GeneralZorpa on Yugioh
Banlist Madness
February 18, 2009
Everything's Changing....
Well it finally happened, the OCG banlist has been
announced. This does NOT mean that this will be the list for
the TCG, but it pretty much is solidified that this will be
the list that we play by until the whole UDE VS Konami thing
is sirted out. Here is the list if you haven't visited the
boards yet.
I. Forbidden Cards
BLACK LUSTER SOLDIER - ENVOY OF THE BEGINNING
BUTTERFLY DAGGER - ELMA
CALL OF THE HAUNTED
CHANGE OF HEART
CHAOS EMPEROR DRAGON - ENVOY OF THE END
CONFISCATION
CYBER JAR
CYBER-STEIN
DARK HOLE
DARK MAGICIAN OF CHAOS
DELINQUENT DUO
DESTINY HERO - DISK COMMANDER
DIMENSION FUSION
EXCHANGE OF THE SPIRIT
FIBER JAR
GRACEFUL CHARITY
HARPIE'S FEATHER DUSTER
IMPERIAL ORDER
LAST TURN
LAST WILL
MAGICAL SCIENTIST
MAGICIAN OF FAITH
MAKYURA THE DESTRUCTOR
METAMORPHOSIS
MIRAGE OF NIGHTMARE
PAINFUL CHOICE
POT OF GREED
PREMATURE BURIAL
RAIGEKI
RING OF DESTRUCTION
SINISTER SERPENT
SNATCH STEAL
THE FORCEFUL SENTRY
THOUSAND-EYES RESTRICT
TIME SEAL
TRIBE-INFECTING VIRUS
TSUKUYOMI
VICTORY DRAGON
WITCH OF THE BLACK FOREST
YATA-GARASU
NEW! - (nothing)
II. Limited Cards
ADVANCED RITUAL ART
BRAIN CONTROL
BREAKER THE MAGICAL WARRIOR
BRIONAC, DRAGON OF THE ICE BOUNDARY
CARD DESTRUCTION
CARD OF SAFE RETURN
CARD TROOPER
CEASEFIRE
CHAOS SORCERER
CRUSH CARD VIRUS
CYBER DRAGON
D.D. WARRIOR LADY
DANDYLION
DARK ARMED DRAGON
ELEMENTAL HERO STRATOS
EMERGENCY TELEPORT
EXODIA THE FORBIDDEN ONE
FISSURE
FUTURE FUSION
GIANT TRUNADE
GLADIATOR BEAST BESTIARI
GORZ THE EMISSARY OF DARKNESS
GOYO GUARDIAN
GRAVITY BIND
HEAVY STORM
LEFT ARM OF THE FORBIDDEN ONE
LEFT LEG OF THE FORBIDDEN ONE
LEVEL LIMIT - AREA B
MAGIC CYLINDER
MARSHMALLON
MEGAMORPH
MEZUKI
MIRROR FORCE
MONSTER REBORN
MYSTICAL SPACE TYPHOON
NEO-SPACIAN GRAND MOLE
NIGHT ASSAILANT
OJAMA TRIO
OVERLOAD FUSION
PLAGUESPREADER ZOMBIE
REASONING
REINFORCEMENT OF THE ARMY
RETURN FROM THE DIFFERENT DIMENSION
RIGHT ARM OF THE FORBIDDEN ONE
RIGHT LEG OF THE FORBIDDEN ONE
SANGAN
SCAPEGOAT
SMASHING GROUND
SNIPE HUNTER
SPIRIT REAPER
SWORDS OF REVEALING LIGHT
THE TRANSMIGRATION PROPHECY
TORRENTIAL TRIBUTE
TRAP DUSTSHOOT
TREEBORN FROG
UNITED WE STAND
WALL OF REVEALING LIGHT
NEW! - Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Boundary, Card of Safe
Return, Chaos Sorcerer, Dark Armed Dragon, Emergency
Teleport, Gladiator Beast Bestiari, Goyo Guardian, Mezuki,
Plaguespreader Zombie, Reinforcement of the Army
III. Semi-Limited Cards
You can ONLY use two of the following cards in the Deck,
Extra Deck & Side Deck combined.
