How do you define a balanced card?

Here's something worth talking about. The concept of whether or not a card is 'brokensauce' is one of the most subjective topics the game has to offer. Sometimes a card is considered too good by a player when they repeatedly lose to it, which is 100% driven by a sense of 'butthurt'. That is, feeling the need to get personal closure by attacking a certain card in particular, rather than looking at it and understanding what it is about it that makes it so difficult.

Now, while there are very powerful cards in the game, the majority of the cards released in booster sets are outright unplayable. They offer no real benefit and if you manage to find the situation to use it, the payoff is not worth it.

But what this article is about is the middle cards. The very narrow sweet spot that very few cards can actually fill. These are the Balanced cards.

Personally, I define a balanced card as:

"A card that gives an advantage proportionate to the amount of effort and resources used to use it at a competitive level"

In Layman's terms, if it does too much in one card, it's not balanced. Lets take a look at a few examples:

1. The Gadgets

The Gadget trio are a fantastic example of being balanced and playable. Their best ability is to be able to replace themselves when they are destroyed. Im terms of card advantage, It's not balanced since you replace the card in your hand and you have the gadget on your field, meaning a +1 overall. However the gadget you have summoned on the field is incredibly fragile and protecting it is essential for it to survive to your next turn. Simply put, if you want to keep your initial +1 that you got from the card, you have to work for it beyond the actual summon itself. There are other factors that make it balanced, like having to commit 6+ cards in your deck to effectively use them.

2. The Monarchs

All the monarchs can be considered balanced due to their inherent issue of having to be tribute summoned. This means that in a normal deck, you are gambling your field presence by upgrading to a bigger monster, in an attempt to knock a card(s) off your opponent's field. Of course, these days they are not at the highest competitive level simply because of inconsistencies and their inherent inability to keep up with the decks that are not balanced. But aside from that, it's a great example of gaining a nice advantage by using a proportionate level of available resources.



3. Maxx "C"

In my opinion this card is balanced but yours may differ. I believe it is so mainly because of it's main problem of needing to rely on the opponent. But what it does which many other cards cannot do, is turn your opponent's broken tier 1 competitive powerhouse into a level playing field, where skill starts to come into the game again. Unless your opponent is a terrible player who got his/her tier 1 deck paid for by their parents, they will know to stop their summons after you drop Maxx "C". That is the exact reason why it's becoming more and more of a staple. You are discarding a card when your opponent would special summon (the condition and situation needed to effectively use it), and you draw when they resolve their effect (The advantage gained, which at this point is none).


There are many other cards that we all know that follow the criteria of what is balanced. All you really need to do to know whether or not a card is balanced is by asking yourself the definition i stated above. For example, Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning is Unbalanced due to it being incredibly easy to summon, and has 2 very powerful effect that give the player advantage without any prior thought process.

The great thing about that definition is that no matter how the game changes in the future, it can always be applied to new cards to decide whether or not whining about the card is actually justified.

Comment down below what you reckon is the most balanced card in the game. I have a few but I can't choose.

The TCG Lover out!

Why Rabbit at 2 Hurts the deck HARD.

Hey guys. More Consistency with posts from now on, I promise. I keep taking gaps away from making stuff. Mainly due to commitments and other unavoidable things that just randomly crop up.

Anyway today is about the Banlist. More so, about Rescue Rabbit being put to 2. It's regarded as the core of the deck. Of course you can win without drawing a single rabbit the entire game, but it's an uphill struggle. The deck revolves around it being used and making a walking solemn or walking free divine wrath is too good to pass up. However at 2, it's consistency is hit harder than people realise.

At 3, the chances of drawing Rescue Rabbit in your opening hand of 6 cards is 39%. That means 39% of the time, you're opponent will need to have Effect Veiler in their hand or be going first and have an out to it set on their field. At 2, the chances of opening with Rabbit drop to just over 20%. That now means that 1 of 5 games you will be able to "Summon Laggia, set 3". Because of that, you might not even see Rabbit first turn AT ALL for an entire 3 game match. That's a lot of dino grinding against an opponent who isn't going to be relying on a 20% chance for their deck to function properly.

But the main reason why Rabbit at 2 hurts the deck is not because the chance of drawing it. It's because the deck has to play 6 Dinosaurs. If you bring the Ratios down to their simplest denominator, for every ONE Rescue Rabbit drawn, you will be just as likely to draw 3 Dinosaurs.

