Hey, everyone, this is The_SynchroGuy, and I’m here to talk about the new OCG banllist that just got revealed. After many months of Spright and Tearlaments the OCG has had to deal with, this list may finally make way for other decks to start topping more. If you look back to the beginning of July to now, you’ll see how many of the top spots were mostly Ishizu Tearlaments, with only Spright being the best contender that could contest it. There were other decks that managed to top, luckily, but as you get closer to like top 8, top 4 and such, a lot of the time it was Ishizu Tearlaments mirror matches. This obviously needed to change.
Thankfully, this new list may do just that. But it’s not just Tearlaments and Spright Konami went after. They also hit a few other things that they felt were necessary. And for good reason too. No matter what though, it’s going to be open season in the OCG come October. Alright, let’s go over this list and see what changes have been made.
Quick reminder: this list only affects the OCG, which is all of Asia. If you do not live in that area, then this list will not affect you in any way.
Remember: Forbidden = 0 copies; Limited = 1 copy; Semi-Limited = up to 2 copies;
Unlimited/No Longer on List = up to 3 copoies
Forbidden:
Wandering Gryphon Rider
Well it looks like the new dawn on the horizon also came with the extinction of the Adventurer engine. This engine was something many different decks could abuse. Not only did it grant them a free omni-negate, but some extra bodies on board. Including a way to bounce an opponent’s card. Now though, the Omni-negate card, that being the Gryphon, is banned. With no more free omni-negate, there’s not quite a strong reason to keep playing all of the other Adventurer cards for the engine. Maybe.
Granted this engine hasn’t popped up a lot lately since it’s mostly been Spright and Tearlaments, both of which haven’t even been using this engine. However, Konami seems to have still noted how good this engine was and decided they don’t want to see it coming up again in the new format. Time to make way for the new stuff.
Union Carrier
Now this one might seem weird to you if you haven’t been keeping up with the OCG metagame. As you know by now, the OCG was dominated by Spright and Tearlaments. But if you look closely, you can see that one of them has been using this card as one of their stables. In this case, Spright. They’ve been using card to equip Buster Dragon Destruction Sword.
They did this to get the card’s floodgate-like effect to lock their opponents out of the Extra Deck. Basically, it’s their way to beat Tearlaments since that deck was the more superior deck. But Konami does not want to see any of this in the new format, so they decided to ban it. Even without Union Carrier though, Spright is still a good deck, so don’t get too cocky.
Limited:
Agido the Ancient Sentry and Keldo the Possessed Statue
As I said at the beginning, something needed to be changed, and this is one of them. Two of the four EARTH Fairy monsters that were used in Ishizu Tearlaments are now down to 1. But why these 2 cards specifically? Well let’s take a look.
Agido is one of the 2 Fairies that forces players to mill the top 5 cards of their deck. But what it also does is Special Summon both itself and another Level 4 EARTH Fairy from your GY when a card is sent from your opponent’s hand or deck to their GY. So this little line of play can help set you up for some Xyz plays. Like Abyss Dweller, which is perfect against a Tearlaments mirror match. And that same mirror match means you’re more than likely to activate this guy’s effect with ease.
Then there’s Keldo, who shuffles back cards from both your and your opponent’s GY, and as a Quick-Effect on top of that. So you can not only disrupt your opponent’s plays, but make sure you don’t mill yourself out. Her other effect lets you Special Summon herself, and get a search for either Exchange of the Spirit, or a card that mentions it, which is all of the other EARTH Fairy monsters you would play.
I’ll be honest though, while hitting these two cards does hurt the Ishizu stuff a bit, the other two that didn’t get hit can do similar things these two cards do. Those being the mill and Quick-Effect shuffle back effects. I think these two were the ones that got hit because of their Special Summon effects to go into Xyz Monsters like Abyss Dweller and Time Thief Redoer. I don’t know if this will stop the Ishizu Tearlaments build, but it does restrict their Special Summons a little less now.
Herald of Orange Light
Okay, this a big one. This was heavily played at 3 copies in every Ishizu Tearlaments deck. And for a good reason to. Being a hand trap that negates monster effects is already quite nice as you can either disrupt your opponent’s turn, or use it to protect yourself from your opponent’s hand traps and such. And not once per turn, mind you! But you know what’s even better? Getting a negation, and being able to put one of your Ishizu monsters into the GY to get their effects! So you can either get a negate and mill effect, which can trigger a whole bunch of your Tearlaments cards, or a negate and a shuffle back effect to further disrupt your opponent.
