



Hey guys! It's Derick from WCC!





One of the big topics that has risen in popularity is the recent ban list on the 25th February 2020. Just like most ban lists, it struck a lot of discussions and arguments on why or why not certain cards were banned, limited or unrestricted. In similar fashion, I will be discussing the cards that were affected by the ban list and some outlying cards that may have dodged the ban hammer.





In this discussion, we will break into four sections; the Standard format, the Premium format, all formats, and the overlooked cards that were not affected by the ban list.

Standard Format

For the Standard format, we saw a dominance of Accel II clans with a touch of Force clans here and there. After the ban list on February 25th, we see a complete meta shift from what was a pool of Accel decks to a more diverse variety of gifts.





The first of the many cards that were hit by the ban list is Fantasy Petal Storm, Shirayuki. Ever since its release, we have seen this card and its engine with Stealth Fiend, Jakotsu Girl and Stealth Fiend, Rainy Madam utilised in nearly every single build of Murakumo. The builds ranged from the Zanbaku-Shirayuki build, to variants with Dueling Dragon King, ZANGEKI and to top it off, one of the strongest meta picks for BCS, Samurai Chieftain, HYU-GA.





Shirayuki can be utilised defensively and offensively; providing essentially a +10000 POWER boost to your front row by reducing your opponent's vanguard power or giving you an out to your next turn by reducing the power of your opponent's attacking units to make guarding a whole lot easier. With the Jakotsu-Rainy Madam engine, accessibility to this card was essentially free and to fuel for its Soul Blast 2 cost was pretty much a walk in the park.





Shirayuki being part of an Accel II clan made it the best compliment to an already strong deck centered around a board wiping beast in HYU-GA. Bushiroad's reasoning for limiting this card to 1 copy was due to the defensive capabilities this gave Murakumo. Murakumo being an Accel clan was designed to be more offensive in nature, but Shirayuki was a great offensive and defensive tool. Furthermore, because of the dominance of Accel II, this really pushed most Accel clans over the top, which will be a point that we will see for the rest of the restriction list.





Personally, I agree with the limitation of Shirayuki to 1 copy. By having it at one copy, it doesn't isolate the Jakotsu-Rainy Madam engine from Murakumo's toolkit (and hey, soul charging is good in standard) and it makes it searchable with HYU-GA which isn't a complete loss. This limitation makes it so that Murakumo has to fend more for itself than it did before due to its missing defensive capability in Shirayuki.

The next big hit for the Standard format is the limitation of Thundering Sword Dragon, Angerblader. Limiting this card to 1 hugely impacts the deck offensively and instantly drops Tachikaze as a whole right off the radar. By limiting this card to 1, you are taking away Tachikaze's multi attack as the effect doesn't rely on the amount of accel circles you have generated. The utility on this card makes it so that you fulfill the condition of having multiple units with three equip gauges extremely easy, maximising the offensive output that your opponent has to deal with in one turn. In conjunction with Clearout Dragon, Sweeperacrocanto, the multi attacks produced in a turn is also strong enough that they cannot be guarded with just one card (sometimes even if they get damage triggers)!





This card is probably the biggest highlight of the ban list as it essentially nukes the clan right out of existence. There has been discussions where people would restrict this with Sweeperacrocanto but personally, I feel that the two cards co-existing in a deck at any quantity will still make the deck strong. There are other cards that produce power in Tachikaze such as Savage Trooper and Angry Roar Dragon, Roarbaryo. Those cards in itself produces suitable power lines that would be there even if Sweeperacrocanto was limited in quantity.





This may be one of the biggest one card hits to any clan at any point in Cardfight!! Vanguard, and I personally think it is for the good of the game. This card limited game play for the opposition if the Tachikaze player goes first, which is another reason Bushiroad cited. Going first with Angerblader available allows you to launch seven high powered attacks where the opponent hasn't gotten the chance to build up any advantage or set up a board to counter play the onslaught. By limiting Angerblader, this allows for players to enjoy the game without having to die in a span of three turns. Unfortunately for Tachikaze players, this is devastating and they will likely have to find other ways to enjoy the game.





Silver Thorn Beast Tamer, Doriane has been the backbone of Pale Moon ever since its release in Phantasmal Steed Restoration. This card allowed Silver Thorn as an archetype to generate hand and play more defensive even though the nature of Accel II is to be more aggressive. Doriane had a second function in going through your deck so that the Pale Moon player reaches their stack of triggers. Generating hand advantage for the Pale Moon player to survive long enough to get to their trigger stack is essentially a ticking time bomb. As turns go on, Doriane allows for Silver Thorn to generate multiple Accel circles by giving them easy access to re-ride their Grade 3's.





