Big changes have happened in Japan.  While the U.S. had received a very conservative ban list on new years, the OCG had 7 of their cards unbanned:

•    Ring of Destruction

•    Sinister Serpent

•    Chaos Emperor Dragon

•    Crush Card Virus

•    Temple of the Kings

•    Exchange of the Spirit

•    Harpie's Feather Duster

These cards are still banned in the west (United States and Europe), but it's likely that they will come to us at some point this year.

6 of the 7 cards were changed in card text to make them less powerful.  Harpie's Feather Duster remains the same.  We aren't going to be reviewing "Exchange of the Spirit" this week since there's only 5 days, but that card recieved an errata of requiring your opponent to have 15+ cards in their graveyard as well (preventing the card from becoming a First Turn Kill.)

Sinister Serpent

These are the following changes have been made to it:

•    You can only use the effect of Sinister Serpent once per turn

•    During your opponent's next End Phase, you must banish 1 Sinister Serpent from your graveyard.

To be honest, Sinister didn't really need an errata.  It would've been fine if it were unbanned as is.  It's not as powerful as it was back then.  Yes, it alleviates discard costs but most decks wouldn't use discard-cards just on the hopes that they might (or might not) draw Sinister Serpents.

Decks that do discard (like Burning Abyss) already have their discard fodder.  Mermails may have used Sinister too if it weren't nerfed.

Okay, the nerf isn't totally fatal.  As long as you only discard it every other turn the erratas shouldn't affect you.  But it was unnecessary on a card that already isn't strong to begin with.

Ratings

Traditional, Before Errata – 3.5/5 (more ways to discard)

Traditional, After Errata – 2/5 (too slow to plus off of in Traditional)

Advanced, with Errata – 2/5 (not totally useless, but ehhh...)

Advanced, if not Errata'd – 3/5 (would've been totally balanced)

Welcome to errata week, as we'll look at various cards that have experienced an errata, opening things off with Sinister Serpent.  The review will be somewhat limited, as the card is Forbidden in Advanced, and the errata small.  Sinister Serpent, once said (IF Sinister Serpent exists in your Graveyard, you can return Sinister Serpent to your Hand).  Now, replace Sinister Serpent with "this card".  Technically, THIS card cannot exist both in your Hand and Graveyard, and I think that's the confusion the original vagueness was trying to express, and isn't supposed to be a problem now.  But as mentioned, having one, or none, available, it's less than no problem.

Ratings:

Traditional:  4/5
Art:  4/5

Hello Pojo Fans,
 
Times change and so does the wording on effects. This week we're covering some of the most legendary past cards that have been altered so they could return to the advanced format. Today is the little reptile everyone loves to discard: Sinister Serpent.
Before, you had the choice to return Sinister Serpent from your graveyard during your Standby Phase if it were there. Now, you can only use its effect once per turn, and, if during your opponents End Phase, Sinister Serpent is in your graveyard, you would have to remove it from play.
 
The odds of looping Sinister Serpent like you were able to do in the past using Graceful Charity and other card effects is highly unlikely. The ability to discard it during your Standby Phase, then get it back (much like using Treeborn Frogs Special Summoning effect) using Hand Destruction is limited because you can only use the effect once per turn. Once in the grave, Sinister Serpent is likely getting removed.
 
The added effect of it being removed at your opponents End Phase if in your graveyard has taken away most of Sinister Serpents usefulness. Even at “once per turn” it could still be useful as long as it found its way back to your hand. Sinister Serpent was all about returning infinitely to your hand, and now that effect has been limited.
 
Advanced-1/5
Art-3/5
 
Until Next Time
KingofLullaby

This week we are going to be covering a select number of cards that are currently Forbidden in the TCG, but have become Limited in the OCG thanks to a wave of erratas they did a few weeks ago. As all of these cards are not currently legal for Advanced Format, I will instead rate them on Pre-Errata vs. Post-Errata.
 
The first card is Sinister Serpent, a card which was immensely popular a decade ago. As a monster its pitiful, but if it’s in your Graveyard during your Standby Phase you can put it back in your hand, meaning its infinite discard fodder. During the days of Goat Control, this was fantastic, because some of the strongest cards of the format (Graceful Charity, Tribe-Infecting Virus, Lightning Vortex, etc.) all required discard costs, which were extremely taxing that early in the game’s life. Sinister Serpent essentially made these cards free (or at least less taxing in the case of Graceful Charity). It also served as an answer to an opposing Delinquent Duo, and was the reason why Duo wasn’t dropped immediately when drawn; a player would wait until they knew (or could at least soundly conclude) that Serpent wasn’t in the opponent’s hand.
 
These days, Serpent wouldn’t be quite as devastating; any Deck that runs discard effects already has more reliable cards to remove; Burning Abyss has all of their monsters, Mermail has the Atlanteans and Gunde, etc. It could possibly see use in Gadgets thanks to King of the Feral Imps, and it gives the Deck access to the likes of Phoenix Wing Wind Blast, but this certainly isn’t broken.
 
Despite this, Konami decided to smack the card with an errata. Along with only being usable once per turn (which isn’t too bad, seeing as it’s Limited anyway), the card forces you to banish a Sinister Serpent from your Graveyard if you use its effect. If I understand correctly, you either have to wait a turn to use Sinister Serpent after getting it back or lose it after one use. So the card is stupidly slow now to use reliably, and is overall pretty useless.
 
This was a nerf that didn’t have to happen. The card was only halfway decent in today’s game and now it’s just bad.
 
Pre-Errata: 2/5
Post-Errata: 1/5