The Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG community was shocked to see the iconic ‘Change of Heart’ spell return to competitive play, ending a near 20-year ban imposed on the card.
Konami Digital Entertainment announced its revised list of legal cards for the official trading card game ruleset on May 17, which finally released Change of Heart (CoH) from the ‘Forbidden’ list to its new designation of ‘Limited.’
This means that for the first time since CoH found itself on-and-off the Forbidden list starting in 2004, Yu-Gi-Oh! players are now allowed to have a max of one (1) copy of the card to use in official matches.
For competitive players, this was an unexpected revelation. For people outside of the TCG scene, it was a wild realization that such a classic card was disallowed while the Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters show was still on TV.
⚠️ Attention Duelists! ⚠️
The #YuGiOhTCG Forbidden & Limited List has been updated!These changes go into effect immediately.
The full list can be found at: https://t.co/aYIu5KipdU#YuGiOh pic.twitter.com/YdcWBZglPh
— Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG (@YuGiOh_TCG) May 17, 2022
Just like fans of the classic show would remember, Change of Heart could have an instant impact on a match by taking control of an opponent’s monster with absolutely no cost to play it.
That could be why the minds at Konami Digital thought it best to keep it off the legal-list of playable cards – until now.
“I swear someone at Konami was just like ‘Hey Ted, wanna see 50,000 nerds lose their f**king minds?’ And then pressed the big button labeled ‘Unban Change of Heart,’” one fan quipped about the change.
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More reactions of a similar nature followed from vets of the game who never thought the card would come back to people who were familiar with Yu-Gi-Oh! but weren’t aware of CoH’s broader impact.
https://twitter.com/EspadaNJ/status/1526645603794571269
Change of Hearts might be the most treasonous card of all time. https://t.co/ELtaAPdvT9
— Hodge (@King__Hodge) May 17, 2022
“Change of Hearts might be the most treasonous card of all time,” one user said. Another person said: “Change of Heart is limited? I thought it was banned and never to return to the Dueling Realms!”
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In 2022, there could be enough outplay or options to counteract CoH that makes it safe to bring back similar to Yata-Garasu, another card that was deemed Forbidden for about two decades until it was also freed on May 17.
Regardless, Yu-Gi-Oh! fans old and new have been reveling in the Change of Heart’s revival after being gone for so, so long.