ALLURE OF DARKNESS
CHAIN STRIKE
DESTINY DRAW
DESTINY HERO - MALICIOUS
GOBLIN ZOMBIE
GOLD SARCOPHAGUS
GREEN BABOON, DEFENDER OF THE FOREST
FOOLISH BURIAL
JUDGMENT DRAGON
MAGICAL STONE EXCAVATION
MASK OF DARKNESS
MIND CRUSH
NECROFACE
RAIZA THE STORM MONARCH
RESCUE CAT
ULTIMATE OFFERING
NEW! - Allure of Darkness, Destiny Draw, Destiny Hero -
Malicious, Goblin Zombie, Gold Sarcophagus, Green Baboon,
Defender of the Forest, Mind Crush, Raiza the Storm Monarch,
Ultimate Offering
NEW! - The following cards are no longer Limited: Book of
Moon, Manticore of Darkness, Nobleman of Crossout, Phantom
of Chaos, Twin-Headed Behemoth
Long Live
the King
Well, Tele-DAD/Synchro DAD is officially DEAD. They lost the
Teleport, DAD and the easy way to make Synchros as well as
2/3's of their draw engine. IT's ABOUT TIME! Tele-DAD was
the most dominant deck since Chaos and abused a lot of cards
that were never meant to be used together. The common player
could not compete with this deck at all, both due to price
as well as the complexity of the deck.
The restriction of Malicious to 2 is what is key about the
banlist, as it makes it so that people have to actually
invest cards in their Synchro monsters instead of just
spitting them out like a baby that refuses a bottle.
Malicious should never have been brought to 3 from the last
time. Free cards should be curbed and theme specific, and
Malicious was a little too versatile for his own good.
Emergency Teleport I do not agree with. It is a solid
theme-specific card that allowed a dedicated Psychic deck to
emerge after Tele-DAD died. However, this was necessary to
destroy the eventual fallback that players would make after
these other changes. It does limit Synchro summoning to
pretty much 1 or 2 per turn and not the 3 or so that Zombies
and Tele-DAD could produce. I do not agree with it, but I
can see why I did it and applaud Konami for going out on a
limb for this one.
Allure of Darkness at 2 is great. Essentially non-theme
specific draw power has been severely curbed here, as Allure
of Darkness could pretty much be played anywhere. It should
not have been brought back from 2 in the first place, and
this card is one of the major reasons why Tele-DAD was so
successful. It allowed players to throw out non-useful cards
and replace them with better ones. As the deck was
completely based on random cards thrown together, this made
it far more consistent than was necessary.
Destiny Draw at 2 is pretty much the same as Allure of
Darkness. It allowed the deck an easy way to get Malicious
into the graveyard as well as sift cards. Now, it allows for
theme-specific drawing as well as setting up for cool
forgotten cards like Destiny Hero Dasher that could bring
them back to the limelight.
Goyo Guardian at one is a nice touch, as 2800 beaters every
turn was nasty, and add to the fact that it stole monsters
and you have a beast that is really hard to beat. This will
also create room for the lesser level 6 Synchros like Iron
Chain Dragon, Tempest Magician and Queen of Thorns to be
played in it's stead.
Dark Armed Dragon at one is where it should have been since
it was released. One of the most powerful cards ever
printed, it allowed a player to overextend with Synchros,
forcing an opponent to play their own "Boss" monsters to
kill them and then you swoop in with DAD for the kill. I can
see why they wanted to let us down easy with the limiting of
this card as it was very expensive for so many people, but
this is actually the best for the game.
Reinforcements of the Army is another that I don't agree
with, but I could see why they did it. Warriors are easily
the best monsters in the game, and they can get pretty out
of hand if you can toolbox whichever one you want. This will
severely limit creative options with Warriors, and I feel a
restriction of 2 would have been better, allowing people to
still play dedicated Warrior decks and curbing Tele-DAD.
