Hello Pojo Readers, Crunch$G back to break down the Forbidden and Limited list and I’m finally getting to the Limited Spells, which is the longest part of this considering there are 34 of them, so I’ll do 17 in each part. Hard to believe I’m almost done with this already, after Spells all I got left is the Traps and the whole Semi-Limited section. Anyways, let’s get started with these Spells.
A Hero Lives
Questionable limitation here. A Hero Lives is a Normal Spell that when you control no monsters, you can pay half your life points to Special Summon a Level 4 or lower Elemental HERO from your deck. The best targets are Stratos for that HERO search, since you’ll likely have no monsters to use Stratos for backrow removal, or summoning Shadow Mist for the search of a Mask Change. It’s a great starter card in the HERO deck and the TCG limited it in September of 2018 when they brought Stratos back, but the OCG limited it in September of 2018 as well when they already had two Stratos, so I wonder if Konami knows something that we don’t. Warrior decks were on the rise at this time, so I guess they wanted to hinder the use of HEROs as a whole.
Again, the limitation on this is weird, but the card is good enough to where you could say it does warrant a limit. I’m pretty sure Solid Soldier only works on Normal Summon because they knew this card existed. If having this at one means we get more really good Elemental HEROs, I’m fine with it.
Book of Moon
One of the best minus one cards in the game. Book of Moon is a Quick-Play Spell that targets a face-up monster on the field and flips it to face-down Defense Position. This can be a very disruptive card to shut down the effect of a monster before your opponent could use it, it could save you from an attack and put a monster with poor Defense in a battle position it doesn’t want to be in, and it can help you reuse Flip Effects. Book of Moon is a very versatile card, which got it limited the first time around in October of 2005, but it was at three throughout 2009 and 2010 before being limited again in March of 2011 where it has stayed at in the TCG, though the OCG has since brought this back to three.
I think Book of Moon at three is fine again. Once again, it is a minus one and you got to use it right to reap the best benefits. Not many Flip Decks are out there to where they would be broken with three of this, plus Book of Moon doesn’t even work on Link Monsters. It’s a good card, but not a broken one, and I don’t think three of this is too much.
Brilliant Fusion
Poor Gem-Knights, one of their best cards is limited because it was abusable in other decks. Brilliant Fusion is a Continuous Spell that can Fusion Summon any Gem-Knight using monsters in your deck as material, but the Fusion has its stats become 0 unless you discard a Spell, then until the end of your opponent’s turn it gains its original stats back. A great starter card in Gem-Knights, but so many decks used this with Gem-Knight Seraphinite to gain an additional Normal Summon, which was basically the play since the card was released in anything beyond Gem-Knights. Thunder Dragons recently used this to dump a Thunder Dragon into the grave for Gem-Knight Prismaura or they could dump Fairy Tail – Snow in Thunder Dragons for Seraphinite in that deck, so Brilliant Fusion’s abuse in other decks was obvious and it got limited in January of 2019.
I always thought Seraphinite should of been banned, not Brilliant Fusion going to one. Seraphinite gives other decks Normal Summons while Gem-Knights barely even use it, and at the same time the other Gem-Knight Fusions are there just to dump for Brilliant Fusion while said Fusions are truly only useful in Gem-Knights. Sure Prismaura sounds good with Brilliant Fusion in Thunder Dragons, but I wouldn’t call that too broken. I’d love three of this back in exchange for Seraphinite getting banned.
Card Destruction
Card Destruction is a Normal Spell that makes both players discard their whole hands and draw cards equal to the number they discarded. Naturally it is a minus one for you, but you do get to see a new hand of cards in return. This card was semi-limited on the first Limited List in 2002 and eventually limited to one in December of 2002 where it has stayed. Over time you saw decks like Dark Worlds and Fableds able to make good use of this card with the discarding they love to do. Eventually, the TCG opted to ban this in September of 2013 and eventually brought it back in September of 2018 likely to promote their new Danger! archetype.
Card Destruction at one is fine, no more is needed. Danger!, Dark World, and many other decks will love that massive discard to trigger so many various effects. It’s a natural minus one, but it will only be used now when you can reap benefits off it. Any more than one and you risk deck out decks being able to abuse this with too much ease.
Chain Strike
Everybody loves burn, right? Chain Strike is a Quick-Play Spell that must be activated as Chain Link 2 or higher and burns the opponent for 400 times the Chain Link number of this card. Getting this card as a Chain Link 3 or higher and you’re doing some strong damage, at least 1200. This card was limited in March of 2007, but in September of 2008 it went to two where it stayed until the TCG limited it in May of 2018. The timing of it was weird, since burn wasn’t really topping, but then they revealed the new end of match procedure where you get one phase left after they call for time and whoever has the most life points at the end of the phase wins, so I guess they wanted to limit the best burn card to prevent these new rules from getting cheap wins, even though that is still an issue.
