Now for my Article.

I almost feel obligated to give my 2 cents on what the new ban list should be. Basically because I am in somewhat of a position for others to listen and hopefully act in my favor:P

I have been listening to others complain about the format, cursing Cyber Dragon and Chaos Sorcerer. But in reality we must begin to question such reasoning. Cyber Dragon, in my opinion is a very balanced monster who is in no way "BROKEN". Yes the almighty Tebezu has acted in favor of the cc bread and butter. If we recall, Cyber Dragon has 3 fusions and also supports his own sub-theme; you all remember Cyber Barrier and Laser (AND IF YOU HAVE EVER PLAYED WITH THEM YOU NEED 3x Cyber Dragon/believe me:P). On top of that, Cyber Dragon is a monster that provides you no benefits if you are controlling the field. He is one of the better ideas of fairness and logic represented by this games developers. He allows people to act on their second move, thus making going second not put you in a bad situation from the terms of advantage. His "brokenness" is due to the fact people are running 3 chaos sorcerers. His light attribute is one of the only reasons people run so many. On top of that abuse comes from zarborg or mobius, summon him and then tribute for one of them. Yet the monster generating the advantage in this situation is the monarch. (And the player sacrificing for the monarch is still down 2 cards from their hand.) Spirit Reaper also aids in this cards abuse. Hit an opponents attack position dekoichi or D.D. whatever and then hit directly with spirit reaper. Cyber Dragon on his own is just a mechanic that puts field presence on the board. But once again I repeat, having another monster on your side of the field makes Cyber Dragon a normal tribute 2100 monster. If anyone has ever ran Gravekeeper's Spy or taking a liking to the 3x Mystic Tomato and other recruiter monsters, we know that cyber dragon tends to be a dead draw in late game. Early game he gives us a reason to accept going second. Thus with this in mind, I do not believe Cyber Dragon merits any kind of Restrictions. But the cards that compliment him should be restricted to one.


Spirit Reaper is a beast of a monster. His ability to force 2,3,4, plus for 1 while also being a killer defense monster makes him worthy of restriction. I am well aware you can only get his effect from attacking directly, but a monster like this forces people to put stuff on the field. Restrict him to one, the ability to search him through your deck with mystic tomato, sangan, pyramid turtle, etc. only merits the restriction of the monster.

Chaos Sorcerer. I hate Chaos. Chaos is the one archetype that hurts the playability of almost all other archetypes. Even Macro Decks tend to have issues with a well built chaos deck. The ability to summon a monster, who off the bat is going to product a plus 1 is ridiculous. If we did not have Chaos, people would attempt to play Zombie Decks, Water Decks, Even Burn Decks, etc. on a larger scale. If we are not forced to count lightys and darkies in our decks, we are given a huge amount of room to use other cards. Chaos Hurts Horus level decks, Spell Canceller Control, Insect Decks (which would be freaking awesome in the new non chaos format.), almost any non-mainstream deck (this meaning non chaos something) just does not have the reliability of Chaos Sorcerer.

I say ban Heavy Storm. Heavy Storm has never been placed on the ban list. Dark Hole has had its time there, why not Heavy Storm? Personally I think 2x MST or 2x Breaker is better than Heavy Storm. This card is responsible for killing burn decks, water decks, and almost any theme deck running field spell cards. It is a potential 1 for 5 (even though most settle for a 1 for 2 or a lucky 1 for 3). A 1 for 1 MST is better in the mechanics of fairness and advantage than heavy storm. Burn decks need a shot. ALO, Tornado Wall, and any other spell orientated lock deserves a shot. Even Breaker can't touch a torrential tribute or bottomless trap hole.