It was not surprising that Pale Moon got the hit on this card. It allows for Pale Moon to drag out the game just a bit longer so that they reach their win condition. A deck that isn't able to make a dent into a Silver Thorn player's hand is essentially walking into a brick wall. The later the game goes on, the stronger Silver Thorn gets by precisely triggering front triggers, applying an increase in power to their already insane power lines. I personally am not too sure if this ban was necessary as we walk into metas with strong deck archetypes with every set release. Unfortunately, this also means the time is up for this deck as it has lost its superb draw engine which was one of the main reasons why this deck is still around. However, come around August, Pale Moon will hopefully find a better way to generate advantage outside of the Silver Thorn archetype.





Fiendish Sword Eradicator, Cho-Ou was quite a surprise for appearing on the ban list. I think the reasoning behind the restriction on this card is to maintain the meta after the slaughtering of the other clans in the game such as Pale Moon, Murakumo and Tachikaze. Dragonic Vanquisher is the newest addition to Narukami as well as cards such as Jaggy Shot Dragoon and Demonic Dragon Berserker, Chatura. These cards in conjunction with Cho-Ou allows for Narukami to produce an insane number of attacks in one turn. By limiting Cho-Ou, Bushiroad are putting Narukami slightly in check so that the meta is not just Narukami, as it instantly becomes the strongest deck in the meta after the culling of the other Accel II decks.





A previous restriction on Choco Love Heart, Liselotte and Colorful Pastorale, Sonata has been uplifted. Due to the power creep in cards ever since the release of these two cards made it so that the interaction between Liselotte and Sonata is quite even with the rest of the support given to clans such as Shadow Paladin and Narukami. I personally think this was the right move to give players more options in deck building and with the errata for the effect of Top Idol, Riviere, giving Bermuda Triangle another way to deck build makes it so that the clan isn't completely exiled from the meta game.





Premium Format

The Premium format was actually quite diverse this format. There were a lot of clans that showed great great potential with a wide range of unique tops around the world, but there were certain decks that had a bit more than the others.

One of those clans that had "a bit more" Gold Paladin. Gold Paladin ruled 2019, dominating Premium and going through many iterations of builds and play styles to adapt to any situation. One of the big contributors to its success was Flame Wind Lion, Wonder Ezel.





Wonder Ezel had many uses to make Gold Paladin the best deck in the format. One of them was to spam Accel circles, generating multiple attacks in the early stages of the game which snowballs into the later stages of the fight. It's second use is to provide Gold Paladin with an amazing push turn with the conjunction of the effects of Blazing Lion, Platina Ezel and Golden Dragon, Spear-X Dragon, giving the Gold Paladin player multi attacks outside of the generated Accel circles from re-riding. One of Wonder Ezel's other uses is to "fix" your Vanguard so that you can Ultimate Stride. To do so, Wonder Ezel is used in conjunction with Knight of Vitality, Brennius and another Grade 3 to ride so that Wonder Ezel can ride the other copy of the Grade 3 you currently have in hand to fulfill the Ultimate Stride condition.





All in all, Wonder Ezel was such a significant card in Gold Paladin's success that Bushiroad decided to outright ban the card from being used in the Premium format. In terms of statistics, the conversion rate of Gold Paladin players is quite significant. Not to take any credit away from any of the other top tier meta decks such as Dark Irregulars or Neo Nectar, Gold Paladin's representation was overwhelming and overshadowed the other two contenders and their success. By banning Wonder Ezel, this takes away from Gold Paladin its high-roll factor and its utility. There are games where you go second against Gold Paladin and they superior ride and drop multiple Wonder Ezel while you are on Grade 1. Those games make the player experience not fun for the receiving end of the massacre. Personally, this was a fair restriction as it gave Ezel an amazing utility card which set the deck apart from any other deck in the meta game.





The biggest shock of this ban list would have to be the limitation of Silver Thorn Beast Tamer, Doriane to 1 copy in Premium. From the Standard format, we knew it was an amazing card but in Premium, this is quite a unique story. The main reason why Bushiroad decided to restrict Doriane was due to the player experience in the game; turns would take too long in conjunction with other cards in Pale Moon's arsenal and just provided a non-pleasing experience for the player on the other end of the table. I personally don't think is something that should be restricted. Premium has a lot of niche gimmicks which may or may not take a long time, but as a player, you should be performing your turns at a considerable speed so that the game doesn't drag into time. This restriction had no effect on the card's effect in any respects, but more for how a player perceives the deck when playing up against it.





The card has no meta changing impact on the clan or the deck itself. There are several other decks that keep this particular deck in check such as Shadow Paladin, Dark Irregulars and Neo Nectar. If we think purely on the card's impact on the meta game, it has very little impact if any. Unfortunately, Pale Moon isn't one of those clans which is prominent in this current format and until they get better support, they will stay that way. Ultimately, this card should have only been restricted in the Standard format and not have snowballed into the Premium format.

