Attempting balanced versions of (almost) all Forbidden Spells and Traps

[Zowayix]

[i]Mind Control:
Take control of 1 monster your opponent controls until the End Phase. That monster cannot attack [b]or leave the field except by being destroyed.[/b][/i]
This isn't banned but deserves to be. Now there's no more Synchro/Xyz abuse; this brings it back to its original "intended" use.

[i]Change of Heart/Brain Control[/i]:
Already covered by Mind Control.

[i]Butterfly Dagger - Elma:
The equipped monster gains 300 ATK. When this card equipped to a monster is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard, return it to your hand [b]during the End Phase.[/b][/i]
No more infinite loops.

[i]Card of Safe Return:
[b]Once per turn,[/b] when a monster is Special Summoned from your Graveyard, you can draw 1 card.
Alternate version:
When[b] your opponent[/b] Special Summons a monster from their Graveyard, you can draw 1 card.[/i]
Avoids generating obscene card advantage.

[i]Cold Wave:
[b][Continuous Trap Card][/b]
Activate only at the start of your Main Phase 1. [b]While this card is face-up on the field,[/b] neither player can play or Set any Spell or Trap Cards. Destroy this card during your opponent's End Phase.[/i]
This slows the card way down and makes it more vulnerable. If your opponent plays MST during your End Phase, you just locked yourself down while providing no disadvantage for the opponent.

[i]Confiscation:
Pay 1000 Life Points. Look at your opponent's hand. [b]Your opponent selects[/b] and discards 1 card from their hand.[/i]
Not sure if this is still broken.

[i]Delinquent Duo:
[b]Discard 1 card[/b] and pay 1000 Life Points. [b]Your opponent selects [/b]and discards 2 cards from their hand.[/i]
Not sure if this is still broken.

[i]Dimension Fusion:
Pay 2000 Life Points. Both players Special Summon as many of their banished monsters as possible.[b] It is now your End Phase.[/b][/i]
Stops OTK abuse.

[i]Future Fusion:
Reveal 1 Fusion Monster in your Extra Deck. [b]During your 2nd Standby Phase after activation, send Fusion Material Monsters that are listed on that Fusion Monster from your Main Deck to your Graveyard,[/b] and Special Summon that Fusion Monster and target it with this card. (This Special Summon is treated as a Fusion Summon.) When this card leaves the field, destroy that target.[/i]
Massive Foolish Burial abuse is delayed 2 turns.

[i]Giant Trunade:
Return all Spell and Trap Cards on the field to their owners' hands. [b]It is now the End Phase of your turn.[/b][/i]
This severely limits the card's use to recycling Call of the Haunted or Swords of Revealing Light or whatever.

[i]Graceful Charity:
Draw 3 cards. Select 2 cards from your hand and [b]reveal them to your opponent. Your opponent individually chooses whether to send each card to the Deck, Graveyard, or Banished Zone.[/b][/i]
Avoids graveyard advantage.

[i]Harpie's Feather Duster:
Destroy [b]a number of [/b]Spell and Trap Cards your opponent controls [b]up to the number of "Harpie" monsters you control.[/b][/i]
This was its anime effect. It should have been this way all along.

[i]Mass Driver:
[b]Up to 5 times per turn,[/b] you can Tribute 1 monster you control to inflict 400 damage to your opponent.[/i]
No more OTK abuse.

[i]Metamorphosis:[/i]
[I honestly have no idea how to balance this card. Any help?]

[i]Mirage of Nightmare:
During your opponent's Standby Phase, draw cards until you have 4 cards in your hand, [b]then[/b] randomly discard from your hand to the Graveyard the number of cards you drew.[/i]
What was the original point of delaying the discard? Now it just refreshes your hand like how it "normally" would be used.

[i]Painful Choice:
Select 5 cards from your Deck and reveal them to your opponent. Your opponent selects 1 card among them; that card is added to your hand. [b]Your opponent individually chooses whether to send the remaining 4 cards to the Deck, Graveyard, or Banished Zone.[/b][/i]
No more Graveyard abuse.

