Custom Ban List

Okay, so like a lot of people were when the new list was announced, I was less than impressed with it. Suffice to say, I saw it as Konami railroading the game. 3 of the 4 Banned Cards were Tuners or Synchro Monsters, and both Limited Cards were Tuners. Reborn Tengu got pushed to 2 because it helps Synchros, but Tour Guide gets to stay at 3. Not to mention they hit the less powerful parts of engines; why are Spore and Glow-Up Bulb more ban-worthy than Dandylion? Why is TG Striker worse than Warwolf? And my favourite; banning Trishula over Brionac (the one Synchro I really don't like). Then they kept BLS back, so... yeah...

So, like many people, I've come up with an amendment to the Ban List, one that I think would be better for the format:

The Following cards are FORBIDDEN:

Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning (One of the most broken cards ever, it joined the list a year after its Dragon brother and should have stayed there. I'm fixing Konami's mistake).

Dandylion (THIS is what should have been banned. This thing is what let those broken Synchro Summons with Spore and Glow-Up happen, and made first-Turn Lonefire into a +2. Even as Xyz Material, it does the same thing. No, just NO.)

Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier (This card combos with so many things it's not funny, and it wins games.)

Monster Reborn (A free monster from either Graveyard is one of the reasons the format got so fast. That's no longer acceptible.)

The Following cards are LIMITED:

Dark Magician of Chaos (With Reborn gone, and Raigeki. Dimension Fusion and Feather Duster never to be seen again, this card is nowhere near the threat it once was.)

Glow-Up Bulb (This card was NEVER Ban-worthy on its own, and with Dandylion gone it never should be again.)

Grapha, Dragon Lord of Dark World (This and Snoww are why Dark World became good. This is the worse of the two; an unstoppable destruction of 1 card and a summon that's a +1? NO.)

Master Hyperion (I heard people say this should have been hit instead of Earth. I agree; Earth is nowhere near as bad as this. Most of the time, the Field Spell isn't out and it searches Venus. Hyperion is like Dark Armed for Fairies, and Dark Armed is limited.)

Rescue Cat (This thing is nowhere near as powerful as Rabbit. It can only make up to a Rank 3, whereas Rabbit can make Laggia. Now, I realize you could make Leviair with this to get Rabbit back, but that's addressed later on the list. Besides, now you actually have to run BEASTS to sustain this thing, beasts that overlap with Rabbit. Yes, you must run Silver Fang...)

Spore (Same story as Glow-Up Bulb, and this thing can help with Xyz as well so it makes sense.)

Wind-Up Rat (Behold, the cause of the Wind-Up loop that's caused many a-rage quit. I for one say Enough is enough. If Wind-Ups wanna kill your hand now, they have to work for it.)

Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier (We get our Trish back for losing Brio. This takes 3 materials, where Brio is 2. This uses its effect once, brio indefinitely. If this gets Veilered, it's a beatstick; if Brio is Veilered, that's one turn's wait.)

Premature Burial (This card was banned because of Brio, as it made for a full field. With Brio, Reborn and Trunade gone, never to be seen again, this can come back. Yes DMoC can fetch it, but not if you summon him with it; and with the amount of destruction out there this won't last. Also, this, unlike Reborn, cannot dodge DD Crow by taking an enemy monster; and, oh yeah, it's not FREE.)

The Following cards are SEMI-LIMITED

Chaos Sorcerer (In keeping with the "slow the meta down" theme, BLS' little brother goes to 2. Not enough to kill him, but enough to slow things up.)

Inzektor Hornet (Inzektors are pretty damn annoying, but I figure even taking 1 Hornet reduces the likelihood of that combo by a little bit.)

Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon (Between Hieroglyphs and Chaos Dragons, this guy's year is here. I don't see either becoming Meta so he's not Limit-worthy, but he's dangerous at 3.)

Rescue Rabbit (This NEEDED to happen. YCS Atlanta featured 10 Dino rabbit Decks in the Top 16, all running 3 of this guy. Now you must run 1 Cat instead. So cute...)

The Agent of Mystery – Earth (With Hyperion at 1, this card doesn't need to be as well; but at 3 it's still a Stratos par excellence, so I think 2 is safest.)

Tour Guide from the Underworld (If Tengu is at 2, so too should this be. Now, you need to pick a 4th Level 3 Fiend besides Sangan, or risk pulling a dead Tour Guide, which I think is much more fair.)

Mystical Space Typhoon (3 of this card is asking for an aggressive Meta, something I for one think is too dangerous at the moment. 2 of this card isn't nearly as bad.)

Call of the Haunted (Same as MST above, this card should NEVER be at 3.)

Royal Oppression (Yes, a card straight back from 0 to 2. Now the Meta will become VERY slow, or else Trap Eater will be sided at 3; basically all Meta Decks lose out to this thing at 1, so 2 should keep things docile.)

The Following cards are NO LONGER RESTRICTED:

Solemn Warning (A third of this plus 2 Oppression should keep things fairly calm in the Meta scene.)

The theme of this list is to slow down the Meta, because many people feel it's gotten way too fast. I agree, and think this list does that job very well. Combos still exist, but with less back-row removal and more summon negation you have to be careful...

Until next time I'm M signing off and saying play hard, play fair and play it safe...