An Unnecessarily In-Depth Guide to Stun

Published on July 18th, 2024 by

Forbidden Scripture: A Comprehensive Guide to Stun.

if the image doesn't load, blame markdown

Foreword

It's been a while, greetings. I'm

, coming in to become a menace once again and updating my Stun guide from 2 years ago to fit the modern world of Master Duel. Quite a number of changes happened since then, and it became quite outdated rather quickly. Especially since the release of Runicks a month after the initial guide, not to mention the myriad of other tools the deck has obtained from some set releases. This update will be for the people having a bad day and want to take out their stress on unsuspecting victims, or for the outcasts of society that decided to be an [redacted] today. This new guide will be taking a more different approach, however. The previous one explained all the floodgates and most of the variants of the strategy, while this one will be more of a metagame analysis to try and explain which Floodgates work and don't work during a specific format. It's to maximize the amount of annoyance you'll be exerting against the ladder. I can't yap anymore, time to get on with it-

Link to the previous guide.

Very important reminder:

Please, as much as possible, don't take out your anger and frustrations about this strategy on other people. If you get hit by stun on your ladder climb, feel free to vent out your frustrations in any way you can. But please, just don't hurt yourself by beating yourself up, nor should you hurt other people verbally and mentally by insulting them or sending any sort of threat. Don't take the bait and let the stun players get into your head. If you ever resort to being toxic to everyone, maybe it's time to... drop the game and take a break. It's not them that has a problem just because they play stun. Maybe it's you.

Another note from me, I don't agree that Floodgates should be available in this game, at all. They don't deserve to exist in this environment and should absolutely get banned. Konami, please fix your game.

why do I even bother with this reminder, not like you guys would read this and just be terrible people anyway.

Introduction
What's New with Stun?
Floodgate Analysis
Anti-Meta Deck Analysis + Decklists

A quick rundown to what "Stun" is

Basically a shorter version of the previous guide

What is Stun?

Stun Decks are a type of Anti-Meta Deck that aim to set up a hostile environment that punishes the opponent continuously for doing certain things, usually Summoning Monsters or activating card effects. Stun tries to limit or hinder specific aspects of gameplay. It's not quite a true stall Deck, as Stun Decks usually have a very aggressive beatdown strategy to supplement the stun environment; and it's not really a lockdown Deck, as the opponent is merely punished for doing certain actions, not kept from doing those actions altogether.

What is a Floodgate?

Floodgate is an unofficial term for a card with a Continuous effect that restricts one or both player from interacting with game mechanics in some form. They could come in the form of a Spell/Trap card, or as a Monster card. Usually, however, most floodgates that you'll see/hear of would come in the form of a Continuous Spell/Trap, such as Loading... , Loading... , or Loading... . But sometimes, they'll be taking the shape of a monster, such as Loading... , Loading... , or Loading... .

Stun vs Stall vs Control

Some people seem to be confusing what each gameplan does, so here's an explanation for each of them.

Stun is all built around completely preventing the opponent from accessing any of their available plays that they may have had, with the help of FLOODGATE CARDS! Stun decks have two primary win conditions, which could either be beatdown with Monsters, or by making the opponent quit the game. This strategy is common in decks such as Eldlich, wherein the deck plays an arsenal of different floodgates such as Loading... , Loading... , and Loading... , which can all shut down most decks at once, and slowly winning by attacking the opponent with Loading... , or their archetype Trap Monsters such as Loading... . However, nowadays this is mostly associated with Pure Stun Strategies [usually referred to as "Anti-Meta"] involving monsters such as Loading... and the Barrier Statues alongside protection and ATK boosting cards such as Loading... and Loading... .

Stall decks seem to be the same as stun. But with one difference, which is the main win condition of the gameplan, with it quite usually being alternate win conditions that's not attacking, such as burning the opponent's LP to 0 or Loading... . Stall decks aim to stall for time in order to achieve victory with their chosen Win Condition. They can play floodgates in order to slow the opponent down, but more often than not, stall will play cards that will keep them relatively safe from taking damage. Examples being cards like Loading... , Loading... , and Loading... in order to prevent dying from battle. If they survive long enough, they will reach the state where their win-conditions are met and will receive victory. Loading... , Loading... , Loading... , and Loading... are examples of the usual Stall win-condition.

Control decks aim to win the battle of attrition against their opponents. Control decks want to outvalue the opponent, and force them into a simplified game state with their cards. Most Control decks achieve this by using cards that trade 1 for 2+ against the opponent, such as Loading... and Loading... . And some Control Decks even opt to play cards that can slow down an opponent's gameplan such as Loading... in order to ramp up more efficiently. Decks that are designed to have a control based gameplan quite usually have an in-built archetypal way to gain a resource loop, such as with Eldlich, whose Trap cards cycle through the deck to gain a constant stream of Golden Lords and Traps. Or with Altergeists, gaining benefits that allow them to gain advantage on the activation of Trap Cards. Or with Labrynth who... instantly wins when Big Welcome resolves. In the late game, control decks shine as they will usually end up with more cards than the opponent, which imminently gives them the victory for the duel. Some control decks can indeed play Floodgates, but more often than not will prefer not to do so as they can be seen as bricks and can hinder the strategy by a bit. It's usually up to the player's preference if they want to play something like Loading... in Labrynth or Loading... in Altergeists.

there's supposed to be an image here

What changed with Stun/Stall over the past year?

1. New Card releases.

newcards

The previous guide was made over a year ago, about... 21 months to be exact. There's bound to be a lot of new cards that can change everything about the deck, and there certainly has.

1a. Indirect Stun Support + New Innovations

Loading... is an amazing protection card for your monsters, pairs especially well with Summon Floodgate monsters such as Loading... . Increasing your monsters ATK by 500 while decreasing your opponent's ATK by the same amount simply makes your Floodgate Monsters almost unbeatable by any other Normal Summon, making it so your opponent needs some sort of backrow removal if they want to deal with a Barrier Statue or a Pachycephalo. This is almost a replacement for Loading... , however they both have their own benefits that makes them both still good. Such as Moon Mirror Shield usually being better when going second, while Clockwork Night is better going first and ends up being better the later the game goes when you start getting more monsters on your field.

This isn't even mentioning the synergy it has with Loading... , which locks your opponent into only one monster if they aren't on a Machine Deck. The Type changing effect might also come in relevant against certain matchups as it also blocks out the opponent from monsters that need a specific type, such as Loading... .

Also, GY effect is never relevant so don't bother with that final bit of text.

Similar to Loading... , Loading... is another card with a lot of text that you play only because of 1 sentence in it. Golgonda is another protection type of card that is seen to be almost a core card to the strategy, as it can save your entire board of monsters and backrow.

Once per turn, if your opponent decides to either try and destroy a monster you control by battle, or use a card like Loading... to destroy your backrow, you can instead send a Fusion Monster from your Extra Deck to the GY that mentions "Loading... " in its fusion requirements in order to protect those cards from being destroyed. The best target for this being Loading... as it's able to get you Loading... during the End Phase. (Note: for budget, you can also just use the R rarity Fusions like Sprind or Brigrand)

This card is usually thought of as the best protection card for the deck as it's able to save you from a lot of what would be problematic cards like Loading... or a Normal Summoned monster that has bigger ATK than your Floodgate. It's versatility between being able to save backrow and monster (or both!) makes it more valuable than the likes of Loading... or Loading... . It still doesn't save the deck from Loading... though, so just pray they don't have it ;)

Loading... is what seems to be a card that was designed for slow control decks, and it ends up being a fantastic support card for stun. It's a card you WANT to draw on your first turn, as it will feel pretty lackluster on later turns. What the card does is remove your ability to activate monster effects in the hand, functionally taking away our handtraps, in exchange for drawing 2 every draw phase and being able to normal summon monsters twice per turn for the rest of the duel after its activation. This gives us the ability to ramp up really quickly, being able to have something like Loading... with a Barrier Statue alongside it turn 1, while fixing our Hand issues and giving us an additional draw every turn to give us the opportunity to overpower our opponent more consistently. It isn't really a necessary card to play, but the deck is pretty incentivised to play it after all the banlist hits to the other draw spells...

It doesn't stack, but luckily Morganite has a GY effect we can use that lets us discard another copy of Morganite to make it so the opponent cannot activate monster effects when we normal summon for the turn.

I'm not gonna sugarcoat it, Loading... is just a worse Loading... . Or perhaps it's better, depends on your perspective I suppose.

It's a counter trap that negates and destroys a monster effect on the field. And if you do this effect, you're also given the additional optional effect of banishing a monster from your Hand in order to summon that negated monster from the opponent's GY to your Field with its effects still negated.

Needing the monster to be on the field makes this a worse Loading... , as it can't respond to monsters in the Hand or the GY. But the additional effect might make it worth it if you hit a big monster like Loading... perhaps. Having to banish a monster in Hand makes it so unappealing though...

Iron Thunder has the capability of countering any Spell/Trap or Monster Effect on the Field at the cost of only half your LP. That's right, Loading... has officially been replaced as a better anti-Loading... or Loading... card, and this one can hit monsters too!. Note that, similar to Draco-Utopian Aura, Iron Thunder only negates cards ON THE FIELD, meaning it can't stop a Handtrap like Loading... or a Loading... in the GY.

Additionally, it also has another extra effect that might be game winning if the opponent doesn't pay attention to their zones. Iron Thunder also destroys EVERY card in the column where it negated a card. Meaning that if you negate a Spell/Trap activated in the Middle column, it will also destroy a monster that's in that column, and vice-versa. This can heavily punish an unaware player, especially if they do it in the 2nd or 4th columns where it can hit the EMZ... oh yeah this also affects your OWN cards so be careful. Luckily Loading... should protect you from your own card, assuming it hasn't been used yet.

