It’s that time of the year again! It’s time to start talking about the September forbidden and limited list. I’d like to make an important distinction about the list I post; this is what I think should happen, not what I think is going to happen. The following list does not account for Konami sales or any outside interests that they might account for when making their own F&L list. This is only what I think should happen in order to improve the quality of the game.

Newly Forbidden:

[ccProd]Card Destruction[/ccProd] [ccProd]Spellbook of Judgment[/ccProd] [ccProd]Super Rejuvenation[/ccProd]

Newly Limited:

[ccProd]Atlantean Dragoons[/ccProd] [ccProd]Call of the Haunted[/ccProd] [ccProd]Dimensional Fissure[/ccProd] [ccProd]Geargiarmor[/ccProd] [ccProd]Gold Sarcophagus[/ccProd] [ccProd]Gozen Match[/ccProd] [ccProd]Lavalval Chain[/ccProd] [ccProd]Macro Cosmos[/ccProd]

Mecha-Phantom Beast Dracossack

[ccProd]Mermail Abyssmegalo[/ccProd] [ccProd]Rekindling[/ccProd] [ccProd]Rescue Rabbit[/ccProd] [ccProd]Rivalry of Warlords[/ccProd] [ccProd]Sacred Sword of Seven Stars[/ccProd] [ccProd]Spellbook of Fate[/ccProd]

Vanity's Emptiness

Newly Semi-Limited:

Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind

Fire Formation - Tenki

[ccProd]Reckless Greed[/ccProd]

TG Striker

 

Newly Unrestricted:

[ccProd]Transmigration Prophecy[/ccProd] [ccProd]Tsukuyomi[/ccProd]

 

Explanations:

[ccProd]Card Destruction[/ccProd] – This card has needed to be banned for quite some time, but right now it is the most deadly it has ever been. In the Dragon deck, it is auto-win against every single deck other than the mirror match. This also indirectly hits Infernities, something that I feel could be a sleeper deck once again when hand traps are less played.

[ccProd]Spellbook of Judgment[/ccProd] – This card is on the level of [ccProd]Painful Choice[/ccProd] and Chaos Emperor Dragon. It has absolutely no business in our game. Putting it to 1 has little effect on how good it is because of Spellbook Magician and [ccProd]Spellbook of Secrets[/ccProd]. If you were to leave it at 1, you would essentially have 7 copies in your deck instead of 9. Because of that, it needs to be outright banned.

[ccProd]Super Rejuvenation[/ccProd] – There is definitely an argument to put [ccProd]Super Rejuvenation[/ccProd] at 1 instead of banning the card. It is actually bad in most problem scenarios and if you’re already losing you usually don’t want it as a Dragon player. That being said, that adds an extra element of luck to the card where it is either amazing and an auto-win or completely dead. Since you cannot control this luck element, I’d prefer for it to be banned instead of limited.

[ccProd]Atlantean Dragoons[/ccProd] and [ccProd]Mermail Abyssmegalo[/ccProd] – Once upon a time I believed all that needed to be done to Mermails was to limit Dragoons. This was incorrect. Several of us played under the last set of ban lists ARG members created and, like me, most of the also believed that hitting Dragoons was enough. We quickly realized that Mermails would still be the definite best deck if that was all that was done to them. Because of this, I’d propose the limitation of [ccProd]Mermail Abyssmegalo[/ccProd] as well. It is another problem card in that deck as it is the card that creates OTKs.

[ccProd]Call of the Haunted[/ccProd] – I’ve thought forever that this card being at anything other than 1 was a mistake. It’s a slightly worse Monster Reborn, but is currently at 3. We’ve seen this card’s full power in decks like Inzektors and Agents and it has the ability to do some truly unfair things.

[ccProd]Dimensional Fissure[/ccProd], [ccProd]Macro Cosmos[/ccProd], [ccProd]Gozen Match[/ccProd], [ccProd]Rivalry of Warlords[/ccProd], and Vanity’s Emptiness – On previous ban lists, I had [ccProd]Gozen Match[/ccProd] and Rivalry limited because they did not allow for players to interact. If one deck could play one of these cards and the other was hurt by it, they usually could not play any actual Yu-Gi-Oh. I don’t like the idea of limiting player interaction and thus decided to take this idea a step further by adding [ccProd]Dimensional Fissure[/ccProd], [ccProd]Macro Cosmos[/ccProd], and Vanity’s Emptiness to my list. They have the same problem of not being able to play Yu-Gi-Oh when they are on the field. I would also consider [ccProd]Imperial Iron Wall[/ccProd], but this remains to be seen.

