Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel has enthralled many new and longtime Yu-Gi-Oh! fans since its release earlier this year. Still, one aspect of the game continues to vex players: the Forbidden and Limited List, known informally as the "banlist." The list specifies which cards are too powerful or unfair to be played at the typical maximum of three copies in a player's Deck. These cards are instead limited to two copies, one, or are banned entirely.

While Asia (which plays the Official Card Game, or OCG) and the rest of the world (which plays the Trading Card Game, or TCG) have slightly different banlists, Master Duel eschews both to create a hybrid banlist of its own. Though this decision definitely creates interesting interactions between cards that have never been legally playable at the same time, it's turning many players off of the game entirely. Thankfully, there's a simple solution that Konami could explore.

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Why Is Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel's Banlist Problematic?

Yami Yugi from Yu-Gi-Oh! drawing a card

For the most part, the Yu-Gi-Oh! player base is thankful when certain cards are placed on the banlist. Konami restricts cards for various reasons -- some enable first-turn wins before the opponent has a chance to play, while others are game-stopping floodgates, hyper-consistent combo enablers, or abusable advantage engines. In short, the list represents a series of cards that players have collectively deemed to be uninteractive, unfun, unfair, or some combination thereof.

Players' surprise and subsequent frustration when losing in Master Duel to cards that are banned elsewhere is entirely understandable. Facing down Thunder Dragon Colossus (a floodgate), Prank-Kids Meow-Meow-Mu (a combo enabler), or Block Dragon (an advantage engine) just feels bad. An entire format, or in some cases both the TCG and the OCG, decided that the game was healthier without these cards. So why are they in Master Duel?

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Konami Should Err on the Side of Banlist Over-Inclusion

Crossout Designator from Yu-Gi-Oh!

For the Master Duel banlist, Konami should compare the TCG and OCG's banlist for each card and then use the more restrictive designation in Master Duel. That is, if a card is Forbidden in either the TCG or the OCG, it should be Forbidden in Master Duel. If it is Limited in one format (one copy allowed) and Semi-Limited in the other (two copies allowed), then only one copy should be allowed in Master Duel. Even if Konami wants to make temporary banlist exceptions for recently released cards in Master Duel -- which probably makes business sense -- many of the three banlists' inconsistencies involve cards that have been out for years.

Players tend to be far more upset about the unfair cards they lose against than their inability to win using certain cards that everyone agrees are overpowered. Taking an over-inclusive approach to Master Duel's banlist is a simple and effective way for Konami to tackle one of players' chief complaints about the game, ensuring that current players stick around and new players want to join in on the fun.