No other card in the game has seen as much discourse around it as this level two insect first printed as a TCG exclusive in Storm of Ragnarok. Maxx "C" has gone on to become one of the biggest powerhouses of all time. Time to look at the history of the card and of the debates it caused!
History
In case you didn't know, was one of the game's first hand traps. While the honor of setting the stage goes to , it was not until the 5D's era that we began seeing true hand traps. Back in Strike of Neos, we received . And while not as good on release, it has been a staple every time a graveyard-centric deck came around. A few years later, in Duelist Revolution, we got to play with . The card has been a mainstay of decks since its release.
Then came Maxx "C", which wasn't that big of a deal at first. Sure, it was good, but not amazing. This card wasn't really on players' radars at the time. However, the little critter bid its time and calmly waited for its chance to shine.
It's been said that Yu-Gi-Oh! really came into its own during the 5D's era, developing an identity and gameplay different from its competitors. During this time, the game really started to become the special summon fest we're familiar with today. Plant synchro decks employing and , Six Samurai abusing to attain never before seen advantage, et cetera.
Getting hit with a was rough, but you didn't really care. Even decks like Inzektor played . Back then, you could afford to wait a while. Decks couldn't end you in one turn, and even the combo decks of the time played a bunch of powerful traps. So even if Maxx "C" forced you to pass the turn, you didn't really mind a lot. Due to these reasons, it was mostly a side-deck card, common especially when Wind-Ups became the biggest threat of the format. For a couple of years, it was a mainstay of the sideboard, being a powerful piece against decks such as Infernity. Then, 2013 came, and it changed the game forever.
"It was at this point that Maxx would really go plus."
Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy introduced the Dragon Rulers, and with them came the advent of modern Yu-Gi-Oh!. This level seven deck summoned a lot, and loved that, all of a sudden becoming a main-deck staple at three, something you had to take into account every single game, every single event. Even after the Dragon Rulers left for good, Maxx "C" was still a widely played card, but mostly moved back into the side deck. This was until 2014 came, with Duelist Alliance as the most impactful set of that year.
If Dragon Rulers marked the advent of modern Yu-Gi-Oh!, the Duelist Alliance format was the blueprint upon which Yu-Gi-Oh! has been built ever since. Resolving for game, getting a bunch of rank fours with Tellarknights, spamming the board with . This truly was a revolution. And with the vastly increased speed of the game, grew stronger. Nekroz, PePe, Dracopals, no matter the format, Maxx "C" was in the mix. But when the ABC deck came out in 2016, Konami had enough, and decided to semi-limit the card.
Yeah, semi-limit. Back then, we had a lot more cards at two than we do nowadays. From ABC's dominance in August 2016 to Zoodiac's release in mid-2017, the card remained at two, but while the new menace was comboing and , became limited. It was the beginning of the end for the card.
February 2018. Pendulum Magician was at the peak of their strength with , and there were a lot of dumb link spam enablers. When the ban list came, there were no more earth insects in the format. finally bit the dust and has been banned ever since and, hopefully, forever.
OCG Versus TCG
All this history was exclusive to the TCG, though. In Japan, has been unlimited ever since its release. And since then, it has also seen play. In my last article I went over the differences between the TCG and OCG and mentioned this card. The effect Maxx "C" has in the OCG is making it a completely different game. No two ways around it. It is the most impactful card in the game, hence why every OCG deck was running three of each of , , and , the most effective counters to the hand trap. And I say was, because Crossout is now limited and Called by the Grave is at two. For whatever reason, Konami Japan is hellbent on keeping Maxx "C" in the game, to the point where they semi-limited Ash Blossom for a while in order to keep the insect around. What is wrong with you?
"The OCG has access to a lot of outs to Maxx—but for some reason, they keep limiting them."
And it's not like anyone even enjoys it. In a past interview, Yu-Gi-Oh! YouTuber and streamer Farfa asked Wang Chia Ching (winner of Worlds in 2018 and runner-up in 2019) which format he would rather play, OCG or TCG. His answer was as follows: "Between the TCG and the OCG, I absolutely would pick the format with no Maxx." And really, who enjoys playing with Maxx "C"? It's honestly just plain annoying.
I think Master Duel has really helped players understand how truly horrible this card is. Every duel has a mini game in it. Did your opponent draw ? Okay, did you draw the out? Okay then, did they draw the out to your out? It's just lame. There's literally no playing around it, you just have to deal with it. That or take the Maxx "C" challenge and overextend so much you deck out your opponent, which is always fun, but not all strategies can do it.
It's an even bigger issue when you draw it going first. Having the ability to just do your thing, set up a board, and draw a dozen cards on top of that is just unfair. Furthermore, some decks have the ability to search the earth insect. Beetrooper comes to mind and, much more relevantly, Spright. Have you noticed that is a level two? Yeah, you could just summon it with and add it to your hand with , which seems devastating. The OCG's solution to this problem? Semi-limiting Swap Frog.
Not a Real Balancing Tool
Most Maxx "C" apologists tend to argue how it's a "necessary evil" and how it "keeps unfair combo decks out of the format." That's just not true. Since this card is legal in both the OCG and Master Duel, even though both are very different from the TCG, we can still draw some conclusions from its position in each format.
Let's start with Master Duel. For the first couple of months the game was out, the absolute bogeyman of its format was Drytron. A powerhouse in the TCG, this ritual deck used in tandem with in order to achieve a nigh-endless amount of negates. Doesn't really sound like a fair deck, does it? So glad we have Maxx "C" to keep it in check, right? And, to be fair, Drytron could stop it with the powerful , but still. Adamancipator, another deck that set up an unbreakable board, was still extremely dominant with around, even with no in-engine outs.
Now onto the OCG. We have a lot more data on this one since, well, it has existed for more than one year. The last couple of OCG formats have been dominated by Tearlaments. This deck completely took over its metagame, becoming basically tier zero. While drawing about five to ten cards in a complete Tearlaments turn, Maxx "C" did not serve to stop the deck. Spright, a deck that also summoned a myriad of guys, even exploited the hand trap for its own gain. Looking back, Virtual World, Dragon Link, Danger! Dark World, SPYRAL, PePe, and a long et cetera, were all extremely dominant, unfair, and apparently unhindered by the card.
So, if Maxx "C" does not stop these unfair combo decks, what does it stop? The little guys. draws thirteen cards against a Mathmech combo. Seven against Salamangreat. Ten against Madolche. Even more against rogue combo decks. Are any of these decks unfair? Not really, but they fold to this ubiquitous hand trap. Maxx "C" serves not to balance the format but to keep the power creep high and to ensure that only the truly unfair decks remain on top. It forces you to either play a deck that doesn't special summon more than once per turn or to play one that doesn't care that your opponent just drew half of their library.
"Crazy to think Maxx is more damaging to Raigeki Break Turbo than to a first-turn kill."
In conclusion, Maxx "C" has a lot of discourse around it. Players have debated its fairness since the dawn of time, but I think it's time to finally admit it's unfair. It was a perfectly fine card in slower formats of the past. But Yu-Gi-Oh! has changed. And change demands some things to stay in the past. Maxx "C" will never come back, and I'm much happier for it.
Opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, not of Cardmarket.
