Custom Banlists

One of the main parts of this game is the banlist. Once a card has been released there is no way of "unreleasing it". Because of this, Konami has to create a banlist, one that makes cards unusable in standard play.

This banlist has a few inherent flaws. First, it is made for the OCG. There have been very few banlists in which a TCG Exclusive was hit and often they don't hit the top TCG Decks because they aren't that good in the OCG.

Each format, there are people who are annoyed by the banlist for different reasons.
* Some people only like a few Decks and just want to see those Decks
* Some people don't like certain Decks and don't want to see them on the banlist
* Others like/don't like certain cards
* Other people don't care about the banlist and just play to win

This format is different in that it's practically same as the final portion of last format in all respects other than that we have no Plants. Of course, Lightsworn were giving a boost, Dustshoot is gone (thankfully), and we have a second Torrential Tribute, but Wind-Ups, Rabbits, and Inzektors were not hurt. This is not what I and many other people wanted.

Keep in mind that this will be a banlist post: it will be long. I'll list what I feel should be the banlist needed to make this game a fun, two player game and why I think each card should be where it is.




This Banlist is based around the Dueling Network system: TCG rules with most cards available to you.

I would like to establish something: Yugioh is a two player game. With that said, I would like to take a look at Final Countdown, Exodia, Empty Jar, and Burn. Final Countdown and Exodia are decks that focus on achieving a certain win condition, similar to Last Turn Decks. These Decks aren't that good but at the same time they aren't bad. Every once in a while Burn or Empty Jar tops a YCS and in some formats Exodia and Burn became Tier 1 duel to some support. Back to the point. Neither of these Decks involves the other player. Final Countdown uses enough stall cards to make it extremely difficult to make your attacks go through while Exodia focuses on drawing the 5 pieces. A slow build stalls while a fast build OTKs you. Neither of these things are fun to duel against and are the Yugioh equivalent of masturbating. These Decks may not have been an issue but now, with One Day of Peace, Card-Car D, and Shard of Greed, these Decks are easily strong enough to win against even the Tier 1 Decks.

Burn and Empty Jar are a little more skill reliant (like Slow Exodia) but they too take the other player out of the equations. Most Decks have very few outs to these Decks - more so for Burn than Empty Jar but with one Solemn Judgment there just aren't enough ways to stop these Decks. Sure, you can side Deck Royal Decree but it's not a foolproof strategy - it's common not to draw a card even if you have three copies of it.

So all of these Decks will be killed with this list. In addition to that, I'll provide an alternative for those who do not care about the Decks unless they're Tier 1 which will allow them to exist.


