DM7FGD's YuGiOh News

OCG Discussion Article # 3 - The Banned List

In today’s OCG Discussion Article, I’ll be taking a look at the new Banned List that begins taking effect starting on March 1st for the OCG, giving some of my opinions on it, and telling a few facts about it that sometimes tend to get ignored by people due to pure frustration over the list. To start, here’s a link to the page of the new Japanese Shonen Weekly Jump magazine that this information was released in.

http://www.umsl.edu/~taiwan/liu.jpg

- YataGarasu

- Injection Angel Lily

- Fiber Pod

- Cyber Pod

- Thunderbolt (Raigeki)

- Harpy’s Feather Sweep

- Change of Heart

- Mischievous Demon Twins (Delinquent Duo)

- Painful Choice

- Imperial Order

Now, the first thing you may be wondering is, will the Banned List at some point take effect for players of the TCG (English game) ? Well, quite simply, yes, there’s a 99% chance that it will, but probably not until the set after IOC is released. Now, let’s take a look at each of the banned cards and what they can do/why they were banned.

Why might this be banned from use in official tourney-play? Well, this one’s the one that’s self-explanatory. Yata ends up being what wins Duels for people extremely often, and it gets kind of boring when you keep losing to the same card over and over. (And bad hand management isn’t the only reason you might get Yata-Locked, btw)

- Can no longer win you the Duel with a single attack.

- No more preventing your opponent from having any new options other than whatever they might have in Hand at the time of its attack.

- Is a repetitive card. It’s seen in nearly all Decks competitively, and in competitive play, it‘s usually what wins Duels more than any other card alone.

- It being banned makes Chaos Decks less-effective, though not by much at all.

~ I can see why they’ve chosen to ban Yata in official tourney-play, and I have absolutely no problem with it at all. I don’t use it but in my Chaos Deck anyway, so it’s nothing for me to worry about. Saw that one coming. If you use Yata in your Decks, simply find another Monster to replace it with. Should be pretty obvious why Yata has been banned.

Lily is the card that most people find on the list that doesn’t seem to have valid-enough reasons to be put there. It’s a good card, and it can cause a lot of damage, but only at a pretty hefty price.

- With a simple pay of 2000 LP, Lily can be turned into a Level 3 3400 ATK Monster, being able to take out practically anything in its path.

- The Effect can be used during your own or your opponent’s turn.

- It’s frequently seen in competitive play, but really not too often compared to the other cards on the Banned List.

~ Lily can be effective, but not effective enough to be worthy of a ban, imo. I believe Lily will be un-banned come time for the Banned List to be updated. (Explanation of this after all banned cards have been looked at) I really don’t fully understand why Lily has been banned, but this is another card that I have absolutely no problem with being banned. I don’t use it, and it hasn’t ever really caused me any trouble when any of my opponents use it. I think that of all these banned cards, this is the most questionable one.

One of the most powerful Flip-Effect Monsters in the game; banned from tournament-play, at least for now.

- Has the ability to reset the game, catching the opponent off-guard and perhaps left with less options.

- Is able to put a damper on Chaos Monsters, Reversal of Worlds, etc.

- Is very frequently used. If a Deck has a Flip-Effect Monster in it, it’s usually going to be Fiber.

- In late-game, it could have the power to win you the Duel pretty easily if you’re able to flip it during your own turn.

- May result in Twin-Headed Behemoth becoming un/semi-restricted.

~ I can pretty much see why they’ve chosen to ban Fiber Pod, but I’m not sure I think it really should have been. It’s a very effective and powerful card, but I think that with the other bans, Fiber was a good choice for banning. I’m not too fond of its banning, but it doesn’t affect me too much either, since I use Cyber more often.

The banning of Cyber Pod is the one in particular that I really don’t take a liking to. It’s one of my favorite Flip-Effect Monsters to use, and I use it in about 75% of my Decks. I won’t have trouble finding a replacement for it, but I can just hope it won’t stay banned.

- Provides speed for any Deck it’s in.

- Might end up helping your opponent as well.

- Destroys all Monsters on the Field and can give you better card advantage.

- No more “resetting” the Field.

~ I can understand why it’s banned, I just wish it weren’t. Doesn’t bother me too much because now there’s room for something new, just as there is with all the other cards that have been banned. If you use this and/or Fiber, you may want to consider Metamol (Morphing Jar) in its/their place.

No more destroying all of your opponent’s Monsters without any sort of drawback whatsoever.

- Found in 99% of competitive Decks. Only usual reason this wouldn’t be in a tourney-level Deck would be if someone didn’t have one.

- Destroys all opponent’s Monsters on the Field easily. No drawbacks.

- Rush tactics beginning with this card are now gone/harder to accomplish.

- Flip Effect Monsters now become more playable.

~ Don’t have too much of a problem with Thunderbolt being banned. Gives room for new cards to come into the mix. Dark Core, extra Apostle of Obliterations (Noblemans), etc.

No more destroying all of your opponent’s M/T cards with no drawbacks.

- Also found in 99% of competitive Decks. Same as Thunderbolt.

- Destroys all opponent’s M/T cards easily with no drawbacks.

- Continuous Magic and Trap cards now become more playable without this card.

