Post by goldensandslash on Dec 1, 2022 6:28:29 GMT
When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, Konami did something interesting with Yugioh that actually is honestly really cool: they acknowledged that remote dueling is a thing.
Unlike, say, Wizards of the Coast with Magic, they actually made a list of Yugioh cards that don't work online, and simply stated that these 18 cards are banned:
Amazoness Chain Master
Ancient Telescope
Blizzard Warrior
Contact with the Aquamirror
Dark Scorpion - Chick the Yellow
Destiny HERO - Dominance
Diabolos, King of the Abyss
Exchange
Flower Cardian Peony with Butterfly
Gift Exchange
Goddess Skuld's Oracle
Lullaby of Obedience
Parasite Paracide
SPYRAL GEAR - Drone
Senri Eye
Spell Vanishing
Transmission Gear
Yu-Jo Friendship
Now, this list... is honestly pretty bad. There's cards like Graceful Tear (Normal Trap, adds one card from your hand to your opponent's hand, and then you gain 2000 LP) which are missing from this list. Seemingly Konami is okay with you putting your cards in your opponent's hands, but not you taking your opponent's cards and put them into your hand. Which is... inconsistent.
Still, it's a decent start to the list, and since this is what Konami officially communicated, I will proceed as though this list were exhaustive.
Here on WyvernIRC (or I guess IRC-NAH now), we play A LOT of remote TCGs. True, we focus on Magic and not Yugioh, but still. We have experience with getting things to work online when they seemingly won't. And since this is a fairly short list at only 18 cards, I think it's pretty easy to just go through this list and try to come up with solutions for all of them, so that we can actually have a fully-functional Yugioh online game.
I mean... I don't expect us to ever actually PLAY it, since Yugioh is awful. But, you know, it's fun to try and do this. So let's take a look at these 18 cards and see what they have to offer us.
Amazoness Chain Master
EARTH - Level 4 - Warrior/Effect - 1500/1300
When this card is destroyed by battle, you can pay 1500 LP to look at your opponent's hand and add 1 monster card from their hand to your hand.
This one seems pretty trivial. All you have to do if you're on the receiving end of this is just set the card aside to note that it's not in your hand anymore. Not too bad.
Ancient Telescope
SPELL - Normal
Look at the top 5 cards of your opponent's deck. Return the cards to the top of the deck in the same order.
This one cannot work online, since the opponent has to be the one to tell you what you're seeing. But it can still work, if you just accept that the opponent gets to see the cards as well. Yes, that means this card becomes slightly worse, but sometimes that's necessary for online play. And if you REALLY care about it, you can just get your opponent to agree beforehand to just pretend that they don't know, and not base any of their plays off of what they see.
Blizzard Warrior
WATER - Level 3 - Warrior/Effect - 1400/400
When this card destroys an opponent's monster by battle, look at the top card of your opponent's deck and put it on either the top or the bottom of their deck.
Again, this works if you just allow the opponent to see it. It's not even that bad, since the opponent is either gonna draw it the next time their turn begins, or likely never draw it in the game ever again unless they shuffle.
Contact with the Aquamirror
SPELL - Normal
If you control a face-up WATER monster, choose one. If you control a face-up WATER Ritual monster, choose both:
• Look at all face-down cards in your opponent's Spell & Trap Card Zones.
• Look at the top 2 cards of either player's deck, then return them to the top of that deck in any order.
Okay, so obviously the first mode is fine. The second mode is problematic, but it can once again be avoided by simply giving your opponent the information, and just tell them to either switch the order of the two, or not. It's really not that bad. Yeah, a slight nerf, but not by much. I think banning this card is particularly egregious because even if you accept Konami's belief that this wouldn't work remotely (which is totally fair), you still cut off a lot of the card. Like, there's a whole different mode that works for this card. And even the second mode works if you choose to target your own deck instead of your opponent's. You basically just gutted three-quarters of a card just because the last one-quarter doesn't work. Not ideal.
Dark Scorpion - Chick the Yellow
DARK - Level 3 - Warrior/Effect - 1000/1000
When this card inflicts battle damage to your opponent, choose one:
• Return target card from the field to its owner's hand.
• Look at the top card of your opponent's deck, then put it to the top or the bottom of their deck.
Again, this is just Blizzard Warrior, and much like that one, it's a tiny nerf in comparison to the overall package. It should be fine. The fact that this is modal also kinda stings, as you gut out the other half of the card for no reason.
