Could steve or james please explain the bannings? I would like to know the reasoning behind why these cards are banned. I can really figure some of them out and am curious. So please give me some insight!!!!

No they can't... Thats the easy answer..

Simple, every card banned was either

a - Shriekingly overpowered

b - discouraged attacking

or

c - allowed players to win games without playing more then 4 attacks.

some cards were a mixture of these things (Rejection was A and B, Spike was A and a little bit of C)

Decks will now almost absolutely need to play at LEAST 8 attacks to win, at LEAST, most decks will move up into 10-13 range and and only a few gimmicky decks will continue to run with less.

The One shot decks isn't entirely dead, but it is crippled it only has two go to cards now (High Plasma, Sardine Beach) both of which are better costed then existing huge hitters, Loop decks are down to two culprits(Ineffective Hanzo Elbow, and the unforuntately much improved due to recent bannings Victor Mentally unstable loop)

The game opens up, and creativity in deck design is once again rewarded.

Lord of the Makai - Rediculously costed enabler that allowed numerous degenerate interactions.

Olcadan's Mentoring - Overwhelmingly powerful, rediculously undercosted, and was used as a tool to kill rather then defend. Unbalanced many cards that with it gone, have proper countermeasures available to them.

Chester's Backing - Rewarded players for negating. Rediculously costed, again, stopped far too many things without any cost to the controller.

Bitter Rivals - Enabled things like Hanzo Loop, killed entire mechanics like Combo, had an effect that was under costed for what it did.

Fei Long’s Forward Kick - Allowed a deck to run with only one attack.

Chun Li - Broke the game, and would have required far too many other cards to be banned to be able to stay in the environment.

Juni’s Spiral Arrow - Created a long boring lockdown game that wasn't fun, and was about one attack being looped over and over again. It prevented an opponent from playing the game.

Rejection - With the ability to loop the card, it made attacking far too challenging.

Forethought - It's ability to lock out players entierly prevents people from playing the game. If a player gets that down first turn, they can ensure that their opponent never gets to successfully play a card for the entire game. Unlike Akuma, Seclusion, or BRT, it ends the players turn in the event of failure.

Feline Spike - With the Felicia Multiple Errata the card is still playable, but it is no longer rediculously broken where all you need is 1 Kitty Spike to win.

Chinese Boxing - It directly punished players for attacking. While it can still lock down and be effective with the Errata, it requires its owner to attack. By forcing it's owner to attack it opens the owner up to things like reversals, rather then sitting back, locking down the opponent, and preventing them from playing the game all together.

Tiger Fury - It's a one turn kill that in the hands of a deck like Akuma means that a player only needed to run with 4 attacks. Moving to a Sagat Only card brings it down a few levels, without completely removing the card from the meta.

Antigoth said:

Well said.

RockStar said:

Mostly cards that made the game less about fighting and more about just jerking your opponents around and playing solitare... I'm back to being more interested in the game and now the Not-Stale Meta... Many difference symbols have a chance and can give a time to shine....

Hell I might just throw a Evil/Death Nightmare together... Fear My Hidden Boards wipes... And die to my Leg Slash for 15..

Antigoth said:

You know, I remember saying the exact same thing to Dave before the card came out... Same thing with Red Gi, said something beforehandm but no one seems to listen. Wonder why it took so long to do anything about it. It is better to deal with problems cards when they first come out, that way you don't lose players to it.

Antigoth said:

ARGUMENT FROM ME!!!! If you considered it redicliously broken, making it Felecia multiple does not make it any less broken with Felecia who is very well suited to FTK players First turn only running 4 copies of this and mulliganing aggressivley.

Protoaddict said:

That's a trick deck that can easily be stopped: Tag Along stops this flat out, for example. Also, any deck that runs Momo-hate will eat Felicia for lunch. And, running only 1 set of 4-of attacks is a quick way to be dead. Consider decks that intentionally shove attacks into momentum, or have a way to make you fail your checks (BRT is still running wild, y'know). It's now more important than ever to run mult-sets of attacks.

Hallelujah!

Protoaddict said:

As opposed to FTKing someone 2nd turn?

wait theres more bans? where can i find this list?

Luthon said:

Uhh the july state of the game maybe?

