Forum:Reasons why cards are Forbidden/Limited/List
| List of Reasons for why cards are Banned/Limited | ||
|---|---|---|
| Card Name | Reason | Chance of going up/down the list |
| Forbidden | ||
| Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier | Epic effect, can be used more than once per turn, can clear field by itself. Sets up Graveyard. The release of Atlanteans, which could have been abused with this card's effect, was likely the final nail in this card's coffin. | Low |
| Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the End | Can be Special Summoned easily, great effect, high ATK, nuke and serious burn. Judgment Dragon destroys all cards, while this card Sends all the cards, thus cards like Stardust Dragon and Starlight Road cannot stop it. If you don't finish off your opponent, but you use its effect while you control a monster like Sangan, you can easily gain an advantage over your opponent since they'll be topdecking and you'll have a monster. The release of Chaos Dragons sealed its fate because it can be searched by Eclipse Wyvern and can OTK with Lightpulsar Dragon. | Never |
| Cyber Jar | Destroys all monsters instantly. Unlike Morphing Jar #2, this has a set amount of cards to get. So it can be abused, allowing the controller to gain advantage easily. Can wipe out a whole field of boss monsters effortlessly. A bit harder to use now with THRIO and Starlight Road in the game. | Very Low |
| Cyber-Stein | Can lead to easy OTKs with fusions like Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, or can lead to an instant lockdown with Naturia Exterio. Cost is high, but if the effect goes through, it's devastating. | Very Low |
| Dark Magician of Chaos | It's a strong monster with a very good effect; his effect even works when it's Special Summoned, making it more powerful than Magician of Faith. Dark Armed Return decks are godly with this card. But most loops with this card are impossible now that Dimension Fusion is banned. | Low |
| Dark Strike Fighter | Easily Synchro Summoned, no Tuner limitations. High ATK for a level 7 Synchro Monster. High burn damage. Can do 4000 damage by itself. Finishing move. Almost always an OTK when dropped. | Very Low |
| Destiny HERO - Disk Commander | The effect is too powerful, turning ordinary revival cards into Pot of Greeds. There are way too many ways to revive it: Call of the Haunted, Monster Reborn, Limit Reverse, Kinka-byo, Graceful Revival, etc. | Never |
| Fiber Jar | Resets almost everything. Also puts itself back into the deck. If used in a deck with cards like Soul Release, you can slowly Banish your opponent's entire deck, while giving them a smaller deck each time Fiber Jar is used. | Never |
| Fishborg Blaster | Broken with Formula Synchron, which is now limited. An infinite Glow-Up Bulb, Spore or Plaguespreader Zombie; although limited only to WATER attributes. Could be summoned over and over again. Fishborg Launcher was designed to replace this card. | Very Low |
| Glow-Up Bulb | Plant decks were still topping after being hit format after format, Konami must have decided to finally kill them. Easily recyclable through its own effect, but the effect can only be used once per duel. This may have also been a hit to Future Fusion First Turn Quasar decks. Besides, limiting it to 1 would be pointless. | Low |
| Goyo Guardian | Just unbalanced. Very high ATK for a level 6. Good effect. Summons the opponent's monster right away so it can be used for Synchro/Xyz Summons. | Low |
| Magical Scientist | Can easily create an FTK with Catapult Turtle. Also, can easily lead to a swarm of Xyz monsters. Can be easily Summoned with One for One | Very Low |
| Magician of Faith | Allows the player to reuse Spells Cards, mostly ones with broken effects like Heavy Storm and Dark Hole. Was part of the Tsukuyomi Lockdown. With Tsukuyomi back at 1, this card might not come off the banned list. | Very Low |
| Makyura the Destructor | Use this card with cards like Jar of Greed and Legacy of Yata-Garasu to draw through your entire deck. Even easier to use today with Foolish Burial and Armageddon Knight. | Never |
| Mind Master | Maybe Konami really hates FTKs. Very similar to Substitoad (which is also Forbidden), except you pay LP each time (or you can use 1 more card to bypass it). Calm, Silent Gusta can also be abused with this card. Creates many OTKs, including an OTK with Reinforced Human Psychic Borg. | Very Low |
| Rescue Cat | Instant +1. Abusable by Gladiator Beasts, Naturia, Wind-Ups, Synchro Cat and especially X-Sabers. Decks can spam this (e.g. Dark Desertapir). With the release of Uniflora, Mystical Beast of the Forest, which could abuse this card to no end, this card is even less likely to ever come back. Too cute for the meta xD | Very Low |
| Sinister Serpent | Free discard for costs, etc. Turns discarding into a +0. However, is a little slow for the current metagame. | Low |
| Substitoad | Badly designed card, able to mill most of your deck in one turn. No once per turn restriction. Combos well with Pot of Avarice. See also Frog Burn FTK (The most consistent burn/OTK/FTK deck for March 2010). Tradetoad was designed to be a fair version of it. | Never |
| Thousand-Eyes Restrict | Very good effect + Lock. Was part of the Goat Control deck. Easily Fusion Summoned with Instant Fusion. Easily revived because of it's low ATK and low level (e.g. Graceful Revival and Limit Reverse). You can use Instant Fusion, use its effect, then Tribute it for a Monarch. Generates a lot of pluses. | Very Low |
| Tribe-Infecting Virus | Either a Lightning Vortex on legs or a Snipe Hunter on steroids. Now even more potent due to many archetypes being mainly one Type. Tribe-Shocking Virus was designed to replace it. With the release of Atlanteans, this card would have the potential for even more powerful combos if it were unbanned. | Very Low |
| Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier | Was easily the best Synchro around. Easy to drop in most Synchro based decks. Banishes a card from 3 different places. Agents could also drop her easily. The loop in Infernities to drop her infinite times may have been a contributing factor as well. | Low |
| Victory Dragon | It's hard to summon, but you win a Match, not a Game. In the TCG, you can Surrender just before that happens. However, the TCG banlist is the exactly the same as the OCG banlist and in the OCG, it's banned because you are only allowed to Surrender after the 10th turn, and your opponent must agree to let you surrender; so unlike the TCG, it's possible for you to pull the effect off, even against experienced players. Also, this is the only Match Winner to not have the line "This card cannot be used in a Duel." So instead, they ban it. Hieratics could drop this easily. | Never |
| Witch of the Black Forest | We already have 1 universal searcher, and that's limited. This is a more power version of that, able to search out strong key monsters. E.g. Dark Armed Dragon, Monarchs, etc. | Very Low |
| Yata-Garasu | This card alone, under the right circumstances, can create a lock. See Yata-Garasu Lockdown. | Very Low |
| Brain Control | This card can win games by itself at the right moment. Essentially a +1, because the opponent loses a monster, and you kinda gain a monster. Very useful for Synchro/Xyz Summons and then attacking directly. Can be used to gain Tribute fodder. Much more powerful version of Mind Control, which is Limited. | Very Low |
| Butterfly Dagger - Elma | Creates Infinite Loops, especially with Gearfried the Iron Knight and Royal Magical Library. | Never |
| Card of Safe Return | Can be better than Pot of Greed, due to the increasing number of Decks that rely on Graveyard manipulation. Abusable in decks like Zombies, Wind-Up, Fabled, Dark World, etc. Also note that this card was banned just before the release of Absolute Powerforce, which introduced the Inca archetype which would have overly abused this card. | Never |
| Change of Heart | Better than Brain Control, and that card's also Forbidden. It's also much better than Mind Control, which is limited. Gain an opponent's monster for free, and do whatever you want with it. | Never |
| Cold Wave | Freezes backrow for a fairly long time. Preparations for an OTK. Also leaves the opponent vulnerable and unable to defend themselves once you use an effect that destroys their backrow. | Very Low |
| Confiscation | Look at opponent's hand and discard anything for a fair cost. AKA 1 for 1 card + see opponent's hand bonus. | Very Low |
| Delinquent Duo | This 1 card kills 2 of your opponent's cards in their hand for an acceptable cost. | Very Low |
| Dimension Fusion | Too many good combos. Was abused with Dark Armed Dragon to clear the opponent's field and swarm your own, forming an OTK. With more decks relying on Banished monsters, this can't come back. Like Cyber-Stein (above), the outcome is worth the high cost. | Very Low |
| Future Fusion | Allows for massive Graveyard setup, particularly using Machines and Dragons, where Chimeratech Overdragon and Five-Headed Dragon respectively can allow for a large number of monsters of the player's choice to be dumped. | Very Low |
| Giant Trunade | Clears back field and prepares for OTK. Harder to stop than Heavy Storm. Probably banned since Heavy Storm was needed to prevent the Set everything on first turn for game strategies, and we don't need another mass S/T removing card. It can also allow certain cards to be reused, such as the now-Unlimited Swords of Revealing Light. Would create insane combos with Safe Zone | Low |
| Graceful Charity | Too fast. You draw before you discard. Sets up Graveyard. Although it seems like an even trade, it can be better than Pot of Greed in certain decks, such as Dark World or Fabled. | Never |
| Harpie's Feather Duster | Too powerful. Much stronger than Heavy Storm, which is Limited. Clears out the opponent's back row while yours is safe. | Never |
| Last Will | Mainly was banned for making the extremely fast Turtle FTK. Is now better than ever because of Synchros, Monarchs and decks that spam quickly. After activation, its effect can be used any time that turn, even during battle phase. Universal Searcher. | Very Low |
| Mass Driver | Abused in many Decks to form a FTK, since it does not use up the Normal Summon and can be used multiple times a turn. Finishing move. | Very Low |
| Metamorphosis | Too many good combos. Notable ones include Beast King Barbaros → Cyber Twin Dragon and Metal Reflect Slime → Cyber End Dragon, Destiny End Dragoon or Naturia Extrio. | Very Low |
| Mirage of Nightmare | Too fast *cough*darkworld/fabled*cough*. If it gets destroyed, you don't need to discard, so it's as good as Pot of Greed. Also combos with Emergency Provisions and MST extremely well. | Very Low |
| Painful Choice | You don't lose hand advantage. Gets a good card or send cards that work well in the grave; similar to activating 4 Foolish Burials at once. Instant Graveyard set up for decks like Plants, Infernity, and Chaos Dragons. | Very Low |
| Pot of Greed | Too fast, no cost, everyone would use it. Instant +1. While it's true that it would increase the speed of slower decks; it would help decks that already have draw power even more (as they would use their draw power to draw into this card more often). | Never |
| Premature Burial | Fast, good combos, can be reused fairly easily. Loops with cards like Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier (who is now banned). There are combos that allow 1 Special Summon per turn through cards like Dewloren, Tiger King of the Ice Barrier, Falcon of Mist Valley, etc. Searchable and reusable via Hidden Armory. | Very Low |
