Fake List?

Here's the best fake September 2012 Banlist I've seen so far. It's actually still being debated whether or not it's fake.

Images:
http://webpaper.co/img/34727.jpg
http://webpaper.co/img/34711.jpg
http://webpaper.co/img/34728.jpg

EDIT: Here's another Image from the same website that was uploaded this morning. A bit clearer but the Semi-Limited cards look a little squashed. It's probably fake but it's intriguing to see that clearer pictures are coming through now.

http://webpaper.co/img/34876.jpg

Forbidden

Brionac, Dragon of The Ice Boundary.
Dark Armed Dragon.
Card Destruction.
Mind Control.
Sangan.
Wind-up Hunter.
Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the beginning.
E- Hero Electrum.
Monster Reborn.

Limited

Rescue Rabbit.
Dark Magician of Chaos.
Super Polymerization.
Inzektor Centipede.
Witch of the Black Forest.
Ultimate Offering.
Solemn Warning.

Semi-Limited

One For One.
E- Emergency Call.
Legendary Six Samurai - Shi-En.
Gladiator Beast Bestiary.

Unlimited

Necro Gardna.
Primal Seed.
Formula Synchron.



If this list is actually real, then a lot of my predictions came true!

TheTCGLover out!

September 2012 Forbidden & Limited List Predictions

Hello readers. I apologize for my lack of content recently but I promise I have a lot to talk about.

Anyway today's post is my idea of a realistic but good banlist that could be implemented in the near future. A banlist should address the main problem cards. For a card to be worthy of going on the list, it needs to be potent. Of course, if a card is archetype specific, then it will normally be more powerful than a splashable card (Compare Tour Guide to Wind-Up Hunter). Konami knows this and designs archetypes in a way that if the right card is hit, the entire deck becomes crippled, therefore allowing new archetypes to come in and have their own reign of terror.

Here is the list. I decided to use pictures because it's more fun to look at. Under the list are reasons for each choice.

Forbidden

Limited 

Semi Limited

Unlimited

Forbidden


Monster Reborn - Lets face it, this card is and has always been overpowered. It's not fun dismantling your opponent using skill and they topdeck this card. Its usable in every deck and therefore your deck will always be Monster Reborn + 39 cards (apart from Gravekeeper's, but there's nothing really wrong with playing it in that either). When used in conjunction with other standalone advantage cards it becomes ridiculous. If you reborn Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon, it lets you get Lightpulsar and that's 5300 damage from one card, and for your opponent who might have 3-4 cards on their side, they can't dismantle that combo without wasting all of their cards. That might be a Problem to do with Chaos Dragons rather than reborn, but if you take it out of the equation, then the performance of that deck as well as every other deck decreases significantly. That's the first step to diversity and ultimately fun.


Future Fusion - It's time for it to go. Whenever it's being used in a deck it's either to be abused repeatedly or to summon something too powerful. Five Headed Dragon is only being used in chaos dragons so that Future Fusion (FuFu) can dump their Eclipse Wyverns and Red-Eyes to be brought back with the Lightpulsar in their hand. However if Konami wants to specifically target Chaos Dragons, then they could hit Five Headed Dragon instead. But it's not just that deck that it's being abused in. I've recently taken a liking to Alive Heroes and their ability to send a Hero and Zephyros for Escuridaó and then bounce FuFu back to summon the Zephyros is Retarded. However it could be argued that the best fusion monsters couldn't possibly be summoned without this card (Unless you want to -3 your hand) so for casual players it fuels their imagination and keeps them interested in the game. My biased opinion wants it to stick around but the competitive playerbase wants this card gone.


Wind-Up Hunter - Without the Wind-Up hand loop, the deck becomes a xyz spam deck, which is very competitive if you look at Hieratics which can do it too (Photon Bounzer is pretty good when timed right). The deck wouldn't even need to make any changes either, it was just more potent being able to completely destroy your opponent's hand on the first turn rather than put 3-4 xyz monsters on the field. The effectiveness between both strategies is minimal, but one of them is going to lose you friends.


Mind Control - It's been around for a while now and with Synchro/Xyz monsters around, it's only to be abused now. While it is a combo card, at the very least you can just take their monster and attack with your other monsters for game. In a mirror match it makes for some lolzy plays, but that becomes a luck of the draw rather than skill.


Limited 

Inzektor Centipede - A bad player would say that Hornet is the problem since the other cards depend on it. A decent player would say that Dragonfly is the problem since it gives free plusses. However, without Centipede, the dreaded loop can only be executed once and without Centipede in multiples, the Zektkalibur OTK and dragonfly's overall usefulness drops. I personally wouldn't bother hitting the deck, but Konami is going to hit them because of how good they are in the OCG.


Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon - To be fair, if Future Fusion does go, this can be let off the hook. It's a very powerful card and it's effect means any deck that can utilise it will instantly become 2 tiers better than without it. If REDMD didn't exist, chaos dragons would be a terrible deck due to the loop being impossible. Having it at 1 means it can still be dropped and win games, but once you bottomless it, you can be happy knowing you're not going to get sacked, yet still allow other dragon decks (Disaster, Hopeless) to use it.


