If there’s any proof that you can really never say never with this game, it’s right here. Hello Pojo Readers, Crunch$G here ready to talk about the latest Forbidden and Limited List update for May 17th, 2022. It’s interesting we get a list with such short notice before a couple of notable events, but here we are. With a format where it seems clear that Branded Despia is the best strategy to use right now and other options like Prank-Kids, Swordsoul, Cyberse Eldlich, and 60-card piles running around just to name a few, it was going to be interesting to see how Konami handled things. Swordsoul isn’t that big of a problem, and it’s still new, while Branded Despia was way too new to hit. Everything else could maybe use a hit for anyone tired of them, but this format mostly needed a few cards gone, so here we are to see what Konami got rid of and brought back.
Mecha Phantom Beast Auroradon
From Unlimited to Forbidden
With Halqifibrax getting a reprint, you know that wasn’t getting banned. Instead, we had to go for the next best thing that’s making Halqifibrax a problem right now: Mecha Phantom Beast Auroradon. Being able to get a Link-3 that gives you 3 Level 3 Tokens is pretty insane, especially if you summon this using a Halqifibrax you made and a Deskbot 001 you summoned from Deck so you can revive it when the 3 Tokens come out. Despite not being able to Link Summon after generating the Tokens, you do have Synchro Spam fuel with the 001 and Tokens, and you can get even more if you summon Mecha Phantom Beast Coltwing from Deck off the Auroradon. Auroradon is a pretty strong card in all honesty, so a ban does still feel justified since even if we did get rid of Halq, we could one day find another way to break this card.
Prank-Kids Meow-Meow-Mu
From Limited to Forbidden
Prank-Kids did need a Link-1 to be a real force, but I guess now we know it wasn’t a good idea to actually give them a Link-1. Being able to have any of the 4 Prank-Kids become a 1-card Prank-Kids combo thanks to Meow-Meow-Mu being printed was pretty strong. It gets even stronger after you back it up with an Adventurer package to ensure your Prank-Kid goes off after linking it away with Meow-Meow-Mu. Meow-Meow-Mu’s effect wasn’t anything insane, though being able to potentially use a Battle Butler or Rip-Roarin-Roaster twice for a Quick Effect Raigeki or Harpie’s Feather Duster is pretty good. Sadly, Prank-Kids need to go back to being a 2-3 card combo Deck with 2 names and a Polymerization or something instead of just summoning a Prank-Kid and summoning Meow-Meow-Mu.
Predaplant Verte Anaconda
From Unlimited to Forbidden
I mean, even without cards like Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon, Destiny HERO – Destroyer Phoenix Enforcer, and Branded Fusion existing with the first two being able to use materials from Deck with Red-Eyes Fusion and Fusion Destiny respectively, Predaplant Verte Anaconda was still a pretty insane card. Being able to just use any Fusion Spell from the Deck just at the cost of 2000 LP is very strong, especially on a generic Link-2 that just needed 2 Effect Monsters to make. I don’t know why this was generic, but here we are, and with more powerful Fusion stuff being printed after its release, it seemed to be a matter of time before Verte Anaconda got the axe. Konami made this way too good for how generic it was.
Jet Synchron
From Forbidden to Limited
You know, I didn’t think I’d actually see this card ever come back with Halqifibrax still in the game, but with Auroradon gone, the combos aren’t as insane anymore. Jet Synchron might of been the worst of the Halq targets to get banned post Halq’s release, so I could see why it was the first to come back. A once per Duel option to discard a card to revive it is still pretty good, and it is a 1-card Halqifibrax, but we see now that Halqifibrax isn’t as big of an issue anymore with Auroradon gone. Maybe one day it will be, but by then I imagine Konami would be ready to hit Halq. For now, Synchron players can finally use Jet Synchron again and have a really good Level 1 Tuner to summon off their Junk Speeder to build their boards.
Performapal Monkeyboard
From Forbidden to Limited
Alright, now time for some surreal territory. Performapal Monkeyboard was an insane card back in the day for its power in the Performages & Pals strategy and later the Dracopals strategy, and at the time 6 years ago, the ban was warranted. Now we are at a point where Konami seems to want to bring back every Pendulum card not named Heavymetalfoes Electrumite, so here we are with Monkeyboard at 1. I guess this was bound to happen at some point. Yes, it’s still a 1-card scale and it is searchable off Performapal Skullcrobat Joker, but I don’t think Performapals or Pendulums in a whole will be an issue with this. It’s a great boost to the Deck, but probably won’t end up being meta warping with 1 Monkeyboard, or potentially multiples later on. Thankfully this isn’t Majespecter Unicorn – Kirin and now I just await for Performage Plushfire since it’s the last card from the Performages and Pals era to remain banned.
