History GameBreaker / YuGiOhCardGameBannedAndNerfedCards

** And speaking of Performapals there's [[http://yugipedia.com/wiki/Performapal_Monkeyboard Performapal Monkeyboard]]. It is a one-card Pendulum set up with the card at it's prime being the [=PePe=] Deck. It can easily search out [[http://yugipedia.com/wiki/Performapal_Lizardraw other]] [[http://yugipedia.com/wiki/Performapal_Guitartle notable]] [[http://yugipedia.com/wiki/Performapal_Odd_Eyes_Unicorn Performapal]] [[http://yugipedia.com/wiki/Performapal_Pendulum_Sorcerer monsters]] critical to [=PePe=]'s success. Even after the second emergency banlist of the game that limited Monkeyboard, it's still too strong so in August 2016 Konami banned Monkeyboard, and despite Pendulum Monsters being hit the hardest since the Master Rule Revisions, there is a great reason this card is still banned to this day.

* [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Pole_Position Pole Position]] is an odd case in that it was never that powerful of a card. However, it caused major headaches as a result of being a literal game breaker. The problematic effect was to make the monster with the highest Attack Points unaffected by Spell effects. Innocuous at first, but consider if both a 1500 ATK and a 2000 ATK monster are on the field, and then Axe of Despair, which grants 1000 ATK, is used on the 1500 ATK monster. The 1500 ATK monster would have the higher attack, and so would be unaffected by Axe of Despair, causing the 2000 ATK monster to have the highest ATK, and be affected by Pole Position, meaning Axe of Despair works again, so the 1500 ATK would have the highest attack again, so it would be unaffected by Axe of Despair... Pole Position was infamous for causing infinite loops such as these, grinding the game to a standstill. Konami ended up clarifying the rules for infinite loops, so that, if one occurred, the card responsible for the loop would be destroyed, which stopped Pole Position from casuing infinite loops.

** And speaking of Performapals there's [[http://yugipedia.com/wiki/Performapal_Monkeyboard Performapal Monkeyboard]]. It is a one card Pendulum setup with the card at it's prime being the [=PePe=] Deck. It can easily search out [[http://yugipedia.com/wiki/Performapal_Lizardraw other]] [[http://yugipedia.com/wiki/Performapal_Guitartle notable]] [[http://yugipedia.com/wiki/Performapal_Odd_Eyes_Unicorn Performapal]] monsters critical to [=PePe=]'s success. Even after the second emergency banlist of the game that limited Monkeyboard, it's still too strong and so on August 2016 Konami banned Monkeyboard and despite Pendulum Monsters being hit the hardest since the Master Rule Revisions there is a great reason this card is still banned to this day.

** [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Ib_the_World_Chalice_Justiciar Ib the World Chalice Justiciar]] is an incredible combo extender. Not only is it generic, it also immediately rewards you upon summon and ''floats'' on top of everything, massively aiding combo-based decks. ''any'' deck that can Synchro and splash in a few World Chalice cards can gain a powerful tool for setting up multi-summon power plays. With [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Crystron_Halqifibrax Halqifibrax]] approaching the TCG, this resulted in Ib becoming one of the few examples of a preemptive ban in the game's history, being banned in the January 2020 TCG Lists. The OCG soon followed suit three months later before the Master Rules April 1st 2020 Revision came into effect.

** Its cousin, [[http://yugipedia.com/wiki/Fiber_Jar Fiber Jar]], was even worse. Got a bad hand? Close to losing? Your key monsters are in graveyard and you can't recover them? Fear not! Just flip up Fiber Jar and it effectively resets the game, barring banished cards. Its effect has been compared to ''Shahrazad'' from ''Magic: The Gathering'', in that it forcibly extended the duration of a duel by a fair amount, which was something you didn't want in a tournament enviroment.

