Three months ago, I chose to vent my frustrations by writing a detailed yet biased article about the breakdowns of the Jan 2021 OCG Limit Regulations.
Upon reading feedback, I found out the TCG had a deep love for the card Maxx "C", having included it in every sentence of reasoning about the OCG. Indeed, what a polarizing card! No one can play around it even when merely discussing the OCG.
Now that an updated ban list has arrived, I felt a sense of responsibility to discuss the impact of that for the next three months, and what we should expect.
Did Konami do the right things? Is the meta solved? Will War Rocks be the next meta? I will break down the current ban list right here, in this article!
As a disclaimer, this will be about the OCG Banlist. However, my good colleague has written about the TCG side of the Banlist for your viewing in comparison, so do check that out!
April 1st, 2021 Limit Regulations
FORBIDDEN
- Tempest Magician (Previously at 3)
LIMITED
- True King of All Calamities (Previously at 3)
SEMI LIMITED
- Union Hangar (Previously at 1)
- Firewall Dragon (Previously at 1)
- Performapal Skullcrobat Joker (Previously at 1)
UNLIMITED
- Dewloren, Tiger King of the Ice Barrier (Previously at 2)
- Junk Speeder (Previously at 2)
- Altergeist Meluseek (Previously at 2)
- Allure of Darkness (Previously at 2)
- Sky Striker Mecha Modules - Multirole (Previously at 2)
- Symbol of Heritage (Previously at 2)
Understanding the Current OCG Metagame
This picture was created with the 6 – 10 March Metagame in mind, so it may not be an exact accurate representation of the current OCG Meta.
Zoodiac now leads by an impressive 12% as the most popular deck. Adopting the most consistent strategy of opening up to 4 variety of impactful handtraps, Zoodiac aims to constantly disrupt the opponent, as well as using the almighty AA-Zeus to devastate the entire board.
Code Talker, Sky Striker, Tri-Brigade and Dragonmaid are Tempo-Control orientated decks that could adapt easily to different matchups, and remain as a neutral 2nd choice in this Meta.
As the Meta continues evolving, players are now aware of the several chokepoints against Hyper Combo decks such as Virtual World, Drytron and Endymion, so they suffer more over time.
So with these updates in mind, I will discuss the relevant impacts of the current list towards the current metagame. Alternatively, you may choose to read up more on the OCG Metagame through this link here.
Forbidden 🚫
Tempest Magician
Ask and you shall receive.
Tempest Magician is finally banned! This is a good thing.
One of the last few burn monsters to be banned. Tempest Magician often encouraged a playstyle of gathering at least 16 counters, through the assistance of Selene, Queen of the Master Magicians or discarding 16 cards through nigh-impossible loops, to directly inflict lethal damage to your opponent!
Like all burn cards, the existence of Tempest Magician herself constantly encouraged player variants to consistently resolve instant wins. Currently, Konami is assumed to stand against such cheap strategies, so do not expect Tempest Magician to come out any time soon. However, I will still provide several video combos to re-live her effectiveness.
Danger! Tempest FTK by RenChannel
as well as a tournament video
Pendulum Tempest FTK by Trif Gaming
Spell-based Tempest FTK tournament video
Limited 1️⃣
True King of All Calamities
Calamities, also known as Very Fun Dragon, has finally landed one foot towards the ban list. A boss monster which seeks to completely nullify your opponent from monster effects across many turns, and being accessible to an unhealthy amount of decks. Due to such an oppressive presence, as well as the current cardpool easily facilitating the summon of this card across multiple decks, VFD has currently earned the ire of the whole Yu-Gi-Oh community.
Unfortunately, being an Extra Deck monster, VFD's limit does naught but a slight dent in the Virtual World gameplan. However, referencing from past patterns, we can fully expect VFD to be completely banned in the next ban list.
Until then, players will still have to deal with YET another 3 more months! Stay strong, OCG duelists.
Semi-Limited 2️⃣
Although somewhere there, but not really? We look at the cards still deciding on being banned or out.
Union Hangar
Due to the introduction of Master Rule 5, ABC was expected to be one of the strongest decks going forth, so a pre-emptive limit was established. However, no such domination occurred, and ABC continues being a thing of the past. Slowly adding consistency pieces back to ABC will help, but so as long as ABC-Dragon Buster itself is Limited, I believe this deck will not see competitive usage.
However, bumping this card could hint at Konami's assumed stance on the archetype, and we may see less restrictions in the future.
Firewall Dragon
After an unexpected Nerf, Firewall Dragon has only seen use in only two archetypes so far: Code Talkers, and @Ignisters. And neither of them benefits in any form with the addition of Firewall Dragon. However, this is not the TCG, but the OCG, and we like to do things slowly here. Therefore, it is reasonable to slowly nudge Firewall Dragon up the stairs into freedom. It will be another 3 more months before Firewall Dragon takes the next step, so until then, Playmaker apologists will have to bear with only two copies!
Performapal Skullcrobat Joker
An interesting bump, Skullcrobat Joker was an extremely strong consistency piece towards almost every Pendulum deck during ARC-V's meta. Joker has the ability to easily tap into many needed scales or pendulums, while serving as a recurring body every turn from Pendulum Summoning. Such a strategy has now long been obsolete in favor of even more consistent decks that can easily play through more interruptions, so Joker back to 2 could encourage more pendulum interest in the future.
