March's Forbidden List paved the way for Dragon Link's return—not just by nerfing the competition but also through an unbanning with unexpected consequences. After finding a new friend, the infamous Buster Lock is back, and Dragon Link has once again taken its rightful place as one of the decks to beat.
Once upon a time, there was a that terrorized the decks of a format dominated by Virtual World. The card singlehandedly ended opponents' turns and left combo decks unable to do anything. Sometimes, even if they did have an out, was there to ensure the effect went through by destroying Calamities so it would avoid targeting. Fast forward to March 2021's Forbidden List. Calamities is now gone, allowing every other deck not to worry about going second anymore.
was promptly banned as well, and in return, Konami decided to give us back . Dragon Buster always has a home in decks, but Dragon Link players decided that they wanted their old card back as well to be able to use the Buster Lock again, and almost immediately came up with a method to so. The answer was to incorporate a common card from Rising Rampage to act as replacement of Union Carrier. That card is currently one of the top-selling cards on Cardmarket despite only being played at a single copy. The card is .
DMZ was once an overlooked card. Let's break down why it has become a staple in Dragon Link decks now. Its effect reads:
| DMZ Dragon |
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- Once per turn: You can target 1 Level 4 or lower Dragon monster in your GY and 1 Dragon monster you control; equip that monster in your GY to that monster on the field as an Equip Spell that makes it gain 500 ATK. At the end of the Damage Step, if your monster equipped with an Equip Card attacked: You can banish this card from your GY; destroy as many cards as possible equipped to that monster you control, and if you do, that monster can make a second attack in a row.
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That is a big wall of text, but we are mainly interested in the first half of it only. All is needed is for DMZ to be on the field while Buster Dragon is in the graveyard. The play sequences to get to this point are different depending on the opening hand, but there are a lot of videos online to show that. What I want to discuss here is a couple of things. First of all, DMZ is a very versatile card. Its typing is dark, therefore it is not affected by the restrictions imposed by using . Also, being a level four monster means that is very useful for making level eight synchro plays as well as rank four plays if needed. The next thing about DMZ Dragon is that its effect is a soft once per turn, meaning the card can be used more than once to equip not only Dragon Buster but also , giving you another body on the field for your link plays.
Next, DMZ can equip a dragon monster from the graveyard to any dragon other field, not necessarily itself. The equipped dragon would gain 500 attack. This means that cards such as can climb up to more than 4000 attack. However, I feel it might be better to equip the Buster Dragon to another monster instead so as not to lose both to a negation—and the Buster Lock at the same time in case the opponent can get rid of Savage. DMZ itself can be a 2000 defense wall, and with the opponent being unable to summon from the extra deck, getting over it might be a bit challenging for strategies relying on the extra deck. As for DMZ's second effect, it is just a bonus that gives your big monster the chance to attack twice, provided that you get rid of the monster equipped to it.
Closing Thoughts
This is the point where I have to say I believe Konami returned to us from forbidden directly to unlimited under the assumption that the card would not cause any issues while is banned. Yet they sadly forgot about the existence of and underestimated the ingenuity of Yu-Gi-Oh! players.
While the Buster Lock might not be too healthy for the game, at least it is not as unfair as and . I know this is not the correct way of looking at it. Cards that stop the opponent from playing are never good for the game. However, players will have to deal with the return of this lock at least until the next Forbidden List arrives.
Are you a Dragon Link player? What are your thoughts on the Buster Lock's return? If you are someone who ended up facing this lock, how do you prepare for it and get out of it? Let us know in the comments section below!
Opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and not necessarily Cardmarket.