Loading... is a great "last resort" or a "backup plan" type of card. It's Zeus' rival, and has a special summoning condition just like him. If you opponent summons 2 or more monsters from the Extra Deck during their turn, or even your turn, you're able to overlay Ty-phon on top of ANY monster you control. While on the field and while it has material, Ty-phon will prevent the effects of monsters with 3000 or more ATK from activating, which should give you the opportunity to use its second effect. Ty-phon's second effect lets you detach a material from itself in order to non-targeting return a monster from the field to the Hand. This makes Ty-phon a strong option to go for to break the opponent's board further. Note that summoning Ty-phon will prevent you from normal summoning further.

Of course, with Fossil Dyna and your other floodgates, you won't be able to summon Ty-phon for yourself. However, can still be made with monsters like Loading... or Loading... . You're not going to make Ty-phon a lot, but it will definitely feel very nice to have in your arsenal.

While not supporting Stun directly, Loading... and Loading... do greatly support the deck's best engine in Dogmatika. Garura pairs extremly well with Loading... , as when sent to the GY Garura lets us draw a card for free. It essentially turns Nadir into a Loading... as it now draws us 2 cards.

Bucephalus on the other hand is excellent support for Loading... . It has 3500 ATK, making it so you can target almost every monster in the game with Punishment (apart from like Loading... and some Malefics). This is even more relevant now that Loading... is a pretty common monster to face against. Bucephalus when sent to the GY lets you send 1 Beast, Beast-Warrior, or Winged-Beast from the Extra Deck to the GY. This will mostly be used for either the aforementioned Garura or Loading... .

Loading... was released and is a card we only play for the first line of text and nothing else. It acts as a Loading... or a Loading... against non-Synchro monsters. While yes, it does lose against Synchro based decks like Swordsoul or Mannadium, those decks are far more uncommon in comparison to the current meta that's more Link and Fusion based. This trait makes it more appealing than the aforementioned Loading... due to technically being more safer as it doesn't have a maintenance cost and isn't restricted to monsters with 1500 or more ATK.

Bit of a stretch to be calling these 2 "stun support", but I'll count them anyway. We all know who they are at this point so I won't explain much. They just help going second by a LOT and even reinforces our board when going first by pairing a Floodgate like Pachycephalo with Fenrir's effects.

Pairing nicely with Loading... , here comes Loading... and his Extra Deck compatriots. While a bricky combo, relying on opening both Cydra and Clockwork, it's a pretty neat way to clear the field or force an opponent's interaction when going second. If you don't know, since Clockwork Night turns everything into a Machine, the interaction allows for Loading... to contact fuse ALL of the opponent's monsters (and also yours if you choose) into Loading... without the opponent having the ability to respond to it. It's a funny combo that can make it worth while to play a copy or 2 of Cydra just to break boards going second. If you don't open Clockwork Night, there's still Loading... at least, which lets you use the opponents monster in the EMZ as material for its contact fuse. Realistically though, you're better off playing Loading... or Loading... for a more effective board breaker tool.

Loading... was a brand new innovation added to Labrynth and Branded as a way to lock down an opponent. This has been in the game since MD's release, and it was a card that flew past everyone's heads and hit everyone like a truck when it became a more well known stun staple. Turns out, it has an effect that's basically similar to Loading... if your opponent doesn't have any Spell/Trap to set. It added to the list of "sacky cards that instantly wins you the game if the opponent isn't prepared" and was seen in a lot of Labrynth decks as another Floodgate and in Branded decks as well as an option to send off of Loading... .

Now, obviously this is a pretty easy to out Floodgate. Simply just set an Loading... or a Loading... (cards that you most definitely have in your deck) and Five-Rainbow suddenly won't work. It turns it into a pretty terrible floodgate in comparison to others, but it does have a pretty strong use case as it completely counters Superheavy Samurai, as it is a deck that isn't able to play any Spell/Trap during their deckbuilding. Also, it affects YOU as well, which is why the best decks that are able to play it are decks that usually always have set Spell/Trap in their field, such as the aforementioned Labrynth.

1b. Runick's Debut

Just a quick mention of the deck as it has had a lot of impact on stun as a whole. This guide is all about anti-meta stun and not any other deck.

Runick is an unbelievable deck. It's a deck entirely compromised of Spell Cards in the Main Deck, Quick-Play Spell Cards that enable a Mill Strategy where you banish the cards in your opponent's deck until they run out. How they work is that they're basically just normal staple cards with an additional effect on top that banishes a certain number of cards from the opponent's deck face-up. A clear example would be Loading... just being a Loading... that also banishes 4 from the opponent.

Additionally, Runicks are also composed of Extra Deck Fusions which are summoned by the same Spell Cards that mill the opponent. These Fusions are supposed to act as defense for the Deck, as they're able to protect your cards and yourself just by being on the Field. With some of them also providing additional card advantage by virtue of adding a card from Deck or the GY.

These effects only come with a harsh cost of not being able to access a Battle Phase for ourself, meaning that winning through battle damage is pretty rare for the Deck... usually anyway. Also, each of the Quick-Play Spells are a hard once per turn, meaning you have to decided between activating their first effect that banishes, or their second effect to summon a Fusion. Which does surprisingly add some sort of skill to Stun decks.

And one of the biggest advantages of the Deck being Loading... ! On a Field Spell, it lets you activate Runick Spells from Hand during the opponent's turn, making them act like Handtraps... or Handspells in this scenario. This will make it harder for the opponent to contest a mere Loading... or a Loading... on the Field, as having any Spell in Hand will apply big pressure on the opponent. But this isn't even the good effect that Fountain has. The strong effect that directly benefits stun is the second one, letting you draw up to 3 cards every turn assuming you have a lot of Runicks in circulation. After you use a Runick Quick-play Spell, you're able to shuffle up to 3 Runick Quick-plays in your GY back into the bottom of the Deck in order to draw cards equal to the amount shuffled. And since you shuffle them back to the bottom, this effect will be incredibly reliable in drawing any power card you want, which will hopefully be your Floodgates.

Runick became a clear godsend for stun strategies. It's by far the best shell for the very powerful floodgates you have access to. A consistent way to protect your cards, powerful spells that can contest boards going second, a powerful draw tool, and even an alternate win-condition by milling. And the only downside with the deck being that games will take even longer than usual due to not having a Battle Phase available.

Of course however, this wouldn't last too long... well actually it kinda did, the deck had the chance to terrorize the community for about... an entire year XD

I'd usually be writing everything about a deck and would have individual card analysis but I want to save my own time for something else, besides,Runick already has their own Guide on the site anyway. Read here if you want a more in-depth explanation to how the deck works, even though it's pretty outdated with the banlist at this point in time.

1c. Horus' Debut

Sigh... I didn't wanna add this one but I think it would be a mistake to not include Horus Stun in this one. It's just going to be a quick mention, just like Runick.

Horus is another amazing deck that can host floodgates. Horus is a deck that's mainly played as Rank 8 Engine, as the deck excels at summoning a bunch of Level 8 Monsters from the GY to the Field as long as Loading... is on the field. Any way to get to the Sarcophagus can get you up to 5 monsters on Field that can be used as Tribute Fodder, or Xyz and Link Material. Just from this alone, the deck ends up being amazing as a core for a stun strategy. You get a lot of beatsticks on the board easily, and said beatsticks can access the best going second toolbox consisting of the Rank 8 toolbox. And said Level 8s can be used as a draw engine when paired with Loading... and Loading... as well, making it so you're more likely to draw your Floodgates. And because they all special summon themselves, you get the ability to Tribute Summon one of the best, yet not easily accessible, Loading... as well. This also gives them the ability to use another incredibly niche floodgate as well, with Loading... being a good enough card for them to play. It's a stronger Loading... that affects the Hand, at the cost of needing to tribute 2 monsters to activate, which shouldn't be too big of an issue in this deck but it is still a pretty hefty cost.

Horus, as a deck and engine, is also one of the most annoying decks to deal with. Loading... makes it so any non-targeting destruction effect doesn't work on the Horus Monsters, making them immune to the likes of Loading... , Loading... , or Loading... . And if you remove any of the opponent's cards on the field (by literally any form of removal) while there are any Horus monsters up, well too bad because you trigger their effects and the opponent just goes +10000 in card advantage. Loading... non-targeting sends one of your cards to the GY, Loading... adds back Loading... and Loading... to the opponent's hand, Loading... makes their monsters untargetable by effects and by battle, and Loading... makes the opponent draw up to 5 cards. Horus overall is just an incredibly annoying deck to deal with, even though they lose easily to the likes of Loading... or an Ash Blossom on Imsety's effect.

this is the most barebones explanation/description I can have for this deck and I'm not putting more effort into it.

2. The Banlist

banlistpog

Yeah, as everyone would have expected, stun has received quite a handful of hits. Some hits were meant to address other decks but accidentally caused some collateral damage to the strategy, these particular hits weren't too problematic as they were usually pretty insignificant. But of course, some banlist updates that they've released are actually totally directed towards "putting an end to stun", as most people would say. These are the kicker, and have really hurt the deck in a lot of its vital points. These hits have resulted in stun being mostly an inconsistent mess of annoying cards, but have never truly killed the deck. As they say in the Warcraft series, "There must always be a Lich King".

Full Banlist Update History

February 2023

March 2023

October 2023

November 2023

December 2023

Note: Loading... was also semi-limited on December 2022's list. Loading... was also semi-limited on January 2023's list.

