Banlist Requests Analysis day 1 - Banging my head against the wall

Yeah, you heard it right.

As I said in previous post, I'm trying to do something big with all the banlist predictions out there. I'm trying to make a list of the people. The wish of all the players out there. I thought I would be able to do so, as I've seen several lists on my linked blogs and I had to say most of them were either good or up for debate.

I've screened most of the blogs today and gathered every list I saw. Then I watched the predictions from the Alter Reality Games and then I started banging my head against the wall.

The lists of Billy Brake & Vexacus4666 are the easier ones to digest. Even the first one (of Paul) I can get... somehow. But the lists of Joe Giorlando & his copy-cat Patrick Hoban are just flailing wildly at every tier deck there is.

Joe explains that this list is his "ideal" list, not what he thinks Konami's going to do (As if Konami would ever hit that many cards). But when he starts explaining, he's going the wrong way.

• First he gives off an explanation why every good card in the current top decks should either be forbidden, limited or semi-limited. (so far I get it, this is his ideal list).
• He then explains why cards like Deep see Diva & Genex Undine are on his limited list, because of the upcoming structure deck & the Water Support in Abyss Rising.(I get that these two cards can make crazy combo's with the new water support, but it feels like overkill to me).
• And then he puts Tribe-infecting Virus at 3, because he says (and I quote) "This card really isn’t very good".
• And to top it off, His copy-cat (Patrick Hoban) goes along with him in his own article and says (I quote again): "the reality is Tribe Infecting Virus sucks"

Why returning Tribe-infecting Virus to the game is a BAD idea

Tribe-Infecting Virus	Atlantean Dragon Riders (TCG name pending)
This card allows you to destroy monsters of 1 type, at the cost of 1 card in your hand.	When this card is sent to the grave to activate the effect of a WATER monster, add 1 Sea Serpent (except this one) from your deck to your hand.

1. Normal Summon Tribe-Infecting Virus
2. Discard Atlantean Dragon Riders to activate the effect of Virus. Declare the type of monsters you want to get rid of (machines/insects/dragons).
3. Your opponent's monsters of the selected type are destroyed
4. You can search ANY Sea Serpent of ANY level (except Dragon Riders) from your deck to your hand as a bonus.
5. Congractulations! You just got yourself a costless mass destruction!
6. If your opponent has more face-up monsters and you have another Dragon Riders, you can repeat the previous steps, as Virus' effect doesn't have that "once per turn" part.

Frustrations

Yeah, putting Diva and Undine at 1, but returning this bad boy to 3 is not going to help balancing the game... That's just filling one pit by making another pit.

I just find it very frustrating that a paid writer with some credentials (I guess) clearly knows what's coming, makes an ideal banlist that would make the game fair and then just stupidly puts a forbidden card (that combo's with one of those upcoming cards) back at three, just because he thinks it's bad. If you're going to say controversial things, at least do some research to back up what you're trying to prove...

Let's just say that those two articles put a cross over me enjoying the creation of a banlist of the people today.

Let's hope I can read some better lists tomorrow.

V out.

Traditional at locals

I wasn't able to participate in the previous Traditional tourney due to… partying a little too hard the day before (lol) and failing to make time to create a decent enough deck. So that’s why I was a spectator last time.

Last Saturday, though, I was prepared and went to the other locals I usually attend, for a traditional Tourney. I pimped out my chaos dragons with forbidden cards (Painful Choice, Chaos Emperor Dragon, Dimension Fusion and Graceful Charity are all boss in Chaos Dragons).

Round 1: P-H (Six Sam):

• Game 1: I open up badly, but Imperial Order saved my ass, as my opponent opened with 5 spell cards (LOL). He can only advance slowly, while I recuperate from possibly one of the worst opening hands I've ever had. When my lifepoints drop down to 1900 (mostly due to paying the cost of Imperial order) I stopped paying the cost and get my game going. I get Future Fusion in my hand, resulting with a bunch of monsters and Chaos Emperor Dragon on the field, dropping his lifepoints to 2900 and then activating CED’s effect to burn 3200 for game.
• Game 2: I beat his monster with Leviathan Dragon turn 1, but he activates Gateway + SS United. He continues to summon, Searches/draws cards, drops Electric Virus on my dragon and OTK’s me. Yeah, I suddenly remembered why I hate Gateway of the SS.
• Game 3: Back and forth game, with Imperial order backing me again and Painful choice helping me advance. I win in the end.