If Ishizu Tearlaments are still kicking after this list, then at least players don’t have to worry too much about running into this card, multiple times. The possibility still exists though, so you OCG players best be careful for the time being.
Spright Jet and Swap Frog
Can’t be having Sprights run rambit again if Tearlaments are going to get knocked down a couple of pegs. These two are some of the best cards you could use in a Spright deck. Jet is the Spell/Trap searcher for the archetype, so with him put down to one, players aren’t going to be able to constantly search out their big cards like Starter or Smasher, mostly Smasher, as consistently as before. And Swap Frog helps put some more extra bodies on board so you can do some more Xyz and Link play shenanigans. While they could put in other Frogs, it’s not going to be the same. Especially since Toadally Awesome is banned in the OCG right now.
Hitting these two cards was definitely a good way to hurt the deck’s consistency a bit. It doesn’t kill Spright, but hopefully it can make the deck be on more equal footing with other decks that were below it.
Yata-Garasu
Figured it was only a matter of time since Yata came back to the TCG a while back. And on that note, Yata hasn’t done a single thing in the TCG since it came off the list. And given how the OCG currently is, I suspect the same thing will happen. It will come back to one and not do anything. Maybe a few players will try to make use of it, but it’s still not going to do a darn thing. Yata is well past its prime.
Floowandereeze and the Magnificent Map
I guess the birds need to fly a little further south right now. Floowandereeze hasn’t been as dominant in this format, but they still managed to make some tops here and there, given the anti-meta strategy they like to deploy. But it looks like Konami wants them to take a little more of a backseat so that other new strategies can bloom.
Putting Map down to 1 does hurt them a bit, as that extra Normal Summon can come in handy. However, there is the Simorgh strategy they can use to get that extra Normal Summon. Won’t be as good as having Map though, but it ensures that Floowandereeze can still put up a fight. I expect to still see them pop up now and then, for the time being.
Primeval Planet Perlereino
This is another one that definitely needed to get it. Hitting the archetype’s Field Spell will not only hurt the consistency a bit, but make sure that once players get rid of it, they don’t have to worry about another one. After all, this Field Spell also gives an ATK boost to their Fusion and Tearlaments, which can come up at times. And then there’s that pop effect, if that ATK boost wasn’t good enough already. Hitting this Field Spell was definitely a good move.
Spright Starter
Konami is really making sure players pick up something else after this list. Starter is another good card Sprights can use to either start or extend their plays. You would find this card at 3 copies in every list. It needed to be hit. Granted, this card can still be searched out by Spright Jet, but most of the time, players would want to search for Smashers. And Jet is now at one, so there’s also that. Starter will still be used in Sprights, for sure, but they’re gonna need to fill in the other two spots. Shouldn’t be too hard for them though.
Time Seal
Time Seal is way past its time. Sure, getting your opponent to skp their next Draw Phase is good, but since it’s a Trap Card, it’s a bit slow. While there are a few ways players can get access to this card quicker, it’s not really worth it, unless you can use it at a point in the duel where you have advantage and your opponent is low on options. Still though, I think players much rather have cards that are good to be used near the start of the duel rather than later.
Semi-Limited:
ABC-Dragon Buster
This card was put down to 1 back in April of 2020 when the new Master Rule kicked in that removed the Extra Monster Zone restriction. Reason was because… Well, your guess is as good as mine. Konami was just after both this card and Toad near the beginning of 2020, like they were afraid of them or something. Despite the fact that they haven’t done anything in the few years prior to 2020. Now though, it looks like OCG Konami is starting to ease on this card, finally.
Dimension Shifter
Dimension Shifter hasn’t caused too much trouble, but he has been used quite a lot against Tearlaments since it does turn off their gimmick for a few turns. And since players have found a way to use this card while still being able to do their own plays, Konami wants to dial it back a bit. It might still see some play though, especially in Floowandereeze.
Double Iris Magician
Pendulum Magicians haven’t done jack in the OCG for so long. Moving Double Iris to two won’t change that. It will add some more consistency to the deck, but not by much.
Tearlaments Havnis
You didn’t think the hit to Tearlaments was over, did you? Havnis here is knocked down a bit so players don’t see it too often in their opening hand. Especially since she can literally get you into a Fusion Summoning play on turn 0. In other words: if your opponent goes first, she gives you a chance to both disrupt your opponent and set up your board before your turn starts. Now this can still happen, but it’ll be a little less often than before.
The Phantom Knights of Torn Scales
Phantom Knights haven’t done much since they got hit. And given what’s currently in the game right now, along with the latest banlist, this one, they won’t be doing as much as before. No more Adventurer PK for a while. With that being the case, Torn Scales can slowly start to come off the list.
