We have heard many rumours, discussions and voting systems predicting which cards are going to be in the next Bandai Ban/Restriction List that will be announced sometime this month (Jan 2022). From the deck lists collected thus far, we are hoping that these 3 decks will be limited in tournaments after the ban/restriction.
We will look at 3 decks that are not only uninspiring but also threatening/restricting the use of other cards within their same colours.
Blue Hybrid with the Tommy evolution line
This is perhaps the first deck that most people would like to see debuffed since there are many cards in this deck that are quite overpowering for their cost.
Here is an example of a Tommy Hybrid deck.
Everything has started with BT-07 where Hybrid Digimons has become too fast and too cheap (to digivolve), with Tommy's line also having a high defensive capability. Hybrid Digimons were supposed to push creativity in deck-building, with Susanomon who can be digivolved from any colour. However, that only happened in the early meta, and once the meta has stabilized, tournament decks just seem to be repeating themselves.
Tommy's Hybrid Deck is a very strong deck and deserves to be listed as Tier-1 in the BT7 meta. This deck has found its way to be fast and defensive: the combo of Tommy and his LV4 Digimons Kumamon and Korikakumon were always able to control the board. On top of that, the dramatic option card, Ice Wall, slows the game for Susanoomon which can be played for just 1 cost (by using Fuse into Ultimate Digimon) to end the game.
So what should be restricted to make this Tommy deck more acceptable? Based on our opinion, cards that should be restricted its number from 4 to 2 cards are:
- Tommy Himi
- LV4 KoriKakumon
- Ice Wall
Yellow Hybrid: Zoe Orimoto Recovery
This is the deck that has dominated about 90% of all yellow winning decks in our list since BT7 dropped. We have actually skipped the upload of many of this deck at tournaments since there were too many decks that share similarity (down to the digitama). You may search "yellow hybrid" in the BT7-BT8 decklist to find out more.
One fact remains unchanged across all variants of this deck: the engine's core that is Zoe Orimoto and her LV4/LV5 Digimons as well as Susanomon. The base (digitama) may sometimes change across meta, but perhaps the most popular Zoe Recovery deck is the one that uses purple as base (LV2-LV3) Digimon. Here is an example.
This player from Japan has mentioned that his deck has won 8 out of 9 tournaments he attended, a remarkable result showing its stability and outcome.
Why Zoe Deck is so strong?
Well, as a security control deck, this build has a remarkable recovery that is cheaper and faster than the traditional security control. The LV5 JetSilphymon being the troublemaker, digivolving with just 1-cost as long as there is a yellow tamer in its digivolution cards to trigger "Recovery+1".
If we have a Bokomon in play, the cost to move from a tamer to JetSilphymon would only take 1 memory, so much different compared to the 7-cost paid to play a "recovery+1" HolyAngemon or 11-cost to play a "recovery+2" Holydramon.
This purple Zoe deck is also strong in defence/board-control thanks to the purple option card [BT7-108] Schwarz Lehrsatz.
So for this deck, we think the LV5 JetSilphymon should be limited to 2 copies in a deck.
Eyesmon Scatter Mode
The purple Eyesmon and Eyesmon Scatter Mode are currently widely (or must be) used in any purple decks that rely on a trashing-recycling mechanic. Thanks to the Eyesmon pair, the Lilith-loop engine has recently came back strong and enlisted in Tier1.5 in the BT7 meta.
You might wonder, since purple did not make it Tier-1 or maybe Tier-0, why limit the number of Eyesmons?"
The Eyesmon duo has a special property (or synergy) that not only lets purple decks mill very fast, but also having LV4 (Eyemon) played very efficiently (at no cost). This pair will strengthen your hand and widen your board at the same time, a perfect card for almost any purple deck.
Ever since its appearance, almost all LV4 purple cards have no chance to be used in the game. Every purple deck now runs the same mechanic to mill and fill, and single handedly pushing a purple deck's potential in tournaments.
Summary
We may see something along these lines in the coming Bandai restriction list, but I am sure that many of us are excited for this coming restriction, and welcomes this timely change.
For now in BT8/EX2 meta, things are quite balanced for all colors, so we are hoping to see more creative decks or mechanics being created to make the game more enjoyable overall!