All Formats





Lastly, we have an expected hit on Top Idol, Riviere, in a slightly unexpected way. Her effect has been errata'd so that her re-standing skill can only be used once per turn across all copies. This errata significantly slows down the deck's pace, and cements it into a tempo based play style. It was one of the decks noted to have an un-fun play experience when it goes first and high rolls with multiple rerides. Additionally, the play rate and overall conversion rate of this deck in major tournaments around Japan has shown that this deck is one hell of a beast to deal with, regardless if this deck goes first or second.





Personally, there was no doubt that this card would be hit in any way. There were speculations of having a choice restriction between Riviere and From Colorful Pastorale, Caro. With the choice restriction with those two cards, the "unfair" game play can still take place if the player digs through their deck and somehow finds multiple copies of Riviere to re-ride. Not to mention also that Riviere has a great Grade 1 engine which allows selective searching for Riviere cards to set up for the later turns. In reality, the errata on this card was definitely needed to keep the player experience so that no player instantly dies three turns into the game. With the errata, it doesn't completely destroy the deck but open up for players to experiment with other builds of Bermuda Triangle and not just worry about one archetype to play competitively.





The other effect this errata has that it also hits Premium. Although there has been very little official showings of Premium Riviere, it has been touted as one of the strongest contenders in the format. The errata to Riviere also applies to Premium, which Bushiroad is taking a wait-and-see approach to it as, the effects of this errata will only be realised in the next couple of months.





As this change was an errata, this is applied immediately. So anyone with a tournament before the 1st or 2nd of March (depending on the format you're playing), don't get caught out!

Overlooked Cards

The overlooked cards that did not appear on the ban list are more evident in the Premium format than it is in the Standard format.

One of the biggest discussion points is how Bushiroad looked over Neo Nectar. From the release of Untainted Holy Damsel, Green Katrina in the Premium Collection, the deck took over the Western meta game; taking 6 Top 8 slots in the Bushiroad Championship Series hosted in New Jersey and multiple other Top 8 sightings around the world.





Neo Nectar's game play reminds me a lot of how Sanctuary Guard Dragon was played in G-Era; with Holy Dragon, Sanctuary Guard Regalie and Jewel Knight, Swordmy. Both decks in comparison consisted of an overwhelming early game engine as well as mimicking the trigger lineup with twelve criticals. The sole reason why this card was not restricted on the ban list is because the representation of this deck dropped in Japan whereas its existence in the Western meta game is dominant. We also need to take into consideration that the ban list is solely on the meta game in the Japanese format without many other external factors keyed in to make these restriction decisions. I would assume that Green Katrina will be on Bushiroad's watch list to see if it continues to dominate in this new meta. I personally feel this card should have been on the ban list somehow as it cost-less to produce multiple attacks with high power where as other decks use a considerable amount of resources to do the same. Additionally, Neo Nectar makes it so that decks with a weaker Grade 2 game suffer immensely as they essentially cannot play the game until they somehow reach their first stride.





Following on from cards that were released in the Premium Collection, another card that was in discussion was Evil God Pontiff, Gastille Daimonas. Although Dark Irregulars was hit last year when it lost access to its 4 Enigmatic Assassins, Dark Irregulars somehow found its way back to the Premium format with Gastille. One of the key highlights as to why this card was in speculation of being banned or restricted was the one-turn kill potential this card has to offer. In conjunction with cards such as Hope on Damp, Variants Hardleg and Master of Fifth Element, it made this card insanely hard to deal with from a defensive point of view. This card also restricts card design of future Dark Irregulars support as Bushiroad need to be aware of the potential of Gastille Daimonas in conjunction with the effects of the newly released cards.





One of the speculations of restriction with this card was the choice restriction between this card and No Life King, Death Anchor. Many fear the interaction with the two cards as it generated multiple Vanguard attacks with an additional critical, making it hard to guard in the early stages of the game. Additionally, with the added power bonus from Gastille's first skill, multi attacks from stand triggers and Master of Fifth Elements makes it even harder to guard. If we had to compare this to a deck in the Standard format, it is almost like Tachikaze; producing massive power lines and having multiple attacks in early stages of the game makes it not very pleasing to deal with. I personally feel this card should be restricted in some way to further enhance future card design for Dark Irregulars, as well as to improve the healthiness of the Premium format so that players don't lose instantly on first stride.

Conclusion





To wrap up the first of many ban lists to come, I do feel Bushiroad did some things right and some things wrong. I also do feel that Bushiroad should keep the ban lists separate from the Japanese format and the English format as the formats are vastly different from region to region. The next ban list is projected to be in June where we may see additional cards being tossed around in discussion as to why or why not the card should be restricted. I hope this article was informative on the multiple different angles that are taken in terms of reasoning for a card and its restriction. Thank you for tuning in and please continue to support WCC!





Written by Derick Dao

Edited by Kai Chung