable, as seen with Eldlich being able to use face-up "golden lands" monsters, sacs for Magic Planter, Uria memeing, turning Imperial Custom into battle protection etc. While Paleo's good partly for not being traps while they're monsters, they do lose those sorts of synergies/ funny combinations as a result. Both are good in their own ways, and while trap monsters do suffer a little in exchange for their unique properties they at least aren't fundamentally flawed as a mechanic like Gemini, they just mostly don't have the effects needed to see relevance.
@@snowboundwhale6860 What I mean is given the Normal and Continuous Trap the same luxury. “Normal” require a certain trigger, but are treated as monster instead of trap “Continuous” can be activated as normal, but treat as both a Trap and Monster making it extra vulnerable. I propose giving “Continuous” trap same perks as “Normal” Trap. That way they can counter certain field wipes like “Harpie Feather Duster” or “Raigeki”. This way the card can switch card weaknesses on a dim. Otherwise their as fragile as Equip Spell.
@@vxicepickxv Be fair, they prefer be spent to the GY as part of a search cycle. “Golden Land” searches “Eldixir“ that able to search them out. That part of their GY effect. Even card part of a crappy mechanic broken effect (like Equip Spells, Xyz, Etc) doesn’t solve the problem, only highlights it. I’m talking about the mechanics itself.
Would like to see a video on "Taking control of your opponent's monsters" SInce I play Graydles, The deck have a pretty neat effect but now that some boss monsters have protections over cards and the whole Banish from GY effect some cards have, I would have to play Kaijus and Iron wall alongside other cards that can help my Graydles play through (Not forgetting other "Take control of Opponent's monsters" cards that have seen wide spread plays)
When I got back into yu-gi-oh I thought "Shapesister" was an amazing card since it allows synchro plays in any deck. Still had fun with it in Duel links tho.
got a royal shapesister and that pretty much forced my hand at creating like 30 different trap monster decks lol the best of them end with 4 boss monsters that burn :) its cheese that got me to diamond in MD, but its not fun considering how many times people just ff instead of trying to play through
I think some discussion of the Artifact monsters would have been worthwhile. While they weren't officially trap monsters, they did act a lot like them. And they punished backrow hate.
Unrelated, but I think Yugioh has the best monster design of all the popular TCGs. I think it's easy to take that for granted, but I've come to appreciate it more over the years
I mean yugioh does allow all sort of cards to get to the game, from dessert waifus to eldritch horrors. Unlike pokemon for example which cant do much with. Well pokemon
I've recently been saved in a pretty difficult deck build in which we basically pulled a number of cards we had to include in the deck out of a hat and had to try to make them work together somehow. Shaddoll Core was just so perfect as it summons itself as a level 9 spellcaster.
How about a new blanket support for trap monsters? _It’s A Trap!_ Counter Trap _When you opponent would remove any number of cards from your field by battle or card effect, you can activate each of the following effects for each type of card that would be removed from the field for any number of those cards removed from the field._ Monster: Activate and special summon a Trap card that can special summon itself as a normal monster from your hand, deck or GY. Spell: Add a trap card to your hand from your field or GY. Trap: You can set facedown a trap card from your hand, deck or GY.
I love using Trap Monsters and play decks like these in both DL and MD, it's slow and can be rid of easily but sometimes it also can throw opponent off from the unexpected. Golden Land Guardian's level is awkward in Eldlich deck, sure, but being lv8 can turn 2 of itself or with other lv8 like Balerdroch into Zombie Vampire.
Top 10 "Break Slammers", cards that prevent or punish over-extension itself. Chain Energy, Summon Breaker/Limit, similar such. Top 10 cards that are Worth Waiting for. (I. E., Slow Cards Only, with Longer Worthwhile Waits at least earning some points toward higher rankings) Top 10 Cards that require your Opponent to do something to matter. Top 10 Cards That Earn Their Oppressive Restrictions. Top 10 "Rubber Band" Cards, cards that get better the more you're losing/worse the more you're winning. Top 10 Backup Wincons (can try and fall back onto it if your main wincon becomes Indisputeably Impossible)
I was really confused when I saw this popping on my notifications given precisely how Eldlich and Paleozoic have seen so much competitive play and success, but after watching the video, I guess I have to agree that historically this kind of cards tended to be pretty bad. In that sense, the case of Trap Monsters is interesting as one could argue it's one of those failed mechanics that was eventually fixed.
Calling them a failed mechanic is a bit harsh don't you think? Trap monsters have seen success both as the central strategy of some decks and as a complementary splash in others.
15:15 Well excuse me Mr. Logs Pantheism doesn't work like that. Pantheism let's you draw 2 by discarding another "Monarch" Spell/Trap, and then you can banish it to reveal 3 "Monarch" Spell/Traps with your opponent choosing one to add to your hand, so if you want to use Pantheism to it's full Power, you can't use it with Prime. With best regards your friendly Monarch-Enjoyer.
A good use I recently discovered for Guardian of the Golden Land is to use in a Zombie World Eldlich deck. It's an easy lvl 8, which allows you to go into The Zombie Vampire when paired with a monster you yoink from the opponent's graveyard, which is easy in a ZW deck. You can also use Balerdroch as another material, which is easy enough to summon and if you have ZW (or any field spell), it will summon itself back during the next Standby anyways so you're not missing out on anything. It's a bit clunky, but ZW Eldlich is having a hard time in the current format anyways.
@@maxcrss2845 They have effects similar to other backrow staples (EG, Canadia flips face down) that can be activated before you summon it as a monster. Versus something like Apophis or Tiki soul, which you set face down before it becomes a monster, and has no base trap effect.
I'm scratching my head as to why this is a "failed mechanic" when they worked well with Eldlich. Is it because early trap monsters like Metal Reflect Slime (from Battle Pack: Epic Dawn I think and it has no effect other than being a monster) or Krystal Avatar (you can't use it during your opponent's main phase 1 like the quick play spell Shrink) aren't all that great? In my opinion if one of a mechanics' first examples sees play in a single archetype, it isn't failed even if it wasn't literally the first one.
Outside of the 2 eldlich ones, paleo and brigandine they were never really good, and even then, eldlich was never the main gameplan of an eldlich deck The mechanic isn't really a failure, but it's still not good
@@andrejv.2834 Even so I feel this should not be considered a failure. It has some examples of bad cards but... honestly most large archetypes have some inside that aren't good. I feel like this would better fit under the unknown side even better than failed mechanics even though they are known. Although honestly unknown side has a lot of things that probably are known just because some of them were in the anime. So unknown side wouldn't be a bad fit at all.
I'll never understand why trap monsters weren't printed as monster cards with the trap border colouring. Having to sift through a paragraph of text and parse the level, stats, and effect of the monster from a sentence is incredibly frustrating.
Because they want people to just pickup and play the game e without learning a bunch of keywords. Which is why their card texts are so bloated. What is kind of ironic tho is that you still have to read a lot of special rulings for situations in the game, so the pickup and play was never an option later.
@@OneOfTheLoveless While Magic The Gathering is not perfect I find it to be far better when it comes to card text and rulings than Yugioh is. It's the reason why I'm slowly beginning to prefer Magic over Yugioh.
I'm disappointed that you're not mentioning resonance device spell card to make things like golden land same level or temple of the kings continous spell to make all traps live instantly, and no mention of statute of anguish trap monster to make them all destroy a card
Funny thing is, as a thought experiment I tried to figure out how Odion legacy support would look and had been thinking about trap monsters and why nobody ever plays them. My ultimate conclusion was that any Odion support worth a damn would probably wind up accidentally supporting Eldlitch, so I stopped the thought experiment. For reasons that I'm sure do not need elaborating upon.
@@mohammedsarker5756 failed for top tier competitive play I guess maybe, but they are certainly still a very good deck you can use outside major tournaments. Just because a deck doesn't top events doesn't mean it's a shitty or failed deck. There's a world outside the top 10 you know
Love me some « failed mechanics » tired of seeing everyone playing the same deck because its « meta » I take more fun playing buster blader or god deck than be the 1000th guy playing another branded fusion or whatever top the ladder atm
I’d like to see if you could have a series that talked about competitive decks/engines from each era and how they worked. Another “history of the game” type series!
why didn't you mention, Statue of Anguish Pattern, The Trap monster boss monster. Angel Statue - Azurune, is better zoma. Shapesister is a tuner. Apophis the Swamp Deity, negates monster effects. Qardan the Great Sage, can summon from the turn you set them. Pharaonic Advent, gains attack points like Uria, Lord of Searing Flames, but cost less to summon and is a searcher.
