It's always somewhat of a struggle for me deciding what to write about, as I generally try to brush up on things that are more general strategy than talking about how awesome it is that Mermails got more support, or that Wind-Ups are good.  This week, I am going to be on a bandwagon talking about the upcoming banned and limited list, and what I think should happen.
 
Firstly, let's talk about what I think should happen with the forbidden list

Forbidden:
Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning
Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the End
Cyber Jar
Cyber-Stein
Dark Magician of Chaos
Destiny Hero - Disk Commander
Fiber Jar
Fishborg Blaster
Glow-Up Bulb
Magical Scientist
Makyura the Destructor
Mind Master
Rescue Cat
Sinister Serpent
Substitoad
Tribe-Infecting Virus
Victory Dragon
Witch of the Black Forest
Yata-Garasu
Thousand-Eyes Restrict
Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
Dark Strike Fighter
Goyo Guardian
Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
Number 16: Shock Master
Brain Control
Butterfly Dagger - Elma
Card of Safe Return
Change of Heart
Cold Wave
Confiscation
Delinquent Duo
Dimension Fusion
Future Fusion
Giant Trunade
Graceful Charity
Harpie's Feather Duster
Last Will
Mass Driver
Metamorphosis
Mirage of Nightmare
Monster Reborn
Painful Choice
Pot of Greed
Premature Burial
Raigeki
Snatch Steal
Temple of the Kings
The Forceful Sentry
Crush Card Virus
Exchange of the Spirit
Imperial Order
Last Turn
Ring of Destruction
Royal Oppression
Time Seal
Trap Dustshoot

New - Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning, Number 16: Shock Master, Monster Reborn

Nothing too shocking here.  I think that both of these cards are detrimental to the game, and think that they are both too easy to summon and are overpowered as a result.  The release of Lavalval Chain will make BLS even easier to summon and stack, and Wind-Ups are just able to cough up Shock Masters out of nowhere.  The Monster Reborn has more justifications later in the list, but, in general I think that the card is just too powerful, and hate the fact that your opponent can benefit from your deck performing better than theirs.  I've lost multiple games because my opponent was able to Monster Reborn my Gorz and I just didn't have the answer to it.
 
Limited
Left Arm of the Forbidden One
Left Leg of the Forbidden One
Right Arm of the Forbidden One
Right Leg of the Forbidden One
Atlantean Dragoons
Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind
Chaos Sorcerer
Dandylion
Dark Armed Dragon
Elemental Hero Stratos
Exodia the Forbidden One
Gladiator Beast Bestiari
Gorz the Emissary of Darkness
Honest
Inzektor Dragonfly
Inzektor Hornet
Lonefire Blossom
Magician of Faith
Mezuki
Morphing Jar
Necroface
Neo-Spacian Grand Mole
Night Assailant
Plaguespreader Zombie
Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon
Sangan
T.G. Striker
Tour Guide from the Underworld
Wind-Up Shark
Evigishki Gustkraken
Evigishki Mind Augus
Legendary Six Samurai - Shi En
T.G. Hyper Librarian
Wind-Up Carrier Zenmaity
Advanced Ritual Art
Allure of Darkness
Black Whirlwind
Book of Moon
Burial from a Different Dimension
Card Destruction
Charge of the Light Brigade
Dark Hole
Fire Formation - Tenki
Foolish Burial
Gateway of the Six
Heavy Storm
Infernity Launcher
Limiter Removal
Mind Control
Monster Gate
Monster Reborn
One For One
Pot of Avarice
Reinforcement of the Army
Scapegoat
Ceasefire
Magical Explosion
Return from the Different Dimension
Solemn Judgment
Ultimate Offering
Wall of Revealing Light
NEW - Atlantean Dragoons, Magician of Faith, Tour Guide from the Underworld, Wind-Up Shark, Evigishki Mind Augus, Fire Formation - Tenki

I'll just break down all of these selections in order, since none are super obvious as to why, and it's just easier that way for both of us.

Atlantean Dragoons - I think the biggest problem with the Atlantean deck is that it is hyper-consistent.  Not that it is a bad deck on its own, but the fact that the deck has so many search effects and none of them are limited is a big problem in my mind, and this card is the most balanced way to take some of that away, without actually hurting the archetype too bad.  Konami realistically won't touch any of the cards that are still in print, but, if they hit anything, they'll probably just semi-limit something or hit Genex Undine.

Magician of Faith - Thankfully I already have shields up for this one.  I think that this card is very good, but I'm not necessarily positive it is ban-worthy.  With Dolkka and Atlantean Marksman running around, not to mention the plethera of OTK decks out there; I don't think that this card is good enough to merit the ban hammer.  I could be totally wrong, but bringing this card back was part of the reason for axe-ing Monster Reborn.

