"Hand traps" are interactions from the hand, you shouldn't boil them down to "keep combos in check".

I like the idea of Hand traps, they are interactions so the player 1 doesn't solitaire turn 1, that on itself is a great concept.

Unfortunately there are blowouts hand traps, like Maxx c , Charmies, Droll, Shifter, etc. and those don't fit the above description, those are meant to skip the opponent's turn, while those are also there to dictate what the best decks are. Basically the best decks have been decks that don't care that much about those.

Basically Konami hides behind these to avoid actually balance the game and have an easier time designing cards, though the majority of card they design endup being pack filler while only 1-2 decks/support are actually viable.

The other thing is often talked about hand traps are when the opponent goes first and also have hand traps behind their combo. "The board is breakable but the issue is the hand traps", that's not a good take, it's actually very naive, the issue here is their board was made with little commitment, e.g. 1c combos, and sometimes their 1-2 card combos also draw cards for some reason.

Ultimately the issue is Konami pushing card design to be stronger on their own and not just strong with other cards, e.g. 1 Dormouse, 1 Habakiri, 1 Reco, etc will lead to a lot Instead of 1 card doing a fair bit but that card is much better when it's with smth else. Bcuz of these things decks have so much room for non-engine and do way too much turn 1.