Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel is a unique game even for experienced duelists, as it uses the OCG ban list instead of the TCG. As such, the meta is drastically different from what you've been used to, with entirely new cards that are not accessible in the TCG normally.
As such, the Hand Trap pool in Master Duel is much more important to look at. Hand Traps are special cards that act as interruptions that can be played directly from your hand, usually during your opponent's turn to disrupt their plays. While most of these are actually Monster cards, there are a few Trap cards that can act as Hand Traps as well.
Updated November 10 2022, by Doruk Kaptan: As Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel approaches its one-year anniversary, it's a great time to look at how the meta and the game have evolved over that period. The meta has not changed drastically, but some power rankings have been adjusted since the release.
One thing stands correct, though, Hand Traps are infinitely valuable. Being able to interfere with your opponent's plays on their turn is a great way to gain an advantage and lock them out of powerful cards. Many on this list are worth including in the side deck, at least, as they are the best of the best currently in the game.
15 Ghost Ogre and Snow Rabbit
Ghost Ogre and Snow Rabbit is an interesting card, as it's quite a bit better than it seems at first glance. You can discard it to destroy a Monster or a face-up Spell/Trap card as a response when it is activated. The keyword here is destroy, meaning it does not negate and the ability will still resolve.
While still a great card in certain matchups, being able to get rid of some continuous or field spells or some monsters, it not being a negation hurts the card's viability. Ghost Ogre and Snow Rabbit may be many modern players' first time experiencing the age-old shock of Mystical Space Typhoon not negating.
14 Skull Meister
Skull Meister can be discarded to negate a card effect that's activated in your opponent's graveyard. While in many cases, using D.D. Crow to simply get rid of said card is better, Skull Meister actually negates, which is a huge plus.
Being able to act like a pseudo-D.D. Crow is not bad in and of itself, but sometimes not being able to negate with Crow can be an issue. Skull Meister also has the upside of having a decent body at 1700/400, potentially acting as a beater as well in desperate situations. While not the best at what it does in most situations, it's far from a bad card to include in your deck.
13 Forbidden Droplet & Chalice
Forbidden Droplet and Forbidden Chalice are both Quick-Play Spell cards. While these cards cannot be activated from your hand on the opponent's turn, they can be during your own. Despite this nature, both are usually included in deck lists as disruption, proving how strong they really are.
Both are cards that negate the effects of monsters with different downsides. Chalice buffs the monster a tiny bit, and Droplet requires you to send cards to the graveyard. Droplet is the more versatile of the two, without a doubt, as it doesn't target and is capable of negating several monster effects at once. Still, both are amazing cards to deal with annoying monsters.
12 Fantastical Dragon Phantazmay
Fantastical Dragon Phantazmay is not as commonly used as some other cards on this list due to its semi-situational effect, but it's an absolute powerhouse. You can Special Summon it from your hand if your opponent Special Summons a Link Monster.
Upon summoning, it draws you a number of cards equal to the number of Link Monsters your opponents control, plus one, after which you shuffle back one less card than you drew.
Drawing in Yu-Gi-Oh! is commonly considered the best effect you can have, and Fantastical Dragon Phantazmay acts as a sort of pseudo-Pot of Duality. This is a great ability, only held back by how it's dependent on your opponent using Link Monsters. Luckily, many decks use Link Monsters as their main Extra Deck card, so it's quite commonly online in your hand anyways.
11 Dimension Shifter
Dimension Shifter is another card that feels like it should be more commonly used, considering how strong of an effect it has. If you have no cards in your graveyard, you can discard it to the Graveyard to make all cards get banished instead of going to the Graveyard until the end of the next turn.
Graveyard effects are extremely common and strong in modern Yu-Gi-Oh!, and thus an effect to lock your opponent out for a turn is quite strong. Dimension Shifter is basically a one-turn Macro Cosmos or Dimensional Fissure for old-school players. The condition can be hard to meet unless you have Dimension Shifter in your opening hand, but it can put in a huge amount of work in the right deck, even later in the game.
10 D.D. Crow
In Yu-Gi-Oh!, plenty of decks take full advantage of the Graveyard. Meanwhile, very few decks take advantage of cards that are banished. As such, D.D. Crow makes for a solid Hand Trap to put a wrench in Graveyard-focused decks' plans.
At the cost of simply discarding itself, D.D. Crow lets you banish any card in your opponent's Graveyard. It can get Monsters, Spells, and Trap cards, giving it a bit more versatility than other similar cards. D.D. Crow's usefulness depends on the meta, but it's still among the best Hand Traps when it becomes relevant.
9 Ghost Belle & Haunted Mansion
Ghost Belle & Haunted Mansion is another Graveyard hate card and one of the best ones at that. Essentially, if a card or effect tries to move a card from the Graveyard to any other place, it can negate that activation. Despite looking cute, this card is really annoying.