You should talk about "Cyber" card, It's konami early attempt to make big archetype consists sub-archetype. But they drop it and you can look at Cyber Eternal and Cyber ogre as their remnant.
I would love to see a series of videos ranking the best XYZ monsters of each rank. i.e. Top 10 Rank 5 Xyz monsters It would be interesting to learn about a variety of different Xyzs monsters and the lists would also be helpful for filling in those last few extra deck slots
13:12 "...and because they are unaffected by monster effects, the only way you can out paleozoic monsters is by battle..." Raigeki, Lightning storm, Torrential Tribute,... Now that is a wrong statement if I ever heard one haha
They just need a field spell that would make them immediately useful, or protect them from effect destruction. Sure Quantum Cat probably won’t be seeing play any time soon (unless it’s as a Rank 4 extender), but it would be the one thing that coils potentially push them into rogue status.
I had an idea last failed video regarding MetalMorph to make it a trap monster, like a mechanical Marvel Symbiote _Living MetalMorph_ Normal Trap Card _This cards name is treated as “MetalMorph” while on the field or in the GY. Once per turn, you can Target 1 face-up monster on the field; equip this card to that target. It gains 500 ATK/DEF, and is also treated as a Machine monster. If it attacks or is attacked, it gains ATK/DEF equal to half the ATK of the attack target/attacking monster, during damage calculation only. If the monster this card is equipped to is equipped or attached to another monster, you can equip/attach this card to that monster. If the monster this card is equipped to leaves the field, you can special summon this card as a normal monster (Machine/EARTH/Level 1/ATK 500/DEF 500)._
The Prime Monarch has an amazing on field effect since you mill alot of spells to use the effects of both the Heavenly Monarch and the Underworld Monarch. It allows you to keep using their amazing effects as well as refill your hand. The Underworld Monarch can also add itself back into your hand from the GY to summon him again, but you need to discard a Monarch Spell or Trap, which in turn can either enable the GY Effects of your Spells/Trap or for fodder for the on field effect of The Prime Monarch to not run out of steam and so on. Its amazing for the way you play the Light and Dark LvL 8 Monarchs is all i am saying. In the best case you want one in the GY and one on field, even tho the GY has priority.
I am not sure this series name is accurate really. Maybe “Never-Meta Mechanics” because it seems kind of dismissive of experimental mechanics to label them as “failed”
As for how MtG does this mechanic better, let's take a look at the noncreature cards that animate themselves. Most notably, manlands, lands that can turn into creatures. Let's take a look at Mishra's Factory. Not only the card is a VERY efficient body on the field (a 1-mana 2/2 is rare to come by), but it can easily avoid sorcery-speed removals as it stops being a creature at the end of the turn. And land removals aren't common in Magic: the Gathering. The fact you can play multiple makes it a lot better. Also, the temporary clause isn't that much of a downside. There's also Mutavault, which trades the pump effect for tribal synergies that can hit really hard, as well as Inkmoth Nexus, which has infect that can make the opponent lose if it deals at least 10 damage to them as well as flying that makes it efficiently evasive. Let's not forget the time Faceless Haven was soft-banned in future standard for making a busted combo with The Book of Exalted Deeds for making the controller unloseable. So, the way to fix Trap Monsters is to make them faster to special summon and set up on the field. I'd bet a card designed to turbo-out trap monsters and synergize with them would be very beneficial.
Long, loooong comment incoming in defense of Trap Monsters... I wouldn’t say Trap Monsters were a failed mechanic like Toons or anything. CONSISTENTLY top tier? Only a few times, but that’s a few times more than lots of other things in this game. Trap Monsters ABSOLUTELY have had their times to shine, and on MULTIPLE occasions. You even said it yourself on one of them. The Paleozoic archetype was good enough to compete with Zoodiac at near full power (after Broadbull was banned)... and, as an additional note? Paleozoic did it right... and was the first proper Trap Monster archetype in the history of this game. Paleo probably IS the best Trap Monster archetype we’ve ever had (and, potentially, ever will have), but it’s one hell of a deck! I still vividly remember a feature match some years ago where a top level duelist, playing near-full power Zoodiac, got 2-0’d by some dude playing the ABSOLUTE most GALAXY BRAINED 55 card Paleozoic deck. He played Mask Of Restrict, A Cat Of Ill Omen, ONE COPY of Reckless Greed, Switcheroroo, XYZ Universe (A trap to break Zoodiac fields), and a Full Force Virus (WITHOUT ANYTHING TO TRIBUTE TO ACTIVATE IT), and he played ALL OF THIS in the MAIN DECK, and STILL beat Zoodiac, WITH Ratpier AND Drident, 2-0. Paleozoic is just SUCH a weird, bizarre, unique and funny, yet, POWERFUL little archetype/engine, that it ALLOWS for such silly creativity and tomfoolery in deck building and tech choices. Off the top of my head? Not many decks in this game’s history have been able to replicate their magic, aside from Spright and Dragon Rulers. (If anyone wants to see that crazy 55 card Paleozoic decklist, just look up “Galaxy brained Paleozoic deck” on RUclips. Farfa uploaded it several years ago). Other Trap Monster decks? Eldlich honestly would’ve been a Tier 1 Deck in the TCG if we didn’t have all top level events shut down in 2020 due to the obvious pandemic problems we’ve had. It might even have been a Tier 0.5 format with Eldlich sharing top spots with Adamancipator and nothing else. With that having passed, though? Eldlich got their time to shine in Master Duel. The game’s unique best of 1 format allowed Eldlich to take easy and quick victories, without the fear of their opponent side decking backrow removal in games 2 and 3. It was consistent enough to cause Conquistador to be limited (along with semi-limiting or banning a myriad of continuous Trap floodgates they also played). Still, though, Conquistador is a TRAP MONSTER, who had to be LIMITED, in an OFFICIAL Yugioh format, made by KONAMI. It isn’t TCG, but again, Eldlich didn’t really get its fair chance to shine in TCG, with the pandemic happening. Master Duel is still a format that Konami is taking very seriously, and just like Speed Duels’ unique rules causing the need to limit Zoma The Spirit, Master Duel’s best of 1 format necessitated nerfing Eldlich’s most powerful Trap monster. And hey, even if Paleozoic and Eldlich are just two measly decks that played Trap Monsters and had some levels of success? That’s still two whole Trap Monster-based strategies, and they were both top tier. That’s a lot better than many other mechanics, card types, or even archetypes have had, and there’s still other Trap Monsters who have shown to be serious threats. Zoma The Spirit being powerful enough in Speed Duels to get limited, early Duel Links having a period where Embodiment Of Apophis was often played, Shade Brigandine being a vital piece for Rank 4 decks in every format he’s been in... oh, and yeah, Traptrix. They’re about to get their own Trap Monster; one that can be activated from the hand (like Shade Brigandine), is summoned as a Level 4 monster, is a Normal Trap with the word “Hole” in the name, and is also named “Traptrix”... meaning you’ll be able to search it with everything, summon Sera with it, summon Rafflesia with it, AND play it on turn 1. There’s a good chance they’re soon going to become Deck #3 on the list of “Meta relevant Decks that rely on Trap Monsters”. Yes. They’re niche, they’re gimmicky, but Trap Monster have always been slow and steady sleepers (Very fittingly. They’re trap cards, after all. You gotta wait a turn to use them!), waiting to get a coherent idea to break them... because for the longest time? We really only had a handful of them (Embodiment Of Apophis, Zoma The Spirit, Stronghold The Moving Fortress and Cyber Shield Gardna were literally, like, the only Trap Monsters this game had for YEARS). Even two things as simple as Tiki Soul and Tiki Curse were VERY appreciated, due to the utility and protection they provided for an otherwise undersupported mechanic. Not to mention? They have some fancy tricks! Magic Planter is a draw 2 effect in exchange for a Trap Monster (A Continuous Trap one, at least), Fake Trap is funny to pair with them for protection, and flipping up Imperial Customs can make playing against Trap Monster IMMENSELY frustrating. They’ve ALWAYS had some tricks, but they never had a FOCUS. Thennn we got Paleozoics. They truly WERE the first ever Trap Monster archetype we ever got. Prior