My Friend's Cousin's Roommate's Uncle Works At Konami!
 
Hello again pojo! It is that joyous time of year again when people start panicking about the new March banlist. A ton of fake banlists get put up each year, with each person claiming that their version is the "true" banlist. Let me tell you something about what I have learned from almost a decade of playing Yugioh. The lists are never right. Konami plays this extremely close to the chest to the point that sometimes their own employees don't really even know what is going to be on it. As it is we can only speculate.
 
Now this article is going to be about what I think should be restricted in order to bring about a balanced game. It is not what is going to happen by a long shot, but will help to balance everything out in a game where unbalanced cards are kings. I do not think that this is a bad format, in fact it was a giant leap in the right direction. However, several choices broke the game, and have to be corrected. So without further ado, I will go ahead and get to the list!
 
Banned
 
Monster Reborn
Black Luster Soldier-Envoy of the Beginning
Wind-Up Hunter
 
Now I know a bunch of you are going to be upset about all of this, but honestly these cards are too powerful to be able to include in a balanced game. Firstly I have never been a fan of Monster Reborn, simply because of the fact that you can almost always use it effectively to turn the game around. It is also a card that goes into every deck. Not almost every deck, every deck. Even Mill and Burn decks use this card to stall or even go aggressive for a turn. What makes this card a real threat is the versatility of being able to choose from your own or opponent's graveyard. Every other revival card made you have to choose one or the other, but this thing is a Normal Spell and gets to choose either? Not fair at all.
 
By now every person should know why BLS was unbanned. The rumor is that Konami promised the creator of the game that they would unban every single card on the list at some point in the game's history. BLS is clearly too broken to be allowed in play. Period. I cannot count the games in recent times where I have been on the verge of a resounding victory and a wasted Effect Veiler into a BLS has won my opponent the game. It's nice that they can make a good comeback but twhen it happens more times than it should, the card is the problem and not the deck. Every person who would howl and scream at me with this on some level clearly knows that this card is far too good to stay in play, so go in your corners and play with your Chaos Sorcerers like good little boys and girls.
 
Now this is an interesting choice, the reason being that there is actually just as easy of a combo to pull off to reap the entire opponent's hand. Oh yeah, you remember all those X-Saber decks a little while ago that could do an infinite combo on the first turn to reap the hand and all you needed was 4 cards? Oh good you do remember it. None of those cards were banned. Or restricted. Ever. The reason being of course that you required two X-Saber Faultroll in order to bring it off. It is one thing to have a few different cards, it is quite another to need two of the same card. Anyways, the reason being is that this card is completely superfluous to what you actually do with the deck. It is a side strategy which should never have been explored and completely overpowers the dck in teh right circumstances, especially because Zenmaighty is that much easier to get to than XX-Saber Gottoms. Now some people might argue that we should ban Zenmaighty or limit it instead. Again the issue is not truly the XYZ monster that stays within the theme. And also you may remember how long it took Konami to Ban/Restrict the first Synchro monsters, so you can expect a similar delay here.
 
Limited
 
Tsukuyomi
Imperial Order
Mind Crush
Evolzar Laggia
Royal Oppression
 
Now a few of these cards may be a bit of an odd choice, but bear with me. Tsukuyomi was banned because it created incredible card advantage with flip effect monsters like Dekoichi the Battle-Chanted Locomotive, Magician of Faith and to a lesser extent, Mask of Darkness. It was also able to kill most commonly played monsters in the game at the time, namely the Monarchs. We however are in a different time now. The only Flip Effect monsters that see constant play are Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter and Gravekeeper's Spy. Magician of faith is banned, which was the real reason that Tsukuyomi was banned. There are some very cool combos that can be pulled off with Tsukuyomi, but nothing truly infinite or incredibly disruptive to the current game. I think that bringing this card back will give many decks an extra toy to play with while not affecting the overall game nearly as badly as the re-introduction of BLS did.
 
Imperial order is one of those cards that can stop people from playing. However, it does not stop a player from defending themselves, just can sometimes stop incredible offensive plays made by playing 10 Spells in a loop. I admit I have kind of a soft spot for this card, and Konami has never been truly fond of it, but it is not nearly as effective as it once was, with the killer spells this format being Heavy Storm, Monster reborn and Dark Hole. Unbanning this card gives every deck a defense against these incredibly powerful staple cards and actually makes players think on when to use it or even keep it around. Suddenly Gorz in hand doesn't seem as cool. But anyways, I do think it is about time that this card was available for play.
 
