TCG+OCG=NOCG
Recently, you've probably been comparing the OCG banlist and the TCG banlist, and seeing severe differences. If you want to compare the two throughout this article, then here are links to both:
Links :
http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/July_2014_Lists_%28TCG%29
http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/July_2014_Lists_%28OCG%29
Now, since some time in 2013, we've had different lists. But before that, people were quite happy to play a "TCG/OCG" format for their games, which just incorporated OCG cards into standard TCG gameplay. Because people were used to this, some people continued after the banlists started to be different, and used OCG cards in a TCG banlist. However, this makes no sense when looked at in detail.
First of all, if you consider the period of time in which a meta deck is able to dominate its "cycle", then you might note that the cycles are usually similar in length. OCG cards get banned before TCG cards as they get them first, and this balances out the length of the cycles in TCG and OCG despite OCG having the cards to use months before TCG. The proof of that would be artifacts; they've already been hit slightly in OCG, but they have other potential for meta decks coming through. So, the cycles are all similar lengths. This is clearly something intended by Konami in keeping the game relatively balanced, to avoid having too many powerful decks at once. However, using both the TCG and OCG formats simultaneously can cause an overlap in these cycles. When there are too many powerful decks in a format, it would become impossible to win a tournament without using one of them, as all decks have good and bad matchups. With a large number of decks that are more powerful than normal, if your deck had a bad matchup against one of them then it would be incredibly difficult to win. It would be impossible to play an anti-meta deck because there would simply be too much meta. In that sense, TCG+OCG gives people a very limited option of what decks to play competitively, contrary to the opinion that it gives more choice.
Those banlists also do very different things. As a result, they have different cards on them. It's all very simple when you look at it and see very clear differences. The OCG banlist has Heavy Storm limited and Honest semi-limited. If you put another copy of Honest into TCG, Bujins would be even more of a nightmare. But Bujins (Or Lightsworn, or any other LIGHT deck) evidently aren't considered such a major problem in OCG, and so they can semi-limit Honest. Heavy storm makes setting a lot of backrow far more dangerous, and just the possibility of your opponent having it makes you far more cautious. OCG games will be heavily OTK orientated, whereas TCG games will be longer. Introducing many OTK decks into the TCG format would essentially destroy that part of the game, and would basically just involve playing OCG on an outdated/different banlist. Something like that really should not be playable at all, especially not in tournaments. What I'm saying is that comparing TCG to OCG is like comparing these two people from Pokemon Fire Red. It's a big difference.
Let's call this guy 'OCG' :
"Let's call this guy 'OCG'"]
and this one can be 'TCG' :
Another valid point to consider is that it is physically impossible. In the real world, there are no "TCG+OCG tournaments". All OCG tournaments ban TCG-only cards, and all TCG tournaments ban OCG cards altogether. The reason for that is that the games are seperate. If you cannot play the cards together in real life competitive play, then it would make no sense to allow TCG+OCG in tournaments online. Otherwise, you begin to stop viewing online tournaments as "competitive", as the game becomes severely unbalanced.
My next question is a commonly asked one for different subjects; where do we draw the line? Rescue Rabbit is unlimited in OCG, but it's limited in TCG. Since you're playing cards that are completely unable to be played in TCG format, why not play cards in the same numbers as OCG? Comparitively, the difference between unlimited and limited is smaller than that between unlimited and forbidden, so it should logically be playable in a format where you mash the two together. Heck, why don't you just play OCG? That's pretty much the point of this; TCG+OCG is pointless as a potential format, as the only reason it could be seen as better than either TCG or OCG is that it has lots of very powerful decks that would completely crush anyone using a TCG deck into the ground. OCG-only tournaments are very much acceptable for anyone who wants to use an OCG deck, but if you were to mix the two formats, then everything would literally become a slightly different OCG in the later rounds of a tournament. Cards are banned at different times because the two formats at any one time are very dramatically different. A card is unbanned when it won't have any massive impact on the meta, and a card is banned when it has had too much of an impact. Artifact Moralltech is already limited in OCG because they got Artifacts before TCG, and TCG will probably follow suite on the next banlist. Allowing OCG cards would give them even more time to have an impact on the meta, essentially extending their cycle period, which would give an even longer time for people to get fed up of seeing the same deck everywhere.
Finally, my most important point, already raised earlier in the article: "Why don't you just play OCG?" If you want to play OCG cards, then you can play in the OCG format, where it all actually makes sense. The TCG banlist is not geared to accept all of the OCG cards, especially not if they are banned first. Many years ago, in 2003, we had the first time when the OCG banlist was different to TCG. Sixth Sense was forbidden the second it hit OCG, but did not exist in TCG meaning it was not banned. When it came out in TCG, it wasn't banned. People were using it. A lot. This kind of thing is what TCG+OCG does; it allows cards that should not be allowed at the present time to be played unlimited, which is going to have an insane effect if it's allowed in competitive play.
Essentially, the way we duel online through mediums such as Dueling Network allows us to play a TCG+OCG deck. However, that would not make sense in a tournament, whether real life or online. In many ways, including OCG cards in a TCG format can completely destroy the balance in the game, and tournaments become unplayable. In a competitive event, you will never see "TCG+OCG" in the rules, and that is more than justified. In summary, it is simply impossible, and my title is quite clear with making this point; mixing OCG with TCG does not give you a playable card game.
