OCG’s April 2016 Banlist Review & Analysis

(Arcknight) Good Day RespectYGOers! After a very long hiatus with regards to thesis papers and graduation rites, I’m back with another article featuring the latest OCG’s April 2016 Forbidden and Limited List or the April OCG Banlist.

Before we make some sudden rants, let us have a recap of what the new ban list actually looks like:

April 2016 OCG Forbidden & Limited Card List

Effective from April 1, 2016 – June 30, 2016

*Only Changes*

Forbidden:

Performapal Monkeyboard

Lavalval Chain

Life Equalizer

Limited: (Restricted to 1)

Sangan (New Errata)

Thousand-Eyes Restrict

Dante, Traveler of the Burning Abyss

Scarm, Melabranche of the Burning Abyss

Performapal Skullcrobat Joker

Ignister Prominence, the Blasting Dracoslayer

Performapal Pendulum Sorcerer

Draco Face-Off

Wavering Eyes

Luster Pendulum, the Dracoslayer

Mask Change Second

Tour Guide from the Underworld

Emergency Teleport

Domain of the True Monarchs

Pendulum Call

Reasoning

Monster Gate

Newly Semi-Limited:

Super Rejuvenation

Unlimited:

Glow-up Bulb

Kuribandit

Destiny Hero – Malicious

Mermail Abyssteus

Mind Control

Book of Moon

Gold Sarcophagus

Allure of Darkness

Dragon Shrine

Crush Card Virus

And here is the errata of “Sangan” :

Sangan

DARK/Fiend-type/3/Effect Monster

The effect of “Sangan” can only be used once per turn. (1) When this card is sent from the field to the Graveyard: Add 1 monster with 1500 or less ATK from your Deck to your hand. {If you add a monster to your hand with this effect, you cannot activate the effects of monster(s) with the same name during that turn. }

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So now, let us review the changes brought by Konami. Let us start off with the newly Forbidden cards.

There are three newly Forbidden cards in OCG namely:

1. Performapal Monkeyboard

            At last, the splashable little monkey instrument is now hit by the ban hammer. Aside from being a Pendulum monster (with scales of course), it is literally a “Fire Formation – Tenki” for every “Performapal” monsters (and pals) that searches every monster in the theme such as the other main searcher of the deck “Performapal Skullcrobat Joker” that in time, will search “Performapal Pendulum Sorcerer” to repeat the process. This mode of consistency is one of the major reasons why “EmEm” is one of the strongest decks in the Meta. The engine itself (and the cards mentioned above) is also very splashable in almost any deck that begs for huge amount of consistency and pendulum taste.

2. Lavalval Chain

            No it is not about “Infernities” and “Volcanics”, but it’s all about “Naturia Beast” and “Glow-up Bulb”. As you can see, “Performapal Pendulum Sorcerer” is an EARTH monster and making Rank 4 Xyz monsters in “EmEm” such as “Lavalval Chain” was just a piece of pudding. In mirror matches, the one who can make “Naturia Beast” first will get a huge upper hand and negating every spell cards is not a good joke especially for decks that rely on spell cards to make their engine running. A decent hit but other decks will surely suffer because of his loss. Well that’s life, ‘til next format I guess?

3. Life Equalizer

            Who says “Life is Fair?”. Definitely it is not especially when we talk about FTKs. Somehow, FTK decks found their way through the Meta once again and we all know that the game does not want FTK and Hybrid decks.(Like Clown Blade and Dancer FTK)

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Now, let us move on to the Limited list and it is record breaking for hitting a huge number of cards that spells the word H-A-T-E for an instance.

Overall, there are 18 newly limited cards namely:

1. Sangan

            At last, he finally found his way outside the forbidden realms! After being mistakenly arrested, he’s now back with a new errata to make it less of a threat. Now, you can only use its effect once per turn and the monster you will search can no longer bring harm the same turn.

2. Thousand-Eyes Restrict

            Great news! Thousand-Eyes Restrict is no longer restricted anymore! But is it still a threat nowadays? Time will tell. In this format full of card removals, I’m not sure.

3. Dante, Traveler of the Burning Abyss

            The main go-to Xyz of “Burning Abyss” to start its unending mill engine. Now that there is only one “traveler” left, will “Burning Abyss” continue its travel post April 2016?

4. Scarm, Melabranche of the Burning Abyss

            It’s generic. It searches the core monsters in a BA deck including “Tour Guide from the Underworld”. The game does not want unlimited number of generic searchers.

5. Performapal Skullcrobat Joker

            The HATE never stops. We still left with one copy because it searches “Odd-Eyes” related monsters unlike “Performapal Monkeyboard” post “The Dark Illusion(TDIL)”. It definitely slows down “PePe”. Players should now rethink their decks and find new TECHS.(Or make a new deck instead.)

6. Ignister Prominence, the Blasting Dracoslayer

             After “Magicians”, we have witnessed how “Performapal” was being upgraded to the new “Dracopals” including the new “Dracoslayer” cards and this synchro monster. It is very easy to summon and has a dreadfully high stats for a synchro with many sturdy effects.

7. Performapal Pendulum Sorcerer

            Well I guess this is the right time to end the streak of EmEm. Too many hits for them they might top the billboard charts.

8. Draco Face-Off

            This is just too good for a spell card that searches 2 cards for no cost. It doesn’t have any drawback or minus. One of the reasons why “Dracopals” is one of the best deck to do the “Yugi” draw, among other things.

