Yu-Gi-Oh: Dueling's Demise
BONUS Chapter! The Long-Awaited Ban-List Revealed!
Author's Note: Hello everyone! Today, August 20th, Konami released the ban list for the format of Sept. 1st to Dec. 31st. I thought something that would be fun would be the characters of Dueling's Demise giving their thoughts on how Konami managed the banning. The events that occur here in this chapter aren't EXACTLY canon (the beginning part IS), but the ban list WILL soon be a part of the story. With that said, enjoy!
The trio of Nero, Pulse, and Chase, had found themselves going back towards a more bustling town of the Earth Realm. Its citizens seemed much more upbeat than before. Some were talking to one another, while others were going about their daily life. A signpost was planted deep in the soil, saying that they were entering Brick Town. After seeing what was going on, the trio decided to stay at the best hotel in the entire realm: the five-star Cement Mix Inn. As they walked in, the group was met with cheers.
"You saved us!", "How can we ever repay your actions?", "Can I have your autograph?", were a few of the many praises they received by the throngs of people.
"Congratulations on your victories, Nero!", a familiar voice jovially said. Nero turned to see it was XX-Saber Gottoms. From their battle, he was just bandaged up and his armor was dented and scraped. Otherwise, he was still the leader of Earth Realm that Nero respected.
"Hey Gottoms! How've you been?", Nero greeted him.
"Oh, I've been fine my boy! The injuries from our fierce battle are healing quite nicely. Have you enjoyed your rule over the realm thus far?", Gottoms asked.
Nero paused. Through his battles with Bacchus and Redox, he had completely forgotten he was now one of the rulers of Earth Realm. All of his cheering "fans" were now his quote-on-quote "subjects".
"Oh, about that...I'd like to renounce my leadership of the realm.", Nero told.
Gasps suddenly replaced the cheers and joy. Silence fell upon the entire building.
"Are you sure about this Nero? With no one to rule, we will surely fall back to the poverty and grief we were in before.", Gottoms explained,
"Well, I'm giving leadership of it to the man I know who's best for the job." Nero began, as he grabbed Gottom's hand for a handshake. "That would be you Gottoms. You were always under Redox's foot...toe...whatever. You and the rest of the leaders deserve to rule with the honor and gratitude you've showed me."
Gottoms, and everyone else was speechless. Nero still had a grin on his face, knowing that he had made the right choice. Gottoms finally nodded, causing more cheers to ring out across the town.
"I will do my best to make sure the realm doesn't fall under wrongful rule, my friend.", Gottoms replied with gratitude. "Now give Nero and his allies the best room available, at no charge!"
The woman at the desk heard loud and clear as she started ticking away at her keyboard. Then, a loud hum filled the room. A key with angellic wings flew down to meet Nero's hand. The key itself was adorned with the X-Saber's emblem, an X (of course) in red. Its wings folded neatly, forming a chain that wrapped itself around a belt loop on Nero's pants.
"The elevator to the Master's Suite is on the right.", the hotel woman said.
Nero and his duel spirits turned to see next to a normal elevator was one bathed in gold. Its doors slid open to reveal a full carpet interior and a jacuzzi, along with some human money funny enough. Pulse and Chase donned some sunglasses as they high-fived each other.
Nero donned his own, waving goodbye to the throngs of people wanting autographs from him and Gottoms. As they got in the elevator, Nero was given a deck box by a robotic hand.
A voice in the elevator said, "Here is your gift for saving a whole realm of citizens; a deck box that can hold any number of cards needed. Inside the deck box contains as many copies of every EARTH-related card currently in the game, and will be updated as newer cards are released. We once again thank you for your service, Nero."
Nero was visibly impressed as he slid the deck box into his pocket. He stepped into the giant hot tub and was instantly overwhelmed with relaxation. It'd been too long before he even had a shower, Nero thought. It wasn't long before the elevator went "ding": they had reached their destination. The group got out of the hot tub and found themselves in paradise. Flat-screen TV's, gaming consoles, high-end computers, high-quality beds, an endlessly refilling minibar, and even a solid vision dueling arena like the ones from Duelist Kingdom were all there.
Pulse shed a tear, saying, "It's...it's so beautiful."
Chase added, "No words could describe it...should've hired a poet.
Nero was stunned. He saw a brand-new bag by the side of his bed (there were three beds in the room; one for each of them). In it were binders, deck boxes, and even more money than he would ever need. He took some for himself, but left some in the room. Either someone would pick it up, or oh well. Nero flipped across the channels on the television, but stopped when he hit a screen saying "Breaking News".
Pulse, who noticed while munching on some chips said, "Breaking news? What's that about?"
Chase replied, "I would think every would know. Today's banlist day!"
Nero groaned sarcastically, "Great, now I get to know what decks are getting hit by the ban hammer for the next format. That's totally putting me in a good mood."
The TV showed Machina Gearframe in a suit and tie. He wore a monocle to cover his one robotic eye. He said, "Greetings one and all! Today is the day we love to hate: Ban-List Day! Here are the changes for the next format!"
The word forbidden ripped itself across the screen as a list began to scroll across the screen:
* Forbidden *
Baby Elemental Dragons
Spellbook of Judgement
E-Hero Stratos
Monster Reborn
Heavy Storm
Number 16: Shock Master (pretty SHOCKING, huh?)
Card Destruction
Gateway of the Six
Pot of Avarice
Super Rejuvenation
Solemn Judgement
Ultimate Offering
"Goddamnit!", Nero angrily complained. "Guess Six Sams aren't even close to being a viable deck anymore..."
