Yugioh September 2013 Forbidden List Analysis

So it’s time for a new and different format in the world of Yugioh, and wow, looks like it’s going to be quite significantly different from anything we’ve had in quite some time, so there’s a lot to talk about! We’ve had a couple of days to let things set in and now we can try to have a look at what the September 1st-on format will look like. Obviously this is all completely opinion based, so nothing here is to be taken as gospel, and disagreements/conflicting opinions are encouraged, so feel free to leave any comments below about how YOU think the metagame is going to look. The best thing to do to begin with I suppose is to post the changes in the forbidden list. So here goes nothing! (Listed here are only the changes to the list, for the full list, stop over at http://www.yugioh-card.com/en/limited/index.html)

Forbidden:

• Burner, Dragon Ruler of Sparks
• Lightning, Dragon Ruler of Drafts
• Reactan, Dragon Ruler of Pebbles
• Stream, Dragon Ruler of Droplets
• Elemental Hero Stratos
• Number 16: Shock Master
• 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 of the Ice Barrier
• Constellar Ptolemy M7
• Dimensional Fissure
• Gold Sarcophagus
• Royal Tribute
• Bottomless Trap Hole
• Compulsory Evacuation Device
• Eradicator Epidemic Virus
• Macro Cosmos
• Soul Drain
• Torrential Tribute

Semi-Limited:

• Mezuki
• Plaguespeader Zombie
• T.G. Striker
• Fire Formation – Tenki
• Dimensional Prison

Unlimited:

• Destiny Hero – Malicious
• The Agent of Mystery – Earth
• Tsukuyomi
• A Hero Lives
• Black Whirlwind
• E – Emergency Call
• Hieratic Seal of Convocation
• Pot of Duality
• Scapegoat

My intial reaction to this list was shock at just how large it is. We haven’t seen so many cards hit the list all at once in a very long time. But looking at it, if they’d only hit the decks people were complaining about, we’d have simply just gone back a format rather than things actually changing.

The other thing thats worth pointing out before analysing the cards actually on the list, is that this list actually only lasts until December 31st. In my previous article on Yugioh, I’d stated my support for an increase in number of banlists, as I felt it would change the overdependance on large amounts of money to build competitive decks, if only a little. It looks as if thats exactly whats going to happen, but with any luck, this also means that the lists won’t be quite as dramatic as this one, because Konami will be able to review the state of the game more often, which means, hopefully, that future banlists will be more adjustment than overhaul.

‘Overpowered’ decks will also have less time to over-dominate the format so people won’t grow bored so quickly either, as they’ll have less time to worry about having to take them down. That deck this time round was the Dragon Ruler deck, and with good reason. This deck was able to masquerade it’s graveyard as its hand, simply because all 4 of the Dragon Rulers themselves: Blaster, Tidal, Tempest and Redox, were able to play themselves from the graveyard in exactly the same manner as if they were in the players’ hand.

The deck has seemingly been neutered by the bannings of the 4 ‘baby’ Dragon Rulers: Reactan, Stream, Burner and Lightning, as well as the banning of Super Rejuvenation (for anyone who’s played against this deck, they’ll squeal with joy at this one!) and the restriction of Gold Sarcophagus. HOWEVER, there are talks of a Dragon Plant deck popping up in various places, which keeps the big Dragons and makes use of a well-used Plant engine (generally comprising of Dandylion, Spore and Lonefire Blossom) to give the deck a Synchro engine as well as an XYZ one. Having had a go with the deck myself, I feel it’s a little clunky, but it’s definately got potential, though mercifully I don’t think we’ll have having another bout of S Tier Dragon Rulers, certainly A to A+ though. The other deck that people will undoubtedly be glad to see battered a bit by the banlist is Prophecy. I’m pretty sure that Prophecy will still be a worthwhile deck despite losing Spellbook of Judgment, but I can’t see the no-Priestess build remaining popular as you’ll now need her removal and Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer won’t be quite so important if Dragon Rulers are less popular. I can see World of Prophecy sneaking into decks too as a single copy along with Temperance of Prophecy, as this’ll allow you to retain at least a inch of the mile’s worth of hand advantage that Spellbook of Judgment once provided. So basically, Prophecy will go back to how they were before Judgment, which certainly wasn’t bad!