[i]Pot of Greed:
[b]Your opponent looks at your hand, all your face-down cards, and through your Deck, then selects 2 cards in your Deck and adds them to your hand.[/b]
Joke version:
[b]Draw 58 cards.[/b][/i]
Still is a +1, but in a very different way. Good luck even activating the joke version; if you can pull it off, you deserve to win the Duel. (The upper Deck limit is 60, right? If it's not, pretend the number is 2 below whatever the limit is.)

[i]Premature Burial:
Pay 800 Life Points. Special Summon 1 monster from your Graveyard and equip it with this card;[b] your opponent chooses the monster's Battle Position.[/b] When this card[b] leaves the field[/b], destroy the equipped monster.[/i]
Less abusable.

[i]Raigeki:
[b]At the start of your Main Phase 1,[/b] destroy all monsters your opponent controls. [b]It is now your End Phase.[/b][/i]
No more OTK abuse.

[i]Snatch Steal:
Equip only to a monster your opponent controls. Take control of the equipped monster.[b] Your opponent's Life Points become 8000 higher than they were,[/b] and during each of their Standby Phases, [b]their Life Points become 8000 higher than they were.[/b][/i]
Odd wording to get around Bad Reaction to Simochi. Now the opponent immediately gains 8000 LP, plus 8000 more every turn in exchange for losing their monster. That last part might have been overkill.

[i]Temple of the Kings:
[b]During your Standby Phase, you can reveal any Trap Cards in your hand. During your opponent's turn, you can activate revealed Trap Cards from your hand.[/b] If you control "Mystical Beast of Serket" and this card, you can send both to the Graveyard to Special Summon 1 monster from your hand or Deck.[/i]
Less abusable maybe? Not sure if this is still broken.

[i]The Forceful Sentry:
Pay 1000 Life Points. Look at your opponent's hand. Your opponent selects 1 card in their hand and returns it to their Deck.[/i]
Not sure if this is still broken.

[i]Imperial Order:
Negate the effects of all Spell Cards, except those that would target this card. You must pay 700 Life Points during each of your Standby Phases. If you cannot, you lose the Duel.[/i]
Allows the opponent to still MST/etc. it, while blocking other Spells like the card might have been "intended" to do. Also, no destroying the card so you can immediately use Spell Cards again whenever you want.

[i]Last Turn:
Activate only at the start of your opponent's Battle Phase when [b]both players' Life Points are 1000 or fewer.[/b] Select 1 [b]face-up[/b] monster you control; send all other cards you control and all cards in your hand to the Graveyard. Your opponent selects 1 monster from their Deck, [b]places it on the field[/b] in face-up Attack Position, and attacks your selected monster. (Any Battle Damage from this battle is treated as 0.) The player whose monster remains alone on the field at the End Phase of this turn wins the Duel. Any other case results in a Draw.[/i]
The only changes are the bolded parts. I think this is less abusable, and completely avoids Jowgen abuse.

[i]Ring of Destruction:
Destroy 1 monster on the field. Both players[b] lose Life Points[/b] equal to the destroyed monster's ATK.[/i]
I think the main reason this card was banned was due to abuse with Barrel Behind the Door. This avoids that. (If it was banned for some other major reason, please let me know.)

[i]Royal Oppression:
[b]Activate only if you control no Special Summoned monsters.[/b] Either player can pay 800 Life Points to neagte the Special Summon of a monster(s), and/or an effect that Special Summons a monster(s), and destroy those cards.[/i]
This has been said many times in the TCG forum already. Now it's back to its "intended" use.

[i]Sixth Sense:
[b]Your opponent declares[/b] two numbers from 1 to 6, and rolls 1 six-sided die. If the die result is either of the two declared numbers, draw that many cards. If not, send that many cards [b]from your hand[/b] to the Graveyard. (If you do not have enough cards in your hand, discard all cards in your hand instead.)[/i]
Now your opponent is the one choosing to take the risk. You also lose hand advantage instead of milling your Deck. Also, the worst this could ever do for your opponent, if they pick 1 and 2, is letting you draw 2 cards on a 1/6 chance.

[i]Time Seal:
[b]Activate only at the start of your opponent's Draw Phase.[/b] Your opponent cannot conduct their normal draw during this Draw Phase.[/i]
No longer chainable, so it functions more like the Unlimited card Drop Off.

[i]Trap Dustshoot:[/i]
[I honestly have no idea how to balance this card. Any help?]