Destiny HERO - Dominance
DARK - Level 10 - Warrior/Fusion/Effect - 2900/2600
3 "Destiny HERO" monsters
During your main phase, you may look at the top 5 cards of your opponent's deck, then put them back on top their deck in any order. When this card destroys an opponent's monster in battle, you may draw 1 card. If this card was Fusion Summoned and it is destroyed by battle or by card effect, you can Special Summon 3 Level 9 or lower "Destiny HERO" monsters with different names from your graveyard. Each effect of "Destiny HERO - Dominance" can only be used once per turn.
Wow. Jesus Christ, Konami. That's a card you designed!? I forgot how much stuff Yugioh cards had written on them. Anywho, the only problematic part of this is the Ancient Telescope effect, which is fine if you just accept that the card gets slightly nerfed in online play.
Diabolos, King of the Abyss
DARK - Level 7 - Dragon/Effect - 2800/1000
This card cannot be Special Summoned. If you Tribute Summon this card, the Tributes must be DARK. This card cannot be Tributed by card effects while it is face-up on the field. Once per turn, during your opponent's Draw Phase, before their normal draw, look at the top card of their deck and place that card either on the top or the bottom of their deck.
Exchange
SPELL - Normal
Both players reveal their hands, then add 1 card from each other's hand to their own hand.
I honestly have no idea what the issue with this is. You can easily keep track of it...
Flower Cardian Peony with Butterfly
DARK - Level 6 - Warrior/Tuner/Effect - 1000/1000
This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card must first be Special Summoned from your hand by Tributing 1 "Flower Cardian" monster, except "Flower Cardian Peony with Butterfly". If this card is Special Summoned, draw 1 card and reveal it to your opponent. If the revealed card is a "Flower Cardian" monster, look at the top 3 cards of your opponent's deck, then place them all on the top or the bottom of their deck in any order. If the revealed card is not a "Flower Cardian" monster, send it to the graveyard. When this card is used as Synchro Material, you may treat it and all other Synchro Materials that have a Level as Level 2 monsters.
This one... is yet again... just a "obviously nerf it a bit" type of card. Again, I don't see why this is such a big deal. You can even ask your opponent to pretend that they don't have the knowledge if you're really THAT concerned about it.
Gift Exchange
SPELL - Normal
Both players banish 1 card from their decks face-down. During the End Phase of this turn, each player adds the card their opponent banished to their own hand.
Huh. That's uh.... certainly unique. I don't think there's anything wrong with getting this to work online at all. So that's fine. I honestly want to see this effect as a silver-bordered Magic card.
Goddess Skuld's Oracle
SPELL - Continuous
When this card is activated, if all monsters you control are "Valkyrie" monsters (min. 1), you can add 1 "Goddess Verdande's Guidance" from your deck to your hand. Once per turn, during your Main Phase, you may look at the top 3 cards of your opponent's deck and place them on top of their deck in any order. If you do, you cannot Normal Summon or Special Summon monsters for the rest of the turn, except for Fairy-type monsters. You can only activate 1 "Goddess Skuld's Oracle" per turn.
You already know what I'm gonna say: just nerf it by allowing the opponent to see the cards. No big deal.
Lullaby of Obedience
SPELL - Normal
Pay 2000 LP and name 1 Monster Card. Your opponent looks through their deck and reveals 1 monster of the chosen name if there is any. Then your opponent chooses one:
• That card is added to the hand of the player who activated this card.
• The player who activated this card Special Summons that card to their field in Attack Position, ignoring its summoning conditions.
I don't really see what the issue is here.
Parasite Paracide
EARTH - Level 2 - Insect/Flip/Effect - 500/300
FLIP: Shuffle this card face-up into your opponent's deck.
If you draw this card after it was added to your deck by its effect, Special Summon it in Defense Position and you take 1000 damage. All monsters controlled by the player that summoned this card by its effect become Insect-type monsters.
