Introduction

Welcome back to the Banlist series! There have been quite a few changes to the list from when I first released the original series. For this article, I will detail the updates to the list and, same as before, talk about why those cards got banned, and whether or not they should come back. 

Let us begin!

Banned Monsters

For this section, I will talk about the monsters in chronological order. Like before, I will split them into Main Deck and Extra Deck monsters.

Main Deck

Konami has banned only a few monsters from the main deck since around July of last year.

Eclipse Wyvern

Eclipse Wyvern is a level 4 LIGHT Dragon monster. If sent to the GY, you can banish a level 7 or higher LIGHT or DARK Dragon from your deck. If banished from the GY, you can add that banished monster to your hand.

Thunder Dragon decks, as well as other Dragon Link decks, utilized this card to add Chaos Dragon Levianeer to the hand. This would allow the opponent to either destroy cards on the field or shuffle a card from their opponent's hand to the deck. They could also Special Summon a monster from their GY.

Guardragon Elpy easily summoned Wyvern from the deck and helped further Dragon Deck combos.

Konami banned it on the July 2019 list.

Can It Come Back?

At the moment, I think it is fine coming back. The Guardragon engine is slightly less powerful because of the banning of two important cards, which I will detail later on. However, I feel that it would be able to come back to 1, and not more. It would give a small boost to dragon decks, especially since they all need it.

Orcust Harp Horror

Orcust Harp Horror is a level 4 DARK Machine that, while in the GY, can banish itself to Special Summon an Orcust from the Deck. If this effect is used, you cannot Special Summon monsters, except for DARK monsters, for the rest of the turn.

From the release of Knightmare Orcust in SOFU, Orcusts have been a very good deck in the metagame. In fact, it was considered one of the best decks in the format, especially with the Sky Striker engine. One of the main reasons that the Orcust strategy was so resilient and consistent was due to the utility of Harp Horror. It served as a starter for nearly any deck that wanted a consistent counter-trap negate with Orcust Crescendo. So much extension was possible, making OTKs with Borrelsword Dragon extremely easy. Harp Horror provided excellent interaction during your opponent's turn with Orcustrated Babel on the field as well.

Konami banned it on the January 2020 banlist.

Can It Come Back?

If you have read any of my past articles, you would obviously know what my answer would be. However, as much as I would want it back, we need to be a bit more realistic.

By this point, a lot of players were tired of having to play with or against this deck. Because it was so popular, it had extremely high representation in the metagame. Although there might have been other cards to hit in the Orcust strategy, I think that Harp to 0 was the correct choice. It stopped the deck's ability to be put into nearly any deck, but did not hinder the deck too much.

Extra Deck

The Phantom Knights of Rusty Bardiche

The Phantom Knights of Rusty Bardiche is a LINK-3 DARK monster with 2100 ATK that requires at least 2 DARK monsters. It allowed you to send a "The Phantom Knights" monster from your deck to the GY in order to set a "Phantom Knights" S/T from your deck, an excellent boost to the PK deck.

Konami banned this monster on the July 2019 banlist.

Can It Come Back?

Unfortunately, it cannot. DARK is one of the best attributes in the game (arguably THE best), and as such, there are so many decks that would be able to abuse this card. Not only that, but on the January 2020 list, the PK RuM was brought back to 3. This card is very good, and would be broken beyond belief if Bardiche were to return.

Long story short, it provides too much advantage for too little investment.

Guardragon Agarpain

Released in SOFU as part of the Guardragon engine, Guardragon Agarpain summoned Dragon monsters from the Extra Deck. Usually, this would include cards like Hot Red Dragon Archfiend Abyss or Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon for negates. Pendulum decks would summon Odd-Eyes Absolute Dragon and Link it away to get an Odd-Eyes Vortex Dragon. 

The Guardragon Engine in general was extremely consistent. Any number of 1 or 2-card starters would end on boards that included many negates, especially because Agarpain provided so much power to this strategy.

Konami banned it on the October 2019 banlist.

Can It Come Back?

Most likely not. Despite Agarpain being gone, the other 2 Guardragons are still very good cards. Dragon decks are still very powerful, and with things like Ib, the World Chalice Justiciar being legal during this card's time, this strategy was extremely strong and consistent. It should stay banned for now.

Knightmare Mermaid

Released in FLOD, Knightmare Mermaid is a LINK-1 that requires any "Knightmare" monster to summon. If Link Summoned, it allows you to discard a card to Special Summon a Knightmare monster from your deck. 

