Ban and Limit Update Record

== Introduction ==
* This page is made to keep track of the update of Ban & Limit in this game, together with reasons, if any, for the ban and limit provided by the developing team on the official site. 
* To have a comprehensive view of the current list of banned & limited cards, visit Banned and Restricted Cards. 
== 1st May 2024 Update ==
An emergency ban of the card, The NetherGreatSorcerer Echezeaux, was announced on April 26th. The reasons are as follows: 
The dev has noticed about a loop caused by this card and Contractor Hades. While they don't reject loops as devs entirely, this loop can be done with a high speed and good stability, and occurs during Main Step which is hard for the opponent to intervene. Since one copy of this is enough for loop to occur, the dev considers this as a barrier to normal game plays and enjoyable experience of the game after release of BS68, resulting in the ban that bypass any limit <1> process. It was implemnted with such a short notice because of the 3on3 tourney that was going to be held a few days later in May. 
== 30th March 2024 Update ==
 
Continuing from the last era, the current environment allows a wide spectrum of decks to win and shine. However, some decks have been consistently on the top of the meta with both a high win rate and high usage in tourneys for a long time. At the same time, while the existence of strong "anti-cards" contributes to the victory of decks with a lower speed, the difficulty of handling such anti-cards as the opponent has proven to be very high, which contributes to frustrating game experiences. As the coming era is revolving around Contract Grandwalker Nexuses, restrictions on the extreme anti-cards from the past are also considered to be necessary such that players can enjoy the new decks in a healthy and fun way. 
As such, there are three main categories for the reasons of the update of limit/banned cards this time, and each corresponds to the different cards on the list. 
1) Ban and restriction on decks with very high win rate/usage in tourneys, and loop decks that hinders the normal functioning of tourneys, in order to create an environment with an even wider spectrum of competitive decks 
Card(s) 	Limit/Ban	Reasons
Dark Initiation 	Ban 	It has long been a card that enables various loops. Its usage in tourney has been increasing in recent years, and it has caused quite a lot of double losses in tournaments due to to time out, which hinders the normal tourney flow and fun of the game. Hence, it is banned without going through the "limit one" step.
Ino Racer,The Vircaic Beach 	Limit <1>	Both cards are widely used in Azure Wave focused decks, and especially the Azure Contract deck that uses The PartnerShark Shack as its Contract Spirit. The Azure Contract deck has long been a deck of high win rate and high usage since its introduction, and one of its supporting cards, Antler Sea Slug, has entered limit list last time. However, turn two kills are still very common for the deck after the limit, as the counter generation speed remains very high with the two cards. In fact, the two cards also provide other Blue decks with high counter generation speed with the bonus of Soul Core retrieval and more. Hence, to control the counter generation speed of Blue in general, the two cards are limited.
Godseeker SuperstarApostle Tarvos	Limit <1>	Tarvos is one of the engine cards of the Superstar deck, which persists to be a top meta deck despite the various limits applied to the deck in the past few years. Among all of its engine cards, Tarvos provides searching function as a low cost card while granting complete immunity to all low cost Superstar Spirits, giving the deck an extremely solid build-up phrase at the start. To reduce the deck's consistency, it is limited to one.
Concerning environment dominance, the Assault Contract deck that revolves around Top Buddy, Aibou and Hell Contract deck that revolves around The PartnerDemonLord Javad are both observed to be decks with high usage in tourneys. After reviewing their win rates and actual game contents, it is decided that their win rate and usage are within expectations so they won't receive ban/limit for now. They would, however, be put into watchlist instead. 
2) Ban and restriction on strong "anti" cards that greatly restrict opponent's actions and activate effects from nearly untouchable regions like Removed Zone and Mirage
Card(s) 	Limit/Ban	Reasons
Bind Edge,Butterfly Jammer 	Ban 	The heavy exhaust Mirage effect from both of the cards greatly hinders the early game of the opponent, especially how a lot of Contract Spirits rely on attack to stack counters. The fact that the effect activates from Mirage Zone also means that it is very hard for the opponent to deal with, and there aren't many measures to prevent such effects other than via immunity like . As such, it often leads to one-sided matches when the two cards are set as Mirages. In addition, the heavy exhaust also comes with core removal from Grandwalker Nexuses. While they were both on watchlist only before, they are directly banned this time due to the aforementioned reasons.
Swallow Tail,Sexy Bazooka 	Ban 	Similar to Bind Edge and Butterfly Jammer, both Swallow Tail (RV) and Sexy Bazooka heavily limit the activation of (When Summoned) effects and via their Mirage effect. Considering that they are both hard to deal with and hinder the pick-up of Grandwalker Nexuses, they are banned.
The SevenGreatHeroBeasts Hector	Ban 	Despite being an effect that affects both players, the draw-locking effect of Hector covers a very wide range with no limitation of steps, and activates from the Removed Zone, which is again, very difficult for the opponent to tackle with.
Drone Ant,Scarab Beetle Drone 	Limit <1>	Limited to one due to similar reasons as Hector. They aren't banned because the range of their effects are narrower when compared to Hector.
 