Zombies Rise
No More
The zombie deck was never the powerhouse here that it was in
Japan, due to our lack of Brionac, Dragon of the Ice
Boundary. Thus we never really had to experience the horror
of a first turn kill that literally took 10 minutes to
perform and you could really do nothing to prevent.
Plaguespreader Zombie at one is a very good idea. A Tuner
that could Special Summon itself was just asking for
trouble, and making it a Zombie was an even worse idea.
Though this will limit Zombie decks in the short term, they
are a very resilient deck type, so we can expect powerhouses
like Pyramid Turtle, Zombie Master, Ryu Kokki and Book of
Life to take off after Mezuki and PSZ have been replaced.
Mezuki at one is perfect, allowing Zombie decks to still
play stuff that will help them win without it getting too
out of hand. Mezuki is always a +1, and comboed with Card of
Safe Return it is a +2 with probably a Synchro Summon. I
personally think that this is one of the better decisions
that they have made recently.
Card of Safe Return at one is actually kind of a meh for me.
It was always a little inconsistent, but it is really meant
to curb the explosiveness of Zombies, which is good. It also
has little effect on other decks, except for an obscure
Lightsworn variant and still gives decks access to it
without making it super-powerful.
Goblin Zombie at 2 is also a great idea, making it so that
ZOmbies still have ways to search out their key cards
without having the +1 plays be ridiculous. As he is being
reprinted, this was a good move, allowing him to still be
popular as well as have the card be toned down a little. It
is very much hurt by the other Zombie restrictions, but it
is really never without a target, so it balances out.
Beasts, Bested and
Better
Beasts took a big leap forward in the game. Baboon and
Manticore are two of their key cards, and allowing them to
be released from their cages allows them to be unleashed
upon your opponent's.
Green Baboon, Defender of the Forest at 2 is excellent. it
was always a good card, but it could never live up to it's
potential at only one copy. 2 allows for you to continually
provide an offensive wall with the Beast deck. His cost also
adds to the fact that is is not necessarily "free". I think
that we have yet to see how this will affect the game, but
we could be seeing a lot of Beastdown in the coming months.
Manticore of Darkness at 3 is one of my favorites, but will
hurt the game almost as much as Malicious did. His effect
allows Beasts to really have almost as much resilience as
Zombies, and that is a cool thing. He was originally limited
as he was part of an OTK with himself and Card of Safe
Return. As COSR is limited to one, this is no longer viable,
meaning that Manticore of Darkness is now the new Destiny
Hero Malicious. A level of six and a continuous revival
effect when "sent to the graveyard" allows multiple Synchro
Summons in one turn, which is something that I thought
Konami would want to stop. In many ways, he is far more
balanced than Malicious, but Manticore can be comboed with
so many things it is not even funny. As with Baboon, we will
have to wait and see what this does, but I have a bad
feeling in my stomach.
Gladiator Beast Bestiari at 1 makes me sad. Well, it was
bound to happen sooner or later, as Gyzarus is far and away
too powerful. I do think that limiting Gyzarus would be
better, but I can see why they did it. However, Gladiator
players wil simply replace Bestiari with Gladiator Beast
Samnite. It really does nothing to cub the deck, but makes
massive swings in advatage harder for a Gladiator player to
do. This basically limits Prisma to one or two per deck, as
Laquari is kind of better on the field than in the
graveyard, and Prisma becomes less useful when it is not
dumping Bestiari to the graveyard.
What is With All
This Random Stuff?
Gold Sarcophogas at 2 is a mistake. This will replace
Reinforcements of the Army as a search card. This will allow
Crush Card Virus to pretty much hit every game, which will
devastate decks that cannot cope with it. You do have to
wait two turns, but that is a small price to play for
searching out any card you need at no cost. This will have
little effect on the TCG, as Gold Sarc is not mass released,
but players that can play 2 WILL play two in every deck they
build.
Raiza the Storm Monarch at two is a meh choice. As it can
really lock down games quickly, it is an ideal candidate for
slower gameplay, whcih is why they unlimited it. I do not
think he will be the beast he was at 3, but he will probably
be played alongside Caius in a newer incarnation of Soul
Control.
