A lot of people have been anticipating this particular March Banlist. It'll be effective on the 15th! This will certainly shake things up for the game. After that, we'll also be looking at some of the decks that may be strong coming into the new format. Without further ado, let's jump right into it!
Feel free to check out the full list here!

Banned For Good?

Very Fun Dragon

One of the evilest beings both lore-wise and in-game, the True King of All Calamities is finally leaving the game for good, allowing for some much-needed breathing room. Ever since its inception, it's always been abused in one way or another with little counterplay. From TK Dino days to Halq piles, and lastly the advent of Virtual World. To keep it short and sweet, Calamities choked out monster effects and was an easy-to-use win button. VW was able to use Virtual World Gate - Chuche to protect it from cards like Imperm, Bamboozling Gossip Shadow for Gamma, and so on.
This is the biggest thing to come out of the March Banlist for sure! Unfortunately, there's a threat they might've let free on purpose. More on that later.
For Virtual World, it remains a decent deck thanks to no other card being touched. The strategy is still able to pull off some cool tricks! Players are currently experimenting with XX-Saber Gottoms and Ultimaya Tzolkin as their new crutches. The former, while fragile, can lead to some scary results with back-to-back hand rips. The latter is an interesting option that taps into the power of Synchro Dragons such as Crystal Wing! Lastly, their grind pieces, as well as both Main and Extra Deck pieces are still in one piece.
With Constellar Ptolemy M7, the value of your hand traps are doubled, as M7 can recycle them. Thanks to Jiji, the deck is able to afford this as it handles getting back the VW monsters. Virtual World Kyubi - Shenshen control is another thing to consider. There's Beast of the Pharaoh if you want to try more gimmicky plays, but is on the fringe side. Beatrice and Exa-Beetle could try to make the DBDS lock work, though it is clunky.

Hopefully Sealed

Utopic ZEXAL is in a similar boat to VFD, but is arguably a lot worse to deal with. While Calamities only blocked off monster effects and attacks, ZEXAL prevented your opponent from activating all cards and effects for the turn.
The former performed a lot better as a whole in the metagame, but Numeron was able to sneak a few tops too! The engine was easy to work with and could go first or second. When going first, it would set up a nasty lock that stopped the opponent from playing. Going second, on the other hand, it would try to go for the kill and OTK the opponent with the 4 Gates!
Having this card banned is good for the game, as the ZW support in Lightning Overload would make it way too easy to summon. ZW Ascend Sage searching a Rank-Up-Magic when you use it as material is too much.
Still, this does leave the Numeron engine in a rough spot. I suppose you can still make use of it for a free Apollousa, Saryuja, Avramax, or Megaclops.
Overall, another nice hit from the March Banlist.

Equip Abuse

Union Carrier was bound to get hit later on in the game's lifespan. It was a centerpiece of many degenerate strategies, such as FTKs or floodgate locks. We do dive into what Carrier was up to in a previous article, so feel free to check that out!
ABC suffers as a result, which is an unfortunate turn of events. However, the deck may not be down for the count! Combo lines still exist and people are currently trying to re-learn the deck. For example, Union Hangar still ends on an ABC! Union Hangar plus a piece is also I:P Masquerena + Platinum Gadget + ABC-Dragon Buster!
I'll also be sharing a two-card combo I got to figure out with a little bit of help from the ABC Discord.
The opening hand is Union Hangar + A piece (A, B, or C)

Activate Union Hangar, add B if you didn't open it, otherwise add A.
Normal B, activate Hangar to equip Union Driver to it. Use Driver's effect to equip C. After that, use C's effect to summon itself and then go into a generic Link 2. Barricadeborg Blocker can be cool as it helps SEGOC the effects, but it is optional to do so.
Either way, Cl1 C and CL2 B, B adds a second C and C then summons that C you added. Then you go into a generic Link-3 monster, use C's effect to Special Summon the last piece in your hand which is A-Assault Core! Lastly, link the two away into Apollousa, Bow of the Goddess! Then use A's effect to recycle back the extra C, and then finally summon ABC! This way you can combat Nibiru way easier, and can still Buster should they Nib on the Link 3 + C.

There Can Be Only One Limit

The Lone Ben

Limiting Benten is a massive drop-off in Drytron's consistency, safety, power and was somewhat surprising to see as the deck was still relatively new. It will definitely lower its placement in the metagame, but not all hope is lost. People are still also trying out creative ways to still play the deck, via cards like the Megalith engine using Megalith Phul to recycle Benten, Cyber Angel Idaten to loop Benten, and so on.
You may also notice that due to the lack of Union Carrier, it is actually a lot harder to get to multiple Drytron names.
Looking at some other searchers like Where Arf Thou or hard-running cards like Foolish Burial may be a staple option moving forward.
Future support may also help the deck out with the likes of Magikey and the Drytron Mu Beta Fafnir coming into the mix very soon. For now, it's not completely unplayable, but is considerably frail and not as potent as it used to be. A decent decision on the March Banlist, all things considered.

Unlimits

The March Banlists presents us with some mild unlimits save for one. These are all fine but shouldn't impact the game too much, except for the return of Dragon Buster Destruction Sword. The Buster Blader Link 2 is easily accessible and can send it directly to the GY, where Dragon Link can abuse it and equip it as they wish.
DMZ Dragon and Dragunity Arma Leyvaten are the popular choices for abusing the freed Scythe Lock. This gets a lot better once Ghosts From the Past Comes out and their options expand.
As a result, the game essentially just shifted one floodgate to another. Having Argent Chaos Force back in the game is nice though, as it allows for fun and neat combos since ZEXAL is no longer here to break it.
Unlimiting Rusty Bardiche is cool but doesn't change much as most decks that play it only ran 1 to begin with.
Firewall Dragon is still a strong disruption and recycling tool that now only works best with Cyberse focused stratagems. We won't be seeing it make any waves until April though, so just hold on tight!
Dragons not getting a hit can be considered strong from a marketing perspective as it would make Ghosts From the Past more desirable but does lead to some issues down the line in terms of the health of the game.

What to Expect

Dragon Link is arguably the best deck of the new format, but there are also some other options to try out. Dinosaurs, Dragoon piles, Dogmatika, Zoodiac, Eldlich, Tri-Brigade all came out of the list unscathed.

There Can Be Only One and Nibiru are a lot better now than they used to be, queueing up strongly against the decks to beat! Infinite Impermanence and Ice Dragon's Prison are also seeing a rise in popularity, and Kajius might also pop up, specifically Gadarla.
The mystery dust Kaiju helps at dealing with both Stormwinds and Buster lock-related shenanigans. Hand Traps in general are in a solid spot, especially Artifact Lancea.

LCS 11 is this weekend using the new March banlist, so we may see some of these decks duke it out in the new environment!
This is a large event, so it may be a good showing on what are the decks to look out for in the near future.

Conclusion

And that about wraps up the analysis on the banlist and what are some of the things to expect. I hope you enjoyed this ride! Remember if you ever feel useless, know that the Semi-Limited list only has 1 card in it and it can easily go back to 3 without any worries. Until next time!