March 2024

Note: Loading... was Semi-Limited, then was unlimited on August 2023, then was put back to Semi-Limited again.

June 2024

Banlist Analysis

So basically, almost all of the hits are directed towards Runick Stun, and just every powerful generic floodgate in the game. That should be pretty clear with how much Runick has been hit throughout the year, as all of its best cards are either limited or semi-limited. And it does an excellent job at putting a stop against that specific strategy. Refer to the 3 decklists below, the difference between the first two lists and the last is insane.

The deck has overall been stripped of all the best draw tools in the game with Loading... 's banning and all of the Pot cards being limited. It makes the deck, and pretty much just any deck that played it much more inconsistent as they'll have limited access to the rest of their deck. It especially hurts the deck's grind game, meaning the deck is now even more unreliable on the draw and will fold easily if the board ever gets broken.
Almost all of the best Runick cards are at reduced copies. While everyone agrees that semi-limits are almost pointless, that isn't really the case if you semi-limit multiple cards in a single deck. While Loading... is still at 3, the other good interruption spells are at lower copies. Considering that you can only use 1 effect on the quick-play spells once per turn, it's going to be much harder getting a "perfect" hand with the deck. Not to mention that Loading... is limited, meaning that if it ever get removed from the field, it's basically gone forever.
Every good Floodgate is now limited. Now, if you want to play any sort of stun strategy that isn't the usual Anti-Meta Beatdown, you'll have to rely on playing terrible or unreliable floodgates (such as Loading... ) just so your deck has more access to something that can stop the opponent. In tandem with the draw tools getting hit, Runick Stun is now a pretty inconsistent mess of a stun strategy, even with Fountain drawing you 3 cards every now and then.

Of course, this doesn't meant the deck is unplayable, but it does mean it's a lot more unfavorable compared to the more traditional version of Anti-Meta Stun. The chances of getting to your actually good floodgates is pretty slim, meaning in some games you're eventually just playing Runick with nothing else or vice versa. The deck is far more vulnerable now too, if they get past the initial protection of Hugin and destroy Fountain then your Runick engine ends up being terrible.

Peak Master Duel Runick Stun

40 cards

Number 41: Bagooska the Terribly Tired Tapir

Download

No Main Deck Monster

40 cards

Download

Post Banlist Runick Stun

40 cards

Download

Anti-Meta Stun stays winning!

As mentioned, the banlist hits were very much directed towards Runick Stun, and just all the general good floodgates instead of the standard Anti-Meta variant of Stun. Anti-Meta never cared about Loading... or Loading... , the deck very much preferred utilizing the Monster Type Floodgates like the Barrier Statues instead. So in terms of raw power, the Deck basically only lost the 2 copies of Loading... .

What does matter, on the other hand, is every other piece of Draw Engine. It should be clear by now with how many times I've mentioned it, but losing the Pots and especially Loading... is a huge consistency hit to any variant of Stun. It lets the deck have more access to their floodgates, but in Anti-Meta's case losing the draw engine hurts the deck's grind game and recovery by a lot. Now, the deck has to rely on Loading... for its draw power. It isn't bad by any means, but drawing an additional card every turn actually gives the opponent a win condition against the deck... by stalling the stun deck until they run out of cards to draw!

Overall, the deck is still very good. If Konami wants to kill the deck, then Loading... and every Barrier Statue has to go. Any other hit won't kill it and will make the deck simply more sackier, resulting in the deck being more toxic to face against.

Also, justice for Loading... ! What a funny ride it's been on.

Peak Anti-Meta Beatdown

40 cards

Download

Post Banlist Anti-Meta Beatdown

40 cards

Download

Floodgates Analysis

floodgatespog

Which Floodgate should you be playing right now? I'll only be listing the ones that are even closely worth considering playing in a deck, not just in Anti-Meta Stun, but in any deck.

Note: Some texts are just taken from the previous stun guide. Mainly the explanations to how they work and why they're relevant.

Effect Floodgates

Inspector Boarder

The first line of text is pretty easy to understand, you can't Normal Summon or Special Summon it if you have another monster on Field, meaning Loading... HAS to be the first monster you Summon over the course of a game. Having 2000 ATK/DEF for a normal summonable monster is quite a strong feat as well. It makes it so the opponent has to have another way to remove Boarder from the field, as there are barely going to be any normal summon that can contest a Boarder.

But other than that, Loading... is really just one of those cards that makes you go, "What?".

To put it simply, neither you nor your opponent can activate monster effects if there are no other monster supertypes (Pendulum, Ritual, Fusion, Synchro, Xyz, Link) on the Field. But for each supertype, players will get 1 instance of a monster effect activation.

Example:

You have Loading... on your Field.
There are no Monsters of any Supertype on the Field.

Your opponent Normal Summons Loading... , however, SnAsh's effect cannot be activated due to Boarder's effect, as there is no monster of any supertype on the Field. Similarly, your opponent activates Loading... adding Loading... . Poplar won't be able to activate its effect to Special Summon itself when added.

You have Inspector Boarder on your Field.
Your opponent has Loading... on their Field.

Opponent Normal Summons Loading... , they can't activate it since there's no supertype. However, they link SnAsh off into Loading... , adding a Link Monster on the board, which means the opponent can now activate one monster effect. They activate Loading... adding Loading... , now Poplar can Special Summon itself, taking up the one monster activationg the opponent has.

Note that you only get another activation if you summon a DIFFERENT supertype than the one you already have on the Field. Meaning that 2 Link Monsters won't get you 2 activations, it has to be another supertype.

Boarder's Viability in the Meta: Core in Stun Decks. Boarder pretty much hits every deck in the game, not just the meta, but the entire game. It's hard to find a deck that can easily deal with the card with only engine pieces, the only thing I can think of would be Mikanko due to Loading... , but almost every other archetype has to dig through their deck in order to find a way to get through border. At a glance, it does seem easy to deal with Boarder. Just summon Loading... or Loading... (since their summon isn't an effect) and beat over Boarder, easy. But remember, if a deck is playing Boarder, they will have some sort of protection. You're most likely going to have to contest against a Boarder with Loading... , Loading... , or Loading... set up, sometimes even a Loading... too. It leads to the point where the only consistent way to beat a Boarder is by drawing Loading... .

Skill Drain

Loading... , the most well-known and hated Floodgate in the game. Also one of the sacky Limited 1 cards, and for good reason. Blanket negating the effects of ALL Monsters on the Field is quite a strong feat. And only for a measly cost of 1000 LP, you get to have it stay up permanently. It's no wonder why people hate this card, as it turns out, most decks rely on their monster effects! And this card alone will be able to make your opponent quit in a fit of rage and frustration.

As I've highlighted, Loading... only affects monsters on the Field. This opens up the ability for some decks to easily play through it, or with it. More notably, a lot of decks are able to play from the Hand and the GY nowadays. Cards like Loading... and Loading... are able to remove Skill Drain off the Field from the GY. Decks like Vanquish Soul are able to dodge Skill Drain as well by using their deck's gimmick of returning monsters on their Field to the Hand as a Quick-Effect to tag out. And most notably, Loading... is still a card that exists. Acccesscode is able to banish itself to remove itself from the Field to activate its destruction effect, being able to remove Skill Drain at the cost of a big investment. Lastly, a lot of decks also now utilize some sort of backrow as part of their end board, and said backrow usually has some sort of removal. Decks like Memento and Swordsoul are able to remove Skill Drain if they manage to draw it.

Viability in the Meta: Still strong, however not a lot of decks can play it. And those that can, such as Labrynth, are usually better off without it. Being Limited 1 makes it pretty inconsistent as well. The decks that made great use of it, such as Eldlich and Phantasm Spiral, also have not aged well due to power creep. Although, Eldlich did just have a resurgence due to the Horus cards. In terms of Anti-Meta Stun, well this can be used as a backup plan in case the opponent negates your monsters. But still pretty unreliable as a one of.

Niche Picks / Side Deck for Tourneys

Loading... acts as a Loading... against Level 6 or Higher Special Summoned monsters. It's pretty specific, but does good enough against some of the decks currently in the meta. More notably, it does slow down Labrynth, Snake-Eye (Flamberge and Diabell), and Rescue-Ace. And it can shut down Branded and Kashtira very well. It's a pretty unreliable floodgate, but it works very well if it works. Note it only hits Special Summoned monsters, so decks like Floowandereeze and True Draco are unaffected as they Tribute Summon their monsters.

Loading... is a floodgate that can really only be utilized by control decks that don't special summon... which is not a lot. Once it's flipped face-up, it makes it so any special summoned monster gets negated and set to Defense position on the turn it's special summoned. It's basically a Loading... as a Continuous Trap. Any deck that can play this can use it to shut down the opponent indefinitely. What decks can use it? Floowandereeze and True Draco, both of which have better gameplans and floodgates respectively.

Loading... is just Loading... but for the Hand and the GY... nuff said. Play it if you're getting increasingly tired of Tearlaments I guess.

Loading... and Loading... negate the effects activated on the Field or GY by DARK or LIGHT monsters. respectfully. Being locked to one attribute make it a really situational floodgate, but similarly to the other ones in this section, if it works then it works amazingly.

Viability in the Meta: Like the name of this section suggests, these cards are basically only worth playing in a best of 3 format. They're all pretty unreliable, so you need to have knowledge of what your opponent could be playing to even consider playing these floodgates in a deck. Loading... is the most playable one here for ladder, as they slot in great in every Xyz or Link Spam deck and can counter a surprisingly decent amount of the meta (it negates Diabellstar and Flamberge). Loading... is also a pretty decent slot in for Floowandereeze and True Draco, but is pretty win more for said decks. Floo would prefer other non-engine or other floodgates (like Loading... ), and True Draco already has Loading... .

