JAELOVE's Smooth Journey

Article 29: The ban Nightmare
February 24, 2005

The new ban list is upon us. In this article, we will be discussing the merits of the new ban/restricted list, and I will speak on why the recent events of the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game are disturbing omens of a distinctly lackluster future.

            I hope during our time together that it has come to your attention that I am a true fan of the game. I am not a fan of winning, or prospering; I simply enjoy constructing and playtesting a fun deck, then taking it into the company of friends and strangers and playing the wonderful game of Duel Monsters. Throughout my time here, reviewing cards and creating themed decks that go unnoticed by the masses, I have tried to instill a sense of respect for all cards, regardless of whether they're considered "good" by the general public.

            By being able to champion the cause of dozens of underrated and forgotten cards (Zombrya the Dark, Trap Dustshoot, Mind Crush, Magic Drain, Roulette Barrel, Magical Merchant, Legendary Jujitsu Master, Bottomless Shifting Sand, etc), even as some of my respected peers on this very site disagreed, I've acquired a reputation as an original and inventive player who truly cherishes the game. It is because of these characteristics that I find myself utterly disappointed in the direction that Yu-Gi-Oh is taking.

            My hope had been for a complete abolishment of those cards that belong in every deck, themed or not. By banning the generic, overpowered monsters of the metagame such as Breaker the Magical Warrior, Tribe-Infecting Virus, Magical Scientist, Sinister Serpent, and then restricting all of the other less powerful but ubiquitous roaches such as D.D Warrior Lady, D.D Assailant, Berserk Gorilla, and such, Konami could have created a game in which monsters would truly have to aid each other. It is ridiculous and laughable that every spell/trap lineup I have ever created for this website, spread out over nearly 15 different deck themes, is the exact same.

            Distressed by the cookie cutter state of the environment, in which only a handful of spells and traps were found in literally every single (literally every single [literally every single]) deck, I hoped that Konami would see the light and abolish such practices. See, Yu-Gi-Oh used to be a beautiful game about different themes; cards such as Yami and Lord of D. united the primitive, early decktypes. This sort of themed support continued with Metal Raiders and Magic Ruler, which introduced elemental boosters (Hoshingen, Milus Radiant), elemental field spells (Luminous Spark, Mystic Plasma Zone), and elemental searchers(Giant Rat, Shining Angel). The move away from this, towards generic cookie-cutters, began with Pharaoh's Servant, which introduced Goblin Attack Force and Jinzo. Labyrinth of Nightmare introduced more elemental monsters (the remove from game series such as Garuda and Aqua Spirit). After this, Konami completely abandoned themes in favor of worthless gimmicks such as Spirits, Unions, and Level Up! monsters.

            As Warriors and Fiends strut about with over a hundred cards to their monster arsenal, types such as Reptiles and Dinosaurs have less than a fifth of the overrepresented themes. This, coupled with the new ban list, seems to indicate to me that the creators of the game in Japan have no idea what the dueling environment is like, have not contacted the feedback of Japan's very best players, and are generally bumbling and stumbling around, hoping to not "accidentally" create the next Yata-Garasu, Chaos Emperor Dragon, or Raigeki.

            It is in this climate of themeless, generic deck types that the ban list and newer sets were to be introduced. Initially I'd hoped that the newer sets would include subtype specific spells and traps and support for the forgotten Dinosaurs, Sea Serpents, Winged Beasts, and others. Unfortunately, the ban list as it stands on Konami's website is nowhere near the scope of even the first ten card ban list, and certainly takes numerous steps backwards from the revolutionary and brilliant ban list created previously in the year.

The Ban List: (Newly Added)

1.         Butterfly Dagger-Elma

Why was it banned?   Konami, through the restriction of Protector of the Sanctuary, has shown it is most unwilling to let the game degenerate into a mash of one turn kill combos. A smart move indeed, then, was banning this equip spell that possesses one fiendishly wicked combo (continually equip it to Gearfried to place infinite spell counters on either Magical Marionette or Royal Magical Library).

Ramifications: Unfortunately, no decks actually ran this card or saw it as a threat.

Removal Rating (Should it have been banned by Konami?): 0/10. Why ban a card that nobody uses, when there are far better candidates out there (Breaker, BLS, Tribe).

2.         Change of Heart

Why was it banned? This was on the original list of ten banned cards for World Championship 2004. The card can generally lead to a swing of life points of over 2500 points, since it both removes the defender and allows it to attack. It also allows easy access to tribute monsters, dominates flip effects, and was already slowly being phased out by the highly inferior Creature Swap, Enemy Controller, Mind Control, and the new card in The Lost Millenium.

