It's Ban List week!  I've chosen this week to look at a few of the changes this go around (keep in mind that list will again change in March, every three months, as opposed to six now!)  Field Magic Cards don't usually see anything happen to them (I feel Necrovalley may have been on the list before in some form, but I don't honestly recall completely).  This is a simple enough Field Magic Card, but one that you might actually consider running a second copy of in your Dragon Deck, whatever build it happens to be.  It adds speed, combos, and all kinds of synergy just by choosing either effect.  Either you add a Level 4 or lower "Dragunity" Monster from your Deck to your Hand, or simply send a Dragon from your Deck to the Graveyard.  Use the copy you're allowed, although, this isn't going to be the focal point of what makes your Dragon Deck go...at least not while Banned.  I don't see this as broken or open enough that being Banned was necessary, one would have been plenty.  But whatever, we'll see what happens in six weeks.

Ratings:

Traditional:  3/5 
Advanced:  Banned 
Art:  5/5

Happy Monday everyone!  This week as we eagerly await the Legacy of the Valiant sneak, we take a look at some of the cards affected by the most recent ban list.  Our first selection is Dragon Ravine, a field spell that saw more than its fare share of play in E-Dragon decks.
 
This card went from 3 to 0 in the 4 months that Dragon Ruler decks dominated the game.  It was one of two Dragon related cards to do get the banhammer, the other being Escape from the Different Dimension.  Now of course Escape has other uses in other decks, but you can't tell me that no E-Dragon player ever summoned an unreasonable amount of their banished Dragons and destroyed you with them.
 
But anyway, Dragon Ravine.  Once a turn, (in the case of E-Dragons) you got to dump a Dragon straight to your graveyard by discarding another card (another dragon).  Then you could just use the effect in the Graveyard and resurrect one of them.  But wait!  It's once per turn PER Ravine, not overall.  So if you had a way to plop a second one down (which is not hard) you could do that twice in a turn.  It was ridiculous.
 
Now in the deck it was meant for (Dragunities) it basically let you dump your Phalanx and set up your plays.  This is great for the deck, and was never as big of a problem in that as it was in E-Dragons.  The overwhelming popularity of the Dragon deck meant it had to go, though I could have lived with it going to one.  With all the other cards that got hit to kill the E-Dragon deck, I don't think Ravine had to be banned.  I hate the very concept of what E-Dragons represented in this game, but I don't feel like Konami had to go this far to kill the deck.  This card could still be used in Dragunities without any real harm to the Metagame, and perhaps in the future it will come back, but for now, it's another of the many nails that went into the E-Dragon coffin.
 
Traditional: 5/5 in the deck it goes in, not that great anywhere else
Advanced: Banned/5
Art: 3/5
 
Thanks for reading!

Hello Pojo Fans,
 
This week looks to be a week of cards hit by the recent TCG Ban List. To start it off is Dragon Ravine. Ravine is a Field Spell made for the Dragunity archtype, but found itself smack in the middle of Tier 1 Dragon decks. "Once per turn, during your Main Phase, you can discard 1 card to activate 1 of these effects:● Add 1 Level 4 or lower "Dragunity" monster from your Deck to your hand.● Send 1 Dragon-Type monster from your Deck to the Graveyard."
 
This card was specifically made for Dragunity decks. It allowed them to discard get any equipable dragon into their Graveyard for a search of any level 4 or lower Dragunity, or put another equipable dragon into their grave. The most used Dragunity combo I would think would be to discard Dragunity Aklys to search out Dragunity Dux, summon Dux, equip Dux with Aklys, unequip to destroy a card on the field. The same can happen with Dragunity Legionnaire. The restriction of it having to be level 3 or below to equip to either of those monsters doesn't hurt one bit. Ravine allowed a Dragunity player to search out almost any Dragunity. In a Dragon Deck, it allowed a player to discard a Dragon Ruler to put another Dragon-type monster in the grave. This would set up big players involving one or more Dragon Ruler. Even in an ordinary dragon deck, the player can discard a dragon to send another dragon to the grave and set up something like Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon or Lightpulsar Dragon (Eclipse Wyvern).
 
The only downsides to this card are that as a Field Spell it is an easy target for killing effects like MST, and that you can only use one of these effects once per turn. It's not for every deck, it's only for Dragon builds and Dragunity.
 
Traditional- 3/5
Advanced- 4/5
Art- 4/5
 
Until Next Time
KingofLullaby

Dragon Ravine

Hello, everyone. It's worth noting that perhaps I was a bit too lenient on a few of the cards last week (it truly was one of the most disappointing COTD weeks the site has seen), but thankfully since the theme of this week is related to recent ban list changes, it's going to be much better.

Ravine is an example of a card that is as good as the company it keeps. Since you have to discard a card to add a Dragunity to the hand or send a Dragon from the deck to the graveyard, intrinsically, this card isn't very good at all. However, with other powerful cards being released, speed is essential (and any -1 that this card creates would be offset by lots of other powerful cards out there. No doubt that Dragunities have suffered a profound loss, and are going to have to cope with not being extremely broken anymore.

Traditional: 4/5 (Very Good)

Advanced: Banned (but would be a 4/5 – Very Good)

Contact: banefulscolumn@gmail.com

You know, Dragunity has always been a fan favorite. With every new dragon support you see a tonne of Dragunity decks that try to make use of it just so they have an excuse to use Dragunity. It is the decktype that remains popular, despite not doing anything. I think in a fight even the Ice Barriers could beat Dragunity. Oh it's a sad tale, so before we begin let us take a moment of silence for Dragunity.
 
...
 
Ice Barriers would get annihilated turn 2 if Dragunity paid off the Dragon Rulers though. That's why Dragon Ravine is in the position it is these days: the dragon rulers. With the incomparable Graveyard-setup this field spell creates, you'll be getting your field decimated by them en masse in a turn or two (if you're lucky). Quite simply, once a Dragon Ruler deck drops Dragon Ravine it wins. The sheer amount of combos Ravine generates is too numerous for me to note, as one would expect of a card that is essentially Foolish Burial on so many steroids that even Lance Armstrong would say "Woah bro, easy on the 'roids."
 
I, personally, shall miss this Field Spell purely because it made Stardust Dragon Assault Mode fairly consistent. Dragunity players shall miss it because it made their archetype somewhat playable. Dragon Ruler decks shall miss it because now their deck doesn't really exist.
 
How to counter Dragon Ravine: play a field spell, or any spell/trap destruction, or any card that empties the Graveyard etc. There's a myriad of ways.
 
Traditional: 2/5
Advanced: 4/5 (with Dragon Rulers in the deck)