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.