The Banlist And What Should Have Happened

Obviously, the Banlist is a controversial topic. Many players don't care either way - they're just here to play. Others are extremely picky about the Banlist and have very polarized opinions about cards and strategies.

I'd say that I'm one of the opinionated people. When it comes to Banlists, I have a very clear idea in my head of what should happen. This usually does not happen.

Take, for example, the recent Banlist:
Due to the fact that the Banlist is based off the Japanese Metagame (OCG), we have to deal with crappy banlists all the time. Of course, to compensate, we get TCG Exclusives like Tour Guide and Tengu. And Tins. And stuff like the Legendary Collection. Anyhow, we have the banlist. The most noticeable thing is the fact that four Tuners were hit - The Agent of Mystery - Earth and T.G. Striker were Limited, while Glow-Up Bulb and Spore were Banned. The next noticeable thing is that Inzektors, Rabbits, and Wind-Ups aren't on the list at all. This is because both were from recent packs and Konami wants to make money. Also, by eliminating Plants from the metagame, they increased the amount of users using Xyz more than Synchro Monsters.

Plant Synchro deserved a banlist hit - the Deck remained Tier 1-2 for more than two years. Many people claimed that Dandylion was the reason for its success - I totally disagree. While Dandylion is an amazing card, it's a lot less useful outside of Quickdraw decks than Glow-Up Bulb. Glow-Up Bulb makes your Level 4 monsters such as Reborn Tengu into Level 5s at no cost to yourself. In addition to that, while Dandylion is amazing with One for One, it wouldn't be nearly so good without Glow-Up Bulb. I predicted the Banning of the Bulb, but Spore? Trishula? With Bulb Banned neither of those really needed a hit - Plant Synchro would be relegated to the realm of Nordics or worse, the decks floating around behind Tier 2.

Trap Dusthoot was also Banned and I can understand the rationale - a good player drawing this on their first turn hand has a really good shot at winning the duel.

As for T.G. Agents, they were obviously powerful, but not topping in the TCG. As of late we have seen little action from Agents in the Top 32 of YCS events. Instead, they are dominated by Wind-Ups, Inzektors, Rabbits, and to a lesser extent, Plants. Yes, Agents did deserve a hit, but not Earth - that does little compared to actually hitting the power cards - Venus and Hyperion. While you may argue that Earth is like Reinforcement of the Army, being a searcher, in many ways, it is not. You have to waste your Normal Summon to search - in a fast metagame, this can be lethal. If you were to hit Venus the Deck would rely on Earth searches instead of just summoning Venus. As for Hyperion, if you hit it, the Deck will lose a bit of its explosive power and "sackyness" (unfairness, ability to draw a card with nothing out and win).

Lumina was brought back to two - this was a good decision as Lightsworn still weren't topping without three Charge and Honest.

Marshmallon at two should be fine in a fast format, although in a slow format it promotes slow burn (which is not a fun deck to duel).







Torrential Tribute was put at two - this is an odd choice, as most costless mass-destruction cards are at one or zero. Nonetheless, in this format, more ways to stop Inzektors, Wind-Ups, and Rabbits isn't a bad thing.
Shien's Smoke Signal should not have gone to two. The deck topped a YCS even in this format without two. The trick is finding the right build.
Level Limit - Area B is fine at two, three would be better.
Ultimate Offering to two makes sense as Gadgets are broken with it.
Emergency Teleport at two is a nice gesture, although an odd one, as they just hit a bunch of Tuners. Maybe they think it's some consolation...
The most controversial decision was Reborn Tengu. It's a TCG Exclusive, and those are not normally hit, but it was. A fourth card from Plant Synchro hit. The deck is pretty much dead because of it. People argue that Tengu is broken. However, it really isn't - it's kind of like Duality that it helps a ton of Decks but not the best Decks (of course, in some circumstances, Tengu leads to broken plays but these are not just because of Reborn Tengu).

Call of the Haunted was put at three. It's not seeing use at two, so no reason not to do this.

That is what did happen - but what should have happened?

First, we should have seen Wind-Up Zenmaity go to one and Wind-Up Rat go to two. No Hunter, you cry in anguish - but what about our hands? With Rat at two and Zenmaity at one, the loop is all but dead. In addition to that, a large portion of the Decks' power is removed - they no longer can summon three Zenmaity and another monster, or two Zenmaity and a Xyz, they can't pull off as big comebacks when drawing a Rat. Of course, hitting Shark would have been just as effective, but since it's a TCG Exclusive we can say that it probably wouldn't have been hit had Konami been thinking properly.

Next, Inzektors. I want to see Hornet Banned. Some people favor hitting Dragonfly - this makes some sense, but the deck still does the same thing - drop an Inzektor, blow shit up. This is not only overpowered, but boring. A well-protected Inzektor player can gain massive amounts of advantage over a few turns. This is not right. Hornet at one seems like a good solution but then again - they still have Armageddon Knight and if all else fails Summoner Monk (to get Armageddon Knight) to send Hornet to their Graveyard. And remember - you only need one Hornet to win.

Rabbits  also need to be hit. Stun is a rather boring Deck in my opinion. I'm sure there are many of you that disagree with me on this, but having to break through four Traps without a Heavy Storm is just not fun. All the player has to do is play a Laggia, set their hand, and win. Seriously. Some people have said to hit Laggia, others have said to hit Leviair, and some have even said to hit the Vanilla Dinosaurs. All of these people are wrong:
Leviair is a great card but even Limiting it will do little to hurt the Deck. You'd have to Ban it to make a difference and that's just not fair.
Same goes for Laggia.
The Vanilla Dinos actually makes some sense - Semi-Limiting them would drastically decrease the consistency of the Deck, but at the same time, it makes so little sense - they aren't the reason the Deck is broken - hit the enabler!
Rescue Rabbit is the enabler. It creates unfair situations. Yes, Laggia and Dolkka exist. But hitting them will hurt Evols a lot more than is worthwhile. Yes, Rabbit can boost Normal Decks. But most of them don't really need it, and Gem-Knights, the best ones around, can juts use Gemini stuff - it works a lot better than Normal Builds. Just challenge Lappyzard21 sometime and you'll see.

In addition to that, I would like to see Grapha Semi-Limited. I think the reasons are obvious. It's just a stupid card - especially for a boss monster. If it had 1700 ATK, it wouldn't be an issue. But with 2700, it is.
Tsukuyomi should come off the banlist - it's too slow for the current metagame.
Magician of Faith should too - it brings back Spells but it's also too slow. Maybe if Inzektors died it would be too powerful but while they exist Flip Effect monsters are rather...risky...
Dark Magician of Chaos could come back for this format, maybe not for another. It would be a nice way to help decks other than Wind-Ups, Inzektors, and Rabbits.
Blackwing - Kalut the Moon Shadow should go to two - Blackwings just can't top and they deserve some mercy, like Lightsworn. Whilrwind to two would be a problem as it would almost be like Semi-Limiting both Gale and Kalut and Semi-Limiting
Gale is just wrong.
Gladiator Beast Bestiari should go to two. It would give Gladiator Beasts some more power without breaking them.
The Transmigration Prophecy should have gone to two. Seriously. It's not good.
Archlord Kristya should have been Limited. It's an insanely good card that makes games entirely one-sided.
With two Malicious Destiny Draw is pretty safe to go back to three. With three, definitely not, but at two, yes.
Royal Tribute should have been Banned, or Limited at worst. It's insane - it's usually a +1 or +2 but can get rid of your opponent's entire hand. And people complain about Wind-Up Hunter...

That's all for now, comments are welcome!