You may be thinking "Oh that's fine, I still have 3 Dinosaurs in my deck!". Well that might be true, but if you hadn't realised, Rabbit only works if you have 2 Dinosaurs with the same name in your deck. If you have 3 in your hand, 2 of those will have the SAME NAME.

What that means is that on top of the already annoying feat of getting a Rescue Rabbit in your hand, to be able to summon more than one Evolzar from a Rescue Rabbit, you need to have Rabbit as well as Tour Guide (which is at 2 now, too) in your hand just because you got a good opening hand. With Rabbit being 20% chance and Tour Guide being 20% too, you're bringing the chances of drawing like a champ at a measly 10%.

Beforehand, the chances were about 30%. So almost at least once in a 3 game match, you would be able to herp derp Laggia + Leviair + 2 Sabersaurus (2400 + 1800 + 3800 = 8000 damage exactly). Now, it's just not going to happen.

So yeah, I hope that's cleared up any hopes and dreams you had of your deck still being any good. Enjoy your hand of vanillas!

TheTCGLover Out!

Where did my third Tour Guide go?

Before I start, I want to say that I posted the new Forbidden and Limited list on the Navigation bar at the top of my blog. Might be worth checking it out if you haven't already.

So yeah, one of the many decent hits on the new list is Tour Guide from the Underworld to 2. But for some reason, instead of actually approaching the situation with thought, people have been trying to deal with the loss as a need to replace it. Of course, In decks you will now have 39 cards, but by no means should that new 40th card be something that works with Tour Guide. 

So apart from Sangan, which is still part of the team, what other cards can replace that 4th Tour Guide? The main ones are Cloudian - Acid Cloud, Night Assailant and the preferred choice, Tour Bus from the Underworld.

But the fact is, if you run 2 of a card that can get another card from your deck and 2 of those cards that needs to be ripped out of the deck, you're just as likely to draw a card you don't want. It's a 50/50 chance and that's not how it should be.

Tour Bus is the only acceptable option since once you have sent it to the graveyard, you can shuffle a Tour Guide back into the deck and be able to use it again, but I really wouldn't want to draw a 1000 attack vanilla  (essentially). 

The answer to the problem is to leave that 4th card. There is no need to replace it and having 2 Tour Guide + a Sangan means that you are going to draw Tour Guide before Sangan more often than not. AND if you draw that Sangan first, you can just search a Tour Guide and that can get the other one, leaving no dead cards in your deck.

So yeah, there is not much to say apart from that. Tour Guide and Sangan will never be as consistent as it was before, but adding anything else into the mix is just going to make it worse. Now if Sangan was banned, I would probably throw away the whole engine entirely. I love making Rank 3s just as much as the next guy, but without any search power from the engine, how is it going to help my main win condition?

Until next time, The TCG Lover out!

March 2012 Banlist Discussion Part 3: The Semi-Limited List

Now for the longest discussion out of the four parts. Only one card was taken off the list this time around so that makes my life easier. But I would have like to have seen more cards come off the list purely because Emergency Teleport and other cards are not worth bothering about anymore. Konami is just trying to play safe and it stifles our creativity because of that.

Now, for the discussion. A total of 8 cards have come onto the Semi-limited list. A few surprises but overall they make me shrug. We all know what Semi-Limits would have really helped this format run smoother, but talking about them will just make this a rant rather than a discussion.





Marshmallon
In all honesty, this card was limited so long ago that it's place was not justified anymore. Even at 2, it's not really that hard to break through. Sitting behind this can be a really nice wall against dino rabbits, but spirit reaper's ability to rip cards from your opponent's hand makes it the overall better choice. The burn damage is actually very respectable and at 2 gives it a tiny boost to an already trollish deck called chain burn. Setting this and then setting 5 chainable traps is just painful. But in terms of general play, it's not that great and should be at 3. I mean, when was the last time you attacked into a Marshmallon?

Exactly.







Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner
Now this is a semi-limit I agree with. Konami was nice to look at an old archetype and give it a little more consistency. They are slowly bringing cards back for the deck and while this card was always good, sadly it's still not enough.

As much as I love playing the deck, the overall archetype lacks the kind of power that can contend with the decks currently destroying the game right now. Call me crazy but if Konami actually brought Lumina off the list, and brought Charge of the Light Brigade back to 3, the deck might stand a chance. However, with Charge at 3, it becomes splashable as a mill engine for decks like Infernity, so it will never go up from limited and the deck will never be as powerful for as long as the game exists.