Okay, this card always bothered me, ever since I first saw it as a kid, along with its two other friends: Pharaoh's Treasure and Grave Lure. These three cards allow you to have a face-up card in your deck. How the hell do you shuffle it? Like, do you have to look away from your deck when you're shuffling, to ensure you don't put it in any one particular spot in your deck? This just... ugh. No. Don't design cards this way. Parasite Paracide is the most problematic of the three, because unlike the other two, it doesn't go into YOUR deck, it goes into your OPPONENT'S deck. I have no idea how that's gonna work. And that's in an offline environment! Online... it gets even worse. Are you obligated to have a playset of Parasite Paracide with you when you play, in case your opponent gets this card? Even if you allow use of proxies, so you can substitute a different card in place of Parasite Paracide, I would argue that this is asking too much of a player. You should not be required to have any cards with you other than your own deck. So, to make a long story short, no, I cannot fix this card to work online - but that's cause it doesn't even work offline! You know, Magic did some weird things in its early days, with cards that make you play for ante, or use manual dexterity, or the like. As these sections were eliminated from Magic's rulebook, the cards were banned - both online and offline. I think Yugioh needs to follow suit, and just state that you can never have your own card in an opponent's deck, and then ban this card. Yes, this is the ONLY card in all of Yugioh that can put a card into a player's deck that they don't own. Is it really worth maintaining that just for one card? I would say no. My recommendation is to just ban this offline, rather than trying to find a way to make it work online. Then you still have the two modes of play in sync with each other. And while you're at it, go ahead and ban Pharaoh's Treasure and Grave Lure as well (and, frankly, Convulsion of Nature too).
SPYRAL GEAR - Drone
WIND - Level 1 - Machine/Effect - 100/100
When this card is Normal Summoned or Special Summoned, you may look at the top 3 cards of your opponent's deck. If you do, place them on the top of their deck in any order. During either player's turn, you can Tribute this card to cause target "SPYRAL" monster you control to gain 500 ATK for each card your opponent controls. You can banish this card and 1 "SPYRAL" card from your graveyard to return target "SPYRAL Super Agent" from your graveyard to your hand.
And now we're back to the basic "just nerf it slightly to get it to work" cards.
Senri Eye
SPELL - Continuous
Once per turn, during each of your Standby Phases, you can pay 100 LP to look at 1 card from the top of your opponent's deck and then put it back. Your opponent cannot look at the card.
I don't think it nerfs the card too much to let the opponent see the card. Yes, I get it, you don't want the opponent to see the card. And if it were looking at the top 2 or 3 cards, then yes, I get how that would be an issue. I disagree, and I think nerfing is fine in any case, but this is an argument that you could make. But the top 1 card? Really? The opponent's likely gonna see it before they get a chance to do anything relevant with the information anyways. It's not that big of a deal.
Spell Vanishing
TRAP - Counter
Discard 2 cards from your hand. Negate the activation of a Spell card and destroy it. Then look at your opponent's hand and deck. If you find any cards with the same name as the destroyed Spell card, send them all to the graveyard.
Legit question: Why is this banned? Yeah, it lets you look at your opponent's deck, but the deck is shuffled afterwards. If that's an issue, then you also need to ban Nobleman of Crossout and Nobleman of Extermination, which have the same "look through your opponent's deck, do a thing, then shuffle it" effect as this card. There's no reason even remotely that this card wouldn't work remotely (see what I did there?). Unban it.
Transmission Gear
TRAP - Normal
During damage calculation, if your monster battles an opponent's monster, play rock-paper-scissors with your opponent. The losing player banishes the battling monster that they control, face-down.
Okay... I have a question: WHY!? You can easily replace this with a coin flip and it's mostly the same. You don't need Rock-Paper-Scissors. Yes, the art will need to be changed, since the art clearly shows Rock-Paper-Scissors. I don't care. And yes, I am aware of the differences, and that Rock-Paper-Scissors is a psychological game, and not true randomness like a coin flip. But guess what? It's close enough! You can just coin flip instead. At the very least, you should do this in online play. For offline play, you can do whatever, I don't care.
Yu-Jo Friendship
SPELL - Normal
Offer your opponent a handshake. If they accept your handshake, each player's Life Points become half the combined Life Points of both players. If you have "Unity" in your hand and show it to your opponent, they must accept the handshake.
Of all the Yugioh cards, this one is probably the most responsible for spreading Covid-19, so it makes sense to ban it during the pandemic. But luckily, there's a very easy way to fix this card: just allow verbal handshakes without tactile engagement between the players. If you really want to do a handshake online, you can even do it via /me commands. It isn't like Rock-Paper-Scissors where you need to have the players time it to happen together. There's no timing required. It just works.
So yeah, those are the changes that I would make to these cards to allow them to be unbanned in online play. It's not really that bad, frankly. I think Konami should embrace this. They've already gone a long way in just acknowledging that remote play exists and giving a banlist to support it. But they went a bit too far with banning cards - they did not need to ban as many as they did. At the very least, Spell Vanishing has no reason to be on this banlist, like, at all.