| Raigeki | Much more powerful than Dark Hole, which is Limited. Destroys only the opponent's monsters. | Never |
| Snatch Steal | Gives near permanent control. Opponent's LP gain can be offset by stealing a strong monster and consistently attacking with it, or by Tributing, Synchro Summoning or Xyz Summoning with the target. Searchable and reusable via Hidden Armory. Almost as, if not more powerful than Change of Heart. | Very Low |
| Temple of the Kings | Has pretty much the same effect as Makyura the Destructor (see above). Second effect allows you to summon almost anything you want. | Never |
| The Forceful Sentry | A Confiscation (above) with no cost. Returns the card to the deck rather than discarding it to the Graveyard. Having a card in the Graveyard is usually considered to be better that having it in the Deck. | Never |
| Crush Card Virus | Kills almost everything for 3 turns, and covers both the field, hand, and future draws. Can even be combo'ed with Sangan or Plaguespreader Zombie or Necro Gardna to utilize their effects. With Tour Guide From the Underworld being splashed into a lot of decks, this would be splashed in those decks too. | Very Low |
| Exchange of the Spirit | Creates crazy OTK/FTKs. You just fill your graveyard as fast as possible and activate it on your opponent's turn, or on your turn if you have Makyura (who is banned) or Junk Collector, and leave them with no deck. Godly in Decks like Lightsworns. | Very Low |
| Imperial Order | Powerful Spell lock via a Continuous Effect. You even have the option to lift the two-way Spell lock by not paying the cost. While Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV8 and Naturia Beast can do the same thing, these effects start a chain, allowing for a Counter Trap to negate these effects. | Never |
| Last Turn | An instant win is guaranteed when you control a monster that prevents your opponent from Special Summoning. Easy to get down to 1000 or less LP with Wall of Revealing Light, Inspection, and Backs to the Wall. | Never |
| Ring of Destruction | Mainly was banned for causing too many draws in Tournaments and messing up Ranked Games. Instant destruction and serious burn. Lethal when combined with cards like Barrel Behind the Door or Spell of Pain. | Never |
| Royal Oppression | 1 card to continuously stop a large amount of cards and cripple a large number of decks with a fairly low cost. Some decks abuse the fact that it cannot be used in the Damage Step. Can stop a larger variety of cards than Solemn Warning, which has a larger cost and can only be used once. Used in swarm decks, where you would swarm with a lot of big monsters, and then flip this over. | Very Low |
| Sixth Sense | Potentially one of the strongest forms of draw power, being able to draw up to 6 cards from one effect. The drawback is also potentially beneficial, especially with more Graveyard-reliant Decks. | Never |
| Time Seal | Forces the opponent to skip a draw phase, which is lethal when they are topdecking. Unlike Drastic Drop Off, this card can be chained anytime, making it much better, also with Mask of Darkness at 3, lockdown decks could take unfair advantage. | Very Low |
| Trap Dustshoot | Devastating to the opponent if played on them during their first turn. Broken with 2 Mind Crushes. If used early on, it creates a situation where your opponent will have a lot of trouble recovering. Many thought that the opponent having to have at least 4 cards in hand was not a fair enough restriction. But, it is a horrible topdeck. | Low |
| Limited | ||
| Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning | Can be Special Summoned easily, good effects, high ATK. Honest can be used on his first attack, then the 2nd attack would be deadly. See also: Chaos. | Low chance of ↑ |
| Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind | Can be Special Summoned. A reusable permanent Shrink. Universal Tuner. | = |
| Chaos Sorcerer | Can be Special Summoned easily, decent effect. However, relatively low ATK. With the rise of Chaos Decks, getting this out was even easier than before. | Low Chance of ↓ |
| Dark Armed Dragon | Can be Special Summoned easily. Specific destructive power. High ATK. See Dark Armed Return and Teleport Dark Armed. | =, Very Low chance of ↑ |
| Dandylion | Compulsory effect. Gives lots of advantage most of the time. Re-usable in many decks, creates Tokens that can be used for Synchro or Tribute Summons. Effect also triggers when it enters the Graveyard through any means. | = |
| Elemental Hero Stratos | Searcher that triggers on Normal or Special Summon, and can search himself. Has decent ATK. You basically lose no advantage playing this card. Easily searched by other cards, such as E - Emergency Call and Reinforcement of the Army. Was part of the Airblade Turbo deck, the top deck of the September 2006 Format. | = |
| Evigishki Gustkraken | Awesome Hand control card. There was a loop where this card was used within a Gishki-Hieratic hybrid and bounced repeatedly with Constellar Ptolemys Messier 7 to shut down the opponent's hand. It didn't help that Hieratics summon LV6 monsters with great ease. | = |
| Exodia the Forbidden One | Instant win card. With more and more Stall and Draw cards being released, these will stay Limited, and could even get banned. Although unlikely, if 1 of the pieces becomes Forbidden, then the other 4 can be unlimited. |
=, Very Low chance of ↑ |
| Left Arm of the Forbidden One | ||
| Left Leg of the Forbidden One | ||
| Right Arm of the Forbidden One | ||
| Right Leg of the Forbidden One | ||
| Formula Synchron | Easily Summoned with cards like Glow-Up Bulb (which is now Forbidden) and tokens made by Dandylion. An instant +1. Crazy when played with T.G. Hyper Librarian, who is also Limited. Can be used for a Synchro Summon during the opponent's turn. | =, Low Chance of ↓ |