to that? Again, we just had random Trap Monsters that didn’t really have much in common or did anything remotely consistent or coherent with each other. They were the first Deck to actually give Trap Monsters a chance to do something coherent, and did it with cards that always felt more like an experiment or an idea than an actual solidified mechanic. Even in the anime, with Joey fighting Odion’s field of Embodiment Of Apophises? They made the idea of a Trap Card being a Monster Card seem unheard of and weird. Trap Monsters have always been an experiment the card designers continuously dabbled in, bit by bit, until they actually buckled down and made the Paleozoic archetype... and they nailed it! A top tier Deck reliant on Trap Monsters! They had interruption, protection, consistency tools, floating effects, comeback potential, the flexibility to play other strategies with theirs OR work THEMSELVES into OTHER Decks, and a coherent goal! It was (and still is!) a fun archetype with lots of silly tricks it can pull off... it just had the unfortunate timing of being released at a time when Zoodiacs, arguably the best archetype ever made, was supremely dominant. The next Trap Monster archetype, Phantom Knights? It did great as a resource loop and a rank 3/4 toolbox deck, but they sadly missed the Trap Monster part of the mark. They were fine to play, but they only really nailed Shade Brigandine, as the direction Phantom Knights ended up heading toward found they were good to play nothing more than Shade and Break Sword. Oh well. Come to Eldlich, though? They nailed it again... during the same year we had a pandemic and couldn’t play Yugioh... Although, when Master Duel rolled around? They VERY assertively showed their dominance and consistent field presence. Everybody HATED them, though, due to the game’s Best Of 1 rule making the Deck feel unbeatable or unfair. I’m pretty confident they’ll be nailing it with the new Traptrix Trap Monster we’re getting... though, I’m hoping they don’t fall into the same problems as Eldlich in feeling oppressive and unfun to play against. So is the power creep in Yugioh. I can’t really agree with a mechanic being “failed” when the initial attempts didn’t even try, the first legitimate attempt actually succeeded, and all subsequent “legitimate attempts” either did alright or ALSO succeeded. If you were to put together a 60 card “1 of everything” Deck, and fill it with nothing but Trap Cards who became Monsters? I do not think this game even HAS enough TODAY to fill all 60 slots. The mechanic isn’t failed. It’s just been experimental and lacks a sizeable card pool. Just give it some more options, and it’ll pick up steam! It’s already proven itself through Paleozoics and Eldlich. It’ll be capable of more with further support. :) Just don’t summon Jinzo on us. We’ll cry. 💀
Under this definition, despite having some decks that were top tier, wouldn't Pendulum also be a failed mechanic? The majority of Pendulum decks did not see competitive play, with only a handful of archetypes being successful, they didn't even really own the era they're from, and subsequent eras have really made it so that the vast majority of Pendulum decks cannot ever succeed, with a small handful of exceptions with workarounds.
Their only a select few trap monster cards that are actually decent. The Phantom Knights of Shade Brigandine is one that is good. It can be summoned on the first as long as you have no traps in the GY; it is level 4 the most versatile level.
Years ago I used a trap monster deck as a exodia stall deck, utilizing Imperial custom & skill drain to make a hard to destroy wall. Add Magic Planter for draw power. It would side deck with an offensive back up utilizing Uria Lord of Searing Flames.
Guardian of Golden Land is the weakest of the Lich-rich trap monsters, but it's not useless if you used in something besides Cancer-lich. I use a Guardian in my Zombie World deck that features Lich-rich and it gives me access to Rank 8 Xyz monsters along with Doomking. Granted, even when that deck is really working I hardly ever go into my Rank 8s.
Pantheism does not search when discarding a card, it draws 2. It also has a graveyard effect. which you do not want to banish it off of the prime monarch as its graveyard effect let's you search
Shoutouts to Shade Brig and Parallel Exceed for singlehandedly enabling Sera + a rank 4 on your first turn in Traptrix. Theoretically you could make 2, but you'd need a very specific 5 card hand and you'd end up with only the trap from Sera's effect set.
To be fair I use swamp mirrorer and quantum cat in a Simorgh deck since they have effects that pop when you use a specific element monster as tribute fodder, and these trap monsters can choose what type and attribute they are on summon.
also, if you use Fusion Parasite like me, you can turn swamp mirrorer and quantum cat into the other fusion material monster needed and BAM, you get a way to summon fusions outside of your type. I use it to get Dark Magician the Dragon Knight or my favorite card for trap monster decks, Blue Eyes Tyrant Dragon, which lets you set your traps (trap monsters in this case) directly on the field after a battle. I cant tell you how many people ff when i pull him out because they understand whats about to happen.
Embodiment of Apophis has been one of my staples in Duel Links. Been great at getting an extra monster for a comeback via getting an Xyz Monster out there.
I'd say that in this case it is more a powercrept than failed card mechanic. I still have very fond memories at the start of Xyz monsters being introduced to Duel Links of Rank 4/7 and Rank 6/7 trap monster decks and getting a quite frankly silly amount of success - especially in conjunction with Desperado Barrel Dragon of all things. (It was an Odion deck that also passively dealt 200 burn damage each time a trap was activated - so your opponent effectively started with about 3000 life points instead)
As a note: In conjunction with Light Sealing Mirror or Ally Of Justice Quarantine, the deck was very capable against pretty much all decks... except Rank 5/6/8 Levianeer Thunder Dragons. Almost always lost to those Thunder Dragons. >_>
I think the whole diatribe on Guardian of the Golden Land is missing the point of the card. Guardian isn't designed to stop plays -- Guardian is designed to stop attacks. There are tons of other cards in an Eldlich deck that can stop players from making plays (Skill Drain, Summon Limit, etc) but there's nothing in the generic floodgate batch that you'd play alongside Eldlich that affects the Battle Phase.
Not sure how to fell about this video, they're too many information that is missing. - they were good comeback tool in old yugioh (metal reflex is a wall that rivaled blue eye and can be used as a tribute the next turn) - traditional trap monster used to take a monster zone and a spell/trap zone - they have to worry about monster and back row removal. - he focus to must on Pseudo-trap monster: the one that lose the trap attributes and don't have too worry about MST. - ect. Maybe he didn't touch enough about the history I guess. (Ps I play a trap monster deck and he missed a lot of information😅)
A correction, really. Banishing Pantheism for Prime's effect is really something most players would do only as a last resort if they needed a monarch on field. Given Pantheism's graveyard effect to reveal 3 monarch spell/traps and have your opponent add one to your hand, usually you would use something like that to get a different spell, like stormforth or tenacity, and after using them banish THOSE from the graveyard to summon Prime.
Yeah that’s why I lost interest in all the newer yugioh. It’s all about 1 turn knocking out your opponent. Literally anything that makes you wait 1 turn is considered slow, in a turn based game 😂
Okay, I have an idea for Spell monster (Counterpart of Trap monster). If they just summon to the field it would be boring, so here it is the summary. They can be activated as Spell and summoned as monster. Meaning that they have 2 different effects. They are sort like Continuous Spell, which stays on the field, thus you can use MST to negate their Spell effects. Also, when you have exactly 2 Spells monsters as Spells, you can, once per turn, Special Summon any number of monsters from your Hand, with Level between the Levels of those 2 Spells monsters. (This mechanic is unique to them and not written on the cards).
"Traptrix isn't a combo deck."
Saw someone building up into a board of negates with Traptrix once... still weirds me out to this day...
TRAPTRIX ALL DAY, BABY!!!
@@uwu.dubu.dahyun as a fellow Jinzo player, i salute you friend!
Traptrix Sunavalon user: "wait, you just summon Sera, set trap, and pass?"
" and yes, you could do that, but why ? "
Was it just a rank 4 spam deck?
I used to think trap monsters were good becouse with them you can summon multiple monsters in one turn.
