Ten Cards that Should be Banned/Limited but probably won’t be (Part 1 of 2. 10-6)

With the next banlist coming out in just over a week, I thought I’d share my thoughts on what cards should be on the list, but probably won’t be on it. Yes, I know that the OCG list was released a few weeks ago and that the TCG list is almost identical, but this list isn’t really time-relevant and neither are the banlists themselves when you really think about it. I mean, would Witch of the Black Forest really make difference in today’s game? Would Monster Reborn? Would Pot of Greed? The answer, at least in my opinion is probably not, though Reborn would probably need a re-errata so that it could only be used once per Duel or something like that. I will also do a list of ten cards that I feel should come off the banlist when I get the time. So here goes.

10. Snipe Hunter

This card is nasty. As long as you have cards to discard, you essentially have a 2 in 3 shot at destroying one of your opponents cards. Not only that, you can use the effect more than once per turn. That means that if you fail the first time around, you can simply discard another card and go again… and again… and again until you clear your opponents field and on top of that, you can attack with it after using its effect. It is a 1500 ATK monster so it’s not too damaging in that respect, but it’s effect is just too powerful and I’d even go so far as to call it a coward’s card. “Yeah, I don’t like your field so I’m just going to discard until I destroy it completely”. Yes I know that we have Raigeki to deal with monsters and there’s Royal Decree that deals with most backrow that can hurt you, but they’re only limited to either monsters or spells/traps. Snipe Hunter can target anything on the field.

The reason it probably won’t be hit is because it doesn’t see a lot of use. It works well with Dark World’s because they get their effects when discarded, but most Dark World decks focus on summoning Grapha until they can pull off an OTK or FTK which is fairly easy to do with the deck, but Snipe Hunter isn’t popular enough and a lot of players don’t even know it exists, but maybe something will come along soon and bring it into the game and maybe then it will be hit.

9. Beelze of the Diabolic Dragons

Now, I’m just going to say now that I am guilty of splashing Beelze in more than a few decks but I feel that it should be at least limited if not banned simply because it doesn’t make sense to have it at three. “No you can’t have a card that lets you add a monster with 1500 DEF or less to your hand, but you can have three copies of a monster than can’t be destroyed by battle or card effects”. I mean, really? Does that make any sense to you? And I know what you’re thinking. “You can Honor Ark it, you can Solemn Warning it, you can Book of Moon it and then Raigeki. I know. I know you can do that but that is not the point I’m making. The point I am making is that if you have a monster on the banlist that adds a monster to the hand as forbidden, then a monster as powerful as Beelze should be limited at the very least.

Beelze probably won’t be hit for much the same reason as Snipe Hunter. It’s not popular, not anymore anyway which I find surprising given how many decks it can be thrown into. It can in Dark Worlds, it can go in Blackwings, it can go in Shaddolls. Hell, I’ve seen it thrown into Lightsworn (though it wasn’t a pure Lightsworn deck). It will probably stay at three for a very long time.

8. Nekroz of Trishula

Anyone who’s played against Nekroz - and at this point, who hasn’t? – knows how much of a bitch Trishula is to deal with. Trishula allows the player to banish one card each from their opponent’s field, hand and graveyard when it is successfully summoned. There’s not much the opponent can do in response except chain something that will empty either their hand, field or graveyard. So that means activating a Localized Tornado or something like that. Compulse won’t negate Trishula’s effect. Alternatively, Solemn Warning is an option. It has a discarding effect that activates when another Nekroz monster is targeted by an opponent’s card effect and negates that effect.

The problem I have with Trishula is that it is at three. Brionac, who is just as powerful as Trishula, is at two and that’s probably where Trishula belongs as well. In my opinion anyway. The reason Trishula won’t be hit is because Nekroz isn’t as popular anymore. Players are electing to play Igknight’s or some other Pendulum based deck so unless some new support comes out for Nekroz, I can’t really see them getting hit.