Tour Guide from the Underworld - I hate that you can play two of this card, nothing else in the tool box, and still go into rank 3's so easily.  I think the best way to balance this card, is to make players choose whether or not the 50/50-33% chance is worth playing her.  Those statistic are obtained by factoring whether players would play just the Guide and Sangan, or if they would stick with Night Assailant as well.  I imagine the Assailant build is better, since TGU could get Assailant if you draw it, and you still have a Sanagan, OR if you get Sangan, it can then grab the Guide to prevent dead draws and grab Night Assailant.  This card in my mind is just unbalanced altogether, but I don't think necessarily ban-worthy.

Wind-Up Shark - A serious amount of people that I talk to think that Wind-Up Magician is the problem card in the WU deck, and I have a hard time buying that.  The most basic way to analyze which card was the problem, we can look at when the deck became a problem globally.  The deck wasn't playable in the US until ORCS came out, and then the deck became tier 0 if the opponent wasn't playing hand-traps, and tier 1 if they were.  In Japan, the deck was roughly a tier 3 deck until Wind-Up Shark popped up and broke the deck.  We can also look at some sample hands to figure out what card is more problematic.  These are going to be very extreme cases, but I think it will get the point across:
 
Hand #1: Shark, Shark, WU Rat, WU Factory, Heavy Storm, Solemn Judgment
Hand #2: Magician, Magician, WU Rat, WU Factory, Heavy Storm, Solemn Judgment

I think it is safe to say we know which of the two hands is better.  I understand that Magician can lead to more broken plays based on having more of them, but, we also have to recognize that WU Shark allows the plays to happen faster, whether or not you only have one magician.  In the second hand, you have to hope that they kill your Magician, give you another turn, AND have no responses to the WU Rat, which is roughly one of the most easily countered monster cards in Yu-Gi-Oh!.  Note that with both hands, if you draw whichever loop piece you are missing, both hands become broken (ie Draw Magician in hand 1 and vice versa).
 
Evigishki Mind Augus - Konami hates FTK decks, and that is fine, but they need to deal with all of them.  Look up some of Joe Giorlando's articles from the past couple of weeks if you don't understand how this deck works.  Not a bad read, also insightful on how to beat the deck if nothing happens to the Augus.
 
Fire Formation - Tenki - This is just a Reinforcements of the Army with a bonus tacked on to it.  It also can grab some pretty sweet cards that aren't fire fist archetype specific, such as Reborn Tengu and T.G. Rush Rhino.  If RoTA is limited, this should be too.
 
Semi-Limited
Archlord Kristya
Blackwing - Kalut the Moon Shadow
Card Trooper
Debris Dragon
Destiny Hero - Malicious
Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner
Reborn Tengu
Rescue Rabbit
Summoner Monk
The Agent of Mystery - Earth
Tragoedia
Tsukuyomi
Dewloren, Tiger King of the Ice Barrier
A Hero Lives
Chain Strike
Hieratic Seal of Convocation
Pot of Duality
Reasoning
Royal Tribute
Shien's Smoke Signal
Abyss Sphere
Bottomless Trap Hole
Infernity Barrier
Mind Crush
Mirror Force
Ojama Trio
Solemn Warning
The Transmigration Prophecy
Torrential Tribute

NEW - Tsukuyomi, Abyss Sphere, Infernity Barrier, The Transmigration Prophecy
 
I think that Tsukuyomi is an incredible card with a good effect, please don't think I am underestimating it.  I merely think that the format is just too fast for such an effect, and the fact that she cannot be special summoned also hurts my stock in her.  I think that if any Merlantean card that is from a booster set should get hit, it is the sphere.  It is incredible in the triple MST format, as you can just grab Abysslinde if they try to pop it, and if they don't you can just grab a beater for game if you need another monster.  The judge-calls over people declaring the activation during end of turn is also headache-inducing over several rounds, so I'm sure that judges would love a break on this one.  The Infernity Barrier is more pre-emptive than anything.  I think that Lavalval chain can push the combo-styled Infernities over the top, and would like to think that the deck won't get completely nuked by the list if that happens.  Transmigration Prophecy is not broken at two.  Most people don't even remmeber why this card was limited.  Period.
 
Newly Unlimited - Spore, Formula Synchron, Primal Seed, E - Emergency Call, Magical Stone Excavation

Everything here is pretty self explanatory.  I'm sure the 5 players still on KMP (Karakuri Machina Plants) would love to have more spore.  Primal Seed sucks if the cards to activate it aren't legal.  E-Call just isn't that broken in my honest opinion, and Magical Stone Excavation is fine at 3.  I'm sure most decks that play it would onyl play two anyway, outside of Dragon Draw.
 
If I had the time to analyze the repercussion of bringing back more experimental cards, then I might be one of the writers who makes a whackier list in hopes of being able to bring a new age into yugioh.  Alas, I am not, and have been testing a lot for YCS Miami, as well as several Magic events bordering the YCS. 
 
Feel free to contact me and tell me about how much you hate my list, love my list, what you think I should do to it, or, if you just want to talk about the game in general.

Thanks a ton for reading!
Sean Handy
The McShake Alchemist
 
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