Mind Crush is one of those cards that probably seemed like a good idea to unlimit at the time but was clearly a mistake. Trap Dustshoot and Mind Crush first turn are incredibly powerful plays that can pretty much stop a player from playing the game before it has begun, which is never fun. Either on their own (and especially limited) they are good cards but not powerful enough to break a first turn. At two, Mind Crush can completely disable a deck. Not just a specific deck, ANY deck. It has to go.
 
Evolzar Laggia is one of those cards like Legendary Six Samurai Shi-En that can change the course of the game and is entirely too easy to play. Now I feel that Dinosaur deck players and especially Rabbit variant players will simply throw Laggia at a problem play and think that will make it go away. At one, the decks are forced to think that much harder as to which plays they are going to make and also make Evolzar Dolkka a much more attractive option who is decidedly less powerful. Most players would not play more than 2 Evolzars a game, but this makes them think harder about what-if they needed that Laggia later in the game, what would they do?
 
Royal Oppression is a card that most people have had a love/hate relationship with over the years. It was banned from one because of players sitting behind cards like Shi-En, Laggia and other controlling monsters and blocking plays from opponent's with Royal Oppression. I think that most people can agree that Oppression is a stabilizing force, especially in a game where most players will Special Summon multiple times a turn. It is just silly to think that most of the problems with the game can be solved by a single Oppression in many decks.
 
Semi-Limited
 
Gladiator Beast Bestiari
Dark Armed Dragon
 
Now I no that few of you can remember the Gladiator Beast format of a couple of years ago. It was one of hte most dominating decks of all time as Gladiators were allowed to easily sit behind a Heraklinos and Solemn Judgment and just win the game with Gyzarus. Now the deck languishes in mediocrity, not because of a lack of negation, but because of a lack of ways to abuse Gyzarus. The deck is chastised simply because of it's mechanic, and the deck should b rewarded for it's comboes, not punished. A single Bottomless Trap Hole or DD Crow on a Bestiari completely ruins the whole deck, and that is something that no deck should have to deal with. A second Bestiari makes the deck far moire resilient to disruption and adds a fun new deck to the mix of staple decks we have seen this format. 
 
Now this was a hard decision. Dark Armed Dragon is powerful enough to be labeled as almost on the same level as the original Chaos Monsters. Except now it barely sees any play at all, and the decks that should be playing it aren't because it's summon is too restrictive. The card promotes well thought out plays and decks due to it's summoning and rewards the players brave enough to possibly sit with a dead Dark Armed in their hand. Given the fact that this card has been printed 5 times and now in a Structure Deck signals to me that Konami is ready to have DAD come back to the playground and school some messy children who have been ruining it in his absence. Too heavy of a metaphor? I think not...
 
Unlimited
 
Blackwing-Kalut the Moon Shadow 
 
Now I never really understood why this card was limited in the first place. Blackwing decks were barely hanging on with Dark Strike Fighter being gone and then their two next best cards (Kalut and Icarus Attack) were hit on the banlist. Kalut is not even close to the same power level as honest, and the deck becomes very competetive again without breaking it. Kalut allows Blackwings to survive power plays that would otherwise destroy the deck and also gives us yet another very fun deck to play at the top tables.
 
The Result
 
The results of this banlist are as follows:
 
-Wind-Up decks are no longer an OTK.
-BLS is no longer winning games he shouldn't.
-Dinosaur decks have think before they play heaven forbid.
-Gladiator Decks and Blackwing Decks are able to be played!
-Dark Armed Dragon is much more consistent to play and takes the place of the now banned BLS.
-Royal Oppression forces us to rely more on Normal Summon cards instead of Special Summon.
-A much less likely first turn Trap Dustshoot/Mind Crush power combo.
 
 
Well thank you for reading this article. I know you guys prefer video now, and I appreciate the fact that you are willing to listen top me without staring at my ugly mug for ten minutes. Anyways, you can email me at alarbios@live.com if you have any questions, ideas or deck fixes for me. Pleas ebe sure to put Yugioh in the subject title so I do not disregard it as junk. Thanks for reading!
 
GZ

Thanks for reading!