Chapter 143. K-Snake's Ban Reasons Exposed! The Real Reason Is Just This?
Main World.
Sei Yuki was still reminiscing about bits and pieces from the Dragon Ruler era.
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the chat group's message count suddenly skyrocketing.
Seeing this, Sei Yuki was startled.
Was this a stress response?
Why did everyone suddenly get so worked up?
Muttering to himself, Sei Yuki quickly opened the chat to check.
Yugi Muto: "K-Snake! Is it really okay for you to make the Dragon Rulers die out as a clan of loyal martyrs? Even the last four Dragon Rulers—did you have to be that ruthless? Don't your monsters… cry?"
Vellian Crowler: "Mamma mia! A whole clan of loyal martyrs! If this happened to my Ancient Gear Deck, I'd go berserk!"
Crow Hogan: "Tch! How nasty of K-Snake! So he kept banning until only four dragons were left, and then why keep going until they were all Forbidden?"
Yusaku Fujiki: "Mr. Yuki, could you tell us K-Snake's reasons for banning cards? We're a bit interested in this area."
"...…"
Looking at the various dueling worlds' denunciations and polite 'greetings' toward K-Snake, Sei Yuki couldn't help but smile.
It seemed K-Snake had indeed gone too far on certain things.
Even these old-guard duelists were now lambasting him.
"K-Snake's ban reasons, huh?"
"If it's that kind of video…"
"It can actually be found."
Sei Yuki suddenly recalled a video he had watched before that explained K-Snake's ban rationales.
After a brief search, he quickly located the video he'd seen back then.
Sei Yuki: "Since the duelists of every world want to know K-Snake's ban reasons."
Sei Yuki: "No problem, I've got the content ready."
Sei Yuki: "Please enjoy."
All set.
The title appeared.
"K-Snake's Ban-and-Unban Reasons—The Real Reason Turns Out to Be This?"
The short video began to play.
Old FuryCon Player: "Hello! Good evening, duelists!"
Old FuryCon Player: "I'm sure everyone who clicked this wants to hear my roast and understanding of K-Snake's reasons for bans."
Old FuryCon Player: "Stating up front, everything here is just my personal view."
"So if you disagree, feel free to comment."
"Alright, no more fluff—let's jump into today's main content."
"First, I've split the video into five points, i.e., the ban-reason points."
"Before I begin, remember one sentence."
"Every Forbidden card is not innocent."
"There is always a reason."
"This sentence is crucial, so think about it carefully and savor it."
"After a minute of reflection, we'll continue."
Are Forbidden cards really not innocent?
This made the crowd who had been feeling indignant on behalf of the Dragon Rulers lapse into silence.
On careful reflection.
It did seem to make sense.
Almost every Forbidden card had been pushed to the limit of its function.
Even to the point of becoming the tyrant of the format.
The result, inevitably, is unfairness, injustice, and a deteriorating environment.
From these angles alone.
It's understandable that a card becomes Forbidden.
But here's the problem.
The Dragon Rulers had already been Forbidden down to just four dragons.
Even in that situation.
They still banned the Dragon Rulers.
Isn't that inhumane?
Even if the sentence makes sense, that doesn't mean K-Snake can ban however he likes, right?
The reason is what matters.
With that in mind.
The old guard from each dueling world quickly collected their thoughts.
They quietly waited for the rest of the explanation.
Old FuryCon Player: "Okay, a minute's almost up."
Old FuryCon Player: "Next, I'll begin my explanation of the ban reasons."
Old FuryCon Player: "Let's start with card strength as a reason for bans."
"Point 1: A card's power exceeded the format at the time."
"If it isn't Forbidden, it will cause an imbalanced 'super-meta' Deck or make the format stink and become single-track."
"For example, the well-known split between Dragon Rulers and Spellbook."
"The Dragon Ruler family was absolutely overtuned back then."
"The end result was the clan of loyal martyrs—let's set that aside for now."
"And Spellbook relied on the overtuned pseudo-card 'Spellbook of Judgment,' which made the environment a chaotic stew."
"These became one set of reasons for later bans."
"It's simple: they were too strong."
"Just like Tearlaments, which Master Duel restricted right out of the gate to sell."