7. Secret Village of the Spellcasters

This field spell is nasty to deal with if you’re running a deck that has few or no Spellcasters. So it’s a perfect counter to Nekroz decks if you can open with it as I don’t think there’s any Spellcaster-type Nekroz monsters currently. As good as that is, it gives the user too much advantage, especially if they follow up with Sorcerer of Dark Magic so their opponent can’t use Spells or Traps. I know some of you are probably saying “That just makes it a good deck”. A good deck yes, but does it make for a good duel? No, and I don’t know about you, but I enjoy a good duel rather than one where I’m locked out by my opponent.

Village probably isn’t going to be hit as it is no longer meta anymore, but it could come back soon with the new BLS support coming out because players will probably try to lock their opponents out of those new Ritual cards. If it was to be hit, it wouldn’t go any lower than 2

6. Necrovalley

Another field spell which should be hit, but probably won’t be. Necrovalley, for those who don’t know, prevents the opponent from moving cards out of the graveyard. That effect is supposed to apply to both players, but the user is always playing a Gravekeeper deck and Gravekeeper cards aren’t affected by this restriction that Necrovalley imposes.

Gravekeeper’s are slowly coming back as an anti-meta deck so Necrovalley could potentially be hit with the banlist after this one, but it isn’t popular enough to be hit in this list. I think it will go to 2 if it does get hit. It won’t the deck so much, but it will make the deck easier to counter.

Effects and Summoning Conditions

Alright, so this rose out of a Duel I played yesterday where my opponent tried to negate my special summoning of Photon Thrasher with Effect Veiler. We then proceeded to have a slight argument which ended when he called me a cheater and rage quit the Duel. He didn't understand the difference between an Effect and a Summoning Condition.

First of all, a Summoning Condition, henceforth referred to as a condition, is not the same thing as an effect. I'll use the above situation as an example to show the difference between a condition and an effect.

Photon Thrasher- Cannot be Normal Summoned/Set. Must first be Special Summoned (from your hand) while you control no monsters. If you control another monster, this card cannot attack. This is the text of the card and it contains, like most monsters these days, an effect, but it has a condition.

Photon Thrasher Condition- Cannot be Normal Summoned/Set. Must first be Special Summoned (from your hand) while you control no monsters

This is the condition for summoning Photon Thrasher. It can only be special summoned and only while you control no monsters and it has to be from the hand. Notice how no effects have been activated yet, these are simply the conditions under which Thrasher can be summoned (though you can summon it from the Graveyard regardless of how many monsters you control, as long as you control less than 5). As this is not an effect, it can not be negated by Effect Veiler, but it can be negated by something like Solemn Warning.

Photon Thrasher Effect- If you control another monster, this card cannot attack.

This is what my opponent was actually negating when they used Effect Veiler. I'm not sure why would Effect Veiler this, but he did think he was negating the summon so I guess it makes a little sense. The effect is pretty self-explanatory. It just prevents this monster from attacking while you control another monster, which is why it's good for Xyz's or Synchro's because most of the time, you're not going to be wanting to attack with Thrasher so the effect never really does anything bad to you.

Let's take a look at a few more examples.

Firstly, Black Luster Soldier- Envoy of the Beginning

BLS Condition- Cannot be Normal Summoned/Set. Must first be Special Summoned (from your hand) by banishing 1 LIGHT and 1 DARK monster from your Graveyard.

The banishment of monsters is not effect. The reason? You generally can't activate effects from the hand (though cards these days seem to break this rule, so you can be forgiven for getting confused), there the banishments can not be Effect Veiler'd or Skill Drain'd because A) it's not an effect and B) even if they were, Effect Veiler and Skill Drain can not target effects that would activate off the field.

BLS Effect- ● Target 1 monster on the field; banish that target face-up. This card cannot attack the turn you activate this effect.
● During the Damage Step, if this attacking card destroys an opponent's monster by battle: It can make a second attack in a row.

Obviously these effects can be negated with something like Effect Veiler, which is something you definitely want to do unless you have a plan to deal with it. For example, you might want your monster banished instead of in the graveyard because you're running a deck that relies on having cards banished. Alternatively, you might want BLS to attack (which it could do anyway) because you might have a set Draining Shield or Mirror Force to deal with or get some use out of BLS.

Secondly, any Xyz or Synchro monster.

The overlaying or Tuning of two or more monsters is also not effect but a condition. On the topic of Synchro's, being a Tuner if not an effect either. It is essentially a monster type and so can not be Effect Veiler'd.