Ramifications: There are certain flip effects that can be abused with no fear of game-changing momentum losses now.

Removal Rating: 8/10. If you're going to ban all these cookie cutter spell cards, why don't you go all out and get rid of the other commonly played ones like Snatch Steal? And who at Konami didn't understand the instant abusability of overpowered flip effect monsters after this card is removed? Ridiculous.

3.         Confiscation

Why was it banned? Any legitimate argument in favor of this card's removal, somewhat inferior to its set companion The Forceful Sentry, is immediately curtailed once you realize that Delinquent Duo is back onto the list. This card allows a free glimpse at your opponent's hand, but is reasonably offset by its hefty life point cost and the fact it loses effectiveness as the duel wears on.

Ramifications: Almost every deck benefits because the removal of the two main prenegators (TFS and Confiscation) helps reduce the luck factor in duels.

Removal Rating: 6/10. I can see why this card was banned, but you'll hear the full extent of my fury once we get to the cards that should have NEVER been let into the game again.

4.         Fiber Jar

Why was it banned? Fiber Jar is one of the most powerful monster cards in the game. If you ban Change of Heart and Magical Scientist, you basically give the power to access Fiber Jar whenever you want. Smart thinking (the only such example) by Konami.

Ramifications:  Deck types such as Exodia that attempt to make slow and steady progress without a field "reset" are helped.

Removal Rating: 8.5/10. It became far too easy for reckless players to simply burn their hands out and pray for a successful Fiber Jar activation.

5.         Magical Scientist

Why was it banned? Magical Scientist is one of those cards that the card designers never truly understood the power of. It is a powerful card, but what I'm speaking of are its inherent design flaws; there are two drastic ones. 1) It gave rise to all sorts of ridiculous first turn kill decks. 2) It single-handedly destroyed any incentive for players to pursue a heavily hyped play mechanic, fusions. Couple these two, and you can see that Magical Scientist deserved to be banned even outside of its awesome playability.

Ramifications: No longer can you pay one thousand life points to take care of anything. Of course, all decks lose two flip effect managers with the ban of this card and Change of Heart. Perhaps the designers should have thought this out a bit harder.

Removal Rating: 10/10. The FTK combos alone involving this card made it deserve a ban.

6.         Makyura the Destructor, Sixth Sense

Why were they banned? To frame the context of these cards, which really have only achieved prominence in Japan, we have to obviously take a look at their uses in the Japanese environment. Makyura is involved with a devastating trap card called Reversal of Worlds that switches the opponent's deck with their graveyard, forcing a deck out. Sixth Sense has perhaps the most ridiculous effect left in the game, giving the player a 33% chance to draw 5 or 6 cards (on average, a bonus of about 1.8 cards per use). Both were out of hand in the OCG environment.

Ramifications: I playtested the Makyuras in both Deckout and Speed Exodia formats; it is a very powerful cards. Sixth Sense should never have been printed, and it's truly a good thing it'll never taint the stateside game.

Removal Rating: 5/10 for Makyura, 10/10 for Sixth Sense.

7.         Mirage of Nightmare

Why was it banned? Konami obviously thought Mirage use would be curtailed with the restricting of Mystical Space Typhoon to one; little did they realize that ingenious players would combine it with yet another quickplay, Emergency Provisions. This combo let players set their whole hands, pray for luck and good fortune, and basically turn entire duels into crapshoots.

Ramifications: This card's usage was getting out of hand; almost every deck will benefit by not having to duel with its absurd swings of luck.

Removal Rating: 10/10. Battles involving luck at the expense of skill are things that should be left to the T.V show.

 8.        The Forceful Sentry

Why was it banned? It is this card, Mirage of Nightmare, and Magical Scientist that were arguably the only legitimate cards worthy of banning. Uncosted disruption that allowed you to peek at your opponent's hand, this card is arguably the best opening play you can make in a duel.

Ramifications: By reducing the element of luck, banning this card should probably help almost all skilled players.

Removal Rating: 8.5/10. Certain decktypes such as mine will be hurt by this, but it's clear to see why The Forceful Sentry had to go.

            My first reaction to the ban list was, "That's it?!?!" Obviously I felt there were cards that weren't on the list (Black Luster Soldier, Breaker the Magical Warrior, Tribe-Infecting Virus, Sinister Serpent) that definitely should have been. But what was far more galling than the additions to the ban list were the removals from the ban list. Allow me to explain.

