The Yu-Gi-Oh! October 2021 forbidden/limited prediction list

Yes, I do Yu-Gi-Oh content now. I haven’t kept a consistent theme with my website articles so far, so why start now? Particularly with banlist season rolling around again, now’s the perfect time to branch out and capitalise on all the hype. So Join me, then we may embark on this journey together into the minds Konami’s TCG department – only then can we get a clear idea of cards may or may not get axed this October.

BANNED CARDS:

Imperial Order

Honestly, there aren’t that many cards that I think need to bite the bullet this time around, mostly because I think the format is pretty good right now. But if there’s one card that absolutely needs to get fucked, it’s this one. Imperial Order is a card that could’ve only been printed in the Duel Monsters era, yet unlike other overpowered cards from the same time it’s allowed to roam free. Okay that’s not necessarily true – it was banned for a long time, is still limited and has since received an errata, but that’s just not enough anymore. This card has arguably gotten more powerful with time, due to that fact it’s basically an auto-win to whoever draws it. To explain how unfair this card is to you non Yu-Gi-Oh players reading this, it’s like trying to drive to work in the morning except someone has drained your fuel tank and stolen one of your wheels.

Beatrice, Lady of the Eternal

This card isn’t on here for Burning Abyss’s unbreakable end-board of ‘Beatrice pass’, but for other reasons instead; Beatrice has always suffered from being too abusable in other decks outside her own archetype (hence she’s still limited), but I feel that her interaction with Drytron is going to be the final nail in the coffin for the old girl. The reason why a card like Herald of Ultimateness is able to churn out such an obscene amount of negates, is because Beatrice can easily send copies of Eva from deck to grave on either player’s turn, essentially re-fuelling it. I did consider banning Eva instead, but I thought it would be unfair to murder a deck that’s been tier 1 for about 5 minutes and dies to a single hand-trap, all for doing one thing that’s kind of unfair. I like the Beatrice hit because it allows Drytron to still be completive, but just means that you now have to rely more on hard-drawing that Eva, rather than being able to send it from your deck every turn. Sorry Burning Abyss players, just consider this retribution for Dante surviving all these years.

Red-Eyes Fusion

Ok, I’m like 80% sure that this card, Verte and Dragoon aren’t going to get hit on the next banlist. The only reason it’s even here is because it’s actually illegal in the Yu-Gi-Oh community to talk about the banlist without mentioning Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon. In the unlikely scenario where Konami does decide to address the Dragoon problem in October, Red-Eyes Fusion is the card they’d ban. Think about it from their perspective: they don’t want to ban Dragoon or Verte Anaconda because they’re both big money cards with only one printing, whilst Red-Eyes Fusion is a crap common that isn’t even good in its own archetype. I mean, who the fuck is even playing pure Red-Eyes is 2021?

LIMITED CARDS:

Fire Formation – Tenki

Reinforcement of the Army is a card that allows you to add any level 4 or lower Warrior monster from your deck to your hand. This card is limited and has been for a very long time, due to how good it is. Fire Formation – Tenki is a card that allows you to add any level 4 or lower Beast-Warrior monster from you deck to your hand. This card is unlimited. Arguably the most powerful deck in the game right now uses Beast-Warriors – I wonder why that is?

Tri-Brigade Revolt

Okay, so Tenki isn’t the only reason why Tri-Brigade is probably the best deck right now. Another reason is because of Revolt – a card that was really powerful even before Tri-Brigade got a card that could search it out. Tri-Brigade Revolt can simultaneously provide an interruption during your opponent’s turn whilst also setting up for a follow-up play. As good as this card is, I don’t think it’s ban-worthy; limiting this card makes sense as it allows Tri-Brigade to still have access to it, but if you negate your opponent’s Bearbrumm effect to search Revolt, you’ll have to worry significantly less about your them already having drawn the damn card in the first place, unless they’re just that good at Yu-Gi-Oh.

Magical Meltdown

I wonder if the person that created the Invoked archetype back in 2017 knew what they’d be inflicting upon us all – did they know that people would still be Normal summoning Aleister in the futuristic year of 2021? I hate Invoked with a burning passion, but as much as I’d like to see this entire archetype fired into the sun, a limit on Magical Meltdown will suffice. This hit is less about nerfing the Invoked-Shadoll-Sugma deck, or whatever the fuck it’s called, and more to do with toning down Aleister’s agonising consistency and splashablility. Maybe with Meltdown at 1, Aleister the Invoker will no longer be the Normal Summon of every deck ever? It will also be nice if every fusion spell didn’t become Spell-Speed 4 for no reason.

Orcust Harp Horror

You’ve probably been wondering for the last format why Harp Horror is even still banned. I’ve been wondering that as well, especially as they unbanned both Miragestallio and Engage back in July. Maybe they just forgot that Orcust exists? To be fair, I have as well, as it’s a machine deck that doesn’t involve Cyber Dragons, but what I’m saying is that it wouldn’t hurt to throw Orcust players a bone every now and then, particularly as the deck has been basically unplayable for the last year or so. I mean, what’s Orcust going to do in 2021 that’s overpowered? Lose to Artifact Lancea?

SEMI-LIMITED CARDS:

Performapal Skullcrobat Joker

We all know that this card could easily come back to 3 right away, but since Konami hates Pendulums, that’s not going to happen. Joker is probably going to follow the same course as Double Iris Magician, doing a stint of the semi-limited list until it finally reaches Konami that the Pendulum mechanic fucking sucks post master rule 3.

Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon

Did Konami just forget that they gave this card an errata? What’s the point of even errata-ing a card if you aren’t going to change its place on the banlist? Since the OCG has finally decided to revoke Red MD’s limited status after all these years, I’m hoping that the TCG will now follow suit. Unless of course Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon has gotten so used to being limited, that it’s afraid of being removed from its comfort zone.

UNLIMITED CARDS:

Double Iris Magician

Double Iris is here for the same reason that Joker’s being moved from limited to semi-limited. Listen Konami, giving back Pendulum players a few old cards won’t make this outdated mechanic tier zero again.

Salamangreat Miragestallio

Is there a difference significant between having 1 and 3 copies of this card? Asking because I generally don’t know. I mean, it’s debatable whether or not this card even needed to be banned in the first place. Unsurprisingly, having this card return to the game after spending a year in banlist jail hasn’t made Salamangreat tier 1, so why not put this card back to 3? Oh, and before you ask, Thunder Dragon Colossus isn’t coming back; I shouldn’t need to explain why a walking floodgate with very easy summoning conditions and built-in protection isn’t a good idea for this game.

Well that’s it for the banlist predictions, I can’t wait ‘till October where everything I’ve just said inevitably gets proven wrong. I may or may not make this a reoccurring thing, I haven’t decided yet, so in the meantime, I’ll just be waiting for that perfect day when Konami decides to ban every floodgate ever printed, then we can feed torn-up copies of Mystic Mine to the pigs. Good day.