(Soon winning won't be as easy as drawing a Brain Control. Soon our ban list will reflect what it always has when it came to costless monster grabbing. Soon a great friend to luck sacking will fall. Soon I hope.)Rather than start with the cards that are obvious, I thought it would be best to look at a card that isn't on most people's radars.
Here we'll make the case for Brain control and decide if it should or should not be banned.
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Card Text
Before getting too deep in the article, it wouldn't hurt to blow up the card text:
Pay 800 Life Points. Select 1 face-up monster your opponent controls. Take control of it until the End Phase.
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Popular Tactics
- 1) Synch with your opponents monster.
- 2) Tribute it for a higher starred monster.
- 3) Move opponents monster out of the way - To attack for game
- 4) Use opponents monster to help you attack for game.
So it's a minus for your opponent and a 1 for 1 for you, that sets up big plays or gives you game.
The 800 life point cost is laughable by itself; just calling it a cost.
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Banned Colleagues
A good question to ask when thinking of banning a card is always wondering if other cards like it are currently banned.
Brain Control has two well known friends as such:
- 1) Change of Heart
- 2) Snatch Steal
Yet and surprisingly, Snatch steal is also banned but it can't target face downs and it's cost is far worse than Brain Controls.
So why is Snatch steal banned? It being an equip might make it a bit easier to fetch but can that really be the only reason it's banned? Probably not.
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Luck Sacking
As mentioned above in the tactics section, Brain control allows huge shifts in games.
When you're in the middle of one or nearing the end, a single brain control is really all you need to get game or just barely miss it.
This starts a phenomenon known as Luck sacking, which I'll define as: "luckily drawing a powerful card that puts you in an advantageous situation that on most other occasions would not normally occur."
The key between luck sacking and sacking any other card is how advantageous the card you draw really is.
So why is Brain controlled widely considered a luck sack card? Nearing the end of games or towards the middle people have fewer and fewer life points. A simple brain control takes advantage of that by stealing opponents monsters and swinging for large amounts that normally the opponent is hard pressed to defend against.
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Situation A
It's nearing the end of a game and you have 2 cards in hand with 2 on the field, luckily because you conserved your resources.
You have 2000 life points left with a bottomless trap hole set and a 2400 monarch.
You've bested him most of the game and he's down to about 1500 life points.
Your opponent draws his 3rd card, with nothing else on the field.
He summons his monster, to which you bottomless.
Thinking you have won, with only 2 cards left and a summon used, you sigh a breath of relief.
Then he brain controls your monarch and attacks for game; brain control is what he drew.
How is that fair? How many different instances of the above have happened to you?
How many times did you completely control the game but lost because of 1 Brain control?
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Situation B
You're playing lightsworn and have a Judgment Dragon on the field, 2 cards in hand, 2 set traps and your opponent is at a mere 1200 life points.
You on the other hand have a strong 3000 and with only 3 cards in his hand, drawing a fourth, and nothing on the field, you think you are close to victory.Not only that, you also have a solemn set with a bottomless. What else can a player ask for near the end of the game?
Your opponent draws his 4th card and then plays smashing ground.
You think of everything your opponent might play next and know with a bottomless set you are fairly comfortable of weathering the storm.
Therefore you decide to protect your Judgment dragon and Solemn his smashing ground.
Immediately he then plays Brain Control, and right then and there you know he has game.
In almost any other situation you would have had him with your bottomless and Solemn. Yet the power of Brain Control was too much to handle. How is that fair? Did he work hard for the win? Did he deserve it? Obviously not.
After long minutes of play, you find that he wins merely as a result of luck and find the whole game a waste. This happens regardless of the fact that you played well and that he misplayed a lot.
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Situation C
You have 1 card in hand, a set bottomless, and 2 monsters on the field. You have 1500 life points he has 1000.
You feel with your Colossal Fighter on the field and with your Zombie Master, that you're pretty safe; not to mention your bottomless.
Your opponent has 1 set monster and 1 card in hand. He draws his next card.
He brain controls your colossal, sacks it for a 2400 attacking Caius, to which you bottomless.
Yet Caius still gets it's mandatory trigger effect and it gets to remove your zombie master.
He flip summons his monster and attacks for game.
Even in the very best situation where he didn't attack for game because his monster was too weak, just look at how much of your field he destroyed and with such little effort.
You lost 3 cards and he lost 2, plussing him 1 and giving him control of the field; EVEN though you had a Colossal that in most other situations would have been able to come back and even though you had a set bottomless. Now you're left with 1 card in hand and 1 draw, IF you survived the initial flip summon's attack.
