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RikotheFoxKid on Yu-Gi-Oh!
October 2014 Banlist Review
In the past I have always done reviews of the banlist
through a YouTube video. I think I will be able to express
my views better through an article, so I will do that from
now on and leave my account exclusively for Deck Profiles. I
mean, why else would I have wanted to become a Featured
Writer?
So, it was quite late, but we finally received the October
2014 Forbidden/Limited List for the TCG. I have spent the
past week or two constantly refreshing the page at every
hour, hoping it would be up. When it finally went up at 2:00
PM on September 25th, I was sitting in my
Differential Equations lecture, taking notes.
All notes stopped at this point. This list was, for the most
part, quite surprising in many places. Let’s break it down,
shall we?
NEWLY FORBIDDEN:
For the second time in a row, there were none! I don’t
personally agree with this, as there are some cards that I
think are banworthy, but it also didn’t come as a surprise
to me.
NEWLY LIMITED:
Glow-Up Bulb:
It has been too long, my friend…
I loved Plant Synchro. I loved everything about it. It has
to be one of the most beautiful works of art this game has
every created. The amount of synergy between so many cards
that weren’t necessarily meant to work together… it was
simply gorgeous.
To see Glow-Up Bulb get banned in March of 2012 was
absolutely heartwrenching. And I honestly believe that it
never truly deserved it. The card was incredibly powerful,
and probably what made the Plant engine even viable in the
first place (2 Dandylion helped, but Bulb was what put it at
the top). But ultimately, I felt (and still feel) that the
true culprit was Trishula.
In the current game, Glow-Up Bulb has a lot of applications,
none of which are particularly overpowered. The card makes
the Plant engine a little more viable in Dragon Ruler, as
having a reusable 1-star Tuner is quite useful for the Deck.
Shaddoll can make use of the card to make powerful Synchro
plays with the mini Chaos Dragons, and when the EARTH Fusion
comes out it can be used as Material, and then immediately
used to make Star Eater. Only time will tell if Glow-Up Bulb
sees use elsewhere.
Two and a half years without this card was very painful. I
warmly welcome its return.
Infernity Archfiend:
Long ago, I recommended this happen. I got laughed at.
Hot off of their victory at this year’s World Championship,
a lot of people were expecting a hit like this, and I don’t
disagree with it at all.
Infernity is a Deck that I believe requires what I call
“fake skill”: that is, the Deck has several plays that do
take a lot of thought and knowledge to pull off. The Deck is
certainly not one for beginners. However, all of these
complex plays usually end in the same result: an unbreakable
board. Pretty much, you are using high levels of thought to
make it so your opponent isn’t allowed to play. That doesn’t
seem very healthy, or fun, in my opinion. The amount of raw
advantage that could be made out of even one Archfiend, let
alone three, was ridiculous; the Deck could go from no cards
to a full field of monsters and backrow so easily. This is a
change I warmly welcome.
Raigeki:
Yeah, this is the big one. My jaw dropped when I saw this.
To put it into perspective, Raigeki was one of the
first cards to be
banned, back in October of 2004. The card has never been
unbanned between then and now; it has not seen competitive
play in ten years!
The funny thing is, though… that I cannot really see this
card doing much. The game is filled with monsters that are
either immune to destruction or float upon their
destruction. Not even Dark Hole sees common play today.
Raigeki is a one-sided Dark Hole, so it can be easy to
deduce that the card is quite fine in today’s metagame.
However, Raigeki can be used a lot more easily than Dark
Hole to make a game-winning push. If you already have a
strong board setup, you can use Raigeki to wipe out only
your opponents monsters to make the push that turn. If
Raigeki sees play at all, it will likely be in this way. The
problem with this is that such a plan is very winmoar; it
will likely only see use in Decks that thrive off of huge
pushes.
It will be interesting to see how this pans out. I’m really
unsure as to the result.
Soul Charge:
Easily the best card of 2014, and one of the best cards of
all time. I feel that ideally, this card should be banned.
But I’ll take what I can get.