The Ban List; (Newly Removed)

1.         Delinquent Duo

            Great scott, I could literally write paragraph upon paragraph of why Delinquent Duo is the best card in the game. Limiting the opponent's options is far more important than increasing your own; this concept made Yata-Garasu the most feared card in the game, allowing control to sweep through World Championships 2003. For all intents and purposes, this card is a megabomb.

            There are those foolish enough to offer ludicrous examples of countering Delinquent Duo, which range from Sinister Serpent(highly reasonable) to Night Assailant(somewhat reasonable) to Despair from the Dark (utterly ridiculous). As it stands, the only non-themed card that can counter Delinquent Duo's disgusting effect is Sinister Serpent. Fiends may be able to dump Night Assailant, but if Duo is used in the opening hand, your chances are close to impossible (you'd have to have your flip effect monster hit first (1 out of 6), and have a Night Assailant in hand (limited to two.)

            The return of Delinquent Duo is utterly ridiculous. Of the three "prenegators", Confiscation was the only one that had a legitimate argument for remaining in our playable card pool; realizing that Delinquent Duo was a duelist's worst nightmare, the brilliant geniuses of shining luminosity decided to "make up for it" by next including…

2.         Graceful Charity

            It baffles me how the environment has basically become the pre-ban format all over again. Prior to the first ban list, most decks packed 5 mass removers: Raigeki, Dark Hole, Torrential Tribute, Mirror Force, and Tribe-Infecting Virus. Now, with the ridiculous release of Lightning Vortex, advanced format decks have 4 mass removers: Torrential, Tribe-Infecting Virus, Mirror Force, Lightning Vortex. In addition, the re-release of Graceful Charity WITHOUT the banning of Pot of Greed has made duels all about the lucky draw again. Except this time, with the three best cards all limited to one, the luck factor is even higher!

            Graceful Charity makes Fiend Beatdown extraordinarily powerful due to Night Assailants; it also leads to luckier draws and ludicrous finishes. Perhaps the ban of Sinister Serpent would have justified keeping Tribe and Gracefu; the decision as it currently stands is absolutely ridiculous.

            The other additions to the restricted list, including D.D Warrior Lady, Sangan, United We Stand, Mirror Force, and Lightning Vortex are all very reasonable. However, the return of Sangan bodes ominous for the continued success of themed decks, since he's basically a hideously generic beastie that can search out anything.

            Also, I'd like to stress that D.D Warrior Lady is not nearly as powerful as some may believe, including the ban list designers. I could write an entire manifesto on how it's one of the most overrated cards in the history of Yu-Gi-Oh! but we'll save that for another day.

The Updated Restricted/Semi-Restricted List

            This too was absolutely puzzling. Very little of the metagame's problems, including the prevalence of three Scapegoat in almost every deck, was addressed. Instead, ridiculous additions such as Chick the Yellow (for its non-ban list combo with Makyura) and Vampire Lord were added. The semi-restriction of Vampire Lord was something I had always argued against; it's a slap in the face of one of the greatest monsters in all of Yu-Gi-Oh, and Konami will genuinely be sorry when cookie cutter Zombies start slicing apart the environment.

            In general, the ban list disappointed me greatly. There is no disclaimer with my opinions because I feel they have nothing to do with me; whether my views are right or wrong have no relevance because my views represent those of a person whose heart and soul are tied to the game. Arguing about the fallacy of my ban list report is like arguing with the purity of the current game state itself. Yu-Gi-Oh was never intended to devolve into a series of lucky card draws that culminate in preset victory or defeat conditions. Have you ever see Yugi Yata-locked by Kaiba after he plays Delinquent Duo, Forceful Sentry, Pot of Greed, and such?

            The fact is that everybody is hurt when themed decks give way to generic cookie cutters. The little boy who sits and watches the show, then looks at a T-Rex and falls in love with dinosaurs (as kids are wont to do), is not served well by a creator that makes only 20 dinosaurs over a dozen sets. The new players that begin this game, hoping to follow in the footsteps of Yugi and Joey can't help but feel depressed as they notice that every single deck in the top 8 decklists of the highest level tournaments are nearly identical. The game deserves better than this.

            Oh and for those who hope that the next set will bring prosperity back to Yu-Gi-Oh, don't believe the hype. The next two sets are utter garbage that support Beasts (which never needed supporting) and Rock type monsters (which is commendable if pulled off right) in a way that they were never meant to be supported.

            You may lament these miserable fortunes with me at JAELOVE@gmail.com.