Result: OXO

Round 2: Newbie (random warriors)

• Game 1: I realized this guy was new to the game and the god of card games wanted me to punish him. I opened up really broken (best hand of the day) and could FTK him.
• Game 2: Even with a quick-made deck that wasn’t prepared for Traditional, he showed quite some resilience. This guy holds some potential. But yeah, when facing Chaos Dragons unprepared in Traditional, you’re bound to lose.

Result: OO

I give him some tips on what he could’ve done to stop my advance, giving him some insight into the game.

Round 3: Vs Damon (Infernity)

• Game 1: The moment I activate Painful choice, he sees where I’m going and asks if I’m going to OTK him. I bluff a little, saying yes (as if! My hand wasn’t that great). He takes my bluff and scoops (his hand sucked, he told me).
• Game 2: I can’t do a thing when he starts looping. He OTK’s me.
• Game 3: I stop his Grepher with Veiler, seal his traps with Royal Decree and go forward from then on.

Result: OXO

Game 4: Carl (Piper Chaos)

• Game 1: Back-and-forth Game. He draws a lot and makes my moves backfire. I have few tricks of my own, but I know his Piper deck takes advantage of big, beefy monsters (like mine). Though moment he activates Crush Card Virus, I’m doomed. My field is swept clean and my hand is gone.
• Game 2: I have Troll & Lock bird ready, but he doesn’t activate a single draw card (once, a single Piper, wow). My  sided Royal Decree gets MST’d early on. Crush Card Virus doesn’t discard lot from my hand (I had Tour Guide, Veiler and the D&L bird that wouldn't fly), but with every good card I draw, being automatically sent to the graveyard, I can’t come back.

Result: XX

His loss over the Droll & Lock birds a few weeks ago clearly left a sore spot, as he didn't pimp his deck out with draw power (he said he’s the only one playing without Pot of Greed). No wonder my birds wouldn’t fly.

By request of the judge, we don't play top-4 (we agreed, result would've been the same, more or less)

End result: Third place (P-H got 2nd due to better tie-breaker)

• Card of the day: Imperial Order
• Fail card of the day: Dark Magician of Chaos (dunno why I bothered using him. Mostly ended up being a dead draw, even in Chaos Dragons).
• Got crushed by: Crush Card Virus. Yeah, that card really does hurt Chaos Dragons

So that's my locals report.

Next to the report, I've decided to do something with all the banlist predictions out there... But as this might take a while, I'll post about that near the end of the week.

Until next time, V out.

No deck is unbeatable (even in Traditional)

We all had that moment once, where we thought: "Damn, that deck can NOT be stopped!"

In the current Yu-Gi-Oh! format, I don't really have that feeling right now. Every deck can be beaten by another deck. For example, the current top decks of the march 2012 format.

• Wind-ups are weak to Maxx "C" and Veiler, 
• Chaos Dragons have a weakness to macro decks and recurring destruction (aka Hornet), 
• Dino Rabbits' weakness is that they have no outs to boss monsters like those Chaos Dragons spew. 
• Inzektors hate cards like Veiler & Dolkka, nor do they like chaos monsters.

Exchange FTK

In my own case, until recently I thought that the Traditional deck that could not be beaten was Exchange FTK.

For those that do not know Exchange FTK, I'll explain it in a few steps:

1. You draw a lot, with cards like Pot of Greed, Graceful Charity, One Day of Peace, Upstart Goblin,...)
2. You ensure Makyura the Destructor ends up in the graveyard (Foolish Burial, Armageddon Knight, Darkworld Dealings, Graceful Charity,...)
3. You draw recklessly, because you want to finish things in 1 turn (cards like reckless greed, Good Goblin Housekeeping & into the void)
4. You use Soul Release, because you don't want cards in your opponents' graveyard.
5. You activate Exchange of the Spirit from your hand, swapping grave and deck (not sending, SWAPPING!).
6. You use a draw power card that forces your opponent to draw a card (Dark World Dealings, One Day of Peace, Card Destruction).
7. Since your opponent cannot draw, you win.

In the few games I've seen happening with one of the better players at the steering wheel, the match was decided in less than 5 minutes, siding not included.

Holy s!!t, those guys must be banned!

They Key pieces for this FTK are of course: Makyura the Destructor and Exchange of the Spirit. Both cards have been forbidden for life for a reason.