Again, how is that fair? How can so much work be done with such little effort? Why are such large swings allowed in Yugioh with such little investment?
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Final Thoughts
The situations I presented above were only some of the most popular.
Other non-lethal situations that lead to Synchro summoning or powerful tribute monsters are just as deadly.
They pave the paths for easy wins by people who do not in their right mind deserve it.
Besides the fact that Brain can change the game so quickly and besides the fact that it can be luck sacked, you have to remember that Snatch steal isn't very different from it and yet it remains banned.
It's friends remain banned for good reason and you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who would think those cards would be unbanned this September.
So if most people think change of heart and snatch steal are too powerful for play, then why does Brain control get the exception?
If taking a monster for virtually no cost is balanced and fair in our meta, then why do so many games end by this very act?
The yugioh community has unfairly lost enough games to the staple that calls itself Brain Control.
It has been played for far too long now and ruined too many games to honestly stay and compete past the September 2009 ban list.
If luck sacking should come to an end, how can Brain Control survive?
Posts
21 comments:
The second situation is a little inaccurate, strategy-wise.
If you have JD with a Solemn and BTH set, you'll probably have a Necro in there, protecting you from an Honest play in a mirror match. Most likely, you'll have a follow-up next turn if JD gets destroyed, so you'd be better off with letting JD die, and then keeping your Solemn and Bottomless for whatever they try and use for an offensive push.
Smashing was used only as a method of survival for your opponent, and since it doesn't actually threaten you, it's pretty safe to let that go. If they try to summon something or Brain it, then you Solemn it because it actually poses a threat to your life points and board presence.
To ask for a solemn, a bth, and low life points for your opponent towards the end of the game, and ask for a necro is too much.
If you can set up those types of plays you won't have any trouble winning nationals next year; or any year for that matter.
The rest of us aren't as fortunate.
Asking for a necro, on top of all that, is asking for too much.
Asking for a Necro? You're running Lightsworn and have neough in the grave to summon JD, plus the 4 that JD will be milling. It's really not hard to get at least 1 Necro in there.
It is when you have a solemn set, a bth set, and a judgment on the field.
You have to take into account all that you need and to ask for all that, and a necro, is again asking for too much.
You take it as a package, not just simply a JD and a necro, that's easy, but that and a solemn, and a bth, and opponents low life, is very hard and rare.
Yet in that rare and powerful position, a single Brain control changes everything.
Not fair, and I think others would agree.
i had a caius, bth, royal oppresion, 3 cards in hand and like 1500 lp. he had 1000 lp and no cards in hand OR on field. He topped a brain control and beat me. ban it!!!
That's still not a fair judgement. The reason why your asking for it to be banned is because of luck sacking? Brain Control can do amazing things yes, it is entirely too broken for it's own good, so are many other cards. Mirror force, Lightning Vortex, Heavy Storm, and so on. All of those have the ability to luck sack a victory, why not ask for them to be banned as well? I can only assume you're just angry at losing when you thought you should have, but how many monsters spells and traps all also do this? More than just brain control. What about mind control? it allow s for the same plays except for attacking, it targets face-downs, and literally has no cost other than playing it. My question is, why single out brain control? I have no problem with it being banned, but saying it should be banned for a lucky win isn't really a good argument. If you wish to discuss this further, then by all means.
Mind Control is a very powerful card as well but it's main weakness is you can't steal a monster and attack with it.
That single aspect wins games much more than synching.
As milkncookies explained above, people steal monsters all the time with brain and attack for game, when they don't deserve it.
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My opinion is such: Brain should be banned because it creates shifts in the game too strong to be warranted.
These shifts are so powerful they lead to unneeded and undeserved victories a large amount of the time.
Thus brain control, like it's colleagues deserves a ban.
No card luck sacks nearly as much as Brain; especially not Mirror Force which is easily combo'd against.
Mind Control doesn't allow these bursts of attack that brain does, and mind control can only be used to synch most of the time, making it exceptionally weaker.
Should Mind control be a 3? That's another question. Should it even be allowed, again that's another question.
But Brain has proven itself too much of a luck sack card to be allowed in our metagame.
3/4 majority
1 situation was a little off mebbe
but the other three were accurate
and i was usin brain cotrol yesterday and it wasnt even just luck sacking- every time i opened with it i won- and it was a pretty even matchup
"It is when you have a solemn set, a bth set, and a judgment on the field.
You have to take into account all that you need and to ask for all that, and a necro, is again asking for too much."
