April 2015 Ban List

Alright. There's too many cards on the ban list to go through them all, so what I'm going to do is talk about cards that have either been added to the list or have their availability changed and I'll only pick a few that really catch my eye.

Blaster, Dragon Ruler of Infernos

Card- Monster/Effect
Type- Dragon
Attribute- Fire
ATK- 2800
DEF- 1800
Effect- If this card is in your hand or Graveyard: You can banish a total of 2 FIRE and/or Dragon-Type monsters from your hand and/or Graveyard, except this card; Special Summon this card. During your opponent's End Phase, if this card was Special Summoned: Return it to the hand. You can discard this card and 1 FIRE monster to the Graveyard, then target 1 card on the field; destroy that target. If this card is banished: You can add 1 FIRE Dragon-Type monster from your Deck to your hand. You can only use 1 "Blaster, Dragon Ruler of Infernos" effect per turn, and only once that turn.

So this card was previously Limited, meaning that you could only have 1 copy in your deck or side deck. It's now Forbidden which means you can't use it in Tournaments at all, unless the rules allow banned cards. Most don't, but there are a few who do.

The reason "Blaster" would've become banned is because it was broken. Players would use its second effect by discarding this card another Fire attribute monster and then destroy a card on the field (usually your beatstick). Then, they'd use a card like "Foolish Burial" to send either a Fire attribute monster or a Dragon-type to the graveyard, banish two Fire attributes and Special Summon "Blaster" and attack, possibly dealing 2800 points of damage. Then they'd end their turn meaning that "Blaster" would return to their hand, because it was special summoned.

Net effect:
- Two Monsters Banished (possibly planning to summon back to the field)
- One of the opponent's cards destroyed.
- Essentially free beatstick
- Possibly caused 2800 points of damage
- Protected by returning to the hand

Not hard to see why it's banned now.

Link: http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Blaster,_Dragon_Ruler_of_Infernos

Snatch Steal

Card- Equip Spell
Effect- Equip only to a monster your opponent controls. Take control of the equipped monster. During each of your opponent's Standby Phases: They gain 1000 Life Points.

So this is a card that was Limited. Obviously it is now Forbidden. But why? It doesn't seem like a big effect. Well consider this:

Your opponent has "Jinzo" on the field, equipped with "Amplifier". You activate "Snatch Steal" and take "Jinzo". "Amplifier" goes with it so you've just gone from having little to no control over the board to having absolute control because "Amplifier" allows you to use your traps while negating your opponent's trap cards. So you've turned their strategy on their head, and you haven't summoned yet, so you can summon something like "BLS" and OTK. You could've used it against "BLS" and have a monster that could banish or attack twice.

Net effect:
- Potential for full control
- Potential OTK
- Opponent gains 1000 Life Points

Yeah, this was actually Limited for a long time so I think a lot of players are going to be happy that it's now Banned.

Link: http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Snatch_Steal

Sinister Serpent

Card- Monster/Effect
Type- Reptile
Attribute- Water
ATK- 300
DEF- 250
Effect- During your Standby Phase, if this card is in your Graveyard: You can add it to your hand, also banish 1 "Sinister Serpent" from your Graveyard during your opponent's next End Phase. You can only use this effect of "Sinister Serpent" once per turn.

So this card was Forbidden and is now Limited. I don't see why it was Banned originally. Maybe some of you do, but I don't. I guess you could potentially set up Syncro's with it, but I still don't think it's that bad. I'd be fine with it going to 3 copies.

Net Effect:
- One monster from graveyard to hand
- Potential for Syncro Summon

Link: http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Sinister_Serpent

Tour Guide from the Underworld

Card- Monster/Effect
Type- Fiend
Attribute- Dark
ATK- 1000
DEF- 600
Effect- When this card is Normal Summoned: You can Special Summon 1 Level 3 Fiend-Type monster from your hand or Deck, but its effects are negated, also it cannot be used as a Synchro Material.

A lot of players are going to be upset by this. "Tour Guide" was completely legal, meaning you could have three copies maximum in your Side or Main Decks. It's now Forbidden and, in my opinion, rightfully so. If you have cards like "Witch of the Black Forest" that don't even allow you to summon the selected Monster to the field, Forbidden, then "Tour Guide" has to be.

How was it used? Players would summon "Tour Guide", use the effect and then perform Xyz Summons off essentially one card, and if you don't think that Rank 3 Xyz Monsters can be damaging, you haven't really played against them, especially if they require 3 Monsters for the Network.

Net Effect:
- One free Monster (potentially more by that Monster's effect)
- Quick Xyz Summon
- Potential BLS set up

I can understand that players are going to be upset by it, but they'll live.

Link: http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Tour_Guide_From_the_Underworld

EDIT! I misread the list. "Tour Guide" is not Forbidden. It is Limited. The above still applies though

Alright, Last one...

Exchange of the Spirit

Card- Normal Trap Card
Effect- If both players have 15 or more cards in their Graveyards: Pay 1000 LP; each player swaps the cards in their Graveyard with the cards in their Deck, then shuffles their Deck. You can only activate 1 "Exchange of the Spirit" per Duel.

Ok, so this card has actually undergone an errata change. Now, both players must have 15 cards minimum in their Graveyard. That's why it's come off the banned list, because previously, only you had to, so players were just dumping cards into the graveyard, activating it on the first or second turn so their opponent is left with very few cards, if any and Decks Out. Not a fun card to play against so the new Errata makes it a bit fairer. But it will probably stay at Limited status. I don't see them changing the Errata again. You could still break it I guess, but we'll see what happens.

Net Effect:
- Lose 1000 Life Points (Cost)
- At least 15 card deck for both players.

Link: http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Exchange_of_the_Spirit