It's depressing in it's own way. All I can suggest is to avoid Lightsworns for the rest of your dueling days. Don't see this card going up on the list as a big boost and hoarding Lightsworn cards will only leave you will a stack that you won't be able to trade off for a very long time. At least the Ultra Rare version of the card is awesome.

 

Reborn Tengu
What's this? A TCG Exclusive getting hit before the OCG get their hands on it? Unspeakable!

But yes, it happened. Tengu is a stupid card. It replaces itself and combined with librarian allowed you to draw cards while filling the field with loads of synchros. It can also be used in Monarchs as tribute fodder. It really is a great card.

However, the banlist hit it a little too late in my opinion. This format is promoting Xyz and it's "Play them or lose" mentality has brushed tengu aside. In case you do not know, it does not get it's effect when it's detached as an xyz material, therefore making it incompatible with xyz monsters and making it a good card to steal off your opponent to xyz with. All of those points combined makes putting it to 2 a bit pointless. All it does is blatantly promote xyz and puts Konami in a worser light than they already are, wouldn't you agree?








Emergency Teleport
Not much to say about this one. It was brought down to 1 to slow down Tele-DAD during it's reign. It's pivotal place in the deck's success is why it was called Tele-DAD. It can bring out a level 3 or lower psychic from your hand or deck (Prefably the latter). It was used to combine with Destiny HERO Malicious to synchro into level 8s, which back then was broken if you could do it with no disadvantage to your hand size.

The deck is dead, psychics are not really played aside from the ones that came out in Extreme Victory and it promotes xyz by being able to make rank 2s and 3s. All valid reasons to come back.








Shien's Smoke Signal
It was brought down to 1 in September 2011, which almost knocked the Legendary Six Samurai completely off the radar. They managed to take 1st place in YCS Mexico a couple of months ago so it was still capable of good things even with this card at 1.

But in OCGland the deck was not being played at all. Most banlist decisions are made by the OCGs meta, which explains why T.G. Agents were hit so badly.

Anyway, with it at 2, the deck's a little more consistent than last format but with only 1 Shien to synchro into, the deck still gets itself into problems when it hits the graveyard.







Level Limit Area B
I don't really know why this card was on the list in the first place. It somewhat promotes Xyz due to having Ranks which means they are unaffected by this card. It was not being played AT ALL for the last few years and should have come off the list a LONG time ago.

There is really not much else to say. It could go to 90 for all I care.











Torrential Tribute
Well this is a surprise. Most players are going to replace the Trap Dustshoot they lost for a second copy of this. It's ability to wipe the field upon summon allows it to be used offensively and defensively, which makes it a versatile card. You can just sit back and wait for your opponent to fill their field before activating it, making it capable of producing immense amounts of advantage. And now it's at 2?

I think this might be my favourite change to the banlist. I honestly feel that this card being at 2 is a good thing. It forces Solemn judgments and is usually more effective than bottomless at the moment.

Cool call Konami. Good call indeed.







Ultimate Offering
With Rank 4s getting better now, it's about time that Gadget offering was brought under control before they become a big problem. Cards like Daigusto Emeral and Shock Ruler allowed you to recycle and shut down a card type respectively, while only costing you 1 card.

But really, putting this card at 2 is not really good enough. The deck is still viable since all you have to do is get offering into your hand and there is so many ways to do it. The only way to truly kill the deck off is to ban this card, which probably wont happen.










Phew, that's the largest part discussed. There is a trend in the cards that have been hit this time around and it's quite clear what that trend is.

Just for the people who still can't see it: they are all pointless hits.

Heavy Storm and 3 MST

I'd like to do a short discussion on one of the biggest things to hit Yugioh in a long time. That is the inclusion of Heavy storm and 3 Mystical space typhoons.

This has caused a large contrast to this format, which has been known for being really heavy on backrow. You could essentially summon a monster and set 4-5 trap cards. That in itself creates a very steep uphill climb for the person going second. Because of that, this format has been called a "dice roll format" by many.

If you have watched the best decks this format, they all have their own way with dealing with backrow efficiently. Six samurai have shi en, Tengu plants can pick away at your opponent's backrow with stuff like Tengu and Ryko, and T.G. monsters can replace themselves in the end phase, plus they run Tengu too.

