Breaking Down the Yu-Gi-Oh December 9th, 2024 Forbidden & Limited List
Crunch$G
Well that is one way to drop the list. Hello Pojo Readers, Crunch$G here to talk about the final TCG Forbidden & Limited List update for 2024 that goes into effect on December 9th. This list was revealed after YCS Anaheim when Jerome McHale himself pulled it out of a briefcase, which was certainly unique. This format was coming off with Decks like Snake-Eye, Yubel, and Tenpai Dragons being the top Decks with others circling the top tables and the fact that this weekend as of writing was the first legal events for Crossover Breakers and both the Ryzeal and Maliss archetypes. There’s also been a lot of unbans elsewhere in the game with OCG getting cards like Master Peace and Zoodiac Drident back while Master Duel got Knightmare Goblin and Knightmare Mermaid all to make players talk. So, how does the TCG end the year?
Gimmick Puppet Nightmare
From Unlimited to Forbidden
The first change feels like something that should have come last list, but instead we got Branded Fusion to 1. Gimmick Puppet Nightmare is now banned, which is questionable when Albion the Sanctifire Dragon has more targets to revive that are similar to Nightmare like Ido or Ra’s Disciple, both of which could still fit into Branded. Branded also isn’t even too relevant anymore after Branded Fusion went to 1, so unless there’s something else I’m forgetting, I don’t know why Gimmick Puppet Nightmare is banned now and I don’t know why it wasn’t Sanctifire Dragon that was banned in its place when there’s other options.
Jowgen the Spiritualist
From Unlimited to Forbidden
Speaking of targets for Albion, here’s a card that could outright be used as Fusion Material for it. Jowgen the Spiritualist has had a run throughout the years from its time in Spellbooks, to being the earliest target to make a card like Last Turn extremely toxic, to more recently being a legal target to use to summon Albion the Sanctifire Dragon and revive off it to lock the players from Special Summoning. This hit I can understand more since we are about to get the new Link-4 in Supreme Darkness that can revive a Jowgen you get into the graveyard by whatever means youu might have to do so, so it likely would have been more relevant. I don’t know if it was relevant enough to ban, but it’s a card that doesn’t promote healthy interaction, so I doubt it’ll be missed all that much.
Original Sinful Spoils – Snake-Eye
From Unlimited to Forbidden
The last ban on this list is certainly the most relevant of the three, as Original Sinful Spoils – Snake-Eye is now banned. This card has been seen a ton over the last year from Snake-Eye itself, to Rescue-ACE, to Fire Kings, and many other strategies being able to use the card. It also helped being retrieved from the Deck via Diabellstar the Black Witch, who can also be searched via WANTED. Losing OSS should really knock down anything using Snake-Eyes by a lot, and the Snake-Eyes Deck itself is in a rough position without this card since it was easily the best card that Poplar could search. I don’t know what Snake-Eyes does now without this card, so I imagine it’ll be phased out of the meta for certain.
Tenpai Dragon Chundra
From Unlimited to Limited
We now reach the limits with a choice the OCG made a few months back, putting Tenpai Dragon Chundra to 1. Chundra is a super important card, being the archetype’s only Tuner if you don’t count Genroku’s effect. Chundra also summoned your Tenpai Dragons from the Deck when a battle occured, helping make your Synchros in the Battle Phase more often to OTK the opponent. Chundra to 1 makes the Deck far less consistent, since it’s one of the more important tools in the Deck to pull off the OTK, and losing it stops Tenpai in its tracks for the most part. Chundra is a good hit since Tenpai is just a Deck that breaks your board and finishes the game fast, so hitting the Deck should promote longer and more interactive games.
Phantom of Yubel
From Unlimited to Limited
The only hit to Yubel that was really needed was Phantom of Yubel needing to go to 1, and now that’s a reality in the TCG. Phantom of Yubel was a strong card for how easy it was to summon, shuffling resources you already used from the grave back into the Deck (or using the hand/field if you needed to get this on board fast). That’s fine, but the ability to change any monster effect to you destroying a Yubel monster in your Deck was too powerful for how easy this was to summon, and grinding through multiples of these was fairly difficult. At 1, you now need to be more careful of your Phantom of Yubel, though Nightmare Throne can technically put it back in the Extra Deck since it is a Level 9 and most your Yubels are Level 10. Phantom of Yubel at 1 does make the Deck more fragile, so it should phase out and be more of a fun anime Deck or a rogue option, cause it is far from dead.
Sangen Kaimen
From Unlimited to Limited
The third limit on this list is the final hit to a card, as the rest is just clean up, and it’s a second hit to Tenpai as Sangen Kaimen is also at 1 now. Besides Sangen Summoning, the only other Spell/Trap in the archetype that was ran is Sangen Kaimen for it being able to search your Tenpai names and summon them from the hand, with the option to do both if it’s the Battle Phase. With Kaimen at 1 as well as Summoning and Chundra, the Deck is super inconsistent to where I don’t even think it’s worth running anymore. 3 Paidra and 3 Genroku are the last real pieces of consistency you have left when Fadra just recovers your stuff and the other three cards worth running are at 1. The Deck probably leans towards Dora Draco for sure now, but it’s far from a meta threat anymore.
