Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Ban List Predictions!

So, it's that time of the month again !

i decided to do it sooner, because i fear i might have no time in the upcoming weeks due to school work/ social life/ clubs and societies. lol.

its really tiring as you go to school at 7.30 in the morning and have non stop schooling (with occasional breaks in between) until 3.50 pm. When i get home, i just eat something and pop into bed.

I cant believe people thinks Konami would release Pot of Duality in GS 2011. Wait for GS 2012 or maybe some random structure deck reprint next time. Although rumors and list has been spreading everywhere, i'm also in disbelief of the list as quite alot of the cards that have been confirmed announced are so crappy like ceasefire, nobleman, united we stand etc, but then suddenly all the unconfirmed cards become so popular cards like Stratos or Duality or Cold Wave, icarus ?

Nah, its likely just a player's own predictions because he wants more dualities thats all. Im partly saying this because i will feel WTF that duality drops price by almost 75% (yes i admit it!) and also you all do know its quite impossible right but you guys really want it to happen right...so the human subconscience works in ways to convince you that it could very well happen because desire is a strong emotion.

Throw me a list? or pictures? i would say it could be photoshopped.

of course, its just my personal opinion and you dont have to believe me, but im not gonna budge from this until i see a confirmed list in front of my eyes posted on shriek ocg news.

However i would like to believe elemental hero stratos is finally becoming legal in south east asia =) hero beat decks will finally be tourney viable.

So here goes:

Banned List:

Cold Wave --- Pretty self explanatory, imo. keeping opponents from playing spell/ traps for effectively 3 turns (if you hyunlei/ black rose) is just too broken. even though both my decks use Cold wave I cant deny how much it needs to be banned.

Nothing else, as Dark Hole and Monster Reborn are far from being the broken cards in this format.

I didn't include Giant Trunade although its awesome, but we need to have two spell/trap clearers like Storm and Trunade. If Storm is unlimited, Trunade's effectiveness drops anyways.

Restrict to 1:

The first card is confirmed Gateway of the Six Samurai as it makes everybody happy =)

2) Kizan - Death to six samurai. Turbo engine in Six Samurai. Come out one piece, plus 2 counters.

3) Heavy Storm- konami made a mistake banning it, and it led to people setting their whole hand down. Come back and make a difference! Explained it already.

4) Formula Synchron- refer to baha's post. Enough imbalness with frog monarch, and bonacini.fish.dek, and all the librarian abuse. Secret pot of greed in disguise.

5) Solemn Warning- Changed the game as everyone main it instead of BTH, and its 1000x better. Like Judgment, it deserves to be at 1. 3 is too scary with 3 book of moon too.

6) Tsukuyomi- unbanned. sure why not, flip flop control isnt even a viable idea anymore, and even if used with empty jar, its way too slow. tsukuyomi is an old card, and like cards like chaos sorceror, dark hole, its not even worth banning anymore. correct me if im wrong here and some ftk exists.

I didn't choose lonefire blossom in here although (proven by baha), to be the core engine of plants debris, because without 2 blossom, the consistency of the deck will be hindered. Seriously, if you only rely on milling to send the plant cards to the grave, you will be frustrated because you keep milling away your pro cards and draw your plants (hands on experience here)

7) Tech Genus Hyper Libarian- Crazy advantage draw engines. Some people feel that it should have been banned the moment its card text was announced to include "both players synchro summoning". Its a really good card, and a staple, and i feel that its already bad enough that it can help decks SO much, with only one copy of him on the field.

But what about decks that can play 2 of him at the same time and still synchro summon after that? It means a free Pot of Greed for decks like Fish Synchro and Dopple Warrior- Draw-Dandy or any synchro turbo engine.

Restricted to 2:

Book of Moon- 3 is too broken. 2 can still stop synchro, but its somehow similar to how bottomless trap hole was limited to 2. As how i can see it, (and discussed with mike bon), this card should be able to stop exceed summon too.

So, yes, 2 book, 1 warning is balanced as 3 book, 3 warning is too imbalanced. I can also see konami doing this too because they want us to wrack our brains and innovate to find more cards to replace them etc. Of course decks like Debris Dandy has stuff like Raigeki Break.

Two is still enough to stop TCG xx sabers from being the most dominant deck.

Spirit Reaper- Same as marshmallon.

Destiny Draw- Now, the dhero engine is a very balanced engine. There was no reason to limit destiny draw in the very first place anyways. i dont wanna repeat anything so you could just pop over to mike bon's blog and read about destiny draw rant.

Icarus Attack- Very pro at 3. Now this decision was made with me being skeptical of BF. Icarus at 3 is too much, and like Bottomless Trap Hole in this format, i think it should be semi limited because its way too game changing. Backed up by the fact that BF has their swarm advantage and hand tricks like kalut, and the ability to change playstyles from anti meta or meta.. its just too much for me.