"K-Snake knew Tearlaments were strong; if everything were fully released, the environment would definitely stink."
"So the end result could only be bans."
"Or take this card: 'Number 16: Shock Master.'"
"An effect that's absurdly strong."
"If this hadn't been Forbidden back then, you can't even imagine what the metagame would have looked like."
"Or 'Ultimate Offering.'"
"A card that lets you pay 500 LP to Normal Summon 1 monster."
"Not only during your own Main Phase, but, absurdly, even during your opponent's Battle Phase."
"And it didn't restrict what kind of monster."
"With 8000 LP, that's roughly fifteen extra Normal Summons."
"The result is that your board just gets more and more terrifying."
"Especially for heavy-combo decks, or decks that highly rely on Normal Summons."
"Once you put this in, I don't even dare imagine what happens next."
"There are other cards too."
"Cards that are just overtuned in raw strength, like 'Final Countdown,' 'Cyber Jar,' 'Fiber Jar,' and so on."
After this round of explanations.
The old guard of every dueling world fell silent again.
Indeed.
Just looking at these cards' power.
They already felt fake or downright absurd.
If all these cards were released.
Even if they hadn't witnessed their historic strength.
They could still roughly understand—or simulate—the card's impact in a Duel.
Especially Ultimate Offering.
Just a single extra Normal Summon window.
A Synchro Deck already shows terrifying combo potential.
If it's multiple Normal Summons in a turn.
Unimaginable.
It's already unimaginable what follows.
Is this the power of the Forbidden List?
Old FuryCon Player: "I trust everyone understands Point 1."
Old FuryCon Player: "Or rather, it's common sense."
Old FuryCon Player: "A little common sense about Forbidden cards."
"Next, let's move on to Point 2."
"Point 2, I summarize as: cards that are overly splashable and end up in everyone's Deck."
"This causes the format to become extreme, meaning a card is so strong that every Deck stuffs in copies."
"If I can't run three, I'll still jam at least one."
"If you don't run it, but your opponent does."
"Your win rate just drops by thirty percent."
"This is how splashable cards end up Forbidden."
"There are many classic examples."
"For instance, 'Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon.'"
"After this card appeared, every Deck should ask itself: can I get solo-swept by this?"
"If the opponent runs it and you don't."
"What do you do?"
"If the opponent sticks this card and your whole family can't get past it, what then?"
"And the card that goes hand-in-hand with it is 'Predaplant Verte Anaconda.'"
"I'll put it this way: as long as you have a Deck, you could play those two cards."
"Add one 'Red-Eyes Fusion,' and you're set."
"Then you don't even need to imagine how the meta will look."
"You queue up one Duel: you're Dragoon, your opponent is Dragoon."
"Queue up again: you're Dragoon, your opponent is still Dragoon."
"Can you ever meet someone not playing Dragoon? My answer is no—if you don't play Dragoon, do you not want to win?"
"Or 'Crystron Halqifibrax,' 'Graceful Charity,' 'Pot of Greed,' 'Giant Trunade,' and so on."
"If these were all released, I believe lots of Decks would run them, right?"
"'Crystron Halqifibrax' may not be perfectly splashable, but its impact at the time—I think everyone saw it."
"I won't belabor this."
After listening to Point 2.
Duelists across the worlds fell into silence once more.
If everybody runs a splash card, it does make the format nasty.
Especially Dragoon and Verte Anaconda.
Any Deck can run them.
They could already predict what the meta would become.
Yugi Muto: "I see. I can accept these first two reasons."
Joey Wheeler: "But I still don't get it. If it's splashable and everyone has it, isn't it just a contest of engines plus off-engine cards?"
Yusei Fudo: "There's still a gap. Some Decks have self-constraints, some don't."
Yusaku Fujiki: "That's true. A Synchro-locked self-constraint means that even if you run it, you can't use Fusion or Xyz. Some Decks don't have that constraint, and differences between Decks still create power gaps."
The chat's casual back-and-forth gradually coalesced into agreement on this point.
So next came the next point.
Old FuryCon Player: "Point 3: cards that leave the opponent with no gameplay experience."
"Common examples here are FTK shells and components."