Solemn Warning - I personally feel that this card's power is incredible. What it does, it does very well. If your opponent's deck is slow and relies on a normal summon to be of any use, then this deck becomes something more than the level of power it should be. It's ability to shut down your opponent's summoning capabilities makes it almost impossible to make a comeback if they are on the losing end. If you swarm the field and then set this after doing 6000~ damage, then your opponent will just be annoyed. Laggia does not need to waste it's effect on a summon if you have warning set, which makes the whole matchup so much more annoying. Having it at 1 means you will only see it once and mean you will have to save it for the right moment rather than just hitting anything that might pose some threat.


Semi-Limited


T.G. Striker - Why is this card on the list? Oh that's right, it was a target for Konami's "Lets ungracefully push Xyz monsters by destroying synchros" campaign in March. It was used in T.G. Agents which was quite good in the OCG but why they hit the deck so hard is just for reasons I don't like to talk about. Because everytime I do, It makes me want to punch Kevin Tewart (The head of the Campaign) in the face.


The Agent of Mystery - Earth - Same reason as Striker. It was helping the deck and gives it tonnes of search power. The card is so much better at 2 than 1. Being able to search Venus more consistently is irrelevant. The fact that it's another agent in the deck that helps the cause and allows it to be banished for hyperion is what makes it's place on the list important. I have an Agent deck prepared for when this card comes back (If it does).


Rescue Rabbit - This card is really good. It's just a shame that Konami decided to make Laggia and Dolkka Type Specific rather than Archetype due to their effects being absolutely ridiculous. Being able to utilise an archetype's xyz monster better than the archetype itself is retarded and shouldn't exist. I remember when people were splashing Elder of the Six Samurai in a T.G. Stun deck to be able to make Shi en. While I don't like that, at least it needed a samurai. In this case, the two decks (Dino Rabbit and Evols) bear no relation to eachother in terms of their playstyle. Putting it at 2 hurts the deck's consistency and you will be more likely to not open with one. Players would be forced to run more Dualities which will slow the deck down to a snail's pace.


Tour Guide from the Underworld - I don't really think it's a good idea to say anything about this one. I will only say one thing though: If this stays at 3, then Sangan must get banned. If this goes to 2, then Sangan can stay.


Mystical Space Typhoon - In March 2010 we had one of the best formats in the entire game. The 3 months at the beginning of it were incredibly diverse and that was due to there being a fair amount of backrow removal. That was the format that proved that having Storm at 1 and MST at 2 was the best way to go. Sure the decks that existed in that format are not played anymore, but it was not about the decks rather than the fact you could run a fair amount of traps and games would be FUN. And this is all before Night Beam was released.


Unlimited


Spore - Another quarantine done due to the same Campaign that killed of Agent - Earth and T.G. Striker. It was really good in plants when they were big but by the end of the September 2011 format, Dino Rabbits, Wind-Ups and Inzektors proved to be better. Konami Intervened way too late and it was an uncalled hit. Spore's effect is once per duel so it's either banned or at 3. I chose this over glow-up bulb due to spore being able to reach the higher levels and allow for high rank xyz summons.


Reborn Tengu - Same reason as spore. It's a really good card but it was hit way too late. By the end of the September 2011 format Xyz was the way to go and Tengu doesn't get it's effect when it's detached. If it's brought back to 3 now, decks would play it but it would go against their win condition and will just make the deck clunky and slow.


Summoner Monk - You activate this card and pay the cost of discarding a spell card. I discard Effect Veiler negating Summoner Monk's effect. You don't get your spell card back and it's a 1600 sitting duck just waiting to be destroyed. It's also a spellcaster which helps push the Prophecy in REDU.


Thanks for reading. Comment if you have any opinions about my choices!

TheTCGLover Out!

March 2012 Banlist Discussion Part 2: The Limited List

Now it's time for the Limited list. With the list almost in effect, I wanted to finish this segment before then so it's still worth talking about.

If you have not seen Part 1: Click here  (Right click and then new tab. Why this does not already happen when you right click makes no sense.)

So lets begin.

Tech Genus Striker
Okay. So right before the list, YCS Atlanta happened and T.Gs managed to win it. Of course, nobody had any sides to directly counter them and they are overall a good deck to play. High in Traps, they are able to whittle down your opponent and gain advantage. It seems like a pretty good deck and it's a shame that Benedikt Junk, the best player at YCS Leipzig who was playing T.Gs, did not make the final cut.

But why did Striker get hit?

In the OCG, as evidenced by the banlist, T.G Agents are rampant in the meta. This is because they do not have access to cards which make our meta decks work. For dino rabbits as an example: you need Tour guide to make Leviair and make another Evolzar. Without that combo, you will not be able to play the deck. That is why Konami had to look at T.G Agents and pick cards from it which were most problematic. It was either Striker or Warwolf, and Striker is overall the better card.