So how can you tell if something is a condition or an effect? Normally the card will say something like "You can special/normal summon this card if/by..." or it will say "this can not be summoned..." and then tell you how it can be summoned. If you see those words, or words in a similar structure, what you are reading is a condition. If you are still unsure, check the ruling online, and if your opponent still argues with it, send them the link to the ruling (if Dueling online), have a hard copy handy if you find yourself consistently having an argument over it. If you're at a tournament, most players are going to know the difference anyway, but you can get a judge or an official to clarify it. Anything you see after that sentence finishes is usually an effect and that is what will be negated by Effect Veiler/Skill Drain.

Creator God of Light Horakhty

Ok, so you guys remember me saying in a previous post that I had successfully summoned Horakhty before? Well, I have done it again.

Proof? Right here friends.

So how did I do it? Well it took a bit of set up and some Heart of the Cards provided by Card Trader. And his Gravekeeper's Servant helped me out a bit by forcing me to mill Slifer and Obelisk. From there I banished them both along with Guardian Eatos, Magician of Faith and D.D. Warrior through using Soul Release. That was step one done. I then set Return from the Different Dimension and hoped like hell that he wouldn't destroy it. His turn, he summoned BLS, destroyed Dark Magician Girl (no big deal. I didn't need her anymore) and he tried to destroy my Obnoxious Celtic Guardian but I negated it with Draining Shield (for a bit of trolling). My turn again, activate Return, special Slifer, Obelisk, Dark Magician of Chaos and D.D. Warrior Lady. Tributed Warrior Lady, Chaos and OCG for Ra and then tributed Slifer, Obelisk and Ra to special Horakhty.

Not the cleanest way to do it, I know, but still it's been done.

I'm still working on a way to do it in the advanced format. I've nearly got it, I just need to find a way to make it consistent Obviously it's a bit harder because you're not allowed to use banned cards.

I know I've already posted today and I don't normally post twice in one day, but this is something that is rare, even in the traditional format, so I just thought I'd share it.

More than happy to share the Deck Profile, just message me on DN (user- Big Dub) or comment if you want it.

"This card is unaffected by the effects of Spell/Trap cards..."

So, I was dueling the other day on DN and got into an argument with a guy (which I ultimately won, still lost the duel though through a Deck Out). The argument was about whether he would take battle damage.

Here's the scenario. My opponent activated a Trap card, can't remember the name of it, that made his monster unaffected by other Spell or Trap cards for the rest of that turn. He attacked my Mask of Darkness, which was in attack mode due to me Flip Summoning it, and I activated my Dimension Wall Trap card, to transfer the battle damage I would've taken to his Life Points. The argument ensued, with him claiming that Dimension Wall didn't affect his monster. Technically right, but Dimension Wall wouldn't have affected it anyway.

The thing is, cards that say "This card is unaffected by the effects of Spell and Trap cards..." or "The monster targeted with this card in unaffected by the effects of other Spell and Trap cards..." only work on Spells or Traps that would normally affect the monster. The effect would allow the monster to bypass a Swords of Revealing Light or a Mirror Force. It would stop the effect of a Book of Moon when activated in chain. It would protect the monster from Raigeki or Dark Hole. Basically any card effect that would destroy it, banish it, change its battle position, target it, prevent it from attacking, change its ATK or DEF or just do anything to the monster would not effect that monster.

What it doesn't do is prevent effects that don't do anything to the monster because the monster would not have been affected anyway and since Dimension Wall doesn't affect either monster, my opponent took the battle damage. It also won't prevent effects that affect your opponents monster(s), so the monster with this effect would not be able to destroy a monster that is equipped with Heart of Clear Water or Mist Body because it wouldn't be affected normally.

This guy was 740 or something ranking on DN so it goes to show that even those of us with vast knowledge of the game sometimes get caught out.

The Legendary Dragons

Timaeus, Critias and Hermos- The Legendary Dragons- featured in Yugioh Season 4 (Though I consider it Season 3. I refuse to count Battle City and Battle City Finals as separate Seasons) Waking the Dragons.

As most players know, Yugi'/Pharaoh's Dragon Timaeus was released in the game, but Critias and Hermos, Kaiba's and Joey's Dragons respectively, were never printed... until now.