I used to use it for my Uria deck.
I mean that does make them good, but the inability to just Normal Summon them balances it out.
In old days and metal slime 3000 def yea. Now they are eh until they get more support
It were good when special summoning monster is still something that considered hard to do. But with a lot of deck revolves around special summon nowadays, it's become a relic of old times
Have you heard about our lord and savior extra deck summoning?
There's another reason Trap Monsters failed, but has since been rectified. They used to occupy BOTH a monster zone AND an S/T zone simultaneously, which greatly limited what you could do since you only had 6 card zones, effectively - and that's counting the Field Spell Zone, which you weren't using.
They rectified that??
Yes, before the intro of link monster(or maybe the pendulum), the trap monster that says "this is still a trap card" had to occupy 2 spaces because they were by both a monster and a trap.
@@OneOfTheLoveless yep I believe in the ocg it was part of the april master rule revisions and at the start of this year confirmed that it also applied to the TCG
Similar to how monsters used to only have 1 Union monster equipped at a time. ABC would’ve been bad if that restriction still applied.
@@thatman666 that restriction still applies, fun fact. They have not made a blanket rule change for Unions for that; older union monsters without a recent reprint are still subject to that restriction due to it being in their card text.
The reason why Tiki Curse and Tiki Soul specifically failed is because their monster effects ONLY happen when ANOTHER trap monster (the sort that's both monster AND trap) battles. Curse is a post battle pop, and Soul let's you reset your trap monster if it would be destroyed - keep in mind that you cannot activate a trap card the same turn it's set. So you couldn't chump block very well with Curse, and Soul's defense doesn't matter unless you're specifically running your own monsters into your opponent's bigger monsters to trigger Curse's effect.
Yeah, one CAN see what they were thinking when they made the Tikis, but they messed up when translating the thoughts into real cards.
Maybe they thought they were too powerful if they worked as they thought, so they tried nerfing them and went completely overboard?
We'll never know, but the Tikis are a big case of "What Could Have Been"...
@@reikolupus136 Yeah, in a trap monster deck, you only ran Tiki Soul because it was copies 4 through 6 of "Level 4 Xyz/Synchro material." Tiki Soul was often dropped for Imperial Custom; further damning Soul was when Quantum Cat and Swamp Mirrorer we're made.
Note: Tiki Soul was used over Embodiment of Apophis because 1800 DEF was better than 1600 ATK, and Soul's effect could technically come up.
NO, the Tikis were meant to be used in decks with a LOT more trap monsters. Their effects apply to all trap monsters on the field except themselves. So, if you have two of the same tiki on the field, then they affect each other. As well as giving effects to OTHER trap monsters that may have effects of their own.
@@jerfuhrer2581 Yeah, the problem with that design was it simply doesn't work as intended.
If you have both Curse and Soul on the field, the opponent can simply attack Curse first to not worry about it's destruction effect and then kill Soul.
Curse will be able to return the following turn, but having a 2 cards combo that everything it does is simply return one of those monsters to your field the next turn when destroyed by battle is not exactly good...
One could argue that if you have multiple of each Tiki on the field it gets more complicated... But if you need to have multiple copies of 2 unsearchable cards on the field to get a pseudo-loop that gets ruined by a single removal effects, then there are A LOT of problems with your strategy.
What the Tikis should have done is simple: Include themselves.
If Soul would be destroyed (Or any other Trap Monster), it Sets itself back.
If Curse battles, at the attack declaration it activates it's effect so at the end of the damage step the monster that battled it (Or any other Trap Monster) is destroyed (At the end of the Damage Step to not make it TOO good).
And even like this they wouldn't have been a particularly strong strategy at the time they were released. But at least they would do what they are supposed to do.
You can in the same turn with temple of the kings.
I never gave much thought to this but my favorite Archetypes, Phantom Knights, Traptrix and Paleozoic are all about trap cards, even though I'm not particularly a fan of Trap cards.
I just think they have the most creative and fun card designs.
Well they weren't exactly a failed mechanic, Slime was used for defense in past and also in old train decks thanks to it's level
Also paleos and eldlich rely on trap monsters as well
That's true. But did they get top spots in national tournaments? I would guess so.
@@jerfuhrer2581 paleofrogs win a few tournaments. Though that's more to do with
Toad
@@DarkSymphony777 whether it's because of the toads or not, palezoics are still part of it
@@jerfuhrer2581 true
Trap monsters are super fascinating. Also, I died a little inside every time you pronounced it "bridge-andine".
Small correction. Paleozoic Cambroraster doesn't need to send one of YOUR cards in order to set a paleo from deck. You can use it as non-destruction set spell/trap removal of one of your opponents cards and even if they chain the card to your effect the card will be sent to the grave by the paleo effect because cards aren't sent to the grave until the whole chain resolves.
As of present, trap monsters are doing well in anti-spell event. They have a lot of use when you don’t have spell cards to help you special summon monsters out.
They're doing well for me during this master duel event.
Yeah, they're not the best, arguably not even good, but splash in something like Imperial Custom which very hilariously says that continuous traps (except itself) can't be destroyed by battle, and you'll find out really quickly how few people actually read.
@@BeaglzRok1 Yep. I've been using one that focuses on Statue of Anguish Patterns.
The easiest fix is to errata Temple of the Kings again to remove the Once per turn limitation and instead replace it with a restriction of only working for continuous traps and locking the player out of summoning monster cards the turn it's used.
It might be difficult to remember, but this card was originally intended for the Statue series of trap monsters, and was used by Odion like this in the original anime.
Or a hard "once per turn, and if you do: banish it"
@@darkapostle1749 no, the indented use (making trap monster decks usable) is impossible with a once per turn.
No mention of metal reflect slime?
Well i guess its more of an ocg thing but there s almost always that one guy who manage to top at least once each format with a stun deck making use of barrier statue of the torrent, necrovalley and god slime.
Also can't wait for the new retrain version of apophis, it did see a lot of play in ocg too before tearlament prove to be to much to handle for even eldlich.
My favorite combo with Metal Reflect Slime, The Calculator. A monster that gains 300 attack for each level on your field and you summon a level ten monster.
Statue of aguish is probably the the best generic one, that could be teched into eldlich.
Yeah eldlich needs more bricks fs, they got a house to build
The strenght of trap monsters was that during pattern period(abusing segoc to go around monster negates) you could abuse imperial custom and all the draw engines(reckless greed, accumulated fortune, duality, demise, into the void, planter was a brick on turn 1, but gold later)(basically half my deck was a draw engine) and sinergized well with necrovalley and cat of ill omen.
But the main problem was that you had no real plays turn 1 and because all the space you needed for trap monsters or the spells you could not activate and otherwise had to discard in end, becoming pattern interruptions, you had no real space for negates and floodgates(the main strenght of eldlich, otherwise his trap monster themselves are crap compared to the golden lord itself).
But during that period were around both evenly and twister, and later also reboot and storm.
Pattern itself is the best trap monster, probably either azurune or the new apophis being the second, but they are worthless in eldlich.
With pattern you would maybe have 1/2 pop more but you can accomplish more with negates, floodgates, or generic traps.
Beside pattern alone is worthless.
Azurune may be a little bit useful but she negates only special summons, not effects that special summons, making the card not much stronger than pattern.
Instead the new apophis is a really good card that alone is not much but can negates multiple cards and sinergize well with floodgates.
*I GOT AN IDEA*
ME:a Eldlich player
Statue of anguish is the most versatile generic trap monster, IMHO.
-You get a level 7 (good for a XYZ into big eye).
-if you summon another trap monster, the statue becomes immune to card effects.
-if you summon another trap monster after the statue, the statue pops a card on the field.
It doesn't do much, because it can still be destroyed by monster effects. But it's better than a quantum cat or something really almost useless.
Idk chief, Paleozoics were meta for years in the mid 2010's and it was one of the few decks that didn't really get affected by Master Rule 4 at the time and they got Mistar Boy pretty early in the Link era too.
paleo was top tier in end of 2016 and beginning of 2017, they even won an YCS when zoodiacs were full force
@@Hclody95
Honestly it's kinda funny how every tier 0 format has a story about some random hillbilly bringing a random deck no one else knows to a huge tournament and absolutely destroys everybody then leaves .