Gouki utilized this well by creating extra links. Knightmare provided an extra material with Knightmare Corruptor Iblee. Iblee would then summon itself to the opponent's side of the field, stopping them from Special Summoning.

However, it was the Orcust deck that caused Konami to ban this card on the October 2019 banlist. With the release of Orcust Knightmare, any two monsters were able to make the full Orcust Combo. Thus, literally every single deck had the capability of splashing in a free negation and an extremely resilient monster engine.

Can it Come Back?

Not as long as Orcust Knightmare is still in the game. Unbanning Orcust Mermaid again would greatly increase its consistency and allow many decks to run the Orcust engine in their strategies again. 

Thunder Dragon Colossus

With SOFU came the release of a new deck for a beloved card: Thunder Dragon. This new archetype focused on utilizing different forms of Thunder Dragons to combo off and end turns with its new boss monsters: Thunder Dragon Colossus and Thunder Dragon Titan. Colossus prevented the opponent from adding cards from their deck to their hand. Titan allowed the player to destroy cards on their opponent's field whenever a "Thunder Dragon" effect is activated in the hand. 

This deck went through a few iterations, including Brilliant Fusion and Dragon Combo variants. It was a popular choice to play since it was able to deal with Sky Strikers relatively well. 

Konami banned it on the January 2020 list.

Can it Come Back?

Like many people, I was surprised that this card was hit so severely on the list. Thunder Dragons, although being a strong deck, were not unbeatable. There were a few ways in which strategies were able to deal with it, and many felt that it was a fair deck.

However, I will admit that the Dragon combo variant was a bit oppressive, especially with Colossus being able to be summoned to hinder the opponent. Not only that, but based on the trends seen on the January 2020 list, it made sense that it was hit.

Heavymetalfoes Electrumite

Released way back in EXFO, Heavymetalfoes Electrumite is a LINK-2 that requires two Pendulum monsters to summon. It was the best card that strategy could ask for. Not only was it extremely easy to summon, but it helped search out those missing scales, and helped maintain advantage with its draws.

The Pendulum deck has gone through a lot of versions ever since the Link Era started, going from Pendulum FTK to Negation Turbo to Dragon Link, to the Endymion strategy of today. At the center of all of it, was Electrumite.

Konami banned it in the January 2020 banlist.

Can It Come Back?

The way the January 2020 list made it necessary to ban an important card of the Pendulum archetype, even if it was not as active in the metagame as the other decks that were hit. Electrumite is too good for the Pendulum playstyle, and keeping it in the game might not be a good idea. 

With new strategies coming out every day, I think that it is best for this card to stay on the list.

Ib, the World Chalice Justiciar

After being defeated by Longirsu's lance, Knightmare Incarnation Idlee was reborn into Ib, the World Chalice Justiciar. This is a lvl 5 Synchro Monster that, when Synchro Summoned, allows you to add a "World Legacy" card from the deck to your hand. If sent to the GY, it Special Summons a "World Chalice" monster from the deck or GY, except itself. 

All Dragon Link decks utilized this card in their combos. In these cases, Ib would search out a World Legacy Guardragon, which would summon a Dragon monster from the GY. There were a number of one or two card combos that led to boards of many negates. Mathematician or Souleating Oviraptor alone would lead to end boards that included many negates.

Konami banned it on the January 2020 list.

Can It Come Back?

I do not think that this card will return. It is an extremely important engine piece for an extremely powerful strategy. Having one-card combos that can lead to so much board building is a bit scary to think about. 

Tempest Magician

Tempest Magician is a bit of an old card. Konami first released it in Crossroads of Chaos back in 2008. It is a lvl 6 Synchro Monster that, when Synchro Summoned, allows you to place a Spell Counter on it. During your turn, you can discard cards and place Spell Counters on face-up cards on your field, up to the number of cards discarded. Finally, you can remove all Spell Counters on the field to inflict 500 damage to the opponent for each one.

Obviously, the only way to use this card is with an FTK. As there was no consistent way to naturally generate a large amount of Spell Counters through other cards, there were some gimmicky decks that utilized Tempest Magician's effect. These strategies included cards like Tuningware, Formula Synchron, and T.G. Hyper Librarian to draw a whole bunch of cards. You would then be able to discard 16 cards to burn the opponent for 8000 LP. 

However, with the introduction of the Endymion Structure Deck, generating Spell counters became even easier than before. Tempest Magician quickly became a relatively consistent FTK for Pendulum.

Konami banned in on the January 2020 list.

Can it Come Back?

I do not see it coming back. Cards like this tend to promote degenerate strategies and should be kept on the list. Not only that, but Endymion Magicians are a thing.

