How to use the banlist to make custom cards

[Surge77754]

A lot of times people don't seem to consider the TCG banlist when making their custom cards, even for their archetype.  The banlist is a guide of what NOT to do when making custom cards.

There are 4 levels to consider 

• Banned: These are the cards that are game-breaking and must be avoided when making custom cards, even for their archetype.  Cards get placed on here because these cards for some reason, deny the opponent an aspect of the yugioh game.  
• Limited: Not as bad as the banned cards, but still you want to avoid these.  These cards are problematic because they may run the risk of breaking the game as a whole. 
• Semi-Limited: You can use semi-limited cards in your custom card archetype but you have to carefully make sure that the game is not broken by this.  
• Unlimited: Unlimited cards can be used as idea to make custom cards because they do NOT do anything gamebreaking.  Direct attacking, multiple attackers, they are all part of the game.  Same with destroying a backrow or monster your opponent controls. However, you do want to be careful with negation as that can make the opponent not want to play against you.

The banlist is there so that you don't have to spend too much time balancing your cards, even though balancing your cards is a part of the custom card making progress. And using HOPTs (Hard once per turns on all effects - "You can only use each effect of 'X' once per turn." and "You can only use this effect of 'X' once per turn.") can make balancing easier. 

 

Edited April 3 by Surge77754

[Raikoh130]

I fully agree, I've seen some custom cards in this section that had strong negation effects + protection, also without a HOPT clause on it that they should be in the Casual Cards section, where the cards are more free to be silly. Thank you for making this guide!

[Jordan Ashwood]

Strongly agreed! Not to mention, a ton of cards default straight to "this card cannot be killed under any circumstances" it's all in good fun though.

[The2kGod Raah]

3 hours ago, Raikoh130 said:

I fully agree, I've seen some custom cards in this section that had strong negation effects + protection, also without a HOPT clause on it that they should be in the Casual Cards section, where the cards are more free to be silly. Thank you for making this guide!

Yes I 100% agree. People that put cards in the Realistic cards section but make the cards super busted defeats what realistic means. It doesn't just mean art is good, and that it isn't like goku on it, it also means making cards that Konami would print out. Cards with 7 effects are not realisttic, boss monsters that are unaffected by card effects, and have omni negates, and they arent once per turn, are not realistic

11 hours ago, Surge77754 said:

A lot of times people don't seem to consider the TCG banlist when making their custom cards, even for their archetype.  The banlist is a guide of what NOT to do when making custom cards.

There are 4 levels to consider 

• Banned: These are the cards that are game-breaking and must be avoided when making custom cards, even for their archetype.  Cards get placed on here because these cards for some reason, deny the opponent an aspect of the yugioh game.  
• Limited: Not as bad as the banned cards, but still you want to avoid these.  These cards are problematic because they may run the risk of breaking the game as a whole. 
• Semi-Limited: You can use semi-limited cards in your custom card archetype but you have to carefully make sure that the game is not broken by this.  
• Unlimited: Unlimited cards can be used as idea to make custom cards because they do NOT do anything gamebreaking.  Direct attacking, multiple attackers, they are all part of the game.  Same with destroying a backrow or monster your opponent controls. However, you do want to be careful with negation as that can make the opponent not want to play against you.

The banlist is there so that you don't have to spend too much time balancing your cards, even though balancing your cards is a part of the custom card making progress. And using HOPTs (Hard once per turns on all effects - "You can only use each effect of 'X' once per turn." and "You can only use this effect of 'X' once per turn.") can make balancing easier. 

 

One thing I will say is that it is also easy to say these things but to put them in practice with a whole archetype is harder to do. If you have any creations of archetypes yourself, or if you have seen good archetypes created you should quote them and put it here if possible. I agree with everything you have said, but if you have any examples, it would proably help out people alot

[Surge77754]

29 minutes ago, The2kGod Raah said:

Yes I 100% agree. People that put cards in the Realistic cards section but make the cards super busted defeats what realistic means. It doesn't just mean art is good, and that it isn't like goku on it, it also means making cards that Konami would print out. Cards with 7 effects are not realisttic, boss monsters that are unaffected by card effects, and have omni negates, and they arent once per turn, are not realistic

One thing I will say is that it is also easy to say these things but to put them in practice with a whole archetype is harder to do. If you have any creations of archetypes yourself, or if you have seen good archetypes created you should quote them and put it here if possible. I agree with everything you have said, but if you have any examples, it would proably help out people alot

