The Yu-Gi-Oh! February banlist aftermath

The banlist is finally here and I speak on behalf of everyone when I say “thank fuck for that!” When I did my predictions back in December, I really underestimated how long this format would actually go on for. The October banlist feels like a lifetime ago, so I think at this point we’re all sick of being Protos-locked for the millionth time in a row. Luckily this time around, a lot of very significant changes were made to the forbidden/limited list. So buckle your pants, because we’re in for a wild ride.

BANNED CARDS:

Archnemesis Protos:

I’ve said it once before and I’ll say it again: walking floodgates are a ticking timebomb for this game. Even if they seem like complete ass at first, something will eventually come along to make them the most obnoxious thing in the format. This was the story of Archnemesis Protos – a card completely ignored upon its release, only to then help take Swordsoul all the way to the top by being an insufferable dickhole. Can we please stop making these kinds of cards already?

Eva:

I was umming and erring about whether or not Drytron needed any more hits on the upcoming banlist. The Benten experience would probably be the best deck in Yu-Gi-Oh!, if only matches were best of 1’s and there were no hand traps in the game. Sadly, this isn’t the case, meaning Drytron has taken a backseat to other, more resilient decks. Nonetheless, Konami has decided that it’s time for the deck to bite the dust by outright banning Eva. I definitely see why though; after all, if you lose the dice roll against Drytron and weren’t fortunate enough to open either Droll and lock bird or Dark Ruler No More, you may as well knock off for a crafty wank instead of sitting though half an hour ofannoying Benten loops.

Simorgh, Bird of Sovereignty:

Fuck this card. I would like to give a more detailed breakdown on why Simorgh’s been banned, or why I think it was an unhealthy card for the game, but I just want to scrub away any memory I have of this disgusting creature. There is one small problem with shitting all over Simorgh’s grave – you may eventually run out of shit.

Imperial Order:

It’s safe to say that the TCG community collectively rejoiced when Imperial Order was finally given the axe. The weird thing is, I actually understand Imperial Order. No really, I do; it’s a remnant of an older era of Yu-Gi-Oh!, where spells and traps being insanely overpowered was the rule rather than the exception. Almost all the old Duel Monsters staple cards were completely nuts and at the time, they were fine. Hell, Painful Choice wasn’t even that good on release, as there weren’t that many decent graveyard effects back then. The thing is, almost all the DM staples are now banned and can NEVER come back, as they are often more powerful now than when they came out. Whether it’s Pot Of Greed, Graceful Charity or Imperial Order, these cards simply cannot exist within the modern era of Yu-Gi-Oh!, even if you “fix them” with an errata. These cards can never be truly fixed or balanced, so let them sleep.

LIMITED CARDS:

Destrudo the Lost Dragon’s Frisson:

Destrudo was one of the many cards killed in the wake of our lord and saviour Crystron Halqifibrax. Didn’t think Konami would have the balls the release this card from banlist jail, but it’s cool that Destrudo is back, I guess. It’s not as busted as Jet Synchron or O-Lion, but I’m certain that they’ll be a decent amount of strategies that’ll take advantage of Destrudo soon enough. Not that I expect it’ll break the game or anything, but keep an eye on this one. Also what the hell is a frisson?

Fairy Tail – Snow:

This is certainly a bit of a wild card. I didn’t start playing Yu-Gi-Oh! again until shortly after this card was originally banned, so I couldn’t tell you if Snow’s return was a good idea or not. That Grass Looks Greener is still banned so it’s probably fine, but who knows? Not me.

Astrograph Sorcerer:

I couldn’t tell you what this card does, because I still refuse to read a single Pendulum card, but I do know that this basically confirms that Konami has no plans to bring back Heavymetalfoes Electrumite any time soon. Astrograph and Electrumite can’t exist at the same time. Why? I don’t know, because I haven’t read either of those cards.

