Konami has revealed the newest banlist update for Yu-Gi-Oh Master Duel with eight different cards moving up and down the game's Forbidden and Limited List. The digital platform for Konami's massively popular TCG has seen regular updates to card limitations since its launch in January of last year, typically seeing a new change with each month. Recent banlists have seen powerful archetypes like Floowandereeze and Runick take major hits, along with individual cards like "Skill Drain" and "Gozen Match." Now, the newest change comes following a major meta shift.The release of Yu-Gi-Oh Master Duel's recent "Blessings of Nature" Selection Pack made a significant impact on the game's competitive scene, introducing a dominant new theme. The set debuted the "Tearlaments" cards, a powerful Fusion Summoning archetype that formerly stood as a Tier 0 deck in the physical TCG. Tearlaments has made a similarly strong debut in Master Duel, becoming one of the most popular and powerful decks in the digital TCG. Now, the May banlist update looks to hit some powerful staple cards the deck can utilize. The May update to Yu-Gi-Oh Master Duel's banlist features a total of eight different cards shifting around the game's Forbidden, Limited, and Semi-Limited sections. The banlist will only see one new card banned through the May update with "Instant Fusion" being removed from the card pool. Instant Fusion allows any strategy to cheat out Fusion Monsters from their Extra Deck, most recently used by Tearlaments decks to summon "Tearlaments Kitkallos." The list also sees "King of the Swamp" and "Foolish Burial Goods" limited to one copy, also heavily used by Tearlaments strategies.
Forbidden
- Instant Fusion
Limited
- Foolish Burial Goods
- King of the Swamp
Semi-Limited
- Change of Heart
Unlimited
- Fire Formation - Tenki
- Sky Striker Ace - Kagari
- Supreme King Dragon Darkwurm
- Thunder Dragonhawk
One classic card from Yu-Gi-Oh's earliest days will be moved to the Semi-Limited category with "Change of Heart" now upgraded to two copies per deck. Konami made waves last year when the developer first released "Change of Heart" from its banned status in the TCG, later following suit in the Japanese OCG and Master Duel. The new update also sees four different cards removed from the banlist entirely, including fan-favorite cards like "Sky Striker Ace - Kagari" and "Thunder Dragonhawk." The May banlist update for Yu-Gi-Oh Master Duel is scheduled to launch on May 1st.
The new changes will look to address the dominance of Tearlaments decks without directly hitting any of the cards within the archetype. Konami already took steps to preemptively curb Tearlaments' power level, limiting and semi-limiting five of the archetype's cards before their release. The deck saw overwhelming dominance in both the TCG and OCG following its debut with Konami even releasing a massive Yu-Gi-Oh TCG banlist update earlier this year to address its power. Tearlaments looks to continue its dominant reign in Master Duel, though without some of its most powerful staples.
Yu-Gi-Oh Master Duel is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and mobile devices.