I think Creature Swap needs to be restricted to 1. Being one of my all time favorite spell cards, this card is broken to the degree of metamorphosis/scapegoat. If your an intelligent player your going to get what you want. Plus the ability to lock an opponent with tsuky and magician of faith is just as bad as doing it with tsuky and TER. Last Will is an example of a killer card that people did not think about. Last Will is also one of my favorite spell cards and merited in its current restriction. Just like creature swap, it is a very destructive card with the ability to totally change the game state. Pyramid Turtle, swap, v.lord. Your going to be hurting, though balanced in its text its potential is too great to be semi-restricted. (Compare this logic with Abyss Soldier and Sinister. We lose sinister and can run 3 abyss. We get sinister, we lose an abyss soldier.)

I do not understand why metamorphosis is on the restricted list. TER is at one, thus how can this card merit restriction? The restricted status of this fun spell card only seems to be hurting the playability of dragons in general. How I miss sending Fusilier Dragon-The Duel Mode Beast for King Dragun.

I do not see the purpose of restricting book of moon. This card is a combo card. It only works if you have a monster on the field. For heavens sakes, we can run 3x smashing ground and only one book? Smashing Kills something by itself, book needs something else.


I also think that Cyber-Stein needs to be restricted to one. He is a killer card and requires a huge cost to use, but otk's should be hurt. On this note, giant trunade should be restricted to hurt otk's and stop the freaking blasting the ruins deck:P Royal Magical Library should also be restricted to hurt the ftk I have demonstrated.

While on the note of otk and ftk, Dark Ptera needs to be restricted to one and either future fusion or ectoplasmer needs to be restricted to one. Overdragon is coming,and by himself as a fusion he isn't that big of a threat. But the otk/ftk needs to be hurt.

Royal Decree needs to be restricted. Already in this game we have Jinzo. Decree, unlike imperial order, kinda stays on the field without another card removing it, outside of MST,Breaker, Heavy Storm, Mobius, etc. (At least Jinzo is a Monster, which dies to like a 1,000 things.) Smart players tend not to have issues. Some act too fast and then top-deck into mirror force and smack themselves in the face. But overall, traps in this game are a mechanic which needs to be utilized. Decree is an instant plus one upon using with the ability to protect your monsters for the remainder of the duel. Protection should require LP or drawback. My Body as a Shield is such an example. Do I lose 1500 LP to stop sakuretsu armor? Plus at this point we are getting all kinds of type support in the form of Icarus attack, the trap that allows you to special summon dinosaurs, the roid overdrive card, etc. These cards on their own are perfect examples of theme support. Decree supports the movement of a cc in some sense b/c ones logic upon building a deck tends to be about results. Why run Icarus attack in a winged beast deck or something capable of utilizing it, if on its own it is a dead draw and upon use a royal decree will chain and negate it?
I hope decree is restricted simply for the sake of the theme traps. Water art, wind art, etc. Other examples of why decree needs to be at one.

I have other quarrels and hopes, but these outline my major concerns. Hopefully this generates some more thinking within the YUGIOH community.

Join me in the following weeks as I plan on doing articles covering..

1) Archfiend Monsters
2) Water Deck
3) ROID's
4) Elemental Hero's "depending on the state of future fusion"

5) Dinosaur Deck

6) ETC. Who knows, maybe something even more fascinating will come around and catch my eye;)

But these articles will depend, as all things in this game upon the new ban list.

-One last note....

The current metagame is shifting and we are seeing new realities of what true advantage is. We are seeing the emergence of 44 plus card decks breaking lose in the competitive scene as well as the use of cards like Toon Table of Contents to generate deck momentum and hand advantage. Card destruction is increasing with potential (Jurassic Egg is not specific on how Dino's go to the grave) and running multiples of the same monster (3x Mystic Tomato) is an engine of control... With these thoughts in mind I would hope you all take a look at Jason G's article "T-Rex on Roller Skates" found yesterday at www.metagame.com

Read the article and decipher your own opinion on the deck he is looking at. Cause the deck he exhibits shows true signs of genius and a very clever view on game mechanics.

Take a look, who knows maybe those concepts will define the next metagame.