Lunalight Tiger:

Lunalight Tiger is another demonstration of the importance of giving cards a hard once per turn, particularly if there are ways to loop it 7777 times. For this reason, people didn’t think Tiger would ever come back, yet here it is. Obviously this card is nuts, but I don’t know if there exists a deck right now that’ll completely break it. I’ve heard that people have been experimenting with Tri-Brigade Lunalight, but that just seems to me like playing a worse version of Tri-Brigade. Besides, do we really need another version of Tri-Brigade? Now I think I’ve said Tri-Brigade too many times in the last few sentences, so I should really end this paragraph and talk about something else.

Lyrilusc – Recital Starling:

Ok fine, maybe I will keep talking about Tri-Brigade. Well, indirectly anyway. So Tri-Lyrilusc is fucking dead and I’m not shedding any tears about it. Good like trying to access your 9000 different win-conditions now with one Recital Starling. Rest in piss.

Monster Gate:

Before this card hit the limited list, I had no idea that Monster Gate even existed. Apparently, the reason it was limited was to stop Ruinforce FTK, which makes sense, as Konami have taken a pretty strong stance against FTK’s in the last few years. I see this is as good thing, because I’m sure that there’s a large portion of the Yu-Gi-Oh! player base that still has PTSD from pre-errata Firewall Dragon.

Pot of Desires:

Desires to one is by far the most questionable change on this list, but bear with me a second, because I’m going to try and defend it…… sort of. Pot of Desires has had a large amount of success in the competitive scene since its debut, with it most recently being a staple in Swordsoul and Virtual World decks, just to name just a few. The “issue” with Desires is that the whole banish 10 for cost thing isn’t really a detriment for a lot of these decks, as they A) run all their important cards at 3 copies, or B) don’t need many in-deck resources, meaning the +1 is basically free. With these things in mind, the limit to Pot of Desires kind of makes sense, for reasons other than “fuck you by Pot of Prosperity instead.” I’m not saying I agree with this change, I’m suggesting that there might be a little bit more logic on display here than people realise. On an unrelated note, can someone please check up on Gren Maju players? Are they ok?

SEMI LIMITED CARDS:

A Hero Lives:

Who cares? Heroes fucking suck.

Fusion Destiny:

This is absolutely hilarious to me, as it’s the perfect middle-ground between Konami wanting to limit Fusion Destiny, but also wanting to sell the upcoming reprint in the next OTS pack. Expect this to get limited on the next list.

Nadir Servant:

So, Konami’s finally decided to hit their second favourite Yu-Gi-Oh! deck after Eldlich, Invoked Dogmatika. Well, a little bit – they’ve lost one Fusion Destiny and one Servant, which is something at least. Would’ve much rather seen this thing get limited right away, as it generates an absurd amount of card advantage for no reason and cheats out Shadoll Winda – another card on my personal shit-list. *Sigh* maybe one day I’ll be able to drown Winda in its own piss, much like I’m currently doing to Simorgh.

Salamangreat Circle:

Yo, can we get Sky Striker Mecha Modules – Multirole to 2 next? That would be sweet. Maybe even Orcust Harp Horror to 1? Thunder Dragon Colossus isn’t coming back though, cry about it.

Scapegoat:

Scapegoat got limited after the introduction of Link summoning ruined token generators forever. No idea what practical applications multiple Scapegoats might have in the long run, but some nutcase will cook up something.

UNLIMITED:

All previously semi-limited cards, except Destiny Hero – Malicious

Yep.

Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon

You took your fucking time, didn’t you?

Raigeki:

I’ve had this theory for a while that Raigeki could come to 3 and no-one would play it. Turns out that even Konami agrees with me, especially when they didn’t even semi-limit it before-hand. This makes it the first time since the forbidden/limited was even conceived that Raigeki is no longer on it. Well I thought it was a nice bit of trivia.

Skill Drain

No.

Whew, that was certainly a slog to get through, but we made it through to the end! Hope you’ve all enjoyed my banlist recap, so make sure to join me next time when Mystic Mine gets banned and the Mole people finally reclaim the earth.