Hello everyone! This is Elena from Gaia Storm TCG and welcome to another article here. Last week Pokémon surprised us all with the announcement of the ban of 4 new cards for the Expanded format. This modification in the banned list was quite unexpected considering that no changes had been made for almost a year. Ghetsis, Wally, Hex Maniac and Puzzle of Time now join the elite’s club of banned cards whose only members were, Lysandre Trump Card, Forest of Giant Plants and Archeops. What made Pokémon decide this way? Is it justified?

First of all, let’s bear in mind that every single change of the list can be explained by one simple reasoning: if a card highly restricts the playability of the game, it should not be allowed. Archeops was banned because, with it in the format, no evolution deck could have been used; Forest Of Giant Plants combined with Decidueye and Vileplume to create a suffocating lock and Lysandre Trump Card was probably the most broken card ever printed. All those three cards, for one reason or another, limited greatly the playability of Expanded strategies and threatened the variety of viable decks. It is precisely this very same logic the one that has been applied this time.

Ghetsis had the potential to be absolutely demolishing in different states of the game. Many decks like Night March will try to play it turn 1 of the game to cripple the opponent’s hand entirely. Also, even if it was played late moments, it was enough to put the opponent into a very difficult position.

By itself, Wally was not a problem. It is a supporter and, most of the times, not worth playing to get one single Pokémon. Unless, of course, there is a Pokémon that gives you such an advantage that Wally becomes broken. Trevenant basically shuts down all the items of the opponent as soon as it enters the field and the fact that Wally can be played in the very first turn in order to get the item lock is far too strong. There are many situations where an opponent will just concede straight away.

Next, Hex Maniac is probably one of the most discussed cards because unlike the others, it was a staple in almost every deck. It allowed every strategy to get rid of abilities at convenience, which was useful in many situations. However, the issue with Maniac is exactly the point that was mentioned above. Because of the existence of this card, ability-based decks were almost unplayable. In an environment where 4 VS Seekers are almost mandatory, repeating Maniac after Maniac was not difficult. With Maniac gone, decks will need to consider alternatives to deal with the metagame from a different perspective.

Lastly, Puzzle of Time will say goodbye to the format after two years of glory. Puzzle was just insane in any deck that could exploit its use and there were a few. Zoroark of course used them to recycle and recycle but many other strategies, both aggressive and defensive, used them: Night March, Primal Groudon, Wailord, Sableye…

Of course, those bans are a way to hit specific decks that were a bit out of control (cough cough Zoroark Eggs). Although we will have to wait a bit to see the real impact of those changes, what it is clear is that Pokémon is trying to create a healthy environment with a wide range of strategies. And that is always good.