09/13 Banlist Review

Hey guys, I'm back and ready to give you an in-depth discussion of the brand new banlist. Since there are so many different changes this time around, it'll be easier to talk about many of them in groups. Here we go:

1. Burner, Stream, Lightning, Reactan, Gold Sarcophagus, Super Rejuvenation, Spellbook of Judgment, Atlantean Dragoons, Deep Sea Diva, Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Spirit, Fire Formation - Tenki, Rescue Rabbit. (12)

These are all obviously hits to the five of the most memorable decks of the last format: Mermails, Fire Fist, Dragon Rulers, Prophecy, and Evilswarm. Mermails are probably still too good even after having taken two Limits and Fire Fist wasn't affected that much (well, 4-Axis wasn't), but overall I'm very pleased with these changes. I finally get to see Rescue Rabbit become Limited, which has been a dream of mine for some time now. :')

It might seem as if Evilswarm wasn't hit very badly, but I think the deck has some serious struggles ahead due to the loss of Rabbit, staple Traps, and the presence of a sharply defined metagame that's mostly absent of multiple bad matchups. Also, we have Xyz Encore now (!!). Finally, Prophecy wasn't hit too hard, but hopefully it'll take some more hits in January.

2. Elemental Hero Stratos, A Hero Lives, Destiny Hero - Malicious, E - Emergency Call. (4)

Let's talk about the changes to Hero related cards. Since Stratos has been in so many decks over the years (some examples include: DDT, T-Heroes, DAD Return, Tele-Dad, Destiny Hero Zombies, Hero Beat, Bubble Beat, various Absolute Zero / Destiny Hero Water decks, etc.), it makes sense that there are a lot of people upset about his demise. But honestly, this should've happened a lot sooner. It's a little ridiculous to keep cards on the list just to accommodate the continued existence of one card. (Notice how three cards immediately left the list the very second Stratos was banned.)

3. Number 16: Shock Master, Eradicator Epidemic Virus, Dimensional Fissure, Macro Cosmos, Soul Drain. (5)

What these cards all have in common is that they're powerful hate cards that can single-handedly win the game against certain types of decks. Shock Master in particular surprised me; that card isn't good for the game but I never expected Konami to ban it. They probably hit EEV because Crazy Box gives a lot of decks access to it that didn't have it previously. And the continuous cards are all annoying, but were probably also hit because of Heavy Storm. And speaking of Heavy Storm...

4. Heavy Storm, Solemn Judgment, Bottomless Trap Hole, Compulsory Evacuation Device, Torrential Tribute, Dimensional Prison. (6)

This is an interesting move here. Konami doesn't want Heavy Storm in the game anymore but also doesn't want a trap spam format, so to that end, they hit a bunch of the "good" traps along with Heavy. This is a cool new idea and I can't wait to see it play out. Hopefully we won't devolve into an extremely backrow-heavy format, but if shit hits the fan at least we'll still have Malevolent Catastrophe. They probably should've also limited Mirror Force, but it's whatever.

5. Card Destruction, Gateway of the Six, Monster Reborn, Pot of Avarice, Ultimate Offering. (5)

To me, there's really no comment necessary for these. They're all just cases of "amazing choice, but long overdue." These choices helped to set more of a housekeeping vibe for this list, since Konami is tackling problems that have been around for a while even though they may not have impacted the last format much. Amazing job! Better late than never, but it really shouldn't have taken you guys years to do this.

6. Genex Ally Birdman, Evigishki Mind Augus, Dewloren, Tiger King of the Ice Barrier, Constellar Ptolemy M7. (4)

These all appear to be hits to either OTK/FTK or loop-based strategies. Say it with me... GOOD RIDDANCE!

That about does it for me guys. Although I didn't cover every single change, I think this is a pretty good summary of the overarching themes in this list. In the future, I might cover the decisions that are still leftover. Before I go though, isn't it funny how they killed Earth and Striker when they wanted people to stop using Synchros, and now that Synchros are "back" they let up on them both in the same list? They're not even trying to hide it anymore, lol. Well, thanks for reading, leave a comment, and I'll see you all again soon.