Red Rose Dragon
From Unlimited to Limited
I mean, when you are able to take a bunch of cards that on paper don’t look like they’ll synergize together, put them in a 60-card Deck of all things, and find competitive success with it in 2022, Konami probably made a mistake somewhere in desiging several cards. The 60-card piles had pretty insane capabilities, even without some of the cards OCG used in similar builds. I can understand wanting to take care of Decks that on paper look like are a bunch of random cards thrown together, as it’s probably a suggestion of bad card design. Red Rose Dragon was one of the better cards in those strategies, and a part of the gear that made these strategies function as it can help summon Roxrose Dragon from Deck to search for Basal Rose Shoot and keep extending your plays. It’s a suprising hit, still, but one I can somewhat understand.
Yata-Garasu
From Forbidden to Limited
Well, here we are. After 18 years, we can finally say that every card that was banned on the very first Forbidden list has came back at some point, whether it’s due to an errata to balance the card, the card becoming outdated, or a case of wanting to add a power card to a format to ban it again later. Yata-Garasu remained banned ever since the concept of banning cards in the TCG was a thing, and now here we are with the last reminant of that list being back. Now, how does it apply in 2022? To be honest, it’ll be harder than ever to pull off the Yata Lock and even if you were able to, you were probably winning that Duel anyways. I know the Yata Lock still sounds scary, but honestly the idea is past its prime. You might still see someone try to pull it off, but I don’t think it’ll be a major meta threat. Therefore, we can finally welcome Yata-Garasu back into the game. Never thought I’d see the day.
Crystron Halqifibrax
From Unlimited to Limited
I mean, I guess we at least hit the card? I’ve talked a lot about how Halqifibrax is a card that’s way too good for this game, but putting it to 1 doesn’t do much of anything. If we were going to put this on the list, I would of thought it’d go straight to Forbidden. Instead I guess we’re taking an OCG approach. With all that said, this isn’t like a straight up bad hit overall. It doesn’t do that much, but it takes care of anything trying to abuse multiple copies of this card, since resolving multiples in a game can be pretty strong. I do still think this card is a ticking time bomb before it’s banned, though right now it seems everything that made the card a problem is taken care of. It’s probably why Jet Synchron came back, to keep a little bit of power in this card without the best things it enabled.
Shooting Riser Dragon
From Unlimited to Limited
Now if we really want to talk about hits that do absolutely nothing. I know there are some combo lines that exist that use multiple Shooting Riser Dragon, but I don’t think those were all that common. This was a card I know was mostly being played as a 1-of when it did see play. Being able to send a monster from Deck to grave to lower this card’s Level is pretty nice on a Synchro Tuner. The monster not being able to use its effect the turn it was sent is an alright balance, but some cards can still be abused off this like Fairy Tail – Snow. I know you can also send Token Collector to stop Adventurer and Swordsoul, but I still don’t think doing both justifies Shooting Riser to 1. It really does nothing, so I don’t know why they didn’t just ban the card if they thought it was that much of a problem.
Change of Heart
From Forbidden to Limited
Sometimes you see a change on a list that would make you think a list is fake, and this was most certainly a change I would of never saw coming. I’ve heard suggestions to bring this card back, and honestly I wasn’t on board with the idea when I heard it suggested. With that said, I’m aware OCG is starting to deem Mind Control not enough of an issue to where they can bring that up the list. I guess instead of the TCG doing the same thing, they decided to bring back the better overall card in Change of Heart to 1 instead. Change of Heart does do a lot of what Mind Control does, only you can attack with what you steal and you could Tribute Summon with the monster for the few options that’s relevant in. Other than that, you’re likely using the monster as a material for an Extra Deck play. Change of Heart does open up attacking like I mentioned, so you could probably push for game easier, but that’s the only real big benefit to Change of Heart over Mind Control. Really, I could see this card just eating a negate more than anything, just like Raigeki if you opt to play it. I could see Change of Heart still seeing more play than Raigeki, and it’s most likely the choice over Mind Control if you’re only choosing 1. Either this ends up being fine and it’s just another powerful 1-of in the game, or we got Snatch Steal all over again and this goes back to being banned next list. We’ll have to see, but appreciate Konami experimenting with these banned cards more. You just know a change is wild, though, when it trends #14 worldwide on Twitter.
Time Seal
From Forbidden to Limited
Now I would of really questioned Konami if they brought back Yata-Garasu and kept Time Seal banned. It was arguably the worst Forbidden card on the list next to Victory Dragon. Back in the day, I’m sure the game was slow enough to where stopping the opponent’s next Draw Phase only once, no matter when it happened, was pretty good. Now, we have a much faster game, and considering this is card you’ll only see the benefits to on Turn 4 at the earliest in a game where sometimes the games don’t even go that long, you know the card is no real threat to the game. Even if you resolve Time Seal at that point, your opponent could likely have resources in the hand or graveyard to where the Time Seal didn’t matter anyways. You could probably find a loop with this to prevent the opponent from ever drawing, but it seems inconsistent, especially with just 1. If any card that came back from the Forbidden section is most likely to move to 2 or higher next list, it’s most certainly this one.
