We got some problems to take care of. Hello Pojo Readers, Crunch$G here to discuss the latest Forbidden and Limited List that will be in effect after December 15th, 2020 in the TCG. Overall we got 9 changes with 3 cards Forbidden, 1 Semi-Limited, and 5 Unlimited. As you might be able to guess, the only hits are in the Forbidden section, so the rest of the list is just peel offs. Overall, let’s see the problems Konami got rid of and the cards that peeled off the list.
Dragon Buster Destruction Sword
From Unlimited to Forbidden
In a case of a card being banned just to keep another around, we see Dragon Buster Destruction Sword banned due to its power with Union Carrier to lock the opponent from their Extra Deck. Overall I can appreciate Konami getting rid of this play, as it’s unfair for a player to set up their board and then equip Dragon Buster to something like Borreload Savage Dragon to lock their opponent from their Extra Deck. With that said, I do think this should come back eventually and we do need to ban Union Carrier. Union Carrier allows for combos that most Decks really shouldn’t have access to, especially an infinite negation combo. I just don’t think Union Carrier is fair to keep in the game too long, but I guess I’m fine with them keeping Union Carrier around for now and banning Dragon Buster for the time being.
Linkross
From Unlimited to Forbidden
Now this I have zero problem with. Linkross’s ability to spawn multiple Tokens with the greatest of ease was too strong, especially at a time where we now have Crystron Halqifibrax in the format. This isn’t even a card that could of stayed if Halq went, this was a little too good. The Tokens couldn’t be Link fodder for you, but they’re easy Synchro Materials, which is just insane. It’s rare you see a card get banned that isn’t even a year old, but Linkross is one of those cards that deserves this honor. Konami seemed to try to balance this by making the Tokens unable to be Link fodder, but it wasn’t enough to prevent this from being broken. We won’t see this one back for a long time, if ever.
Smoke Grenade of the Thief
From Unlimited to Forbidden
Considering all the broken cards we’ve banned in the game’s history that takes cards from the opponent’s hand, in theory it seemed destined for Smoke Grenade to get banned once it became a problem. Thanks to Infernoble Knights, Smoke Grenade was easy to use to look at the opponent’s hand to take 1 or 2 cards out of the opponent’s hand most of the time. It’s very unfair to have that in a format, especially when we’ve already banned cards like Confiscation, Delinquent Duo, The Forceful Sentry, and Trap Dustshoot. Nobody wants to deal with the opponent taking away resources from their hand, especially when they also get to look at your hand. Smoke Grenade will not be missed.
True King’s Return
From Limited to Semi-Limited
This won’t do anything in the format really, but considering all the cards that went to three, there’s zero reason this couldn’t of went to three as well. I guess they didn’t want to keep Destiny HERO – Malicious alone on the Semi-Limited list and wanted to keep justifying that section as anything other than Mali’s vacation home where he lets friends visit every once in a while when he’s around or not. Nonetheless, True King’s Return won’t really help True Draco enter the meta again, as the Deck is still hurt by hits like 1 Dinomight Knight, 1 Dragonic Diagram, and Master Peace being banned still. I’d say it would take Dinomight Knight coming back to 3 to maybe make True Draco more viable again, but this going to two and likely three next list will help as well for more tribute fodder.
Cir, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss
From Semi-Limited to Unlimited
This was easy to see coming considering it went back to two last list instead of three. If anything, the Burning Abyss package almost feels outdated for Phantom Knights besides maybe running Cir and Graff still, which feels weird to say considering how resilient Burning Abyss were in the meta for years. Burning Abyss is still good, but maybe its time has just passed or the main problem of them not having a real boss monster is coming back to bite them. Dante sadly isn’t enough for a boss, so Burning Abyss is fine at full power basically besides Beatrice still being at 1, which isn’t something that hurts BA anyways. Maybe some BA support in the future could help Cir and Graff come back into the meta once again.