But im also weary that Icarus is the card that keeps BF competitive (or at least keeping it tier 0/ s rank)

Unrestricted to 3


Magical Stone Excavation- The cost is too expensive as its a -2 for you and there is currently no spell card worth paying such a cost for. Although Diamond Dude Turbo could use it, but seriously what the hell diamond dude turbo?

Bottomless Trap Hole- Way bad this format with everyone pulling off compulsory trigger effects or declaring monster's priority till its almost redundant and useless. If Warning and Book goes to 1 and 2 each, i can see BTH coming back at 3.

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A card that is currently pending thought is Magician of Faith. I see it as way too much support as it could respawn the apprentice engine, and being spellcaster it could be used in those random spellcaster synchros i see around the internet.

Her ability to add back a spell is valuable, it could save your ass but in certain times, it could prove useless and maybe add back for you something random like reinforcement of the army only.

However, its slow, as you need to set MOF first and that wastes a whole turn which is very very precious in YuGiOh, one turn can cost you a whole game, and you also run the risks of having it destroyed by opponent's card effects.

As a tradition for list makers, here's my secret wish: Gorz to 2. Although no way its happening. and limit gemini spark, but also no chance happening lol.

Im pretty sure i missed out some cards but im too tired to think about it. ciao.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

For some reason, leaving heavy storm and dark hole unbanned at the same time seems kind of sketchy...

any thoughts on duality on the banlist?

Michael Bonacini said...

LOL! Pot of Greed in disguise! They won't restrict Formula because it brings out Shooting Star for all the little kiddies. I'm coming to see Formula as being that broken though, because it effectively turns Treeborn + Fishborg = a recurring level 2 tuner, which is beyond amazingly good.

Tsukuyomi should not come back. EVER. Last format, when a fake list was leaked, I playtested some, and Tsukuyomi was just as broken as it ever was.

Spirit Reaper also needs to stay at 1, its one of the most dangerous cards in the game. Long stalls + fear of open fields = too much power for one little guy.

I'll be doing my own banned lists soon, of what should be done and of what Konami will actually do.

mike9944 said...

@ anon- huh? its not that bad man, we have giant trunade + dark hole = already bad enough. storm must come back to replace cold wave!

@ mike bon- tsukuyomi? really? why?? against what? i know its basically a free runover over any monster in the game. but it costs a normal summon for it too.

i didnt really think much about spirit reaper. it just seemed like some random thing konami would do.

ALSO , formula is like 1000x better than pot of greed with librarian around because its like 1000x easier to bring out and then it turns into a synchro monster...

looking forward to your ban lists

mike9944 said...

also... no i dont think duality will hit the ban list, well at least i dont think that it should.

its pretty well balanced etc because you slow down a whole turn for that.

I can see Konami doing a limit for it though because it doesnt make too much difference at 2, and being at 1, it allows players with multiple dualities to trade/ sell their dualities to others so that everyone gets a duality.

I dont think Konami thinks that far ahead BUT it could happen. although i dont think it should. being at 3 gives slow anti meta deck a chance to be tier 1.5 and tier 1 now.

Anonymous said...

well... at least with trunade, you can fight back after the field wipe and you can re-set your traps or play your bluffs,
you should also OTK right after the giant trunade
heavy storm guarantees you permanent card advantage especially against decks that need to set a lot of backrow support like gladial beasts and meta-beat

duality seems to help anti-meta the most but most tourney-winning decks seem to have 3 dualities... (it's so crazy that even Gladial Beasts would win a tourney having 3 duality)

any thoughts on Tribe infecting virus replacing dark hole on the banlist?

Michael Bonacini said...

@ mike, Tsukuyomi recreates flip flop control, this time, with Ryko and Snowman Eater. Flip flop is the best grind deck ever made, and it is impossible to plus against the deck. It was designed so that every play made against it was a minus. Even though Tsukuyomi does eat the normal summon, special summoning has become very easy to do, so sacrificing a normal summon isn't that bad.

mike9944 said...

@ anon- the presence of heavy storm in the game forces players to create this mindset whereby they fear that they will get hit by storm, thus they will not overextend, meaning they will set one or two cards at most.

Anyone who sets 4 or 5 either has Solemn Judgment, or Starlight Road face down, or has Stardust on the field as a cover up. If you meet a player who sets more than 2 cards with storm legal, and he/she doesnt have any of the above cards stated, then he/she is an inexperienced player.

Its true that Storm guarantees you advantage, but with storm being legal, it just changes the gameset, because it forces the players to create a situation where they wont lose advantage from getting hit by storm.

No Tribe Infecting Virus > Dark Hole x 1000, its like broke. Dark Hole isnt even that game changing now, as most meta decks can play around Dark Hole, get around Dark Hole, or just make a comeback next turn.

@ mike bon- i see i see. Solemn Warning that Tsukuyomi!!!!!!