Hey duelists! With the TCG banlist finally revealed, I felt like it was time to make another article. This time, I’ll be touching on certain card choices that you might have passed over when making your new deck for the upcoming format. With the September-December list, many game-defining staples were hit quite hard by the list. Compulsory, Torrential, D. Fissure, Bottomless, etc. were all prominent cards you auto-added to any decklist you made. However, with the newest list, you might be wondering what sort of things you might want to replace certain cards with. Well, here’s the perfect guide for you!
D. D. Crow
An incredibly unique hand trap in my opinion, and one that hasn’t seen play in quite a while. The ability to just discard at random or chain to a card that targets is pivotal. An easily splashable Dark monster leads to a multitude of uses in decks like Blackwings or Zombies. It’s free fodder for Chaos monsters and all of the Dark-themed boss monsters, many of which will be seeing a lot more play.
Steelswarm Roach
This card was kind of seen as a “useless” card from last format where speed meant everything. With Konami trying to promote synchro-oriented decks once more, this card should definitely see play coming up. Chaos Dragons, Zombies, and Plants are all viable decks next format and this card is easily one of the best answers to them. Yes, the card is fragile on the 1900 body, but it’s still a great answer to quite a few boss monsters.
XYZ Encore
A card that I felt was completely overlooked from JOTL. The main reason why this card was completely passed over was the fact that at the time, we had 3 Compulse in the game. Now with the recent limitation, I feel that this would be a solid choice against Constellar or Evilswarm – both decks that will still be incredibly solid going into this format. The added “unable to respond” clause helps quite a bit against defensive cards such as Forbidden Lance and Safe Zone; both which are popular in quite a few decks.
Forbidden Lance
Lance was yet another card that was seen as “useless” in the previous format. In the slower pace of this format and more techy backrows resurfacing, this card is another sleeper pick. In a format where we lack Heavy Storm and are limited on backrow destruction, this card defensively acts as another MST. The versatility of being able to be used as either an offensive or defensive card really helps push this card as a solid choice for the main.
Vanity’s Emptiness
This card was one of the defining cards of last format in my opinion. A Royal Oppression-esque card that could be turned off incredibly easily, and definitely meant game if you flipped it. With the resurgence of quite a few decks that were too slow to compete last format (Infernity, Blackwings, Wind-Ups for instance), I feel that this card will be making an impact during this format as well.
Black Horn of Heaven
With the loss of more relevant backrow, I feel that this card could easily be sided against certain matchups that spam the board. The crucial special summon that you negate could potentially seal you the game, and the ability to be played at 3 really helps ensure that you would open with it.
Void Trap Hole
A card that got overlooked from Return of the Duelist, this Trap Hole variant is unique. The ability to not only destroy a strong monster but to negate their effect as well is incredibly useful. The wide variety of monsters it can hit is crucial; from completely annihilating a Dracossack to stopping Monarchs or anything else that may see play.
Fiendish Chain
Ahh, Fiendish Chain…one of the biggest underdog cards from late 2011 that immediately became one of the hottest in the March 2012 format. This card single-handedly takes care of a monster and locks it down for you to formulate a counter attack. With less mass backrow destruction, this card has a lot of potential to be great again. The counter argument to this card is obviously the fact that you have to essentially wait on your opponent for this card to truly shine, but it’s definitely well worth the space if your deck can use it.
Different Dimension Ground
I remember quite a while back this card got some discussion but was never seen again after the release of Abyss Dweller. With the loss of great side deck cards such as Soul Drain, Dimensional Fissure, and Macro Cosmos; there needs to be some sort of card that combats decks that rely on the grave. This card is a great alternative for all those that we lost. Despite the drawback of not being continuous, a well timed activation of this card will completely disrupt a potentially crucial play.
Deck Devastation Virus
While it may be played currently by a few decks, this card will get even better during the next format. Hand traps, recruiters, and essential combo pieces get completely wrecked by this card. With the loss of Pot of Avarice, there’s no easy way to recycle any of these cards that get hit via this. With a splashable Rank 4 monster that’s easily able to make this card live by turn 2 in quite a few decks, expect to see this be sided quite often.
Droll & Lock Bird/Eradicator Epidemic Virus
While these aren’t exactly new cards to consider, they are certainly ones that are not to be pushed aside now. With the banning of Spellbook of Judgment, many people believe that Spellbooks are dead. Quite the contrary, as now the deck has a few new tricks. With the loss of Judgment, the deck did get a tad bit slower, but now is able to run more cards to get to answers in the deck. Fate is still the problem card in the deck, and now World of Prophecy is one of the easiest board wipes the deck has access to. In addition to Spellbooks, Eradicator will still hit Alternate Win Condition and other Spell/Trap heavy decks.
Trap Stun/Royal Decree
With the loss of Heavy Storm, Trap Stun and Royal Decree will become an answer to trap heavy decks. Many decks such as Chaos Dragon, Lightsworn, and Zombies can capitalize off of not playing traps and in turn combat other decks that would otherwise hurt them. Another deck I’ve seen resurface this format was Skill Drain T.G., an incredibly deadly deck if their backrow and monsters aren’t properly dealt with.
All in all, the upcoming format leaves a lot of creativity to deckbuilding. There’s a lot of card choices to make and not enough space to make them, it seems. And this list isn’t a definitive list, it’s just something to consider for replacing certain cards and even some cards you might not have thought about recently. Perhaps there’s a hidden gem still out there to be discovered?
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