It meant cards like Horn of the Phantom beast suddenly become popular. It shot from a 25 cents card to a 3-5 dollar game changer. Cards such as that thrive in formats like this, where it gets you deeper into your deck and +2s (Provided you activated it at damage calculation).

But Konami, Specifically Kevin tewart, Decided to flip the table on what was beginning to become a normal routine and travel to the other side of the spectrum. He decided to unlimit heavy storm, and take MST off the banlist.

Now im a heavy storm fan myself. I think that with cards such as Starlight road around, it requires a little bit less "Herpa derp" than its brother Giant trunade. By that i mean, if you do use it and run into a starlight road, then you have dug yourself a pretty deep grave. Players complained that when heavy storm does successfully go off, it puts you in a really nice position to overextend and your opponent cannot just reset the traps from his hand.

As mentioned above, Starlight road is going to play a big part in decks this format. With Dark hole and heavy storm in every deck, this card has a lot of leverage to be able to fit in most decks, regardless of the playstyle. Gravekeepers may be able to stay afloat this format, provided they run 2-3 of them to protect their field spell.

However, Konami also decided to unlimit MST. This move is in my opinion, one of the worst decisions that konami has done in a long time. With mst at 3, traps are almost pointless. You will be unable to set anything and get its effect (unless its chainable) and Starlight road will have trouble keeping on the field to get you your free dragon.

But the main problem is that having MST at 3 means that so many decks (Think about diversity) become obselete. Gadgets rely on their backrow, as well as T.Gs and Gravekeepers. It means the game will become faster than it was already, and the only way to survive this format is to stay on the offensive constantly. This normally means overextending and trying to overpower your opponent as quick as possible. This also means that the best decks of next format are going to be the decks that can produce the most amount of power and advantage in the quickest time possible.

Now in context of myself, i plan on playing Lightsworns this format (see the video i posted a couple of days ago). With MST at 3 and Judgment dragon at 3, this deck can be incredibly fast simply because there is almost no resistance.

But with this change, many cards suddenly become a lot more playable. Battle fader might play a really big part this format since it will rarely get warning'd anymore and it can stop a huge push, allowing you to push over their push and win the game. Effect veiler suddenly becomes a lot more interesting now (it was already, but theres even more reason to run it now). I can see it being ran in 3s in some decks.

In conclusion, i feel that Konami went just a little overboard on backrow removal on the banlist. If they kept MST at 2, then it would have been fine.

Lightsworns (Sept. 2011) V1.0

Comment on what i should change in the deck:

Deck - 42 (Want to get it down to 40-41)

Monsters - 23

3x Judgment Dragon

1x Lumina

1x Garoth

1x Jain

2x Lyla

2x Wulf

2x Ryko

2x Celestia

1x Ehren

1x Aurkus

1x Honest

1x Card Trooper

1x Gorz

1x Effect Veiler

1x Necro Gardna

1x Plaguespreader Zombie

1x Glow-up Bulb

Spells -14

3x Solar Recharge

1x Charge of the light brigade

1x Heavy Storm

1x Dark hole

1x Monster reborn

2x Mystical space typhoon

1x Monster Reincarnation

1x Book of moon

1x Foolish burial

1x Gold sarcophagus

1x Pot of avarice

Traps - 5

2x Beckoning light

1x Royal Decree (Might take it out for a 3rd Beckoning, or anything else)

1x Solemn judgment

1x Mirror force

The NEW Official September 2011 OCG Ban list

When i say OCG, i mean that there's still a chance Reborn Tengu could get hit.

Here it is! (Source http://shriek.twoday.net/)

Forbidden Cards 「禁止カード」:

Fishborg Blaster「フィッシュボーグ－ガンナー」
Mind Master「メンタルマスター」
Giant Trunade「ハリケーン」
Royal Oppression「王宮の弾圧」

Restriction Cards 「制限カード」:

Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning「カオス・ソルジャー －開闢の使者－」
Debris Dragon「デブリ・ドラゴン」
Lonefire Blossom「ローンファイア・ブロッサム」
Legendary Six Samurai - Shi En「真六武衆－シエン」
Tech Genus Hyper Librarian「ＴＧ　ハイパー・ライブラリアン」
Formula Synchron 「フォーミュラ・シンクロン」
Heavy Storm 「大嵐」
Primal Seed「原初の種」
Shien's Smoke Signal「紫炎の狼煙」
Pot of Avarice「貪欲な壺」

