TCG Forbidden & Limited List is out

So I was busy preparing a post about the new OCG set when suddenly...

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

TCG Forbidden & Limited List is out today and goes in effect from Monday already. Saying that's fast is quite an understatement.

The April 11, 2016 Forbidden & limited list

Listed are only the changes

Forbidden

• Performage Damage Juggler – Already hit on the adjusted list
• Performage Plushfire – Already hit on the adjusted list
• Tellarknight Ptolemaeus- Already hit on the adjusted list
• Chicken Game – Previously Unlimited
• Wavering Eyes – Previously Unlimited

Limited

• Luster Pendulum, the Dracoslayer – Already hit on the adjusted list
• Performapal Monkeyboard – Already hit on the adjusted list
• Performapal Skullcrobat Joker – Already hit on the adjusted list
• Wisdom-Eye Magician – Previously Unlimited
• Elder Entity Norden – Previously Unlimited
• Thousand-Eyes Restrict – Previously Forbidden
• Ignister Prominence, The Blasting Dracoslayer – Previously Unlimited
• Draco Face-Off – Previously Unlimited
• Reasoning – Previously Unlimited
• Upstart Goblin – Previously Unlimited

Semi-Limited

• Debris Dragon – Previously Limited
• Allure of Darkness – Previously Limited
• Emergency Teleport – Previously Unlimited

Unlimited

• Dark Magician of Chaos – Previously Forbidden
• Tragoedia – Previously Semi-Limited
• Advanced Ritual Art – Previously Semi-Limited
• Crush Card Virus – Previously Limited

First impressions

Well, they confirmed EVERY change on the adjusted list without thinking about it if the hits were right or not.

Next to that, I see cards I kind of predicted (Ignister, Draco Face-off, Reasoning and arguably Wavering Eyes (thought it was going to be limited, but I'm just as happy with it being forbidden tbh).

Also surprised that Konami decided to take (minor) hits towards Kozmo, while officially still supporting them with new cards. This by Semi-limiting E-Teleport (hardly a hit in my eyes) and Reasoning (seen them abuse this). But for some reason I doubt they'll feel very salty about it. Might be that there's going to be another batch of support for them in the next set.

And... did Konami read my article about Monarch/Magical Explosion FTK? Because they made Chicken game forbidden instead of Life Equalizer. And as I said in that post, Monarch FTK deck is dead without Chicken Game.

Other than that, glad with the hits on Norden and Upstart Goblin; glad with the release of Thousand Eyes Restrict and DMoC. But I find it sad that Wisdom-Eye had to go as well. I admit, it's an OP searcher. But as the owner of an Odd-Eyes Magician deck I find it sad that a deck that hasn't topped (much) is being hit INSTEAD OF B.A. or MONARCHS?

 

That's it for now. Kind of figuring out what to do with my Odd-Eyes Magician deck now.

V out.

Gold Series Infinite Gold - Moneycards reprints and Premium Pack imports

Last year TCG-Konami had decided that every booster pack from 2016 onward will include a foil card. This was done in an attempt to stop card prices from skyrocketing to new hights.

And it was necessary. Cards like Kozmo Dark Destroyer at its peak were being sold around €100. Ghost Ogre was between 50-70 and so on and so on.

And if you look at the single price cards of BOSH, it makes you wonder what cards like Pendulum Sorcerer, Solemn Strike or Cyber Dragon Infinity would be worth if booster boxes had the old rarity (*shudders*)

But how can Konami now stop the old cards from remaining overpriced? Reprint them, obviously!

Reprint season continues - Gold Series 2016: Infinite Gold

After cards like Ghostrick Alucard, Diamond Crab King, Harpie Harpist and many more were reprinted in Wing Raiders, the next set that includes reprints is the new Gold Series pack - Infinite Gold.

Earlier, it was already announced that the Gold Pack would include the former YCS Promo cards Giant Hand and Digvhorzak; and also the ever-popular Emergency Teleport.

And last weekend, some Konami officials were happy enough to bring a few other Gold Cards to a UDS sanctioned tournament. People obviously were curious and were massively taking pictures. Result is a leaked list of cards which are receiving a Gold treatment:

• Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit
• Dante, Traveler of the Burning Abyss
• Kozmo Dark Destroyer
• Kozmo Farmgirl
• Kozmo Goodwitch
• Kozmo Sliprider
• Kozmo Forerunner
• Kozmo Dogfighter
• Kozmotown
• Mask Change
• Mask Change II
• Chimeratech Fortress Dragon

Wow. If you want to start making a Kozmo deck, you're almost better off buying a few Gold Packs rather than paying several hundreds of dollars on a full deck...