I don't know how to end this post, so here's this sentence that will end it.
Unlike, say, Wizards of the Coast with Magic, they actually made a list of Yugioh cards that don't work online, and simply stated that these 18 cards are banned:
Amazoness Chain Master
Ancient Telescope
Blizzard Warrior
Contact with the Aquamirror
Dark Scorpion - Chick the Yellow
Destiny HERO - Dominance
Diabolos, King of the Abyss
Exchange
Flower Cardian Peony with Butterfly
Gift Exchange
Goddess Skuld's Oracle
Lullaby of Obedience
Parasite Paracide
SPYRAL GEAR - Drone
Senri Eye
Spell Vanishing
Transmission Gear
Yu-Jo Friendship
Now, this list... is honestly pretty bad. There's cards like Graceful Tear (Normal Trap, adds one card from your hand to your opponent's hand, and then you gain 2000 LP) which are missing from this list. Seemingly Konami is okay with you putting your cards in your opponent's hands, but not you taking your opponent's cards and put them into your hand. Which is... inconsistent.
Still, it's a decent start to the list, and since this is what Konami officially communicated, I will proceed as though this list were exhaustive.
Here on WyvernIRC (or I guess IRC-NAH now), we play A LOT of remote TCGs. True, we focus on Magic and not Yugioh, but still. We have experience with getting things to work online when they seemingly won't. And since this is a fairly short list at only 18 cards, I think it's pretty easy to just go through this list and try to come up with solutions for all of them, so that we can actually have a fully-functional Yugioh online game.
I mean... I don't expect us to ever actually PLAY it, since Yugioh is awful. But, you know, it's fun to try and do this. So let's take a look at these 18 cards and see what they have to offer us.
Amazoness Chain Master
EARTH - Level 4 - Warrior/Effect - 1500/1300
When this card is destroyed by battle, you can pay 1500 LP to look at your opponent's hand and add 1 monster card from their hand to your hand.
This one seems pretty trivial. All you have to do if you're on the receiving end of this is just set the card aside to note that it's not in your hand anymore. Not too bad.
Ancient Telescope
SPELL - Normal
Look at the top 5 cards of your opponent's deck. Return the cards to the top of the deck in the same order.
This one cannot work online, since the opponent has to be the one to tell you what you're seeing. But it can still work, if you just accept that the opponent gets to see the cards as well. Yes, that means this card becomes slightly worse, but sometimes that's necessary for online play. And if you REALLY care about it, you can just get your opponent to agree beforehand to just pretend that they don't know, and not base any of their plays off of what they see.
Blizzard Warrior
WATER - Level 3 - Warrior/Effect - 1400/400
When this card destroys an opponent's monster by battle, look at the top card of your opponent's deck and put it on either the top or the bottom of their deck.
Again, this works if you just allow the opponent to see it. It's not even that bad, since the opponent is either gonna draw it the next time their turn begins, or likely never draw it in the game ever again unless they shuffle.
Contact with the Aquamirror
SPELL - Normal
If you control a face-up WATER monster, choose one. If you control a face-up WATER Ritual monster, choose both:
• Look at all face-down cards in your opponent's Spell & Trap Card Zones.
• Look at the top 2 cards of either player's deck, then return them to the top of that deck in any order.
Okay, so obviously the first mode is fine. The second mode is problematic, but it can once again be avoided by simply giving your opponent the information, and just tell them to either switch the order of the two, or not. It's really not that bad. Yeah, a slight nerf, but not by much. I think banning this card is particularly egregious because even if you accept Konami's belief that this wouldn't work remotely (which is totally fair), you still cut off a lot of the card. Like, there's a whole different mode that works for this card. And even the second mode works if you choose to target your own deck instead of your opponent's. You basically just gutted three-quarters of a card just because the last one-quarter doesn't work. Not ideal.
Dark Scorpion - Chick the Yellow
DARK - Level 3 - Warrior/Effect - 1000/1000
When this card inflicts battle damage to your opponent, choose one:
• Return target card from the field to its owner's hand.
• Look at the top card of your opponent's deck, then put it to the top or the bottom of their deck.
Again, this is just Blizzard Warrior, and much like that one, it's a tiny nerf in comparison to the overall package. It should be fine. The fact that this is modal also kinda stings, as you gut out the other half of the card for no reason.