Chain Strike at one is fine. Nobody likes to play against burn really and it can steal a win in time. It’s an easy card to use and it can deal some big damage that can win you a duel. Before the time rules, it at two was fine, but now it belongs at one.
Dark Hole
One of many cards that still prove that sometimes, simplicity is key. Dark Hole is a Normal Spell that destroys all monsters on the field upon activation. Easy to use and it’ll likely be used when you are behind in monster advantage. Dark Hole can be a massive blow out card, which was why in May of 2002 Dark Hole was one of the first cards in the game to be limited and was eventually banned in August of 2004 where it stayed, except for a format in October of 2005 before being banned again next list, until September of 2010 when it finally came back to one and eventually two in January of 2015 before going back to one in September of 2017 at the same time Interrupted Kaiju Slumber was limited because I guess the TCG hated board wipes.
I know comparing the TCG and OCG here will be weird since the TCG does have a copy of Raigeki and now three Interrupted Kaiju Slumber, but I don’t see a problem with three Dark Hole. The downside of destroying your monsters as well doesn’t seem promising in this day in age to the point where it doesn’t seem promising to play one of this, at least Interrupted Kaiju Slumber brought more to the table. Bringing Dark Hole to three might see players try it again, but they are barely playing the one Raigeki they’re allowed to have. Three Dark Hole might be fine in 2019, but if they want they can just do two since TCG does have Raigeki.
Dimensional Fissure
Dimensional Fissure is a Continuous Spell that banishes any monster sent to the graveyard. Very simple card, but it can annoy so many decks. Burning Abyss needs their monsters in the grave and this card prevents them from using it. Monsters in the graveyard is much better than monsters being banished, except with those few exceptions. Decks that don’t care about the graveyard could easily use this card because it wasn’t hurting them at all, and it gets better when you want your monsters banished. Dimensional Fissure was limited in September of 2013 in the TCG when we split from the OCG, cause before this the card was always at three and the OCG never touched this card on the F/L List. I guess the TCG just didn’t like banishing.
I don’t see a single issue with three of this again. It’s a good deterrent from insanely powerful decks that need monsters in the graveyard. I can’t think of a meta deck that’ll use this beyond Thunder Dragons, and they’re bound to get hit soon, plus it’ll be nice for anti-meta strategies to have. I don’t think Dimensional Fissure is the best floodgate at all, so three won’t be that bad.
Divine Wind of Mist Valley
Another card where self bouncing is abused. Divine Wind of Mist Valley is a Field Spell that once per turn, if a WIND monster you control returns to the hand then you could Special Summon any Level 4 or lower WIND from your deck. On paper it sounds fine, but there was an FTK that came to light once Harpie Dancer came out that involved Blaze Fenix. I won’t list every step of the combo because it’s very long, but I’ll link it here (credit to the wiki). That FTK has since been hit, but Harpie Dancer was bound to find some other degenerate combo with Divine Wind of Mist Valley, which is why the card got limited in January of 2014 in the TCG shortly after Harpie Dancer came out.
Divine Wind at one is fine, Harpie Dancer isn’t even a problem card. The only card that would make her a problem is Divine Wind and that card is now limited to make those FTKs less consistent. It’s fine at one for now, it probably should of just always worked with Mist Valley alone.
Draco Face-Off
Oh Pendulums. Draco Face-Off is a Quick-Play Spell that reveals one Dracoslayer Pendulum and one Dracoverlord Pendulum in your deck and your opponent will randomly choose one to either let you put in your Pendulum Zone or Special Summon face-up onto the field while the other card went into the Extra Deck face-up. The best use of this card was the potential to get to Luster Pendulum in Performages and Pals and later the Dracopals deck because Luster Pendulum was so good at making that deck consistent. If you didn’t get a Luster into the scale, you could at least Pendulum Summon it to go into Ignister, which is a very powerful Synchro. Draco Face-Off could set up a Scale or give you a body on board while putting another monster in the Extra Deck to be Pendulum Summoned, so Draco Face-Off was limited in April of 2016.
Draco Face-Off I feel can come to three now. The Dracoslayers and Dracoverlords are not the powerhouses they once were, especially with Dracopals and Performages and Pals both being hindered on the Forbidden and Limited List and as long as those decks don’t come back to full power, I can’t imagine Draco Face-Off being a problem with the Dracoslayers and Dracoverlords.