It's a very versatile card, and with how prevalent taking things out of the Graveyard are in modern Yu-Gi-Oh! (be it by banishing or special summoning), Ghost Belle & Haunted Mansion is likely always a good inclusion in a deck. Ghost Belle & Haunted Mansion is very good at what it does and can completely shut down a turn if it's used at the right time.
8 Artifact Lancea
In the TCG, Artifact Lancea comes and goes in the meta, depending on what the top decks are. When you discard it, you can completely shut down the ability to banish cards for the entire turn. This effect can be used if it's ever on the field as well, which rarely comes up but is still nice.
With Master Duel, plenty of powerful meta decks rely on being able to banish their cards. Thunder Dragon and Virtual World are both decks that tend to fold against an Artifact Lancea, making for an incredibly powerful disruptive Hand Trap against decks that banish a lot.
7 PSY-Framegear Gamma
PSY-Framegear Gamma is such a powerful Hand Trap that it is currently Semi-Limited, meaning you can only use two copies of it in a deck. PSY-Framegear Gamma even requires running a vanilla Tribute monster, and despite needing to run a brick in your deck, it is still played.
So long as you control no monsters, you can use PSY-Framegear Gamma's effect to negate any monster effect the opponent uses and destroy the monster. It's incredibly strong since many meta decks rely on monster effects to begin combos. It will even bring some bodies onto the field, special summoning both itself and PSY-Frame Driver onto the board, who are destroyed in the end phase but still.
6 Effect Veiler
Effect Veiler is one of the oldest relevant Hand Traps in Yu-Gi-Oh! and continues to see play to this day. On your opponent's turn, you can discard it to negate the effects of that Monster for the rest of that turn. Despite not being able to use this effect on your turn, it's still a card you won't mind seeing.
It's a Spellcaster Tuner Monster, so it can be used to bring out Crystron Halqifibrax and then Link Climb into Selene, Queen Of The Master Magicians, to bring Effect Veiler back. This can be topped off with a final Link into Accesscode Talker to be able to most likely board wipe and OTK.
5 Droll & Lock Bird
Droll & Lock Bird has always been a staple Side Deck card (and sometimes even Main Deck), depending on the meta. When there are tons of decks in the meta that continuously add cards from their deck to their hand, Droll & Lock Bird comes in the save the day.
After the opponent performs their first search, Droll & Lock Bird can be discarded to lock the opponent out from doing so again for the rest of the turn. With Master Duel, decks that do this are quite common. It can even be used to shut off Maxx "C," assuming you're done adding cards from your deck to your hand yourself.
4 Infinite Impermanence
The biggest notable Hand Trap that's actually a Trap card, Infinite Impermanence, comes with a plethora of useful effects. So long as you control no other cards on the field, you can activate it from your hand to negate the effects of a Monster for the turn. It can be done to interrupt an opponent's combo or to shut off or bait a negate on the opponent's field before you start your plays.
In a pinch, it can be Set in a specific column, as it negates the effects of all cards in it for the rest of the turn. This can shut down Floodgates, but the opponent can also forget about it and play a Spell/Trap card in that column, allowing you to negate it as well.
3 Nibiru, The Primal Being
Nibiru, The Primal Being, is one of the ultimate punishments against Combo Decks. Every duelist always worries when they hit their fifth summon, as that means Nibiru, The Primal Being, can be dropped at any time, and they're not worried for nothing. When it's activated, it tributes all the Monsters on the field, getting around every kind of protection (except the very select few Monsters that can't be tributed).
It does give the opponent a Token that tends to have high stats, but most decks can easily take care of it. You even get to special summon Nibiru, The Primal Being itself, so you can use it for Extra Deck plays on your own turn. There's a reason this card sees so much play.
2 Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring
Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring in the TCG is one of the best Hand Traps ever printed, but with Master Duel, it's extra useful. Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring can basically negate the effect of any card that moves a card from the deck to anywhere else (the only exception being to the Extra Deck, which rarely happens anyways).
Many decks search their deck or special summon from it, making Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring great. Not only is it good for that, but it can negate the effect of Maxx "C," the most-played Hand Trap in all of Master Duel. Speaking of...
1 Maxx "C"
TCG players have not had to live with Maxx "C" for quite some time. However, the OCG has it completely unrestricted, meaning that the same is true for Master Duel. By discarding it, any time the opponent special summons a Monster, you get to draw a card.
There is basically no downside to Maxx "C," and with how common special summoning is, every deck runs it. Drawing cards in Yu-Gi-Oh! is the best effect in the game, so being able to draw multiple cards, including cards that can deal with the opponent's board, makes Maxx "C" the best Hand Trap in Master Duel by a significant margin.