Dinomight Knight, the True Dracofighter
From Limited to Semi-Limited
This is something I felt was bound to happen with OCG putting this card to 3 not long ago. True Draco most certainly isn’t the Deck it once was, and the True Draco Traps aren’t really that big of a deal to where we can’t have 2 Dinomight Knight to more consistently get to them. True Draco honestly still might be a decent stun strategy, but it isn’t going to take a meta by storm again. We still only have 1 Dragonic Diagram and we have no Master Peace back yet with no real signs of it ever coming back, and hopefully staying that way. True Draco does deserve a small boost after all this time, so bringing Dinomight Knight back to 2 honestly feels pretty safe and another instance of a card going to 2 just to likely go to 3 next list.
Cyber Angel Benten
From Limited to Semi-Limited
Here’s a card that did kinda get added to the list very recently, but the Deck it was used in was massively neutered. Without Eva, the Drytron strategy isn’t the force it once was, so bringing Cyber Angel Benten to two isn’t really that big of a deal. It’s an alright boost to Drytron, and it helps other Ritual strategies as well as we just got the Libromancer archetype. Benten to 2 doesn’t seem like it’ll be that big of a deal, but it’s a great card for any Ritual strategy to be able to have access to once again. I don’t think this will be a problem, despite Drytron still showing some capabilities at least on a Regional Level. Will it go to three next list? It does seem like a possibility at this point.
Fire Formation – Tenki
From Limited to Semi-Limited
Well this might be an even faster insance of a card going to 1 just to later return to 2. Fire Formation – Tenki at the time of its limitation was fine, as Tri-Brigade were easily one of the top strategies in the meta. Now, it seems we just kind of phased the Tri-Brigade archetype out of the meta for now. It’s still a decent option, but not taking crazy results like it once was. So with all that said, Fire Formation – Tenki does seem fine to return to 2 at this stage. It’s mostly just a consitency boost to help Tri-Brigade keep up with the current metagame without doing anything that would make it out of control. The Simorgh Link-3 is still gone, as is Zoodiac Drident and Barrage, so really Tri-Brigade still lacks some of the best things they could of done before.
Pot of Desires
From Limited to Semi-Limited
So, talking about the fastest instances of a card going to 1 just to return to 2 later, this one didn’t even last a single list before going to Semi-Limited status. Honestly, this feels like a much more fair place to put Pot of Desires. It’s a draw 2 still, but the banishing 10 cards from the top of the Deck is still a big cost and could always banish cards you were hoping to draw. It’s also not for every Deck, as you do have some Decks that have extremely important 1-ofs in there. Overall, Pot of Desires to 2 seems like a sweet spot as it takes care of the consistency of the card a little, but lets Decks be able to have it as a more reliable option. I could see the other Pots like Extravagance and Prosperity coming to Semi-Limited as well, so you still have the cards, just you’ll see them a little less often.
Trickstar Light Stage
From Limited to Semi-Limited
The printing of so many strong, generic Link-2s were the reason why this card was at one. Being able to get to Candina just to search for Corobane and Special Summon it for a Link-2 while also locking down one of the opponent’s Spells and Traps for the turn is very good. Without Predaplant Verte Anaconda or Knightmares being able to summon Mermaid, there aren’t really any broken Link-2s for Light Stage to help abuse. Crystron Halqifibrax is the best Link-2, and it needs a Tuner to use, something Trickstars lack. Light Stage is fine at 2 now and might be fine at 3 until Konami decides to make another powerful generic Link-2, but hopefully we’ll be at a point where Konami hits the actual problem cards instead over enablers. At least pure Trickstars are more playable now.
Wall of Revealing Light
From Limited to Semi-Limited
Honestly, here’s another instance of something that feels like a long time coming. Wall of Revealing Light mostly stayed on the list for being able to abuse cards that needed low LP. With all that said, we banned Self-Destruct Button long ago in the TCG and it’s been a really long time since we’ve seen Last Turn legal in the game. Besides those two, I can’t think of anything to really abuse Wall of Revealing Light with. It’s mostly just a card now to use to stall, paying likely 3000 LP to stop most monsters from attacking, but backrow removal is around more than ever with all the options printed over the years and Harpie’s Feather Duster being at 1. This is fine at 3 in all honesty.
Night Assailant
From Limited to Unlimited
Now we get into the unlimit section, starting with a pretty interesting case here. Night Assailant recently was errataed in the OCG to just straight up prevent you from adding Night Assailant from grave to hand instead of just the exact copy of itself, but we don’t have that errata in the TCG. We don’t even have it on the database. Konami putting this to 3 probably suggests we’re getting that errata soon, and they must feel like it still won’t be enough of a problem to where they don’t need to delay this coming back, unlike Firewall Dragon. Infinite discard loops do seem to be an option for Night Assailant for now, but it probably won’t have enough time to find a broken combo for it before the errata comes.
Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
From Limited to Unlimited
We did see this at 3 during the Master Rule 4 days where you needed Link Monsters to make multiple Synchros and it wasn’t a problem then. I can understand Konami putting this back to 1 once April 2020 came around, since the restrictions on Fusions, Synchros, and Xyzs that were put on them with Link Monsters was lifted and we were free to use the mechanics at full power again. With that said, I don’t think three Trishula will be that much of a problem. Handloops might be a thing, but I don’t think you’ll see that everywhere. It’s likely a case of something that sounds degenrate being balanced by how inconsistent it can be. OCG did bring back Trishula to 2, so I can see the TCG wanting to follow suit but instead just skip and put the card straight to 3. I don’t think this should be a major issue. Trishula is a great Synchro still, but 1 is used in most Decks anyways that aren’t trying to handloop.
Salamangreat Miragestallio
From Limited to Unlimited
Honestly, I don’t know why this was Limited for so long. You only ever really needed 1 Miragestallio for Salamangreat, 2 or more was just a nice bonus. I do believe Salamangreat Decks back in their prime did use 2, so we might go back to that, but really you just need it to resolve once to be in a great position. Miragestallio didn’t need to be Limited for so long, as we are long past Salamangreat being one of the top meta forces. It’s a rogue option still, but that doesn’t warrant some of the hits the Deck has had still. It’s about time Miragestallio went back to 3. Don’t know why it took so long, other than Konami fearing Salamangreat a little too long. It at least isn’t the only boost to Salamangreat on this list.
A Hero Lives
From Semi-Limited to Unlimited
When Elemental HERO Stratos came back, Konami put this to 1 and I don’t know why. I didn’t think HEROs were going to be a real threat, even with Stratos at 1, and now we have that card at 3. HEROs still aren’t that big of a threat, and they do have some support coming in Power of the Elements with a boost to the Neos strategy and Wake Up Your Elemental HERO coming at some point. A Hero Lives was a good boost when it went to 2 last list, and now it’s fitting to see the card at 3. HEROs might still get an occasional top, but I don’t think that warranted many of the HERO hits we had that wasn’t named Destiny HERO – Malicious. At least we now got 3 Stratos and 3 A Hero Lives now, for the first time in the TCG nonetheless.
Salamangreat Circle
From Semi-Limited to Unlimited
Now here’s probably a more relevant boost to Salamangreat. The ability to have access to 3 Cirlce once again is a pretty nice consistency boost for the archetype. They haven’t really done that much after Gazelle and this card were initially limited and it slowed them down a bit more when they lost Miragestallio. The game has advanced enough to where Salamangreat can be closer to full power and not be that big of a threat, so Salamangreat Circle coming back to 3 seemed like a natural progression. I think it might still be a bit before we see Salamangreat Gazelle start to peel off the list, but even when that starts to happen, I don’t think Salamangreat will suddenly be the best Deck.
Scapegoat
From Semi-Limited to Unlimited
So here we are at the end, and we finally got one of the casualities from the beginning of the Link Era finally coming back to 3, once again for that matter since Scapegoat wasn’t that unfamiliar with the F/L list before its last limitation. Scapegoat nowadays is pretty slow for the modern game as you do need to set it first and use it on the opponent’s turn, and hope the Tokens survive if you have to hotshot the activation of the card if it’s targeted for removal. A free Link-4 does still sound nice, but you would hope to get that instantly and not have to wait. We got ways to summon Link-4s faster than what Scapegoat provides, and less bricks in the Extra Deck as well since you don’t need the Link Spiders or Linkuribohs to convert the Tokens when you want Links that need Effect Monsters. I assume this is the last time Scapegoat ends up on the list to begin with, but we never know what mechanic Konami will come up with next.
In Conclusion
Well this isn’t a list I was really expecting. The three bans I’m sure many players could of seen coming a mile away, and the cards that went from 1 to 2 last list coming to 3 this list does make a lot of sense, along with boosts the OCG recently went with or had for a little while now. Beyond that, everything does seem like a massive surprise. Seeing the TCG take the step in bringing back cards like Performapal Monkeyboard, Yata-Garasu, Change of Heart, and Time Seal first was a pretty big shock. Monkeyboard makes sense here since we don’t have Electrumite and the game has powercrept both Yata and especially Time Seal. Change of Heart was the biggest shock more than likely, and a sight I especially didn’t expect to see. This was mostly a cleanup list by the looks of it, which is something we could always use now and again, and it’ll be interesting to see what the cards released from the list in some form will do in this metagame.
Thanks for reading,
Crunch$G