[metaleaddy]

[quote name='Zowayix' timestamp='1345944530' post='6012903']
[i]Metamorphosis:[/i]
Tribute 1 monster. Special Summon 1 Fusion Monster from your Fusion Deck with the same Level as the Tributed monster. [i][b]It is now the End Phase of your turn.[/b][/i]

Might stop OTKs from happening.


[i]Trap Dustshoot:[/i]

Activate only if your opponent has [b][i]4 cards more in their hand than in yours.[/i][/b] Look at your opponent's hand, and [i][b]let your opponent choose [/b][/i]1 Monster Card in it, and return that card to the owner's deck.

Would most likely be more fair for the opponent, and actually ensue a reasonable penalty.
[/quote]

[-Griffin]

MCon: I don't think being used as Xyz material counts as leaving the field, you should cover that if you're worried about tributes/synchs.

Oh, and MCon isn't banned. BCon is, which still let it attack and had an LP cost.

Elma: This is probably fine now, I'm sure some Decks can find a use for it.

CoSR: First version is still broken. Second version is interesting, might be a good card.

Cold Wave: Your opponent can't MST it in the End Phase, because Cold Wave is active. Cold Wave is a card designed to help OTKs and destroy interaction, it's a bad concept and should be left abandoned.

Confiscation: It's a 1-for-1 which gives you a lot of information. The only reason this is balanced is so many people running Dark Worlds right now. I don't like the design at all.

Deli-D: Broken, maybe not. But it's very badly designed. All this does is take away so many options that both players are basically on auto-pilot. There are also probably situations where it's horribly broken.

D-Fuse: Might be okay now, but also might just setup insane lockdowns too quickly. IDK.

Fufu: This might be balanced now. Yay.

Trunade: Yeah, way limited use now. You can't even set Call/Reactivate Swords the turn you use this. Probably underpowered. Maybe just make it used in Main Phase 2 instead.

Charity: Still too much generic draw. Something like this would have to be: "D3, Show entire hand, opponent returns 2 to Deck." Mostly because that allows them to screw your chances to OTK. Generic Draw is usually too strong.

Harpy's: Ok, yeah, this kinda works now.

Mass: This is now entirely useless. Let's face it, MD was only used in OTKs, a 'balanced' version would only be used in Decks that did damage from other things too... and then used it to finish an OTK. Or bounced it a lot to use it endlessly. Should stay banned.

Mirage: Way too good in Darkworlds. Way too good in Fableds. Way too good in basically everything. It lets you throw away dead draws and fill your Graveyard super fast.

Painful: This might be balanced now. I kinda like it.

Pot: That Joke version is entirely usable in an OTK. There's a card that returns all hand/grave to Deck. Set Pot and that, next turn, use pot, draw Exodia, gg. The non-joke version is possibly balanced. No more card advantage than Thunder Dragon, but the cards are probably more useful. This is obviously still a problem in many Exodia Decks, but Exodia is badly designed and shouldn't exist anyway.

Premature: It's mostly used to get materials for big Synchros anyway. Usually if you had the big cards you already won. The main problem is its an Equip, which is very searchable, and a spell, which is very quick.

Raigeki: I like this design.

Snatch: lol. This might be balanced but I mostly find it hilarious. "Ok, I only recovered Snatch 5 times since it's an equip. Now to wear your 50000 LP down with my stupid field advantage."

Temple: Probably balanced/a bit weak.

Forceful: It adds nothing to the game, even if it's balanced. Leave it banned.

Imperial: Too much lockdown potential. Lockdowns just aren't fun, and this doesn't have enough other uses to justify its existence.

Last: This is so situational that no-one will use it outside of an OTK they find. Not really playable.

Ring: It's banned because it's a chainable 1-4-1 which can also OTK with strong mosnters and such. This doesn't fix that at all.

Oppression: This is still a lockdown card that basically invalidates some Decks from existing if you draw it. I don't see what this adds to the game. Summon Negation is generally not that great for gameplay.

SS: On an average activation, if your opponent picks 1/2, you draw 0.5 cards and discard 3 cards. On average this is a -3.5 in card advantage, and that's terrible.

Time Seal: It still makes a lockdown with Mask of Darkness and Tsuko, and is generally an annoying card that shouldn't exist and only snowballs advantages to prevent cool comebacks. No.