Water Enchantress of the Temple
Now that Gryphon is gone, which may cause the Adventurer engine to lose some popularity, Enchantress can slowly start to come off the list as well. Maybe now she will just be used in more Adventurer focused decks. Maybe.
Lightning Storm
This… is an interesting hit. Lightning Storm has been a good card since it was first released, but I’ve hardly seen any reason to hit this card. Like, the only top tier deck, at this time, that was using this card was Spright. But I guess Konami wants to make sure other decks, including whatever new stuff we get, will have a chance to shine. And since Sprights were using this card, they want to make sure Spright doesn’t get too much of a comeback.
Unlimited:
Danger!? Jackalope?
Dangers haven’t done anything in the OCG for quite some time, so it looks like they decided to let Jackalope come off the list. However, here in the TCG, the Danger! archetype paired up with Tearlaments and have been doing really well. Maybe Tearlaments in the OCG will follow suit for the new format… Oh dear.
Genex Ally Birdman
This card hasn’t done anything in the OCG for so, so long. I’m surprised it took this long for it to finally come off the list. But now it’s off the list, so the OCG can put this chapter to a close.
Magical Meltdown
Invoked has not popped up in quite a long while. There’s just so much other good stuff available that doesn’t need the Invoked engine. Not to say this engine isn’t still good. There just isn’t a top tier deck that needs it at the moment. That could change in the near future. But for right now, Meltdown can go to 3.
Sky Striker Mecha – Widow Anchor
Sky Striker hasn’t popped up in the OCG metagame for quite a long while. Not to mention, even with this change, cards like Kagari and Hornet drones are still at 1 in the OCG. Engage is also at 2 in the OCG, but they still haven’t done jack. So with all of that, they can get Widow Anchor off the list. Maybe after this they will start to top again. We’ll see.
SPYRAL Resort
SPYRAL hasn’t done anything in the OCG for so long. And with everything that we have, I don’t see them becoming meta so soon with this change. Despite the fact that they have Master Plan at 3. Plus, Quick-Fix is still limited in the OCG. Anyway, SPYRAL probably won’t be doing much still after this change
Thoughts
This banlist brought in some big changes for the OCG. It hit the decks it needed to hit, and put some checks on some things that needed to be checked. But now the big question: Is this enough to change the metagame and give rise to other decks?
Well with these changes, it’s definitely created some room for other decks to gain, or regain, a moment in the meta spotlight. Some decks we might see take a moment in the spotlight are some of the new Byssted decks. While both Tearlaments and Spright have used some of the Byssted cards in their deck, they weren’t so much as focused on them. To them, they were just an advanced version of D.D. Crow. Some decks we might start to see popping up are decks like Byssted Dragon Link and Branded Byssted.
Of course though, we still cannot ignore Tearlaments and Spright. While this list did hurt both of these decks, they still have some power left to make some plays, and they will try to form some new strategies. If anything, I still at least expect Tearlaments to remain in the metagame. They did lose some of the Ishizu cards, and got some of their own cards hit a bit, but they still have enough gas to do their Fusion strategy. I don’t think Tearlaments are out of the picture yet.
Spright may also still kick around the metagame for a while longer. After all, there are still some Level 2 strategies they could use. Like Evil Twins for example. In fact, that might be what happens. They might just do Spright Frog Evil Twins. I mean, it’s good over here in the TCG, so why not?
Overall though, my guess is that we’re gonna see a bunch of different decks topping here and there until players can figure out and solve what the best deck is going to be. There’s also the new stuff coming out of Photon Hypernova to consider once it releases that same October. As well as the World Premiere archetypes that the OCG just got. So we might see stuff like Beetrooper, Libromancer and who knows what. Not to mention, those same archetypes are probably going to be getting support in the Photon Hypernova set as well, that’s something to keep in mind.
If you ask me, I say this list did a good job on hitting the things that needed to be hit. I don’t know if this is enough to ensure Tearlaments are not going to become so overpowering as they were before this list, but it’ll at least give other decks some breathing room for a bit.
Conclusion
Thank you guys for reading this! I’m excited to see what kinds of stuff OCG players are going to come up with. I do hope to see some new decks/strategies pop up. Again though, I do expect to see Tearlaments and Spright still making an appearance, but hopefully not as oppressive as before. But anyway, let me know what you guys thought of this list! Do you love it? Hate it? Is there anything Konami missed? Let me know!
P.S. If you wish to challenge me to a duel, click here to find out how. http://aminoapps.com/p/arl3xic
I’ll see you guys in the next one! Hope you have/had an awesome day today! 