Destiny HERO - Dominance
DARK - Level 10 - Warrior/Fusion/Effect - 2900/2600
3 "Destiny HERO" monsters
During your main phase, you may look at the top 5 cards of your opponent's deck, then put them back on top their deck in any order. When this card destroys an opponent's monster in battle, you may draw 1 card. If this card was Fusion Summoned and it is destroyed by battle or by card effect, you can Special Summon 3 Level 9 or lower "Destiny HERO" monsters with different names from your graveyard. Each effect of "Destiny HERO - Dominance" can only be used once per turn.
Wow. Jesus Christ, Konami. That's a card you designed!? I forgot how much stuff Yugioh cards had written on them. Anywho, the only problematic part of this is the Ancient Telescope effect, which is fine if you just accept that the card gets slightly nerfed in online play.
Diabolos, King of the Abyss
DARK - Level 7 - Dragon/Effect - 2800/1000
This card cannot be Special Summoned. If you Tribute Summon this card, the Tributes must be DARK. This card cannot be Tributed by card effects while it is face-up on the field. Once per turn, during your opponent's Draw Phase, before their normal draw, look at the top card of their deck and place that card either on the top or the bottom of their deck.
Exchange
SPELL - Normal
Both players reveal their hands, then add 1 card from each other's hand to their own hand.
I honestly have no idea what the issue with this is. You can easily keep track of it...
Flower Cardian Peony with Butterfly
DARK - Level 6 - Warrior/Tuner/Effect - 1000/1000
This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card must first be Special Summoned from your hand by Tributing 1 "Flower Cardian" monster, except "Flower Cardian Peony with Butterfly". If this card is Special Summoned, draw 1 card and reveal it to your opponent. If the revealed card is a "Flower Cardian" monster, look at the top 3 cards of your opponent's deck, then place them all on the top or the bottom of their deck in any order. If the revealed card is not a "Flower Cardian" monster, send it to the graveyard. When this card is used as Synchro Material, you may treat it and all other Synchro Materials that have a Level as Level 2 monsters.
This one... is yet again... just a "obviously nerf it a bit" type of card. Again, I don't see why this is such a big deal. You can even ask your opponent to pretend that they don't have the knowledge if you're really THAT concerned about it.
Gift Exchange
SPELL - Normal
Both players banish 1 card from their decks face-down. During the End Phase of this turn, each player adds the card their opponent banished to their own hand.
Huh. That's uh.... certainly unique. I don't think there's anything wrong with getting this to work online at all. So that's fine. I honestly want to see this effect as a silver-bordered Magic card.
Goddess Skuld's Oracle
SPELL - Continuous
When this card is activated, if all monsters you control are "Valkyrie" monsters (min. 1), you can add 1 "Goddess Verdande's Guidance" from your deck to your hand. Once per turn, during your Main Phase, you may look at the top 3 cards of your opponent's deck and place them on top of their deck in any order. If you do, you cannot Normal Summon or Special Summon monsters for the rest of the turn, except for Fairy-type monsters. You can only activate 1 "Goddess Skuld's Oracle" per turn.
You already know what I'm gonna say: just nerf it by allowing the opponent to see the cards. No big deal.
Lullaby of Obedience
SPELL - Normal
Pay 2000 LP and name 1 Monster Card. Your opponent looks through their deck and reveals 1 monster of the chosen name if there is any. Then your opponent chooses one:
• That card is added to the hand of the player who activated this card.
• The player who activated this card Special Summons that card to their field in Attack Position, ignoring its summoning conditions.
I don't really see what the issue is here.
Parasite Paracide
EARTH - Level 2 - Insect/Flip/Effect - 500/300
FLIP: Shuffle this card face-up into your opponent's deck.
If you draw this card after it was added to your deck by its effect, Special Summon it in Defense Position and you take 1000 damage. All monsters controlled by the player that summoned this card by its effect become Insect-type monsters.
