September 2013 Ban List Announcement

Say goodbye to your staples… and the card above too!

Yugioh’s September 2013 ban list is revealed hitting Dragon Ruler and a whole lot of other decks hard.

This time around, there are differences between the OCG and TCG lists.

What’s the same with both lists

Banned

Burner, Dragon Ruler of Sparks, Lightning, Dragon Ruler of Drafts, Reactan, Dragon Ruler of Pebbles, Stream, Dragon Ruler of Droplets: A total of 4 Dragon Ruler monsters are banned being the 4 elemental baby dragons that bring out their larger selves. Don’t expect the future Light and Dark baby Dragon Rulers to be printed the same way.

Spellbook of Judgment: is banned for its massive unfair card advantage.

Limited

Genex Ally Birdman: While it’s rare for any players to max copies this card, 1 is still a fair number to reduce exploits.

Semi-Limited

Fire Formation – Tenki: Searching and ATK boost is just too much for just one card.

Unlimited

Tsukuyomi: Too slow for this format

E – Emergency Call: Hero players, before you celebrate read on…

Pot of Duality: I doubt too many would add all 3 copies anyways.

Scapegoat: Scapegoat running rampant prompts the need for more piercing monsters.

OCG only *Skip this if following TCG*

Banned

None

Limited

Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Rooster: It’s a powerful searcher either way. It’s new for TCG so it is spared here.

Mermail Abyssteus: This card makes it too easy to summon and search Mermail.

Number 11: Big Eye: Now that high ranked XYZ aren’t so uncommon anymore, this is pretty much a permanent Brain Control…used twice!

Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier: TCG will never in the right mind bring back this overpowered synchro. We’ll see how Japan’s meta goes.

Wind-Up Shark: Kind of overkill put at 1. Good thing TCG didn’t do that

Divine Wind of the Mist Valley: Was powerful and underrated. Now becomes more abusable.

Super Rejuvenation: For fear of cycling the entire deck full of dragons in a dragon ruler deck.

Abyss-sphere: Another Mermail hits the list.

Semi-Limited

Chaos Sorcerer: Encouraging chaos builds? Not that 2 will make too much difference.

Gladiator Beast Bestiari: May just be the boost Gladiator Beasts need.

Gorz, Emissary of Darkness: This is a big change. I’m not sure what to expect other than people being more scared of attacking directly on an open field.

Neo-Spacian Grand Mole: It’s powerful in that it produces a loop on its own. At two, it’ll become a real threat.

Unlimited

Wind-Up Magician: Out with 1 Wind-Up, limit another

Advanced Ritual Art: The push for Rituals is still not enough.

Reasoning: There was never a reason to put this card on the list in the first place.

Mirror Force: Wow.

TCG only *Read here*

Banned

Elemental Hero Stratos – And that’s why Hero players shouldn’t be happy with this list. And I actually thought Stratos will be at 2 this time. Looks like heroes needed more punishment.

Number 16: Shock Master: Shocking but abusable “Cold Wave” is abusable.

Card Destruction: A lot of staple spells are banned this time. No Card Destruction means slower speed and Dark World losing power.

Gateway of the Six: Six Samurai also lost power but they have plenty of broken cards to work with so it doesn’t really matter.

Heavy Storm, Monster Reborn: Should’ve been banned a long time ago.

Pot of Avarice: I guess the advantage is just too much. A little disappointed.

Super Rejuvenation: TCG is not taking any chances with Dragon Ruler abuse.

Solemn Judgment: Expect alternative counter traps like the one Solemn Warning we have left. Maybe Seven Tools and some other archetype specific ones.

Ultimate Offering: To prevent one turn kills?

Limited

Atlantean Dragoons: Not sure why

Brotherhood of the Fire Fist – Spirit: Basically a free rank 3 or level 6 synchro. I can’t see why that’s a bad thing.

Constellar Ptolemy M7: Easy to summon in Constellar decks. It’s relatively new and doesn’t seem so bad. Not following Konami’s logic.

Dewloren,  Tiger King of the Ice Barrier: Dewloren will move around the list. Nothing new

Deep Sea Diva: Water decks in general lost a lot of speed from this.

Evigishki Mind Augus: Lost me here

Rescue Rabbit: Rabbit would’ve eventually been at 1 anyways.

Thunder King Rai-Oh: I am disappoint.

Dimensional Fissure: Even Macro deck is taking a huge beating

Gold Sarcophagus: Sarcophagus hops around the list. This is just bad timing.

Bottomless Trap Hole: Powerful. It should move back to 2 eventually.

Compulsory Evacuation Device: It’s not really hurting anybody. My guess is it overshadows all other bounce effects because of its versatility…which gives them an excuse to print future counterparts.

Eradicator Epidemic Virus: It is scary but 1 is too hard of a hit.

Macro Cosmos: See Dimensional Fissure

Royal Tribute: Even fringe decks like Gravekeepers are hit.

Soul Drain: Who would put more than one anyways?

Torrential Tribute: Back home at 1.

Semi-Limited

Mezuki: Probably the best news this year. Time for zombie decks to shine

Plaguespreader Zombie: See Mezuki

T.G. Striker: Fell out of radar. Never a reason to keep at 1.

Dimension Prison: Why this staple?

Unlimited

Destiny Hero Malicious: Finally. If anyone still bother with it. Rank 6 Xyz made easy now

The Agent of Mystery – Earth: Agents are back in shape but will they dominate like they did 2 years ago?

A Hero Lives: Some form of compensation for banning Stratos.

Black Whirlwind: Blackwing’s major comeback. The second best news.

Hieratic Seal of Convocation: Fell out of radar. Not really relevant anymore.

Yes there are a lot of changes to the list this time. TCG has a lot more cards banned and limited while OCG allowed quite a few questionable cards to be at 2 or 3.

With a lot of staples gone or limited, expect lots of change around and substitutes no matter which deck you run. Top decks are being torn down or weakened. Meta game is now in chaos where any deck type is fair game.

Which Decks Powered Down?

Dragon Ruler decks are likely gone by the time the list is in effect.

Water decks are hit pretty hard no matter which archetype you play as.

Fire Fist decks are hit pretty hard too.

Hero decks are actually in even worse condition with Stratos gone.

Six Samurai decks are hurt but not by too much. They lost a dependable card advantage.

A similar case with Spellbooks/Prophecy but at a lesser extent. They were already tier 1 without Spellbook of Judgment.

Anti-meta decks revolving around Macro Cosmos are hurt pretty badly. Same goes for Gravekeepers at a lesser extent.

Dark World Decks will be missing their Card Destruction a lot.

Which Decks Powered Up?

Zombie decks are becoming a more appealing option.

Blackwing decks should be back in the competitive game now.

Gladiator Beast decks are better but only if you follow OCG where cards like Bottomless, Torrential, Mirror Force appear in multiples. Same with chaos decks.

Agents are back in prime condition. Even with Solemn Judgment gone, they have the best exclusive substitute available (Divine Punishment).

Which Decks Stayed the Same?

Evilswarm somehow evaded the banlist this time and will remain a dominant deck.

Machine decks (Geargia, Machina) are quiet. They are stable for now.

Wind-Ups aren’t in much better shape. Magician didn’t move its position but at least TCG is spared from further damage.

This list is only effective until December 31, 2013 most likely due to the large difference between OCG and TCG both of which are chaotic. Either format will still affect players. I would hope to receive a better, consolidated list in 4 months. What to expect for now? We’ll still be seeing Mermail and Fire Fist decks but we’ll also see more of the older decks such as Zombies, Agents and Blackwings coming back. Expect a more diverse metagame.
(Source: Yugioh Wikia)