YuGiOh Master Duel Players’ Most Wanted Banlist Cards

YuGiOh Master Duel has really taken a shape of its own in the months since its surprise launch, most notably with its unique banlist.

While the cards are 1:1 on their effects in YuGiOh Master Duel, their supply isn’t- you can just as easily create Chaos Max out of the ether in Master Duel as you can write a post on reddit complaining that you don’t know any non-targeting destruction cards.

Despite a new battle pass and season starting in YuGiOh Master Duel though, fans have been complaining that they haven’t brought with them a new banlist- even though the game has created the perfect window to do so with new cards introduced.

Now, before we get into this ban wishlist, I’m going to need to preface this with some opinion- I don’t agree with a lot of the cards people recommend banning. YuGiOh has always been about high-speed murder for me, and that means certain counter-play styles would have to be necessary. That being said, here’s some cards that fans absolutely want gone (or at least limited):

Herald of Ultimateness / Eva

Possibly the most despised card in the game right now, Herald of Ultimateness is the bringer of no fun. This card pairs well with Cyber Angel Benten, Eva and a drytron engine to make a near-infinite loop of negating your opponent’s plays, stopping them from playing the game.

A lot of animosity in YuGiOh Master Duel comes from exactly this type of play- some corners view negating your opponent’s deck as unsportsmanlike, but like I said- due to the sheer power many decks have it makes sense that a card with the power to act as a speedbump to those plays would exist.

That being said, I personally feel some limiting is in order for our ol pal Herald and Eva. A concrete wall is technically a speedbump if you think about it, but that doesn’t mean you should have them in front of school areas. Eva is currently limited in the OCG, but neither card knows such folly in Master Duel. Perhaps it’s time to change that?

D.D Dynamite

D.D Dynamite’s hatred is in a funny spot, because it’s only hated on YuGiOh Master Duel. In the regular TCG the idea of blowing up your opponent’s lifepoints by banishing their extra deck was considered a meme deck at best- something silly that would only work once before your opponent side-decked a hard counter for it.

However, thanks in part to YuGiOh Master Duel having a best-of-1 format and bots programmed to play the deck to farm wins, fans have been calling for the card and its partner, Banquet of Millions, to be banned post-haste so they can go back to having each other’s Eldliches fight each other.

Personally, I don’t think the card is at fault for the problem- if anything, Konami needs to deal with the fact automated scripts are playing the game, not what terrible decks they’re running. Look, if I have to sacrifice a beautiful day outdoors to stay in and lose at a children’s card game, my opponent should at least have to do the same to beat me.

Handtraps

I’ve covered this in extensive detail before, but handtraps are probably the most frequent whine to be put on the YuGiOh Master Duel Banlist. Like with Herald, the idea of being burst out of your killer combo just isn’t fun- and I can empathize with that.

But cards like Ash Blossom and Maxx C need to exist in the game because they’re practically core parts of every deck’s tools. Just like how invincible DPs are a core part of characters like Ryu or Sol Badguy to help them stay on offense, handtraps in YuGiOh are your invincible DP, giving decks that go second a fighting chance.

A special shoutout also goes to the “ban Maxx C” crowd- unlike Ash Blossom, you’re still in control when someone plays Maxx C. Either you’re not reading the card’s effect or you’re not making sure your combo is worth all the free cards your opponent is getting.

As fun as it is to snark over user complaints though, there are some genuine concerns to be had- the lack of major shakeups to YuGiOh Master Duel via a new banlist is something to be alarmed over, especially since we’ve had multiple rank resets since launch.

It’s not like Konami won’t introduce banlists- the new events have all sported unique ones to make sure you don’t self-TK yourself instead of playing an event. But there’s also a need to actually improve the regular ranked play, and sometimes banning cards is a good way to force players to engage with your game in a new way- thus keeping it going for longer.