Banned:
Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning (From Limited): An insanely powerful monster that at one was worth teching LIGHT and DARK monsters just to use it.
Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the End: Staying Banned. Enough said.
Cyber Jar: So overpowered it's not even funny. Far too abusable.
Dark Strike Fighter: While it may seem mediocre at first glance it is far from just a beatstick. It can do more than 4000 damage in one turn - use in a Deck that makes two Synchro Monsters (or DSF and something else big) in a turn and it's an OTK.
Destiny HERO - Disk Commander: One of the single best monsters on the banlist. Way too abusable to bring back.
Exodia the Forbidden One (From Limited): All that needs to be Banned is one piece of Exodia. This is the only one that isn't Left/Right.
Fiber Jar: This card is rather unfair in that it resets the game. It's not necessarily abusable but can be included in any Deck to turn a losing situation into a whole new game.
Fishborg Blaster: Abusable to the max with T.G. Hyper Librarian. There are way too many broken combos to let this thing run around.
Goyo Guardian: I'm rather ambivalent about this card. While I really like it and want to use it, it's also incredibly good. Not only does it has 2800 ATK, more than a Normal Level 6 Synchro Monster, it is also steals your opponent's monster. In addition to that we still have Brionac so I feel as if this card is better off
staying Banned.
Inzektor Hornet (From Unlimited): Inzektors can function without it but it's just too overpowered at the moment.
Magical Scientist: It may seem terrible but when combined with Catapult Turtle it lets you pull of OTKs rather easily.
Makyura the Destructor: Easily the most powerful card in the whole game. It lets you play Traps from your hand and win on the first turn almost every game. If it ever comes off the Banlist we will all be playing it.
Mind Master: While not inherently broken it has many combos and being an infinite loop card it's best left on the Banlist.
Morphing Jar (From Limited): As unfortunate as it is, Morphing Jar allows Empty Jar to exist.
Rescue Cat: It would be really nice to have back but at the same time we would have to hit so many cards that it's just not worth it. It's definitely a problem card, especially with Xyz Monsters.
Sinister Serpent: While it's probably too slow right now but there's potential for infinite loops with cards that discard at any time.
Spore: Spore was Banned to kill Plants and sell Xyz Decks. It wasn't necessary but Plants were too good - it's fair for one of the key components to be Banned.
Thousand-Eyes Restrict: As a staunch supporter of Plant Synchro, I want to see a format with Thousand-Eyes at one and Instant Fusion teched in Plants. But alas, that would be too much. It stays Banned.
Tribe-Infecting Virus: Too powerful. I've seen people say that it's bad but it is in fact quite good - you can side Deck it against Decks such as X-Sabers which use mostly one Attribute.
Witch of the Black Forest: Searches for too much.
Brain Control: Mind Control is too much right now. There's no way this even more powerful card can be off the banlist.
Butterfly Dagger - Elma: It isn't inherently broken but it combos with other cards to create infinite loops.
Card Destruction (From Limited): Does too much for Dark Worlds.
Card of Safe Return: Extremely abusable. Some Decks can use this to draw five or more cards in one turn.
Chain Strike (From Semi-Limited): Chain Burn has been Neutered.
Change of Heart: Even more powerful than Brain Control.
Cold Wave: Too strong while X-Sabers are still viable.
Confiscation: Targeted hand destruction is rather nasty.
Delinquent Duo: Confiscation on steroids. Game-winning except against Dark World.
Dimension Fusion: Too many broken combos with this card. As cool as it is, it can't come back.
Final Countdown (From Unlimited): Pretty much useless at one but there's no point having it around. It's a stupid Instant-Win card.
Future Fusion (From Limited): Quite powerful. With Escuridao lets you use Blackwing - Zephyros the Elite to use it a second time and with cards like Brionac lets you make huge loops that win you the game.
Gateway of the Six (From Limited): Too one-sided. Allows Six Samurai to get out the most insane fields.
Giant Trunade:  Better than Heavy Storm due to not being vulnerable to Starlight Road.
Graceful Charity: The discarding is a not a cost (see Dark Worlds). Also supports Fabled and is too fast for almost any metagame.
Harpie's Feather Duster: Heavy Storm and Trunade are strong enough.
Last Will: Once a rather bad card but now quite good.
Mass Driver: Inconsistent at one but still a Burn card that lets you FTK.
Mind Control (From Limited): This card was intended as a weaker substitute for Brain Control. It has proven to be almost as good (and even better in some situations).
Mirage of Nightmare: It does insane amounts of work for Dark Worlds.
Painful Choice: This is a format where a thin Deck and a thick Graveyard is big. It's also insane Lightsworn support.
Pot of Greed: Yes, it makes everything faster but already fast Decks such as Six Samurai become even Faster.
Premature Burial: Can't exist in a format with Dewloren and there are other broken combos as well.
Raigeki: Dark Hole is strong enough.
Royal Tribute (From Semi-Limited): So one-sided. It generates a lot of plusses. A LOT of plusses.
Snatch Steal: This card is a permanent Change of Heart. Sure, your opponent gains Life Points each turn. Even so, it's still too powerful. The ability to permanently steal a monster is quite broken.
Temple of the Kings: Essentially Makyura the Destructor. Sure, you have to draw it but it's still overpowered.
The Forceful Sentry: Surprisingly enough this card is better than Confiscate. It thickens your opponent's Deck.
Crush Card Virus: Has the potential to win games on activation.
Exchange of the Spirit: Would make self-mill a viable Instant Win strategy.
Imperial Order: Spells become useless. That means no Mystical Space Typhoon or similar cards (meaning that this card requires use of a so-so card such as Dust Tornado to destroy it. In addition to that, the cost means that you can just get rid of it whenever you have Spell Cards you want to activate. One of the strongest cards on the banlist.
Last Turn: Use with Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo to win. Far too good.
Magical Explosion (From Limited): The Deck is better than Exodia and is really one-sided.
Ring of Destruction: Targeted destruction that burns your opponent. Need I say more?
Royal Decree (From Unlimited): Another Continuous Royal Card. Makes games one-sided and cripples entire Decks. It also allows you to make big plays without being countered.
Royal Oppression: Not only does it slow down the game significantly, it also allows a player to get out some great monsters then sit there with a multi-Warning that costs less to play. Makes games one-sided.
Sixth Sense: Always say five or six - if you are right, you get a +4/+5 and if you are wrong you send 1-4 cards from the top of your Deck to the Graveyard. It's practically a win-win scenario.
Time Seal: Not as broken as many of these cards but helps lockdowns significantly.
Trap Dustshoot: Gets rid of a monster in your opponent's hand and allows a good player to control the game based on knowledge of their opponent's hand. Too one-sided.