[Zowayix]

[quote name='metaleaddy' timestamp='1346003589' post='6013361']
[i]Metamorphosis:[/i]
[i]Tribute 1 monster. Special Summon 1 Fusion Monster from your Fusion Deck with the same Level as the Tributed monster. [i][b]It is now the End Phase of your turn.[/b][/i][/i]
Might stop OTKs from happening.
[color=#0000ff]I still think Metal Reflect Slime + 1 other card -> BOOM Cyber End Dragon is broken, even if you don't get to use it for 1 turn.[/color]
[color=#0000ff]It gave me an idea though:[/color]
[color=#0000ff][i]Tribute 1 monster. [b]During your 2nd Standby Phase after activation,[/b] Special Summon 1 Fusion Monster...[/i][/color]

[i]Trap Dustshoot:[/i]
[i]Activate only if your opponent has [b][i]4 cards more in their hand than in yours.[/i][/b] Look at your opponent's hand, and [i][b]let your opponent choose [/b][/i]1 Monster Card in it, and return that card to the owner's deck.[/i]
Would most likely be more fair for the opponent, and actually ensue a reasonable penalty.
[color=#0000ff]Not sure about this; it's still pretty devastating on the first turn like it used to be, and almost useless on later turns, which is why it was banned. Just Set 4 cards in your hand before activating.[/color]
[/quote]

[quote name='-Griffin' timestamp='1346005073' post='6013381']
MCon: I don't think being used as Xyz material counts as leaving the field, you should cover that if you're worried about tributes/synchs.
Oh, and MCon isn't banned. BCon is, which still let it attack and had an LP cost.
[color=#0000ff]Oops, I completely forgot about that part. Stupid Xyz loopholes...[/color]
[color=#0000ff]Instead of individually listing what the controlled monster can't do (because Konami will inevitably come up with some other loophole), how about[i]:[/i][/color]
[color=#0000ff][i]"That monster cannot attack. At the end of your Main Phase, if it is no longer face-up on the field, [/i][/color][color=#ff0000][i](your opponent's Life Points become 4000 higher than they were)[/i][/color][color=#0000ff][i]/[/i][/color][color=#ff0000][i](destroy the monster you control with the highest ATK)[/i][/color][color=#0000ff][i]"[/i][/color] [color=#0000ff]or some alternate downside that directly inhibits OTKs caused by field prescene.[/color]

Elma: This is probably fine now, I'm sure some Decks can find a use for it.

CoSR: First version is still broken. Second version is interesting, might be a good card.
[color=#0000ff]I can see how the first version might still be broken. It stops Manticore of Darkness loops, but the +1 is still too much.[/color]

Cold Wave: Your opponent can't MST it in the End Phase, because Cold Wave is active. Cold Wave is a card designed to help OTKs and destroy interaction, it's a bad concept and should be left abandoned.
[color=#0000ff]Oops, must have had a brain fart. >_< Anyway, yeah, you're right that Cold Wave's concept itself is bad design. At least there's Cold Snap *shot*[/color]

Confiscation: It's a 1-for-1 which gives you a lot of information. The only reason this is balanced is so many people running Dark Worlds right now. I don't like the design at all.
[color=#0000ff]What if I switched the LP cost with "Discard 1 card" or "Randomly discard 1 card"?[/color]

Deli-D: Broken, maybe not. But it's very badly designed. All this does is take away so many options that both players are basically on auto-pilot. There are also probably situations where it's horribly broken.
[color=#0000ff]Yeah, it's the same situation as Cold Wave. How about:[/color]
[color=#0000ff][i]"Pay 1000 Life Points [b]when your opponent has at least 6 cards in their hand.[/b] Your opponent randomly discards 1 card and then selects and discards 1 card."[/i][/color]
[color=#0000ff]How often do people end their turn with 6 cards in their hand anyway? You'd have to use The Gift of Greed or something for any reliability.[/color]

D-Fuse: Might be okay now, but also might just setup insane lockdowns too quickly. IDK.

Fufu: This might be balanced now. Yay.

Trunade: Yeah, way limited use now. You can't even set Call/Reactivate Swords the turn you use this. Probably underpowered. Maybe just make it used in Main Phase 2 instead.
[color=#0000ff]"Activate only during your Main Phase 2" is a good idea, thanks![/color]

Charity: Still too much generic draw. Something like this would have to be: "D3, Show entire hand, opponent returns 2 to Deck." Mostly because that allows them to screw your chances to OTK. Generic Draw is usually too strong.