Negating Effects vs Preventing Activations

You may have noticed some of these floodgates say different things. Loading... negates the effects of all monsters on the field, while Loading... prevents monsters from activating their effects in the first place. Is there a difference? Yes! A massive one, actually.

Negating Effects

Turns off Lingering and Continuous effects.
Lets you activate and pay the costs that some cards may have, however their effects will not resolve.

Examples:

Loading... activates its effect to summon a Level 2 from the GY, however it will fail to resolve as it's negated. Additionally, Elf's effect to protect monsters it points from being targeted is also negated.
Loading... can still pay 1000 LP, however no cards will be drawn as its effect is negated. Heatsoul will also gain no ATK for each monster it points to.
Loading... is negated by Loading... which negates Lonefire's effects. It can still activate its effects to tribute itself, however the effect won't resolve and no Plant monster would be summoned. Though, this won't be the case with Loading... as it specifically states only affects the monsters on Field and when Lonefire tributes itself it's no longer on the Field and is in the GY.

Preventing Activations

Does not turn off Lingering and Continuous effects.
Just straight up, won't let you activate any effect.

‎ ‎ ‎

Examples:

You will not get any opportunity to activate Loading... 's effect to summon. However, it will still be able to protect monsters it points to from being targeted.
Loading... can't pay the 1000 LP to draw a card, but will still gain ATK for each monster it points to.
Loading... will just stand there... menacingly!

Summon Floodgates

The Golden Trio of Floodgates

The most consistent and most usable out of every Floodgates in the game. These 3 make up the trio of "cards my opponents randomly just sack me with", and is wildly hated by the community as a whole alongside Loading... .

They share the same section as they're all basically the same. Each one of them limits the Type or Attribute either player can have on the Field.

Loading... limits both players to only one Type of monster.
Loading... limits both players to only one Attribute of monster.

These 2 should be fairly easy to understand. If I have Rivalry face-up and I have a Warrior-type monster, I'll only be able to summon Warriors as long as it stays on the Field. I cannot go into a Link Monster like Loading... as it is a Fiend, however I would still be able to make Loading... as it's also a Warrior. Gozen would be similar to this, just replace the word Warrior in the sentence with an attribute.

Loading... (aka TCBOO) limits both players to only have 1 Monster of each Type on the Field active at all times as long as it's face up.

This might get a bit confusing, so I'll give an example:

I normal summon Loading... and activate its effects to add Loading... from my deck to hand. Normally, I'd be able to activate Poplar's effect to summon itself, but now I can't as TCBOO is preventing me from having more than 1 Pyro Monster on the Field. However, it doesn't stop me from summoning Loading... as it is a Spellcaster and not a Pyro. Similarly, I'll be able to Link off Ash into Loading... as it's a Cyberse and not a Pyro.

Another example, I normal summon Loading... and link her off into Loading... , a Machine. Now, due to the card's rulings, I am now stuck with Hayate on my field and cannot link her off into Loading... . This is because you cannot Link Summon a monster that has the same Type as a face-up monster already on your field. This applies to all other form of Extra Deck summoning as well.

Viability in the Meta: Rivalry and TCBOO are great, but Gozen is currently in a weird middle ground of being terrible and just ok.

Let's break down Loading... first. As we all know, we are currently in the year of FIRE, with Snake-Eyes and its other FIRE Engines taking over the meta by storm. It would be no surprise to know that Gozen doesn't really do much if all the opponent is summoning are FIRE Monsters. The biggest issue of note here is that Loading... is a FIRE, so even if you're able to lock down Snake-Eyes out of their premier Extra Deck toolbox of S:P and Apollousa, they will most certainly almost always have an out. Now interestingly, if they summon Loading... as their first play of the turn, this can actually shut them down, even if it's just for a bit, as Diabellstar is a DARK and not a FIRE. So lesson here is, don't just shotgun activate Gozen Match and wait to see what the opponent is on. Outside of Snake-Eye and other FIRE decks though? Gozen is pretty strong. Turns out, the monsters of the non-FIRE decks are usually split into 2 or 3 different Attributes. Examples being Vanquish Soul being split into DARK, FIRE, and EARTH, or Mathmech having to go through Cyberse Monsters of every Attribute in their main combo line. It's really only ineffective against Labrynth in the current meta.

Loading... and Loading... are a cute couple. Although FIRE is the current craze, said FIRE decks rely on non-Pyros to be even remotely viable. Flipping Rivalry against Snake-Eye effectively cuts them out of their entire Extra Deck, because surprise! There's only 2 Pyro Link Monsters and they're part of different archetypes. It also cuts them out of any engine they might be playing, keeping them out of reach of Diabellstar, Rescue-ACE, and Fire Kings. However, this is a trait that cannot be done by TCBOO, as TCBOO only really stops Snake-Eye from summoning Poplar out of Ash. Outside of FIRE Decks, they're also pretty effective. Whatever Rivalry can't deal with, TCBOO can, and vice-versa. Rivalry can't deal with Cyberse Decks (Salad and Mathmech), Labrynth, and Purrely, but can deal with the rest. It forces decks like Tearlaments and Kashtira to make awkward plays if they want to play the game, and can usually end up in them going minus. TCBOO can't deal with Tearlaments and Branded, but can deal with the rest.

Summon Limit

Loading... has aged pretty well, in my opinion. It's a card no one really considered, but due to the Limits placed on the best floodgates in the game, Summon Limit is now a great contender for a good floodgate to play. It's a pretty simple card as well, 1 sentence, neither player can summon more than twice per turn. This affects all forms of summoning, normal, special, and even flip summoning. Not sure about Gemini though, and I'm not gonna bother because no one has unironically gemini summoned in the past decade, even in draft formats I think.

I love Yu-Gi-Oh, because even a simple sentence like this can get people riled up about rulings. So here are some realistic scenarios that could give you knowledge you could probably use in your games:

Opponent has already summoned twice during their turn, however Summon Limit isn't flipped up yet. If I flip it now, does it stop the opponent from summoning?

Yes, if you flip it then the opponent won't be able to summon more since they already summoned twice. Summon Limit counts the summons each player has done even before it's face-up. Use this to your advantage to try and exhaust your opponent out of one card they may have. Say, they activate Poplar or Monster Reborn after their second summon, chain Summon Limit and make them waste the card/effect to gain more value out of the card.

Opponent normal summons a monster, I chain Loading... to negate the summon. Does it count towards Summon Limit's effect?

Nope, since the summon failed to resolve, it shouldn't count. Meaning the opponent can still summon 2 monsters that turn.

Viability in the Meta: Pretty relevant, but it's hard to find a deck that can really make use of it well. Like I mentioned, the good floodgates like Loading... are already Limited so Loading... becomes a pretty decent alternative to have. Especially considering the fact that pretty much every deck nowadays summon a LOT and locking decks to 2 summons per turn can pretty much lock them out of the game if you can clear the opponent's board every turn. The only real issue with Loading... is that it's pretty terrible when going second, whereas the best floodgates like Loading... have the ability to force the opponent to remove some monsters off their board.

NOTE: THIS CARD MIGHT ALSO GET LIMITED IN THE FUTURE DUE TO THE INCREASING USAGE RATE

Note: IT DID LOL. It's now the exact same as Rivalry and Gozen, just play it and try to sack the opponent with it if you want to.

The Monsters

The backbone of Anti-Meta stun. The cards that turns people into Redditors ready to leave the saltiest, saddest, and most toxic comments in the world. All of them basically share the same trait, neither player can special summon. But in the deck's case, it's really only the opponent that's affected. Yeah, turns out like every deck needs to special summon a lot and taking out that ability leaves them useless.

Loading... is the most consistent and used out of the three. It has the highest ATK out of the others, at 1200 ATK. Pretty pathetic ATK stat, which is why the strategy is so reliant on protection cards like Loading... and others. Not only is it a Floodgate, but there's also a very, very, small chance that you'll also be able to use Fossil Dyna as a board wipe with its first effect. It's a flip effect, so don't expect it to be relevant, it's probably gonna be relevant once in every... 500-1000 games of the deck.

The Barrier Statues are 1000 ATK bodies that also share an almost similar floodgate effect, locking either player out of special summoning monsters that don't share the same Attribute as the Barrier Statue. Short example, Loading... being a WATER means that while it's on the field, either player can only special summon WATER monsters and nothing else. This makes them kind of unreliable compared to Fossil Dyna because sometimes they just don't work, but they're still very good to have, especially since they have the second highest ATK. The Barrier Statues that are playable usually change every meta to fit in the appropriate Attributes.

Loading... has the lowest ATK of all these floodgates with only a measly 200! Even Loading... isn't saving Jowgen, meaning he requires Loading... and Loading... instead. But this has a big upside at least! Jowgen is a much better card going second compared to Fossil Dyna and the Barrier Statues due his first effect allowing you to randomly discard a card to destroy all special summoned monsters on the field. Yep, he can also act as a board wipe which is why some people prefer it over the former options.

Viability in the Meta: Absolutely core in Anti-Meta Stun. Pachy is always a 3 of, and the Barrier Statues and Jowgen are personal preference.

In the current meta of June 2024, Loading... and Loading... are the best Statues to have. WATER is still a horrible archetype, with decks like Marincess and Sharks being just average in terms of performance. LIGHT being the second best statue must have been a surprise, which is fair since it's a Chaos Attribute. But turns out the best Attributes right now are the trio of FIRE, DARK, and EARTH. And trust me, you don't want to play the EARTH Statue since Loading... is a card that exists. The decks that do use LIGHT also kind of rely on the other Attributes a lot to make their plays, most notably being Mathmech, Purrely, and Branded.

