August 2006

How Konami Should Change the Ban List for Upcoming September – Part I By Paul Yeem (Carrotizer) 8/12/06

Hi, folks. Today, I’m going to argue how ban list should be changed. I’m not going to ban CC completely (not that I can =_=), but I’m not going to let people run 3 Chaos Sorcerers and have 30 cards in every Top 8 deck same. I will divide up this article into 3 separate sections; banned, restricted, and limited.


NOTE: This is my opinion, so whether you agree or disagree, I will respect your opinion, and I think you should do the same for mine. If you have Yu-Gi-Oh Virtual Desktop, you may be able to find me at #s server (that’s my clan channel) and I will be there as soon as I get my Internet fixed as |S|Carrotizer, and we may do that “accountable talk” thingy.

Yu-Gi-Oh, at first, from my perspective, is meant to be a game where monsters battle each other, stronger ones win, and Spells and Traps are to help the battle decide the winner. However, some cards were made, much like the concepts of God cards (as in THE GOD CARDS from anime, not those Uria thingys) where creating those were mistakes in the first place. Therefore, because they could not just Confiscate the entire collection and take out the broken ones and not create them anymore, they created what’s known as Forbidden/Limited List. This list is changed every 6 months, and on April 1st and October 1st, they are put into effect. I’m sure you check the ban list when you make your deck.



For all cards in the current ban list, most of them are considered “game-breaking.” For example, Chaos Emperor Dragon – Envoy of the End can be considered THE most powerful monster in Yu-Gi-Oh. Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning, Cyber Jar, Yata-Garasu, and Magical Scientists were considered broken and for good reasons.
They ended game in usually 1 turn, possibly first, for Magical Scientist. For those cards, and for similar reasons, I can safely assume you would understand why Change of Heart/Monster Reborn were banned. They turned the entire tide of the duel for just one single card. Raigeki, Harpies’ Feather Duster, and Dark Hole were those cards that led to victory because their effects were costless yet completely devastating. Because Dark Hole was banned, Cyber Jar is now also gone; picking up 5 cards and Special Summoning monsters were just icing on the cake. Cyber Jar cleared and restarted the entire monster zone; therefore, Fiber Jar, which said “When this card is flipped, restart the duel, except Life Points and the cards that are removed from play,” was gone before Cyber Jar. Ring of Destruction is a Trap Card that is 1 for 1 in terms of card advantage. However, its ability to destroy any 1 face-up monster and deal damage equal to the destroyed monsters ATK to both players… it was SO flexible that it was banned.



Some cards are banned not because they are too good by themselves, but because of combinations that you can pull of, such as Butterfly Dagger – Elma. Is Guardian Elma too strong? Is an equip spell that raises 300 ATK too hard to take care of? I agree, for it is not. Because of its ability to generate infinite Spell Counters or gain infinite Life Points with Spell Absorption with Gearfried the Iron Knight, Butterfly Dagger is gone.


However, there are some questionable calls, as you will agree, that Konami has made in the past. After brining back Dark Hole from the forbidden part of the list into the restricted part, they realized it was basically as good as Raigeki. Bringing back a broken card was one mistake. Banning cards that are not so broken and thus shutting down any potential fun deck was another.

Last Turn is one of the cards that you can win with it without dealing 8000 damage to your opponent. Although you can only activate the Normal Trap when you have 1000 Life Points or less, you select 1 monster on your side and send all other cards on your side and your hand to graveyard, which will be done to your opponent also. Then, your opponent selects 1 monster from his or her deck and Special Summon it on the field to attack your chosen monster. Battle Damage is reduced to 0. Whoever has a monster remaining at the End Phase wins, and any other case results in a draw.
Usually, the player who used Last Turn would have Jowgen the Spritualist chosen so that the opponent won’t have any chance of even killing a monster with 200 ATK. Though there are many possibilities, is Last Turn deck that good? It never has been good enough without Last Turn anyway. I believe it deserves another chance. If Konami (or whoever edits and revises the forbidden list) thinks that the Last Turn decks are too good to be countered, why don’t they just restrict the card instead of exiling it for good? People sidedeck against one-turn-kill decks and that works really well. Why don’t they do the same for Last Turn? Just restrict Last Turn and let the duelists prepare for the deck, not just forget about it because the key card is banned.

Also, Exchange of Spirit is not so broken…not if it is restricted. Like I said earlier, let the fun decks be played; it’s not like there’s enough support for it to win 70% of the time (I wish). Assuming Last Turn and Exchange of Spirit were restricted instead of banned, they would make 40-card deck with one of those Traps. That means that because you can only have one of those in your deck, you would have to find it somehow and add it to your hand first, along with other required cards that will seal the fate. Okay, I think 3 Exchange of Spirit maybe a bit too far. Nevertheless, I don’t think you are going to hear any complaints if they are restricted instead of banned. There are countless ways of assaulting the action that Konami took against this kind of deck.

e.g. For Last Turn to achieve OTK, you would need Jowgen the Spiritualist, Last Turn, and Wall of Revealing Light. There might be another possibilities, but I cannot think of any at the moment. I’m a sure brilliant duelist like you can maybe devise a cunning plan ;) For Exchange of Spirit, you would use Thunder Dragon, Card Destruction, Graceful Charity, Magical Mallet, Upstart Goblin, and those other cards to cycle through your deck. I don’t think it’s that easy to pull off the win with only 1 Exchange of Spirit to use.

In other cases, it is debatable about some banned cards. Delinquent Duo was replaced with Confiscation. There are major similarities and differences. First, they are both Normal Spell Card (now that’s important because there’s that Destiny Hero – Diamond Dude, which will skip 1000 LP payment), and you have to pay 1000 LP to activate the cards’ effect. However, Confiscation is much more balanced and yet still deadly. During the era of so called “trinity,” main goal was to deplete your opponent of hand so they would have to topdeck to survive turn by turn, while you sit and draw into the deadly Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning. Pot of Greed, used with Delinquent Duo and Graceful Charity, sealed the game, and because that was when Magician of Faith, Scapegoat, and Metamorphosis were all free to be used by 3’s, card advantage was the most important thing. Yet my friend taught me important lesson; although you may believe in “the heart of the cards,” which I never have (stupid Yugi =P…my Blowback Dragon failed about 9 times in a row in YVD), you can’t come back with 2 cards in your hand when your opponent has all the resources. Delinquent Duo + Pot of Greed + Graceful/discard Dark Magician of Chaos + Premature Burial + Delinquent again + set Magician of Faith and end; good game. Delinquent Duo discarded 1 card randomly and opponent got to pick the other card. Confiscation let you choose what your opponent discards, but instead of letting them discard another, you get to see their hand. When accumulated, Confiscation doesn’t give you any card advantage, thus costing you a lot of LP to pay if used multiple times. This is one of the good bans, along with Forceful Sentry, which was 1 for 1 with free look at opponent’s hand.

People argue that Pot of Greed deserves not to be banned. Being an immediate 2 for 1, I think it’s quite bad. However, this leaves Exodia deck with almost no extra draws, other than Graceful Charity. Graceful Charity is now restricted since it’s quite balanced. It does not gain any card advantage, unless used strategically to deploy your cards carefully into graveyard, but instead of being 3 for 3, when used with Dark World, it becomes 5 for 1. I never got to try Painful Choice, but I think I can convince you that it may return to restricted zone from banned zone.

By Paul Yeem – Carrotizer @ paulyeem@hotmail.com