Most duels in Yu-Gi-Oh! revolve around Monster cards. More often than not, they’re the only thing protecting your life points from a direct attack. While some decks rely on high attack points to overpower their opponent’s Monsters, most have at least a handful of options for removing Monsters from the field without battling.
A huge variety of Spell and Trap cards help you remove your opponent’s Monsters from the field for both offensive and defensive purposes. Some cards accomplish this by destroying Monsters, while others banish them, return them to the hand, or even shuffle them back into the deck. While most decks can benefit from one or two generic removal cards, the best options for you depend on the strengths and weak spots of your chosen game plan.
10 Dark Hole
Living up to its name, Dark Hole is a Spell card that destroys every Monster on the field when activated. Since this includes your own Monsters, it’s best to play when you’re either at a disadvantage or have Monsters on the field that are immune to destruction effects.
In most decks, the Spell card Raigeki is a better choice than Dark Hole since it destroys only your opponent’s Monsters. However, archetypes that can benefit from having their own Monsters destroyed—like Rokkets—may be able to use Dark Hole to pull off some surprising plays.
9 Bottomless Trap Hole
This Trap card dates back to the early days of the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG, but it’s still an effective option for targeting specific Monster cards. When your opponent Normal, Flip, or Special summons one or more Monsters with 1,500 or more attack points, Bottomless Trap Hole lets you destroy and then banish all of those Monsters.
Bottomless Trap Hole can be used to take out a powerful Extra Deck Monster and Monsters with effects that search out cards from the deck or summon more Monsters. And since this Trap Hole card removes Monsters from play, it can help you counter decks that make use of Graveyard effects. One downside of this card is that it must destroy a Monster before it banishes it, meaning Monsters immune to destruction effects won’t be affected.
8 Break Off Trap Hole
A newer addition to the Trap Hole line of cards, Break Off Trap Hole can be used to destroy all Monsters on the field that are not Linked when a Link Monster is summoned. In other words, any non-Link Monsters that don’t have a Link Monster arrow pointing at them, or Link Monsters that aren’t pointing to other Monsters, will be destroyed by this Trap.
While Break Off Trap Hole can be used defensively when your opponent summons a Link Monster, it’s even more effective as an offensive tool. You only need to control two Monsters—one Link and another Monster connected to it—to set up a play where you wipe your opponent’s Monsters off the field, then proceed to attack directly during the Battle Phase.
7 Deep Dark Trap Hole
While less broadly useful than similar Monster removal cards, Deep Dark Trap Hole is one of the best options for taking your opponent’s most powerful Monsters off the field. This Trap card specifically targets Level 5 or higher Effect Monsters that have been Special Summoned, allowing you to banish them immediately after your opponent summons them.
Although this card won’t work on XYZ and Link Monsters since they don’t have Levels, Fusions, Synchros, and Ritual Monsters (as well as other high-level Effect Monsters) can all be removed using this Trap. And since Deep Dark Trap Hole doesn’t destroy Monsters before banishing them, it works against Monsters immune to destruction effects.
6 Special Hurricane
Special Hurricane is like a more focused version of Dark Hole, destroying all Monsters on the field. By discarding a card from your hand, this Spell destroys all Special Summoned Monsters on the field. Special Summoning is commonplace in the modern TCG, so there’s a decent chance that this effect will wipe your opponent’s board. Since you can either wait to summon until after you use this card or simply Normal Summon, you have a few ways to put yourself in a good position to declare a direct attack with this Spell.
Needing to have at least one additional card in your hand does mean that Special Hurricane can end up limiting your options in a close duel. But if you have cards with Graveyard effects in your hand, you can actually turn the cost of this card into another advantage.
5 Lightning Vortex
Lightning Vortex has you discard one card, then destroy all face-up Monsters your opponent controls. A useful effect for sure, but the need to have an additional card in your hand to activate it does mean drawing this card can be a liability if you’re in a tight spot.
Since Lightning Vortex has a very similar effect to Raigeki (which destroys all your opponent’s face-up and set Monsters at no cost to you), it’s difficult to justify using Vortex in place of that Spell. The main exceptions are decks where you often want to discard your cards to take advantage of their Graveyard effects.
4 Lightning Storm
One of the best going-second cards in the game, Lightning Storm only works if you control no face-up cards. But if you can, you activate one of two incredible effects: destroy all attack position Monsters your opponent controls or destroy all of their Spells and Traps.
In other words, this Spell allows you to choose to use it as a Monster-removal or backrow-removal card, depending on how your opponent has set up their field. The main disadvantage of Lightning Storm is that it can’t be used if you’ve already set up your field with Monsters or Continuous Spells/Traps.
3 Drowning Mirror Force
This Trap is a variation on the original Mirror Force that’s been stealing wins from risk-taking duelists for over two decades. Drowning Mirror Force can only be activated when your opponent’s Monster declares a direct attack and stops their attack by shuffling all of your opponent’s attack position Monsters into the deck.
Since this Trap doesn’t work by destroying cards, it’s effective against Monsters that are immune to destruction effects and those that can’t be targeted. While only working against direct attacks does limit your options for using this Trap, it still offers a potentially game-winning effect.
2 Raigeki
The original Monster removal tool, Raigeki is one of the most dreaded Spell cards in the history of Yu-Gi-Oh! This Spell is maliciously simple, destroying all Monsters your opponent controls when activated. In many cases, this effect allows you to clear your opponent’s field for a devastating direct attack.
In the past, Raigeki has been limited to a single copy in a deck, meaning it’s more of a lucky draw than a Spell you can build a strategy around. Currently, Raigeki has unlimited status in the TCG, allowing you to have three copies of it in your deck and making it one of the absolute best options for destroying Monsters.
1 Compulsory Evacuation Device
This Trap card is one of the more versatile Monster removal cards, allowing you to target and return any one Monster on the field to the hand. Compulsory Evacuation Device is useful for preventing your opponent from Special Summoning multiple Monsters since you can use it to effectively negate their Normal Summon. It also sends Synchro, XYZ, Link, and Fusion Monsters back to the Extra Deck without destroying them, meaning it can remove most of those Monsters.
Since Compulsory Evacuation Device’s effect works on your own Monsters, you can use it to prevent your opponent from stealing one of your cards. Or you can use it to protect a vulnerable Monster with an effect you want to have ready for your next turn.