Kaiser Colosseum

Card got banned in the middle of writing lol. I'll keep this around though, just as a tribunal.

Loading... ̶i̶s̶ ̶a̶ ̶b̶i̶t̶ ̶s̶i̶m̶i̶l̶a̶r̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶Loading... ,̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶a̶ ̶s̶e̶n̶s̶e̶.̶ ̶T̶o̶ ̶s̶i̶m̶p̶l̶i̶f̶y̶ ̶i̶t̶s̶ ̶t̶e̶x̶t̶,̶ ̶I̶'̶l̶l̶ ̶e̶x̶p̶l̶a̶i̶n̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶̶̶"̶I̶f̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶h̶a̶v̶e̶ ̶a̶n̶y̶ ̶m̶o̶n̶s̶t̶e̶r̶s̶ ̶o̶n̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶r̶ ̶f̶i̶e̶l̶d̶,̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶r̶ ̶o̶p̶p̶o̶n̶e̶n̶t̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶h̶a̶v̶e̶ ̶a̶n̶y̶ ̶m̶o̶r̶e̶ ̶m̶o̶n̶s̶t̶e̶r̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶n̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶"̶.̶̶̶ ̶S̶o̶ ̶i̶f̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶h̶a̶v̶e̶ ̶1̶ ̶m̶o̶n̶s̶t̶e̶r̶,̶ ̶f̶a̶c̶e̶-̶d̶o̶w̶n̶ ̶o̶r̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶,̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶r̶ ̶o̶p̶p̶o̶n̶e̶n̶t̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶ ̶a̶l̶s̶o̶ ̶o̶n̶l̶y̶ ̶h̶a̶v̶e̶ ̶1̶ ̶m̶o̶n̶s̶t̶e̶r̶.̶ ̶T̶h̶e̶y̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶e̶x̶c̶e̶e̶d̶ ̶m̶o̶r̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶a̶m̶o̶u̶n̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶a̶l̶r̶e̶a̶d̶y̶ ̶h̶a̶v̶e̶.̶ ̶P̶a̶i̶r̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶w̶i̶t̶h̶ ̶a̶n̶o̶t̶h̶e̶r̶ ̶f̶l̶o̶o̶d̶g̶a̶t̶e̶ ̶(̶p̶r̶e̶f̶e̶r̶a̶b̶l̶y̶ ̶Loading... ̶o̶r̶ ̶Loading... ̶i̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶c̶a̶s̶e̶)̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶g̶e̶t̶ ̶o̶n̶e̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶m̶o̶s̶t̶ ̶f̶r̶u̶s̶t̶r̶a̶t̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶c̶o̶m̶b̶o̶s̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶g̶a̶m̶e̶.̶ ̶ ̶ ̶̶̶H̶o̶w̶e̶v̶e̶r̶,̶̶̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶c̶a̶r̶d̶ ̶d̶o̶e̶s̶ ̶N̶O̶T̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶c̶e̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶r̶ ̶o̶p̶p̶o̶n̶e̶n̶t̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶s̶e̶n̶d̶ ̶m̶o̶n̶s̶t̶e̶r̶s̶ ̶u̶n̶t̶i̶l̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶y̶ ̶o̶n̶l̶y̶ ̶h̶a̶v̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶s̶a̶m̶e̶ ̶a̶m̶o̶u̶n̶t̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶r̶s̶ ̶i̶f̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶a̶c̶t̶i̶v̶a̶t̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶g̶o̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶s̶e̶c̶o̶n̶d̶ ̶a̶g̶a̶i̶n̶s̶t̶ ̶a̶ ̶f̶u̶l̶l̶ ̶b̶o̶a̶r̶d̶.̶ ̶S̶i̶m̶i̶l̶a̶r̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶Loading... ,̶ ̶i̶t̶'̶s̶ ̶a̶n̶o̶t̶h̶e̶r̶ ̶f̶l̶o̶o̶d̶g̶a̶t̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶'̶s̶ ̶p̶r̶e̶t̶t̶y̶ ̶u̶s̶e̶l̶e̶s̶s̶ ̶i̶f̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶d̶o̶ ̶g̶o̶ ̶s̶e̶c̶o̶n̶d̶.̶ ̶I̶t̶'̶s̶ ̶a̶ ̶c̶a̶r̶d̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶m̶u̶s̶t̶ ̶s̶t̶r̶i̶c̶t̶l̶y̶ ̶o̶p̶e̶n̶ ̶w̶h̶e̶n̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶g̶o̶ ̶f̶i̶r̶s̶t̶.̶ ̶ ̶u̶h̶h̶h̶.̶.̶.̶ ̶n̶o̶ ̶r̶u̶l̶i̶n̶g̶s̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶t̶e̶a̶c̶h̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶o̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶o̶n̶e̶.̶ ̶I̶t̶'̶s̶ ̶a̶ ̶r̶e̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ ̶s̶t̶r̶a̶i̶g̶h̶t̶f̶o̶r̶w̶a̶r̶d̶ ̶c̶a̶r̶d̶.̶ ̶ ̶

̶V̶i̶a̶b̶i̶l̶i̶t̶y̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶M̶e̶t̶a̶:̶ ̶I̶t̶ ̶h̶a̶s̶ ̶a̶l̶w̶a̶y̶s̶ ̶b̶e̶e̶n̶ ̶g̶o̶o̶d̶,̶ ̶b̶u̶t̶ ̶i̶n̶c̶r̶e̶d̶i̶b̶l̶y̶ ̶r̶i̶s̶k̶y̶.̶ ̶N̶o̶t̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶s̶a̶y̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶i̶s̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶s̶t̶r̶o̶n̶g̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶l̶i̶k̶e̶s̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶Loading... ̶o̶r̶ ̶Loading... ̶t̶h̶o̶u̶g̶h̶,̶ ̶i̶t̶'̶s̶ ̶s̶t̶i̶l̶l̶ ̶a̶ ̶c̶a̶r̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶d̶e̶c̶i̶d̶e̶s̶ ̶g̶a̶m̶e̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶m̶o̶m̶e̶n̶t̶ ̶i̶t̶'̶s̶ ̶s̶l̶a̶m̶m̶e̶d̶ ̶o̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶f̶i̶e̶l̶d̶.̶ ̶I̶t̶'̶s̶ ̶b̶e̶t̶t̶e̶r̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶n̶ ̶b̶o̶t̶h̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶o̶s̶e̶ ̶c̶a̶r̶d̶s̶,̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶f̶a̶c̶t̶,̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶t̶e̶r̶m̶s̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶l̶o̶c̶k̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶d̶o̶w̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶o̶p̶p̶o̶n̶e̶n̶t̶'̶s̶ ̶m̶o̶n̶s̶t̶e̶r̶s̶.̶ ̶I̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶o̶p̶p̶o̶n̶e̶n̶t̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶r̶e̶m̶o̶v̶e̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶r̶ ̶M̶o̶n̶s̶t̶e̶r̶ ̶o̶r̶ ̶K̶a̶i̶s̶e̶r̶ ̶w̶i̶t̶h̶ ̶a̶ ̶s̶i̶n̶g̶l̶e̶ ̶m̶o̶n̶s̶t̶e̶r̶ ̶o̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶i̶r̶ ̶f̶i̶e̶l̶d̶,̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶y̶ ̶a̶r̶e̶ ̶m̶o̶s̶t̶ ̶l̶i̶k̶e̶l̶y̶ ̶j̶u̶s̶t̶ ̶d̶e̶a̶d̶.̶ ̶B̶u̶t̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶I̶ ̶m̶e̶n̶t̶i̶o̶n̶e̶d̶,̶ ̶i̶t̶'̶s̶ ̶s̶e̶r̶i̶o̶u̶s̶l̶y̶ ̶a̶ ̶b̶i̶g̶ ̶v̶i̶a̶b̶i̶l̶i̶t̶y̶ ̶m̶o̶s̶t̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶t̶i̶m̶e̶ ̶i̶f̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶g̶o̶ ̶s̶e̶c̶o̶n̶d̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶j̶u̶s̶t̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶c̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶o̶p̶p̶o̶n̶e̶n̶t̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶j̶u̶s̶t̶ ̶r̶e̶m̶o̶v̶e̶ ̶s̶o̶m̶e̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶i̶r̶ ̶m̶o̶n̶s̶t̶e̶r̶s̶ ̶l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶h̶o̶w̶ ̶R̶i̶v̶a̶l̶r̶y̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶G̶o̶z̶e̶n̶ ̶d̶o̶e̶s̶.̶

The Tribute Summons

More powerful than Fossil Dyna and Boarder, but they're high levels. For the likes of Loading... and Loading... you need to tribute 1 monster, but Loading... needs you to tribute 2 monsters due his Level being an 8. For obvious reasons, this puts them in the "really niche" category, as only very specific decks can effectively make use of them. But hey, at least they have actually good ATK Stats compared to the Level 4s. You don't want to play them in Anti-Meta since Fossil Dyna does their job already on a Level 4 monster. This puts them in a place where they're really only playable in either Runick Stun or Horus Stun as both decks can spam monsters easily while not needing a normal summon.

Loading... and Loading... are pretty self explanatory, they just stop players from special summoning. Ruler being the better one as it only prevents your opponent from special summoning, which means you're still free to do whatever. It's a pretty popular option in Horus Stun because of this.

Loading... is almost a Loading... . It just prevents either player from activating monster effects. This doesn't turn off continuous or lingering monster effects though. So it's basically more similar to Loading... and Loading... in this regard. This should have been included in the Effect Floodgates section but I didn't want to seperate him from the other 2.

