Monday, February 27, 2012

March 2012 Banlist Review

So the new list in on the verge of being the new Advanced Format... This is the first OCG list to feature a hit on a TCG exclusive card without any prior notice of release. This list as you can tell effectively destroys Synchro Spam while not hurting many of the Xyz centered decks. Essentially this list is the first Rotation Yu-Gi-Oh has ever had and many don't understand that old things need to die to keep the game fresh and allow for better card design... dancing around Glow-up Bulb and Spore breaking special summons was probably bothersome.

Here is said list of greatness

Forbidden:
Glow-up Bulb
Spore
Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
Trap Dustshoot

Limited:
T.G. Striker
Agent of Mystery - Earth

Semi-Limited:
Marshmallon
Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner
Emergency Teleport
Shien's Smoke Signal
Level Limit Area - B
Torrential Tribute
Ultimate Offering
Reborn Tengu

No Longer Limited:
Call of the Haunted


So lets start with the bans and why they were actually good for the game.

1. Glow-up Bulb: This card singlehandedly brought the Plant Engine into the age of free plus 2's on a massive scale... One for one became Pot of Greed with this card around. A Pot of Greed that could summon more large monsters or make Gantetsu (Thanks for hitting Formula). You could run this card in anything and in Gadget Offering you could easily make Trishula before continuing into Shock Ruler and Double Hope or more. In Lightsworns they suddenly had the option to use this and Plaguespreader for Synchro Spam of epic proportions. This card just fit anywhere you needed a Synchro Option it was too good and it made Xyz look far less useful than they are without it.

2. Spore: Same situation as Glow-up Bulb but only in decks that ran the full 5 card Plant Engine... This card single-handed turned 1 Reborn Tengu into Librarian, Stardust and a third Tengu depending on what plant was in grave. It just made the Plant Engine able to diversify it's Synchro Options and just allowed even more spam. Those two hits alone killed Plant Synchro based builds.

3.Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier: Not a necessary hit but at the same time it needed to be done. This card just becomes easier and easier to summon Glow-up and Spore weren't even the reason this was summoned so often so don't lump the 3 together like that when reviewing. This card put simply is a plus 2 upon summoning and normally was nearly free to make to begin with like most synchro summons nowadays. It shouldn't have existed at least as a Dragon make it a Sea-Serpent and it wouldn't be as bad.

4. Trap Dustshoot: Face it this card if activated turn 1 meant that you had an over 80% chance to win that duel no matter the match-up... this card royally screwed anyone... and if you happened to have a Mind Crush with it you had a near 100% chance to win as you'd have just dropped your opponents best play often forcing them to pass the turn.

Now for the Limits and how they help diversity:

1. T.G. Striker: Card was part of the T.G. Engine which consisted of 5 cards much like the Plant Engine (2 Striker and 3 Werewolf) this Engine allowed instant Wonder Magician and Chaos plays rather easily. This now means that T.G. is still perfectly viable as a deck but the T.G. Engine that was used rather widespread in the OCG has been neutered much like the Plant Engine. This also was a soft hit to T.G. Agents

2. Agent of Mystery - Earth: Agents had too much consistency with this card... essentially turn 1 was grab Venus end... but if you were able to protect Earth for a turn you could make an instant Trishula... If you were unable to protect Earth then in T.G. Agents you could have summoned Striker then used Venus and made Trishula anyway or any other Xyz you want or even double Gantetsu... This was a hit purely to decentralize Agent decks and force a slightly wider selection of Agent monsters allowing Agents to now have room in the deck to Adapt majorly to the format at will.

Now for the immense Semi-Limit list which may be the biggest Semi-List of all time. It essentially reopens older decks that didn't so much spam Synchros as they did swarm. It also gives back Stall which isn't as good anymore.

1. Marshmallon: Spirit Reapers harder to kill younger brother. This card not only does 1000 damage if your opponent runs into it... It also is a LIGHT monster and can only be destroyed by Removal... meaning Dino Rabbit is no longer very threatening as they can't just get rid of it without wasting something like Fiendish Chain to negate it's survival effect.

2. Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner: Face it... LS died awhile ago... 3 JD and 2 Lumina may help bring the deck back to a competitive level. Which isn't a bad thing like so many people think. It'd bring more good decks to the fold.

3. Emergency Teleport: Without Mind Master this card lost a lot of its power, and gives a needed boost to Psychic and Gusto decks. Many will attempt Tele-DAD again which may be a nice thing to see around. But it will be so far weakened from it's previous strength that it can be ignored as a major threat.

4. Shien's Smoke Signal: Great Card is Great... And now you have 2 of them... Six Sams just got the Consistency they have been waiting for. Now they have a total of 3 effective ROTA's meaning they can make their Shi En with far more ease than before.

5. Level Limit Area - B: Stall card that targets Levels meaning like Gravity Bind it no longer needs to be on the list as your opponent can simply Xyz to ignore this card completely.

6. Torrential Tribute: Because this list promotes Swarm decks and because of how Dino Rabbit works an extra Torrential is necessary. It allows one to stop a Swarm with impunity and now they can do it twice. People may be thinking this to 2 is a bad move but in reality it's the best move for the situation and will make your opponent have even more to think about when he swarms without a Heavy Storm.

7. Ultimate Offering: A tad bit unnecessary but its another nice hit that lowers to power of Gadget Xyz and the subsequent OTK.

8. Reborn Tengu: No one seem to know how this was hit on an OCG list but I wonder if they noticed Konami saying TCG and OCG will have the same list. This means that if they need to address TCG they will address it while they address OCG. This card at 2 is no longer much of a threat and further wounds Tengu Plants to the point of unplayability which is fine as it killed originality. This card was just too good and too splashable to the point of fitting in everywhere with near ease.

Finally for the Unlimit:
1. Call of the Haunted: With triple MST it's not as big of a problem and gives a mini-boost to any graveyard dependent deck.It's also a bit slow to be a big problem and is overshadowed by Monster Reborn's super turn around factor. this also can be a turn around card but to a lesser degree and in this format Turn Around cards are important to keep the game tame.

That is my take on the banlist from an optimistic viewpoint.

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