| Gladiator Beast Bestiari | Required to Summon Gladiator Beast Gyzarus, and also as a key means of S/T removal. Limiting this solves both problems. | =, Very Low chance of ↓ |
| Gorz the Emissary of Darkness | Stops OTKs AND Special Summons a good Token. Turns games around with no real effort. | = |
| Inzektor Dragonfly | This one card can swarm the field AND cause loops in one turn with Inzektor Hornet, Inzektor Ladybug, Inzektor Hopper, or Inzektor Earwig. Second effect can be used multiple times in one turn to create OTKs | =, Low chance of ↓ |
| Inzektor Hornet | A solid one-for-one card with perks. The key to Inzektors. You only need one to loop with anyway. | = |
| Honest | Very good effect. Allows your monster to run over any other monster, and deal decent damage. Easily reused with Beckoning Light. Abusable with BLS. | = |
| Legendary Six Samurai - Shi En | Stops 1 card every turn. Very easily summoned in Six Sams. Can prevent himself from being destroyed. | = |
| Lonefire Blossom | Search and Special Summon ANY plant; this includes Tuners, Mystic Tomato, Tytannial, Princess of Camellias, etc. Doppel-Plants and quite a few other Plant-type decks were also topping tournaments for a long while. Formerly abused in Synchrocentric, but not as good anymore with Glow-Up Bulb banned, but might stay Limited because of Spore coming back. | =, Very Low Chance of ↓ |
| Mezuki | Creates +1 summons, easily dumped into the Grave, etc. Can be reused with Burial from a Different Dimension, which is also Limited. | =, Very Low chance of ↓ |
| Morphing Jar | High draw power. Messes up opponent's hand. Sets up Graveyard. However, the opponent can also abuse this. Has it's own OTK/FTK deck. | = |
| Necroface | Macro Decks of any sort LOVE this card. Has potential of being a powerful beater and resets and sets up Banished cards. Abusable with Gold Sarcophagus and Allure of Darkness. Combined with Soul Absorption is a free 5500 Life Points gained when banished. Having multiple copies can loop them, chain their own effects when banished from deck, or make OTKs (Necromill OTK). Comboes EXTREMELY well with Inferno Tempest. | = |
| Neo-Spacian Grand Mole | Can create locks. Easily takes out Xyz Synchro, Fusion, Ritual, and other boss monsters. Does not destroy. However, it needs to attack to use its effect. | = |
| Night Assailant | Must be at 1 otherwise this card will just search for the other one and a loop will be created. Would lead to cards like Snipe Hunter wiping out your whole field. | = |
| Plaguespreader Zombie | Top decks a card (Infernity Archfiend anyone?). Universal Tuner. Abusable in Lightsworns. | =, Low Chance of ↓ |
| Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon | Easy to summon and a +1 without cost. Particularly problematic when used with Inferno Reckless Summon in Hieratics (which will summon it with 0 ATK and make it IRS-legit.) Every type of Dragon Deck in the book were topping and desperately needed a nerf. Hitting REDMD solved all problems. | - |
| Sangan | Universal searcher. Primary target for Tour Guide From the Underworld. | = |
| Spore | Related to Glow-Up Bulb. Universal Tuner in Plant Decks. Very potent Level altering effect. It is currently unknown why this card didn't go to Unlimited (its effect can only be used once per duel, so no one runs more than one). | - |
| T.G. Hyper Librarian | Super splashable, low level with decent ATK, works when either player Synchro Summons. Broken with Formula Synchron, which is also Limited. | = |
| T.G. Striker | A searchable Tuner that has the same effect as Cyber Dragon (which would then lead to a Warwolf Special Summon). | - |
| Tsukuyomi | Reusable Book of Moon effect. Was part of the Tsukuyomi Lockdown. Not as abusable as it once was. Possibly came back to slow down the meta. | - |
| Wind-Up Carrier Zenmaity | Easy to summon in Wind-Up Decks. Creates nasty loops such as the infamous Wind-Up Hand Loop and is a +1. Can swarm the field if used right. Takes any Level 3 monsters to summon, rather than being archetype specific. | = |
| Advanced Ritual Art | See Heralds combo and Demise/Doom OTK decks. Not as broken as it used to be since the game got faster. | Low Chance of ↓ |
| Allure of Darkness | The most splashable draw card since Pot of Greed. No restrictions, its "downside" can be used for grave setup. | = |
| Black Whirlwind | Gives major Hand Advantage to Blackwing decks. Having multiple copies out lead to insane pluses. Kalut Stacking >_> | =, Very Low chance of ↓ |
| Book of Moon | One of the best Anti-Meta cards in the game. With Ignition Effect Priority being revoked, Book of Moon can easily render these monsters harmless and vulnerable by immediately responding to their Summons. Stops just about everything and is the one true Swiss Army Knife card. | = |
| Burial from a Different Dimension | Can abuse cards like Mezuki, Plaguespreader Zombie, Necro Gardna, Blackwing - Vayu the Emblem of Honor, etc. | = |
| Card Destruction | Sets up your Hand and possibly Graveyard. Can mess up, or help out with, the opponent's Hand, but can also set up their Graveyard. Works very well with Dark World and Fabled. Similar to Morphing Jar, can be more devastating and more beneficial. | = |
| Charge of the Light Brigade | It's like ROTA, but for Lightsworns, and it also mills. | =, Very Low chance of ↓ |
| Dark Hole | Fairly Powerful and with no cost, but then again, Starlight Road and THRIO makes it harder to play. | =, Very Low chance of ↑ |
| Foolish Burial | Lots of decks rely on the Graveyard a lot. Works well with Wulf, Lightsworn Beast, Plaguespreader Zombie, etc. | =, Low chance of ↓ |
| Gateway of the Six | Can gain counters when Six Samurai monsters are Normal and Special Summoned (sounds hard, right?). With the introduction of Legendary Six Samurai monsters that can Special Summon themselves, and the ability for Gateway to remove from anywhere on your side of the field, 2 or more of these would result in constant searching of Six Samurai monsters for every Summon. | =, Low Chance of ↑ |