Emergency Teleport
What a history this card has. Emergency Teleport is a Quick-Play Spell that Special Summons any Level 3 or lower Psychic monster from your deck but it’ll be banished in the End Phase. This card’s first run of power was when Tele-DAD was a powerhouse in 2008 and early 2009 until that deck got hit, which included E-Tele going to one in March of 2009. It later went back to two in March of 2012 and later three in September of 2012 where it wasn’t a problem until Kozmos came out, where this card could get to Kozmo Farmgirl or Kozmo Tincan to make that deck more consistent, as well as Monarchs using this with Super Quantal Blue Layer to search for Red Layer and Blue Layer could always put himself back into the deck to make the other Emergency Teleports live. E-Tele was semi-limited in April of 2016 so the consistency was hit a bit, but not too much cause there was still a wave of Kozmo support left, but it was limited in August of 2016 when they were done with Kozmo and Monarchs being on top.
E-Tele at three seems fine again. Kozmos aren’t really topping anymore right now and I don’t think the Super Quantal engine in Monarchs will be so overbearingly powerful anymore. E-Tele at three will also give other Psychic decks a boost, so it at three will be nice again, though there is the risk of it becoming a very powerful card again.
Final Countdown
IT’S THE FINAL COUNTDOWN! Final Countdown is a Normal Spell that you activate by paying 2000 life points then 20 turns after you activate this card, you win the duel. Now it can be hard to stall for 20 turns, but players were able to figure it out. Seeing this card used against you means you are in for the long haul more than likely unless you could stop your opponent from using the many various stall cards they have. 20 turns is a long time and you’d still have to build your deck around making sure the duel lasts that long, because decks slowly have been able to make duels end at lightning speed. Final Countdown was limited in January of 2014 mostly because they didn’t like players causing games to be super long, plus now you have to stall to draw the one of Final Countdown and then stall until you win with it.
Final Countdown at three again won’t be meta, I’m sure decks can get through all the stall tactics the Final Countdown player has. With that said, I don’t think playing against a stall deck using Final Countdown is fun, so having only one means that you can break through the stall at least before they get to the Final Countdown so then by the time they activate it, it’ll be much easier for you to win. It’d be fine at three, but I don’t think anyone likes the Final Countdown decks being used against them.
Foolish Burial
Ok, this might actually be the best minus one in the game. Foolish Burial is a Normal Spell that sends any monster from your deck to the graveyard. As graveyard effects slowly entered the game, you could see how good this would become. Even before that, you could dump a boss monster into the grave with this back in the day to revive it with something and you got an easy boss monster, and the minus one you did for it wasn’t as bad in 2008. As grave effects were entering the game, Foolish Burial went to two in March of 2008 and as more were added it went to one in March of 2010 where it has stayed ever since as more graveyard effects kept being added to the game.
Foolish Burial now is a great starter or extender in the right decks, it can literally trigger almost every graveyard effects that any monster might have. Foolish Burial likely isn’t moving from being at one, cause using multiple for easy graveyard effects is just so good and I don’t think those kind of effects will be going anywhere anytime soon.
Gateway of the Six
A card that was going to get better as Six Samurais got support. Gateway of the Six is a Continuous Spell that gains 2 Bushido Counters every time you summon a Six Samurai monster. You could also remove Bushido Counters from the field to gain various effects for each Bushido Counter removed: 2 lets a Six Samurai or Shien monster gain 500 ATK for the turn, 4 lets you add any Six Samurai from your deck or graveyard to your hand, and 6 lets you Special Summon a Shien monster from your grave. The effect for four counters was most useful with cards like Grandmaster of the Six Samurai and Kizan to Special Summon themselves and create massive boards, especially with three Gateway of the Six. Kagari and Kagemucha could get 4 counters with ease and another 2 if you went into Shi En. Gateway of the Six made so many big Six Samurai boards that it was limited in March of 2011 and the TCG later banned it in September of 2013 and while the OCG was moving this to three, the TCG finally got Gateway back to one in September of 2017.
Three Gateway might be fine once again. Six Samurai might not even be able to make threatening boards by 2019 standards with this back in the game, and even with their Link Monster being able to search this whenever we get that monster, I don’t think Six Samurai will be able to consistently do anything degenerate with it. Three Gateway is fine now, which is insane to think about now.