Zoodiac Barrage
From Forbidden to Limited
The last limit of the list, and the only one where a card is coming from 0 to 1, is Zoodiac Barrage. The OCG never really banned Zoodiac Barrage after their resurgence a few years back, if anything they unbanned it along with Drident to promote Tri-Brigade a bit more. The TCG always left this at 3 after it was Tier 0 up until Tri-Brigade and ZEUS came around, where only then would the TCG limit and later ban it along with the second ban of Drident. Barrage probably could have never been banned and it wouldn’t have made a difference. I get putting it to 1 after ZEUS since you don’t that coming out way too consistently. Zoodiac is far ahead in other formats, still, as the OCG just got Zoodiac Drident back not long ago, and not to mention Master Duel having Drident and Barrage both at 3. It’s a welcome addition back to the game, but it won’t change much at all.
Cyber Jar
From Limited to Semi-Limited
We reach the semi-limits now with Cyber Jar now being at 2 in the TCG after I don’t know how long. It’s interesting cause Cyber Jar hasn’t done much of anything since coming back to 1, but putting this to 2 technically does make Empty Jar more consistent. I don’t know if that Deck will be good still, as Runick is still the better Deck to run if you want to win via Deck-Out. It’s a dangerous prospect to make Empty Jar more consistent, but it looks like that’s happening now, and it’ll be interesting to see where things go from here. This is also technically a Mimighoul option, but that Deck is still losing to the opponent resolving Dominus Impulse. It does make me wonder, however, if Morphing Jar will soon be looked at to come back to multiples.
Danger!? Jackalope? & Danger!? Tsuchinoko?
From Limited to Semi-Limited
In this case, I’m just going to lump both Jackalope and Tsuchinoko together since the do kind of serve the same purpose, being Danger monsters that are guaranteed bodies. With that said, Danger hasn’t done much of anything for a long time now, even after Dark World got support at the end of 2022 and Nessie coming back to 3. I assume this is a testing ground to see if the TCG will be fine with the two of these at 3, but they put them to 2 to not rush it. I assume they won’t do much of anything besides be alright support for Gobllin Bikers making Rank 3 monsters more often and Dark World getting more bodies on the field. They are still good cards, but I imagine I’ll be back here next list talking about these being unlimited.
Eva
From Limited to Semi-Limited
Well Drytron once again had access to this card and it did nothing, so it looks like it’ll be peeling off the list. Now Eva is still a solid card for searching for 2 of your Fairy monsters, likely stuff such as Diviner of the Herald and Herald of Orange Light. Still, without Beatrice and Union Carrier being in the game to trigger this with the greatest of ease, there’s no reason this can’t be at multiples. The best you got now is Cyber Angel Benten being able to search it and Diviner of the Herald being able to dump it, and even then you’re better off dumping Arc Light to get to your Ritual stuff. Another case where I won’t be shocked to talk about this coming to 3 next list.
Performapal Monkeyboard
From Limited to Semi-Limited
Finally for the semis, we finally have Performapal Monkeyboard at 2. Pendulums aren’t in the greatest shape right now after some of the generic end board pieces have been banned on previous lists, and Performapals not named Skullcrobat Joker don’t often get too many looks for modern Pendulum lists. Sure Monkeyboard can search it, but you need more Performapals to put in the Scale otherwise Monkeyboard’s Scale itself isn’t all that good being at 4 instead of 1. Monkeyboard won’t do much as running a bunch of the Performapal stuff seems to be in the past for Pendulums, with the mechanic as a whole only really finding success at a local level in general.
The Dragon Rulers
From Semi-Limited to Unlimited
We’re finally at the unlimits with a change that feels long overdue, that being all 4 of the Rulers finally being at 3. I’ve talked about these guys a long time it feels like, with how slowly they all moved to 1 just for now all of them to move from 1 to 2 and now 2 to 3. There’s only really so much I can say about these guys, and I feel like I’ve said it all before. They’re all too slow with only getting one effect a turn and only once that turn. You don’t even see many Decks of specific Attributes running their dedicated Ruler unless it really benefits them, it’s been all just a dedicated Dragon Ruler strategy once again, and that hasn’t found big success at all. With these all at 3, I assume I’m done talking about them when it comes to list updates, so we’re finally at this point.
