TPC Analysis on Balance Impact

With Stardust being removed from the environment and no other hits to the other decks in the meta, how the format changes will be hard to say. Stardust shaped not only the decks in the format, but also the techs being played. With Stardust's removal, even if only temporary, these will all have to be reevaluated. While it might be easy to say Vaalmonica and Destiny HERO become the best decks, it could very well be something that was gatekept by Stardust and the format it enabled.

Stardust / Synchron

Honestly, there are some more cards they should have added to this banlist, but them hitting Stardust so hard is very welcome. The hits to floodgates are also really good. Loading... and Loading... were both degenerate cards in different ways, and the FTK hits are nice, but they should really do something about Loading... , since it's a massive FTK enabler.

Also, I'm not sure why they didn't do something about Princess Adena's Protection sooner, since it's legitimately been used for FTKs since its release, but the thought is appreciated.

I miss Stardust...

The hits to Stardust are extremely devastating. Loading... , Loading... , and Loading... going to Limit 3 not only hits the consistency, but makes running Loading... almost mandatory now if you don't want to brick. That card is pretty bad without Loading... , as it can just get popped on activation. This also removes Limit 3 cards completely from the deck, such as Loading... and Loading... .

Loading... and Loading... have also been limited to 1. Loading... is whatever, as it wasn't really popular, but it had the potential to floodgate some decks really badly. Loading... was a nice and somewhat broken combo piece, as it enabled a lot of draws for this deck, so hitting that made a lot of sense.

The skill hits are just as bad, if not even worse. You spawn random Signer Dragons now, so getting Loading... for Loading... is not guaranteed. Loading... is not guaranteed, and Loading... came up going second, but that is random now too. Loading... will now pop 2 cards, since the skill doesn't send Signer Dragons to the Graveyard anymore. This also means Loading... will not be immediately live.

You also cannot add any Tuner now, just Loading... , which makes you much more vulnerable to hand traps on Loading... . You also cannot add Loading... or Loading... to your hand now, and these cards were mandatory and really good to search going first or second.

The free Loading... trap is also now removed from the skill, which matters going first and second, since the free trap was a great cost for Loading... to play around Counter Traps.

Maybe there are even more hits that I forgot to mention, but this looks very bad. It's also unfortunate that we cannot see how hard this will get impacted, since the skill will not be changed until the next update. This is pretty hard to replicate and probably not usable in tournaments or leagues.

The banlist aimed to remove some FTKs and tone down Stardust's power, and while it can't be tested until implemented, it likely succeeded. Being forced to cut Loading... to 1 and play 3 Loading... , while also not being able to play Loading... , would have already been pretty rough. With the skill changes on top of that, the deck loses most of its strengths.

No longer having the versatility to get any Tuner means that, going second, you have fewer options, and you can't add a Tuner hand trap like Loading... or Loading... to your board. No Loading... means your main way to play around breakers like Loading... , Loading... , and Loading... is gone.

Now that the skill summons 3 random Dragons instead of up to 3 Dragons of your choice, it is both unable to reliably get Loading... on the field for Turn 1, and unable to consistently get the Dragons you want when going second. On top of that, you can't summon only 2 Dragons. If you don't start with the skill going second, and your opponent ever leaves 1 monster in your Main Monster Zone, you can't use the skill. This means you might be forced to start by making either Loading... or Loading... to pop 2 cards.

SEE YA WOULDNT WANNA BE YA

The hits are huge. You are now restricted to practically 1 Loading... , which is an insane hit to the already fragile grind game this deck had.

The deck also lost the free Loading... from the skill, which made it significantly easier to play against Loading... . It was also used as fodder for Loading... , so Counter Traps wouldn't work on it.

The going-second effect also being randomized now puts your Turn 2 in the hands of RNG, as a play like an instant Loading... , with Loading... as material, is now not going to be consistently accessible.

The other part of the skill that added any Tuner now adds only Loading... . This hurts the flexibility of the deck immensely and is, in my opinion, the most significant nerf of all.

Guess we can say this deck is done and dusted.

The hits to the skill drastically lower the ceiling of the deck. You can't search any Tuner anymore, meaning you don't have the flexibility to search for a tech like Loading... or Loading... if you go first, nor search for Loading... or even an extra copy of Loading... to help you go second.

You lost the ability to pick which Signer Dragons to summon with the skill's effect, leaving plays like Loading... plus Loading... , or Loading... plus Loading... , in the hands of RNJesus.

Even consistent plays like using the skill into Loading... became significantly worse, since you are forced to summon 3 Signer Dragons, and the last 2 do not go into the GY anymore. This effectively makes Loading... go from popping 4 or 5 cards to popping 2 at the start of the turn.

Since the skill no longer puts the extra 2 Dragons in the GY, Loading... also lost some of its power. It is harder to resolve, gives less of an attack boost, and potentially loses 2 attacks.

The deck also lost the free Loading... , which is 1 fewer guaranteed interruption on the end board.

In my opinion, the skill changes alone would have been more than enough, but Konami also limited Loading... , Loading... , and Loading... to 3, taking away other Limit 3 cards from the deck for good and essentially limiting us to a single copy of Loading... .

This takes away both consistency and grind game, since you won't have a second Synchron to trigger a second Loading... effect and potentially have another Synchro Summon available.

Completely dead for tournament play, but if you have it for ladder, you are fine. Turn 1 is strong enough to give you an easy KoG, but it will struggle much more going second. It's definitely not a competitive deck anymore, but it's not dead like Therion.