9/1/12 Limited And Forbidden

August 2, 2012

by Jeremy McBride

Hey guys. My name is Jeremy [drummerjmm] McBride, and some of you may know me through the Yugi-Community via both Facebook and YouTube, if not, I would love to get to know you! With introductions out of the way, I've had major positive feedback about my ideals for the upcoming list, and I write this article in hopes of getting it out to as many of you as possible. Lets cut to the chase:

Forbidden:
Monster Reborn
Wind-up Hunter
Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning
Five-Headed Dragon

Limited:
Magician of Faith
Lightpulsar Dragon
Inzektor Centipede
Tribe-Infecting Virus
Evolzar Laggia

Semi-Limited:
Rescue Rabbit
Red-eyes Darkness Metal Dragon
Book of Moon
Final Countdown
Debris Dragon

Unlimited:
Summoner Monk
Trageodia
Lumina - Lightsworn Summoner

Lets take a look at why.

FORBIDDEN:
Monster Reborn
This card comes and goes over the years, so I think its time to cycle out. With power staples cycled out, it firstly opens main deck space for new things to be played, and it helps pave the way for new things to come back.

Wind-Up Hunter
Let's make one thing clear, I could care less about banning the loop. I think Konami will be preemptive with this since the OCG will be getting shark and rabbit. They nailed the lid on Tengu before he ever got there, and I expect them to do the same here.

Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning
Bosses come and go. He has had his year, so let him rest for a while. Once one boss is gone, it opens up the format for a variety of other things to come back, further diversifying the Meta.

Five-headed Dragon
This makes Future Fusion no longer a problem with dragons. The other decks that abuse FF don't make a mark on the meta much at all, so why hurt them by banning FF?

LIMITED:
Magician of Faith
The Prophecy archetype is being released, thus spellcaster support. I think DMoC could fill Envoy's role as the boss, but I find that to be a bit much.

Lightpulsar Dragon
Only 1 is needed for the set up. If its there, awesome for the dragon player: Protect it. If not, play smarter and don't rely on Pulsar to fix your mistakes. From the opposing point of view, if you have the answer to Pulsar, you don't needs to worry about it anymore.

Inzektor Centipede
Dragonfly is the better choice to go to 1, but history shows us that the searcher gets hit.

Tribe-Infecting Virus
ABYR is coming. Staple water support that triggers the Atlanteans = Major selling point. Veiler is still running rampant too, so it won't really have much of an impact.

Evolzar Laggia
Multiple walking Judgments are to much. At 1, it makes the player really think about when exactly to use Laggia. If Shi En is at 1, Laggia needs to be at 1.

SEMI:
Rescue Rabbit
Rabbit at 2 slows the deck slightly w/o killing the main deck's overall consistency. It also makes the rabbit player think through when to use rabbit, and for which play more too. Coupled with Laggia at one, it truly diversifies the rank4 plays the deck makes.

Red-eyes Darkness Metal Dragon
The Boss or Bosses right now. With the looming release of Gustaph Max, the 3rd copy of this guy needs to be gone in order to stop the Atum loop at Gustaph, rather than being able to continue into a 3rd REDMD.

Book of Moon
This is a universal support card, which is a good thing. It slows the game down a little bit too, making everyone happier.

Final Countdown
Chain strike is at 2, so why isn't countdown? Sure you can argue that the 2nd or 3rd copies of chain strike actually do something, but all I am doing here is ever so slightly reducing the percentage of 1st turn countdown, giving the opposing player time to try and prepare for what Countdown is going to throw at them.

Debris Dragon
With ABYR coming, Gungnir will be triggering Atlanteans. What better way to make Gungnir?

UNLIMITED:
Summoner Monk
He doesn't see much play, but really sets up all generic rank4 Xyz plays. With the Xyz push, why isn't he ALREADY at 3?

Tragoedia
At one time, 3 was way to much and he was limited. At 2 he is making no impact, so why not try 3 again.

Lumina
See Trag

To clarify one thing, I don't think this is a prefect list. While it does begin to address some problems of the format, it follows the type of logic we would expect to see from Konami, meaning there will be things people won't be happy with. Overall though, I think a list following the general ideals placed behind the formation of this mock up list will lead to a format that is much better than the one we have played for the last 11 months. I say 11 months, because before March 1 that we were dealing with Wind-up, Inzekctor, and DinoRabbit, and to this day they are still the 3 we face. It's time for a new format Ladies and Gentlemen. Tweaks here and there, as well as the introduction of quite a few new powerful archtypes that are sure to have an impact on the meta, hopefully we can have an enjoyable, and diverse format.