WOW and they didnt ban blood runs true why...? that card is broken as hell, and i know its you get a free card and it doesnt end your turn but i thought the whole reason for banning alot of the cards was to make the game faster.

blood runs true isnt as broken as most of the cards banned because good players can bait its use and not be hurt by it......plus you dont lose anything since you draw a card afterwards

the main problem i have with it is that it can hit blocks but with the game sliding towards playing more attacks and such i dont think even that will be a huge problem

BRT has a potential backfire in that often you can give your opponent a card you DONT want them to have, as well as them perhaps revealing a 1 and not losing thier check.

Forethought for instance does not. Rejection does not. Tiger fury does not.

Luthon said:

LOL no, BRT is not broken. It's never been broken, and probably never will be broken.

The best argument you can make about BRT is that its ability is a little too good for its stats - the block should be more difficult - but that's hardly a reason to ban a card or consider it "broken" when it's that minor an issue.

I have no idea why BRT isn't on the list. Not for the normal hacking, but for being able to negate a block. It's far too good for what it does.

See i understand what you guys are saying but as players of this game should we all be on the same page as to why these cards are bad for the game? Bitter Rivals wasnt broken according to FFG in march when the keywords were expanded, so what happened in those months to sway opinions. There are arguements for all except olcadans mentoring. I just feel as a player and supporter of the game i deserve to know why they are telling me i can not play these cards. I know people have complained for a while but they have never justified the message boards and player complaint as a reason for banning cards..

I just feel like as players and the reason this game exsists they should be obligated to let us know.

With Bitter Rivals there were a bunch of cards (like Dead for 1,000 Years) in set 12 that the thought was they were going to shift the meta enough to bring "balance to the force". Because if the meta wasn't focused the way it is prior to the bannings, Bitter might have been able to stay. The problem was the number of decks shifting to feature bitter rivals. Additionally Chesters and Olcadans were two answers to the card. Take those away, and suddenly Bitter Rivals starts tipping the scales past the point of what's comfortable to be left standing.

Olcadan's as previously stated was undercosted for what it did. Additionally it was facilitating/ driving the meta in an unhealthy direction. By banning Olcadan's it meant a number of other cards didn't have to be banned.

While the watch list is never published, they were both on it. Steve and I spoke about the choice not to publish the watch list, and it's because the debate quickly becomes about "why isn't this card on the banned list / that card shouldn't be on the banned list."

Essentially FFG got the feedback they were looking for through a number of regionals / major events like PotM, Canadian Nationals, US Nationals, in addition to talking to retailers, playtesters, etc. Saw where the meta was, saw where it was going, and after realizing that Set 12 was not going to provide the needed fixes, broke out the ban hammer to correct the game, and make it more accessible, and enjoyable.

Luthon said:

Well, at this point you can run anti CCHax without fear of Olcadan's, such as Destiny, Evil Plans, or Koga Ninja Arts (although all 3, I feel, are bested by Ayame's Scarf). While Blood Runs True should've been banned, they did an amazing job getting rid of TRULY, UNDENIABLY broken cards, and while BRT has no place in this game, the incentive to run anti-Hax might be able to go up since Olcadan's isn't there to LOL at those running anti-hax against decks that don't hack anyways.

Now, as I am one of the KEY proponents for the bannings, I'll attempt to explain them in a way that isn't an article...

Olcadan's Mentoring - One of the most poorly-implemented "new" ideas (replacing foundations with other ones). It had no cost, access to all 12 symbols, was spammble (0-diff), a 6 check (should've been a 3 or lower), overshadowed another card's existence (Without a Care), and most importantly, had the ability to screw over so much just by turning a card sideways. It could be the single reason for winning a game. It could be the single reason for ruining a guy's staging area (an example being the one I'd mentioned earlier: giving a guy anti-CCHax when you run no hax to begin with). It ruined the game, and only pressured you to win faster. Although most people said, "Give it symbols", "make it unique", "change its stats", the fact of the matter was it had no cost to do something so powerful.

Lord of the Makai: Made momentum generation, a concept that should be difficult, appear like a joke in its easiness. Just say "E" and you net 1 momentum per copy. The E Commit was used to cause a "loop" of sorts against Ira-Spinta (off two symbols, I might add) that allowed Spinta players to generate WAY more board advantage than their opponents. It was an enabler for the ages, AND it was the most reliable and generally quickest way to get moment, and it was also a 2/6 +1-MID with 4 symbols. If you want "direct" momentum generation, it needs to be balanced like Natural Leader, White Gi, and White Magic.