** [[http://yugipedia.com/wiki/Cyber_Jar Cyber Jar]] was an extremely powerful staple in many decks before becoming banned. When flipped, it nukes the entire field and forces both players to reveal the top 5 cards from their deck and Special Summon all Level 4 or lower monsters in face-up attack or face-down defense, with anything else being added to the hand. It served as a "get-out-of-jail-free" card, usable in any bad situation, that also gave the user a significant field and hand advantage.
*** Cyber Jar had an entire deck built around a first turn kill using cards like The Shallow Grave, Book of Taiyou, and Card Destruction to deck the opponent out before they can draw. Americans tried fixing it by restricting Book of Taiyou which worked, but since the World Championship didn't have such a restriction, it dominated the tournament leading to Cyber Jar's death.
** Its cousin, [[http://yugipedia.com/wiki/Fiber_Jar Fiber Jar]], was even worse. Got a bad hand? Close to losing? Your key monster is in graveyard and you can't recover it? Fear not! Just flip up Fiber Jar and it sends every card on both players' fields and their hands and Graveyards back into the deck while drawing 5 new cards, effectively resetting the game.

** One of the most useful cards to be released in Japan before the first Forbidden List was instituted was [[http://yugipedia.com/wiki/Sixth_Sense Sixth Sense]], which was not released in the TCG until more than a decade later (which tried putting it to 1 on its release for a single format before immediately realizing what they had done and banning it right after). In theory, the card is a risk or reward. You declare two numbers between 1 and 6, and if your opponent rolled one of the declared numbers, you draw that many cards, otherwise you mill the number of cards that was rolled. Except the mill is almost completely incidental unless you're playing against a dedicated mill deck (or outright beneficial, if you're playing a Deck that uses the Graveyard a lot), whereas guessing 5 or 6 and rolling that amount would give you so much advantage that you essentially play with two starting hands. So there's a two in three chance that the card does almost nothing or creates mild benefit, and a one in three chance that the card wins you the game. As stated before, the card came out in Japan before the Forbidden List existed, and as soon as it was introduced, the card was Forbidden and has held that position ever since. To put that in perspective, the only other card to have been banned for as long as banning a card has been possible is Yata-Garasu. Not only that, but it's the ''only'' card with a gamble-related effect to ever be banned. It's that formidable.
** [[http://yugipedia.com/wiki/Card_of_Safe_Return Card of Safe Return]]'s effect is to draw a card anytime you Special Summon from the Graveyard. An example of reverse PowerCreep, it initially saw little use when first released as there were few ways to recover from the Graveyard. As time marched on, however, Graveyard recurring cards and strategies became prevalent, allowing the user to make a large number of draws as they make their plays. The release of [[http://yugipedia.com/wiki/Zombie_Master Zombie Master]] in 2007 resulted in this card becoming frequently used in Zombie Decks, and later the [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Teleport_Dark_Armed TeleDAD]] and [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Lightsworn Lightsworn]] Decks abused its newfound power to no end. As a result, it was banned in September 2009 and has never seen the light of day since.
** [[http://yugipedia.com/wiki/Mirage_of_Nightmare Mirage of Nightmare]] allows you to draw cards until you have 4 in hand during your opponent's standby phase, but requires you to randomly discard the same number during your own. Even ignoring its potential for rapid graveyard setup, its downside can easily be dodged by preventing its discard effect from resolving (like destroying the card yourself at the end of the opponent's turn), allowing you to keep all the cards drawn off of it. The classic combo seen in the anime, which drew prevalence to the card, was Emergency Provisions, which would send any number of your back row to the grave for an extra 1000 LP per card, but any quick-activation Spell or Trap destruction effect would do.
** [[http://yugipedia.com/wiki/Chicken_Game Chicken Game]] allows one card to be drawn at the cost of 1000 LP for once per turn. Such restriction can be bypassed and [[LoopholeAbuse abused]] by having three copies of it as well as three copies of [[http://yugipedia.com/wiki/Pseudo_Space Pseudo Space]], where ''six'' cards can be drawn by a hefty 6000 LP in total. Draw power will go UpToEleven when used with [[http://yugipedia.com/wiki/Terraforming Terraforming]], [[http://yugipedia.com/wiki/Royal_Magical_Library Royal Magical Library]], [[http://yugipedia.com/wiki/Upstart_Goblin Upstart Goblin]] (which is currently limited in the TCG format) and [[http://yugipedia.com/wiki/Hope_for_Escape Hope for Escape]], where a total of ''eighteen'' cards is drawn. Such play style makes Exodia an even more TierInducedScrappy solitaire deck. There is also an FTK combo involving the aforementioned cards, the Monarchs, [[http://yugipedia.com/wiki/Life_Equalizer Life Equalizer]] (which is currently banned in the OCG format) and [[http://yugipedia.com/wiki/Magical_Explosion Magical Explosion]].