Viability in the Meta: Uhh, yeah just play them in Runick or Horus Stun. They're honestly almost a core card to consider in those decks due to how powerful they are. No other deck can play them well (Monarch isn't alive). But likes I said, "almost core", you can also just forgo playing without them and stick to the other floodgates.

Graveyard/Banishment Floodgates

Graveyard -> Banishment Floodgates

Both of these cards are similar in the sense that they make it so cards that would go to the GY get banished instead as long as they're on the field. Loading... only affects monsters, but Loading... affects everything including Spell/Traps.

They make GY reliant decks, like Tearlaments, close to unplayable, while slowing down a lot of others. Especially nowadays since a lot decks like to interact with their own GY for extension and other stuff, like how the Labrynth Furnitures endlessly recur themselves every turn as long as they're in the GY, or how FIRE Decks like to have their monsters in the GY for Loading... and for herself as well.

An important wording you have to look out for when it comes to these floodgates is that some cards require the player to send it from the Hand to the GY in order to activate their effects, like Loading... or Loading... . Under these floodgates, these cards are unable to be used, as they don't go to the GY. Cards that say "discard this card" are unaffected though, so cards like Loading... and the Danger cards would still work.

Oh, I guess they're useless against some matchups which make them unplayable. You don't have to play Loading... for Loading... effect to work, by the way.

Viability in the Meta: You'll run into Vanquish Soul or Kashtira sometimes, but these cards are still really great to have in a Stun deck. Outside of the 2 aforementioned decks, it's hard to find relevant decks that don't mind their cards getting banished. Almost every deck in the Meta is affected and are forced to play differently if they want to get rid of these floodgates. It's not necessary to have GY Hate in a Stun deck, but they're pretty good to pass up on.

Temporary Banishment Floodgates

Just a quick shout out to these 2.

Loading... (DDG) is a Loading... that only lasts for one turn, on a Trap Card. This is not played at all in Anti-Meta Stun, and is only here as a quick mention for Labrynth and other Control decks that use Loading... . This is a decent option for said decks to counter GY decks while they end up being unaffected most of the time.

Loading... is a Hand-Trap version of Loading... . It lets you send it from the Hand to the GY in order to make it so anything that's sent to the GY is sent to Banishment isntead, including Spell/Traps. However, it's only activatable if you have no other cards in the GY, meaning that Shifter has to be the first card you use in a turn if you want to activate its effects. This card is excellent in ensuring that we get to make get to play the game if we go second, as it usually stops the opponent from playing the game, similar to how Loading... does it.

Viability in the Meta: You should probably play Shifter if you can, a turn skip card is too good to pass up in any deck. DDG is a very niche card that only works well in Labrynth, realistically. Just know that using both of them will delay your own self sometimes as you can't use Loading... under these banishment floodgates.

Necrovalley

Loading... locks down the GYs, preventing anything that goes in from getting out. Once it's on the field, anything in the GY cannot be banished, added to hand, shuffled to deck, summoned from the GY, or have their Types and Attributes changed. It's sometimes better than just banishing everything that would go to the GY like how Loading... does, as some decks like to have cards that activate when banished. But sometimes it's also much worse as it doesn't stop some card effects from activating in the GY, more notably cards like Loading... and other Extra Deck monsters that Dogmatika likes to utilize.

Being a Field Spell, it's much more safer as it can't be affected by Loading... . And unlike Loading... or Loading... , Loading... is much better when going second as it has immediate impact once it activates and resolves.

Loading... has the ability to discard itself to add Loading... from Deck to Hand, making it another/more copies of the card. But it can also just be another body on field to aid in beating down the opponent if you already have Necrovalley.

Viability in the Meta: Currently the better GY Hate for Anti-Meta Stun compared to Loading... . This is mainly due to the fact that the best engine for Anti-Meta just so happens to like the GY. Like I mentioned, Loading... doesn't stop card effects from activating, which makes it a Floodgate that doesn't conflict with Loading... , Loading... , and the cards you send to the GY like Loading... . If you don't plan on playing a Dogmatika package, then Loading... would be the better pick.

Honorable Mentions

Monster versions of Loading... . Ok so the reason Fossil Dyna and Boarder are good is because there's no Spell/Trap (that's legal) that have their effect. With Loading... , we already have Loading... for their effect. There is effectively 0 reason to play these cards over the Spell/Trap versions instead.

Viability in the Meta: Just play Boarder and the other monster floodgates, this ain't it chief.

Miscellaneous Floodgates

Spell Floodgates

You know, there's a reason why Loading... got banned. Stalling, or preventing the opponent from using Spells, which is about 1/3 of the game mechanics, is pretty ridiculous.

Loading... may only "stop" them for 1 turn, as it only forces Spells to be set before activated, but it is still one of the cards that people want to be banned, as some decks just instantly fold to it. Mainly decks like Sky Striker, Branded, and Runick are some examples of decks that just almost instantly lose when Anti-Spell gets flipped. Turns out, having to set your Spells makes these deck unplayable as they have to wait a turn to use their core cards. Which might not even happen as the player can just destroy the set cards they have. And due to rulings, Pendulums also die to Anti-Spell, as Pendulums cannot be set. Meaning you can't scale any Pendulum Monsters into a Pend Zone.

Loading... is, in essence, just the same as Loading... . While you control a Spellcaster-Type monster, your opponent cannot activate Spells, at all. It does come with the downside that YOU won't be able to activate Spells if you do not control a Spellcaster. Note that this only prevents activations, and not effects. If any face-up Continuous/Field Spell has been up on the Field before Secret Village, they can still be used for their effects.

Viability in the Meta: Not really worth it. Sky Striker and Purrely are still in the radar, but playing Anti-Spell to counter these 2 specific decks isn't really worth it. Especially since said decks also lose to other floodgates as well. It does slow down every deck in the meta, theoretically, but other floodgates are more consistent. Also, there really isn't a Spellcaster deck worth playing that can utilize Secret Village well. In Anti-Meta Stun, also not worth it. It can be used to protect us from Loading... and the such, but the deck doesn't have a consistent way to get rid of the set backrow. It's basically just stalling the inevitable for a turn. It also hinders us from using our draw tools like Loading... as well.

Card Draw Floodgates

Both of these do the same thing, which is preventing both players from adding cards to their hand, except by drawing them. In the current state of Yu-Gi-Oh!, adding cards to hand has basically made their way into every deck that exists past 2020. With decks such as Fire King, Superheavy Samurai, and Sky Striker having their main combo cards add about 2-10 cards onto their hand. Having these cards can shut these decks down, as without their constant searching, they become really inconsistent.

Loading... has made himself one of the best Monsters to include in stun decks, as he is both a floodgate for card searching, AND a way to negate Special Summons on a body with 1900 ATK Points. He helps in being a beatstick, and by being a Loading... at the same time.

To clarify: Drawing cards is also adding cards to hand. But there are two types of adding cards from deck to hand. First is by regularly drawing them, adding the top card of your deck to your hand. Second is by searching for them, taking a specific card from the deck and adding it to your hand. These floodgates shut down the second type of drawing, while leaving the first type completely free.

In Example:

Loading... and Loading... are unable to be used under Loading... or Rai-Oh, as they excavate the top cards of the deck and adds a specific one to hand rather than by drawing them.
Loading... and Loading... aren't affected, as they draw them normally.
A monster type example of this would be normal summon Loading... adding Poplar being affected, and Loading... pay 1000 draw a card being unaffected.

Viability in the Meta: Extremely meta reliant floodgates, but also just outclassed by other floodgates. No reason to be playing them over the other floodgates, and over other non-engine. With Fire King Snake Eye being more prevalent in the meta, it might be worth putting them in decks. Loading... is still a pretty decent option for Anti-Meta though, especially because of the 1900 ATK Stat. If you need a way to gauge how strong these floodgates are in the meta, just look at Reddit and see if people are doomposting/complaining about Loading... .

Zombie World

Loading... is on here for a specific reason, it's a floodgate for Tribute Summoning. As long as it's face-up, neither player can tribute summon a monster, unless it's a Zombie type monster. This is a floodgate for specifically Floowandereeze, Monarch, and True Draco. All of which are decks that aren't in style anymore. Note this is only for tribute summons, this does not stop Kaijus as they tribute for effect.

Anyway, the effect to modulate types to Zombie is also a pretty funny effect. Some decks are reliant on their Types being a specific one. So sometimes, this is also a floodgate that forces those said decks to play differently in a way just to have this card removed from the field. More specifically, Plant decks NEED plants to summon monsters like Loading... and Loading... , Unchained needs Fiends to make Loading... , and Cyberse decks usually need Cyberse for their extension and combo Links.

Oh! And before I forget, pairing this effect with Loading... and Loading... is extremely powerful. Basically, any non-Zombie decks that face against this combo just cannot play the game as long as both Loading... and one of these floodgates are face-up. This is because the monster on the opponent's field is modified to be a Zombie, meaning that Rivalry locks the opponent into Zombies only. Since Zombie World doesn't affect the Hand or Extra Deck, they can't summon any non-Zombie from the Hand or Extra Deck anymore. Same applies to TCBOO, as once other monsters hit the field they become Zombies meaning the opponent is going to control 2 monsters of the same type, which TCBOO doesn't like.

Viability in the Meta: Don't. Just don't bother with it unless you're Loading... 's biggest fan.

Level Floodgates

Funny Floodgates. Messing up strategies based on their level makes this more situational that other floodgates, as it has no effects on link and most fusion based decks at all. But when it works, it does wonders.