The Eye of Timaeus

(This card is also always treated as "Legendary Dragon Timaeus".)

Target 1 "Dark Magician" monster you control; Fusion Summon 1 Fusion Monster from your Extra Deck that lists that monster on the field as a Fusion Material Monster, using it as the Fusion Material. You can only activate 1 "The Eye of Timaeus" per turn.

So I just thought I'd get Timaeus out of the way first. It's important to note that Timaeus is the strongest of the Dragons, at least in the monsters he creates and their abilities. These are the monsters that Timaeus is used to Fusion Summon.

Additionally, "The Eye of Timaeus" doesn't have to to be used to summon these monsters. It can be used with the Dark Magician to fusion Dark Paladin or Dark Flare Knight

Amulet Dragon

"Dark Magician" + 1 Dragon-Type monster

Must be Fusion Summoned with the above Fusion Material Monsters or with "The Eye of Timaeus", and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways. If this card is Special Summoned: Target any number of Spell Cards in any Graveyard(s) (min. 1); banish those targets, and if you do, this card gains 100 ATK for each card banished by this effect. If this card is destroyed: You can target 1 Spellcaster-Type monster in your Graveyard; Special Summon that target.

Even just reading through the effect, you can see the amount of uses this card has, though the effect is slightly different to the anime's one. In the anime, Amulet Dragon gained 300 ATK for each Spell Card in Yugi's Graveyard (he had 8 in total so Amulet Dragon received an extra 2400 ATK) instead of 100 points. The last effect to summon a Spellcaster from the graveyard when it is destroyed was not used by the Pharaoh to revive his Dark Magician as he chose not to activate it.

In the game today though, a lot of spells don't wind up in the Graveyard, thanks to a majority of spells being Continuous so it could re-errated to 300 ATK without too much trouble. Again, it's assumed you would be reviving the Dark Magician, but you could revive any Spellcaster you wanted including Synchro's and Xyz's

Dark Magician Girl the Dragon Knight

"Dark Magician Girl" + 1 Dragon-Type monster

Must be Fusion Summoned with the above Fusion Material Monsters or with "The Eye of Timaeus", and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways. Once per turn, during either player's turn: You can send 1 card from your hand to the Graveyard, then target 1 face-up card on the field; destroy that target.

The Pharaoh played this card twice, in both his duels with Raphael (Raphael won the first duel, but Yugi sacrificed himself to the Seal of Orichalcos to save the Pharaoh). The card's anime effect is identical to the real effect and it's pretty straight forward: discard a card and target one face up card on the field and destroy it. That can be a monster, spell card, trap card. So it's a very powerful card. It would absolutely destroy Fire Formation decks providing you can get this out of course.

The Fang of Critias

(This card is also always treated as "Legendary Dragon Critias".)

Send, from your hand or your side of the field to the Graveyard, 1 Trap Card listed in the card text of a Fusion Monster that can only be Special Summoned with "The Fang of Critias" (if that card is Set, reveal it), then Special Summon that Fusion Monster from your Extra Deck. You can only activate 1 "The Fang of Critias" per turn.

So, Timaeus has the ability to make his monsters stronger and destructive and excellent for attacking purposes. Critias can fuse himself with trap cards, making his monsters perfect for defensive strategies. Critias was Kaiba's Dragon.

Doom Virus Dragon

Must be Special Summoned with "The Fang of Critias" by sending "Crush Card Virus" from your hand or your side of the field to the Graveyard, and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways. If this card is Special Summoned: Check your opponent's hand, all monsters they control, and all cards they draw until the end of your opponent's 3rd turn after this effect's activation, and destroy all monsters with 1500 or more ATK.

So this card is a basically a monster version of Crush Card Virus (which lost a lot of its power with the new errata) and with 1900 ATK it's not particularly difficult to get rid off, but it could certainly ruin your opponent's field advantage. It also destroys all monsters with 1500 ATK or more in their hand and/or on the field. I put that in bold because people forget it includes those on the field.

Mirror Force Dragon

"The Fang of Critias" by sending "Mirror Force" from your hand or your side of the field to the Graveyard, and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways. During either player's turn, when a monster you control is targeted for an attack, or by an opponent's card effect: You can destroy all cards your opponent controls.