Chester's Backing: Global control is something that should only exist in few forms. This game needs situational control. Well, Chester's was global alright: it had the power of shutting down ANY foundation. This lead to the term "Chester's Wars" (a bit of a nod to Gray Wars) in which opponent's would need more Chester's than their opponent to win the war. Also, foundations see more play than any other type of card in the game, making Chester's negation powers too unrivaled. Oh yeah, and it rolled a 6 and gained you vitality (and had 4 symbols!).

Bitter Rivals: Did far too much at zero cost. It changed the zone of your attacks to ANY zone. It changed the zone of your OPPONENT's attacks. It allowed somewhat "selective" discard. Most importantly, due to its ability to change your attacks zones, it lead to either a string of unblockable attacks, or partially blocked attacks, making every character in existence that could run it similar (or evne better) than ***Tira***. With its selective discard, it had the ability to discard ANYTHING not named Punch, Kick, or Weapon (which as we know is a lot, especially since it covers Unique, Terrain, and Character-specifics).

Fei Long's Forward Kick: Simply put, ***Hanzo***. Hanzo only needed this attack and a wall of support (off ANY symbol really since even Earth has Ways of Punishment) to win games.

Chun-Li: Cheated a game mechanic (playing cards on your opponent's turn). We've seen it before in such forms as ***R. Mika***, Fluid Adaptation, Valeria's Shop, Turnabout, and anything with the keyword Reversal. These are all balanced, and are welcome additions to the game. However, Chun-Li rocks amazing stats by vitality, has access to 3 great symbols, and more importantly, had no real cost or situational activation timing towards being able to play ANY card (that wasn't an action). She discouraged the playing of Reversals (Feline Spike and Hoyoku-sen as reversals? WHAT'S THAT?!), and she has won more large scale tournaments than any character in UFS history.

Juni's Spiral Arrow: Although justice has been done to Chinese Boxing, cards such as Chinese Boxing and Program Malfunction barely hold a candle to JSA. JSA stated that ANY of your opponent's foundations that are committed during their ready phase do not ready. As such, you either had to accept playing the game while tapped, or attempt to build, and just wish to God you'll somehow not get hurt by JSA. Also, Freezing Execution exists for a reason guys.

Rejection: The biggest discouragement to blocking there ever was. Gaining 3 vitality means nothing when you're reducing an attack to 1, can loop/tutor the card using a VARIETY of means, AND it has a 5 check and +1-LOW block BACKED by Breaker: 2. It's a card that's got the goods, absolutely no reason not to run it, and can, as I said, make blocking look like a stupid idea.

Forethought: Is one of the few cards existing that not just CCHax, but actually ends the turn in the process. It'd be one thing if it was a harder-to-spam foundation with a 3 or 4 difficulty, and maybe less CCheck and no block, but it's a 1/5 +1-MID that, in conjunction with its Chaos/Life sister The Anti K', lead to turns ending immediately (generally the first turn, I might add), and allowed for the Forethought player to get an unfair building advantage.

Feline Spike: The most reliable kill button this game has. A lot of decks packing it run it either as their only attack, or with few others. Changing it to Felicia Multiple limits you to a character who, while she does have 3 legal itterations, only 1 is of any true good, and because it's character-only, either people will run Felicia frequently, or likely not at all.

Chinese Boxing: Turned an otherwise unbalanced stall card into an aggressive control card.

Tiger Fury: Nobody plays Sagat. I say no more.

Centipede said:

Where does the card say "negate a block"?

no, really, show me

BRT eats blocks. It doesn't say so on the card; it says so every time it is used =/

MarcoPulleaux said:

I've passed blocks through BRT. It's rarely a sure thing. I'm not even a lucky person, in general - oh god, I could tell you some horrid tales of my bad luck - and I've stayed alive through BRT enough times. *** is better for pushing attacks. Then there's more reliable stuff like Darkhunter of the Night and Kung-Fu Training which are both significantly more effective at pushing attacks than BRT.

You are not correct

Read willful,
and you will see that tag is actually correct.