•  Makyura has no line on it that says that it has to remain in the grave to continue resolving, thus he doesn't give a f**k when removed by D.D. Crow or such.

• Exchange's exact wording: Cards like Wulf, Lightsworn Beast, or Penguin Knight cannot activate, because they're not being sent to the graveyard. The deck has just been swapped with the graveyard. A choice in wording that Konami (thankfully) never repeated, due to it being unstoppable by anything in existence.

But in the finals of that Traditional tournament I watched, I thought Exchange FTK would win for sure. At least until I saw that very Echange-player struggling and losing.

I admit, cards like Delinquent Duo & Confiscation stopped the advance little by little. But there was a key card in there that put a lock on the whole idea behind Exchange FTK.

Droll & Lock Bird (read: Troll & Lock Bird)

Troll & Lock Bird is a hand trap that shines the most when faced with a "draw or die" deck. When your opponent draws a card (or adds a card to his hand), you can discard this card from your hand. Neither player can add any other cards from his deck to his hand that turn.

While this card does not seem that useful in most decks, it's a literal pain in the ass when it fights against Exchange FTK or other traditional decks that focus on drawing a lot of cards (Dragon Deep Draw, Exodia OTK,...).

Due to being forced to stop drawing, the reckless nature of Exchange FTK automatically backfires, as cards like Reckless Greed & Into the void suddenly DO have their drawbacks. Discarding the entire hand (Into the void) and not being able to draw any card in the draw phase (reckless greed) often means the player loses. And since Makyura is still limited, even in Traditional, you lose your chance of activating traps in your hand.

During the entire match, the Exchange player (whom I thought would win the tournament) faced Troll & Lock bird 5 times, causing him to be frustrated near the end and lose.

I saw the (what I thought) most unbeatable deck in Yu-Gi-Oh! go down in an exciting match and Troll & Lock Bird made that win happen.

What's to say... I've become a fan of this card.

Until next time.

V out.

How to beat a field full of dragons

Consider one of the following situations:

• Your opponent has a field with 2 Gaia Dragons (overlayed from Atum), an unused Hieratic Dragon King of Atum (or some other dragon) and 2 Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragons with 0 attack/defense.
• Your opponent has a field with 2 Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragons and a few chaos dragons (while playing with dragons).

Seems pretty hopeless, huh? Yeah, a top decked card like Dark Hole and Black luster Soldier might get you out of this bind. But try thinking outside of the box. Try to look at cards that other players use… For example: HERO players.

Yup, the card I’m talking about is Super Polymerization.

Super Polymerization?

I hear you coming… isn't this a HERO-exclusive card? The answer is… NO. You can fuse ANY fusion monster you want, as long as the necessary fusion material monsters are on (either side of) the field and as long as you discard 1 card. 

You all know how powerful Super Poly is. It’s one of the few cards in Yu-Gi-Oh! that you can NOT counter.

How frequent could you activate it? Well, both Chaos Dragons and Hieratic Dragons have the tendency to spam the field with boss monsters, so more frequent than you think!

The best thing is, when you’re a dragon player yourself, you don’t even need to change that extra deck. The target fusion monster is already in there!

How it works – Vs. Hieratics

Hieratic dragons have the tendency to overextend to OTK you. When they do their loop (Atum - REDMD - Atum - REDMD - any dragon), they leave themselves very vulnerable to Super Poly.

Take that moment, just before your opponent overlays those two REDMD’s into Gustaph Max, to activate Super Polymerization, tribute your opponents 5 dragons and have a gigantic boss monster as a prize.

How it works – Vs. Chaos Dragons

This kind of “bullying” is harder to pull off against Chaos Dragons, but it can work wonders in Chaos Dragon mirror matches. If your opponent has 3 or more Dragons on his side of the field, you can have 1 or 2 (depending on how many your opponent has) dragons enter the field and activate this card. The plus on this is that your opponent’s Lightpulsar Dragon will miss the timing. In this case, make sure you don’t use LPD yourself (unless you’re out of options), because your LPD will miss timing as well.

So, the next time somebody tells you Konami should make Five-Headed dragon forbidden (instead of Future Fusion), tell them they shouldn't, because you can use that very fusion monster against dragon players.

Of course, this is just one possible counter against Chaos/Hieratic Dragons. But this one proves that you should not limit yourself to the generally known counters (like Electric Virus, Victoria, Soul Taker, ...). When you think outside of the box, you might just find an original answer to your problem.