Outer Entity Azathot

Outer Entity Azathot is a RANK 5 Xyz monster that, if Special Summoned, prevents the opponent from using Monster effects. When Rusty Bardiche was legal, decks would use RANK 4 Time Thief Redoer for the PK RuM, summoning it on their opponent's turn. After both the RuM and Bardiche were banned, combo decks would summon first Outer Entity Nyarla, then overlay the Azathot to stymie hand trap usage. Lunalights were utilizing this card quite a lot, especially once Nibiru, the Primal Being was released. 

Quite a lot of players disliked this card. Yugioh has reached a point where many decks need to run hand traps to counteract other strategies. For a deck to have easy access to a card that effectively makes the opponent unable to do anything to fight back is a bit disheartening. 

Konami banned it on the January 2020 list.

Can it Come Back?

For the reasons mentioned above, I do not think so. 

Salamangreat Miragestallio

First released with the Salamangreat Structure deck, Salamangreat Miragestallio is a RANK 3 Xyz monster. You can detach a material so Special Summon a "Salamangreat" monster from your deck. If used as material for a Link Summon of a Salamangreat monster, it can return a monster on the opponent's field to their hand.

With the limiting of both Salamangreat Gazelle and Salamangreat Circle, Miragestallio became even more important for the deck. With any two lvl 3 monsters, you were still able to consistently find your Gazelle and start the engine. Not only that, but it provides a quick way to get rid of problems on the field without destruction.

Konami banned it on the January 2020 list.

Can it Come Back?

I do not think that this card can come back. It provides the Salamangreat deck with too much consistency. With other decks at a lower power level due to the list, it also makes sense that the card stays banned.

Banned Spells

Only two spells were banned within the last six months or so, but both are important in the metagame. 

Brilliant Fusion

Brilliant Fusion is a Continuous Spell that allows you to Fusion Summon a "Gem-Knight" monster by using materials in your deck. 

Ever since its release, any deck that utilized Normal Summons ran the Brilliant Fusion engine. Gem-Knight Seraphinite was the target for Brilliant Fusion because it provided an additional Normal Summon. With the advent of the Link Era, Seraphinite provided an excellent way to spam materials for link summoning.

For Brilliant Fusion to work as intended, you need to have a Gem-Knight in the deck. Because of this, if you drew the target, the Brilliant Fusion was dead. Most decks ran Gem-Knight Garnet because it had the highest attack of all other Gem-Knight monsters. Its use was so widely spread that if a card needed to remain in the Main Deck for an engine to work, it was called a "Garnet". 

Unfortunately, the main reason that Konami banned it on the January 2020 list was that it facilitated the Gem-Knight FTK.

Can it Come Back?

Unfortunately, this card cannot come back. Giving decks an easy way to Normal Summon an additional time is an excellent effect. The fact that this card also happens to make an FTK more consistent is not a good thing, either.

Sky Strike Mobilize - Engage!

And with this, we have finally reached the last card that was forbidden on a list since the last time I released my articles. This is arguably the one that required a ban the most.

Sky Striker Mobilize - Engage! is a Spell card that adds a "Sky Striker" card from the deck to the hand. If there are three or more Spells in the GY, you can also draw a card. This alone should be enough to explain why the card needed to go.

Spells are the most diverse cards in Yugioh. Decks that ran Sky Striker engines utilized a lot of one-time-use spells in order to have at least three Spells in the GY. This included things like Upstart Goblin, Foolish Burial Goods, and Metalfoes Fusion. Prior to the January 2020 list, Orcust Sky Striker was considered as the best deck of the format. 

No matter what deck it was used in, this card provided too much advantage off of so little. 

Konami banned it on the January 2020 list.

Can it Come Back?

Of all cards in this article, Engage deserves a return to the game the least. As explained above, it provided too much advantage for so little. The feeling of topdecking an Engage with three spells in the GY while you're behind is sublime. Not only that but Sky Striker Ace - Kagari was brought back to three on this same list. 

Banned Traps

Interestingly enough, there weren't any traps banned. However, there is one that I am sure many players agree should go: Imperial Order. Just because it got an errata that makes it so you have to pay LP twice as fast does not make it any less degenerate. 

Conclusion

With this, we are now caught up on the current state of the Banlist. However, we are not done with the ban list quite yet. As the meta keeps shaping, more lists will be released, and Konami will likely ban more cards. Not only that, but a few cards on here have been released. I will likely make another article talking about those cards that are finally free.

Until then, we shall keep waiting!