Semi-Restriction Cards 「準制限カード」:

Summoner Monk「召喚僧サモンプリースト」
Tragoedia「トラゴエディア」
Necro Gardna「ネクロ・ガードナー」
Dewloren, Tiger King of the Ice Barrier「氷結界の虎王ドゥローレン」
Destiny Draw「デステニー・ドロー」
Swords of Revealing Light「光の護封剣」
Mind Crush「マインドクラッシュ」
Call of the Haunted「リビングデッドの呼び声」

No longer restricted 「準制限」:

Judgment Dragon「裁きの龍」
Spirit Reaper「魂を削る死霊」
Overload Fusion「オーバーロード・フュージョン」
Mystical Space Typhoon「サイクロン」
Megamorph「巨大化」
Gravity Bind「グラヴィティ・バインド－超重力の網－」
Icarus Attack「ゴッドバードアタック」

The 2011 March ban list: Unlimited discussion

The last part of the banlist left to discuss is the unlimited list. That is, all the cards that were somewhere on the banlist before, but are now playable at 3.

Unlimited:
Chaos Sorcerer
Demise, King of Armageddon
Snipe Hunter
Dewloren, Tiger King of the Ice Barrier
Gold Sarcophagus
Skill Drain
Ultimate Offering

Chaos sorcerer has been all over the banlist in its time. It's been a while since its been at 3 however. Players have come to the conclusion that its only decent when its at 3, because being able to summon multiple at once can really mess your opponent up. Twilight decks really benefit from this. This is one of those cards that really is a hit and miss in decks. Sometimes its a dead draw from hell, and sometimes its your salvation.

Demise, King of Armageddon , like Chaos Sorcerer has been up and down the banlist. Its got a cruel effect, with the cost being more than JDs but the card itself is more balanced. Players stopped playing demise decks because of its semi-limit, and now that its back to where it belongs, it might see some serious play.

Snipe Hunter, Unlimited from 1, has only been seeing play in Fabled decks, with its ability to 1-for-1 most of the time, as well as discard. Unfortunately, around a third of the time, its a -1, which really can hurt if you keep rolling a 1 or a 6. There is no real reason to have it at 1, so its fine where its going.

Dewloren, Tiger King of the Ice Barrier has not been in the TCG for very long. To my recollection, it had a loop when two of them were on the field, or something like that. Im guessing that loop is not as great as it used to be, so back to 3 it goes.

Gold Sarcophagus is no big deal at 3. Nobody would play 3 except for maybe Exodia decks or Coelacanth decks. But thats a select few. Everyone has got about 10 of them when they were released in the Duelist revolution special edition.

Skill Drain will make a big impact once we get the Malefic archetype. They can stay on the field without a field spell with Skill drain on the field, and you can have multiple malefic monsters on the field at once, just like Paradox from the Movie. It is a powerful card that will make the deck its used in tier 1-2. And everyone will agree that Deck Diversity is crucial to a fun game for all.

Ultimate Offering, is not being used by anyone in our metagame. Its a decent tech in gadgets. With the Exceed monsters coming to the TCG in August, You can Summon all 6 gadgets and Exceed summon 3 Rank 4 Exceed monsters. Thats pretty good. But for the first part of this format, its harmless at 3.


Well that's it from me. Make sure to check out my youtube channel.

Now, back to Card Reviews!

The 2011 March ban list: Semi-Limited discussion

Hey. To show some actual continuity on this blog, the next set of cards on the banlist to discuss are the newly semi limited ones. They are:

Archlord Kristya

Card Trooper

Debris Dragon

Spirit reaper

Megamorph

Overload fusion

Royal Tribute

Icarus attack

Solemn warning

Archlord Kristya has been at 3 since its release, but thats not to say its a powerful card. With a high attack power, a rather easy summoning condition with added hand advantage, an increasingly useful continuous effect while on the field AND the ability to recycle itself back to the top of your deck, its got something for everyone. It limited its playability with it only being usable in a fairy deck, or a deck that splashes many fairies (Which does not really exist, except for maybe Perfect Herald decks). But to me, many players that played fairy decks played Kristya at 2 anyway, so semi limiting it really does not hurt it whatsoever.