This card is not that difficult to get rid of when you think about it. Raigeki, Dark Hole, Mirror Force, basically any card that doesn’t target will destroy it. Or if you can negate its effect. 2800 ATK so it’s a decent beater and is also perfect for defence.

Tyrant Burst Dragon

Must be Special Summoned with "The Fang of Critias" by sending "Tyrant Wing" from your hand or your side of the field to the Graveyard, and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways. This card can attack all monsters your opponent controls once each. You can target 1 monster you control; equip this monster on the field to that target. It gains 400 ATK and DEF. The monster equipped with this card by this effect can make up to 3 attacks during each Battle Phase.

This is the strongest Critias monster of all three of his forms. 2900 ATK and you can equip him and the equipped Monster can attack 3 times, perfect for an OTK/FTK strategy.

The Claw of Hermos

(This card is also always treated as "Legendary Dragon Hermos".)

Send, from your hand or your side of the field to the Graveyard, 1 monster with the same Type as 1 Monster Type listed in the card text of a Fusion Monster that can only be Special Summoned with "The Claw of Hermos" (if that card is Set, reveal it), then Special Summon that Fusion Monster from your Extra Deck. You can only activate 1 "The Claw of Hermos" per turn.

Hermos was Joey’s Dragon and it has a unique ability. Timaeus required certain monsters on the field to be used while Critias required a certain trap card either on the field or in the hand to be used. Hermos basically requires any Warrior, Dragon or Spellcaster either on the field or in the hand, making it extremely dangerous and versatile.

Time Magic Hammer

Must be Special Summoned with "The Claw of Hermos" by sending 1 Spellcaster-Type monster from your hand or your side of the field to the Graveyard, and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways. If this card is Special Summoned: Target 1 other monster on the field; equip this monster on the field to that target. At the start of the Damage Step, if the monster equipped with this card by this effect battles an opponent's monster: You can roll a six-sided die, note the result, and banish the opponent's monster until the Standby Phase of that many turns later.

I know Shaddolls are making great use of this card because nearly all their monsters are Spellcasters. They usually use Falco or Beast, so if you’re playing against Shaddolls, use DNA Surgery to prevent or at least delay this card’s summon because it can be very difficult to deal with. If you’re using this card I highly recommend using with Tyrant Burst Dragon equipped to the same monster as you can then banish three of your opponents monsters for a random number of turns. The effect of Time Magic Hammer also makes the equipped monster invulnerable to battles because the attacking monster will be banished before the damage step.

Goddess Bow

Must be Special Summoned with "The Claw of Hermos" by sending 1 Warrior-Type monster from your hand or your side of the field to the Graveyard, and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways. If this card is Special Summoned: Target 1 other monster on the field; equip this monster on the field to that target. Once per Battle Phase, while this card is equipped to monster by this effect, when an opponent's card or effect resolves, negate that effect, and if you do, the equipped monster can make a second attack during this Battle Phase.

This card just makes Nekroz decks even nastier and harder to deal with. Most Nekroz monsters are warriors, which is what this card needs, so if it was equipped to something like Trishula, it stops the opponent from activating trap cards or monster effects during the Battle Phase. So it stops Mirror Force, Dimensional Prison, Magic Cylinder, Lightsworn Barrier as well as the flip effects of Ryko and Magician of Faith whose effects must activate so long as there is a target (in the case of Faith).

Rocket Hermos Cannon

Must be Special Summoned with "The Claw of Hermos" by sending 1 Warrior-Type monster from your hand or your side of the field to the Graveyard, and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways. If this card is Special Summoned: Target 1 other monster on the field; equip this monster on the field to that target. It can make a second attack during each Battle Phase, also if it attacks a Defense Position monster, inflict piercing battle damage to your opponent.

Another card that would lethal in Nekroz decks, especially if it equipped to the same monster as Goddess Bow, because think about it. Other than destroying both Goddess Bow and this card, what options does the opponent have? They can’t destroy it with effects during battle. They can’t go into defence they’ll take piercing battle damage. So until they draw into Raigeki or Dark Hole or something like that, what else have they got? Honor Ark maybe, but Nekroz players usually have Djinns and I know one of them prevents the opponent special summoning so there’s not a lot of options if they get that combo out.

