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| As you may be reading, today's Forbidden and Limited List is really leaving me to question the decisions Konami is making, enough for me to make my own. Let's go over some of the issues I have, starting with the cards that are Forbidden. These issues are over the course of several lists, not just one as it's been a problem for years. | ||
The Issue with the Yu-Gi-Oh Forbidden List
| Forbidden List Issues |
| Forbidden (0 copies
per Deck) 1. One big offender is Instant Fusion. The card costs 1K to even use it, and then it's limited by what you bring out for a single turn. It doesn't really matter if it counts as a Fusion Summon when none of the options are any good and you don't even keep it long. A pretty similar card called Soul Charge is even less understandable given you either revive a single monster, in which case you overpaid, or you mass-Special Summon and end up with less LP to recover later. Perfectly balanced and overrated. 2. Why is Time Seal on this list? That's only going to be hurful if you're facing an army of monsters. Reckless Greed also lets you draw twice for the same "downside". |
| Limited (1 copy per
Deck) 1. There are several elephants in this room, notably several OP cards that were randomly removed from being Forbidden despite their troubled history on the basis of "They're not doing anything". The fact that "pros" are stupid enough not to use what has long been locked away baffles me. They might as well unban Pot of Greed too. 2. On a note related to Time Seal, there's Yata-Garasu. This card should've been entirely unbanned once Chaos Emperor Dragon got neutered. Heck, it was only viable because of Chaos Emperor Dragon. Poking your opponent for 100 damage is not worth the loss of an opponent's Draw Phase, especially when the monster responsible runs away afterwards. |
| Semi-Limited (2
copies per Deck) 1. Pot of Desires is a huge risk as you're down at best 1/4 of your Deck to draw twice. Duality wasn't even that bad by comparison. Herald of Orange Light doesn't need to be there either as it's a -2 to negate only a monster effect. What about Effect Veiler? Fiendish Chain? Those two are far more deserving of that, or even being limited over that weakling. 2. Malicious at 2? It's a Level 5 monster with the stats of a Level 2 or less monster. The only effect just Special Summons another copy. Could put Cyber Dragon on there instead as that does the same thing with nearly 3 times the ATK and twice the DEF. Nothing else really needed either. They even have the audacity to put a Sky Striker "support" card on there. Have they forgotten it needs to lack 2/3 of the three card types for any benefit? |
| Fixing the Issues |
| Now that I've gone into the various failures of
the list. let's get this list corrected. Forbidden 1. First, I'm putting back certain big names like Raigeki that were taken off as they're far too dangerous to be used in tournaments, regardless of how many players actually use them. Next, I'm adding quite a few that are actually worthy of being banned like most of the recent Armed Dragon Thunder monsters. They're the originals on steroids with easy-to-play effects and overall way too powerful. Another card being added is Dark Simorgh. Blocking your opponent from Setting at all when they're facing a nearly 3000 ATK monster is quite the detriment. Plus it's easy to bring out other ways too. 2. Knocked out Anti-Magic Arrows as it's pretty much Cold Wave for the Battle Phase, cannot be responded to either and only affects the opponent. Joining Thousand-Eyes Restrict is Malicious Fiend, which boasts 3500 ATK and a forced attack effect for all opponent's monsters. Pretty tough to survive when you're forced to attack it and have less ATK than it. Hot Red Dragon Archfiend can single-handedly take down stronger monsters without costing you much at all so it's at 0 along with Catastor and Adreus, Keeper of Boundaries. 3. Also on this list are combos like OTK and FTKs. We don't need those in this game and they're hurting the chances of otherwise benign cards to see any play at all. A truly skilled Duelist shouldn't need them to win anyway. Plus, you have roughly 40 minutes to play so there's no need to rush to victory. |
| Limited to 1 1. Some cards I'm kinda on the fence about their potency can go to 1 like Macro Cosmos and Honest. They have some risk involved too. Disigma and Shark Drake are very potent Rank 4s that should at least be at 1. Chaos MAX Dragon is also quite powerful with Ritual Raven. Several other cards like Power Bond and Leeching the Light have their own potency, but are also offset by at least 1 downside. Sangan and Witch are back to 1 as nothing they get can cause an OTK or FTK thanks to those being Forbidden moves. Wattgiraffe is searchable and locks out effects after it attacks directly, which it can do by its effect too. Big Benkei is a kind of reverse Beatstick that Giant Rat can quickly bring into play and it needs no other monsters to dish out big damage. 2. A few classic Synchros are now at 1 as their effects prove problematic for the opponent to deal with and don't have any real drawbacks. Armor Master also has the benefit in Blackwing Decks to use Gale and Bora the Spear. Odin basically says "no" to any of the opponent's backrow cards and boasts 4000 ATK. The Synchro Materials really don't hinder you much either as a generic Fairy Deck can bring out Valkyrie. It can also self-revive with a free draw afterwards. Other classic Traps like Mirror Force and Torrential are at 1 for reasons that should be quite clear. 3. Much like the Forbidden List, some combos are also on this list, notably ones that are reusable multiple times per turn. I've put a cap to 3 times per turn, which eliminates possibly circumventing the block on FTK and OTKs. |
| Semi-Limited 1. Included cards like Cyber End Dragon and The Last Warrior from Another Planet that can certainly be quite powerful, but don't have quite the same potency as ones at 1 or 0. The updated BLS Ritual Monster is on here too with classic cards like Ancient Gear Golem and Cyber Dragon. Hardened Armed Dragon may seem random, but with cards like Dark Simorgh, it's very potent. Even Blue-Eyes White Dragon becomes a nasty threat and it's searchable. 2. Other cards at 2 are relatively generic like Fusion Recovery, Call of the Mummy and Valhalla. The latter two cards are pretty similar and allow for the stronger members of the Monster Type to be on the field in seconds. Several potent Trap Cards are also at 2 like Solemn Warning and Safe Zone. Warning blocks much of what Solemn Judgment does, but has a specific LP cost. Safe Zone just protects the monster entirely and can be even worse with the right monster. |