Card trooper is the big one for me personally. As I've reviewed before, it has a built in milling ability that pumps its attack into a beatstick and replaces its self if it gets destroyed. Its a brilliant card and now that its at two, it can be used to replace the lost Dandylion in Plant synchro decks. There was no need to put it at 1 when you cannot perform the Card trooper OTK with 2 of them anyway. Expect to see this card become a semi-staple in this upcoming format with it being able to get under bottomless and +1 you if it runs into a mirror force.

Debris Dragon has been brought down to 2 from unlimited. It is abused too much in plant decks with dandylion. But has putting it to 2 really made a difference? The only difference i can see is consistency issues, but thats about it.

Spirit reaper has been at 1 for a long time. I do not know the exact banlist that it was limited though. Its a powerful card that provides a nice wall to protect you if a combo went wrong or you need to stall for something like Final countdown. In my opinion, i had enough trouble dealing with one, but maybe two is a little too annoying for my taste.

Megamorph , Like spirit reaper, has been limited for quite a while. Nobody plays equip spells anymore, and this card is not very special. Sure, it doubles your monster's attack power when you're losing, but people do not build their decks to win when they're losing.

Overload fusion is usually combined with Future fusion to make a mean OTK. you use future fusion to send Cyber Dragon (which is at 3 now) along with many machine types from your deck to the graveyard for Chimeratech Overdragon. Then you use Overload fusion to remove all the machine types from your graveyard to summon that Overdragon. You now have a huge beatstick that tends to mean OTK. With Overload fusion at 1 and Future fusion at 1 too, the deck was incredibly inconsistent. But with this card at 2, the deck might shine again.

Royal Tribute at 2 is not really a big deal. Gravekeepers players can still get this card into their hand with Pot of Duality or Gold Sarcophagus. Putting it to 1 or banning it entirely would have been much better.

Icarus attack is Konami's attempt to damage blackwings alongside limiting Blackwing - Kalut the moon shadow. While blackwings get top 32 in the tournaments in america/europe, they are a tier one deck in the OCG, which explains why blackwings have been hit hard this banlist. It is also an amazing card which can blow up any 2 cards you choose, so it was always a gorgeous 2-for-2 card.

Lastly, Solemn Warning is a powerful card which in my observation of decklists and duels, were played at 2. That's not to say that they were never played in 3s, but hitting it to 2 is not that painful. The idea of paying up to 6000 life points seems absurd, but it was used at 3 for consistency because once you drew it, you had the opportunity to stop a deadly play right in its tracks.

Next up, the UNLIMITED LIST!

The 2011 March ban list: Limited discussion

It's time to discuss the next part of the banlist; the limited list.

Limited:
Honest
Dandylion
Blackwing - Kalut the Moon Shadow
Book of Moon
Gateway of the Six

Honest has been limited from 2. It seems that with honest at 1 and Kalut the moon shadow at 1 too, konami is trying to aim for a format that emphasizes attack points. With Honest, one could attack with a ryko, knowing that it could get over any monster. While light is not the most supported attribute, it is an amazing support card that could be reused with Monster reborn and Beckoning light. But now that honest is a one man band, if you draw it, you better use it when you need to.

Dandylion was semi-limited back in march 2010. A professional duelist called Jeff Jones saw the synergy that Dandylion had with Debris dragon and Quickdraw Synchron as well as Drill warrior. With that, and a few other powerful cards, he created a tournament winning deck called Quickdraw dandywarrior. One year later, and that deck is dead, but Plant synchro took its place, which abuses dandylion to a much further extent (Mat Collins won YCS Milan with Plant synchro in November). With Debris dragon being so abusable with Dandylion, with the main combo is to summon Black rose dragon and get two tokens, it was limited to one. Konami tried to compromise this change by Semi-limiting Card trooper, which i will talk about when i write the Semi-Limited discussion

Blackwing - Kalut the moon shadow is in the same boat as Honest. It provided any blackwing monster with the attack power it needed to get over any monster. Your opponent uses his resources to summon a big monster with a beefy attack power. But with Kalut at 3, there was no need to worry about being attacked. It could be combined with shura the blue flame to ensure that you always get it's effect to special summon.

Book of moon was the big limit of the banlist. It has been at 3 this format and some people considored it a staple at 3. With its unmatched versatility (Stop attacks, flip a tuner face down to stop a synchro summon, flip your monster down to get past bottomless, flip your ryko face down when its attacked to get its effect again ETC), It is one of the best -1 cards in the game. I feel that the game is better with Book of moon at 1. However, there is now a bigger emphasis on trap stun and royal decree now that most of the backrow cards will be traps. You could run Enemy controller to replace book of moon, but it just does not compare in terms on versatility. Make sure you're running your backrow hate next format!

