A Look Toward the Ban List

Since we're only about a month and a half away from seeing a new format, I thought I'd type up a few ideas as to what we might see (or what I'd like to see, anyway).


Banned
We'll most likely lose one of the "Big 3". Dark Hole, Monster Reborn, and Heavy Storm are always good candidates for a ban, but with the game the way it is today, these cards may be necessary to keep duels moving. Heavy Storm stops the "Set 4, pass" of last format, Dark Hole is a looming presence over attempts to swarm for game, and Monster Reborn is the most generic form of revival we have.

With all the negation and OTK potential we have now, maybe these cards just aren't as broken as they used to be.

Limited

Rescue Rabbit: This card absolutely needs to go to 1. Rescue Cat went from 3 in 2008 to 2 to 1 until it was ultimately banned in Sept 2010. The card was an OTK machine, starting with the Gyaku-Gire Panda OTK when Last Will was legal up to the Dark Strike Fighter OTK. Even after Last Will and DSF were banned, Rescue Cat continued to enable OTKs in Cat Synchro and X-Saber decks.

Rescue Rabbit is not much different, aside from not being as splashable. One Rabbit gets you 2 1900ATK beaters that become a 2400ATK Solemn Judgment. Rabbit can be reused with Tour Guide from the Underworld, which brings me to my next point.

Tour Guide from the Underworld: This is a splashable 4-card engine that generates huge advantage and easily enables Chaos Monsters to be used anywhere. One Tour Guide lets you Special Summon Sangan from your deck, which nets you a card when it's sent to the Graveyard, or it's an instant Rank 3 Xyz.Take a look at the top decks from any YCS since the release of Generation Force, and you should have no trouble seeing why something needs to be done about this card. Limiting it might seem a but harsh, but with Tour Bus from the Underworld being released soon, you'll be able to recycle Tour Guide anyway.

Karakuri Komachi mdl 224 “Ninishi”: You might have stopped reading after that, but hear me out. Karakuri is a powerful deck that can generate massive amounts of advantage with this single card. Being able to Summon again, getting the effect of the summoned card (if any), and getting an easy Sycnhro is good, but what happens after a Karakuri Synchro is the crazy part which ends with them having several 2600+ATK beaters on the field while replenishing their hand. Ninishi is also searchable, so hitting this won't totally kill Karakuris.

Fishborg Blaster: Formula Synchron is at 1, so this card isn't as problematic as it was before. Even then, Fish OTK decks only popped up here and there.

Royal Oppression: There was really no reason to ban this card in the first place. With Heavy Storm and 3 Mystical Space Typhoon, it would be harder than ever to keep it on the field anyway.

Tsukuyomi: Many people have been wanting this card back for a long time. The supposed argument is that it's a continuous Book of Moon. If this were still a Monarch format where the game was slow enough to actually use Flip Effects, I might agree, but that's no longer the case.

Semi-Limited

Master Hyperion: Tour Guide being at 1 makes way for Agents to take over. Hyperion at 2 might not change much, but you know how Konami has to semi-limit boss monsters before limiting them.

Shien's Smoke Signal: Six Samurai took a huge loss this format with both Smoke Signal and Shi En going to 1. It's still a good deck, but they need a little something to push them back into competitiveness. Another Shi En would be too much, but giving them an extra bit of search power helps without breaking them.

Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner: This would help Lightsworns so much more than a thrid sacky boss monster.

Judgment Dragon: With the added consistency of a second Lumina, they would no longer need 3.

Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind: This gives Blackwings a nice shot at coming back, even more than an additional Kalut.

Mezuki: With Burial from the Different Dimension still at 1, this isn't overpowered, but is good enough to give Zombies a much needed boost.

Emergency Teleport: Without Mind Master, Psychics have lost their OTK. Bringing Teleport to 2 might help them out, but we would most likely see TeleDAD attempt a comeback, but the game has evolved so much since the addition of Synchros that it probably wouldn't even make tier 2.

Infernity Launcher: This could either give Infernity enough of a boost to hit tier 1 again, or overpower it.


So there it is. Leave some comments and let me know what you'd like to see next format.