I place Soul Charge in the same category as I put Infernity;
it requires “fake skill”. Without a doubt, using Soul Charge
optimally takes a large amount of thought, and using it
incorrectly can and will cost you. I have lost many a game
for playing Soul Charge incorrectly. However, when the card
is used correctly, the result is, frankly, absurd. More tame
results include Gaios-Angineer for Mermail and Stardust
Spark + Azure-Eyes for Dragon Ruler. The more ridiculous
results included the field of four monsters in Infernity and
double Felgrand in Sylvan.
Overall, Soul Charge is a card, while thought-provoking, is
absolutely not healthy for the game. The unfortunate part of
the card getting hit is that it takes down a lot of Decks
with it. Decks that relied entirely on the card, like
Sylvan, are more than likely not viable anymore. Other Decks
like Satellarknight and Mermail can adjust to the loss of
it, but will still see a significant drop.
In the end though, this was the right move.
Super Polymerization:
I have been playing Shaddolls since their release. And this
card is stupid. The combination of being able to use the
opponent’s monsters in a meta infested with LIGHT and DARK
monsters, on top of being unable to respond to it, is
insanely powerful. Even Decks that have Main Deck monsters
that aren’t either of those Attributes aren’t safe, as a
large amount of the most powerful Extra Deck monsters are
LIGHT or DARK. Unless you were playing Mermail, which could
survive without the Extra Deck, the presence of this card in
triples meant you were almost never safe from a blowout. I
have won games I should have lost because I had Super Poly,
and I have lost games I should have won because I got hit by
it.
The card was pretty poorly designed, and was bound to be
abused eventually. I’m quite surprised it took this long.
NEWLY SEMI-LIMITED:
Blackwing – Gale the Whirlwind:
This should have happened a long time ago; the days of
Blackwings being a top tier Deck are long gone. Bringing
this back means the Deck can be closer to their aggressive
days than their recent experience as a stun/control Deck,
but it probably still will not be very relevant.
Gorz the Emissary of Darkness:
Much like several other cards, Gorz has been powercreeped to
the point that he’s not that big of a threat anymore. The
OCG has had him at 3 for quite a while. While he can still
shift the tide of a game when he catches an opponent
offguard, the fact of the matter is that he’s still not
something to be terrified of anymore.
Ceasefire:
This has been a long time coming. The only Deck that
commonly uses this is Chain Burn, and Just Desserts is
strictly better. There’s really not much of a point in this
card being on the list.
The Transmigration Prophecy:
Finally. Seriously, why the hell was this card even Limited
in the first place?
NEWLY UNLIMITED:
Coach Soldier Wolbark:
The only thing that makes this one a little jarring is that
not even a year ago, the card was very much a threat. It’s a
little frightening to think that in just a few months,
Wolfbark has become completely irrelevant compared to cards
that do his job better, like Satellarknight Altair. It also
probably helps the Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Bear isn’t
terribly good right now either.
Magician of Faith and Formula Synchron:
These two aren’t really surprising; they have done nothing
since being Semi-Limited, and will probably continue to do
nothing.
Reinforcement of the Army:
Putting this to three doesn’t make that much of a
difference. The only Decks that get a massive boost out of
it are Satellarknight (which were falling off anyway and
also took a hit through the Limit of Soul Charge), Noble
Knight (which has yet to be a threat), HERO, and Six Samurai
(neither of which are close to relevant).
CLOSING THOUGHTS:
Overall, this was probably the most interesting list since
the TCG/OCG split last September. It succeeded in dealing
with two of the problem cards of the format, eased up on the
restrictions of several cards that are no longer threats,
and even had two
surprise unbannings. My only complaint is that the list
completely ignored Vanity’s Emptiness, which was, and will
likely continue to be, the defining card of the format. The
likely reason for this card getting off free is its imminent
reprint in Legendary
Collection 5D’s.
Speaking of which, I am a little surprised we didn’t get
another Synchro back. I was half-expecting Dark Strike
Fighter, but they’re probably just waiting for it to
actually get its errata in the TCG.
My final verdict: this is a very interesting list, and I
can’t wait to see how the game pans out because of it.
~RtFK |
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