Pokémon is always keeping up with their Expanded Format and banning cards - even before they are released in America, to keep Expanded from having an unfair and toxic environment. They showed this by banning hand control cards like Red Card, Jessie & James, Chip Chip Ice Axe, Mismagius, Reset Stamp, and Marshadow. Even more, cards that make your opponent not be able to play the game like Ghetsis and Wally. In total, there are 21 cards banned from expanded. After this past weekend at the Collinsville Regionals, there are now some more cards being talked about that should get hit with the ban hammer from Pokémon. These cards include; Milotic from Flashfire, Ace Trainer from Ancient Origins, Shaymin EX from Roaring Skies, Exeggcute from Plasma Freeze, and certain cards used in Stall/Control decks like Oranguru, Sableye, and Tropical Beach. Let's look at why these are on people's ban lists. 

HAND CONTROL AGAIN 

Since Pokémon has banned so many hand control cards already, there are still a few more combos that are very powerful. The most recent one being Trevenant & Dusknoir GX/Milotic/Ace Trainer! This deck was very popular at Collinsville and even ended up winning the tournament! The combo is that you use Gengar & Mimikyu's GX attack Horror House to make it so your opponent can't do anything, all while establishing a Feebas and a Trevenant & Dusknoir GX. Then on your second turn, use Milotic's ability; Energy Grace to knock itself out and put 3 psychic energy on Trevenant & Dusknoir GX. Then, you use Ace Trainer, which can only work if you're behind in prizes, and you will be with Milotic's ability to Knock itself out! Then when Ace Trainer puts your opponent's hand size to 3 you use Trevenant & Dusknoir's attack Night Watch to leave your opponent with only 1 card in their hand! Also, using cards like Shaymin EX with Sky Field to draw a bunch of cards to make sure you don't miss a piece of the combo; and Alolan Muk so your opponent can't play Shaymin EX, Dedenne GX, Oranguru or Tapu Lele GX to get out their hand lock.

A lot of people after Collinsville have called for something to be done about this deck, pointing fingers at Milotic for being the heart of the deck. Since it was printed nearly 8 years ago it was never intended to work with GX cards. But GX cards were not around during that time. This deck creates yet another hand control deck that people do not like playing against, as the person playing against this deck barely gets to play the game. There are a lot of cards in this deck that makes it very strong, and there is a reason why it won in Collinsville. So Pokémon may look into banning Milotic, Ace Trainer, or Trevenant & Dusknoir as they have shut down many hand control cards in expanded already. 

SHAYMIN EX 

Shaymin EX has also popped up into the conversation because people do not think it is very balanced that it is possible to play 4 Shaymin EX's in one turn with cards like Sky Field. It makes it very easy to draw into the cards you need and is also a huge player in why the Trevenant & Dusknoir/Milotic deck is so good. People either want Shaymin EX to have a 1 turn use like Dedenne GX or to be banned as it can just draw so many cards, especially if you use Shaymin EX with Dedenne GX and Professor Juniper you can draw through so much of your deck. Another big reason for a Shaymin EX ban is that a new card coming out in our next set, Rebel Clash, Scoop Up Net which is the card AZ from Phantom Forces in the form of an item! It cannot work on V & GX Pokémon, but it can work on EX's, which means you can get more uses out of Shaymin EX in a single turn! While this new card is very overpowered in expanded, there is a good chance Scoop Up Net sees a ban in expanded before it is released just like Jessie & James and Island Challenge Amulet were. 

EXEGGCUTE'S OP ABILITY 

Another card that has been in the ban discussion for a long time now is Exeggcute from Plasma Freeze because it's ability lets you use it as often as you like in a turn. Which means, it makes cards like Ultra Ball & Quick Ball not require a card from your hand get discarded. It also makes it, so Zoroark GX & Cinccino do not have to discard a card from their hand with their ability Trade. This card has been around since 2013 and only started getting ban talks when Zoroark GX came out and started to rule Expanded. Since this card never got banned back then, it is unlikely it will get banned now, but with the newly released Quick Ball, it may be on Pokémon's ban radar! 

STALL DECKS 

Lastly, we have stall decks. Stall decks also had a very strong showing at Collinsville by having 2 different stall decks in the top 8. Cards like Oranguru from Ultra Prism & Sableye Dark Explorers can get you almost any card you want back like Life Dew, VS Seeker, and Lillie's Poké Doll. Also, now in these Stall decks, there is the ability to play 8 "Substitute" cards as you can play 4 Robo Substitute and 4 Lillie's Poké Doll, which is 8 turns of not being able to take a prize card! All while in this time, your opponent can discard your energy and cards from the top of your deck. Another big card in stall decks right now is Tropical Beach, since you are not attacking a lot of the time you can use Tropical Beach to draw extra cards. Another reason why Tropical Beach is a ban-able card is that it's very rare and old. The card was given out at the World Championships in 2011 & 2012, which means they are limited and go for hundreds of dollars. Stall and control decks have a lot of very powerful cards to work with and are arguably more un-fun to play against than the hand control decks. All of these cards mentioned can all be banned, and a lot of the community agrees with these cards needing a ban to help make the Expanded format healthy and fun.

Post By: LittleDarkFury