Random Topic Generator: Why I don’t like following Yu-Gi-Oh’s Banned List

Yu-Gi-Oh Trading Card Game has been around since 1996. 1,000s of cards have been released since, changing the game considerably, sometimes forcibly evolving the game to keep it fresh and entertaining. With each new Anime, a new type of card is released, bringing a new aspect to the game. I have been playing the card game for a number of years and have seen the game develop considerably, from when it was predominately normal monsters to having practically nothing but effect monsters, with new mechanics.

Each year, a number of official tournaments have a run, where people can go and play the game with the hopes of winning. It quickly became apparent that some people were dominating the game via the use of specific cards so they created the banned/limited list. A list of cards that are illegal in official tournament play or are limited, so instead of having three copies of a certain card, you are only allowed 2 copies or just the 1 copy. The list was created with the intention of creating balance. With these overpowered cards removed from the tournament, no one can storm through too easily, making it unfair for everyone else.

The list constantly changes, too. A new updated list is released about 2-3 times a year, which explains which cards have left the list and what new cards have been put on there. There are some cards that have a permanent position on the list, purely because they do give the player too much of an advantage, but with the introduction of new mechanics, many have left to accommodate to keep the game as balanced as possible.

However, I like to be awkward and go against the list. I dislike following it and put a few banned cards in my decks, and here’s why.

My main reason is it’s a lot more fun. If your opponent allows the use of banned cards in the duel, or wishes to use them in their decks, the game can be much better. It’s understandable that if someone uses a banned card at the right time, it can be very annoying to the opposing person, but in casual play, where anything goes, it does allow for an entertaining duel.

The game has started to lose a part of it that I thoroughly enjoyed, and that’s “one card can change the entire game”. You can argue there are many cards that aren’t banned and changes the game drastically and immediately. A single duel could have multiple twists and turns, where one turn you’re in the lead, the next your opponent is, and then the very next turn you’ve taken back your lead. It has that “it’s everyone’s game” vibe. Unfortunately, nowadays, it’s hard to incorporate those cards in a deck. If you are to stand a change in tournaments, or against anyone really, you need to build a deck around an archetype. Your opponent’s deck will work fluidly, but it will completely destroy yours. I like using a deck with a bunch of random cards put together because it gives me a challenge - I'm forced to use my imagination to formulate a strategy, which in turn creates a unique game. I'm allowed to take risks and learn from my mistakes. If I'm following an archetype and I make a mistake, I may have completely compromised my entire deck and therefore the duel. Yu-Gi-Oh has pushed archetypes to the centre of the game, which, if I'm completely honest, gets a bit boring after a while.

But please don’t take me the wrong way, I have nothing against making a deck based around a specific archetype, or strategically combining two together. You could do that back when I started playing the game, but the game also had a sense of randomness as well. A couple of years ago, it was possible to put your favourite cards in a deck and give your opponents a run for their money, even if they were following a specific archetype. Nowadays, people only ever focus on specific archetypes, slowly eliminating that sense of creativity I enjoyed and was the reason I started playing the game. If I were to take a deck filled with my favourite cards into an official tournament – following the banned list of course – I would probably be out during the first round. The only way you can stand some chance is to incorporate banned cards, but you then won’t be allowed to play in the tournament. If you were allowed to play with those banned cards, it would be possible to completely destroy a deck centred around an archetype, and you would be criticised for it.

Another criticism I’m constantly getting is “you won because you were using banned cards”. Well, there is a small sense of truth in that statement, because according to the official tournament rules, they are banned, but there’s also that sense of, “I won because I got lucky”. I’m compiling my deck with what is now seen as a bunch of random cards that won’t work together, unlike an archetype that constantly works as a team every single duel. Sometimes, people forget that the game is centred around luck. The luck of the draw can determine how the duel plays out. You have a card in your deck that can put back in the lead, but you need to draw it. If you don’t, fair enough; if you do, you got lucky, that’s how it works. However, with the increasing popularity of archetypes, the deck works so fluidly, a person can have a winning streak, before luck kicks back and they lose, and then criticise you for winning because you were using banned cards despite that they’ve won four times in a row. With my deck of random cards compiled together, whilst luck plays a bigger role, there’s also a higher chance of having the ability to do at least one thing a turn, whereas if you pull the wrong card in the archetype deck, you can’t do a thing until you do draw that one card, allowing the random deck that “shouldn’t work” take the lead.

My last reason why I dislike the banned list is because there are plenty of completely legal cards that are considerably more powerful than some of the cards on the list. That doesn’t make any sense. Magic Cylinder, for example, is a trap card that can be activated when your opponent attacks either your monster or you directly; it negates the attack and inflicts damage to their Life Points equal to the monster’s attack – which can grant you an automatic victory. That’s completely legal meaning you are allowed the maximum of three copies in your deck. Magic Cylinder is actually pretty tame compared to many other legal cards, which begs the question of why those cards on the banned list are there in the first place. Surely it should be the other way round? Konami created the list to ensure balance in the game, but the game is currently as balanced as an elephant and a feather being weighed and the scales say they weigh the same.

To bring at least some balance to the game, I believe Konami needs to cancel the banned list, and or think up a better one entirely.

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)