This also allows Astrograph Sorcerer to be more relevant to some degree.
Interestingly, all the cards in this section are moving from one copy to two. We should be expecting a more lax variant of the meta, and eventually your favorite limited card could be considered to leave the limited section too! I'm waiting for you, Salamangreat Gazelle!
Unlimited 3️⃣
Several cards are DONE with serving time, and now enjoy freedom in the month of April. It's no lie! We hope to see these cards being used again in the near future.
Dewloren, Tiger King of the Ice Barrier
As previously mentioned from my article, with a HOPT on its effects, there is no more point to either limiting, semi-limiting or banning this tiger. There should be no more chances or opportunities to abuse Dewloren to create infinite loops, so it can finally come back to 3. Ice Barrier duelists can finally rejoice!
Junk Speeder
As a pre-emptive hit towards the introduction of Master Rule 5, Junk Speeder slowly glides out of the ban list, and at the right time!
Dawn of Majesty is expected to embrace the presence of Junk Speeder, so it is absolutely necessary for his presence. Otherwise, Synchrons are generally a Hyper Combo deck, so players will not be expecting to resolve Junk Speeder more then once, or even twice a game. Junk Speeder coming back to 3 copies is nigh irrelevant, but it will be less paperwork for Konami in the future.
Allure of Darkness
This card semi-ed was intended as a hit towards three dominating decks of that format: Pure Thunder Dragon, Danger! FTK and Orcust. Even though Thunder Dragon (inclusive of Chaos support) is still very playable, Konami has decided that Dark-based decks are not as dangerous anymore. This is a welcome yet worrying addition back to the game, but it will probably not be impactful in this metagame.
Sky Striker Mecha Modules - Multirole
Sky Striker has finally dropped off the face of the piechart for quite a long time now. Multirole first moved to two copies in January 19, where Eternal Format was ongoing. Although most were already on two copies to begin with, the semi-limit was confusing for many at that time. However, Multirole coming back to 3 should be close to irrelevant in the current state, but only time can tell. For now, Sky Strikers already struggle with resource competition, so it is not a problem.
Symbol of Heritage
I was extremely surprised to find out that a huge number of duelists were unaware of this card even existing. But, here I am with this article to tell you why it moved inside the list.
The key factor for moving Symbol of Heritage was from Power Tool Dragon, which needed a full 3 copies to 100% resolve its effect. This Equip Spell would pair with Dewloren and Lonefire Blossom for unlimited resurrections from the Graveyard towards many various FTKs/impossible boards. Even if Dewloren has received an errata, this card could potentially see use in the future.
Personally, I am not sold on the idea of unlimiting Heritage, but only time will tell.
I will also include several Heritage Loops for your viewing pleasure, and maybe inspire a potential future combo.
Old Infernity Dewloren Loop by DuelingDays (Bahamut84)
Loops Explained by MST.tv
Altergeist Meluseek 🤮
I really dislike Altergeist, so I am really disappointed in Konami on this one. Shame on you, Altergeist players.
Altergeist has proven to constantly struggle against the current metagame. The gameplan of constantly negating, interrupting and annoying the opposition simply does not keep up with the metagame.
And I hope it stays that way.
All six of these cards are moving from semi-limit towards unlimited. Konami might be trying to use the Semi-Limit section as a deciding factor towards a permanent ban or a second chance. It is a different approach towards subjective cards, but it is their stance regardless.
What could be better?
I have always felt the purpose of the banlist should be to cur problematic decks, address consistency and push product. This current limit regulation has done the bare minimum, and as such, almost nothing has been addressed in regards to the metagame.
Virtual World will continue establishing VFD, and Drytron untouched will continue to dominate. Zoodiac will also defeat many decks, though I personally cannot fathom how they will ever nerf Zoodiac.
However, this could be taken as a good sign. Konami is finally beginning to recognize decks being problematic. Along with newer products coming out with interesting archetypes (like Doremichord), I feel we can expect a fresh new meta before the year ends.
Did this ban list do anything in particular? The short answer is really nothing at all. Nope.
My Thoughts and Conclusions
At the start of January, I confidently declared to my friends I would try every single variant of Calamities until the limit. In these three months, I have been piloting different variants of Calamities, and facing Calamities too. It really has not been a fun experience.
Now that Calamities have received a slight tap on the shoulder, which did nothing, I am very disappointed. The format has not really changed in the slightest as well, only slight optimizations to latest topping decks.
However, I am expecting great and new things from the next three months of brand new cards, such as Deck Build: Ancient Guardians and Dawn of Majesty! Hopefully they are enough to compete with either VFD or Drytron in general. Anything can happen in this game, and I cannot wait to explore the resulting future of Yu-Gi-Oh with all of you!
This is my personal review of the banlist, and I hope you readers will understand the workings behind OCG Konami as well.
It is difficult for many to conjure an opinion about OCG without talking about Maxx "C", so I encourage many readers to think outside of it, and appreciate the game in another perspective.
