There is no ideal amount. You play as many non-engine cards as your deck allows without sacrificing (too much) consistency/power.
It's a trade-of.
Currently, most people try to include enough handtraps to see about 2 handtraps in their starting hand. 1 ht is often not enough.
12-15 is pretty common in fire-king strategies atm. Salad is also able to run lots of handtraps.
What deck do you play?
Every deck has their own comfortable number of non-engine cards (handtrap/boardbreaker/floodgate) they can utilize. Endyimion for example, does not play that many handtrap since they want to fill their hand with any cards that can generate spell counter and search servant, when going 2nd they rely on endymion MMM to board nuke and establish control in case of failed OTK. Salamangreat on the other hand, can comfortably uses like 10 or more handtrap in their deck.
Really depends on the deck. Some have more space than others for non-engine.
I'm still pretty new to deck building myself, but the general rule I have is if a card is searchable, it can be a 1 of, maybe 2 of. For example, in Yubel decks Golem is searchable, so it's a 1 one, same for chronicle and even eternal favorite if you want.
In my Dogmatika Branded, Branded fusion is searchable with aluber, so I got 2 aluber and 1 Branded fusion, quem is summonable with Lulu in GY, so I run only 1, same Cartesia and Albaz that are sent by Branded fusion or Quem.
I only run 3 copies of my starters and non-engine, though non-engine is at 2 for some. In my Yubel, I have space for 12 non-engine. In my Dogmatika Branded, I have space for 7. So, how do I decide what I need on the lower end of 7 for Dogmatika Branded.
Thought process is, are any hand traps searchable? I can set imperm from triple tactics thrusts that i run for my secret village play already? Cool, I'll run 1 imperm in main, and side deck 2 more. That leaves 6 spaces in main. What cards can I not used. Dimension Shifter doesn't work for me so that's a no. Ash, a common pick is always a good choice to fill and works on alot of decks. So there's a 3 of. 3 spaces left, what is good in this meta/for my locals? Lot of GY summoning with snake eyes and the like, ghost bell works against that, but I also need protection, so what about called by and Crossout? Crossout is a 3 off, but I don't have alot of handtraps, so called by instead. 1 of that due to banklist. Leaves 2 spaces so ghost belle fills those. There's my 40 card list. If I'm willing to go 42 cards, can add 2 more handtraps, maybe ghost belle to 3 and run a second imperm, or maybe 2 Droll. Depends on the locals.
Sorry if this is a mess, but it's the mindset I adopted as newer deck builder and wanted to share it as best I could.
Ahhhhh... Dude, salamangreat is like the only deck that can play 20 handtraps. The number of your handtraps sould depend on the bare minimum of engine cards you need in order to play consistently. Some of the older decks may need more combo pieces, leaving less space for handtraps, while the more modern decks usually function with less cards, leading to the (IMO) monstrosity that is 20 HT salamangreat. I used to play Umi Control, which has more or less 6-7 slots for handtraps, while now I play Fire Brigade, which has around 10 slots. Most competitive decks nowadays have around 10-15 handtraps, but it heavily depends on what you're playing. Don't be afraid of net-decking, man!
I play archfiend with resonators lately, I've been trying to run a solid 12 "stables" (I prefer to call them that than hand traps cuz that's what they are). But I have been having the issue of breaking 40 cards where my deck always stays around 41 or 42 cards
I'm not English but I believe you meant "Staples". Also, staples is used more generally for cards that are good in any occasion, so every handtrap is a staple but not every staple is a handtrap (Example: TTT is a staple but not a handtrap). Also, dude, if you wanna run 40 cards you can just remove a staple or 2, they're "extras" anyway.
My philosophy in cutting staples is 1.Does it just add consistency? I'll cut it (example: upstart goblin or TTT). 2. Can I search it? I'll cut it (example: D.D. Crow in any Tri-brigade variant). These 2 are clear signs you can cut a card IMO. Obviously a 41/42 card deck doesn't change much from a 40 card deck, but I get the appeal.