| Heavy Storm | This on first turn is usually catastrophic for the opponent, and not everyone manages to set Starlight Road or THRIO on their first turn. However, it also prevents the "Set everything on first turn" game strategies. | =, Very Low Chance of ↑ |
| Infernity Launcher | Easily searched by Infernity Archfiend. Creates loops at more than 1. First effect allows you to empty your hand to prepare for its second effect. | = |
| Limiter Removal | Easy OTK in Machine decks. Most of the time your monsters won't be destroyed during the End Phase becasue you can just Synchro/Xyz Summon with them. | = |
| Mind Control | Unlike Change of Heart, you can't attack with or Tribute the monster, but you can still use its effects and it still can removed via a Synchro/Xyz Summon. | =, Very Low Chance of ↑ |
| Monster Gate | Used a lot by Turbo and OTK decks. Abusable in Hieratics. | = |
| Monster Reborn | Fast. No cost. Special Summon from either Graveyard. Further punishes the opponent if you manage to destroy a strong monster they control (e.g. Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning). | =, Low chance of ↑ |
| One for One | Formerly abused in Frog FTK, Mind Master OTK, and Plant Synchro. Now that Substitoad, Mind Master, and Glow-Up Bulb are Forbidden, this can probably go to 2 assist slower decks like Morphtronics and Fortune Ladies. | Low Chance of ↓ |
| Pot of Avarice | Recycles the graveyard while adding draw power. Really good in certain decks, recycling cards like Reborn Tengu, Gadgets, Wind-Ups, etc. Plants abused this card, but the March 2012 lists killed Plant Synchro. | = |
| Primal Seed | As long as an Envoy is here, this must be at 1 to prevent loops, in particular, OTK and FTK loops: 2 Primal Seed + Macro Cosmos/Banisher of the Radiance + Anything you want to reuse indefinitely = win |
=, unless Envoy banned again |
| Reinforcement of the Army | Too broad. This card adds additional speed to many Decks, like Lightsworns, Six Samurai, HEROs, Ninjas, Inzektors (grabs Dark Grepher or Armageddon Knight), and Infernities (for the same reason as Inzektors). Certain Warrior decks have their own version of this card, which prevents this going to 2 to assist other Warrior decks. If some of those decks became less powerful, this could go to 2. | =, Low chance of ↓ |
| Scapegoat | Stalls quite a bit. However, there are more cards that Pierce now. Allows for the Synchro Summoning of almost any Synchro. Was part of the Goat Control deck, but most of the key cards of that deck are either Limited or Forbidden. | Low chance of ↓ |
| Ceasefire | Chainable, defuses Flip Effects, and unlike its close cousins, checks both sides of the field. With swarming of Effect Monsters being all the rage these days, Ceasefire can be particularly punishing, dealing a maximum of 5000 damage in one shot. At present, quite possibly the best burn card in game. | = |
| Return from the Different Dimension | Creates easy OTKs. Easy to prevent the monsters from being banished again since you can just Synchro/Xyz summon with them. | = |
| Magical Explosion | Limited to hinder the consistency of the Magical Explosion FTK. | = |
| Solemn Judgment | Halving your LP to activate a card is very fair (If you're winning, you pay more; if you're losing, you pay less), but it negates almost everything. Can be used no matter what your Life Points are. | = |
| The Transmigration Prophecy | OCG stall decks used this with D.D. Borderline. Also, it must be at 1 otherwise this card will just return another copy of itself and a loop will be created. Pot of Benevolence does the same thing, but that can't be chained to an effect, and that removes itself so it can't return another copy of itself. | = |
| Ultimate Offering | Easy Xyz. Gadgets can swarm Rank 4 Xyz like mad. With Gear Gigant X and Jumbo Drill around their Xyz options have extended to Rank 5 as well. Also abusable in Madolche decks. | - |
| Wall of Revealing Light | Facing three in an Exodia Deck with LP recovery would be a real pain, especially because of Hope for Escape. It should stay Limited unless we get more bounce/destroy cards. Also abusable with Last Turn, which is banned. | = |
| Semi-Limited | ||
| Archlord Kristya | Strong ATK, seals Special Summons, and is difficult to get rid of since it goes back to the top of the Deck instead of the Graveyard. Generates a +1 when Special Summoned. | = |
| Blackwing - Kalut the Moon Shadow | Can easily turn battles around in Blackwing Decks. Unlike Honest, it can even be used when attacking directly for massive damage. Blackwings were in need of a boost so this went to 2. | = |
| Card Trooper | Can be a good beatstick for 1 turn. Sets up the Graveyard for many decks. When it dies, you draw 1, so no advantage lost. Machine Duplication can be used, so at max, it can be at 2. 3 is not likely, but not impossible. | = |
| Debris Dragon | Highly useable with the number of Level 3 monsters with very low ATK like Lonefire Blossom or Dandylion. Can easily make LV7 Synchros like Black Rose Dragon, or higher-level monsters if Tokens are present on the field. With GUB, Brionac, and Trishula now banned, Synchro decks as a whole have become less powerful and this card can come up to 2 again. | = |
| Destiny Hero - Malicious | His effect can't be used if at 1. If at 3, the advantages will be too high (especially with Synchro Summons). | = |
| Dewloren, Tiger King of the Ice Barrier | Loops with Symbol of Heritage when it's at 3. | = |
| Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner | Easy effect that special summons a "Lightsworn" monster from the graveyard. Gives uses to cards that are useless in the hand (e.g. Wulf, Lightsworn Beast). Nice mill effect. Put back to 2 to boost Lightsworns. | = |