Gold Sarcophagus
A card that was limited at three different times for being so good for three different reasons. Gold Sarcophagus banishes any card from your deck face-up and adds it to your hand on your second Standby Phase after this was activated. Back in the day, you could of either had Airblade Turbo banishing a monster to summon with Dimension Fusion or have Gold Sarc banish a card you actually want in your hand in two turns, which back in a slower era it was much easier to wait for that card. Gold Sarc was limited in the TCG in September of 2007 shortly after making it a prize card, but eventually brought it to two in March of 2009 and three in March of 2011. It was later limited in September of 2013 in the TCG after Dragon Rulers were abusing it a lot since they got effects when banished, because now it was too slow to wait two turns to get a card unless the card banished did something when banished. With Dragon Rulers long out of the game, the TCG got Gold Sarc back to three in August of 2016 where it stayed until Thunder Dragons began abusing it by getting their banish effects while at the same time having Thunder Dragonhawk summon the banished Thunder Dragon for an immediate Thunder Dragon Colossus, so Gold Sarc was limited for the third time in January 2019 in the TCG.
This card could just not seem to catch a break because people kept breaking it for one reason or another. With Thunder Dragons being a fresh deck still, one Gold Sarc is where it belongs for now, but I can see it coming back to three when Thunder Dragons are fazed out just for it to get limited again when the next banish deck abuses Gold Sarc, or maybe this time Konami will learn their lesson and either stop printing those archetypes or keep Gold Sarc limited if not outright banning it.
Infernity Launcher
The card that made Infernity meta the first time around. Infernity Launcher is a Continuous Spell that lets you discard an Infernity from your hand once per turn and also it can be sent from the field to the grave while you have no cards in your hand to Special Summon up to two Infernity monsters from the grave. Infernity were so explosive with this at three and Archfiend at three to search for Launcher. Infernities had an easy time emptying their hand if the deck was built right, but Launcher makes that easier to use all your Infernity effects. Necromancer, Archfiend, Beetle, and Avenger are just some examples of good cards to revive for massive Synchro plays (thankfully you couldn’t revive Infernity Mirage), especially in the OCG when they had Trishula. The TCG thankfully limited this card in September of 2010 (the same time the OCG limited it of course) before they got Trishula because it helped Infernity make so many strong boards.
Infernity Launcher needs to stay at one. It makes Infernity too explosive and if it was at three, it’d keep Infernity Archfiend at one forever probably, and that card while very good is not as strong as Launcher. Just imagine if this was at three when Xyz Infernity was around. The Infernity deck is always going to be somewhat good and Launcher is almost always going to be limited.
Magical Mid-Breaker Field
Combo decks love this card. Magical Mid-Breaker Field is a Field Spell that can only be activated at the start of the Main Phase 1 or 2 and during each player’s Main Phase 1, monsters on the field could not be targeted or destroyed by the opponent’s effects. This let combo decks do their thing more safely, getting around cards like Effect Veiler, PSY-Framegear Gamma, and Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit. It basically allowed you to make massive plays where the only thing really stopping you is either Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring or maybe Ghost Belle & Haunted Mansion. The big downside of this card is that you couldn’t activate or set Field Spells, so you were stuck with this once it was used. Combo decks were too powerful and this card let them go off with greater ease, so in January of 2019 the card was limited.
The card does deserve its limit if not a ban. Letting combo decks go off with less ways to stop the combos is just dangerous. This card is still searchable off the two Terraforming we have, but making this at one makes it less consistent, but still playable. I think a ban for this is worthy since it can still let certain combo decks do their thing, but those combo decks seem hindered a lot right now, so this isn’t really a problem at the moment.
Monster Gate
There is only one card like this, but this one is arguably better. Monster Gate is a Normal Spell that makes you tribute a monster you control and you then excavate cards from the top of your deck until you hit a monster that can be Normal Summoned or Set and you can then Special Summon that monster and send the excavated cards to the graveyard. Airblade Turbo and later Dark Armed Return could make this useful by loading the graveyard until they hit a monster they can summon, hopefully putting Phoenix Blade in there to banish Warriors to use with Dimension Fusion or Return From a Different Dimension. It was limited in September of 2008 where it has stayed while the OCG brought it to three but later back to one when Infernoids were using it, but I think the OCG have brought it back to three since now that Infernoids are a bit power crept now.
I think Monster Gate could maybe come back to three. Only a few decks could really use it and I can’t imagine any of them being good enough to compete in the meta, even with three of this. It’s a great card, but not too powerful at this moment, so I’d say three is fine.
In Conclusion
Some really good Spells here, there’s a reason these are limited right now. Nothing here is truly banworthy except for two cards maybe, emphasis on maybe. I do feel some of these could come back up on the list while others are fine where they are, though the next part might be a little less similar as I see and there are a lot of powerful cards left to talk about.
Thanks for Reading,
Crunch$G
