Summary
Yu-Gi-Oh! TCGhas three iconic card types. You’ve got monsters that do battle for you, Spells that create changes to the field, and sneaky Traps just waiting for your opponent to spring them. Traps come in a variety of forms, from those that immediately stop an effect from going through, to those that can wipe your opponent’s field.
Dig deep enough, and there is a neat collection of valuable Trap cards. These either have an excellent rarity, elusive printing, or can be used regularly in a duel by a wide variety of decks. So, which Trap cards are worth the most in your collection?
Card values reflect the market price found onTCGPlayer.comand may be subject to change with time.
10Exchange Of The Spirit - $135.99
Ishizu’s Signature Trap
Retro Pack may have had a reprint set in 2020, but there is a big difference between modern cards and cards that came out long ago. Some of the more notable features include text font, errata, and even the color hue of the card body.
Exchange of the Spirit’s magenta Trap colorings are somewhat murkier than future reprints. This also served as a decent rarity bump for the time. Coming from an older set also means it hasn’t been updated yet, so it still states that you only need 15 cards in the graveyard to activate it.
9Attack Guidance Armor - $138.24
An Anime Exclusive Trap
The 25th Anniversary Ultimate Kaiba set comes complete with Kaiba’s own iconic briefcase. It also contains this elusive Trap card that has no other printings. This card can be used to redirect attacks onto your opponent’s other monsters.
This card can be seen throughout the anime beingused by Seto Kaiba. He uses it during the four-way duel in Battle City and even in the Pyramid of Light Movie. This card is printed as an ultra rare with no other way to obtain it. Now that’s rarity.
8Dominus Impulse - 174.62
A Quarter Century Staple
Dominus Impulse is a great example of cards that get pricier when they help a deck reach competitive status. This card is able to stop a Special Summon from anywhere. This can mean your hand, extra deck, main deck, or even the graveyard.
If your opponent controls a card, you can do this directly from your hand at the price of losing your ability to activate the effects of Light, Earth, and Wind monsters. It’s a small price to pay for field supremacy, andit can be found in the Rage of the Abyss set.
7Mirror Force - $249.40
Punish Your Opponent For Attacking
Mirror Force is a pretty nostalgic card. Duel Monsters enthusiasts can remember when their opponent flooded their side of the field with monsters. When they try to attack, though, Mirror Force will destroy all of their hard work. This gives you an opening to strike back.
This card hasan ultra pharaoh’s rare printingin Magnificent Mavens that gives it those sweet Egyptian hieroglyphs in the holo foiling. It’s a great effect that gives any Duel Monsters era card extra flair that fits the era’s themes.
6Deck Devastation Virus - $249.95
Consider Your Strategy Devastated
The Deck Virus cards can be pretty destructive. Deck Devastation Virus is one of the more chaotic ones for the era due to the fact that it can destroy weaker monsters in the hand or whenever your opponent draws into them.
This card has an ultimate rare printing in Flaming Eternity, which not only makes it a hard-to-find card, but the only way to get a max rarity copy of this classic Trap. It even has all the classic texts before it got modernized.
5Sakuretsu Armor - $279.93
Can’t Touch This
A great way to tell your opponent that your monsters can’t be touched is through the classic Sakuretsu Armor. This Trap destroys your opponent’s monsters before the attack even goes through.
This super rare printing of the card can only be found in the Champion Pack 1. This gives it a very narrow window in which it could have been acquired without paying for it as a single. This just goes to show that the printing’s rarity doesn’t always make it the rarest version of the card.
4Icarus Attack - $307.10
A Staple For Winged-Beasts
Icarus Attack is an older staple for decks that focus on Winged-Beasts. It’s a decent trade-off when you’re able to tribute one of your own monsters to destroy two things on the field. This isn’t just limited to destroying monsters, but Spells and Traps too.
This Trap card can be found in Dark Revelations Volume 4 as a reprint. While it has had a few reprints here and there, this version of the card is one of the harder versions to find. Especially if you want to flex it in an Edison format Blackwing deck.
3Trap Dustshoot - $401.22
A Banned Classic
This version of Traps Dustshoot has three important factors going for it. It’s a banned card usable in Edison format, it’s found in an elusive Champion Pack, and it is a super rare, giving it that special foiling.
Trap Dustshoot has always been one of those cards that gives the player using it too much advantage. It lets you get hand knowledge on your opponent while letting you get rid of a monster you don’t want them to use during their turn. It even shuffles to the deck, allowing you to evade graveyard effects.
2Royal Decree - $478.02
A Trap To End All Traps
The highest you can go for a card like Royal Decree is ultra rare. This gives it holographic foiling and some shiny text. Coming from a classic Tournament Pack, it is even harder to actually pull. This has turned this version of Royal Decree into a little treasure.
This card stops all other Traps from kicking off their effects. It makes the cards your opponent would have sprung on you sizzle out while any other Trap that was already on the field stop working. It’s a classic way to deal with old Duel Monsters era Trap cards.
1Bottomless Trap Hole - $789.24
Oops, Your Monster Is Gone
This is one of the oldest versions of Bottomless Trap Hole. This card is a classic staple of the Duel Monsters era since it was a way to stop one of your opponent’s monsters from even hitting the field.
With banishment being a niche concept at the time, this card prevented the destroyed monsters from being revived by removing them from the game entirely. It’s always funny to see your opponent Summon a strong monster only to immediately lose it to this card.
Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game
The Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME (TCG) allows kids, teenagers, and adults of all ages to relive the exciting Duels that take place in the animated Yu-Gi-Oh! series. In the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG, players use the cards they’ve collected to construct Decks consisting of 40 to 60 cards. Then, they use their Decks to face off against opponents in a game of strategy, luck, and skill.