Moving on to one of the biggest changes to the format as a whole (as opposed to changes that affect one or two majorly played decks), we can see a LOT of mainstay cards on the list. I leaped for joy when I saw Monster Reborn on the list, anyone who’s played Yugioh with me or even conversed about it with me knows how passionately I despise this card. Very few cards in Yugioh (or any other CCG for that matter) scream “Top-deck me and win!” like this one does. I’m all for come-back cards, but being in an absolute dire position; no field, no hand, opponent having major advantage, then you see Monster Reborn and can literally snatch the win away. It just doesn’t feel good to lose to Monster Reborn, so I wholeheatedly agree with this one. Heavy Storm going is interesting, as it’ll encourage people to use a lot more Spells and Traps than they had been in the past, after a format in which very few were played. I think the reason that a lot of these spell/trap (particularly trap) staples have been restricted is in order to justify banning Heavy Storm, which in turn encourages back-row play. So they’ve been retricted for their own benefit! All this really means in terms of playability is we’ll now have a run a ‘trap-suite’ rather than lots of the same traps, it’s positive as it encourages variety. I also rather like that both Dimensional Fissure and Macro Cosmos are resticted, purely because these cards make very good side-deck cards, and 2 of a card in your side-deck is a lot more accomodating than 6 cards all doing the same thing, so this seems like its allowing those cards to be used as they are now intended.

A quick note on some of the decks that have been hit, before noting on decks that’ve improved or been left to roam (prefer focusing on what we’ve gained than what we’ve lost!). Mermails losing both Deep Sea Diva and Atlantean Dragoons is certainly a sting and a half, probably moreso than the Japanese having Mermail Abyssteus and Abyss-Sphere on theirs, but I don’t think the deck is worth counting out just yet! Fishborg Archer has recently arrived which gives them back a Tuner monster, and Genex Undine might come back into the fray in order to make it so that the single Dragoons can be accessed more easily (not to mention Fishborg Archer or the removal capabilties of the other 2 Atlanteans). Rank 3 or ‘3-Axis’ Fire Fists took a bit of a slap with Fire Fist – Spirit getting hit. As someone who loves this deck, I’m a little taken aback by it, but I embrace the changes more than the one deck pre-emptively being hit. I say pre-emptively due to Fire Fist – Rooster being very recently released, so Spirit being on the list might upset some people who went out and spent time/money on Roosters only to have the deck weakened. To these people I say you should expect the worst when it comes to these lists, and so to be careful before putting money/cards down on decks that have already proven their success overseas, and also not to count the deck out right away. There are methods of getting monsters from graveyard back into your hand (e.g. Monster Reincarnation – discarding a Rooster/Leopard to then pick up a used Spirit and then using Spirit to resurrect said Rooster/Leopard doesn’t seem like much of a minus to me!). Dark World losing Card Destruction needed to happen a little while ago in my opinion, but they were overshadowed by other decks until now, so it didn’t happen, which is at least understandable. Card Destruction provided an over-the-top opening play that the deck didn’t need, but relished in nevertheless. Shock Master was nothing if it didn’t provide a negative play experience, so glad to see that go, Gadgets losing that and Ultimate Offering doesn’t stop it from being a force to be reckoned with, Double Summon is still a card.

With regards to decks that haven’t been hit or have even improved, I believe Dragunities will be a true force to be reckoned with. They were merely flicked by the banlist having Gold Sarcophagus restricted, which is used to grab Phalanx/Mystlteinn via Tempest, and more importantly, everyone else lost a Thunder King Rai-Oh. Keep your Effect Veilers handy, this deck hates them! Hieratic will also undoubtedly be more popular, at least initially, due to the unlimiting of both Hieratic Seal of Convocation and Destiny Hero Malicious, there’s some large-scale combos to be had simply with Tefnuit and Malicious. T.G. Striker deserves an article all to himself really for the amount of decks he benefits, the obvious one being Agents, which have also had Agent of Mystery – Earth unlimited. This was a very big deck a couple of years ago, and it’ll be fun to see where it goes. But the first deck that comes to mind with T.G. Striker’s change is actually Madolche. Madolche’s are supremely popular for their design, and are becoming more potent over time, but with T.G. Striker, you can get some real mileage out of Madolche Hootcake or Mewfuille, by synchro summoning into Naturia Beast, (who’s maiming at the worst of times!) using the Hootcake or Mewfuille as the other material, or Naturia Barkion (who will be much more playable now that Heavy Storm is out) using the monster acquired by Hootcake or Mewfuille’s effects, not to mention that grabbing Messengelato off either of the aforementioned Madolches nets you advantage anyway! Watch out for these guys, they’ll take you by surprise. Blackwings get back Black Whirlwind, which, short of Gale the Whirlwind, means the whole Blackwing suite is now available, but I believe Blackwings may be a little too late, as other decks will probably overtake them for speed and combo capability, though I could easily be wrong on this front.

So hopefully this will give you at least a little insight into the sorts of decks you might want to play, or you might end up coming up against in the next couple of months, if you feel I’ve missed anything major, or I’ve put a little too much faith into something, then as I said at the start, feel free to leave a comment below or on the zer0shifted Facebook page! (https://www.facebook.com/zer0shifted)

Happy playing everyone!