KONAMI Is the DOVAKIIN! (How they slew the Dragon Rulers with the September 1st banlist!)

Alright guys, are you all excited as I am right now?

I'll contain myself for a few minutes; and give you a rundown of the changes for the September ban-list.

Ban-List Changes Effective September 1st:

FORBIDDEN:

BURNER, DRAGON RULER OF SPARKS

ELEMENTAL HERO STRATOS
LIGHTNING, DRAGON RULER OF DRAFTS
REACTAN, DRAGON RULER OF PEBBLES
STREAM, DRAGON RULER OF DROPLETS
CARD DESTRUCTION
GATEWAY OF THE SIX
HEAVY STORM
MONSTER REBORN
POT OF AVARICE
SPELLBOOK OF JUDGMENT
SUPER REJUVENATION
SOLEMN JUDGMENT
ULTIMATE OFFERING

LIMITED

ATLANTEAN DRAGOONS
BROTHERHOOD OF THE FIRE FIST - SPIRIT
DEEP SEA DIVA
GENEX ALLY BIRDMAN
RESCUE RABBIT
THUNDER KING RAI-OH
EVIGISHKI MIND AUGUS
DEWLOREN, TIGER KING OF THE ICE BARRIER
DIMENSIONAL FISSURE
GOLD SARCOPHAGUS
ROYAL TRIBUTE
BOTTOMLESS TRAP HOLE
COMPULSORY EVACUATION DEVICE
ERADICATOR EPIDEMIC VIRUS
MAGICAL EXPLOSION
SOUL DRAIN
TORRENTIAL TRIBUTE

SEMI-LIMITED

MEZUKI
PLAGUESPREADER ZOMBIE
T.G. STRIKER
FIRE FORMATION - TENKI
DIMENSIONAL PRISON

UNRESTRICTED

THE AGENT OF MYSTERY -EARTH
TSUKUYOMI
A HERO LIVES
BLACK WHIRLWIND
E - EMERGENCY CALL
HIERATIC SEAL OF CONVOCATION
POT OF DUALITY
SCAPEGOAT

 "Alright Chad, How does this affect me?"

Well, for once, Konami defecated on every major player in the meta-game.

We have lost many former Staples, (CARD DESTRUCTION, HEAVY STORM, MONSTER REBORN,
SOLEMN JUDGEMENT are now Forbidden, THUNDER KING RAI-OH, GOLD SARCOPHAGUS, ROYAL TRIBUTE, BOTTOMLESS TRAP HOLE, COMPULSORY EVACUATION DEVICE limited, and DIMENSIONAL PRISON as semi-limited.) The reduction from 18-22 stap;es down to 12-15 Staples, not just allows us to build more varied and pro-active decks (instead of the March 13's Anti-Everything being the meta), We also have less chance of being shaken down by airport security for carrying our deck in hand-luggage!

Here are my staples? What are your thoughts? Anything I missed?

 3 x Mystical Space Typhoon
3 x Negate Attack
2 x Dimensional Prison
1 x Bottomless Trap Hole
1 x Compulsary Evacuation Device
1 x Mirror Force

Not everyone wins though, and with a mix of sympathy for Dave (he spent a ton of cash on his dragon-ruler deck) and sheer glee, I can say that konami killed Dragon Rulers, and drained the soul from the deck! (losing the lynch-pin BURNER, LIGHTNING, REACTAN, and STREAM renders the deck as impotent as I am without some 'magic pills'. Six samurai players have lost their Gateway. Mermail-atlantians have gone down to one Diva and Dragoon. Also, Macro-Rabbit decks (including evilswarm-Macro-Rabbit) have been killed off, Rescue Rabbit being limited to 1.

At least Blackwings get back their BLACK WHIRLWIND, Heiratic's get their HIERATIC SEAL OF CONVOCATION, and E-Heroes get their A HERO LIVES and E - EMERGENCY CALL (they lose stratos, but shit happens.)

All in all, my only cause to whine about the Ban-List is that LEGENDARY SIX SAMURAII - SHI EN has dodged the ban-list again!

Ahhh... C'est la vie

New Banlist

Well, the latest ban list for Yu-Gi-Oh! has been officially released, and it seems everyone is taking a hit. I imagine it's to slow down some of the nastier decks out at the moment, and while I know I'm gonna miss a couple of cards there are some that most of us will be grateful to see gone.

One big change is that all of the baby Dragon Rulers are now banned completely. I don't think any of us will be surprised by this, what with Dragon Rulers dominating the previous format. By getting rid of the baby dragons, this should slow them down by a significant amount. What may be the killer for them though is the banning of Super Rejuvination and limiting of Gold Sarcophagus. Admittedly, I'd hate to be the guy who bought more than one copy of Dracossack and Number 11: Big Eye at the moment.

Speaking of Xyz monsters, the only new one on the ban list is Number 16: Shock Master. Here's another one who I think we'll be glad to see the last of for a while. I know more than once when I've been playing Harpies and started swarming my opponent has expressed a sigh at the sudden appearance of Shock Master, although I'll admit to not having played one in my deck even before this ban list.