Okay, this card always bothered me, ever since I first saw it as a kid, along with its two other friends: Pharaoh's Treasure and Grave Lure. These three cards allow you to have a face-up card in your deck. How the hell do you shuffle it? Like, do you have to look away from your deck when you're shuffling, to ensure you don't put it in any one particular spot in your deck? This just... ugh. No. Don't design cards this way. Parasite Paracide is the most problematic of the three, because unlike the other two, it doesn't go into YOUR deck, it goes into your OPPONENT'S deck. I have no idea how that's gonna work. And that's in an offline environment! Online... it gets even worse. Are you obligated to have a playset of Parasite Paracide with you when you play, in case your opponent gets this card? Even if you allow use of proxies, so you can substitute a different card in place of Parasite Paracide, I would argue that this is asking too much of a player. You should not be required to have any cards with you other than your own deck. So, to make a long story short, no, I cannot fix this card to work online - but that's cause it doesn't even work offline! You know, Magic did some weird things in its early days, with cards that make you play for ante, or use manual dexterity, or the like. As these sections were eliminated from Magic's rulebook, the cards were banned - both online and offline. I think Yugioh needs to follow suit, and just state that you can never have your own card in an opponent's deck, and then ban this card. Yes, this is the ONLY card in all of Yugioh that can put a card into a player's deck that they don't own. Is it really worth maintaining that just for one card? I would say no. My recommendation is to just ban this offline, rather than trying to find a way to make it work online. Then you still have the two modes of play in sync with each other. And while you're at it, go ahead and ban Pharaoh's Treasure and Grave Lure as well (and, frankly, Convulsion of Nature too).
SPYRAL GEAR - Drone
WIND - Level 1 - Machine/Effect - 100/100
When this card is Normal Summoned or Special Summoned, you may look at the top 3 cards of your opponent's deck. If you do, place them on the top of their deck in any order. During either player's turn, you can Tribute this card to cause target "SPYRAL" monster you control to gain 500 ATK for each card your opponent controls. You can banish this card and 1 "SPYRAL" card from your graveyard to return target "SPYRAL Super Agent" from your graveyard to your hand.
And now we're back to the basic "just nerf it slightly to get it to work" cards.
Senri Eye
SPELL - Continuous
Once per turn, during each of your Standby Phases, you can pay 100 LP to look at 1 card from the top of your opponent's deck and then put it back. Your opponent cannot look at the card.
I don't think it nerfs the card too much to let the opponent see the card. Yes, I get it, you don't want the opponent to see the card. And if it were looking at the top 2 or 3 cards, then yes, I get how that would be an issue. I disagree, and I think nerfing is fine in any case, but this is an argument that you could make. But the top 1 card? Really? The opponent's likely gonna see it before they get a chance to do anything relevant with the information anyways. It's not that big of a deal.
Spell Vanishing
TRAP - Counter
Discard 2 cards from your hand. Negate the activation of a Spell card and destroy it. Then look at your opponent's hand and deck. If you find any cards with the same name as the destroyed Spell card, send them all to the graveyard.
Legit question: Why is this banned? Yeah, it lets you look at your opponent's deck, but the deck is shuffled afterwards. If that's an issue, then you also need to ban Nobleman of Crossout and Nobleman of Extermination, which have the same "look through your opponent's deck, do a thing, then shuffle it" effect as this card. There's no reason even remotely that this card wouldn't work remotely (see what I did there?). Unban it.
Transmission Gear
TRAP - Normal
During damage calculation, if your monster battles an opponent's monster, play rock-paper-scissors with your opponent. The losing player banishes the battling monster that they control, face-down.
Okay... I have a question: WHY!? You can easily replace this with a coin flip and it's mostly the same. You don't need Rock-Paper-Scissors. Yes, the art will need to be changed, since the art clearly shows Rock-Paper-Scissors. I don't care. And yes, I am aware of the differences, and that Rock-Paper-Scissors is a psychological game, and not true randomness like a coin flip. But guess what? It's close enough! You can just coin flip instead. At the very least, you should do this in online play. For offline play, you can do whatever, I don't care.
Yu-Jo Friendship
SPELL - Normal
Offer your opponent a handshake. If they accept your handshake, each player's Life Points become half the combined Life Points of both players. If you have "Unity" in your hand and show it to your opponent, they must accept the handshake.
Of all the Yugioh cards, this one is probably the most responsible for spreading Covid-19, so it makes sense to ban it during the pandemic. But luckily, there's a very easy way to fix this card: just allow verbal handshakes without tactile engagement between the players. If you really want to do a handshake online, you can even do it via /me commands. It isn't like Rock-Paper-Scissors where you need to have the players time it to happen together. There's no timing required. It just works.
So yeah, those are the changes that I would make to these cards to allow them to be unbanned in online play. It's not really that bad, frankly. I think Konami should embrace this. They've already gone a long way in just acknowledging that remote play exists and giving a banlist to support it. But they went a bit too far with banning cards - they did not need to ban as many as they did. At the very least, Spell Vanishing has no reason to be on this banlist, like, at all.
I don't know how to end this post, so here's this sentence that will end it.