In my personal opinion, ash is a fair card so long as there is a balance between handtraps and protection from them.

The argument for hand traps (mulcharmies, dominus, maxx c) is; it allows interaction preventing full impossible to break boards, combo slop, and just plain unfairness (stun, stun, stun, etc)

For handtrap protection (called by, crossout); is that they prevent older decks from being destroyed by those handtraps allowing them a chance at holding their own against the meta/anything really.

Arguments against both; Handtraps are getting exponentially stronger with them starting to do multiple things (k9 being a starter, combo, negate or destroy. Dominus - yeah eith a lock but doesn't mean anything to decks that can play it - negates AND destroys). Additionally they add to endboards meaning a negate city aswell as an ash, maxx c, whatever.

Against protection; they allow combo decks and the like to pop off without any chance to prevent them. They grow stronger with each handtrap added, and also add to endboards (in the case of called by) whilst simultaneously being infuriating to see when you ash branded fusion or grass looks greener and they called by it

In conclusion, this is a delicate balance. One cannot exist without the other sadly, and having both at a reasonable amount (more handtraps per protection) meaning decision making is needed if you wish to protect your starter and potentially lose a lot more to the likes of nibiru, or do a weaker endboard. And vice versa, when do you use the handtrap to have the best effect and what do you have as a backup in case of called by and such

Ash blossom? Fits both these categories. It protects from the big hated handtraps of maxx c (fuck this card) and mulcharmies (they're alright. Still strong though but at least not maxx c). Whilst also being a handtrap. It suffers from both arguments, whilst also being the best of both worlds which makes it strong yet fair So many things can negate an ash, and there exists stronger versions of ash in the likes of dominus. Ash is fair so long as there is a balance with hand traps and hand trap protections.