Hello Yugioh Community! It is now time for part two of my Forbidden and Limited list discussion! This week I am going to continue looking at specific cards I feel could be hit this upcoming March 1st. As I stated in my previous article, this Forbidden list seems so much harder to predict than past lists, not that it is ever easy! With so many decks being quite powerful and only more powerful archetypes coming out in future sets, literally anything can happen this time around. Will Konami go after cards that will make future decks overpowered? Will they only hit the decks that seem to be dominating the current scene? Will they leave most everything alone so they can still compete with the future powerful archetypes? There really is no telling, but for now I will at least try my best to guess at what might happen! My main subject I would like to cover in this part of my discussion will be directed to one card: Heavy Storm. This card has been the bane of many Yugioh players dueling lives, but is it a necessary evil?
Question of the Article: Do you think Heavy Storm should be forbidden? Try and back up your answer with why you think it should stay or be removed from the game.
Don’t forget to answer the question of the article in the comments down below!
-Heavy Storm – Is it too Good?
This has been an age old debate and we have even seen a format where it was not around, although Giant Trunade was still running rampant, but we find ourselves right back here where half the community wants it gone and the other half thinks it must stay. So let’s take a look at reasoning for both sides.
-Why Heavy Storm should be added to the Forbidden and Limited list again-
There are many other forms of back row removal out there. There are more ways to eliminate opponent’s spells and traps than ever in the game of Yugioh currently. Players have access to three copies of the following spell/trap removal cards: Mystical Space Typhoon, Dust Tornado, Night Beam, Royal Decree, Trap Stun, Malevolent Catastrophe, just to name a few. This isn’t even including all of the different kind of decks that have their own monsters that have the ability to deal with back rows such as Fire Fists, Atlanteans, Inzektors, and there are even more than that. With so many options to deal with back rows, is a generic staple card like Heavy Storm even needed?
OTK – One-Turn Kill is another reason why so many duelists would like to see Heavy Storm gone. I cannot tell you how many times I have been on the receiving end of an opponent’s hand of Rescue Rabbit, Heavy Storm, and Tour Guide From the Underworld and lost in a mere two turns. Every deck as of recently seems to have a combination of power plays, that when backed by a Heavy Storm can almost feel unstoppable. Wind-Ups have the classic Magician- Shark play that can easily kill you in one turn if all of your defenses are wiped out by an early Heavy. The Water deck just needs to summon a Mermail Abyssmegalo with a Diva in hand to bring your opponent’s life down to zero. There are even more combinations that are even better when backed up by Heavy’s mass spell and trap removal, but I am sure you get the idea.
Inspire players to find new ways to obtain victory. With Heavy Storm gone, it will take the fear away and make many duelist feel comfortable setting a whole bunch of spells and traps early to try and prevent their opponent from doing anything, and without Heavy Storm around it can be much harder to punish. This is exactly what it was like during the format without Heavy so players had to find a way to counter it. Gravekeeper’s popularity rose along with every other kind of anti-meta deck so duelist had to find a way to counter it. I personally decided to use X-Sabers who have their own form of Heavy Storm (X-Saber Hyunlei) and when backed by cards like Trap Stun and Seven Tools of the Bandit, I took many easy wins over my opponent’s and I was able to get a back-to-back top 4 at YCS North Carolina and YCS Anaheim using this strategy. With Heavy Storm being forbidden it could really inspire some innovation.
While these are both valid points and reasons for why Heavy Storm should no longer be around it is time to look at the other side of the argument. Since we have had a format without it, I will be using that time period as a reference point to why the other half thinks it should remain in the game.
-A Necessary Evil-
For those who didn’t play during the format where Heavy Storm was forbidden let me start off with some background information. While it was gone we still had a form of mass spell and trap removal (in a sense) in the form of Giant Trunade, while it didn’t get rid of the cards, it could put everything back in your opponent’s hand and allow for a push, but there was no punishment in setting a bunch of your own cards turn one so there was still that no fear of being punished mentality. Before Heavy was forbidden I was a big advocate of it staying around, I didn’t want ever game to be who could set the most back row and protect their monster, an anti-meta format if you will, but this is exactly what happened.
For those who did play, I am sure you can remember, every turn one it was pretty common to see a player set anywhere from 3-4 cards on their first turn and whoever won the dice roll was at a distinct advantage due to their massive amounts of back row to deal with whatever you tried to summon. I found this to be quite annoying. Without the immediate risk of Heavy Storm to destroy all back rows, I felt it made the Yugi-Player base much worse. Everyone was just throwing any pink card they drew right into their back row without thought or hesitation. The format wasn’t more skillful in my eyes, although finding a way to overcome these situations took some skill, it was who won the die roll and drew multiple Solemn Warnings.
Yugioh has come a long way and changed quite a bit since the last time Heavy was forbidden. The game is dominated by cards in player’s side decks and some in main decks tat just shut the opposing player’s deck down. Cards like Gozen Match, Rivalry of Warlords, Macro Cosmos, Dimensional Fissure, etc. These cards, some of them backed by an Evolsaur Laggia can already mean the end of the game, even if you have Heavy Storm in your deck, but without it the future is bleak. With so many cards that can prevent your opponent’s deck from doing anything at all, this necessary evil must be around to help fight off this locked-down style of play that has become a key to many different decks success.
Dino-Rabbit, honestly as long as this deck exists I don’t think we can even consider sending Heavy Storm away. This is probably the best and most effective anti-meta deck of all time in this game that we play. It is already known for setting a ton of back row and when backed up by a Laggia, not even Heavy Storm can save you. If our only form of effective spell/trap removal is gone, then you can bet they will be make Evolsaur Dolkka a whole lot more with at least three back rows since they have nothing to fear. As long as this deck exists we must have this necessary evil to help combat this anti-meta power house.
Conclusion: With the Forbidden and Limited list right around the corner we have to discuss one of the most used/loved/hated/frustrating/topdecking cards that we have in the game currently: Heavy Storm. It is the worst feeling to lose to an opponent because he opened up with a really good hand and was able to blow through your defenses quickly and end the duel prematurely. Without Heavy though you could be facing a format that becomes heavily dependent on the die roll and can be quite boring and lacks any form of skill because your opponent went first and drew a whole bunch of back row to stop whatever you may attempt to do. While there is no right answer, it is my personal belief that this card should stay around simply because the fact that it exist promotes more complex thinking, you have to find away to set the right amount of back row to where you don’t lose to a Mystical Space Typhoon, but at the same time won’t be able to come back from a 2 for 1 Heavy Storm. It can be frustrating at times, but this is a necessary evil that can be dealt with.
Thanks for reading! If you have any Questions, Concerns, or simply just want to answer the question of the article, do so in the comments down below!
-Billy Brake
-YCS Toronto and YCS Columbus Champion
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