Dinowrestler Pankratops
From Semi-Limited to Unimited
The next unlimit is a card that did sit at 2 for a little bit, but felt like it could have come back to 3 for a while now: Dinowrestler Pankratops. Pank is still a solid card, to be honest, but really Kashtira Fenrir is just the better card and that’s still sitting at 3 over in the TCG. We’re even at a point where any Dinosaur lists I have seen are just siding this, and not even maxing out on the 2 copies they could run, though that’s due to being searchable off of Oviraptor. You might see fringe Side Deck play for Pankratops at 3, but it’s not as broken as it once was. Hopefully for Dinosaurs they get Misc back to 3 before we get the new Jurrac support.
Lunalight Tiger
From Semi-Limited to Unlimited
We now come to card that was once banned for helping make several Rank 4s, Lunalight Tiger. Now at the time of its ban, Tiger was a powerful card for how easily it allowed Lunalights to enter the Rank 4 toolbox, despite meaning to be a Fusion Summon archetype to OTK. Now, most Rank 4 strategies of the past pale in comparison to Ryzeal, so having a worse Rank 4 strategy in the game is fine. Sure Lunalights going an Xyz route can still do interesting things Ryzeal can’t, but the latter is just the better Deck overall with how great its own Xyz monsters are and how they help make summoning the rest of the Rank 4 toolbox so simple. Hopefully Lunalights get support soon, preferably to focus on the strategy they’re meant to focus on.
Rescue-ACE Air Lifter
From Limited to Unlimited
Only one of two cards going from 1 to 3 on this list, Rescue-ACE Air Lifter makes sense to bring back to 3 after the Deck lost access to the Snake-Eye package with Original Sinful Spoils being gone. When Air Lifter went to 1, it made getting to EMERGENCY! harder, which meant summoning Hydrant was harder. It made the Diabellstar/Snake-Eye stuff the more consistent way to summon Hydrant with 3 Diabellstar, 3 WANTED, and the OSS. Now that OSS is gone and Rescue-ACE wasn’t doing anything to begin with recently, it is fair to give them 3 Air Lifter back in return so they can at least consistency search for EMERGENCY! and get to Hydrant that way.
Thunder Dragon Colossus
From Semi-Limited to Unlimited
Well it seems like summoning multiple Colossus is far from a threat in 2024, so keeping this at 2 is not needed. Now if 2 Colossus wasn’t enough for you, now you can try to end on 3. If your opponent could out 2 Colossus, they likely are able to out 3, and the best Decks that even use this card like Ritual Beasts are only needing a single copy since more would be too much for what else they can do, and even for Ritual Beasts, you probably would prefer to search for Protos and summon that over Corridor to summon Colossus. It’s a strong card, but it’s also a fine card to have at 3 since nothing overly threatening can use it.
Ib the World Chalice Justiciar
From Semi-Limited to Unlimited
Last list I wondered why Denglong went to 3 while Ib only went up to 2, but now that’s been rectified with Ib being at 3. This is honestly a card that if you ever ran at all, you’d only ever use a single copy since that’s all you’ll most likely need. I still stand by this being a better Denglong for the most part, but not so much better that it should be on the list too much longer compared to Denglong. I guess you might play multiples of these in World Chalice, but that’s a big maybe and I don’t think World Chalice as a Deck in 2024 would do much with that either way, so this is the biggest example of cleaning up the list of cards that are sitting there for no reason.
Opening of the Spirit Gates
From Limited to Unlimited
The only other card going from 1 to 3 is an immediate reversal of what happened last list, with Opening of the Spirit Gates quickly coming back to 3 after a single format at 1. Yubel isn’t going to be in the best position with Phantom of Yubel at 1, especially since it’s a card you won’t want to get hit by a Kashtira Unicorn. With the long game for Yubel taking a big hit like that, it’s fine if they have another card that could help them potentially start up a combo, plus it’s nice for any Sacred Beast players out there to have one of their main searchers off the list, though I believe it really shouldn’t have been there to begin with and hitting Yubel directly was always the way to go.
In Conclusion
This is a fine list for cleaning up stuff, as a lot of cards peeled off the list and are at a higher status now. The few hits that were on this list were super relevant to the Decks they were aimed at, however. We did lose some toxic cards like Jowgen and Nightmare, even if it was questionable that they got hit now. Tenpai got the biggest hits, with the Deck almost feeling like it doesn’t function properly anymore. Snake-Eye almost feels dead in the water as well with OSS gone and having to rely on Bonfire to get to the 1-of Poplar or Ash. Yubel also took a decent hit with Phantom at 1, making you have to control that resource more carefully. I do wonder, however, if these hits are too little too late when you see only 2 Yubel, 2 Tenpai, and 1 Snake-Eye in the Top 32 of this YCS behind 14 Ryzeal, 7 Maliss, and Fiendsmith variants being all over the place with some even being from the Decks that got hit. This format does seem to favor Ryzeal’s expected takeover, especially as Bonfire remains at 3. Maliss will likely stay in 2nd place unless new support changes that, and you’ll see many different Decks still run the Fiendsmith cards. It’s an out with the old and in with the new type list here.