Here's a surprise for me in that Elemental HERO Stratos is now banned. I have a friend in England that I play against on Dueling Network who plays HEROes, and having had experience against him I would've thought that Stratos was fine being limited. I'll assume there was a decent reason for it and move onto the next cards now, so don't worry about that.

However, it's the toolbox cards that took the biggest hit. As of September 1st, we are no longer allowed to have copies of Monster Reborn, Heavy Storm, Pot of Avarice and Solemn Judgment in decks. Card Destruction is also gone, so just about every one of us will have to do some thinking about what we're gonna fill those holes with. Reborn is an easy one for me, as I can substitute Galaxy Zero in my Photon deck and Hysteric Party for my Harpies.

Another couple of banned cards that caught my attention are Gateway of the Six and Spellbook of Judgment. I haven't seen too many Six Samurai decks lately, which I have the feeling that Evilswarm Ophion is responsible for, and this could very well be the final nail in the coffin for them. The banning of Judgment will definitely serve to slow down Prophecy/Spellbook decks, although they might still be able to remain competitive since it looks like none of their other cards got hit.

Onto the limited stuff, and we will no longer be seeing more than one of the Wascaly Wabbits due to being limited. This will hit quite a few decks, slowing down Dino Rabbit, Noble Rabbit, Evilswarm and Fire Fists. I know I won't be sorry to see him at one for a while.

Speaking of limits, I seem to remember Mermails, Fire Fists and Bujin being thought to be the big decks for the upcoming format. It would seem that Konami agrees, limiting several cards that slot in with them. Among those hit are:
 - Atlantean Dragoons
 - Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Spirit
 - Deep Sea Diva
On that topic, it's worth mentioning that Fire Formation - Tenki got the semi-limited treatment, probably in anticipation of Fire Fists and Bujin decks. We shall see if it's enough to keep the balance over the next few months.

The last one I'm going to talk about for now is the complete removal of Black Whirlwind from the list. As someone who has played Blackwings (in the form of Black Harpies), I'm honestly shocked by this. One really good starting hand can result in a massive swarm of the field in a single turn, especially with Heavy Storm gone. Whether or not it will be enough to make Blackwings competitive again is something we'll find out over the next few months, just like how well the fan favourites will be I mention in the last part.

Actually, there is one other really big change to the ban list I want to mention. This ban list will only be in effect for the period of September 1st to December 31st, giving it only half the life span of previous ban lists. I have the feeling that this is to stop cards that come out early into a format from dominating it for extended periods, making this a welcome change in my eyes. Hopefully it will also result in some more diverse decks, and we won't be seeing only a few decks in the top sixteen results for tournaments worldwide. I can dream, can't I?

For the full ban list, see the following link: http://www.yugioh-card.com/en/limited/index.html

The Pokemon Professor, Troy

That was a Blast

Well, the Plasma Blast pre release has come and gone, and apparently my streak of getting useless crap in my pre release boosters continued. I think that one time drawing Pyrorex the Elemental Lord got my hopes and expectations up to the point where fate just doesn't want to deal with them. Maybe it had something to do with getting some Judgment of the Light boosters before the tourney and pulling Brotherhood of the Fire Fist - Rooster (I traded it already, so don't molest me over it). Ah well, that didn't stop the day being enjoyable. Getting a full art Iris or a Master Ball wouldn't have hurt though.

I think Kangaskhan got card of the day for this one. Call for Family has featured on many a card stretching back a long time in the TCG, and to have it on a colourless pokemon makes Kangaskhan easily splashable, which  would have accounted for its common appearance during the day. Comet Punch is a little too unpredictable for my liking, but I'd say it was quite the turning point throughout the day.

Probably some of the best news came in the form of reprints of Rare Candy and Pokemon Catcher, both of which seemed to appear fairly easily compared to earlier prints. Given that they're some of the most useful cards to have in a deck at this point in time, this is extremely good news.

For those of you who have an affinity for water types (hooray for fancy speak!), here's something you'll like. Suicune appears in the Plasma Blast set, sporting the anti-EX ability that made Sigilyph infamous. Which means you too can enjoy a measure of protection from Pokemon-EX just like psychic decks and other people who like to throw in a special energy that can count as psychic. The one thing that sets Sigilyph over the top of Suicune however, is that Sigilyph can be searched for with Level Ball which eliminates the possibility of failure Poke Ball comes with or the loss of cards to use Ultra Ball.

If I could remember the awesome line I said on the day, I would write it here. Unfortunately I can't, so I'm gonna end the blog post here. Mostly because I'm out of stuff to say that I haven't already said in a previous blog post. So have a great night everyone, and enjoy Plasma Blast!

The Pokemon Professor, Troy

Oh shi- The Boss is Back from Vegas, look busy!