| Reborn Tengu | Replaces itself when it leaves the field. Doesn't care about being Banished. Abusable in Synchro decks. Similar to Destiny HERO - Malicious, which is also at 2. However, is a shocker because it is the first TCG Exclusive to show up on the banlist (not counting Allure of Darkness, which was an emergency Semi-Limit). | - |
| Rescue Rabbit | Amazing card for Xyz summons, basically allows for the Normal Summon of most Rank 4 or lower Xyz monsters that only require two materials. Particularly notable for its use in Dino Rabbit decks, where it was used with Level 4 Dinosaur-type Normal Monsters to Xyz Summon Evolzar Laggia and Evolzar Dolkka. Can be recovered from banishment on the next turn with Leviair the Sea Dragon. | - |
| Summoner Monk | Great searcher. Was originally hit because it could grab Rescue Cat, who is now banned. Combos well with Sacred Crane. Easy Rank 4 Xyz Monster. | Very Low chance of ↓ |
| The Agent of Mystery - Earth | Another hit to T.G. Agents. It's like Stratos for Agents, and he's limited. It's also a Tuner. Brought back to 2 to assist Agents, who had been making no sort of impact in the meta. | = |
| Tour Guide From the Underworld | Quickly summons Rank 3 monsters by searching for another copy of itself or for something else, mainly Sangan. Good monsters it can be used to quickly summon include Leviair the Sea Dragon, Number 17: Leviathan Dragon, Wind-Up Zenmaines, and Number 30: Acid Golem of Destruction. Thins Deck. | = |
| Tragoedia | Stops OTKs AND has other great effects. Can get very strong, can take opponents monsters, or even alter its own Level for Synchro/Xyz shenanigans. | =, Low chance of ↑ |
| A Hero Lives | Can be used with Elemental HERO Stratos (which then searches for Elemental HERO Bubbleman) to swarm the field without even using up the Normal Summon. The steep cost, on the other hand, restricts early playability. | - |
| Chain Strike | Inflicts serious damage if used right. Key card of Chain Burn decks such as Chain Strike OTK. | = |
| E - Emergency Call | Searches Stratos, and then Stratos Searches something else. With ROTA at 1, A Hero Lives at 3 (now 2), and Pot of Duality at 3 (now 2), HEROs had way too much search power, and it allowed them to run ridiculously low monster counts. | = |
| Hieratic Seal of Convocation | Similar to E - Emergency Call. Opening with it pretty much meant you would OTK. | = |
| Magical Stone Excavation | Allows quick reuse of major Spell Cards. Its heavy cost is often circumvented in Diamond Dude Turbo Decks. Empty Jar decks love this. | - |
| Pot of Duality | Lets you choose one of the 3 top cards of your Deck without losing hand advantage. Sets up for big plays. Add a lot of consistency. | = |
| Reasoning | Was used a lot by Turbo and OTK decks. Free Monster or easily dumps Monster to Graveyard, both can be beneficial. Possibly brought up to 2 due to lack of use in the current meta. | - |
| Royal Tribute | Particularly disruptive when used on the very first turn, leaving one vulnerable and unable to retrieve what has been lost because of Necrovalley. | = |
| Shien's Smoke Signal | Maybe Konami felt that they over-hit Six Sams with the September 2011 lists. Grabs key Samurais like Kageki. Seemed like an odd boost for Sams after they had just won a YCS. | = |
| Bottomless Trap Hole | Very powerful 1 for 1 card. Removes the monster upon Summon. Staple. With the removal of Ignition Priority, this card has gotten even better. Because it says "when your opponent summons a 'monster(s)'," if your opponent summons multiple monsters at once with something like Block Golem, they all get hit. | = |
| Mind Crush | 1 for 1 card. You don't really need to be a psychic to use this card, as you can easily call a card name after the opponent has used a search/retrieval effect, like Salvage, Machina Gearframe, Gadgets, etc. Allows you to see opponent's hand. Also, this card owns Ritual Monsters, when the activate their Ritual Spell Card, chain this and call the name of their Monster; a 2 for 1. The intended "downside" of calling a card wrongly can also benefit Dark World/Fabled cards. | = |
| Mirror Force | Solid game changer. However, now that Starlight Road and THRIO are out, you need to be more careful when using this card. Probably went to 2 to discourage swarming. | = |
| Ojama Trio | Clogs the field with nigh-unusable Tokens, though if a Tuner is present they can be removed via a Synchro Summon. | = |
| Torrential Tribute | Most likely brought to 2 to hurt decks that swarm like Inzektors and Wind-Ups. Punishes over-extending, but can easily be stopped with Starlight Road and THRIO in most situations. | = |
| Solemn Warning | A lot of effects that Special Summon are present in the game. 2000 LP is almost always worth breaking a loop that would otherwise generate several large monsters. Even though Bottomless Trap Hole is arguably more powerful with Ignition Priority being revoked, this card can still counter loops that use monsters which Bottomless cannot hit. | = |
| Unlimited | ||
| Abyss Soldier | Semi Limited from April '05 to Sept '05 due to its abuse with Sinister Serpent, allowing free bouncing, once per turn. After Sinister Serpent got Forbidden, this came off the list. | = |
| Apprentice Magician | With Magician of Faith limited, people used this card to search her. Nephthys Decks also used her to search Hand of Nephthys to quickly summon Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys. Then this card came off as Magician of Faith became banned. The Apprentice Magician / Old Vindictive Magician Monarch combo didn't really contribute to it's initial semi-limitation. | = |
| Black Rose Dragon | Universal Nuke. See also, Debris-Hime deck. | - |
| Breaker the Magical Warrior | Back when it was banned/limited, +1 cards were overpowered, Breaker lets you destroy a card almost for free and you'll still have a monster; or you could leave it as a 1900 Beatstick which is quite a lot at the time. | = |