Loading... is a floodgate in which decreases the levels of the opponent's Monsters by one. This is very relevant against decks that aim to either Xyz or Synchro Summon a lot. Against Swordsoul, for example, you make it so Loading... and the token she Summons become Level 3 instead of 4, which blunders the numbers making them unable to synchro Summon their main Level 8 Synchros such as Loading... . Funnily, Swordsoul can play around this with Longyuan, because 5 + 3 is 8. Against Xyz based decks such as Kashtira, they won't be able to Xyz Summon any Monsters unless they also play a Rank 6 to compensate.

Loading... is an interesting one. It prevents both players from Special Summoning any Monsters with the same Level or Rank that they control. Meaning that if you control a Level 4 Monster, you can’t Special Summon another Level 4 afterwards. This also applies to Xyz Monsters with Ranks, meaning if you have a Rank 4, you can’t Special Summon another Rank 4. This fares extremely well against Xyz Decks for obvious reasons.

Viability in the Meta: Just play other Floodgates. If the meta ever becomes entirely Xyz and Synchro based, they go and play these as they'll probably be incredibly good in those metas. But until then, it isn't going to do anything against the current Link meta.

Battle Floodgates

Cards that protect you and your floodgates by making it so the opponent can't attack (with certain monsters). These are usually the weakest, yet playable floodgates in a stun deck. They usually do nothing on their own, but they become incredibly annoying when paired with other floodgates. However, these cards usually affect both players. If you do play these, then you better have an alternate win condition in mind... or hope the opponent just quits faster.

Loading... only works against Level 4 or higher monsters. Useless against Link decks, decent enough against Synchro, Fusion, and Big Beatdown decks. Funnily, against these decks Loading... is a better Gravity Bind as it also prevents effect activations.

Loading... stops ALL monsters with 1500 ATK from attacking. However, it requires you to pay a cost of 100 during each of your standby phases. Better hope you can kill the opponent in... 160 turns!

Loading... stops all non-Links from attacking, while Loading... stops all non-Synchros.

Viability in the Meta: They're alright. Pretty win more in actual stun strategies. Core in any Stall strategies, like Burn or Loading... , though.

Mask of Restrict

It stops tribute summons and tributing cards for costs.

Prevents Kaijus
Counters Ritual Decks
Counters any deck that requires a tribute for cost like Plants as it disables Loading... , Loading... , and the higher level Rikkas.

Viability in the Meta: lol, lmao, xd

will most likely never be a consideration for anything as there are always better cards. Play it if Rikka, Floo, and Drytron ever becomes meta all at the same time I guess.

Anti-Meta Deckbuilding

antimeta

There won't be a "Viability in the Meta" analysis here, just explanations.

Quick List of the Core Floodgates in Anti-Meta

Control Tools

Floodgates alone aren't gonna do much. Pair them with these cards and suddenly they'll be much more threatening!

Loading... is easily the best control tool to have in a Stun list. It utilizes one of the best forms of "removal", which is stealing the opponent's monster. This won't trigger any GY effects or other effects that activate when the monster leaves the field, like the Horuses, and since you steal it it wont go back to their Hand/Extra Deck so they can't reuse it in the same turn. The only downsides Crackdown has, is that it's a UR no one wants to craft, and that it's a Continuous Trap which means the opponent can take the monster back if they can remove Crackdown from the field.

Second best control tool to have. Loading... just targets and returns a monster to the hand. Really simple, doesn't trigger GY effects, and is really effective against Extra Deck monsters.

Loading... (IDP) is only playable in other Control decks like Labrynth or Horus Stun. Our own floodgates, Loading... and friends, turn off the card as we can't special summon which also means we can't use the second part of IDP to banish. It's a really good card if you can resolve it at the right time to hit the most important monsters your opponent may have.

Another strong control tool that Anti-Meta Stun can't use to its full potential. Loading... sends a card your opponent controls to the GY, at the cost of you needing to set another card in their GY to the field to compensate. Again, due to Fossil Dyna and friends, we can't set a monster with this meaning we're forced to set a Spell/Trap to their field instead of being able to choose a monster as well. Terrors is at its best when we're able to send a problematic card on their field to the GY while also taking out a monster in their GY which could have been used as a resource for their plays, especially if said monster had a GY effect.

Loading... (Daruma for short) is arguably the best generic trap card in the game right now. It flips all monsters face-down, and if either player still has a face-up monster, they must send those monsters to the GY. This acts as a really great staller while also acting as removal against Link Decks and unaffected monsters.

However, it isn't really advisable to use this card in Anti-Meta Stun. You flip your own floodgates face-down, so you're giving the opponent an opportunity to play the game. Against this deck, your opponent is just gonna have 1 monster on field at most, so this card's value deprecates.

Loading... is also really simple. You target a card, and then discard a card to banish that targeted card. You basically go -1 for a good piece of disruption. Though, interestingly, targeting the card is a cost while discarding is an effect. If you opponent removes the card you targeted off the field, you don't have to discard. Oh, and since it's a Paleozoic card, it can summon itself as a Level 2 body if you activate a trap card... which doesn't matter since you're probably locked out of special summoning because of Fossil Dyna.

Protection Cards

First 2 have already been explained in the "What's New with Stun" section. TL;DR

Loading... is a very strong board-wide stat modifier. Decreasing your opponent's ATK by 500 while increasing yours by 500. Also messes with the attributes of monsters on field turning them to Machines.
Loading... can save you from board wipes and battle, as long as you have an Albaz Fusion in the Extra Deck to send.
Loading... modulates the ATK and DEF of the Equipped monster, to make it so they will ALWAYS have 100 more ATK than the monster they are battling. This will make it so dealing damage through battle will be incredibly slow, as you will always deal 100 damage. But it guarantees that the monster equipped with it will always win the battle. Put this on a Boarder or a Fossil Dyna and it's basically an insta win.
Loading... is the worst out of these 4. It can make a floodgate untargetable and indestructible from card effects, make it indestructible from battle, but gives it a downside of not being able to attack directly. While it does sound strong, it does lose harder to backrow removal as well due to it also destroying the monster it’s “equipped” to when it leaves the field. This card is only really relevant when it comes to protecting from Loading... as finding people that play backrow removal is pretty rare.

Just some counter traps that can help in protecting your floodgates. No need to explain Judgment or Strike, I suppose?

While Warning can't protect you from everything, it's a pretty relevant card in Stun as it can, similarly to Loading... , negate the summon of a monster entirely. This affects normal summons as well, so it's usually played as both a budget option and just a good card in general to stop the summon of a monster that could potentially run over your floodgates.
TL;DR for Loading... , budget bootleg copy of Loading... for people that don't want to craft/pull for it since DUA is in a structure deck.
Loading... is a better Loading... , worse Loading... .
Loading... , Loading... , and Loading... are all very strong when going second. Loading... and Loading... are stronger going first but weaker going second.

The Mirror Forces, bad in everything else but we slow the game down just enough that these actually become decent. Don’t think I need to explain what the mirror forces do, do I? Anyway, the 3 highlighted here are usually the best ones. It’s up to you to choose which one you want to play. The Mirror Forces are usually decent in stun as another form of removal and protection for your monsters, or for yourself. Realistically speaking though, these are too weak even for stun. If the opponent does break the board, chances are they can also deal with it before entering battle. They’re really only playable as budget options.
Nhymnim reference! Loading... gets a special shout out. While it only works on 1 monster, it shuffles the monster back into the deck instead of bouncing or destroying them, AND it also triggers on your own attacks which gives it an additional piece of utility.

Brother you are not this desperate to find a way to counter Loading... or Loading... . These two cards are just here as a quick shout out since I had them in the last guide. But since we have Loading... now, and soon Loading... , there’s really no need to play these cards anymore. They’re way too specific and can more often than not just be dead cards in your deck.

Draw Tools

Absolutely mandatory cards. The biggest issue that Anti-Meta has is the huge reliance on draw engines. You’re not always going to open a floodgate with protection, so you need to draw some cards if you want to see them. So the Pot Cards are all needed in the deck for it to be consistent. Drawing 2 cards with Loading... and Loading... is great for comeback potential, while excavating the deck with Loading... and Loading... to make it so you see your best cards often turns out is really amazing for any deck. Luckily we can play all of them since we don’t Special Summon much, bypassing Duality’s restriction, and we don’t use the Extra Deck at all so the cost for Extrav and Prosperity isn’t a big issue (unless you’re on Dogmatika).

Unfortunately, the Master Duel team has decided that generic card draw was too good in this Best of 1 World and have decided to limit all of them. With this, we can consider Loading... as a good card. It effectively cuts down the size of the deck by 1-3 cards so seeing our playable cards should be more likely. However, there is some conflict with Upstart and Loading... and Loading... . If you use either one of them, then you turn off the other making them unusable for the turn. This is due to the additional restriction the 2 pots have, preventing you from drawing cards during the turn and only letting you use specific add effects. This makes Loading... a bit of a risky card, believe it or not, since we very much prefer either Extrav or Prosperity over a single draw. Doesn't mean it's bad though and could definitely be a decent consideration to add in the deck.

Loading... , you see the opponent use this card and you already want to press the button on the top left of the screen. Already explained it in the “What’s New” section, so here’s a TL;DR

Fixes the deck’s issues of having no draw power by making it so we draw 2 cards every draw phase instead of 1. However, this doesn’t immediately draw you 2 cards and is a card that absolutely must be seen early in the game to be good.
Allows you to normal summon twice per turn, making it so a set-up with Boarder and a Fossil Dyna or a Statue is possible turn 1 to maximize locking down the opponent.
Makes it so you can’t play handtraps for the entire duel after you use it.
Downside: gives your opponent an alternate win-condition of waiting for you to deck out due to drawing too many cards.

