Greetings to Pojo and Yugioh fans one and all!  No, it's NOT an illusion, as I, Dark Paladin, has dragged myself out of the trenches and dregs, and emerged once again.  A brief bit as to what's new with me...I graduate from college in May in my quaint little corner of the universe.  I'll be going to graduate school in the Fall of 2010 after deciding to take a year off between studies.

Anyway, it's that time of year again, where we rotate our Banned List, and we recently had the OCG list, and I send props to General Zorpa for all ready doing this, but I'm going to try and take my own look at this here :)  Really GZ was only able to do this first because I didn't, and haven't gotten off my ass to write anything in over six months.

Also note, that while this list isn't necessarily set in stone for the TCG Banned List, past Formats have shown us that our list does usually mirror the OCG list very similarly, if not exactly the same, so keep that in mind.

The most interesting change, or lack there of, more accurately is the fact that nothing was added to the actual list of Banned Cards.  I mean, this is the first cycle I can recall, (and I could be mistaken) that something(s) came off, but nothing was replaced.

The most notable addition to the Restricted list is a card I'd like to take a moment to look at:

Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Boundary

Water-Sea Serpent-Synchro

Level 6

2300 attack 1400 defense

1 Tuner + 1 or more Non-Tuner monsters

Discard any number of cards from your Hand to the Graveyard to return from the Field to the owner's Hand the same number of cards you discarded.

Now, this card isn't even released on our side, but that tells you one of two things.  Either first, this card is so powerful OCG and in Japan that it needed to be dealt with, or it's to prevent abuse when released on our side...in this case, it's pretty much both.

I've Fallen, but Can I Get Up?

Card of Safe Return, Mezuki, and Plaguespreader Zombie, three incredibly powerful Zombie cards have been Restricted.  Zombie was going head-to-head with it's other Tier 1 couterparts, especially from the latter half of this Format, but they aren't dead.  More difficult to play, certainly, but not by any means dead.

Cry Havoc!

Dark Armed Dragon AND Emergency Teleport were both Restricted, which again, doesn't necessaryily anhilate the Tele-DAD Deck, but it sure as hell slows it down.  Speed was the Decks greatest asset, so while you can still play DAD, expect everyone to flock toward a new quick fix.

Open the Gates of Chaos!!!

Chaos Sorcerer returns, but no need fear.  General Zorpa is completely right, it isn't enough on its own to win anything, and everyone and their mother will rush to use it, until they realize after using that it's NOT the answer they need.  Nothing to worry about it.

Semi-Restricted

Beautiful...Simply Beautiful

Allure of Darkness, and to a lesser extent, Destiny Draw, were brillaint moves to be Semi-Restricted.  Both are great theme Draw cards that really help and add power to their respective Decks.  Expect to see a LOT more of Allure though.

What the Hell?!?

All right, the further along you delve into this list, a lot of these Semi-Restrictions start to make you wonder what is going on...cards like Gold Sarcophagus, Ultimate Offering, even Goblin Zombie to a lesser extent, as if Zombies really needed to be hampered anymore. 

Raiza being at two adds some balance to a powerful card, so I'm all right with that.

Reinforcement of the Army was Restricted and Green Baboon was Semi-Restricted...this sort of limits your Beast and Warrior power too, although I don't see them rising from the ashes...Twin Headed Behemoth is Unrestricted, which I suppose is good for your Tribute heavy Decks. 

I mean REALLY Tribute heavy Decks.

Final Thoughts:

Phatom of Chaos is unrestricted, which I'm fine with, as I never really saw it as a problem to begin with.  This list really makes me a little edgy.  On one hand, some genuine problems were addressed, yet some things that make absolutely no sense were tinkered with, so I guess you could call this a "balanced list."

In the end, I'm going back to Chaos Sorcerer for a moment.  I think with giving us a removal card back, even the junior cousin of the two big boys, it would have been nice to bring back Dimension Fusion...If you're going to have a removal like that existing, you should have a way to bring things back.

That's it for now, and thanks for reading :)  I'll be back when our list for the TCG comes out.

You stay classy, Planet Earth :)

~Dark Paladin~