OCG October 2016 Banlist Discussion

I am not surprised...
This is Ken Sir, time for me to do my job...

Forbidden:
Level Eater

Limited:
Cyber-Stein
Magician of Faith
Majespecter Unicorn – Kirin
PSY-Framelord Omega

Semi-Limited:
Artifact Moralltach
Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning
D/D Lamia
D/D Swirl Slime
Wisdom-Eye Magician
Inzektor Dragonfly
Mathematician
Star Seraph Sovereignty
El Shaddoll Fusion
Monster Gate
Domain of the True Monarchs

Unlimited:
Qliphort Scout
Sangan
Thousand-Eyes Restrict
Charge of the Light Brigade
Gateway of the Six
Sinister Shadow Games
Wall of Revealing Light




Level Eater

Not sure why anyone would be surprised. I got like half a dozen "WHY!?" or "HOW!?" when I shared the list online.
Level Eater, alongside Blackwing - Gofu, is the main culprit for the success of Synchro DARK decks, the rogue deck whose win conditions involves hand-looping and synchro summon spams. The combo starts off with Blackwing - Gofu and a way to get Level Eater into the grave.

Level Eater is poorly designed as it doesn't contain a Once-Per-Turn clause, and the meta has evolved ever since its introduction, allowing the player more alternatives and options to dump it into the grave. I didn't mention it as a worthy or notable/possible hit for the list on the blog's prediction list previously, but personally, I felt that if it wasn't Gofu, it will be Eater. And true enough, Gofu escaped the hit, but Level Eater took the full brunt of Konami's wrath.

This hit by Konami once again reinstates their zero-tolerance policy for rogue decks and decks that perform hand-loops (hence the reason why cards like Trap Dustshoot and Drop off are still on the list), both of which Synchro DARK are guilty of.
 
Limited

Now let's go through the rest of the list few by few, one by few. For the limited to 1 section we have...

• Cyber-Stein
• Famous option by many others, but personally I felt it is uncalled for.  A limitation is definitely more preferable than an outright ban though.

• Magician of Faith
• #Longoverdue
• #FreeBrionic 
• Watch out for FTK empty-jar-ish loops though. 
• May slowly make its way to three copies formats later.

• Majespecter Unicorn – Kirin
• So many people called it, I don't think I need to go more into detail?

• PSY-Framelord Omega
• Too overpowered at three, but non-synchro orientated decks usually play one copy anyway. Mainly because of Synchro DARK, since it is capable of getting rid of the opponent's entire hand before their turn even began. It has three powerful effect packed into one.
• Even with Level Eater banned, it can still do plenty damage at three copies, with 2+6 summons, no thanks to D-Hero Malicious Edge and Plaguespreader Zombie holding hands.
• I called this hit for two banlists straight, so I think I justified its limitation. Just one thing though - Poor PSY-Frames.

Semi-Limited

• Artifact Moralltach 
• This feels like a testing the waters type of release, and if not much havoc is wrecked by Moralltach in the next few months, this card can hopefully see three copies.
• Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning
• Let's celebrate Konami's slow and steady road back to the Chaos format.
• Chaos Sorcerer at 3, check! Chaos Envoy Dragon at 3, check!
• D/D Lamia
• D/D Swirl Slime
• Another hit that players saw coming. A limitation would have been too harsh, so I think a semi-limitation sits just right with D/D/D players.
• Frankly, it doesn't change much, except hurt consistency even further. It won't change the gameplay and style of a D/D/D competitive deck.
• Furthermore, players seldom use more than two copies per card (for these two) over the span of the game. But it does increase the chances of Pot of Desires hurting the player more, since you have lesser copies now.
• Wisdom-Eye Magician
• Testing the waters.... But now that Pendulum Call is limited, it seems fine to keep this card at two.
• Inzektor Dragonfly
• More testing of waters, Konami seems adamant in bringing back old cards which they deem safer and more irrelevant now than before. Speaking of which...
• Mathematician
• Star Seraph Sovereignty
• One of the darkest times of Yugioh was Star Seraph Shaddolls; You either go first or get lockdown so badly you can't do anything on your turn. Number 16 declaring spells (with no loss of resources) and El-Shaddoll Winda on your opponent's field. 
• More testing waters
• El Shaddoll Fusion
• Shaddolls want Construct back and all they get is this... lol
• Better than nothing I guess.
• Monster Gate
• A safer option to semi-limit as compared to its counterpart - Reasoning. Reasoning requires no cost and restriction and is thus more 'broken' in a sense, than Monster Gate.
• Try your best Infernoids, you can still cling onto your Tier 2 level.
• Domain of the True Monarchs
• Slowly but surely.... more testing of waters?
• Domain being at 1 hurt Monarchs so much that it became mostly unplayable.
• The once-0ExtraDeck deck had to sell their soul and employ the help of Brilliant Fusion and plenty of Extra Deck monsters in order to stay alive.

All in all, the semi-limitation pile seems quite reasonable to me.

Unlimited

• Qliphort Scout
• Along with Shaddolls, Qli emerged as one of the old archetype gaining a boost from the list. Scout to three seems to bump it back to a contender of the meta, despite Saqlifice still being limited.
• Sangan
• Thousand-Eyes Restrict
• Wall of Revealing Light
• Water tested, green light given. Welcome to three copies, errata-ed Sangan.
• Charge of the Light Brigade
• Good call, this is 2016 Konami. Thanks for remembering that.
• Gateway of the Six
• Bad call. But then again, no one really plays Six Sams now.
• I do not look forward to FTK loops.
• Goddamnit Konami, I hope you know what you are doing.
• Sinister Shadow Games
• When will it be Construct's turn?
• Another boost to Shaddolls.

Conclusion

Solemn Strike, Twin Twister, and Blue-Eyes all escape another banlist, making me wonder if they will get hit at all. The first two, being staples, were perhaps recognised as cards policing the top decks, making sure none will ever remain as the strongest and undefeatable option of each formats. Thus they are spared the hit.
The last.... maybe Kaiba bribed Konami?

No top decks got crippled, a fact pleasing many competitive players.
A fake list was floating around minutes before the confirmation, one of the hits was Vanity's Emptiness. I am sure glad it wasn't hit. (I was praying for it to get to more copies...) If it was, there wouldn't be anything to stop Kaiju-like cards.

Nekroz was left behind, as archetypes which were relevant during its regin - such as Qli and perhaps Shaddolls too - got assistance and a boost from the banlist. Is this really the end for Nekroz?

As I have anticipated, Anti-Spell Fragrance wasn't hit. Neither were other names that players wish to serve up to the chopping board, like Shadow Mist, Ultimaya.
Once again, no more errata-and-released cards. Better luck next time, Witch of the Black Forest.

So...

What does this mean and where does this leave us then?
We will tackle this question in another post, but for now, this list seems pleasant enough to welcome many different archetypes and decks to contend for the metagame. I like the recurring theme of bringing back old decks and assisting the fallen archetypes via a slow releasing of cards from the list.