Alright guys, I waited for Kev to send me photo's of the Duelists Bad-Asses in Vegas. Unfortunately, no pictures arrived, so I'll call it as BS under the Internets' "Pics or It Didn't Happen" rule.

Troy being the Awesome guy Gentleman and Scholar he is, has covered for me while I sired 3/4 of Queensland's generation Z in 2 short weeks. (The "Pics or It Didn't Happen" rule only applies to outlandish claims Like going to Las Vegas for a Yu-Gi-Oh World Championship, not admissions that I've been tom-catting around, which is basically business as Usual.)

Back on topic; The Judgement of the Light out-shone even the Cosmo-blazer pre-release, and the light burns....

Troy was right on all his predictions: Synchro's are Back baby, Star Seraphs, Bujin and Super Defense Robot burned romped in the per-release, and even that the xyz monster Googly-Eyes Drum Dragon would romp in the pre-releases in the favor of whom had him.

I must disagree with Troy on one point though: pre-releases are not "the great equalizers", because if you get a bad card mix, you are stuffed. But they make it just as hard for your opponent, who are also hobbled by the same problem. They are as close as we are going to get without Konami keeping a good bottom line. (Admittedly, I'm a perfect example of no-skill bastards who does well by buying the cards he needs, so pre-releases eat away my one edge.)

On the Pokemon Front: The Plasma Blast has further annoyed Troy, after I got both a "Master Ball" and a "Jirachi-EX" in my pre-release packs... I think he's (rightfully) suspicious that I've been using black-magic to steal his pre-release fortune, better give it back before he can get pics to prove it happened... (I needed to get to the bus, but I'll arrange to get them to Troy, I had my fun.)

Go Forth and play Card-Games! Also, get pics for the blog.

Chad

A Blast of Light

It's that time of the year again, time for another release for not only Yu-Gi-Oh!, but for Pokemon TCG as well! First thing's first, there are still spots for both pre-release events at the time of writing, with Judgment of the Light on this Saturday the 3rd and Plasma Blast on the 11th. I'm gonna be going to both, as there are quite a few cards I'm hoping to get my hands on as early as possible. Don't we all know that feeling.

Synchro monsters are coming back in a big way in Judgment of the Light. Star Eater (I really don't know why they didn't just stick with Celestial Dragon, Konami makes some odd naming choices. Don't even get me started on the name change of Radiant Photon Paradius) is a good example of this, as it's essentially a 3200atk beatstick that doesn't have to worry about traps when it attacks. I figure it'd work best on the field by itself, since a thought out Mirror Force will get rid of it easily enough. Still, it's one big beasty to have on your side of the field.

As far as the pre-release will go, my predictions are that the stars of the day will be amongst the Star Seraphs and Bujin archetypes, with Super Defence Robot sneaking in there thanks to their xyz monster Googly-Eyes Drum Dragon. This is similar to how Battlin' Boxers with Magnum Shield performed well at the Tachyon pre-release and Hazy Flames being the cards to have at Cosmo Blazer. Mind you, I'd be happier getting copies of Starliege Lord Galaxion for my Photon deck (you thought Galaxy-Eyes was annoying before? Watch me summon it straight from my deck) and Number C39: Utopia Ray Victory and Rank-Up-Magic Numeron Force for the Battlin' Boxer deck I'm working on. Although I have a friend in England I'm sure wouldn't object to me pulling a World of Prophecy.

Now I've already covered some of the good stuff for the Plasma Blast set in this post here, but there's nothing quite like actually being able to get the cards. I haven't actually been to a Pokemon pre-release yet, so I'm definitely excited to be able to attend this one.

I figure it'll be similar to a Magic: The Gathering pre-release (Chad, help me out here with how that works?) where we build either a deck or half-deck with what we get and some borrowed energy cards from the Card House. One tip for building a deck that I can give is to try and stick with a maximum of two types so as to limit the possibility of drawing useless energy.

The best things about pre-release events are that they are "the great equalizers." By that, it means you won't have to worry about coming up against decks like my Gardevoir/Gallade, Team Plasma-EX or, Arceus forbid, Machamp from Diamond & Pearl - Stormfront*. So with a little bit of luck (or a nice Pokemon-EX from your boosters), it's anyone's game. (For those of you who can't read Japanese, Kyurem-EX's first attack is 30 damage + 10 more for each damage counter on itself and its second attack is 150 damage that requires you to discard two water energy attached to it. Not a bad card, and something that can slot into Keldeo/Blastoise easily enough).

Remember, there are only three spots left (though by the time I write this they may be all gone) for Judgment of the Light and approximately eight for Plasma Blast, and the race goes to the swift as they say. Kinda like how the duel goes to Dragon Rulers because they usually spawn Dracossack first turn, but enough about that. I'm looking forward to both days, and I hope to see you all there as well!

Your resident Pokemon Professor, Troy

*Okay, I know I really shouldn't say it like that. But from what I've seen on the rest of the internet it would appear that nobody likes that card apart from the people who suppress their conscience enough to use it.