Although Increase is also a widely used "anti card" with an effect that activates from the Removed Zone, it needs 6 counters or more for the effect to be active, and needs a different effect to perform heavy exhaust in order for the lock to work. As such, it is excluded from ban/limit for now. However, the dev team would continue to monitor its performance. 
3) In the coming Contract Era: True, use of Grandwalker Nexuses and the new effect, Manifest, would be the main focus of game. Cards that greatly hinder the two are reviewed and selectively limited/banned. Cards limited/banned this way may be unlimited/unbanned when Grandwalker Nexus is no longer the focus in the future. 
Card(s) 	Limit/Ban	Reasons
The Moon Ogre Castle,Vampir-Volkh 	Ban 	Moon Ogre Castle has a very strong effect that forces the players to pay the original cost of a card for summon. While it isn't that big a problem when is the focus (in both Contract Saga and Contract Saga: Realm), it would clash with the new gimmick, Manifest, in the upcoming era easily. Similar to Moon Ogre Castle, Vampir-Volkh also clashes with Manifest and hinders all sorts of effects that make use of Soul Core. It is expected that if the two cards aren't limited, Purple decks using both cards would become the mainstream in the upcoming era. Hence, both cards are banned without going through the limit process.
Universal Century Charter 	Ban 	While being placed on field, Universal Century Charter's effect imposes a very strong lock on Grandwalker Nexuses' main effect: Core Charge, and would greatly hinder the upcoming gimmick. It is also very hard to remove it once placed on the Field, meaning that it is in a similar situation as cards in category (2) mentioned above. Hence, it is banned directly.
Onmyou Child,The MakaiScythe Beelzebeat Scythe	Limit <1>	Similar to Universal Century Charter, both cards hinder the activation of Core Charge a lot, and are hence limited to one copy per deck.
 
In addition to the new Ban and Limits, Banning Pair (禁止ペア) is also introduced for the first time. Dark Tower and The Tower of Darkness, the former being a strong anti card while the latter one being a remake of the former as reprint of the former is nearly impossible due to various reasons. Despite being a strong anti card, Dark Tower is a regular Nexus with no protection abilities, making it vulnerable to removals. Hence, it is allowed to stay without being limited or banned. However, it would go against the purpose of making The Tower of Darkness, which is only aiming to provide another source for players to use Dark Tower's effect at a reasonable cost, if both cards are allowed to be put in the same deck. Hence, the two are listed as a banning pair, and can't co-exist in the same deck. 
Invisible Cloak, Magic Book, and The Wanderer Lolo, all limited cards in the past, are released from limit this time after reviewing the current environment. They are, however, still subject to limit and ban in the future if they bring any bad influence to the game.