~ Not too much of a problem with this card being banned, either. It too gives way for new cards being included in Decks such as Hurricane (Giant Trunade), or even other Monster Destruction Magic Cards to be included in the free space in your Deck. 3 Cyclones, a Breaker and a Heavy Storm is enough M/T removal in a Deck, really.

Another one of the “staples” being banned here. No more using your opponent’s Monsters as your own for a whole turn.

- No more taking control of opponent’s Monsters for extra ATK-power/Sacrifice.

- Rush tactics with this card’s help now harder to achieve.

- Flip-Effect Monsters now become more playable.

~ Change of Heart may be one of these bans that people really don’t take a liking to. I, for one, really don’t have too much of a problem with this being banned, either. I like the opening up spots in Decks to try out new cards and finding new things to use instead of what’s seen in a vast majority of all competitive Decks out there. Creature Swap or Enemy Controller could replace CoH as for similar cards to use in its place.

No more big discarding power here. Takes Control/Hand Destruction Decks down a notch.

- No more 1-2 advantage. (Using one card to get rid of 2 of your opponent’s)

- Could be replaced with Confiscate, which not many people use when using Demon Twins. That, or Dimensional Designator could be finding its way into more Decks now.

- Makes the anti-Hand-Des. cards less useful.

~ People running Control Decks won’t be too happy about this, but again, this, nor any of the other bans really, is another one that doesn’t make much of a difference to me. Sure, I use it in a few Decks of mine, but it’s nothing I’ll have trouble replacing.

Painful Choice.. No more extreme speed/discarding in Decks.

- No more getting you 4 cards into the Graveyard and could provide you with one helpful card at the time of activation.

- Makes Chaos Decks a bit harder to utilize without the speed. Thunder Dragons may be making re-appearances in Japanese Chaos Decks.

- Could easily be replaced with a Foolish Burial or two.

~ I don’t really like the idea of Painful Choice being banned, just because of the speed it provides in any Deck it’s included in. But again, it doesn’t bother me much because I know that there are other things that could easily replace it, such as, as I said, a Foolish Burial or two. This could also make room for things like Card Destruction in some people’s Decks.

Well, no more easily negating Magic Cards.

- Makes Continuous Magic Cards more playable.

- Slightly weakens the power of Mirage of Nightmares.

- Makes way for cards like Dark Curse, Magic Jammer and Magic Drain.

- Will change the way people play Magic Cards. (i.e. People will now use Cyclone (MST) first to destroy a M/T card without fear of IO before using other Magic Cards, instead of activating the other Magic Card(s) first before using Cyclone)

~ I don’t like IO being banned, but I don’t have too much of a problem with it in that I can easily replace it with a Dark Curse (Continuous Trap that makes each player pay 1000 LP to activate Magic Cards) or Magic Drain. Magic Cards won’t be so easily negated anymore, but that’ll add some new variety to the game, and we’ll start seeing some more different Magic Cards being played in all kinds of Decks.

Now, this Banned List will be altered/updated every 6 months. On September 1st, the List will be altered. Some cards will be un-banned and replaced with new banned cards. So you won’t have to go without these cards forever. Until that time, it’d be nice to find some other cards to work with that you like using. This new Banned List could bring about a new sense of originality to the game, and I think that’s certainly something that this game could use, and especially so in the TCG. Not only that, but I believe it will make the game more fun to play. These bans also limit the power of all of the “overpowered Decks” that are very similar, with the banning of some of the “staples“ and cards like Yata and Painful Choice. Sure, it may seem for a while that your money was “wasted” on these banned cards, but they’re not cards you’re going to want to just get rid of immediately after they’re banned. Hold on to them, because they just might be un-banned in the future. Not only that, but remember that these cards are only banned from official tourney-play. They can still be used in casual play, and in non-official tournaments, but it’d be best just to go right along with it even in casual/non-official play and abide by the new Banned List, just to keep the new sense of fun and originality going no matter where you play.

I think that these bans were actually a good idea, and that it will add more diversity in the game. Everyone will be trying out new cards in their Decks to replace these banned cards, and Decks will not all be so similar anymore. I think that these bans will ultimately change the game for the better, not for worse. I see this new Banned List as an important step in the right direction for Duel Monsters. We’re now beginning to tread down a path of endless possibilities.

These new bans make Flip-Effect Monsters more playable. They make Continuous Cards more playable. They make some overlooked cards of the past more playable. And they make the game more interesting, giving people some extra Deck space to work with to test out some new cards that you don‘t usually see used.

I’ve heard people saying that if this Banned List is true that they will quit the game.. Well, it’s true, but it’s nothing to quit over. If you quit because a few of the cards you use got banned (at least for a while anyway), then it only shows you weren’t willing to go with the changes and try to experiment with new cards, which pretty much means you shouldn‘t be playing this game anyway. You should want to be able to play new cards and have your Decks look different from everyone else’s. You should want to incorporate a little bit of originality into how you play the game. You should try to look at the bright side of these sorts of things that happen, even if you don‘t like them. You can work with and around them to develop your own playing style. In my mind, only when you have those desires is when you can consider yourself a “True Duelist.” You should know how boring it is to play against many different people, all playing the same Deck as you, with a possible difference of 2-3 cards. This new Banned List will change the way people play the game.. And do so for the better. Experimentation; one of the key elements of Duel Monsters.

That’s all for today’s OCG Discussion Article. Until next time..

~DM7~