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Article #65: Raise of the Lightlord

Well, my semi-annual article commenting on ban/restriction list. This time around, though, LODT is released right around this time period, which means I can pull a 2-in-1 article.

Anyway, first, my comment on the newest ban/restriction:

New ban:
Saint Magician - Well, not that unexpected. Unlike last time, though, this banning makes Book of Moon semi-restrict, and Apprentice unrestrict.
Breaker - Overrated, period. The card is automatic 1 in 90% of the deck, but doesn't mean that it needs to be ban. (I AM bias since this is one of my favorite card, but whatever...)
Cry of Living Dead - Well, not much reason except that they just can't let 3 revival cards (without major drawback) survived at the same time.

New restriction:
Wind Monarch - Raiza - The card is overused in both TCG and OCG. Not a major surprise here, as this fulfill the wish of some people that hates on Monarch for absolutely no reason.
Advanced Ritual Art - This + Demise = Stupid, but that's pretty much it. It's somewhat overkill to restrict this card (Semi-restriction is better in my opinion), but then, they bring back Monster Reborn, and mass dumping + Reborn = Not good news
Raise Dead (e. Monster Reborn) - To speak the truth, I've no clue why Konami thinks that Raise Dead and Cry of Living Dead is even at the same level. But hey, Baron finally gets his favorite BMoC (Although now restrict to 1...) + Raise Dead combo back.
Nobleman of Crossout - Mainly b/c Book of Moon is semi-restrict. I never put more than 1 in my deck anyway, so this doesn't affect me much.
Ojama Trio - Konami hating burn deck to a new level - the utility card of burn deck is now restricted also. True, this + [Summon Limit - Reckless Monster] can be stupid, but burn deck now lost the [Trio] + [Just Dessert] / [Rapid Machine Gun] combo. In the end, warrant restriction? No really in my opinion.

New semi-restriction:
Cyber Dragon - Restrict the number of CyDra a little, and makes sure people can't summon [Cyber End Dragon]. But otherwise, well, this semi-restriction is somewhat too late.
Necroface - Questionable at best in my opinion, I mean, the difference b/t 2 and 3 is??
Light and Darkness Dragon - 6 months late, period. I mean, in the era of Dark Armed Dragon, they semi-restrict an old trump card?? I guess UDE still wants people to buy millions of boxes to get 3x D.A.D. before they restrict that card...
Foolish Burial - Not much point, especially 2 F.B. and 3 F.B. is not THAT big of a difference.
Book of Moon - Wrong place, should have been under "No restriction". But 1->2 is a nice start...
Power of Magician - No one use this card anymore. This card looks really good on paper, but in the end, Equip Spell (that boost attack) is almost a thing of the past, with the exception of maybe [Phoenix Blade].
Magic Shard Excavation - Since Saint Mage is banned, I guess they give people another copy of this card to recover Spell cards. Another reason? OTK is 95% dead (At least the old-school OTK), which makes this card weaker.

Unrestrict:
Gadgets - Konami realized that it's pointless to semi-restrict them...
Android - Psycho Shocker - The former "broken" card fall from grace to being unused. Another reason is trying to make people buying LODT with the 2 Shocker support (But then, those 2 support cards suck...)
Apprentice Magician - Not much point of keeping this card at 2 without Saint Mage, by far the most utilized target of Apprentice Mage.
Pot of Avarice - They semi this card, not many people use more than 1, thus, unrestriction.
Creature Swap - Will takes 6 months to get back on semi-restriction. It's one of the best utility cards out there.
Reckless Greed - Take them forever to realized that something that looks good on paper isn't always good. I mean, the chance of activating 3 of this skipping only 2 draw phase? Low...

Overall, the list is pretty good, it didn't kill many deck (The only thing it kills is ART-dependent deck), get a bunch of card out to "No restriction". As always, though, I've something that I don't exactly like:
1. Tsuku is still banned - Get this card out of jail, por favor. No Saint Mage = well, this card is just not THAT good.
2. Phophecy still restrict - I've no clue why this card even get on the list in the first place (Outside of D.D. Borderline + Prophecy stall).
3. Dimension Fusion is not banned - I mean, with D.D.R., why in the world they need to keep this card?
4. Living Dead is banned instead of Early Burial - Early Burial can be fetched via Arms Hole (Which, surprisingly, survived the list), but Living Dead? Plus it makes more sense to replace a revival Spell with a revival Spell than a revival Trap.
5. Frog is still not banned - I know, D.D. Crow exists, but still...
6. Not dislike, but I'm surprised that BMoC didn't get ban. I mean, D.D.R., Early Burial, AND Raise Dead = More card to play around this card than ever.

Now for some LODT analysis.

There are two themed set in this expansion - Arcana Force (anime) and Lightlord (original). Arcana Force, as expected, is coin flip related, with 1 good side and 1 bad side. Overall, they're very hard to use, and unless you're a Saiou fan, won't really like them. On another side, there's Lightlord, this set's true theme. Their arts are just, well, not that good. Effect wise, they just aren't that special, but they have the size, which means they CAN be splash into some other deck if wanted.

Otherwise, there are a few good cards - Honest, obviously, is good. Kaiseris is next in line. It seems, on paper, that it's not really all that. But consider that you only need to special summon this card to destroy 2, then there's [Raise Dead] = makes Gladial Beast deck MUCH better. Mistress Wight is not bad. It's not fetchable by [Pyramid Turtle] nor [Goblin Zombie], but her effect is not bad at all. Judgment Dragon is obviously good, being the ace of the Lightlord. Spell/Trap wise, the cards are mostly themed, but the Battery Man support are surprisingly good.

The worst cards? Treasure of Radiance is not that good, but at least had its use. There are extremely situational cards like [Return Ribbon] and [Power Adjustment]. The worst card, however? Dice Impact - simply WAY too situational and well, at least makes it workable when opponent is rolling a dice also (Thus able to negate things like [Snipestalker]).

Overall, the set is decent. It'll probably be forgotten in no time, but it's not really THAT bad either.

- Spikes, 2/20/2008