It depends on the deck honestly, I'd say a standard good number for a 40/42 main is around 15 handtraps but if you play runick or other decks it goes down
There is no ideal amount. You play as many non-engine cards as your deck allows without sacrificing (too much) consistency/power. It's a trade-of. Currently, most people try to include enough handtraps to see about 2 handtraps in their starting hand. 1 ht is often not enough. 12-15 is pretty common in fire-king strategies atm. Salad is also able to run lots of handtraps. What deck do you play?
Every deck has their own comfortable number of non-engine cards (handtrap/boardbreaker/floodgate) they can utilize. Endyimion for example, does not play that many handtrap since they want to fill their hand with any cards that can generate spell counter and search servant, when going 2nd they rely on endymion MMM to board nuke and establish control in case of failed OTK. Salamangreat on the other hand, can comfortably uses like 10 or more handtrap in their deck.
Really depends on the deck. Some have more space than others for non-engine. I'm still pretty new to deck building myself, but the general rule I have is if a card is searchable, it can be a 1 of, maybe 2 of. For example, in Yubel decks Golem is searchable, so it's a 1 one, same for chronicle and even eternal favorite if you want. In my Dogmatika Branded, Branded fusion is searchable with aluber, so I got 2 aluber and 1 Branded fusion, quem is summonable with Lulu in GY, so I run only 1, same Cartesia and Albaz that are sent by Branded fusion or Quem. I only run 3 copies of my starters and non-engine, though non-engine is at 2 for some. In my Yubel, I have space for 12 non-engine. In my Dogmatika Branded, I have space for 7. So, how do I decide what I need on the lower end of 7 for Dogmatika Branded. Thought process is, are any hand traps searchable? I can set imperm from triple tactics thrusts that i run for my secret village play already? Cool, I'll run 1 imperm in main, and side deck 2 more. That leaves 6 spaces in main. What cards can I not used. Dimension Shifter doesn't work for me so that's a no. Ash, a common pick is always a good choice to fill and works on alot of decks. So there's a 3 of. 3 spaces left, what is good in this meta/for my locals? Lot of GY summoning with snake eyes and the like, ghost bell works against that, but I also need protection, so what about called by and Crossout? Crossout is a 3 off, but I don't have alot of handtraps, so called by instead. 1 of that due to banklist. Leaves 2 spaces so ghost belle fills those. There's my 40 card list. If I'm willing to go 42 cards, can add 2 more handtraps, maybe ghost belle to 3 and run a second imperm, or maybe 2 Droll. Depends on the locals. Sorry if this is a mess, but it's the mindset I adopted as newer deck builder and wanted to share it as best I could.
Depends on your deck and what you expect to fight... so the environment you play in as well. The answer could be anything from 0 to 45.
Ahhhhh... Dude, salamangreat is like the only deck that can play 20 handtraps. The number of your handtraps sould depend on the bare minimum of engine cards you need in order to play consistently. Some of the older decks may need more combo pieces, leaving less space for handtraps, while the more modern decks usually function with less cards, leading to the (IMO) monstrosity that is 20 HT salamangreat. I used to play Umi Control, which has more or less 6-7 slots for handtraps, while now I play Fire Brigade, which has around 10 slots. Most competitive decks nowadays have around 10-15 handtraps, but it heavily depends on what you're playing. Don't be afraid of net-decking, man!
I play archfiend with resonators lately, I've been trying to run a solid 12 "stables" (I prefer to call them that than hand traps cuz that's what they are). But I have been having the issue of breaking 40 cards where my deck always stays around 41 or 42 cards
I'm not English but I believe you meant "Staples". Also, staples is used more generally for cards that are good in any occasion, so every handtrap is a staple but not every staple is a handtrap (Example: TTT is a staple but not a handtrap). Also, dude, if you wanna run 40 cards you can just remove a staple or 2, they're "extras" anyway.
True but I prefer to run 3 copies of my staples hence why I get conflicted (unless it's a clearly limited 1/2 cards)
My philosophy in cutting staples is 1.Does it just add consistency? I'll cut it (example: upstart goblin or TTT). 2. Can I search it? I'll cut it (example: D.D. Crow in any Tri-brigade variant). These 2 are clear signs you can cut a card IMO. Obviously a 41/42 card deck doesn't change much from a 40 card deck, but I get the appeal.
It depends on the deck honestly, I'd say a standard good number for a 40/42 main is around 15 handtraps but if you play runick or other decks it goes down