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No it's not. Lightsworn has no trouble getting at least 1 Necro in the grave. To say having one would be too much is a tad ignorant and stubborn on your part.
congatulations!
we have broken the record for the biggest argument on unimetagame!!!
have a nice day
None of you have seen the 4th scenario when someone who has 800- lp loses because he/she drew a brain control. Has it happened many times? Yes, and actually to me too. Have you won with brain control, yes, did you deserve it? thats your choice, but you did win. Saying that you should ban brain control for its amazing power, why not add 200 more lp and ban JD for its broken effect? or DaD for its broken effect? The reason that they banned snatch steal is because you can have 50 lp and still use it for game, at the scenario you are describing it seems he wouldnt have any MST to destroy it anyways. Thus, making snatch steal a tad bit more broken, and brain control not.
So yeah, the guy from singapore that won the worlds did not desearve that win because he was using brain control, but the dude from the local that runs a Dark Magician Deck that doesnt run it cause its too broken desearves to win the worlds for the same reason.
And even a more broken effect is that Shapesnatch, ive got the original with the effect and I run it, but now they want to ban it for its broken effect, and ppl leave my duels banging the walls... Broken yes, bannable? yes, legal? maybe.
Yes, we both agree it's way too powerful. I would actualy like it to be banned, but like I said earlier, I don't want it to be banned for "lucksacking" a win. That opens the door for worse bans. As for mind control, I forget that most people didn't play glads as much as I did, and forget to think about as anything other than a free switchout. Anyway, what do you need a combo for mirror force? Any of the rampant spell and trap destruction would do that. But during the endgame, when all those resources have been used and mirror is top-decked, that's when it becomes the potential for the luck sack win. What I'm trying to say, is that the endgame is where all the power cards gain the luck sack ability, not just specific ones. Once again, I'm not saying it shouldn't be banned. Just not for luck sacking. I should have been more clear last post. As for the argument, I doubt anyone cares anymore, but I felt the need to contribute this anyway.
Brain Control is indeed a good card. I do understand your reasons for it to be banned, but I dont think talking about an "unfair win" makes sense.
This whole "lucksacking" thing is kind of dumb, cause if you sit back and think about, the whole game is about luck. Alot of people just keep crying saying ho wmuch they deserve a win and his opponent "lucksacked" him. Not really, he just had a better deck and playe dit right. If you played more carefully then you wouldnt have been "lucksacked". And even if you played good, then that wasnt your match, deal it it.
This card game becomes annoying when people start whinning about losing because of "lucksack". Oh and, there splenty of times players have win thanks to Braincontrol but they only cry when they lose to it. Enjoy the game a bit more instead of whinning about it, its a card game, it IS about luck and we all have our moments.
so do anyone think it shouldnt be banned?
i reaaaaly want ta see the new banlist lol
i just found a dark strike gadgets otk and im gonna patent it if it isnt banned
Let me guess: It's 3 of each with Ultimate Offering?
Reply to Mike:
You're over at the other extreme not even acknowledging that certain cards are "luck sacks".
To you I ask, "Why ban any card then if this game is about luck?"
The answer is simple. Certain cards are just too powerful and cause wins too easily to be allowed in our metagame.
1 such card I proposed was Brain control.
If you disagree with the above philosophy, you disagree to the ban list altogether.
Luck sacking cards exist; acknowledge them.
The Ban list exists to change the flow of the game and restrict certain amount of "brokeness" in some cards that would make the game too dumb to play when most games end in a FTK.
Im not saying I disagree with Brain Control beeing banned at all, the card is one of the tops to be banned. I just dislike the idea of having it banned cause of "lucksacks" because I dont believe in that term, but to each its own.
If you handnt chose to run certain card, then you wouldnt top it and "lucksacked" the game, so in other words you put a card because you know it can help, just because you got "lucky" with a top deck and won doesnt mean is not fair and you dont deserve it.
This is a different statement and does not means I think Brain Control doesnt deserve a ban.
Love the articules ;)
nope two of each cuz 3 rly would just get in the way
bkb and tragoss for the high lvls
"If you handnt chose to run certain card, then you wouldnt top it and "lucksacked" the game, so in other words you put a card because you know it can help, just because you got "lucky" with a top deck and won doesnt mean is not fair and you dont deserve it."
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There's a difference between getting lucky and sacking. Topping a Brain Control is sacking.
Im fine with brain control being limited to one. H
Its just a simple case of luck sacking, it hardly happens just main Book of moon 2/3 of those it can save you for mostly anything that affects face up cards
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