August 2008

 

Looking Under the Bed - The New Banlist - Anteaus

Hey all, and welcome to another chapter in my "Looking Under the Bed" series. Today, instead of doing a deck build, we're gonna look a the new banlist and see what sorts of things are interesting, what isn't, and what will be game-breaking as the format continues to evolve. First off, let's take a look at some of the interesting cards to hit the banned section:
 
 - Dark Magician of Chaos
 - Destiny Hero - Disk Commander
 - Premature Burial
 
Wow, that's definitely an interesting addition or two. DMoC really doesn't surprise me, because he was getting pretty beastly as time wore on. Especially in a Monster Gate/Reasoning deck, this card was something that no one wanted to see be brought out. His RFG-based effect, as well as his primary ability to get a Spell Card back, makes him amazing in Spell-heavy decks and decks that require him to be on the field. His loss will hurt some decks, but frankly his lack of a game-breaking effect and his high cost prevented his Tier-1 status. But he's still a good, solid monster, and to be honest I'm glad he's there. Facing him in the current format is not fun.
 
Destiny Hero - Disk Commander, huh? This is a card that I was expecting to never see up there, despite his effect. Destiny Hero decks went out of fashion for Gladiator Beasts and Monarchs, so what is UDE expecting? A sudden revival in Destiny decks? To me, they will never be format-dominating again because their main core has been annhiliated by the banlist, and Disk Commander just kills it even more.
 
Premature Burial is a good choice, but I think Monster Reborn deserves to be here more. Premature Burial is a good recursion card, and it's fairly balanced: 800 LP and its Equip status gives it a good balance because it's not too powerful like Reborn is. It's safe to say that UDE just wanted to rotate Reborn back into the game, and by removing Call of the Haunted last format and Premature Burial this format, we have only one recursion card instead of two. Overall, this wasn't a bad choice.
 
Now then, onto the "Limited" cards:
 
 - Breaker the Magical Warrior
 - Cyber Dragon
 - Monster Gate
 - Reasoning
 
This is, again, a pretty decent trade off. So we lose DMoC, but gain Breaker? I think we'll be seeing a boost in Spellcaster decks because Apprentice Magician now has a purpose again - keep putting Spell Counters on Breaker and keep blowing stuff up. His effect is absolutely amazing - 4-star 1900 ATK, plus you get to drop his ATK 300 to destroy one backrow card. Broken, much? Breaker has been there for a long time, and I think he should stay there. He's too good in this format to keep, but that's just me.
 
Cyber Dragon is a card that I've been advocating to be placed on the Limited list since it came out. His Special Summon, 2100 ATK BS is really, really broken, but the fact that he has been declining in today's metagame actually makes me wonder if this was a good decision or not. Cyber Dragon is good, don't get me wrong, but his lack of use in today's format is somewhat disturbing. But UDE is making the rules, so we have to follow them, and I can see certain decks abusing him even in two. We'll see.
 
Monster Gate/Reasoning...what more is there to say, other than "Thank you God!" Seriously, these two cards were long-overdue in their limitation, and because of their power were probably overlooked for a long time. These two cards are incredibly powerful, but incredibly volatile at the same time. You can end up pulling over half your deck in one turn to the Graveyard with these two, so they really took skill. But those who knew how to play them, knew how to play them, and were really good when they pulled it off. but these definitely deserved their spot here, and I'm glad they're gone.
 
Semi-Limited list:
 
 - Card of Safe Return
 - Chain Strike
 - Dark-Armed Dragon
 - Judgment Dragon
 - Nobleman of Crossout
 - Phantom of Chaos
 - Rescue Cat
 
This is a weird list if I've ever seen one. Card of Safe Return? Rescue Cat? When have decks that have utilized these cards ever been effective? At least in Rescue Cat I can see the hesitation at keeping it at three, but CoSR? Really? There are virtually no decks that this can be utilized in, safe for Exodia and maybe a recursion Zombie, but even then it'll be hard to pull off with three because they'll just clog the hand and field. Chain Strike is a good choice, because I can see some of the Burn decks around this coming back, and Dark-Armed Dragon is probably the best choice here. Judgment Dragon I'm not too sure about, and Phantom of Chaos deserves to be here, because he's just too powerful in the right deck. But the card I'm happiest to see? Nobleman of Crossout, all the way. This little devil is amazing, and his ability to kill the Apprentice Magician/Old Vindictive Magician/Crystal Seer cycle is scary. The cycle will drop as more Nobleman's see play, and he's going to keep the format fast and furious.
 
Some things to note: Allure of Darkness, Mage Power, Reinforcement of the Army and Royal Decree can all be run in threes again. All I can say is...holy crap. This is going to be an interesting format. Allure of Darkness is a wonderful draw card, and Reinforcement is perhaps the best recruiter card in the game right now. Royal Decree can shut down decks, and in the new format I'm expecting Traps to be rampant. Mage Power can help certain decks out, and Warriors will (in my opinion) start making a comeback. But more on that in a minute.
 
Overall, I like the banlist this time around. There are a few surprises, a few not-so-surprising, and a few that are just "what?" cards. But overall, we're going to see a revitalized format, because Gladiator Beasts are only so good because no one's found a counter for it yet, at least not a consistent one. But we're gonna see Zombies, Warriors, Spellcasters, Trap-negation, Machine, Burn, Exodia - all those and more are going to be making a comeback and some will be there for the first time. With certain kill cards (NoC in particular) coming back, there are going to be a lot of beatstick decks out there, and now I'm waiting for a deck to utilize Mage Power amidst all the backrow hate.
 
As always, you can e-mail your deck ideas, deck fixes, or requests to anteaus44@hotmail.com.