Note: Only half of these have been actually confirmed by photographs. The rest is from a message/post by Jeff Jones. Due to this, the leaked list might not be 100% accurate.

What new cards are going to be in this Gold Series?

Yes, the reprinted gold cards are always fun to have (Personally I love gold foil cards; but that's just me). But more often than not, people are curious about the NEW cards that will be in there.

While none of the new cards have been officially confirmed, I can take a well-calculated guess on what cards will be included.

I can say with 90% certainty that most (if not all) of the new cards included are those from OCG's Premium Pack 18. It's a set of 20 cards that are mostly taken from the Yu-Gi-Oh manga's (5D's, Zexal and Arc-V manga).

For those who care, this is the full list of that pack: http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Premium_Pack_18

As usual with Premium Pack cards, most of these cards are for collection purposes rather than actually being useful. But there's always a few exceptions in there that prove their worth. In this case, at least two of these cards see play in OCG decks.

Those two areFreezing Air of the Monarchs and Number 38: Hope Harbinger Dragon - Titanic Galaxy

note: These are fan-translated names; the actual TCG names may vary upon release

What do these cards do?

Freezing air of the monarchs

"If you control a monster with 2400 or more ATK and 1000 DEF: Target 1 Set card on the field; destroy it. You can banish this card and 1 other "Monarch" Spell/Trap Card from your Graveyard, then target 1 Set card on the field; destroy it."

So basically backrow control. It's a good one-of card to have in a monarch deck.

Number 38: Hope Harbinger Dragon - Titanic Galaxy

2 Level 8 monsters

"Once per turn, during either player's turn, when a Spell effect on the field is activated: You can negate that effect, and if you do, attach that card on the field to this card as an Xyz Material. When an opponent's monster declares an attack: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card; change the attack target to this card and perform damage calculation. If a face-up Xyz Monster(s) you control is destroyed by battle or card effect: You can target 1 Xyz Monster you control; that target gains ATK equal to 1 of those destroyed monsters' original ATK."

This Xyz is interesting. Especially considering the fact that cards in the Pendulum Zone are Spell cards. Also, turning those spells into Xyz Materials is hilarious and deadly when facing decks that focus on certain spells or pendulum effects (Prophecy, Monarchs, PePe, etc).

Any other guesses?

Well, with the set being 100(!) cards and the few cards that have already leaked, I can make a few more calculated guesses. With the number of Kozmo cards included, I can only presume that every Kozmo card (those from BOSH not included) will be in the set, along with a lot of Masked HEROES and Burning Abyss cards. The last one would make sense, since they weren't reprinted in the Premium Tin last year.

With Chimeratech Fortress Dragon in here, there's a decent chance there will be a reprint of other Cyber Dragon-related Fusions/Xyz, like Cyber Dragon Nova. But no, don't hope for Cyber Dragon Infinity to be reprinted already (too soon).

Most other cards will be fan-favorite cards from the past years and frequently returning cards in tournaments (like Horn of Heaven, just sayin'). I'm sure everybody has a wishlist... So do I (like Lumina, Honest, Maxx C, High Priestess, Denko Sekka, etc).

Anyhow, we'll get to see more of the set, the closer we get to the March 17/18 release day. In the meantime, don't spend too much on single cards that might be reprinted soon!

Until next time, V out.

Afterthoughts on YCS Atlanta and the Emergency Ban

Last weekend was YCS Atlanta and it was also the last weekend PePe was a thing. And who would've guessed... PePe won (piloted by Jose Lagunes) in an obvious PePe mirror match (Here's the link). Commenting any more on the victorious deck isn't really worth it, since unless any other deck would've won, PePe was pre-determined to be the winner. And honestly, with the emergency ban being a thing, most people don't really cares about PePe anymore (no, not even the decks of Billy Brake nor Frazier Smith).

And the player base kind of proved the reason why the deck needed a hit. 29/32 top decks were PePe, with the other three being Kozmo and Monarch. And I think it was a small miracle that one Kozmo Player (Jose Uriel Diaz) actually made top 4 (going against a broken deck and making top 4 is a more amazing feat than piloting said broken deck and having the better draw). Too bad he bricked in his feature match (Here's the link to the Semi-Finals).