But in all honesty, It was a terrible hit. If you hit the Agent part more, then the deck would still not be able to function. Konami did hit the agent part, but not the right cards. But that is the reason why it was hit and the TCG has to deal with it.


The Agent of Mystery - Earth 
For the same reasons as above, Konami needed to hit Agents. This card allows for consistency which without, the deck would desperately need. If you keep earth alive for a turn, then you can go into Trishula next turn with the Venus you searched. So you lost no advantage and you managed to wipe 3 cards off your opponent. That actual play is not that great, but Konami should have hit Venus instead. Some players were really hoping that Hyperion would be hit too, but a boss monster is only really as good as the cards needed to come out. You can run a Boss monster that says "Win the duel", but if your deck only has a 0.1 chance of being able to summon it, then it's a bad card.

There is not much else to say about Earth. Both hits were pointless for the TCG and is a constant reminder that we are in desperate need for a separate Banlist from the OCG.



That's it for the Limited cards. The Semi-Limited discussion will be a lot longer, so you might want to get a drink for that one.

March 2012 Banlist Discussion Part 1: The Forbidden List

Now for a segment I decided would be a good idea to make. We can all agree regardless of if you play competitive or not, that the Banlist we are about to play under for the next 6 months is quite possibly one of the worst we have ever seen. Konami describes the Banlist as a way to keep the game healthy and give some cards a second chance. So this time around, has it done that?

The answer is No. It has not.

The banlist ideally should be used to keep some decks in check. It should be used to reduce the power creep so it does not take one huge step at once, making all other decks almost impossible to be competitive with. Also, It should be an evaluation of everything that is wrong with a format and deal with said problems. But this time around, they have really not been doing enough 'evaluating'.

I'll start off with the forbidden list. There's only a few cards put on the forbidden list this time around.

Glow-Up Bulb and Spore

This was a very strange and in my opinion, bad move by Konami. The plant engine was splashable and was the reason why the deck did so well. That combined with broken TCG exclusives made the deck as popular as it was. As we know, the engine consists of just 4 cards (5 when lonefire was at 2). But the main card of the engine was arguably Dandylion. This monster has the ability to special summon tokens, allowing for use with tuners to synchro into multiple levels. Glow-up and spore abused dandylion since spore can reach a level 5 synchro by removing either lonefire blossom or dandylion (making it level 4), then synchroing with a token. Glow-up bulb is just a free draw from formula synchron. Both combos were able to create a nice amount of advantage, but they were only as good as the cards it can abuse.

So why did Konami not just ban Dandylion? It's clear that with Dandylion around, derpyness will follow. Take out the catalyst and the reactants wont have enough umph to work. I use Glow-up in Lightsworns and it was an amazing boon for the deck. Spore is a great tuner for plants due to it's flexibility. However, Dandylion was a prime example of a card being able to do too much, and Konami kept it around? Like anyone will use Dandylion now that the other 2 cards are gone. It's just incredibly stupid and 2 perfectly good cards have been wrongly thrown into the fire in an attempt to save it's ass.

It used to be cute, but now after this, it will leave a bad taste in my mouth every time I see it. I hope it does for you too.

Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
This was another somewhat unexpected move by Konami. They banned one of the best synchros ever made. It requires 3 monsters to summon it and removes 3 things from the game, so you couldn't make too much advantage from it. However with Xyz being the new thing that Konami are trying to promote, this was bound to be hit. The card was unfair if you are not prepared for it but so are many other cards. How do you deal with stardust if all you have are destruction cards? How do you deal with colossal fighter if you have no way to destroy it with card effects? These questions are on a player's mind all the time and this is no different. If you don't have outs to any card, then it doesn't mean it should be banned or it's broken. Clearly you're not running enough Solemn warnings, Judgment, Effect Veilers, Fiendish Chains or whatever else is being use to negate this card.

So really, the card did not deserve a hit. It was not really aimed for except in Agents, but even then it's annoying going a -1 when it gets warning'd. Last format, I played many duels against many players of different skill levels. I got trishula'd about 4 times which is next to nothing. However in total, Trishula was summoned on me over 20 times and I always had a way to deal with it.

Your opinion may differ on the card. If you feel I'm wrong and It did need a hit, comment and say why. I'd love to hear it (No sarcasm).

Finally, to end this discussion on a good note.

Trap Dustshoot
The one hit I actually agree with. This card was starting to get really annoying. It allows you to see your opponent's starting hand a rip a card from it of your choice. There are other cards that can rip cards from your opponent's hand, but guess what: They are all banned. Delinquent Duo is banned, Forceful Sentry is banned and other such cards are also banned. The main problem is that this card in many situations puts your opponent at such a disadvantage that it's unfair. They are already going second which is a kick in the balls already, then they start their turn with only 5 cards in hand which you got to see?

Card should have gone a long time ago. I have this knack for opening with Dustshoot consistently, but regardless it should be banned and never come back, even if Heavy Storm gets banned in the future.



So that's my take on the Forbidden Section of the upcoming list. 1 out of 4 is not very good Konami And your other hits are not looking too good either.

TheTCGLover out.

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.