The December 2021 ban list for Japanese Weiss Schwarz imposed heavy restrictions on three meta decks: Date a Live, Symphogear, and Kaguya. But the change that piqued my interest is the partial reversal of the choose-1-of-5 that destroyed 8 bar Fate in September 2020. Bushiroad has removed the Good Friends Trio heal event from the ban list a mere one-and-a-half years after it was added, so the Heaven’s Feel vol. 2 event-based synergies now have a powerful event to play around even if the 8 bar build remains weak. But freeing the Fate heal event after only 1.5 years makes me optimistic for other reasons.
This quick an unban is rare. First, of the 91 cards restricted in the eleven year existence of the ban list, half of those cards are still on the list. And when cards do get freed, the average jail time is 3.1 years between the day a card is restricted and the day it’s freed.
Second, when Bushiroad *does* free a card within 1.5 years, that mercy is usually paired with a simultaneous restriction to a more problematic card. For example, Weiss’s first major ban list in August 2012 put Idolmaster’s Battling Jupiter counter, Azusa runner, and Haruka combo on a choose-1-of-3. Yes, Battling Jupiter was unrestricted a quick half-year later, but only to make room on the choice list for Ancient Capital Takane. Similarly, the swift 1.5 year turn-around on Hina Logic Yuko was less about unrestricting Yuko than about strengthening Hina Logic’s choose-1-of-2 with Principal into an outright ban of Principal.
Only seven cards have been unbanned as quickly as Fate’s heal event (without a simultaneous restriction on another card from that deck):
| Unrestricted card | date restricted | date unrestricted | duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| RG Mikoto in Pajamas (2/1 changer) | August 2012 | February 2013 | Half year |
| ZM Operation Hostage Rescue | August 2012 | September 2013 | One year |
| DG Laharl & Mao | February 2014 | August 2015 | 1.5 years |
| DG “Beauty Baron” Mid-boss | February 2014 | August 2015 | 1.5 years |
| DG Former Angel Flonne | February 2014 | August 2015 | 1.5 years |
| MG Shinobu Oshino, Middle School Student (bounce) | September 2016 | March 2018 | 1.5 years |
| KC Z3, 3rd Z1-class Destroyer | February 2017 | March 2018 | 1 year |
Bushiroad has a reputation for excessive safety when freeing cards from the ban list, and maybe understandably so: removing a card only to immediately re-ban it when the deck becomes meta again is the kind of mistake that hurts player confidence in your ability to develop a fun and worthwhile competitive environment. So I think most people accustomed to Bushiroad’s approach to the ban list may end up surprised. This latest unrestriction to the Fate heal event may represent a quicker readiness to relax restrictions on decks that were whomped by the ban list like Fate was, a change to the scorched earth policy.
So maybe the Date a Live, Symphogear, and Kaguya choice lists will see a card or two come off sooner than people might think.
Weiss Schwarz Almanac 