Just a quick "homage" for the card since it was banned.

#RIPBozo

Card 100% deserved to be banned. Only decks that could play this were degenerate and unfun pieces of garbage. While Stun players would miss the card, it's better off dead for the health of the game.

Other Monsters/Engines

The Dogmatika Engine is an absolute lifesaver for stun strategies. They aid the deck and fix all of Anti-Meta’s problems. It’s card draw, disruption, protection, and can even be a board breaker for going second. All of it due to Dogmatika’s gimmick of sending cards from your Extra Deck to the GY.

Loading... is the best part of the engine. By sending an Extra Deck monster to the GY, you get to add Loading... from the Deck to the Hand. Ecclesia will get you Loading... on her summon, which is a Trap card that will similarly send an Extra Deck Monster to the GY in order to target and destroy a monster on your opponent’s field with equal or more ATK than the sent monster. While it doesn’t seem much at first glance, you have to look at the pool of Extra Deck monsters that you send with this in order to fully see the value you get from this engine.

Loading... draws a card when sent to the GY. It effectively turns Loading... into a Loading... or a Loading... . Turning Dogmatika into an excellent draw engine for the deck.
Loading... will destroy a card on the field when sent to the GY. Turning Nadir into a removal spell while making it so Punishment destroys two cards instead of one.
Loading... bounces an opponent’s face-up card to the Hand. Again, turning Nadir into a better form of removal as it won’t trigger enemy GY effects and also enhancing Punishment for the same reason.
Loading... is a Quality of Life addition to the pool of monsters. It has 3500 ATK, enabling Loading... to target a more wider array of monsters (most notably once that have more than 3000 ATK, like Loading... . And when sent to the GY, Bucephalus will also send a Beast, Winged-Beast, or Beast-Warrior monster from the Extra Deck to the GY. Which allows you to send Loading... or Loading... to draw a card.
Loading... which can add another copy of Loading... to your Hand during the End Phase. Could also add Loading... if you choose to play it.
Other monsters not shown on the list above will include Loading... for shuffling cards in your opponent’s GY. Loading... and Loading... as budget alternatives to N’tss. Loading... as a way to punish the opponent for using removal. And Loading... for a targeting negation.

This is how Anti-Meta uses the Extra Deck. We are able to utilize all of these monsters with the Dogmatika Engine to strengthen the deck’s overall power. Suddenly, Anti-Meta doesn’t just instantly lose when going second. Though, don’t think that it will instantly dismantle boards. Realistically at best, it would just force out one interaction from the opponent.

Funnily there’s also an added benefit to this engine, albeit a pretty risky one. Loading... is a Spellcaster monster, which enables the deck access to Loading... .

There is one huge downside with the Dogmatika engine. Remember, the monsters need to hit the GY for their effects to work, and the Dogmatika cards need to send to the GY as well. This means that it has some huge anti-synergy with some of the best floodgates in Loading... and Loading... as they essentially replace the GY with the Banishment instead.. The only GY Hate the deck can play with this engine would be Loading... , and luckily Loading... as it only lasts 2 turns.

Tech that has fallen over time. Loading... and Loading... used to be decent considerations to have as backup monsters. It’s quite slow as it takes a turn to actually summon God Slime, but waiting a turn is pretty doable for Anti-Meta. God Slime essentially makes it so your other floodgates are protected from both battle, and targeting card effects, on a 3000 ATK/DEF Body that cannot be destroyed by battle. It was really strong, and it still is today. However, due to the limitation placed on Loading... , it’s no longer that reliable of a monster as now we’re more reliant on Loading... which prevents us from actually summoning God Slime. For God Slime to work consistently, we’d have to either normal summon Boarder or Loading... . Not that hard to accomplish, but at this point we’d rather have another card in the slot of God Slime, like Golgonda.

Loading... also fell off over time due to the same reason as God Slime. Can’t summon the tokens with Fossil Dyna or the WATER/LIGHT statue, meaning you’d have to play Loading... for it to work. The payoff Loading... brings is in the form of link climbing, as we essentially get to make Loading... or another Link-4 monster for free. Again, with Boarder being limited, this small engine has really fell off.

Loading... is an interesting monster. Getting this out of the way, she’s a Spellcaster that can theoretically enable the deck to use Loading... , not too relevant though since it’s a pretty inconsistent card in the deck. On her normal summon, she can add another copy of herself from deck to hand, or any other Spellcaster with 1850 ATK (like the Charmers) but it’s not like you’re gonna play any other target for Luna. Good for thinning the deck while making it so you’ll have another copy of Luna for next turn.

On to her actually relevant second effect, allowing Luna to target and potentially bounce an opponent’s monster and herself on a Quick-effect. I’m saying “potentially bounce” as the opponent actually can choose to negate this effect by sending a monster with the same name as the targeted monster from the Deck/Extra Deck to the GY. Using this on an Extra Deck monster though, will pretty much guarantee the bounce as some decks only rarely have more than 1 copy of a boss monster in the Extra, unless it’s like Labrynth with Loading... . Funnily, because of the fact this effect sends a card from Deck to GY, it can also be negated by Loading... . This effect is very good as Luna can essentially act a board breaker on a normal summon when going second. It pairs extremely nicely with Loading... as well. As it’s a soft once per turn, you can normal summon Luna again to attempt to remove another monster off the field.

Staples, are they worth it?

It all depends on you, honestly. If you want to have an easier time if you lose the coin flip and go second, then definitely play some of these. But statistically speaking, Handtraps have shown to be pretty unideal for Stun. If you do choose to play some staples, then the best ones would be the board breakers.

Handtraps do have the ability to slow down or even stop every deck in the game, however in the current state of YuGiOh a single handtrap just isn’t enough in the meta game. More often than not, to stop a deck like Fire King you’d need to have about 2-4 Handtraps just to even put yourself in a decent position against the deck. In Stun, we can’t really facilitate that as playing a mass of handtraps isn’t what the deck wants. Unlike the meta, stun isn’t a one card combo and requires you to open a myriad of your main pieces to achieve the win condition of the deck. If we build the deck with 9-18 Handtraps, the chances of the deck opening a hand that has a floodgate and protection is pretty slim. You want power cards, and handtraps aren’t the power cards the deck wants.

In this case, Board Breakers are more recommended and favored by the deck. Cards like Loading... and Loading... are much better for the deck as it wants to make sure the opponent’s board is empty or clear of problematic cards in order to facilitate our floodgates. When the deck is able to break a board, it can try to immediately force the game into a simplified game state by normal summoning a floodgate like Fossil Dyna.

So basically, Board Breakers are more efficient in ensuring we get to play going second in comparison to hand traps. In fact, I'd say Loading... or Loading... is a core card to the strategy right now.

Wait, but what about Loading... ?

Loading... is a strange card to discuss in Anti-Meta. We all know that it can be a turn ender against decks that need to special summon. But it does have some minor issues with Stun. For starters, we’re playing stun, we restrict the opponent’s ability to special summon so going first with this card makes it pretty useless. Same should go for the likes of Loading... , Loading... , and other board breakers, but at least those board breakers are usable in future turns. In contrast, as long as we have Fossil Dyna on field, then Loading... will never be valuable. On the contrary, it should be a turn ender when going second… theoretically! The existence of Loading... , Loading... , and Loading... makes the usage of Loading... much more unreliable. Of course, that could be said for every other deck in the game, but the difference is that like I said, Anti-Meta does not want to be playing a myriad of handtraps. If Maxx “C” gets negated in other decks, they would still have cards like Loading... or Loading... most likely in their grip so they would have more interaction with the opponent. But in Anti-Meta, if we only play Loading... then we’re relying on the fact they just don’t have any way to play around Loading... for it to be useful. The deck uses Maxx “C”, the opponent negates it, and we have basically removed 1 card from our opening hand. So in regards of a "Turn Skip" handtrap for Anti-Meta, Loading... is far more preferred as it has less counters than Loading... . It still loses to Loading... , but doesn't lose to Ash Blossom and Crossout at least. Maxx "C" is definitely still playable though, play it if you don't have Shifter as a replacement.

Random Deckbuilding Tidbits

Jowgen vs Barrier Statues

Jowgen

200 ATK makes him so unappealing when going first. This requires you to open Loading... or another protection card like Golgonda or a Loading... /Loading... if you want Jowgen to live the battle phase.
Strong effect when going second, can be a board wipe just by discarding a random card from hand... assuming the opponent doesn't just negate this anyway. Yeah the fact the opponent can just negate and destroy Jowgen makes this pretty unreliable.
Has the same floodgate as Fossil Dyna, unlike the statues that are attribute locked.

Barrier Statues

Has 1000 ATK which make them more appealing than Jowgen and makes them pair pretty well with Loading... .
yes the higher ATK is the only reason the statues are played more over Jowgen.
Downside of the statues is that you're playing a roulette and hoping the opponent isn't on that specific attribute.

Really, it all depends on you.

Moon Mirror Shield vs Clockwork Night

Moon Mirror

Stronger if you're playing Jowgen in the deck.
Much stronger when going second since it guarantees you clear an opponent's monster in battle.
Pairs strangely well with Loading... 's extra draw. When sent to the GY you pay 500 and put Moon Mirror to the top of your deck to draw it for the next turn alongside another card.

Clockwork

Gets stronger as the game goes on and as you summon more monsters.
Makes the game feel faster than it seems because you're actually dealing damage on your attacks.
Can randomly screw over some decks that rely on a specific attribute by turning them into machines.

You can also just have the best of both worlds and play them both, which is what most people prefer. Also, they aren't too important and could very well be replaced by more counter traps or control tools.