Until next time

V out.

Bonus unlocked: Win by the effect of Destiny leo

Yeah, you heard it right. Yu-Gi-Oh! has a new card that allows you to win the game. And just like with Venominaga, it seems near impossible to reach when you read it.

The card I'm talking about is Number 88: Gimmick Puppet - Destiny Leo.

Its effect is as follows: Once per turn, detach one XYZ material from this card to place one Destiny counter on this card. When you have 3 of these counters, you automatically win the game.

Seems easy to achieve? Wait until you hear the limitations!
- The card needs 3 level 8 monsters as XYZ material. (okay, that's not easy, but not THAT hard)
- You can only activate the effect when you have no cards in your spell/trap card zone. (ouch)
- You cannot conduct your battle phase when you activate the effect. (eep)

So no cards to protect it & needing at least 3 turns to fulfill its effect, while leaving your opponents monsters untouched.
If you can win by this guy's effect in real life, you truly deserve that win!
Look forward to have another achievement to unlock on your next World Championship game.

Until next time
V out.
Edit on 09/08: Hi-res pic became available. Uploaded the new one.

11 cards to look forward to in Abyss Rising

In OCG, the new Yu-Gi-Oh! Booster set is coming out. Its name is Abyss Rising and it gives an incredible amount of water support (as if it isn’t raining enough already).

In comparison to GAOV & ROTD, where most good cards were of the included archetypes, this set gives us decent/good cards that are not of an (included) archetype.

Effect monsters:

1. Nimble Angler: A Nimble support monster? There are still miracles occurring, I guess. Getting this guy to the grave gives you two free Nimble monsters from the deck (except this one). Nimble Sunfish, Momonga, Manta, Musasabi, or even Hamster! Due to this card being a water attribute card, I guess it will be used for Sunfish & Manta only.
2. Mechanical Sea Dragon – Plesion: More support for the Atlantean Structure deck. This guy can be normal summoned when a sea serpent is on the field and is a 2300 beat stick. Also, it can destroy a monster once per turn, by tributing a water monster (triggering the effect of cards like Atlantean Dragon Riders).
3. Small Penguin: Awwwwwh, how cute. This one is definitely the cutest card from the set. Oh… effect? When this card is flipped and sent to the graveyard, you can special summon or special set(!) a Penguin monster! Now this is a nice addition to the Penguin archetype.

XYZ monsters

1. One-Eyed Skill Gainer: Offering Gadgets has a new Rank 4 target. Detach one monster & copy the name and effect of another monster on the field… permanently! Whether or not it’s a Laggia, BLS or Dark Armed Dragon, this guy can copy the effect! Downside: You can only activate this effect once, so Effect Veiler puts a stop to this guys effect. 

Spell Cards

1. Different Dimension Trench: Wow, it’s been a while since we’ve seen a (decent) D.D. card. This is clearly one of them. Banish one card from your hand, grave or side of the field (preferably when the effect is negated), use your heavy storm/MST and get it back on the field! Having this card on the field will also make your opponent hold back on using Heavy Storm. Downside: Water attribute decks only. 
2. Forbidden Garment: The third card in the “Forbidden” Series. After Effect Negation & Spell/Trap Negation, this one reads: Negate destruction/targeting by effects. This is an ideal side-card when facing inzektors, since the target cannot be targeted for Card Destruction (nor can it be destroyed by card effect). It’s also a good thing to use this card if you don’t want your monster to be targeted by Effect Veiler. Downside: it loses 800 attack, so it’s an easy target for destruction by battle. 
3. Mental Corruption: The story of why Mist Valley Thunder Lord tore apart AoJ Catastor. It’s all Fabled Raven’s fault! This card is a copy of the secondary effect of Tragoedia. Discard 1 card to steal 1 card of the same level. The artwork shows which deck will benefit the most of this card: Fabled. Why should you consider this card? Two words: Mirror Matches, nuff said. 

