It’s been a little over 3 months since the Forbidden & Limited List was updated, and we’ve been getting some questions about what’s up with that, so here’s a little detail on what’s going on.

When the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG first launched in 2002, we would update the list every time a new booster set or starter deck came out. Eventually we moved away from that and switched to changing the list on specific dates, first 6 months apart, then later 3 months apart.

Response to the more rapid (3-month) list changes has been good, and we think that’s because it gives us more flexibility in adjusting the list, addressing needs of the players, and making a game that’s more fun for everyone. Flexibility is good.

But having specific dates was running contrary to that, because hard “this list will end on Date X” lines were limiting our flexibility. Sometimes we felt we had to hit a card because it might become a problem, rather than because it was a problem. This is good practice sometimes, but not always, and occasionally we ended up being a little heavy handed, with players wondering “why’d they do that?”

The problem for us was that when we were locked in to only changing the list on specific dates, we had only those narrow windows to work with. You probably noticed that the current list (which took effect April 1) has no end date. This was intentional. We’re going to update the list very soon. But we’re going to update the list when it’s ready, when the time is right, and when we have the feedback and data we need to make the best decisions we can.

Expect to see something soon!