Limited:
Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind: Remains a powerhouse and two is too much, especially with new Blackwing monsters coming out.
Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier: A great card that is fine at one.
Cyber Stein (From Banned): The ability to bring out a massive monster used to be huge but it's not as good here - there are way too many counters for this - a Solemn Warning, Fiendish Chain, or Effect Veiler will leave the user with 5000 less Life Points and a very weak monster. It's also not that consistent at one.
Dandylion: It can stay at one. At any more it's a lot more abusable.
Dark Armed Dragon: At two it's too consistently useful.
Dark Magician of Chaos (From Banned): It's not very fast.
Debris Dragon: It could go to two but it's probably best to leave it at one.
Elemental HERO Stratos: It remains a very powerful card.
Formula Synchron: A great card that gives draw power to Synchro Decks. It could go to two but it's safer to leave it at one.
Glow-Up Bulb (From Banned): Konami Banned it unfairly. Plants were too powerful but there are still other good Decks.
Gorz the Emissary of Darkness: It's very powerful and could merit a Ban.
Grapha, Dragon Lord of the Dark World (From Unlimited): It's a recurring boss monster that also has great effects.
Hieroglyph Dragon King - Atumus (From Unlimited): With only one the OTK is no longer possible.
Honest: Lightsworns just got a second Lumina. They don't need more support.
Mezuki: Quite powerful but Zombies aren't doing that well.
Necroface: Can't go to two because of the Necromill OTK.
Neo-Spacian Grand Mole: It's a very dangerous card at one and at two is even harder to get rid of.
Night Assailant: It can target itself with its own effect so we can't have more than one.
Plaguespreader Zombie: Quite good for Lightsworn.
Rescue Rabbit (From Unlimited): With Rabbit Decks dominating this card should definitely be hit.
Sangan: Not too overpowered but should definitely stay at Limited.
Substitoad (From Banned): Without three Mass Drivers and One for Ones this isn't nearly as broken. It also makes Frogs a lot better.
T.G. Hyper Librarian: Needs to stay at one to prevent unfair combos and loops.
Wind-Up Carrier Zenmaity (From Unlimited): It searches for any Wind-Up in your Deck and is part of a broken loop. With it at one the otherwise lackluster Wind-Up Hunter is no longer that good.
Allure of Darkness: Makes DARK Decks too fast at two.
Black Whirlwind: Insanely good search power for Blackwings.
Charge of the Light Brigade: Very good search power for Lightsworn.
Dark Hole: Worth keeping Limited as it's a solution to huge monsters.
Foolish Burial: A good card but a -1 in itself.
Heavy Storm: Surprisingly, this is better than Trunade because of its vulnerability to Starlight Road.
Infernity Launcher: Very powerful but Infernities still aren't consistent enough for this to be worth Banning.
Limiter Removal: Creates OTKs.
Monster Gate: A good card and abusable in multiples but a bit too luck based to be worth Banning.
Monster Reborn: A great card that can turn the game around. It's pretty good and may be Banworthy.
One for One: A great card that lets you search for Level 1 monsters. It's a -1 and is more of a combo card so it isn't worth Banning.
Pot of Avarice: It lets you draw two cards. It requires some setup and can't be used by every Deck so it isn't worth Banning but is too good at two or three.
Reasoning: More luck based than Monster Gate but still a good card.
Reinforcement of the Army: It's already made Six Samurai and HERO a lot better and Semi-Limiting it would make them Tier 1.
Scapegoat: With Plant Synchro gone it's not nearly as abusable.
Ceasefire: A burn card with a potent effect.
Magic Cylinder (From Semi-Limited): Limiting it hurts slow Burn.
Mirror Force: This card is fine at one.
Return from the Different Dimension: A great card but at one is inconsistent.
Solemn Judgment: Can stop almost anything. At more than one it's a bit too powerful but if Banned we lost a lot of useful negation.