[ccProd]Geargiarmor[/ccProd] – I’m well aware that Geargias have made absolutely 0 impact on the game this format, but I don’t think that is the proper way to make a banlist. Certain cards may not be played because other cards in the format are played (Armor not being played because Dracossack), but then if you remove those cards (Dracossack), other cards (Armor) have the potential of being overpowered.

[ccProd]Gold Sarcophagus[/ccProd] – This card is not doing what it was designed to do. The concept of [ccProd]Gold Sarcophagus[/ccProd] in it’s current form is actually ridiculous. In a conventional Dragon deck, it gives you immediate access to 21 cards in your deck. Even when [ccProd]Reinforcement of the Army[/ccProd] was at it’s strongest and was deemed worthy of being limited, it could never search half your deck. That kind of access to your deck is too powerful.

[ccProd]Lavalval Chain[/ccProd] – As I mentioned above, I feel like Infernity could be a sleeper deck once hand traps die down. Because of this, I feel like Infernities should be hit, at least in some way. Limiting [ccProd]Lavalval Chain[/ccProd] will hurt the deck (and their new combo that requires 3 [ccProd]Lavalval Chain[/ccProd]s) without outright killing it.

Mecha-Phantom Beast Dracossack – I think that outside of directly hitting the Dragons themselves, this is going to be the only way to hit Dragons to the point where they aren’t the best deck. I don’t think Big Eye should be hit as it being ran in multiples is a balancing act in itself. When your opponent is always threatening to make another Big Eye to take yours, you are less inclined to make one.

[ccProd]Rekindling[/ccProd] – While this may be a preemptive measure against the level 3 Fire Fist deck, let’s be real, this card doesn’t even really need to be in the game. The potential of specialing 5 monsters off of a single card is a bit absurd.

[ccProd]Rescue Rabbit[/ccProd] – I can’t justify directly hitting the Evilswarm deck as they have made almost no real impact on the competitive circuit, but putting Rescue Rabbit down to 1 would take away some of the unfairness the deck has when it goes first.

[ccProd]Sacred Sword of Seven Stars[/ccProd] – This card is the absolute best card for Dragon Rulers. It digs for answers to problems; it digs for more Dragons when you are short on Elements, and is a +1.

[ccProd]Spellbook of Fate[/ccProd] – Next to Judgment itself this is the problem card of the Spellbook deck. By putting it to one, it becomes very difficult to effectively recycle this card turn after turn. Short of completely killing the deck by limiting Secrets and/or Magician, this seems like the most logical hit.

Blackwing – Gale the Whirlwind – Blackwings have made absolutely no impact on the game in quite some time. I think putting this to two would also have no real impact.

Fire Formation – Tenki – I have expressed in previous articles that I think a definite best deck is good for the game. I feel that this ban list combined with the future support would set Fire Fists up to be this definite best deck. Because of this, I don’t want to hit them too hard.

[ccProd]Reckless Greed[/ccProd] – I don’t think this card should be at three. It has a large luck factor by rewarding for drawing multiples and punishes when you are not lucky enough to not.

T.G. Striker – This is another card that I feel like would have little impact if it’s limitation were lifted.

[ccProd]Transmigration Prophecy[/ccProd] – This card is incredibly subpar. Even putting back power cards such as [ccProd]Heavy Storm[/ccProd] or [ccProd]Monster Reborn[/ccProd] would not be enough reason to justify running this card at 1, I can’t see this card ever seeing play in multiples if it can’t see play at 1.

[ccProd]Tsukuyomi[/ccProd] – The other indirect hit to Evilswarm. I felt like the indirect approach would be less damaging than the direct approach. Additionally, it’s unlikely that this card would be played at 3 as it’s a card you never want to draw 2 of.

That about wraps it up for my ban list article for this six months. It’s significantly less extreme than ban lists I’ve made in the past, so I hope you enjoy it. Remember, it’s still what I’d like to happen, not an actual prediction list. Until next time, play hard or go home!

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