9. Wavering Eyes

            Another generic searcher for any deck that runs Pendulums. It can be used both as offense and as defense during mirror matches. Now that it is limited, its last effect is now unusable because there are no other “Wavering Eyes” to search obviously. But we can always wave our hands regardless.

10. Luster, Pendulum the Dracoslayer

            If you are a budget oriented duelist and want to make a decent pendulum deck, you definitely need to run this card. But due to how hype this card is, you just can’t because of how the price of this card skyrocketed in the market. Now, expect a huge price drop. (And a random hoard of course)

11. Mask Change Second

            It makes every DARK deck capable of using “Masked HERO Dark Law” to counter the opponent. Maybe we can now change its name to “Mask Change Limited”. (It’s okay if you don’t get the Joke.)

12. Tour Guide from the Underworld

            “Once limited, always limited”. Too good in BA, Phantom Knights, Wind-Up and D/D/D. It also searches “Djinn Releaser of Rituals” if you are trying to divert to “Malacoda Ritual Build” of BA. Tour Guide is Tour Guide. Nuff Said.

13. Emergency Teleport

            Psychics should blame “Monarchs” for this. This is due to the “Super Quantum” engine often utilized in “Monarch”. Seems like reserving your precious Normal summon to your decisive “Monarchs” is more worthy than relying on “Eidos”. It slows down the engine but “Super Quantum” engine will still be splashed no matter what.

14. Domain of the True Monarchs

            The field spell that prevents extra deck summons and reduces the levels of your Level 8 “Monarchs”. It also increases the attack of your “Monarchs” making your tribute summoned monsters a force to be reckoned with. You only need 1 copy anyway and extra copies are just there for consistency and in case your field spell is destroyed.

15. Pantheism of the Monarch

            One of the most unfair draw engines that “Monarchs” have received making it an instant top tier candidate. Its limit reduces the consistency of “Monarchs”. Still, it can be recycled by “Idea the Heaven Knight”.

16. Pendulum Call

            Hitting a number of “Performapal” and “Dracoslayer” cards will result to players shifting back to “Magicians”. And this format doesn’t want that. Sometimes it is good to explore new products post TDIL I guess. (I’m looking at you Dark Magicians!)

17. Reasoning

            And if “Magicians” fail, the format definitely doesn’t want players to play “Infernoids”. This card is like “Rekindling” way back in “Laval” gaming. Without resolving this card, “Infernoids” will have a hard time building its resources.

18. Monster Gate

            Same Reason for “Reasoning” but with the cost of a monster. The good thing is that it doesn’t require the opponent to guess the level right, it summons the non-nomi monster straight from the deck.

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(Panting) Wew, that was salty. Now, let’s proceed to the newly Semi-limited list namely:

1. Super Rejuvenation

            From limited to semi-limited, not as good as “Dragon Ruler” format but you can always splash this in “Hieratics” and the underrated “Amorphages”.

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That’s it and now for the last part, we have the newly unlimited cards.

Overall we have a total of 10 newly unlimited cards namely:

1. Glow-up Bulb – Now we have 3 bulbs that can only glow once per duel. We can still dump it easily through “Mathematician”.

2. Kuribandit – Though it dumps 5 and searches Spell and Trap cards, we can all agree that it is slower compare to the other mill cards. But it’s always good to have 3 bandits to start the crime.

3. Destiny HERO – Malicious – It only signifies one thing- that there will be new “Destiny Hero” support cards in the future due to Anime. Time to gather those “Destiny Draws”.

4. Mermail Abyssteus – A good addition for the “Mermail” clan. Nothing much to say here.

5. Mind Control – It’s always nice to have another copy of “Mind Control” though time will tell how useful this card will be in the future. Right now, deck space is tight and other spells that boosts consistency are more preferred.

6. Book of Moon – After several formats, once again we can now use maximum of copies of “Book of Moon”. This is a very versatile quick play spell card that once found its sparkle in “Gladiator Beast” deck. Might be useful in a “Prediction Princess” deck.

7. Gold Sarcophagus – Now back at 3. Will become more useful especially for “Shiranui” and “Ritual Beast”.

8. Allure of Darkness – A blessing in disguise for DARK decks hit by the ban hammer. Decks like “D/D”, “Raidraptor”, “Gravekeeper’s”, “Dark Magician” , “Blackwing” and “Dark World” will surely enjoy this one. Players, it is time to seek for the third copy! (Ready your binders and tradables)

9. Dragon Shrine – A good way to boost the new “Structured Deck: Felgrands” and “Blue-Eyes”. Definitely we will need the third copy. I’m glad that I have a super shiny “Dragon Shrine” in my binder ready to be sold to a good soul.

10. Crush Card Virus – Ready to crush everybody’s dreams but unfortunately due to the recent errata, this card is not fearsome like before but still a nice addition to spread the virus. (And the cancer later on.)

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Generalization:

Therefore I can say that there are lots of decks affected by this list. Some are affected, others are devastated. At this point, the creativity of players will be once again tested. Right now, most of the players are looking forward to the new archetypes in “The Dark Illusion (TDIL) Booster pack like “Metalphosis” , “Tramid” and “Dark Magicians”. Others are exploring old and recent themes like “Blue-Eyes”, “Luna-lights” and “Meta-beat”. But whatever it is, it will surely affect the state of the Meta. So now the question is are you willing to adapt or are you willing to change?

The choice is yours my dear duelist!

-       Arcknight