Semi-Limited:
Archlord Kristya: Kristya is an extremely good card but it's actually a lot harder to get out than consistently than it would seem and is often dead in hand.
Blackwing - Kalut the Moon Shadow (From Limited): Even with Xyz Monsters Blackwings still aren't consistent enough. This should help them out a little.
Card Trooper: This card is too much at three (because of Machine Duplication) but shouldn't be Limited.
Destiny HERO - Malicious: It's too abusable at three and somewhat usable at two.
Dewloren, Tiger King of the Ice Barrier: Semi-Limited because of Symbol of Heritage.
Gladiator Beast Bestiari (From Limited): Gladiator Beast aren't dominating anymore. This would give them a better chance in the metagame.
Legendary Six Samurai - Shi En (From Limited): An overpowered card. Having it be Limited doesn't actually do that much.
Lonefire Blossom (From Limited): With Spore Banned this card is half as good as it was. Debris is still at one and it makes Gigaplant Decks more viable.
Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner: It's fine at two but can't be Unlimited as it would make Lightsworn a lot more consistent.
Magician of Faith (From Banned): I highly doubt that this card is fast enough to survive in the new meta. It could probably be Unlimited.
Marshmallon: A key component of slow burn but not that big of a deal.
Master Hyperion (From Unlimited): Incredibly powerful boss monster for Agents.
Necro Gardna: It gives Lightsworn Decks the ability to negate attacks for free but is also cloggy and dead in hand.
Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon (From Unlimited): Disaster Dragon is a bit too powerful with Lightpulsar Dragon creating and unfair loop with REDMD. The Deck has far too many easy boss monsters. It essentially limits the chances of pulling out a first turn REDMD + Lightpulsar as REDMD is still quite searchable through
slower methods.
Snoww, Unlight of Dark World (From Unlimited): Makes Dark Worlds more consistent.
The Agent of Mystery - Earth (From Limited): Was Limited because it was a Tuner in T.G. Agents. Should be Semi-Limited along with Master Hyperion.
Tragoedia: At three you would have a very good chance of drawing it and then it would be broken, at two it's more fair.
Wind-Up Rat (From Unlimited): Wind-Ups are still powerful with one Zenmaity and this should bring them down a notch.
Advanced Ritual Art (From Limited): Not too big of a deal without Dark Strike Fighter.
Book of Moon (From Limited): Without Empty Jar it isn't that big of a deal. It's also a good way to counter fast Decks.
Burial From the Different Dimension (From Limited): It's a -1 on its own. It was hit because of Zombies (Mezuki in particular) but with both Mezuki and Plaguespreader at one it's not worth using.
Emergency Teleport: Three is definitely too much but two makes Psychics a lot more consistent.
Level Limit - Area B: Isn't that abusable although it does help X-Sabers.
Shien's Smoke Signal: With Gateway Banned this isn't a huge problem at two.
Bottomless Trap Hole: A good card. Not sure if it should be at three but two is fine.
Mind Crush: Most abusable by Dark Worlds but without Trap Dustshoot it isn't nearly as good.
Ojama Trio: Needs to stay at two to hurt Chain Burn and All-Out Attacks OTK.
Torrential Tribute: Putting it at two was a really odd move but it's working out pretty well right now.
Solemn Warning: We need the ability to negate summons.
Ultimate Offering: Gadgets needed a small hit.

Newly Unlimited:
Left Arm of the Forbidden One (From Limited): Exodia is Banned so these are useless.
Left Leg of the Forbidden One (From Limited): See above.
Reborn Tengu (From Semi-Limited): Tengu isn't that overpowered without long Synchro Summon loops. It also makes a lot of Decks more consistent and only really breaks Plants (which is solved by Banning Spore).
Right Arm of the Forbidden One (From Limited): See above.
Right Leg of the Forbidden One (From Limited): See above.
T.G. Striker (From Limited): Unfairly Limited.
Tsukoyomi (From Banned): Slow.
Yata-Garasu (From Banned): It requires a way to attack directly. It only does 200 damage per turn - you're likely to run out of cards before you win. It will not win games unless drawn late game off something like Sky Scourge Norleras. Chaos-Emperor Dragon is gone and there is little chance of it being that useful. It wastes your Normal Summon so you would need Double Summon to effectively use it in a deck like X-Sabers.
Summon Monk (From Semi-Limited): Few Decks use Summoner Monk and none are very competitive. It's a good card.
Destiny Draw (From Semi-Limited): With Malicious at two three Destiny Draw isn't that big of a deal.
Magical Stone Excavation (From Semi-Limited): The only Deck that uses this is Empty Jar and this banlist kills it.
Metamorphosis (From Banned): Really doesn't do that much. Sure, it makes big monsters but it isn't really abusable - there are way better combos.
Primal Seed (From Banned): Black Luster Soldier is Banned, making this useless.
Swords of Revealing Light (From Semi-Limited): Very few people use this card and it isn't that good.
The Transmigration Prophecy (From Limited): This isn't the OCG. It shouldn't be Limited.
Cards that are staying Unlimited:
Wall of Revealing Light (From Limited): Was Limited because of the Magical Explosion FTK. Banning Magical Explosion makes this card rather bad.

If you are one of those people who do not mind Burn/Final Countdown/Exodia/Empty Jar, then:
Morphing Jar back to Limited
Final Countdown to Semi-Limited
All Exodia Pieces to Limited
Chain Strike to Semi-Limited
Magical Explosion to Limited and Wall of Revealing Light to Limited