New Year's Ban List Discussion

To start I will clear things up that Konami has switched new banlists from semi-annually to tri-annually (presuming that is a word).

http://www.yugioh-card.com/en/limited/

Forbidden:

Dragon Ravine: Personally I never saw Dragon Ravine as a problem. Sure it helped Dragon Rulers a lot, but they will not be a problem anyway and banning Dragon Ravine will not make it any more of a problem (I will talk about Dragon Rulers as a deck being gone shortly). Sure it helped Dragunity get a level 8 synchro every turn at the cost of one card (plus ravine itself), but that required good luck with combos in other cards and it drained the normal summon for the turn. A level 8 synchro just does not seem enough to ban.

Return from the Different Dimension: I am saddened by this for nostalgic reasons. Every time I see this card I thought of Yugi Moto's epic play in the movie. However I must agree that this card needed to go. In most decks it was so OP that pulling it off was normally a sweep.

Self-Destruction Button: This card was really troll, but also didn't really help. The ban of this seemed unnecessary. If anybody can give a good reason as to why this card is banned please let me know.

Sixth Sense: The card being unbanned is ridiculous to me... This card can give a player such an unfair advantage, especially now that milling is not a problem. Honestly Sixth Sense should have stayed banned.

Limited:

Blaster, Dragon Ruler of Infernos
Redox, Dragon Ruler of Boulders
Tidal, Dragon Ruler of Waterfalls
Tempest, Dragon Ruler of Storms: The four Dragon Rulers got limited. I am sure many are happy for this and I think this is fair. Because of these guys limitations I see no point in Dragon Ravine being banned. There is not much else to say on the matter.

Debris Dragon: Really this card I have not seen be abused in any manner. If somebody could try to explain to me why it is at 1 soon I would appreciate it.

Magician of Faith: I also fail to understand why this girl was brought up to 1. It has a loop. It is just like sixth sense, it should have stayed banned but was returned anyway.

Divine Wind of Mist Valley: They already limited Genex Ally Birdman, thus basically removing the Divine Wind OTK. Divine Wind of Mist Valley was not too much of an issue. Harpies would sometimes run it, but it didn't always work out. I suppose when it did it was a harsh thing to experience. I think keeping at 3 would have been fine and putting it at one was unnecessary.

Final Countdown: I know everybody is happy about this. Goodbye Final Countdown decks! This was one of the most annoying decks I have ever fought against and my only hate towards this is the fact it is at one and not zero. One will do enough damage though.

Sword of Seven Stars: With the limiting of sword of seven stars I fail to see any reason to limit this card. It thins the deck out by 2 cards and doesn't put the opponent at a card advantage, but it also has a cost of a level 7 monster making it more difficult to pull off. The Dragon Rulers are why this card is at one now but with the dragon rulers at one themselves, why bother? It is just a modified trade in.

Spellbook of Fate: Spellbooks were still very annoying and I do believe limiting Spellbook of Fate is a great idea, considering it is an easy to get to card that stops just about anything except an activation.

Semi-Limited:

Chaos Sorcerer: Chaos Sorcerer in particular is not that overpowered. Now this finally makes sense because it is at more than BLS. Chaos Sorcerer is a good card to be increased up to two. I think it should stay at two however. The banishing effect for a relatively easy summon is a reason to keep it at 2.

Lonefire Blossom: They are really pushing getting the plants again. I am extremely happy for this as plants needed a boost. I am also happy because it is going to help my Sylvans quite a bit! There isn't much too overpowered about this card. It can special summon some 2700 beatstick with some effect for the cost of itself and a normal summon. There are many worse cards to go against such as Master Hyperion whom is at three. The only thing with lonefire is it can be special summoned for more monsters. Honestly there are not that many good plant monsters. This card should go to three in my opinion.

Unlimited:

Archlord Kristya: This monster prevents special summoning of all kinds and is a 2800 beatstick. Not only this, but as long as this monster is sent to the graveyard it can be sent to the top of the deck to recycle it if the opposing player gets lucky with ryko, mirror force, etc. Honestly I think this card should have gone to 1, not 3.

Mezuki: Zombies so far are not doing so well and am glad they are getting a boost.

Plaguespreader Zombie: This monster is special summoned at a hefty cost for a level 2 tuner. I dont know why it was at two, let alone one to begin with.

T.G. Striker: Just another monster to special summon itself if the opponent has monsters and the player using this does not... There are many cards with this effect that are better. This going to three is well reasoned.

Tour Guide from the Underworld: This card was good at two. This is a one card Zenmaines , leviair, fortune tune, etc.

Constellar Ptolemy M7: I honestly do not see why this went down to one. Yes it recycled good cards, but I never found any use for having more than one in the extra deck anyway.

Fire Formation - Tenki: This is an improved RotA. This card honestly should go to one in my opinion due to it being a general searcher.

If you have any responses or want to post your own opinions please do.

I don't really know what decks you've been seeing, but every time I face Zombies they give me a hard time because of Mezuki. Other than that here are some of my reactions.

Fire Formation - Tenki: As if we didn't see enough BotFF decks already that were still able to kick some ass in a very annoying manner, now this is back to 3 and is just going to spur them even further. God help us.