"For instance, some Forbidden cards enable a lot of combos."
"The result is that once this combo succeeds."
"The opponent basically has no experience at all."
"That is, FTK. A bunch of cards were Forbidden because of pseudo-FTKs as well."
"For example, 'Smoke Grenade of the Thief.'"
"Its effect says: when the equipped monster's Equip Spell is destroyed by a card effect, look at the opponent's hand and discard 1."
"Or 'Delinquent Duo.'"
"Effect: pay 1000 LP. Your opponent randomly discards 1 card, then chooses and discards another."
"And 'Cannon Soldier.'"
"Effect: you can Tribute 1 monster to inflict 500 LP damage to your opponent."
"Et cetera—cards get Forbidden because they achieve some FTK or otherwise."
"Simply put, they're warping the environment."
"Then Point 4: extremely dangerous cards that would impact the sale of future releases."
"I'll just cite 'Pot of Greed.'"
"I'll put it bluntly. If K-Snake doesn't forbid Pot of Greed."
"Then later things like 'Pot of Prosperity,' 'Pot of Extravagance,' 'Pot of Desires,' 'Pot of Avarice,' 'Pot of Duality,' and so on, wouldn't need to exist."
"Do you get it?"
"As long as Pot of Greed isn't Forbidden."
"Unless K-Snake releases something even stronger than Pot of Greed."
"Otherwise, nobody will buy."
That really tracks.
If Pot of Greed weren't Forbidden.
Then all those later 'Pot' cards.
Would just be pure clownery.
At this point, duelists across the worlds wore looks of sudden realization.
For players used to Pot of Greed.
When they see these Pots where, just to draw 2, you pay prices like banishing 3 or 6 cards face-down from your Extra Deck.
Or banishing the top 10 of your Deck face-down, and so on, they just feel a bit silly.
No wonder Pot of Greed doesn't show up in the higher world.
Turns out it's been replaced by these Pots.
Old FuryCon Player: "So Point 4 basically foreshadows the most important point."
Old FuryCon Player: "Namely—Point 5."
Old FuryCon Player: "You could also call it the summary point."
"In other words—the most essential and core point."
"It affected K-Snake's card sales."
"Yeah, that's right, you didn't mishear."
"Put simply: if I don't ban, nobody buys the new cards I make."
"You all keep playing the power cards, and if I keep publishing new cards, nobody buys them—I look like a clown."
"So when a card gets Limited or Forbidden."
"It's because it affected K-Snake's subsequent card sales at that time."
These words.
Left duelists of every world stunned on the spot.
Wait—what?
Did they hear that right?
The final point?
Sales?
Huh?
Just because it involves selling cards.
Super-powerful cards like 'Pot of Greed,' etc., get hammered down to Limited or Forbidden?
Is that really how it is?
Duel Monsters world.
Seto Kaiba nearly couldn't hold back his anger when he heard that final summary.
Even Maximillion Pegasus clicked his tongue and shook his head.
Both were heads of industry in the DM world.
So to hear that the most substantial reason for banning cards was to make money.
The two of them found it a bit unbelievable.
And the kicker is that it's the core and summary point.
"Unbelievable! So cards get Forbidden to sell new cards!"
"I get it, I totally get it!"
"So the Dragon Rulers had even their last four banned!"
"Just to make those old cards lose value!"
"So people would start buying new cards to rake in the gold, right?"
Being a businessman, Pegasus immediately distilled the key point.
"Heh, that's how third-rate companies operate."
"They'll do anything to make money."
"We, KaibaCorp, are better."
"Money? That's the last thing I lack."
Seto Kaiba gave a cold snort, his face showing a strange expression.
He didn't expect K-Snake's ultimate reason for bans to be selling new cards, either.
But it's a company, after all—on second thought, Kaiba let it go.
Business is business, and there's no shame in making money.
VRAINS world.
One is the classic DM era.
One is the newest Link era.
Yusaku Fujiki, Akira Zaizen, and Takeru Homura were also dumbfounded by that final, summary reason.
They hadn't expected it either.
Bans pave the way for new cards.
As for previous cards getting whacked.
If you exclude the other four points.
Only Point 5 remains to make sense, right?
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