"Is it sad that I'm pretty much okay with all of this besides reborn and heavy?", Chase asked.
"Well of course it's OKAY, everybody uses you as a staple in Extra Decks.", Pulse retorted.
"Whoa, sorry man. Didn't know I touched a nerve.", Chase apologized.
"Sorry, I'm just miffed that Chaos Dragons and just about every other deck is losing staples now.", Pulse explained.
"SHADDUP guys, they're revealing the Limited list!", Nero commanded his friends.
* Limited *
Atlantean Dragoons
Deep Sea Diva
Fire Fist – Spirit
Genex Ally Birdman
Rescue Rabbit
Thunder King Rai-Oh
Evigishki Mind Augus
Constellar Ptolemy M7
Dimensional Fissure
Gold Sarcophagus
Bottomless Trap Hole
Compulsory Evacuation Device
Macro Cosmos
Eradicator Epidemic Virus
Soul Drain
Torrential Tribute
"Well that's fun...guess whatever decks are coming out next are going to be graveyard based.", Nero concluded,
"How could you tell?", Pulse asked.
"Look at the limiting. Almost all of the spell and trap cards that are getting hit have to do with either banishing or preventing stuff in the grave from going off. Obviously, Konami wants to make a graveyard focused deck."
"So what about Chaos Dragons? Or really any other chaos deck? They're graveyard focused, right?", Chase asked.
"I would be saying Chaos Dragons, but they probably aren't going to be too meta. Evilswarms haven't even been touched and they're a threat to the deck. Not only that, but cards like D-Fissure and Macro aren't getting banned, you just have a lower chance of drawing into them.", Nero stated.
"Wow...did you study the game a lot while you were in the human world?", Pulse asked, visibly impressed.
"I just played it a lot. C'mon, why do you think I don't act like the stereotypical character?", Nero replied.
"I'd be careful about giving Konami backlash, Nero. To us, Konami's like your world's god.", Chase explained.
Nero shrugged, adding, "Makes sense."
Pulse stated, "Quiet down, they're showing the semi-limited list!"
* Semi-Limited *
Mezuki
Plaguespreader Zombie
T.G. Striker
Fire Formation – Tenki
Dimensional Prison
"I'll be damned. I guess Zombies are trying to get themselves out of the grave.", Chase commented.
"Hah! Nice one man!", Nero congratulated him.
"I seriously wasn't trying to be funny. I guess coincidental wordplay?", Chase explained.
"Sure. I want to say Synchros are coming back.", Pulse assumed.
"Why, because of the limited tuners and Mezuki coming back? Remember, Evilswarms weren't even touched at all thus far and most likely WON'T?", Nero added. "Anyways, I guess Fire Fists are getting hurt a bit. 2 Tenki's doesn't really hurt Bujins, and the D-Prison reduction is just a bit weird."
"Hey guys, they're showing who's getting off the list!", Chase announced.
* Unlimited *
Destiny Hero – Malicious
The Agent of Mystery – Earth
Tsukyomi
A Hero Lives
E – Emergency Call
Black Whirlwind
Hieratic Seal of Convocation
Pot of Duality
Scapegoat
"There's your banlist folks! Now hold on...I'm getting some news from the station...ah! This banlist will run from the first of September to the THIRTY-first of December! Well, that was out breaking news! This was YOUR Earth Relam news! Stay rocky folks!", Gearframe said, as the news feed dissapeared from the airwaves.
"Evilswarms too powerful huh? Synchro's making a comeback wouldn't good, HUH?", Pulse teased Nero.
"OKAY OKAY, fine. I guess Synchros DO have some potential of making a comeback, considering they're unbanning all of these tuners.
"Doesn't the Scapegoat unbanning just seem weird? I mean, sheep tokens are going to start running rampant!", Chase added.
"So...what's the problem with that?", Nero asked, perplexed by Chase's strange comment.
"It's just...weird, that's all...", Chase reluctantly replied.
"Fine by me.", Nero said.
"So what's going happen now? We have a powerful banlist that's only lasting for the last couple months of the year.", Pulse asked.
"I'm not sure, but I'm pretty sure the game's going to be a bit more balanced and a HELL of a lot slower.", Nero answered.
"Yeah. Without Spellbooks having Judgement, they might just go back to the post-Abyss Rising build with Preistess. Doesn't help that Rai-Oh's a step off from getting banned entirely, but maybe with the new synchro stuff, the game's going to be fast enough for everyone...right?", Chase tried to reason.
"Please...are you fuckin' KIDDING me?!", Nero started as he burst into laughter. His friends did the same. So after a night of ban-list debating, game-playing, and even some dueling, the giant hotel room at the top floor finally closed out for the night. As Nero passed out, he thought maybe...just maybe...he could top a huge event and be someone that other players looked up to. But then, he saw Pulse and Chase, telling Nero to follow them. Nero realized he didn't need fame...he needed fortune, but fame was overated.
"I'll do what I have to do first and not worry about YCS's or other tourneys...I gotta save some worlds first.", he told himself, as he followed his allies.
So there we go, the new banlist is out! So what happens now? Who knows? Tell me down below in the comments what you think about the new ban list. Is it good for the game, is it not, is it somewhere in the middle? I don't know, but you sure do! Remember, the poll for the next locale for where Nero and his friends are going is still up! Vote now, and know that your vote is helping to shape the story! With that, I'm out to gripe about why Gateway shouldn't have gotten the ban hammer. Later people!
~ Infinity