@@imanalligator9694 it's not really that surprising, every deck has a bad matchup, and paleo was one for zoo
@@andrejv.2834
Well for zoo it makes sense
Paleo removal revolves around setting or banishing wich get around the floating effects of zoodiacs and drident can only destroy face ups and since paleos are traps they can't be destroyed before they're activated and since they're unaffected by monsters once they're on board they get around both drident and whiptail.
The only thing you could really do is negate canadia with ramram but most likely they can just chain block it with another paleo .
@@imanalligator9694 also paleo had non destruction removal to deal with the normal summon which plays around all the zoo mirror cards like my body or pianissimo
Brigandine is also searchable by PK Cloak since it's a "The Phantom Knights" card
Metal Reflect Slime and Zoma the Spirit were my favorites back then. Slime for good defense and a great target for my Metamorphisis, and Zoma for free damage should they destroy it by battle.
I can see them working if their was some special ruling on them. Something that prevents backrow removal on them after their activation. Where if a card like MTS targets a set “Golden Land”, you can chain it to that card to summon it and making be treat as a monster, causing a mistarget. I feel like that provide a slight competitive edge in removal heavy game.
normal trap monsters like phantom knight won't be destroyed when they targeted by mst and you summon it because "this card is NOT treated as a trap" however continuous trap monsters like tiki curse will still be destroyed when they targeted by mst even if you summon it Because "this card is also still a trap"
That's part of their whole thing really, the ones that are still treated as traps while they're monsters have all the properties of both card types, but that also leaves them with all the vulnerabilities of both.
It's like an artifact creature in MTG, they're great for artifact heavy decks/ strategies as a way to have creatures without compromising the amount of artifacts you're playing, but they can be dealt with by both creature removal and artifact removal, so the amount of ways to deal with them goes way up.
Trap monsters are extra vulnerable to removal but them still counting as traps can conditionally be very valuable, as seen with Eldlich being able to use face-up "golden lands" monsters, sacs for Magic Planter, Uria memeing, turning Imperial Custom into battle protection etc.
While Paleo's good partly for not being traps while they're monsters, they do lose those sorts of synergies/ funny combinations as a result. Both are good in their own ways, and while trap monsters do suffer a little in exchange for their unique properties they at least aren't fundamentally flawed as a mechanic like Gemini, they just mostly don't have the effects needed to see relevance.
@@snowboundwhale6860 What I mean is given the Normal and Continuous Trap the same luxury. “Normal” require a certain trigger, but are treated as monster instead of trap “Continuous” can be activated as normal, but treat as both a Trap and Monster making it extra vulnerable.
I propose giving “Continuous” trap same perks as “Normal” Trap. That way they can counter certain field wipes like “Harpie Feather Duster” or “Raigeki”. This way the card can switch card weaknesses on a dim. Otherwise their as fragile as Equip Spell.
@@ffjj3964 the Eldlich trap monsters are still really good remaining as traps because they can be turned back into Eldlich.
@@vxicepickxv Be fair, they prefer be spent to the GY as part of a search cycle. “Golden Land” searches “Eldixir“ that able to search them out. That part of their GY effect. Even card part of a crappy mechanic broken effect (like Equip Spells, Xyz, Etc) doesn’t solve the problem, only highlights it.
I’m talking about the mechanics itself.
Eldlich, Paleozoic and Phantom Knights have been meta or meta adjacent many times, I definitely wouldn't call this a failed mechanic.
Would like to see a video on "Taking control of your opponent's monsters" SInce I play Graydles, The deck have a pretty neat effect but now that some boss monsters have protections over cards and the whole Banish from GY effect some cards have, I would have to play Kaijus and Iron wall alongside other cards that can help my Graydles play through (Not forgetting other "Take control of Opponent's monsters" cards that have seen wide spread plays)
When I got back into yu-gi-oh I thought "Shapesister" was an amazing card since it allows synchro plays in any deck. Still had fun with it in Duel links tho.
got a royal shapesister and that pretty much forced my hand at creating like 30 different trap monster decks lol the best of them end with 4 boss monsters that burn :) its cheese that got me to diamond in MD, but its not fun considering how many times people just ff instead of trying to play through
I think some discussion of the Artifact monsters would have been worthwhile. While they weren't officially trap monsters, they did act a lot like them. And they punished backrow hate.
Unrelated, but I think Yugioh has the best monster design of all the popular TCGs. I think it's easy to take that for granted, but I've come to appreciate it more over the years
I mean yugioh does allow all sort of cards to get to the game, from dessert waifus to eldritch horrors. Unlike pokemon for example which cant do much with. Well pokemon
Best is kinda controversial, but yugioh have the most diversity in art design.
I can't find such good mecha design in any other TCGs.
Perhaps not the best I do like it.
I think Pokémon has a larger variety of art styles, but yeah anything can be a yugioh monster. Shoutouts to Cucumber Horse
Ah, yes. The cardtype that makes a certain archtype very fun to play against.
As a kid trap monster was super interesting to me
At this rate we’ll have videos like ‘fusion monsters’ and ‘synchro monsters’, etc :P
Failed Mechanics: Cards.
pendulum soon? lol
I've recently been saved in a pretty difficult deck build in which we basically pulled a number of cards we had to include in the deck out of a hat and had to try to make them work together somehow. Shaddoll Core was just so perfect as it summons itself as a level 9 spellcaster.
Metal Reflect Slime was super great in the games as a stall option because of how hard it was to break past.
How about a new blanket support for trap monsters?
_It’s A Trap!_
Counter Trap
_When you opponent would remove any number of cards from your field by battle or card effect, you can activate each of the following effects for each type of card that would be removed from the field for any number of those cards removed from the field._
Monster: Activate and special summon a Trap card that can special summon itself as a normal monster from your hand, deck or GY.
Spell: Add a trap card to your hand from your field or GY.
Trap: You can set facedown a trap card from your hand, deck or GY.
Very interesting idea. :O
@Junko Enoshima
Maybe spell and trap cards could have more of their own subtypes like monsters do? (Tuners,Toons,Gemini, etc…)
Eldlich was probably the last time Trap Monsters were good. And while they were pretty damn good, that was also quite a long time ago
Isn't Eldlich on the whole not even five years old?
@@christopherb501 3 years is a long time in yugioh
@@polocatfan cyberse eldlich was meta in like february-may
Although the eldlich part of the deck was the least important there
Duelist: "With my trap monsters, I'll be able to defeat my oponent in no time."
Opponent: "Ok, now I summon Jinzo."
That exact scenario happened in the anime.
I love using Trap Monsters and play decks like these in both DL and MD, it's slow and can be rid of easily but sometimes it also can throw opponent off from the unexpected.
Golden Land Guardian's level is awkward in Eldlich deck, sure, but being lv8 can turn 2 of itself or with other lv8 like Balerdroch into Zombie Vampire.
Top 10 "Break Slammers", cards that prevent or punish over-extension itself. Chain Energy, Summon Breaker/Limit, similar such.
Top 10 cards that are Worth Waiting for. (I. E., Slow Cards Only, with Longer Worthwhile Waits at least earning some points toward higher rankings)
Top 10 Cards that require your Opponent to do something to matter.
Top 10 Cards That Earn Their Oppressive Restrictions.
Top 10 "Rubber Band" Cards, cards that get better the more you're losing/worse the more you're winning.
Top 10 Backup Wincons (can try and fall back onto it if your main wincon becomes Indisputeably Impossible)
"Break Slammers", I like that term. Is Maxx C part of this?
@@NothingAfter Yes, very much.
I was really confused when I saw this popping on my notifications given precisely how Eldlich and Paleozoic have seen so much competitive play and success, but after watching the video, I guess I have to agree that historically this kind of cards tended to be pretty bad.
In that sense, the case of Trap Monsters is interesting as one could argue it's one of those failed mechanics that was eventually fixed.
I recommend the nordic archtype and their boss monsters Odin, Thor and Loki. They might also be a failed archtype.
Calling them a failed mechanic is a bit harsh don't you think? Trap monsters have seen success both as the central strategy of some decks and as a complementary splash in others.
15:15 Well excuse me Mr. Logs Pantheism doesn't work like that.