Lonefire Blossom: I feel like the only person who disagrees with this card going up to 2, and it's not because it's overpowered or anything; it's because I feel there's no need for more than one. Drawing into it, all you need to do is summon it then use its effect to get out Gigaplant. Once Gigaplant is Gemini summoned, you can just keep spamming Lonefire from the grave over and over to get the cards you want. I've seen some pretty nasty Plant decks focusing around this and they really do put me in some tough situations like this.

Final Countdown: I'm just gonna start by saying, if you play a deck revolved around this card, please. Hang yourself. I'm a bit disappointed that they banned Self-Destruct Button (Another card that needs to stay gone) but only limited this. But hey, at least it's something good, and if you negate its activation now, the troll is basically on the user of Final Countdown, because they worked so hard to get it (Ha. Made myself laugh at that) and then you just say "Nope. Negated. Gg."

Magician of Faith: Eh..never really saw how this card could do major damage unless they use its effect to pull Dark Hole from the grave. Other than that, this card doesn't really impact me too much.

Debris Dragon: Why, oh why do they feel it necessary to limit this card? As Lev said, it's hard to abuse seeing as it needs to be normal summoned and it only takes cards with 500 or less attack points. Maybe I'm missing something.

Dragon Rulers/Dragon Ravine/Sacred Sword of Seven Stars: I huddled these cards together because they all coincide with one another. Dragon Rulers are just being hammered away format after format, and while I hate their decks with a passion, I do admit they're great support for some decks (Blaster for Battlin' Boxer; Tidal for Mermail; Tempest for any Wind deck; Redox for Gem-Knights). But with their limiting you can believe there's going to be room for many new styles to be made with them, and this time, hopefully, they're a LOT less overpowered. Sacred Sword, I really see no point in limiting, seeing as how it was mainly used for Dragon Rulers. However, semi-limiting it would work, seeing as how it can be used in decks like Mermails which utilize level 7s as well. In general it's not too big of a change, just an unnecessary one. Banning Dragon Ravine is a bit of a stretch because, again, it was used for Dragon Rulers which are now limited. However, Limiting Dragon Ravine would be fine, because I have seen Dragunities spam level 8 Synchros (and a Quasar once) by using this damn card. Banning it does do major damage to Dragunities, but it also takes away some fair use by decks like Chaos Dragons which have almost faded into obscurity lately.

Overall this format looks to be a pretty good one. I do have some complaints though...

1. No Lightsworns were hit whatsoever: Yeah I know I sound like a broken record with this but it just annoys the crap out of me. Lightsworns can be stopped a variety of ways, yes, like with Light-Imprisoning Mirror or Macro Cosmos etc. But the problem is, you need to draw into those cards first, and by the time you spent turn after turn trying to draw it, the Lightsworns already have two Judgment Dragons, their new Synchro, and some Lightrays to boot. They could've AT LEAST Limited or Semi-Limited Judgment Dragon. Even only hitting that one card would be enough to make me happy.

2. No Evilswarms were hit: This isn't a major complaint, as I am seeing them less and less and they really aren't a problem anymore. But still, at least limit Ophion. That's all I ask.

3. Bring back Heavy Storm: This is coming from a guy who SUPPORTED its banning last format. I thought it'd be a great idea because now you don't have to worry about your backrow being destroyed in the blink of an eye. But now I'm seeing more and more decks just spamming its backrow with really strong monsters in front, and that backrow then is used either aimlessly or to protect at all costs (Not to point out any decks *coughinfernitiescough*) Ever since Heavy Storm was banned, you have much less ability to take out major backrow decks like Infernities that rely on setting their good cards all at once so they can spam for 20 minutes.

4. Exodia: He just needs to go away. Limiting his parts isn't stopping him whatsoever from appearing. Just get rid of him already.

That's about it. I know this post is long and hefty but hey, there's quite a bit to talk about.

I complain about Lightsworns because I see them EVERYWHERE. In the club I'm in, on DN, even my friends use them. I'm so sick of seeing them and every time it's the same strategy. Sylvans don't need two Lonefires either, because like I said, one Lonefire is enough. Get out Gigaplant, spam Lonefire, spam Sylvans. It's all the same.

so long as chaos emperor dragon-envoy of the end isnt legal im happy

Have you played sylvans tamashii? Trust me, they need two lonefires. It is very difficult to draw or mill anything not sylvan in it

Plus with only one there it is uncommon to draw into it without searches. 2 happens much more often but still isn't often,  especially for sylvans.

Also Nottu I appologize. I wrote quite a bit for the topic post as you can see and I got distracted during part of it so yours was posted in the middle of this being posted.

I dunno. Plants aren't my thing. I'm only going off of what I've seen, and Sylvans I can tell are going to be pretty annoying to deal with, seeing as how they're kind of annoying now.

We won't know until they get the next cards revealed. So far it could probably be seen as tier 2 honestly.

are they planning on making more sylvans??? and ya loving what's happened to the rulers, lonefire, and my personal favorite, ravine :3 but uh..tenki..fuck off konami >.>

There will probably be more sylvan cards. Looking at ghostricks and how they revealed only some of the cards then the rest later when it was almost out we can infer konami has or will have more sylvan cards.

I still must see this E-teledolche some time...