Trap Cards

1. Bubble Bringer: Support card for water-attributes. A weaker version of Gravity Bind, but it allows for the special summon of 2 Lv. 3 or lower water attribute monsters (with the same name). This card is a great addition for Atlantean and Frog decks.  
2. Memory of a Rival: Now this is interesting. Letting your monster survive and stealing your opponent’s monster? This is hilarious! The cost might make this card a little risky (considering it takes another opponent’s turn before you actually get the card), but it might be worth the risk (getting rid of an opponent’s BLS or Zenmaines might be advantageous for you. Downside: Bad card to top deck if you’re low on life points (though the same goes for Solemn Warning). 
3. Magic Deflector: A costless Spell stun card that works versus nearly every spell card, safe Normal & Ritual Spells. This card reads Inzektor hate and Quick-play spell card hate (hint: the Forbidden Trio, Book of Moon, Enemy Controller and even MST). Combine this with cards like Royal decree to lock down your opponent! 
4. Retaliation: Chaos Dragons and other Lightsworn-engine based decks have a problem, which this card solves. Good staple spell and trap cards have a high chance of being sent to the graveyard by mill effect. Retaliation is a counter trap, which counters the activation of a spell or trap card that’s present in your graveyard and adds that card from the grave to your hand! 

Note: These names are the ones the OCG gives them. The actual TCG name might differ upon release in the TCG (in November).

Note2: Archetype cards not included in this list: Heroic, Mermail/Abyss, Madolche, Heraldic Beast, Prophecy/Spellbook & Gagaga

Next time, I’ll give a review of the archetype specific cards

V out.

Update on 23/07: High resolution pictures have become available. I uploaded them in this post.

Konami's answer to crazy secret rare prices... reprint 'em faster!

If you haven't been following the Yu-Gi-Oh! news, there have been some revelations in the past week (all thanks to Konami being present at comic-con).

• The wave 1 tins of this year hold secret rare cards like: Wind-up Zenmaines, Wind-up Rabbit, Evolzar Dolkka and... Evolzar Laggia, Scrap Dragon and Genex Neutron. 
• Next to that there was the announcement of Legendary Collection 3, which holds reprints of former hard-to-get expensive Tournament Pack & Championship Pack cards... in the same rarity, together with foil versions of other great cards (Gravekeepers, staple spell & trap cards,...). Oh yeah... and a tournament legal version of the Seal of Orichalcos! (lol, what?)
• The Wave 2 tin cover monsters appear to be Ninja Grandmaster Hanzo and Hieratic Sun Dragon Overlord of Heliopolis.
• Abyss Rising will have a Special Edition, which is not the ususal habbit of Konami (ROTD will have a Special Edition, normally Abyss Rising wouldn't have one).  

These announced reprints of "recent" (< 1 year)  cards, that are either tournament level or simply high rarity (read: expensive), explains one thing... 

This is Konami's answer to the high prices that Secret Rare cards are getting. 

Konami is apparantly sick and tired of people paying >100$ for a secret rare card. But instead of changing the ratio of 8 secret rares per booster set, they're just reprinting them faster. The old rule they had of waiting 1 year for a reprint has been scratched off the board.

Budget players will cheer, as expensive tournament level cards (like Zenmaines) will be cheap dirt. Buyers/Sellers will go weep in a corner, because every card in their binder now has the chance of being reprinted after a few months.

I understand people who were trying to get money out of the game (and those that spent hundreds of dollars/euros on these cards) are angry at these announcements, but it's generally for the greater good. If Konami holds onto this principle, less people will be paying crazy prices for secret rare cards and the overal price of high-tier decks will drop. 

We'll see what happens in the future

V out.

Wind-up wins European Championship Yu-Gi-Oh!

Yeah, you hear it correctly. After Wind-ups have won the North-American Championship, they also win the European Championship.

Stefano Memoli (Italy) has taken the victory from Chaos Dragons. Congratulations to him.

Stefano might not sound unfamiliar, as he's also been one of the European representatives in 2010. Let’s hope this experience works out for him.

Great coverage, as usual

Thanks to the great coverage (as usual) of the European coverage team, we know pretty much everything we needed to know, like:

• Who will represent Europe at the World Championship
• What the deck lists are of the top 32
• Who was that awesome to actually summon the Dark Magician during a feature match?

Us, Belgians

And how did the Belgians do?... Yeah, not that great, huh. Most known names gave up after 6 or 7 rounds (including known names as Max, Kim and Sebastien).

The Belgian that got the highest rank was Michael Languedoc, who got a respectable 108th place. Still too low to get a top-64 spot.

Wind-ups on the rise

But the most important thing is… Wind-ups won again. After everyone dissed them a few months ago in favor of Chaos Dragons, they’ve come back with a vengeance. Wind-up and their ability to pick apart the opponent’s hand is something to be feared, after all.

