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