Lastly there is Gateway of the six. The Legendary Six Samurai have been in the OCG for almost a whole format, so the Six samurai have had enough time to prove their position as a tier one deck. But the reason why it is such a good deck is because of the broken combos when combined with Gateway of the six. With 2 Gateways on the field, you could summon one six samurai and have enough counters to search for a monster. Repeat this and you suddenly have a field full of monsters. That is why Gateway is fine at 1. The deck is still functional and Shi en is still as powerful of a card. I'm glad i traded my Gateway when it was still $30.

So thats my quick take for the Limited list. I'll post my semi-limited verdict soon!

The 2011 March ban list: Forbidden discussion

For today's post, i would like to discuss what konami has decided to ban this format. With 5D's almost over and the new Exceed monsters coming out in the TCG in August, this is the last 5D's format *cries*.

In terms of the banlist, Konami have decided to Ban (put to 0) Goyo guardian, Cold wave and Mass driver. I want to discuss each choice individually.

Goyo guardian has been with us since august 2008. It's been around since the beginning of the 5D's era alongside Stardust dragon and Red dragon archfiend. It's always been close to bannable but konami left it at 1 to stop it being abused. Its amazing attack, not too shabby defence, and an effect that steals your opponent's monsters when it destroys them, makes it a powerhouse that takes its own prisoners. It also had no specific tuner or non-tuner requirement, which made it easy to summon whenever you wanted, to turn the tide of the duel. However, now that konami have banned it this march, players will have to resort to the other level 6's, mainly brionac, dragon of the ice barrier. But one of goyo's biggest bonuses was it's ability to take an opponent's stardust from them, so you can use it's effect yourself, or any monsters effect. Another option is Gaia Knight, the force of earth, with 2600 attack. It may not pack as much punch, but its generic, it gets over stardust, and its a warrior type.

Cold wave, for the last couple of formats, has risen in play with players suddenly realising how much of an impact monster effect have in yu-gi-oh, plus heavy storm being banned in september last year. Players needed another way of dealing with backrows other than giant trunade. It's ability to shut down spells and traps makes it an OTK tool. With Six samurai being able to churn out a Shi en, or Lightsworns being able to drop a Judgment dragon and blow up the field, or XX-Sabers able to summon XX-Saber Hyunlei, all the meta decks had a use for this card, and it was about time it left us for good. However, with it gone, the only decent backrow removal cards are Mystical space typhoon and giant trunade. It just is not enough removal to deal with your opponent's spells and traps, and people are fearing that march-august is going to be a "Set 5 facedowns and end my turn" format.

Mass driver when the shining darkness was released, was used in conjunction with Ronintoadin and Substitoad. Substitoad was used to fill the grave with frogs, and ronintoadin removed those frogs to special summon itself. Mass driver meant you could special summon ronintoadin, tribute it for mass driver and deal 400 damage, and repeat it 20 times for a total of 8000 damage. Konami decided to ban substitoad to deal with this First turn kill, but in my opinion, mass driver being banned would have killed the FTK and prevent new FTKs from arising in the future, thus allowing a more diverse card pool in the future without the worry that an exploitable loop would be found. Now that mass driver is banned, substitoad should come back to 1.


To be honest, goyo should have been left at 1. It was fine there, and im sure you agree with me on that. If anything, brionac is more devastating to the game and to the exceed monsters in the future.

The 2011 March ban list (Unconfirmed)

Here it is:

Forbidden:
Goyo Guardian
Cold Wave
Mass Driver

Limited:
Honest
Dandylion
Blackwing - Kalut the Moon Shadow
Book of Moon
Gateway of the Six

Semi-Limited
Card Trooper
Archlord Kristya
Spirit Reaper
Debris Dragon
Royal Tribute
Overload Fusion
Megamorph
Solemn Warning
Icarus Attack

Unlimited:
Chaos Sorcerer
Demise, King of Armageddon
Snipe Hunter
Dewloren, Tiger King of the Ice Barrier
Gold Sarcophagus
Skill Drain
Ultimate Offering


A very strange banlist indeed. But it is still unconfirmed, so we might see a change when the real one comes out next week.