| Cyber Dragon | Can be Special Summoned easily. Good ATK. Usable in many decks. However, there are increasing amounts of new decks that can Special Summon "a bunch of monsters in one turn", so older decks need this. Also, the opponent can use Chimeratech Fortress Dragon against you if you're using machines as well (e.g. Morphtronics, Salvo, Gadgets). | =, Low chance of ↑ |
| D.D. Assailant | Back when this was initially hit, Warrior Toolbox decks were Tier 1. | - |
| D.D. Warrior Lady | Same as D.D. Assailant (above). Also, this card had the option of removing the monster, or not to remove the monster. This card also doesn't need to be destroyed by battle to remove the opponent's monster, just battling it will do, hence why this came off the list a while after Assailant. | = |
| Dark Scorpion - Chick the Yellow | This + Makyura + Call of the Haunted = OTK, but Makyura is now banned and this card is bad. | =, certain |
| Demise, King of Armageddon | See Demise/Doom OTK. The lack of such Decks in the meta, however, resulted in this card coming off the list. | - |
| Exiled Force | Same as D.D. Assailant (above). | - |
| Goblin Zombie | Very good searcher. In a Zombie deck, it can be more abusable than Sangan or Witch of the Black Forest because of their revival power. Not many people would use 3 anyways. | - |
| Green Baboon | Before, it was allowed to be Special Summoned when a Beast was destroyed by battle or by a card effect. This was rather good with a relatively low cost for high ATK. Now, they changed the ruling and it can't be used during the Damage Step, so destroying by battle won't Trigger its effect. | = |
| Green Gadget | Gadget decks used to top frequently, but aren't as powerful as they once were. Most decks wouldn't run more than 2 of each nowadays. | = |
| Red Gadget | ||
| Yellow Gadget | ||
| Injection Fairy Lily | She was considered to be too fast and too strong for the format at the time. Now there are decks other than beatdown types, so this came off. | = |
| Jinzo | Very popular early in the game's history since the game was slow enough to allow for monsters to be Tribute Summoned. Then the metagame picked up speed, where Special Summons became more favourable, and Jinzo dwindled in popularity due to both Royal Decree and presence of better monsters to Special Summon. Naturia Bamboo Shoot is also a Tribute monster, but it also stops Spells and not just Traps, although it is less splashable. | = |
| Judgment Dragon | Can be Special Summoned easily. Low cost to nuke the Field except itself. 3000 ATK. Double JD is just broken, especially when they can be returned to your hand with Beckoning Light. However, in the OCG with the new Priority ruling change, the increase of anti-Special Summon of high level/LIGHT (chaos) cards, and Lightsworns not topping much might have been the reason to unlimit this. Consensus seems to say this card should be banned, and Lumina should be unlimited instead. | Chance of ↑ |
| Light and Darkness Dragon | See Perfect Circle. Not as abusable now that Tribute Summoning is considered slow. | = |
| Manticore of Darkness | There is an OTK with this card (but it's too inconsistent with the current format), and it worked well with Card of Safe Return (now banned). | = |
| Marauding Captain | Same as D.D. Assailant (above). | = |
| Marshmallon | Relatively hard to kill. Instantly inflicts 1000 damage, which is quite a lot. However, Spirit Reaper went back to 3, so it was inevitable that this would go back to 3 also due to the high amount of destruction power. | - |
| Mask of Darkness | Well, Royal Oppression became Limited when this became Unlimited, not that anyone was using this card anyway. | - |
| Morphing Jar 2 | A very potent field-disrupter, freezing the battle phase and eating up Nomis and Tribute monsters the moment it was flipped. This is probably why it was Semi, until '05 when destroying monsters with effects became more popular than battle, giving a very good way to circumvent its Flip Effect. It probably disappeared off the meta then, and so went back to unlimited. | = |
| Necro Gardna | Easily used in Lightsworns, and with Burial from a Different Dimension (however, this is Limited). Lightsworns have not been topping lately due to their relative inconsistency, so this was unlimited to give them a chance in the current meta. | - |
| Phantom of Chaos | Formerly abused in Sky Scourge Norleras decks. Once those decks stopped doing well, this was allowed to go back to 3. | = |
| Protector of the Sanctuary | Formerly abused with things like Time Seal and Yata-Garasu as an additional layer of insurance for such a lock since the opponent could only break the lock by drawing with a card effect. Time Seal and Yata-Garasu soon got banned, leaving no reason to limit Protector of the Sanctuary. | = |
| Raiza the Storm Monarch | Raiza was overused in Monarch decks, and that was Tier 1. Caius was released, along with other faster decks so this was let off. Caius is now considered to be better anyways. | = |
| Reflect Bounder | At the time they limited this, Chaos decks were Tier 1. The Envoys were also banned at this time, but they realized that this didn't really need to be hit as hitting the Envoys were enough, so this later this came off. | = |
| Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys | At the time when it was Limited, destruction by effects were the metagame, especially with Gadget Decks using this to its fullest. Nephthys could come back persistently, destroying backrow at the same time. Then the metagame picked up speed with both Chainable Traps and Removal Decks becoming more popular, and use of Nephthys died down. | = |
| Snipe Hunter | Formerly abused in Gadget Decks due to massive hand advantage to fuel its effect. The lack of Gadget Decks around resulted in it coming off the list. | = |