Until next time

V out.

Predictions for the Forbidden & limited list for September 2012

Look at the time of the year. It’s July, so it’s time for the September F&L predictions (you know, the banlist that we shouldn’t call a banlist anymore).
Keeping in mind that Inzektors, Rabbit-type decks and Chaos Dragons / Hieratic Dragons are the most popular decks right now; and keeping in mind that Konami only hits things they’re not planning to profit from in the next six months; this is the F&L list I have in mind

Forbidden:

• Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier: Brionac is a key card in many FTK and OTK ever since this card was first introduced. It’s also known that getting this card on the field may give you the win. We also know that Konami is trying to get rid of all broken cards of the past (like Goyo and Trishula in previous lists), so I guess this card is an easy pick to become forbidden.
• Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning: Konami experimented with this card through priority loss, then through hitting T.G. Agents. But it keeps popping up too frequently to be good. I love this card, but it’s better if it becomes forbidden again.
• Monster Reborn: Honestly, do we even need to explain why? The card is broken and wins games by itself. Also, the lack of a reprint with the new problem-solving text ever since it came off the forbidden list, hints that it’s not going to stay.
• Mind Control: Ever since synchro’s came out, this card has become a costless brain control. The XYZ appearing only helped its popularity. This card needs to go.

Oh Black Luster Soldier, no-one must ever know of our forbidden love.

Limited to 1:

• Inzektor Dragonfly: This card defines how bad Konami makes their cards. Each time an equipped inzektor card is sent to the graveyard, you can spam the field? With cards like giga-mantis & Zektkalibur, who cares about it once-per-turn restriction on equipping? Getting this card on the field starts every Inzektor loop. This card needs a limit, literally.
• Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon: Forget Future Fusion. THIS is the heart and soul of every dragon deck out there. Future fusion may be the ideal “dump everything to the graveyard” card, but with limited access to this card, dragon players have to play more conservative. Once this dragon is banished, both Chaos Dragons and Hieratic have limited outs. And don’t forget… with access to only 1 REDMD, that rank 10 mechanical phallus (as LFN put it so nicely) is nearly impossible to summon.
• Leviair the Sea Dragon: Part of the “dragons that aren’t dragons” group. Most people use 1 only. Those that use 2 only abuse its effect to bring the bunny back to the field. This is an easy way to hit rabbit decks without beating the rabbit too much.

Semi-limited:

• Inzektor Hornet: The ultimate destroyer should take a hit too. Less of this card means less destruction. It doesn’t mean less effect triggering, as Hopper and ladybug are great too!
• Rescue Rabbit: Putting the rabbit at 1 would kill the rabbit-type deck, but at 2 it’s still playable. If the rabbit keeps causing trouble, it can still get limited in March ‘13.
• Mezuki: It’s a statement I’ve been making for a while now. Zombies are dead right now (bad joke, I know). The last few zombie cards that have been printed are mediocre to plain bad (even pain painter isn’t all that great), so they need a boost. Mezuki to 2 would increase its popularity again. But honestly… Zombies need a (good) XYZ monster.
• Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind: Of all my picks, probably the most controversial choice. Blackwing have been hit enough, we know it. Gale is a powerful card with its special summon ability and its effect to halve attack power. But synchro's have a declined usage and Gale by itself is only 1300 attack. Not to mention, I'd rather see this card coming back than Kalut or Black Whirlwind.

Don’t ban me, please :3 I’m too cute to be forbidden.

Unlimited:

• Archlord Kristya: Remember they semi-limited this card last September? What did it cause? A bunch of laughter, that’s what. Hardly anyone played triple Kristya (too much dead weight). Since Agents see less play, this can come back at 3.
• Summoner Monk: This card’s effect was why it was put at 1. This card’s cost is why it’s back at 2. But even with XYZ and Ultimate Offering Gadgets, I hardly see people playing this card (let alone twice), because discarding spell cards remains a high cost, especially with Effect Veiler around.
• Level Limit – Area B: Returned to semi-limited previous season. XYZ bypass this card just as easy as Gravity Bind. It is more annoying for non-xyz monsters, though, so I guess that’s the reason why it’s still not unlimited yet. But give it a shot. We’ll see what happens.
• Swords of Revealing Light: People were hardly playing it at 1, its use didn’t increase when returned at 2 and its use is probably not going to increase at 3.
• Primal Seed: Only if BLS-EOTB is forbidden, of course.