Graff, Malebranche of the Burning Abyss
From Semi-Limited to Unlimited
As I said with Cir, Graff is fine at three now that it seems Burning Abyss is past their prime. They’re still pretty good cards as Farfa can still come in handy every once in a while and Dante is still a great Rank 3 for a variety of different strategies. It’s just feels outdated to run a heavy amount of Burning Abyss monsters besides Cir, Graff, and the occasional Farfa in the Main Deck. Phantom Knights might appreciate having more targets for Tour Guide to summon out the Deck, but that’s about it really. Nice to finally get back to a point where we can have full power Burning Abyss, though. And as I said with Cir as well, maybe some new Burning Abyss support could help this archetype enter the limelight once again.
Evigishki Mind Augus
From Limited to Unlimited
If anything, it should of been this going to Semi-Limited first and True King’s Return coming back to three. The two Evigishki Rituals we recently got back to three are still very sketchy to have in the format due to the loops they could enable. Gustkraken allows easy hand looping and Mind Augus keeps refilling your Deck to potentially help you continue your combos. With that said, I think this will be fine for now since these Evigishki loops don’t seem consistent enough at the moment. I could say this helps Drytron more, but I think there are better Rituals for Drytron to try and abuse outside the Evigishki Rituals, these two are better in Gishki anyways. Either way, it’d be interesting to see what niche combos we get with Mind Augus and if any of them become meta relevant in the future.
ABC-Dragon Buster
From Semi-Limited to Unlimited
Now this whole situation could of been avoided if ABC-Dragon Buster stayed at three at the beginning of the Master Rule update, especially considering I doubt ABC were going to do anything to the meta under the new rules. Players were going to look forward to playing ABC the way they used to in 2020, then they limited Dragon Buster out of nowhere even after them ignoring it when ABC were actually meta. Anyways, we got ABC-Dragon Buster back finally after the short amount of time it was on the list, so ABC players can now use their Deck at full power under the rules that make them able to play like they did in 2016, so enjoy your Dragon Buster finally being back where it belongs.
Toadally Awesome
From Semi-Limited to Unlimited
Now in theory this was one I was able to somewhat justify from Konami as we entered the new Master Rule. Toad’s powerful negation effect that steals the negated card for you is an insane effect and Toad is easy to use whether its with Paleozoics and Frogs or with Bahamut Shark. With all that said, we saw that Paleofrogs nor Bahamut Shark ever became a problem in the new Master Rule, so there was zero reason to keep Toad on the Limited section for long. They brought it back to two not long ago and now here we are with it back at three alongside ABC-Dragon Buster. Paleofrogs can now also use their Deck at full power if they so wish, though the Extra Deck is crammed to where two Toads could of been enough anyways, but I know some would appreciate having a third one.
In Conclusion
There was one good thing this list did and that’s get rid of some of the degenerate problems in the format, but at the same time they failed to take care of them all. We still got some unfair cards in the game that prevent the opponent from playing like True King of All Calamites and Number S0: Utopic ZEXAL alongside the most powerful Dragon enabler possible with Guardragon Elpy and the card that lets Dinosaurs ignore hand traps with Miscellaenosaurs. I can understand Elpy sticking around maybe since the Armed Dragon support could use Elpy being in the format, and I can even understand Calamities at least due to Virtual World, but Misc is something I don’t understand unless the Unlimited wave of Dinosmasher’s Fury is still selling for Konami or they wanted the gold print to keep selling Max Gold a little more, and Utopic ZEXAL is a card that’s proven to be a problem and Konami probably already sold enough Numerons in the Battles of Legend that flopped outside Ten Thousand Dragon and the Astral Utopia. They also could of brought several cards back that they didn’t. There’s no reason we can’t have a single Orcust Harp Horror or Thunder Dragon Colossus really, and Heavymetalfoes Electrumite would of helped sell Metalfoes in Blazing Vortex, cause that set does need help. The cards they peeled off aren’t going to affect anything really. The only meta Deck that might fade away is Infernoble Knights now, so everything else should stick around. Maybe other Decks can compete with degenerate combos like Linkross plays, Smoke Grerande hand destruciton, and Dragon Buster locks are gone, but I’m not getting too hopeful there. Hopefully they do more in March.
Thanks for Reading,
Crunch$G