| Spirit Reaper | Can't be destroyed by battle, but unlike Marshmallon, it destroys itself the moment it is Targeted. Its other effect is great, except against Dark World; guess what theme the new Structure Deck was? | - |
| Twin-Headed Behemoth | Monarch decks used to run 3 at the time, keeping a monster to Tribute on the field whether it was destroyed by battle or by a card effect. Then a new ruling was made: "The effect of "Twin-Headed Behemoth" can only be used ONCE throughout the entirety of the Duel. Even if your Deck includes three copies of the card, between those three copies the effect can only be used once, not once each." This card became unlimited after that ruling was released, and Monarchs then received Treeborn Frog and that replaced this card, even if the ruling wasn't made. | =, certain |
| Treeborn Frog | Yes it's a free Tribute, but you can only activate 1 anyway. So limiting isn't going to do much. Semi-Limit is still OK because the new removal cards tend to remove 2 at once. | =, Low chance of ↑ |
| Vampire Lord | See Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys (above). | = |
| Book of Taiyou | Formerly abused in Empty Jar Decks to force the activation of Cyber Jar and Morphing Jar 2. | = |
| Creature Swap | Formerly considered too strong for the meta back when there weren't as many removal cards. | = |
| Destiny Draw | Works very well with Destiny Hero - Malicious and is a godsend to Diamond Dude Turbo. Was a semi-universal draw engine. | Low chance of ￪ |
| Emergency Provisions | Formerly abused with Mirage of Nightmare, which is now banned. | = |
| Emergency Teleport | With Mind Master gone and Tele-DAD dead, it was only fair to give this card a chance. But now that Gustos are out and E Tele decks being popular, this may see some sort of restriction | Low chance of ￪ |
| Fissure | A 'one for one' card that was rarely used outside of Gadget decks, and faster decks that could cope were made, so this came off. | = |
| Gold Sarcophagus | Adds any card from your deck to your Hand. Removes the card face-up. However takes 2 turns before the card actually gets to your Hand, which is rather slow. | = |
| Level Limit - Area B | Excellent stalling device for no cost, effectively locking out most Decks that use lots of high-level monsters. However, it does not affect Xyz Monsters, and Konami is promoting people to buy them. Similar to Gravity Bind, which also went back to 3. | - |
| Lightning Vortex | Limited due to abuse with Sinister Serpent for cheap frying of the opponent's face-up monsters. It still saw some abuse since there were 2 Night Assailants still on the list. It finally came off the Limited status after Night Assailant hit 1 on the next list. | = |
| Mage Power | Was considered too strong back when beatsticks won duels on their own. Equip cards are considered slow now and they most likely won't stick around. | = |
| Megamorph | Doubling original ATK can be a lot, sometimes enough to OTK. The drawback of halving when you have more LPs isn't too bad either as you can equip it to your opponent's monsters. However, Equip Spells are still bad and have gotten worse now that we have 3 MSTs. | - |
| Mystical Space Typhoon | Fast. Staple. 1 for 1 card. | - |
| Overload Fusion | Back then, Future Fusion and Chimeratech Overdragon combo provided a large beatstick, nowadays, beatsticks don't mean as much. Also, Future Fusion is Forbidden anyways. | - |
| Smashing Ground | Fissure became Unlimited in the format before this came down, so this followed. | - |
| Swords of Revealing Light | Stalls for quite a long time. You can still attack while the opponent cannot. With Xyz Monsters making Level Limit and Gravity Bind less useful, why not? | - |
| United We Stand | Yes it makes monsters into bigger beatsticks, but with so many cards to stop it... (e.g. Book of Moon, Dimensional Prison, etc.) | - |
| Upstart Goblin | Back then, Makyura Exodia decks were everywhere. Then they realised that Makyura was the thing that needed to be banned. | = |
| Call of the Haunted | Much fairer speed when compared to its Spell counterparts. Can't be abused multiple times per turn (unlike Premature Burial). Can only special summon from your own Graveyard (unlike Monster Reborn). Like Magic Cylinder, top decks didn't play this card much, so it was probably dropped for the same reason. Most people who use it wouldn't use 3. | - |
| Icarus Attack | Powerful Chainable 2 for 2 card, which made Blackwings lethal. Now that they aren't topping much, and with Heavy Storm and 3 MSTs, this could come back down. | - |
| Drop Off | This got limited at the same time Time Seal initially got banned. Then they realised that stopping a Draw is completely different than discarding the drawn card, with decks which use the graveyard more often, and being a 'one for one' card, this came off. | = |
| Good Goblin Housekeeping | Back then, this Draw power was extremely good. It's bad now. | = |
| Gravity Bind | Stalls a lot, but Konami is promoting people to buy Xyz Monsters, which aren't affected by it (Rank =/= Level). See also Level Limit - Area B (above). | - |
| Magic Cylinder | Negates an attack and inflicts major burn damage. Finishing move. Moved off the Limited List, perhaps, to discourage OTKs via a monster with high ATK. | = |
| Reckless Greed | People wanted to stack these cards together... then was unlimited again when fair shuffling techniques were enforced. JK, see why Upstart Goblin (above) was limited. | = |
| Royal Decree | 1 card to continuously stop a large amount of cards. Works well in Herald decks to prevent the activation of Counter Trap Cards. | - |
| Skill Drain | 1 card to continuously stop a large amount of cards. Works well with cards such as Beast King Barbaros. See also: Skill Drain Deck | - |