Pantheism let's you draw 2 by discarding another "Monarch" Spell/Trap, and then you can banish it to reveal 3 "Monarch" Spell/Traps with your opponent choosing one to add to your hand, so if you want to use Pantheism to it's full Power, you can't use it with Prime.
With best regards your friendly Monarch-Enjoyer.
A good use I recently discovered for Guardian of the Golden Land is to use in a Zombie World Eldlich deck. It's an easy lvl 8, which allows you to go into The Zombie Vampire when paired with a monster you yoink from the opponent's graveyard, which is easy in a ZW deck. You can also use Balerdroch as another material, which is easy enough to summon and if you have ZW (or any field spell), it will summon itself back during the next Standby anyways so you're not missing out on anything.
It's a bit clunky, but ZW Eldlich is having a hard time in the current format anyways.
I wish they'd come up with a good continuous trap monster archetype. I've used them in DL but mostly as a way to bring out Obelisk or Tripper Mercury.
A friend of mine in high school ran a trap monster deck based around Uria, which was pretty neat.
Technically every Deck can play Chidori and Laggia. Run both Quantum Cat and Swamp Mirrorer and declare Wind Dinosaur
Wasn’t Paleozoic really good when it came out?
To be fair, Paleozoics have trap effects in addition to becoming monsters. Puts them in an entirely different category than most of these cards.
Yeah I remember how difficult to win games against it. At that time.
yeah no idea why duel logs didn't mention paleo and eldlich's time in the meta. seems a little disingenuous
@@martingamer5591 no? They’re still trap monsters.
@@maxcrss2845 They have effects similar to other backrow staples (EG, Canadia flips face down) that can be activated before you summon it as a monster. Versus something like Apophis or Tiki soul, which you set face down before it becomes a monster, and has no base trap effect.
Statue of Anguish pattern is one of the better ones, surprised it didn’t get a mention!
I'm scratching my head as to why this is a "failed mechanic" when they worked well with Eldlich. Is it because early trap monsters like Metal Reflect Slime (from Battle Pack: Epic Dawn I think and it has no effect other than being a monster) or Krystal Avatar (you can't use it during your opponent's main phase 1 like the quick play spell Shrink) aren't all that great? In my opinion if one of a mechanics' first examples sees play in a single archetype, it isn't failed even if it wasn't literally the first one.
Outside of the 2 eldlich ones, paleo and brigandine they were never really good, and even then, eldlich was never the main gameplan of an eldlich deck
The mechanic isn't really a failure, but it's still not good
@@andrejv.2834 Even so I feel this should not be considered a failure. It has some examples of bad cards but... honestly most large archetypes have some inside that aren't good. I feel like this would better fit under the unknown side even better than failed mechanics even though they are known. Although honestly unknown side has a lot of things that probably are known just because some of them were in the anime. So unknown side wouldn't be a bad fit at all.
Atem: No Way! How did u get a shiny Obelisk?
Did you got that from a Friend Safari?
we should trade, let's trade
@@JadenFox9 i just gave you that card, don't you fucking trade it.
I just gave you that card, don't F@#&ING TRADE IT
I just gave you that card, don't F@ trade it
How about a future video covering the modern-day failure of battle immunity (a.k.a the effect "cannot be destroyed by battle")?
I'll never understand why trap monsters weren't printed as monster cards with the trap border colouring. Having to sift through a paragraph of text and parse the level, stats, and effect of the monster from a sentence is incredibly frustrating.
They should redesign them to be like Pendulums but obviously for Traps.
Because they want people to just pickup and play the game e without learning a bunch of keywords. Which is why their card texts are so bloated. What is kind of ironic tho is that you still have to read a lot of special rulings for situations in the game, so the pickup and play was never an option later.
@@OneOfTheLoveless While Magic The Gathering is not perfect I find it to be far better when it comes to card text and rulings than Yugioh is. It's the reason why I'm slowly beginning to prefer Magic over Yugioh.
@@animeking1357 I'm not reading a 1000 page book every time I need to know what an obscure keyword does.
They could do this and, in its Type-zone, write "Trap-monster/Effect."
I'm disappointed that you're not mentioning resonance device spell card to make things like golden land same level or temple of the kings continous spell to make all traps live instantly, and no mention of statute of anguish trap monster to make them all destroy a card
I wouldn't call Trap Monsters a failed mechanics, just that there isn't much of them for this strategy to be constantly recurring !
The least failed game mechanic so far...
Funny thing is, as a thought experiment I tried to figure out how Odion legacy support would look and had been thinking about trap monsters and why nobody ever plays them.
My ultimate conclusion was that any Odion support worth a damn would probably wind up accidentally supporting Eldlitch, so I stopped the thought experiment. For reasons that I'm sure do not need elaborating upon.
funny you didn't talk about metal reflect slime. 3000DEF body was always good and now it supports egyptian gods and all
right but the gods themselves are a failed mechanic
@@mohammedsarker5756 failed for top tier competitive play I guess maybe, but they are certainly still a very good deck you can use outside major tournaments.
Just because a deck doesn't top events doesn't mean it's a shitty or failed deck. There's a world outside the top 10 you know
Run with Rank 10 cards and the calculator decks too.
Love me some « failed mechanics » tired of seeing everyone playing the same deck because its « meta »
I take more fun playing buster blader or god deck than be the 1000th guy playing another branded fusion or whatever top the ladder atm
@@blazejecar God cards are a failed mechanic
Up until a few years ago, Trap Monsters also used up the backrow they were set in while being a monster on the field.
I’d like to see if you could have a series that talked about competitive decks/engines from each era and how they worked. Another “history of the game” type series!
why didn't you mention, Statue of Anguish Pattern, The Trap monster boss monster.
Angel Statue - Azurune, is better zoma.
Shapesister is a tuner.
Apophis the Swamp Deity, negates monster effects.
Qardan the Great Sage, can summon from the turn you set them.
Pharaonic Advent, gains attack points like Uria, Lord of Searing Flames, but cost less to summon and is a searcher.
their ass but death be upon whoever made that trap monster stall deck for standard duelists in duel links, the extra minute or so annoys me to no end
You should talk about "Cyber" card, It's konami early attempt to make big archetype consists sub-archetype.
But they drop it and you can look at Cyber Eternal and Cyber ogre as their remnant.
For a failed mechanic it sure had and has a lot of meta relevance.
I recall the new trap monster Apophosis the swamp deity being pretty alright.
I used to use these a lot in Duel Links. They were pretty fun for disruption
I would love to see a series of videos ranking the best XYZ monsters of each rank. i.e. Top 10 Rank 5 Xyz monsters
It would be interesting to learn about a variety of different Xyzs monsters and the lists would also be helpful for filling in those last few extra deck slots
13:12 "...and because they are unaffected by monster effects, the only way you can out paleozoic monsters is by battle..."
Raigeki, Lightning storm, Torrential Tribute,...
Now that is a wrong statement if I ever heard one haha
I like to use Qlife's End in Qliphorts to both protect my pendulum backrow and potentially turbo out a Towers if it lives :)
I would be cool to see a Field Spell video like this
They just need a field spell that would make them immediately useful, or protect them from effect destruction. Sure Quantum Cat probably won’t be seeing play any time soon (unless it’s as a Rank 4 extender), but it would be the one thing that coils potentially push them into rogue status.
Quite appropriate timing since it's the Anti-Spell Event in Master Duel
That R pronunciation for Huaquero
Or the slaughtering of "brigandine"
I had an idea last failed video regarding MetalMorph to make it a trap monster, like a mechanical Marvel Symbiote
_Living MetalMorph_
Normal Trap Card
_This cards name is treated as “MetalMorph” while on the field or in the GY. Once per turn, you can Target 1 face-up monster on the field; equip this card to that target. It gains 500 ATK/DEF, and is also treated as a Machine monster. If it attacks or is attacked, it gains ATK/DEF equal to half the ATK of the attack target/attacking monster, during damage calculation only. If the monster this card is equipped to is equipped or attached to another monster, you can equip/attach this card to that monster. If the monster this card is equipped to leaves the field, you can special summon this card as a normal monster (Machine/EARTH/Level 1/ATK 500/DEF 500)._
The Prime Monarch has an amazing on field effect since you mill alot of spells to use the effects of both the Heavenly Monarch and the Underworld Monarch. It allows you to keep using their amazing effects as well as refill your hand. The Underworld Monarch can also add itself back into your hand from the GY to summon him again, but you need to discard a Monarch Spell or Trap, which in turn can either enable the GY Effects of your Spells/Trap or for fodder for the on field effect of The Prime Monarch to not run out of steam and so on. Its amazing for the way you play the Light and Dark LvL 8 Monarchs is all i am saying.