Ultimate Offering at two is yet another odd choice. It
allows Gadgets to make a comeback as well as maybe make
something of the horrible Gemini theme. It is a pretty
balanced card, but I do think that too many copies can get
out of control very quickly. I think that Gadget Synchro
deck is on the horizon, and this card will allow you to make
something of that.
Mind Crush at 2 is yet another meh choice. It will allow for
greater hand control, but comboed with some other cards it
can become deadly. Any card that allows you to see your
opponent's hand will let you play this card easily. I do
think that hand control is now a viable option for some
decks, but we will have to see what effect this has on the
game.
Free! Free At Last!
These cards I believe all deserved their freedom from
whatever restriction they had on them. Many of them are no
simply underpowered or do not have the cadrs needed to make
them as powerful as they once were.
Book of Moon no longer has the cards needed to make it a
combo card, so it goes on my hurray I get to play 3 list. It
is a solid defensive as well as offensive card and can also
play a minor role in many comboes. This is the primary way
that Gladiators get around Stardust Dragon, so having
additional answers to that card is a really great idea. It
has always been one of my more favorite cards, and it is
good to have it back at 3 again.
Nobleman of Crossout has not been powerful for ages. The
ability to destroy opposing defenders is always nice.
Especially against odd decks, this could actually be a boon.
Especially if a Burn deck rears it's ugly head this format.
This card also allows you to destroy almost any monster when
comboed with Book of Moon, which is nice. I think that it
will have littleimpact on the game, but we will have to see
if it becomes a useful tool again.
Phantom of Chaos at 3 is good news for people who love
Lightsworn as well as Norleras/Ritual decks. This card is
actually one of the most powerful in the game, able to copy
any monster effect just by removing it from play. I think
that other OTK decks will thrive with this card being
unlimited, but it can be used elsewhere as well. It is a
little slow, but you can actually do some massive damage
with it.
Twin Headed Behemoth at 3 is a joke. It will allow for some
decent Synchro stuff, but they only limited it because you
couldn't tell which ones ahd already been activated.
Evidently they have solved this problem with some new ruling
or another, we will just have to see what it is. This will
be a good offensive option early in the format, allowing you
to plow through the tide of Sakuretsu Armor cards that
litter the start of a format. I think that at 3 this card
could see some play, but again, we will have to see.
Chaos Sorceror is free at last! This card is far inferior to
DAD and Judgment Dragon, so I actually have advocated it's
unlimitedness for a while now. He can be splashed almost
anywhere, but will not win you the game on his own. I expect
this to go into almost every deck at first, but at 1 he is
far from being dominant, so I think that people will turn
elsewhere for their removal eventually.
What Does It All
Mean?
Well, to sum it up, Tele-DAD is dead. If, true to form,
people switch to Lightsworn, they will be the dominant deck
in the game. But this also frees up a lot of rogue decks to
make LIghtsworn's days difficult, as they are relatively
easily countered now.
I do think that Lightsworn will be trading blows with
several rogue decks like Beasts, Gadgets and Gladiator
Beasts in order to solidify it's place at the top, but I do
think that eventually Lightsworn will reign supreme. They
can splash Chaos Sorceror as well as abuse him, they have an
unleashed menace in Judgment Dragon, recursion aplenty,
beatsticks as well as the best one-tribute themed monster in
the game.
However, their weaknesses are many and many decks will be
developed to exploit that. Skill Drain Beasts should be a
popular choice now, and that can really mess with Lightsworn.
Gagdets now can really take off, able to counter many of the
plays that Lightsworn make. Dimensional Fissure/Macro Cosmos
decks will also have a run, as there are less aggro cards to
run them over.
As I say at the beginning of every format, we will have to
wait and see what happens, but at least anything is better
than dominance by Tele-DAD.
As always you can contact me at
raptor1k@hotmail.com if you have any questions or
concerns about YGO. Be sure to put Yu-Gi-Oh in the subject,
or you will be dismissed as trash.