Here's an example of my archetype, Flashstrike.  It is based on Pretty Cure, and utilizes Level manipulation to utilize Synchro Union monsters and Link Union monsters.  It's a way to experiment with the Union mechanic.  This deck focuses on putting out a bunch of union monsters that can climb into Synchro Union monsters and Link Union monsters.  I developed these cards and a friend on Discord helped me check the PSCT, plus they're very good with balance.  I make the Flashstrike cards in what I call Expansions, if I want to think of ways to improve Flashstrike and the Union mechanic at the same time!!

https://www.duelingbook.com/deck?id=12978066 - Original Flashstrike cards 

• Notice that Unlovely is a +0 in card advantage in terms of its summoning condition?  Keep in mind either field means your field or your opponent's field.  You go -2 to to get the Flashstrike monsters out, and then you use the opponent's Extra Deck monster, that is a -1 for the opponent.  You then send those 3 to the GY as materials to summon Unlovely, which is +1 so the net advantage for you is -1.  But card advantage is using BOTH sides of the field, so the card advantage is +0 which is reasonable.  

After that, I experimented with how to make the Union mechanic more accessible and applied that to Flashstrike.

https://www.duelingbook.com/deck?id=14387169 - New Flashstrike cards I developed for Expansion 1

• The only negation in this is a Counter Trap, and ANY archetype the opponent controls can play through 1 negation which is reasonable. But the negation requires you to discard a card as cost, which makes it require setup. 

https://www.duelingbook.com/deck?id=14522713 - New Flashstrike cards I developed for Expansion 2 

• Here Flashstrike Rogue allows you to equip from the GY or banished cards to a Flashstrike monster you control.  

The cards lock you into Flashstrike monsters for the rest of the turn when Flashstrike Summer and La Mer are Special Summoned, limiting the plays you can do.  
 

[Surge77754]

Keep in mind, the banlist makes you think about the way you should word your yugioh custom cards.  

A banned effect would indicate that the card is OP which warns you to pick a different effect.  

Some custom cards have negation effects, but the problem is that negation can also detract the opponent from playing the game.

[Surge77754]

As of the recent banlist in the TCG in Apr 15,2024, Linkruiboh, Borreload Savage Dragon are banned.  

For Linkuriboh the problem is that Snake Eyes is causing it to be abused. 

For Borreload Savage Dragon, it's 6 negates on one card, preventing your opponent from going 2nd.

For Summon Limit, it's literally a problem as it denies the opponent the game.

When the banlist releases, it's there to make sure that custom card designs do not go out of hand.  

Edited April 14 by Surge77754

[Raikoh130]

17 hours ago, Surge77754 said:

As of the recent banlist in the TCG in Apr 15,2024, Linkruiboh, Borreload Savage Dragon are banned.  

For Linkuriboh the problem is that Snake Eyes is causing it to be abused. 

For Borreload Savage Dragon, it's 6 negates on one card, preventing your opponent from going 2nd.

For Summon Limit, it's literally a problem as it denies the opponent the game.

When the banlist releases, it's there to make sure that custom card designs do not go out of hand.  

Up to 6 negates, depending on the Link Monster's Link Level you take from your Graveyard from what I read on the card. Still busted but yeah, its not 6 negates in general.

[Surge77754]

On 4/14/2024 at 1:46 PM, Raikoh130 said:

Up to 6 negates, depending on the Link Monster's Link Level you take from your Graveyard from what I read on the card. Still busted but yeah, its not 6 negates in general.

So if we look at Borreload Savage's effect the minimum link rating is 1 and the max link rating is 6.  So Borreload is 1-6 negates on one card, even though the effect has a HOPT.  Thanks for pointing this out!!

[Surge77754]

Here's another example the banlist: Applousa is unlimited.  Applousa, Bow of the Goddess has a ATK that is equal to the number of its materials used x 800. So that is 2-4 negates on 1 card.  Every time Appolusa negates through its once per chain, she loses 800 ATK.  

If you bait her negate once, if you have a monster with more than 2400 ATK you can run over it by battle providing that nothing is stopping you from doing so.  This is when the opponent uses 4 monsters as material to summon her.  Sure Appolusa is 4 negates on one card in this case, but still, it's once per chain.  So you can bait her negate effect and then destroy it in battle with a more powerful monster. 

But if you look at this level of detail, even though Appolusa is unlimited, she's 2-4 negates on 1 card, which is why you should avoid this when making your own custom card.  

 

 

Edited April 21 by Surge77754