In the best case you want one in the GY and one on field, even tho the GY has priority.
*Conquistador is the strongest eldlich trap monster*
-Me looking at tearlament format : Are you sure you did't want to say huaquero?
I am not sure this series name is accurate really. Maybe “Never-Meta Mechanics” because it seems kind of dismissive of experimental mechanics to label them as “failed”
That wouldn't work for this video anyway because paleo's were a substantial part of the meta in the early 2010s
@@jmanwild87 well then that’s even weirder because that sounds like it’s a mechanic with success so why put it under “failed mechanic” umbrella?
Maybe "Niche Mechanics"?
@@infinimineyt9700 It's "failed" because "Fun" isn't the condition for success.
The issue is your standard isn't that of the video's here.
@@HazeEmry Yeah that does seem more fitting
As for how MtG does this mechanic better, let's take a look at the noncreature cards that animate themselves. Most notably, manlands, lands that can turn into creatures.
Let's take a look at Mishra's Factory. Not only the card is a VERY efficient body on the field (a 1-mana 2/2 is rare to come by), but it can easily avoid sorcery-speed removals as it stops being a creature at the end of the turn. And land removals aren't common in Magic: the Gathering. The fact you can play multiple makes it a lot better. Also, the temporary clause isn't that much of a downside.
There's also Mutavault, which trades the pump effect for tribal synergies that can hit really hard, as well as Inkmoth Nexus, which has infect that can make the opponent lose if it deals at least 10 damage to them as well as flying that makes it efficiently evasive. Let's not forget the time Faceless Haven was soft-banned in future standard for making a busted combo with The Book of Exalted Deeds for making the controller unloseable.
So, the way to fix Trap Monsters is to make them faster to special summon and set up on the field. I'd bet a card designed to turbo-out trap monsters and synergize with them would be very beneficial.
Well, what do you know? Silhouhatte Rabbit answered my stuff.
Ah, neat. New video from Mr. Logs
are you more of a NintendoFan or more a Mr. Logs Fan? 🤔
@@lildannyboi13 Both. I like both.
Long, loooong comment incoming in defense of Trap Monsters...
I wouldn’t say Trap Monsters were a failed mechanic like Toons or anything. CONSISTENTLY top tier? Only a few times, but that’s a few times more than lots of other things in this game.
Trap Monsters ABSOLUTELY have had their times to shine, and on MULTIPLE occasions. You even said it yourself on one of them. The Paleozoic archetype was good enough to compete with Zoodiac at near full power (after Broadbull was banned)... and, as an additional note? Paleozoic did it right... and was the first proper Trap Monster archetype in the history of this game. Paleo probably IS the best Trap Monster archetype we’ve ever had (and, potentially, ever will have), but it’s one hell of a deck! I still vividly remember a feature match some years ago where a top level duelist, playing near-full power Zoodiac, got 2-0’d by some dude playing the ABSOLUTE most GALAXY BRAINED 55 card Paleozoic deck. He played Mask Of Restrict, A Cat Of Ill Omen, ONE COPY of Reckless Greed, Switcheroroo, XYZ Universe (A trap to break Zoodiac fields), and a Full Force Virus (WITHOUT ANYTHING TO TRIBUTE TO ACTIVATE IT), and he played ALL OF THIS in the MAIN DECK, and STILL beat Zoodiac, WITH Ratpier AND Drident, 2-0. Paleozoic is just SUCH a weird, bizarre, unique and funny, yet, POWERFUL little archetype/engine, that it ALLOWS for such silly creativity and tomfoolery in deck building and tech choices. Off the top of my head? Not many decks in this game’s history have been able to replicate their magic, aside from Spright and Dragon Rulers. (If anyone wants to see that crazy 55 card Paleozoic decklist, just look up “Galaxy brained Paleozoic deck” on RUclips. Farfa uploaded it several years ago).
Other Trap Monster decks? Eldlich honestly would’ve been a Tier 1 Deck in the TCG if we didn’t have all top level events shut down in 2020 due to the obvious pandemic problems we’ve had. It might even have been a Tier 0.5 format with Eldlich sharing top spots with Adamancipator and nothing else. With that having passed, though? Eldlich got their time to shine in Master Duel. The game’s unique best of 1 format allowed Eldlich to take easy and quick victories, without the fear of their opponent side decking backrow removal in games 2 and 3. It was consistent enough to cause Conquistador to be limited (along with semi-limiting or banning a myriad of continuous Trap floodgates they also played). Still, though, Conquistador is a TRAP MONSTER, who had to be LIMITED, in an OFFICIAL Yugioh format, made by KONAMI. It isn’t TCG, but again, Eldlich didn’t really get its fair chance to shine in TCG, with the pandemic happening. Master Duel is still a format that Konami is taking very seriously, and just like Speed Duels’ unique rules causing the need to limit Zoma The Spirit, Master Duel’s best of 1 format necessitated nerfing Eldlich’s most powerful Trap monster.
And hey, even if Paleozoic and Eldlich are just two measly decks that played Trap Monsters and had some levels of success? That’s still two whole Trap Monster-based strategies, and they were both top tier. That’s a lot better than many other mechanics, card types, or even archetypes have had, and there’s still other Trap Monsters who have shown to be serious threats. Zoma The Spirit being powerful enough in Speed Duels to get limited, early Duel Links having a period where Embodiment Of Apophis was often played, Shade Brigandine being a vital piece for Rank 4 decks in every format he’s been in... oh, and yeah, Traptrix. They’re about to get their own Trap Monster; one that can be activated from the hand (like Shade Brigandine), is summoned as a Level 4 monster, is a Normal Trap with the word “Hole” in the name, and is also named “Traptrix”... meaning you’ll be able to search it with everything, summon Sera with it, summon Rafflesia with it, AND play it on turn 1. There’s a good chance they’re soon going to become Deck #3 on the list of “Meta relevant Decks that rely on Trap Monsters”.
Yes. They’re niche, they’re gimmicky, but Trap Monster have always been slow and steady sleepers (Very fittingly. They’re trap cards, after all. You gotta wait a turn to use them!), waiting to get a coherent idea to break them... because for the longest time? We really only had a handful of them (Embodiment Of Apophis, Zoma The Spirit, Stronghold The Moving Fortress and Cyber Shield Gardna were literally, like, the only Trap Monsters this game had for YEARS). Even two things as simple as Tiki Soul and Tiki Curse were VERY appreciated, due to the utility and protection they provided for an otherwise undersupported mechanic. Not to mention? They have some fancy tricks! Magic Planter is a draw 2 effect in exchange for a Trap Monster (A Continuous Trap one, at least), Fake Trap is funny to pair with them for protection, and flipping up Imperial Customs can make playing against Trap Monster IMMENSELY frustrating. They’ve ALWAYS had some tricks, but they never had a FOCUS.
Thennn we got Paleozoics. They truly WERE the first ever Trap Monster archetype we ever got. Prior to that? Again, we just had random Trap Monsters that didn’t really have much in common or did anything remotely consistent or coherent with each other. They were the first Deck to actually give Trap Monsters a chance to do something coherent, and did it with cards that always felt more like an experiment or an idea than an actual solidified mechanic. Even in the anime, with Joey fighting Odion’s field of Embodiment Of Apophises? They made the idea of a Trap Card being a Monster Card seem unheard of and weird. Trap Monsters have always been an experiment the card designers continuously dabbled in, bit by bit, until they actually buckled down and made the Paleozoic archetype... and they nailed it! A top tier Deck reliant on Trap Monsters! They had interruption, protection, consistency tools, floating effects, comeback potential, the flexibility to play other strategies with theirs OR work THEMSELVES into OTHER Decks, and a coherent goal! It was (and still is!) a fun archetype with lots of silly tricks it can pull off... it just had the unfortunate timing of being released at a time when Zoodiacs, arguably the best archetype ever made, was supremely dominant.
