Yu-Gi-Oh's #1 Flaw: Creature Removal

Lets start this out with my definition of rampant removal (the real issue at hand), and then discuss why it seems to be the number one flaw with this great game. Rampant removal would be those 1 for 1 cards that have the effect of instantly destroying a card and have no, or hardly any cost or drawback, and have a minimal or non-existent activation requirement. Examples of this are as followed:

Smashing Ground - knocks out your opponents most powerful monster
Fissure - knocks out your opponents weakest monster
Nobleman of Cross out - Kills your opponents face down creature
Mystical Space Typhoon - Quick play magic card destroying any other magic or trap on the field
Trap Hole - Prevents the summon of any monster with 2000 defense of less (excluding special summons)
Bottomless Trap Hole - Same as Trap Hole but can kill special summons
Sakuretsu Armor - Kills your opponents attacking monster

There are more, but you get the point. Of the cards mentioned none have any cost, and they are only balanced out by an activation requirement, and that requirement is so minimal, it might as well not exists. A "face-up" or "face-down" only target are natural progressions of the game. The game becomes a horrible mess with the cards around, if you don't summon a monster to attack, you lose. If you don't set monsters when you need to defend or need to use a flip effect, you lose so the cycle seems endless.

There needs to be more balanced removal in the game. A few examples of cards with cost that remove monsters from the field are

Tribute to the Doomed - Cost a card from your hand
Dark Core - again, a card from your hand is required
Offerings to the Doomed - you skip your next draw phase

So removal like this would add a lot more strategy to the game. Is removing a monster on your opponent's field worth the cost of a card from your hand, your next draw phase, ect? The player would be faced with much more in the way of decision making. Cards that remove creatures yet have no cost or adverse side effects are not used in a strategic way, but rather they are more often used to simply clear away the field for free LP shots. Yes the point of the game is to attack your opponent's life points but if all you're doing is, "I'll kill you monster with smashing ground, then attack" and your opponent responds on his next turn by saying "I'll kill your creature with fissure and attack" the game is a bit repetitive. Also many monsters become useless.

The constant removal meta that has settled over the Yu-Gi-Oh world creates an environment where Tribute monsters that don't instantly give advantage, special summon only monsters, and monsters such as fusions and rituals, essentially cannot be played at any competitive level. These monsters are played at a high price such as the sacrifice of two or more of your own creatures. High cost cards like Blue Eyes White Dragon, The Elemental Hero's, and Relinquished already put you at a disadvantage but with the hope of gaining from your sacrifice, but the fact of the matter is they may die at any given time for a one card investment, it tips the scale so heavily they fall off. You may create a deck based around Blue Eyes White Dragon and his fusion Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon. Everything can run perfect with the deck and by the middle of the game after a lot of hard work you finally get your chance to summon the great beast, then you attack only to be rejected by Sakuretsu Armor. You loose three high powered monster from your hand or field, multiple cards from you hand, and all the time spent setting up just because your opponent played that one card... and that's all he had to do was flip if face up, not really fair huh?

If these cards were talking about were of a higher rarity then it may not be such an issue, but the fact is most of these cards either are common, or have been reprinted in common form. An average player can easily find 10 -20 removal cards that cost nothing more then a flick of the wrist.

Part of the fun Yu-Gi-Oh brings to the TCG world is having to think your way out of a situation, using your wits to discern what your opponent may be planning and what card combinations you can use to counteract him. However in the current meta there is no skill in building a deck, no massive combos to brag about, no originality at all. Everyone runs the same removal in each competitive deck and because of this otherwise good cards see no play at all because they require time and focus to set up, only to be shot down with a thoughtless move that anyone and his younger brother could pull off.