Red-Eyes Black Dragon Sword

Must be Special Summoned with "The Claw of Hermos" by sending 1 Dragon-Type monster from your hand or your side of the field to the Graveyard, and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways. If this card is Special Summoned: Target 1 other monster on the field; equip this monster on the field to that target. It gains 1000 ATK. The monster equipped with this card by this effect gains 500 ATK and DEF for each Dragon-Type monster on the field and in the Graveyards.

So this card is basically an equip version of Dark Paladin and is easier to summon as well but the monster also gets a DEF bonus as well. Additionally, the equipped monster gets an automatic 1500 ATK point boost at minimum. Perfect for use in Dragon Rulers, Dragonuity’s, basically anything that uses Dragons. It can be used against Dragon decks as well and get very high attack power. Possibly the most versatile card that Hermos makes.

The Legendary Dragon cards themselves also make their own monsters when combined with the spell card Legend of Heart to create Legendary Knight Timaeus, Critias and Hermos.

Timaeus- Cannot be Normal Summoned/Set. Must be Special Summoned with "Legend of Heart", and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways. When this card is Special Summoned: You can target 1 face-up Spell/Trap Card on the field; banish that target. When this card is targeted for an attack: You can target 1 Spell Card in your Graveyard; Set that target. The banishing effect includes field spells and Pendulum monsters in the Pendulum Zones. The targeting effect of this card includes field spells, but not Pendulum monsters as a) they are not treated as spell cards when in the graveyard and b) cannot be set in the Pendulum Zones.

Critias- Cannot be Normal Summoned/Set. Must be Special Summoned with "Legend of Heart", and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways. When this card is Special Summoned: You can target 1 face-up Spell/Trap Card on the field; banish that target. When this card is targeted for an attack: You can target 1 Trap Card in your Graveyard; Set that target. That Set card can be activated during this turn. Like Timaeus, the banishing effect includes field spells and Pendulum monsters in the Pendulum Zones. Very nasty to deal with your opponent (if they’re the ones running it) can activate traps like Mirror Force or Dimensional Prison from the graveyard essentially.

Hermos- Cannot be Normal Summoned/Set. Must be Special Summoned with "Legend of Heart", and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways. When this card is Special Summoned: You can target 1 face-up Spell/Trap Card on the field; banish that target. Once per turn, when this card is targeted for an attack: You can target 1 Effect Monster in your Graveyard; until your next End Phase, this card's name becomes that target's, and replace this effect with that target's original effects. Like Timaeus and Critias, the banishing effect includes field spells and Pendulum monsters in the Pendulum Zones. The second effect gives the player access to effects like Exploder Dragon, Buster Blader, Wall of Illusion which, depending on the battle, can be very useful.

The Legendary Knights also fuse together to create th most difficult monster I have ever seen: Timaeus the Knight of Destiny.

"Legendary Knight Timaeus" + "Legendary Knight Hermos" + "Legendary Knight Critias"

Must be Special Summoned (from your Extra Deck) by sending the above cards you control to the Graveyard, and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways. (You do not use "Polymerization".) This card is unaffected by other card effects. If this card attacks or is attacked, during damage calculation (in either player's turn): You can activate this effect once per battle; this card's ATK and DEF become equal to the ATK of the monster on the field with the highest ATK (your choice, if tied). When this card is destroyed by battle: You can Special Summon 3 "Legendary Knight" monsters from your hand, Deck, and/or Graveyard, ignoring their Summoning conditions.

There is really only one way to defeat this card that I can think of and that’s to use Armory Arm. Timaeus’s effect can’t actually be used more than once. Once its ATK is set, it stays there regardless of if a stronger monster hits the field, so you would have to attack with your strongest monster and set the ATK at equal. On your next turn, Synchro summon Arm and equip it to your most powerful monster and attack again. Theoretically, it should destroy Timaeus but I haven’t seen it done so I’m not entirely sure, so I’m classing it as invincible for now until I see it defeated, but its first effect is actually misleading and may fixed if they re-errata it.