A wild Allen C. Pennington appears

Biggest surprise of the YCS was the sudden appearance of Allen C. Pennington. Allen is often considered one of the best Yu-Gi-Oh players of the past decade. But he is also considered one of the biggest Yu-Gi-Oh Bashers (he IS the author of "100 reasons why this game is awful (compared to MTG)"). So seeing him return to Yu-Gi-Oh, let alone see him top a YCS, is quite surprising to say the least.

Allen is one of the 3 non-PePe players who made top 32. And since Monarchs is considered to be (one of) the best decks post PePeBan (and the cheapest tier1 deck ever!), his decklist and explanation is probably the most interesting thing to come out of YCS Atlanta. Go watch it on his youtube channel, you might actually learn something! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYzfK3f29Y8).

Post Emergency Ban: Keep Calm and keep playing Yu-Gi-Oh

Over the past week, many (PePe) players showed their obvious frustrations on the emergency ban. Most of their arguments are just teenage boys raging that their toys just broke.

Though I can understand the frustration of some players when they said: "Where was this kind of emergency list when Dragon Rulers were tier 0? (the period with 3 Super Rejuvenations and baby dragons)", and "What chance do we have when Konami decides to hit the next good deck after a few weeks? Is Monarchs going to get hit next?"

Let me give you my opinion on it:

• A: Not every top deck is a tier0 deck, remember that. It's not because deck X wins the World Championship, that it's automatically tier 0. And Full Power Dragon Rulers being tier 0 or not is something that die-hard fans are still discussing to this day. The die-hards keep saying that "it was close to tier0, but not quite, due to Judgment Prophecy". The only confirmed tier0 decks are and remain Tele-DAD, Airblade turbo and Cookie Cutter Chaos. Most other decks are "close to Tier0, but not entirely due to oter good decks at the same time".
• B: You know that all full-power top decks are mostly handled/finished in the first upcoming F&L list, but until now, that handling could usually vary between a few weeks to a few months, depending on what time the next F&L list comes. TCG Konami has been experimenting on making that list more flexible to better suit the needs of the players, but the timing of the list will never be 100% good for everybody.
• C: Seriously, the fear of decks being hit shortly after its release is unwarranted. While it probably is true that Konami will take a closer look to see if any deck is unhealthily powerful and might hit that before it chokes up the metagame (like now with PePe), those kind of decks only occur once every 2 years or so. Most formats consist of 2-3 major decks (or more), which is more healthier for the game.

And guess what's going to happen now? The meta is going to be devided in Monarchs, Kozmo, Burning Abyss and Mermail (maybe). And the PePe remnants who either will adapt to keep it alive (and fail, unless new support comes out), or go back to Odd-Eyes Magician or Majespecter builds. So three decks or more that are relevant.

Or in short:

Damn' you Konami?

Is it right to blame Konami?

Yes, sure, I won't stop you from doing so. But only aim your spite at the Japanese mother company.

This has been going on for years now. OCG Konami makes the cards, and determines which cards end up in our boosters (yeah, TCG Konami doesn't have much say in it); but they don't playtest the cards enough to prevent the existence of overpowering decks or OTK/FTK decks.

Also, since Yu-Gi-Oh doesn't have set rotation like Magic or the Pokémon card game, it is more likely an old card will suddenly turn a new deck broken (for example: Super Rejuvenation in DRulers), or prove to be a deadly anti-meta card (f.e. Horn of Heaven or Anti-Spell Fragrance).

This power creep and lack of set rotation has frustrated a lot of players and caused many people to quit YGO and do something else; but this is part of our game, which you just have to accept if you want to keep on playing. TCG Konami tries to be a little better about it (with the split F&L list and now this pre-emptive hit), but they're tied to the Japanese mother company. And if you've followed the video game news of the past year, you know how good of a company the Japanese seat of Konami is.

What about the next full F&L list?

The next full F&L list will probably solidify most hits from this emergency ban and if necessary, it will probably bury Burning Abyss completely (don't forget: Konami likes to promote new decks and likes you to forget the oldest viable ones).

Also, the one card i'd love to see get a hit (or become forbidden) is Wavering Eyes. "slightly overpowered" is an understatement for this card. If gentleman agreements need to be made for playing without one specific card, you know something is wrong.

For the rest, maybe finally get rid of Magical Explosion? I hear Monarch have a way to (once again) abuse that old friggin' card...

Until next time, V out.