The next Trap Monster archetype, Phantom Knights? It did great as a resource loop and a rank 3/4 toolbox deck, but they sadly missed the Trap Monster part of the mark. They were fine to play, but they only really nailed Shade Brigandine, as the direction Phantom Knights ended up heading toward found they were good to play nothing more than Shade and Break Sword. Oh well.
Come to Eldlich, though? They nailed it again... during the same year we had a pandemic and couldn’t play Yugioh... Although, when Master Duel rolled around? They VERY assertively showed their dominance and consistent field presence. Everybody HATED them, though, due to the game’s Best Of 1 rule making the Deck feel unbeatable or unfair.
I’m pretty confident they’ll be nailing it with the new Traptrix Trap Monster we’re getting... though, I’m hoping they don’t fall into the same problems as Eldlich in feeling oppressive and unfun to play against. So is the power creep in Yugioh.
I can’t really agree with a mechanic being “failed” when the initial attempts didn’t even try, the first legitimate attempt actually succeeded, and all subsequent “legitimate attempts” either did alright or ALSO succeeded. If you were to put together a 60 card “1 of everything” Deck, and fill it with nothing but Trap Cards who became Monsters? I do not think this game even HAS enough TODAY to fill all 60 slots. The mechanic isn’t failed. It’s just been experimental and lacks a sizeable card pool. Just give it some more options, and it’ll pick up steam! It’s already proven itself through Paleozoics and Eldlich. It’ll be capable of more with further support. :)
Just don’t summon Jinzo on us. We’ll cry. 💀
Under this definition, despite having some decks that were top tier, wouldn't Pendulum also be a failed mechanic?
The majority of Pendulum decks did not see competitive play, with only a handful of archetypes being successful, they didn't even really own the era they're from, and subsequent eras have really made it so that the vast majority of Pendulum decks cannot ever succeed, with a small handful of exceptions with workarounds.
Their only a select few trap monster cards that are actually decent. The Phantom Knights of Shade Brigandine is one that is good. It can be summoned on the first as long as you have no traps in the GY; it is level 4 the most versatile level.
yeah that card also good in world chalice deck
Years ago I used a trap monster deck as a exodia stall deck, utilizing Imperial custom & skill drain to make a hard to destroy wall. Add Magic Planter for draw power. It would side deck with an offensive back up utilizing Uria Lord of Searing Flames.
I really don’t like the word “failed.” Like, I get it, but there’s just no nuance in that sort of title/label.
Guardian of Golden Land is the weakest of the Lich-rich trap monsters, but it's not useless if you used in something besides Cancer-lich. I use a Guardian in my Zombie World deck that features Lich-rich and it gives me access to Rank 8 Xyz monsters along with Doomking. Granted, even when that deck is really working I hardly ever go into my Rank 8s.
Pantheism does not search when discarding a card, it draws 2. It also has a graveyard effect. which you do not want to banish it off of the prime monarch as its graveyard effect let's you search
Shoutouts to Shade Brig and Parallel Exceed for singlehandedly enabling Sera + a rank 4 on your first turn in Traptrix. Theoretically you could make 2, but you'd need a very specific 5 card hand and you'd end up with only the trap from Sera's effect set.
DuelLogs on his way to describe every currently non relevant archetype as failed
Can you do top 10 best number monsters
Number 1: 1
Number 2: 2
Number 3: 4
Number 4: 3
Number 5: 5
.... Etc
To be fair I use swamp mirrorer and quantum cat in a Simorgh deck since they have effects that pop when you use a specific element monster as tribute fodder, and these trap monsters can choose what type and attribute they are on summon.
also, if you use Fusion Parasite like me, you can turn swamp mirrorer and quantum cat into the other fusion material monster needed and BAM, you get a way to summon fusions outside of your type. I use it to get Dark Magician the Dragon Knight or my favorite card for trap monster decks, Blue Eyes Tyrant Dragon, which lets you set your traps (trap monsters in this case) directly on the field after a battle. I cant tell you how many people ff when i pull him out because they understand whats about to happen.
Embodiment of Apophis has been one of my staples in Duel Links. Been great at getting an extra monster for a comeback via getting an Xyz Monster out there.
It’s definitely better in Duel Links than in the TCG.
I've been using Egyptian God Slime in Master Duel since I was able to get 3 copies of it and Metal Reflect Slime while I was grinding for Exodia.
Konami:
"What if instead of trap monsters, we diiiiid... Monster traaaaps... Like.... it can be used in the haaaand... A... Haaaaand trap 👁👄👁"
I'd say that in this case it is more a powercrept than failed card mechanic.
I still have very fond memories at the start of Xyz monsters being introduced to Duel Links of Rank 4/7 and Rank 6/7 trap monster decks and getting a quite frankly silly amount of success - especially in conjunction with Desperado Barrel Dragon of all things.
(It was an Odion deck that also passively dealt 200 burn damage each time a trap was activated - so your opponent effectively started with about 3000 life points instead)
As a note: In conjunction with Light Sealing Mirror or Ally Of Justice Quarantine, the deck was very capable against pretty much all decks... except Rank 5/6/8 Levianeer Thunder Dragons. Almost always lost to those Thunder Dragons. >_>
Unless it helps you interact with at least half your deck on turn 1 it's a failed card by default these days. Depressing really.
@@wilFluffball It really is anymore if your not OTK than your not playing the game correctly 🙄. Miss old school Yu-Gi-Oh when it slower paced
I think the whole diatribe on Guardian of the Golden Land is missing the point of the card. Guardian isn't designed to stop plays -- Guardian is designed to stop attacks. There are tons of other cards in an Eldlich deck that can stop players from making plays (Skill Drain, Summon Limit, etc) but there's nothing in the generic floodgate batch that you'd play alongside Eldlich that affects the Battle Phase.
Not sure how to fell about this video, they're too many information that is missing.
- they were good comeback tool in old yugioh (metal reflex is a wall that rivaled blue eye and can be used as a tribute the next turn)
- traditional trap monster used to take a monster zone and a spell/trap zone
- they have to worry about monster and back row removal.
- he focus to must on Pseudo-trap monster: the one that lose the trap attributes and don't have too worry about MST.
- ect.
Maybe he didn't touch enough about the history I guess. (Ps I play a trap monster deck and he missed a lot of information😅)
Oh I guess that it a Failed mechanic video and not a history video, my bad!
A correction, really. Banishing Pantheism for Prime's effect is really something most players would do only as a last resort if they needed a monarch on field. Given Pantheism's graveyard effect to reveal 3 monarch spell/traps and have your opponent add one to your hand, usually you would use something like that to get a different spell, like stormforth or tenacity, and after using them banish THOSE from the graveyard to summon Prime.
Day 8 of requesting a video of Top 10 Cards from Duelists of The Roses that are better than their real life counterpart! 🙏
Uploaded just before the reveal of a brand new busted traptrix trap monster
Happy to see mention of how good shade brigandine is in combination with sera. Thank god its a normal trap
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Yeah that’s why I lost interest in all the newer yugioh. It’s all about 1 turn knocking out your opponent. Literally anything that makes you wait 1 turn is considered slow, in a turn based game 😂
Okay, I have an idea for Spell monster (Counterpart of Trap monster). If they just summon to the field it would be boring, so here it is the summary.
They can be activated as Spell and summoned as monster. Meaning that they have 2 different effects. They are sort like Continuous Spell, which stays on the field, thus you can use MST to negate their Spell effects.
Also, when you have exactly 2 Spells monsters as Spells, you can, once per turn, Special Summon any number of monsters from your Hand, with Level between the Levels of those 2 Spells monsters. (This mechanic is unique to them and not written on the cards).
I remember Paleozoic Canadia being a staple in most Ranked Duel decks back in Duel Links, myself included.✋
I love trap monsters
I'm thankful for the duel logs this year
i wouldnt call it a failed mechanics when we had eldlich top tier for more than 2 years
During Master Duel Anti-Spell Festival?
Perfect timing!
XD