Yu-Gi-Oh's Banned Restricted List

Yu-Gi-Oh has always been notorious for its banned and restricted list. These lists govern which cards are deemed too powerful to be used in tournament and competitive play. Many times the decisions to move cards onto the list has been praised by the community, and at other times loathed Cards like Cyber Stein and Monster Reborn were way to strong to be used in the current format that duels take place, and so their placement on this infamous list was welcomed, but other cards deserve no part of it.

As of March 1st 2007 the list was updated to include the following cards that are commonly found in most every deck

Magician of Faith - First we saw this card restricted to two per deck, and that was fine. Then during the next format it was limited down to only one copy per deck and we were okay with that. Now it finally happened. Magician of Faith has wound up on the banned or forbidden list. Why? Yes she has an amazing effect, but that's why cards are classified by rarity! Many decks depend on their magic cards to survive, and a magician was always there to allow the re-use of many of those vital spells. Taking her out of the mix will only further the use of same deck arch types in the game.

Last Will - I can almost see why this card is forbidden now, but I think that leaving it restricted to one per deck was a better idea. Its effect allows you to pull a low level creature from your deck after you lose one during a turn. It's no more then the effects found on such cards as Shinning Angle, Mystic Tomato, Warrior Lady of the Waste Land and so on. Yes the effect is better, but that's because we are dealing with a magic card, its effect is supposed to be good. Adding to the draw back of this card is the fact that it's older and therefore rarer, so where most good players will have one, not every player will.

Graceful Charity - Great card, allowing massive draw power, or does it? You draw three cards then ditch any two from your hand, guess what you're left with the same number of cards in your hand before playing the card. The reason for the ban on the card is due to the release of the new Dark World monsters, but taking this card away is going to kill the arch type of that deck! Dark World depends on cards that throw them out of your hand and into the graveyard. Graceful Charity was one of the few cards that added an advantage to throwing them away, aside from them being special summoned. Now because of this every other deck type has to suffer, and that's not exactly fair. Why not just limit Dark World monsters instead?

Breaker the Magical Warrior - Ok so he's a 1900 attacker with a good effect, why ban him? Magician decks are already being hammered as it is, now with the absence of Last Will and Graceful Charity they are hurting even more, now you take away Breaker? This guy is one of the driving forces behind a magician based deck, and now he's gone. This is the second powerful magician to be taken away from the game, the other being Magician of Faith. Hey here's an idea, limit some warrior oriented cards, like Exiled Force... oh what's that? Oh with the new list you can run three copies of Exiled Force? Oh ok that's fair.

Some of the decisions that Upperdeck have made with their game are astounding to me. People complain on a regular basis that the game is to predictable, to mundane, to much the same. With the newest set, Strike of Neos around we were beginning to see a switch in the kinds of arch types popping up around the country, but now Upperdeck has gone and thrown it all away. Magicians are gone, having their power players banned, Dark World is almost back to square one, and warriors have gotten a huge boost, and that's the one deck type that we needed to see restricted!

Yu-Gi-Oh is still a great game, but the diversity factor is what's bringing this TCG to it's knees. Almost every top 8 at any regional event is comprised of the same Monarch or warrior decks. Upperdeck should rethink their strategy and come up with a better plan, or Yu-Gi-Oh may end up as a thing of the past.