March 2012 Ban List

The list that has been floating around has been confirmed.

 Forbidden:

• Glow-Up Bulb
• Spore
• Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
• Trap Dustshoot

Limited:

• The Agent of Mystery - Earth
• T.G. Striker

Semi-Limited:

• Marshmallon
• Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner
• Emergency Teleport
• Shien's Smoke Signal
• Level Limit - Area B
• Torrential Tribute
• Ultimate Offering
• Reborn Tengu* (there's actually a little asterisk next to it that says it will be released in Japan in the near future...)

Unlimited:

• Call of the Haunted

Unfortunately, this ended up being the real list.  I was really hoping that it was a fake, but the initial pictures were too convincing, even with the various odd card choices.

So, Wind-Ups, Inzektors, and Rescue Rabbit were not harmed at all.  The Plant engine (plus Reborn Tengu) was completely slaughtered.  These moves were obviously a way to promote the newest themes and Xyz Monsters in general.  As usual, Konami has used the ban list to force people to buy the new products...

Thankfully, there are a few good things that this list brought.  Trap Dustshoot is now gone, and the ultimate floater, Reborn Tengu, has been made into just another good card.  Xyz Gadgets and T.G. Agents, decks that have been fairly popular in the OCG, were hit a little bit.  In my opinion, the hits they got were proportional to their power during the format, which wasn't very much.

On the other hand, Lightsworn and Six Samurai each received a little boost to their consistency.  They got back Lumina and Shien's Smoke Signal, respectively.  For Lightsworn, this doesn't really mean that much, but this is huge for Six Samurai.  Six Samurai still have a fairly high percentage of opening with Shi En, so I don't really see why Konami saw fit to help them even more.

Trishula was banned.  I did kind of expect it, which is why I traded away my extra, Secret Rare Trishula.  I still have the Duel Terminal Trishula that I won, but it's okay; it'll symbolize good memories, like the Duel Terminal Goyo Guardian I still have.  But yeah, Trishula's broken, so it's good that it was banned.

Level Limit - Area B and Marshmallon help stall decks, I guess.  Level Limit - Area B is just a subtle push for Xyz Monsters, though.

Konami has made a bold move by Semi-Limiting Torrential Tribute.  Cards like Torrential Tribute, Mirror Force, Dark Hole, and Heavy Storm have always been the power cards that you only have one of.  They all have amazing potential when played correctly, but you wouldn't have to see them more than once per duel.  Giving us another Torrential Tribute has a huge impact on the game.  It can prevent swarms, which is good, but it still doesn't do anything about all of the first-turn shenanigans that Konami has been promoting...

Yay, Emergency Teleport!  We now have access to a second E-Tele, which is good enough to allow for a decent Psychic engine again.  So, even though my T.G. Zombies have lost two Strikers, they can now be replaced with Krebons!  T.G. Tele-Zombies!

Um, that's pretty much it.  I'll probably talk about what I'm considering playing next format in a later blog post.  There's still two weeks left of this format, and just because the new ban list is out doesn't mean I'm going to abandon the current format.