As some of you may know, the Forbidden and Limited list for the Official Card Game has been released.  It will go into effect for Konami of Japan on September 1^st, 2005, but North America and Upperdeck Entertainment will wait until October 1^st to make the changes, or rather, to have them affect play.  In truth, there is no telling what Konami of America intends to do with the Trading Card Game’s Forbidden and Limited List, but through the last two updates, they followed card for card what Konami of Japan restricted (or rather, at least the cards we have).  That being said, I would like to outline the changes to the current Forbidden and Limited list.

 

1. Forbidden Cards

 

You cannot use these cards in your Deck or Side Deck:

 

Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning

Butterfly Dagger – Elma

Change of Heart

Chaos Emperor Dragon – Envoy of the End

Delinquent Duo

Graceful Charity

Harpie’s Feather Duster

Imperial Order

Magical Scientist

Makyura the Destructor

Mirage of Nightmare

Mirror Force

Monster Reborn

Painful Choice

Raigeki

Ring of Destruction

Sinister Serpent

The Forceful Sentry

Witch of the Black Forest

Yata-Garasu

 

2. Limited Cards

 

You can ONLY use one of the following cards in the Deck and Side Deck combined:

 

Book of Moon

Breaker the Magical Warrior

Call of the Haunted

Card Destruction

Ceasefire

Confiscation

Cyber Jar

D. D. Warrior Lady

Dark Hole

Dark Magician of Chaos

Deck Devastation Virus

Exiled Force

Exodia the Forbidden One

Heavy Storm

Injection Fairy Lily

Jinzo

Left Arm of the Forbidden One

Left Leg of the Forbidden One

Lightning Vortex

Limiter Removal

Mage Power

Magic Cylinder

Metamorphosis

Morphing Jar

Mystical Space Typhoon

Night Assailant

Pot of Greed

Premature Burial

Protector of the Sanctuary

Reckless Greed

Reflect Bounder

Right Arm of the Forbidden One

Right Leg of the Forbidden One

Sacred Pheonix of Nephthys

Sangan

Scapegoat

Snatch Steal

Swords of Revealing Light

Thousand-Eyes Restrict

Torrential Tribute

Tribe-Infecting Virus

Tsukuyomi

Twin-Headed Behemoth

United We Stand

 

3. Semi-Limited Cards

 

You can ONLY use two of the following cards in the Deck and Side Deck combined:

 

Abyss Soldier

Creature Swap

Emergency Provisions

Good Goblin Housekeeping

Gravity Bind

Last Turn

Level-Limit Area B

Manticore of Darkness

Nobleman of Crossout

Reinforcement of the Army

Upstart Goblin

 

As you can see, some of these changes have wrought hope eternal, and others…have scared me shitless.  I’d like to touch on every single change made.

 

Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning ushered in a one-and-a-half year domination over all cards, and though it escaped both the first, second, and third Forbidden List update (this figure includes the 2004 World Championship update as well), it was bound to get hit eventually.  I don’t know about everyone else, but I’m particularly pleased with this change, after facing nine Chaos decks out of ten decks total in the United States National Championship.

 

Both Delinquent Duo and Mirror Force were too good to see play anymore, and Konami finally saw that.  Sinister Serpent was one of the only cards capable of giving consistent and replenishing advantage, and so, it had to be scrapped as well.  Graceful Charity came as somewhat of a surprise, as Trogdor was being banned as well, plus there is still an extreme limitation placed under the “dump and revive” method.  However, when you consider the unlimited strength provided by the Dark Realm Monsters, coming in the next set, I think it’s a good idea to eliminate Graceful Charity.  Ring of Destruction’s effect may not have merited a ban, but personally, I feel that it was too strong a game-winner to be allowed to survive.

 

Only two cards came off the Forbidden List (and subsequently were placed on the Limited to One list), Dark Hole and Confiscation.  The latter had no place on the Forbidden in the first place, but Dark Hole is a ferocious Monster remover with almost no drawback – that is, if you don’t have a Monster on the field.  Its strength rivals that of Raigeki, and it is most certainly better than Lightning Vortex.  I cannot fathom what went through Konami’s brain that they had to reintroduce one of the most powerful cards in the game.

 

Not only did Konami eliminate the Chaos theme, but it also eliminated reliance upon the Fusion Deck.  Not just with the limitation of Metamorphosis, but also with the attempted limitation of the best Fusion Monster to date, Thousand-Eyes Restrict.  Hardly anyone runs more than 1-2 Metamorphosis, and even so, the limitation of both Scapegoat and Tsukuyomi should have eliminated the few rogue abusers remaining.  The limitation of Scapegoat also eliminates an age-old tactic: stall until you get what you need, then destroy your opponent with the resources you’ve amassed.  The limitation of Night Assailant to one has stimulated me into thinking that Konami has no idea what they’re doing.  Yes, it’s a good card, but it’s a dead draw in a time of need and its effect is absolutely one of the most situational in the game.

 

Book of Moon is not an extraordinary card.  Yes, it may be the catalyst through which Flip-Effect Monsters can be abused, but personally, I feel that it is a conditional card, at best.  Unless your opponent has a Jinzo, or if you have a Morphing Jar, it’s pretty much a card that nets you a -1 resource count with little effect upon the field.  The last card to be added to the Limited List is Limiter Removal, an excellent statistical manipulator.  Even though Limiter Removal itself is an excellent card, Machine decks – even with the introduction of Vehichroids and the Cyber Dragon family – have never exactly been a top Tier 1 deck.  It is, however, imperative that the Cyber-Stein one-turn-kill Deck be hindered, and the limitation of Limiter Removal does just that.

 

No cards were added to the Semi-Limited List, but I think people should look further into what was taken away from them: Dark Scorpion – Chick the Yellow and Vampire Lord.  The last limitations and eliminations provided the Zombie deck a sure backbone against Chaos decks, but this is becoming unreal and disgusting.  Access to three Vampire Lord may just yet cause a collapse of all other themes as Zombie decks rise to the popularity that Chaos once held.  It’s no longer a matter of Vampire Lord’s regenerative effect, but complete access to a 2000 ATK beatstick searchable through Pyramid Turtle will indeed eliminate the competition.

 

Personally, I feel that these changes have finally annihilated a juggernaut of a deck, but they have wrought indeed the makings of something altogether more terrible.  Many of the restrictions and eliminations were an excellent idea, but there were some more that were a complete mistake.  I sincerely hope that the next six months is better than the last, but furthermore, that Konami starts making palatable decisions.  Otherwise, they may lose quite a lot of players.

 

Questions?  Comments?  Krispy Kreme hats?  Send them all to cpecharka (at) msn (dot) com.

 

Until next time, Big Brother is watching…

 

~SiphonX~