Harpy's: Ok, yeah, this kinda works now.

Mass: This is now entirely useless. Let's face it, MD was only used in OTKs, a 'balanced' version would only be used in Decks that did damage from other things too... and then used it to finish an OTK. Or bounced it a lot to use it endlessly. Should stay banned.
[color=#0000ff]By your logic, why isn't Cannon Soldier banned?[/color]

Mirage: Way too good in Darkworlds. Way too good in Fableds. Way too good in basically everything. It lets you throw away dead draws and fill your Graveyard super fast.
[color=#0000ff]How about returning the cards to the Deck instead of the Graveyard?[/color]

Painful: This might be balanced now. I kinda like it.

Pot: That Joke version is entirely usable in an OTK. There's a card that returns all hand/grave to Deck. Set Pot and that, next turn, use pot, draw Exodia, gg. The non-joke version is possibly balanced. No more card advantage than Thunder Dragon, but the cards are probably more useful. This is obviously still a problem in many Exodia Decks, but Exodia is badly designed and shouldn't exist anyway.
[color=#0000ff]There's a card like that?! Which one? It's not Fiber Jar.[/color]
[color=#0000ff]Also, here's another version I thought of, but forgot to include. What do you think? "Pay 8000 Life Points. Draw 2 cards."[/color]

Premature: It's mostly used to get materials for big Synchros anyway. Usually if you had the big cards you already won. The main problem is its an Equip, which is very searchable, and a spell, which is very quick.
[color=#0000ff]What if it became a targeting Continuous Spell like Call? What if the LP cost was increased massively? How about both?[/color]

Raigeki: I like this design.

Snatch: lol. This might be balanced but I mostly find it hilarious. "Ok, I only recovered Snatch 5 times since it's an equip. Now to wear your 50000 LP down with my stupid field advantage."
[color=#0000ff]Doesn't control return to the opponent once Snatch leaves the field?[/color]

Temple: Probably balanced/a bit weak.
[color=#0000ff]The intent was to make Traps faster for the player, but I don't think I managed to accomplish that. Would "Once per turn, you can activate 1 Trap Card from your hand" be too broken? What if both players could use that previous sentence's effect?[/color]

Forceful: It adds nothing to the game, even if it's balanced. Leave it banned.

Imperial: Too much lockdown potential. Lockdowns just aren't fun, and this doesn't have enough other uses to justify its existence.

Last: This is so situational that no-one will use it outside of an OTK they find. Not really playable.
[color=#0000ff]I like the idea of situational alternate wins that are so hard to pull off that the player would deserve the win (ex. Vennominaga, Destiny Board, Exodius, Destiny Leo, etc.)[/color]

Ring: It's banned because it's a chainable 1-4-1 which can also OTK with strong mosnters and such. This doesn't fix that at all.
[color=#0000ff]Thanks for the input. What if it was required to target one of your own monsters, or what if it only inflicted damage to the player?[/color]

Oppression: This is still a lockdown card that basically invalidates some Decks from existing if you draw it. I don't see what this adds to the game. Summon Negation is generally not that great for gameplay.
[color=#0000ff]It puts a damper on the creation of Decks that focus on mass SS swarming.[/color]
[color=#0000ff]Although I have wondered what it would be like if there was a card that allowed both players to Normal Summon/Set as many times as they wanted per turn, but only Special Summon once per turn. (Such a card might also include text causing Double Summon to allow 2 SS's, and Ultimate Offering to allow extra SS's for 500 LP.)[/color]

SS: On an average activation, if your opponent picks 1/2, you draw 0.5 cards and discard 3 cards. On average this is a -3.5 in card advantage, and that's terrible.
[color=#0000ff]I think I didn't think this through enough. Maybe I should have let the player pick. If you pick 5/6, the average hand advantage is -0.833 or -0.056 with Dice Re-roll.[/color]

Time Seal: It still makes a lockdown with Mask of Darkness and Tsuko, and is generally an annoying card that shouldn't exist and only snowballs advantages to prevent cool comebacks. No.
[/quote]
Thank you very much for the feedback!