So as I pray… unlimited Swords works.

Things that should get hit/return, but probably won’t :

According to me, the following cards should be limited or forbidden. But I don’t think Konami’s going to touch them :

• Premature Burial – limited (with Monster Reborn & Brionac forbidden): In my eyes, Premature Burial is less good than Monster Reborn. It has a (small) cost, is limited to your own graveyard and forces your monster in attack position. Edit: Okay, I had it explained. But if Brionac & MR become forbidden, then this guy can get off the list. Less bouncing back means less abuse.
• Future Fusion – forbidden: The instant win card for chaos dragons, but a key card in other decks that use fusions. Konami’s held back on banning this card. I would be happy if they did, though.
• Limiter Removal – forbidden: The infamous OTK card for Machine decks. If your opponent does not have a Gorz or Battle Fader in his hand, this card means instant OTK. This card is broken as hell, but won’t get touched, as Konami’s trying to sell their Geargia’s.
• Wind-up Carrier Zenmaity to 1: I feel Zenmaity and/or Hunter should be limited in usage, to limit the amount of cards they can discard from the hand. But we have to admit: The only victory Wind-ups have achieved was the Nord-American WCQ, because people forgot to put Veilers and Maxx-C’s in their (side)-decks (*facepalm*). In OCG it’s doing nothing at all. Also, TCG has certain “world premiere cards” like Rabbit & Shark, that Japan is getting in their Extra Pack 5 in September. Konami’s not going to cut their own veins and hit Wind-ups.
• Spore return to 1/3: Plants are dead and synchro monsters have a declined usage. Glow-up Bulb and Trishula were bigger problem cards than Spore. Bring this card back already; I don’t care at what limitation. But seeing Kevin Tewart gave so much effort into explaining why this card and bulb are banned, I don’t think they’re going to return it to us this fast.
• Sangan - forbidden: Rather than Tour Guide, I would like to see this card banned. It’s a generic searcher. It gets nearly everything to your hand (Rescue Rabbit, Wind-up Rat, Inzektor Dragonfly / Hornet, Effect Veiler…). But Konami’s been holding back on this one for ages, so I don’t see why they would hit it this time.
• Number 6: Chronomaly Atlanto, aka OOPArts Atlanthal - limited: What was Konami smoking when creating this card? Yes, I know; they’ve limited its use a little (target 1 numbers card, that numbers has to be sent to the grave together with 1 xyz material, no battle phase, blablabla), so that FTK is very hard to achieve. But still, this card is bad news for the game. Why won’t they hit it? It has a planned release in august in TCG. Would be weird if they hit it now.

Final thoughts

If you’re not playing at an upcoming YCS, or at a World Chamionship Qualifier or the World Championship itself, start selling your inzektors while they’re still worth something and start buying Wind-ups while they’re getting cheaper.
Because unless Abyss Rising has a broken archetype, or Return of the Duelist holds the next broken TCG world premiere card, Wind-ups will (most probably) be the winner of the September 2012 Forbidden & Limited list.
Until next time,
V out.

YCS Sheffield = battle pack YCS

When I returned from Werchter, I noticed a few updates on Yu-Gi-Oh! news.

the tins got their product page (if you didn't get the newsflash, both tins include Wind-up Zenmaines) and the product page of Return of the Duelist appeared.

Another thing that got announced were 2 new European YCS's. YCS Sheffield (weekend of September 8) and YCS Barcelona (weekend of december 1st).

Considering the low amount of YCS's Europe gets when compared to the US, I was quite happy to hear this.

But then I started reading the following :

So the main event of YCS Sheffield is going to be a Battle Pack tournament instead of the usual Advanced Format. Lol, what?

the people I spoke to at my locals could hardly believe what they heard or were simply angry because of this change. this isn't some local Pegasus League tournament or a side-event of a YCS, we're talking about the MAIN EVENT being Battle Pack Sealed.

YCS Toulouse had a little over 400 participants. Wanna bet this one ain't gonna get 200? Because, seriously, who is willing to pay hundreds of euro's for travel & stay to participate in a battle pack tournament?

Konami continues with the reassuring words:

This change does not mean that every YCS from now on will be Sealed Pack – YCS Barcelona will be again played in Advanced Constructed format. However, we do plan to host some of our future YCS events as Sealed Pack

Let's hope not.

V out.