[MajkutD@nswlant.navy.mil]
The "New-and-Improved" Ban List? 

The "New-and-Improved" Ban List?  Just some thoughtful comments, NOT 
a debate on whether it's good or bad for the game.

WOW!!!  There are a couple of surprises here.  First though, was anyone 
surprised that Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the Beginning made the list?
I sure wasn't.  BUT, of all the posts that I've read (and I read a BUNCH 
virtually every day), I don't recall anyone mentioning Dark Hole, Sangan, 
WoBF, UWS, and/or Monster Reborn.  And the REALLY broken spell card, Change 
of Heart" is still available to all.  Hmmmm...  What does it all mean?

First off....No comment on Envoy - I never ran it (too expensive a card for 
me to buy) and, obviously, probably won't start a Chaos deck any time soon.
On the other hand, Harpie's Feather Duster and Raigeki were a given for the 
ban list - no cost for massive card destruction.  Delinquent Duo, Imperial 
Order, and Yata-Garasu, for those lucky people who drew it before their 
opponent, provided too much hand/field advantage.

Raigeki, Mirror Force, and Dark Hole.....  All the one turn, massive monster 
destruction cards - GONE!  Traps are making a comeback - better take stock in 
Torrential Tribute cards, they're going to be REALLY hard to find soon.

Graceful Charity gone, but not Pot of Greed.  Hmmmmmm... I guess the thinking 
is that PoG is random - you get what you get, but GC allows you to choose a 
specific card, and therefore gives an unstoppable hand and field advantage.  
I don't see it.  However, since it's a 3 card loss out of 4 cards, are we 
then going to ban Avatar of the Pot?  That's a 2 for 3 card swap, AND you get 
to keep a monster on the field, as well as the one card draw for one additional 
card that may not be working in your hand.  If I had to pick one over the other, 
I'd have left in GC and banned PoG (Maybe it's still in because there are too 
many "support" cards that work with PoG).

Banning United We Stand doesn't really make a whole lot of sense when considering 
all the other cards that have more significant game-breaking effects (CoH and 
Jinzo - just to name a couple).  Sure it can give your tiny Magician of Faith 
HUGE muscles, but Magic Cylinder, Fissure, Stamping Destruction, Raigeki Break, 
Dark Core, Sakuretsu Armor, etc...... can take care of those kinds of boosts.  
I'm just guessing here but, it is probably one of those hand-in-hand card bans - 
get rid of Raigeki, Mirror Force, and Dark Hole, therefore anything that can 
boost a monster past the 3000 atk mark is bad(?).

Monster Reborn gone!?!?  WOW...this was a surprise.  MB was in almost EVERY deck 
sold by Upper Deck.  All those commons are now worthless (in ban list
tourneys) and the foil is a (now inexpensive) collector's card.  Premature Burial 
and, especially, Call of the Haunted are going to be even harder to find.  (Elbow 
on my knee and fingers on my chin with a thoughtful look - maybe I'll put my 
Gravekeeper or Zombie deck back together........)

And finally.....
Sangan and WoBF no longer available to search - this is going to have a monumental 
effect.  Is there a deck out there (ANYWHERE) that doesn't use at least ONE of these?  
I'd venture a guess that 99.234% of every deck in the world (a hard stat to check, 
but your welcome to try ;>)) uses one or both.
On the other side of that coin, theme searchers (and their associated cards) are 
going to have a HUGE come back.  The only problem with that is that they won't be 
"graveyard" activated.  Sinister Serpent's stock just went through the roof, along 
with a few other relative unknown commons that activate when sent to the graveyard.  
Be prepared for an upsurge of the Last Turn deck.
Since the only way to actually beat that type of deck was to have a graveyard 
activator down (Sangan, WoBF, Sinister, etc....) and, even then it only turns that 
game into a tie - At least that's what I think the ruling is.

My deck ("The Trapped-out Burn" - with Lava Golem, Stealth Bird, Solar Flare Dragon, 
etc.... with a few original twists) managed to beat the Last Turn deck several times, 
but only because, against me, they weren't in total control of how fast their points 
were being burned down.  I'd get 'em close (but not under) 1000 lp and then nail 'em 
with RoD and Barrel Behind the Door, or something similar.  Every duel was close and 
I'd lose some of the games, but generally the 'burn' - burns through a Last Turn 
deck fairly consistently.

I've tried to stay away for the good-versus-bad aspect of banning cards, but my personal 
feeling is that the ban list is just another rule to go by.  It might lessen the luck 
part of the game (drawing that OTK game breaker) and increase the need for skill, but 
only time will tell.

Interested in comments and feedback?  I welcome it.... primarily because it gives me 
another excuse to learn something.  Just be advised that if you're abusive, I won't 
get by the first line of your response before I reach for the delete key.  In other 
words --- BE NICE ---

Grampa Dan ( an old.... I mean.... older duelist with a grandson that taught me 
everything I know about the game) majkutd@cox.net