masterwoo0 said:
Demise is just about dead in the water. With the recent Side Deck Techs, there are so many cross Deck uses that you aren't just siding against Demise, so you can virtually use one Side Deck against most of the popular Decks.
I was actually talking about the video game in this respect, and not the American metagame, as on the video game, most people only play single duels instead of matches, so side decks really mean very little to that aspect, and Burn decks especially tend to rule the online game, but you still won't maindeck Des Wombats into your deck because it ruins your whole deck then. Same thing for other side-deck heavy counters, when you're just doing single duels using the game's online feature.
As far as the American "metagame" goes though, I think it's kind of crappy you see people maindecking up to 6 cards in their decks specifically to counter just one deck type in particular, even though it helps out against others, it still screams out a design flaw to me that I'd be surprised if at least one part gets put onto the restricted list in the future. Let's just hope they don't go overboard like they have so often in the past. If not, that's great, but just looking at the past, even with counters to certain decktypes, they almost always clip a deck that can quickly OTK the opponent in some way.
If you think about it right now, Demise is pretty much dead because everyone's playing the counters to it, often in the maindeck even instead of only the side deck. After a couple of months when it's cooled off the radar, and people start to let their guard down, it could very well come right back.
You never know what Konami's going to do, afterall. They restricted Mind Crush last time, which most people didn't think was warranted at all. From what I heard, it was just being maindecked in Japan so much as counters to Stratos, Gors, and the Sealed Gold Coffer, though that might not be true. They might even do the same to Trap Dustshoot for all we know.
As far as what I'd think about the upcoming ban list, I would hope they leave Advanced Ritual Art alone, and just restrict Demise or ban him altogether if they go that route. I don't feel all ritual monsters should take a beating just because of him.
I feel Brain Control should be restricted to 1. Many people might not agree with me, but even with its cost, it's still got a lot of power.
We don't even have the card yet over here, and may not get to play it, but Gors is probably one of the cheapest and broken cards I've ever seen in the game. I'd like to see it get all-out banned, but something tells me they probably won't. Destiny Hero - Malicious is also really cheap, especially combined with Treeborn Frog in certain decks. We may not have Foolish Burial over here yet, which just makes them both even better, but I definitely think there's potential for either Malicious to get restricted to 2 or banned outright, or for Foolish Burial to get a bump down perhaps.
Other than that, I'm not sure what to think might otherwise or hopefully be put onto the list, or even taken off. I'm hopeful Snatch Steal and Ring of Destruction will go bye bye, but I have my doubts there too, what with past lists and such. It's all pretty much just speculation anyway.
I'm always hopeful that Heavy Storm will get banned, I just want to see one list where it is and see how it shakes people up. This is just purely personal though, as it's just been one of the "power staples," and it's good to knock them down every so often to make people think a little more in how they make their decks. I'd like to see Royal Decree get restricted as well, it may not get used a lot, but I think you'd see more interesting decks and trap line-ups appearing if it were, instead of just the same ones over and over in every deck. I know most people won't and don't agree with me, but it tends to make things awful stale when you just see the same traps over and over.