** [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Topologic_Gumblar_Dragon Topologic Gumblar Dragon]] is the most feared and hated of the virus dragons, and it's not hard to see why. It has two effects that allow it to rip away up to two cards from your opponent's hand once per turn, either by having a monster be Special Summoned to a zone a Link Monster points to (note that it doesn't have to be one of Gumblar Dragon's Link Zones) and discarding up to two of your own cards, or by using it to complete an Extra Link, in which case there's no cost and you can inflict 3000 damage if it left your opponent with no cards. It's common to see this monstrosity used in Extra Link-focused Decks to rip away two cards on the starting turn, then use any Special Summoning ability during the opponent's Standby Phase to drop another monster in a Link Zone to rip away two more cards before the opponent can even react. In a best case scenario, the opponent was left with two cards to try and break your board (possibly less if they tried to stop you with hand traps like Ash Blossom or Ghost Ogre). In a Dark Warrior Deck, though, it was usually a worst case scenario where they would have no cards in their starting hand, as the Deck could use [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Neo_Space_Connector Neo Space Connector]] along with Isolde and Summon Sorceress to empty the opponent's hand with Neo-Spacian Aqua Dolphin. You heard right, folks: ''VRAINS'' had created a card that made ''teching Neo-Spacians'' a meta strategy. Gumblar was promptly catapulted into Forbidden status in the January 28 2019 TCG Lists, and the OCG would follow suit a year later.
** [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Smoke_Grenade_of_the_Thief Smoke Grenade of the Thief]] has the effect where, if it's destroyed by a card effect while equipped to a monster, you get to look at your opponent's hand and discard 1 card from it. The card went completely under the radar ever since its introduction in 2004, as there was no real practical way to take advantage of the effect. That all changed with the introduction of the Infernoble Knights in 2020, whose main combo line usually ended on [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Infernoble_Knight_Emperor_Charles Infernoble Knight Emperor Charles]], who could both automatically equip Smoke Grenade from the graveyard and destroy it to enable the hand rip effect. Getting Smoke Grenade into the graveyard was a cinch thanks to [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Isolde,_Two_Tales_of_the_Noble_Knights Isolde]], meaning a potent new combo deck had the ability to gain invaluable hand knowledge and take a card out it without even breaking a sweat, or possibly even two cards if it starts its combo with [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Neo_Space_Connector Neo Space Connector]]. Smoke Grenade even saw use in Dragon Link decks since it was searchable by a [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Vylon_Cube Vylon Cube]] summoned by Halqifibrax and could then be destroyed by Rokket Tracer to summon another Rokket. Since the effect had become far too easy to trigger, the TCG banned Smoke Grenade of the Thief on the December 2020 banlist.

** [[http://yugipedia.com/wiki/Change_of_Heart Change of Heart]] was among the very first cards ever banned in the game, and for good reason. Its effect is to take control of an opponent's monster until the end phase. The fact that it returns during the end phase is its only downside, which is almost always rendered moot by the fact that you're going to probably attack with it, tribute it, or use it for the summon of another monster, ensuring that they don't get the chance to use it again.
** [[http://yugipedia.com/wiki/Snatch_Steal Snatch Steal]] is an equip card, meaning it can steal an opponent's monster permanently as long as it's equipped. Its only downsides are that it gives the opponent 1000 LP during each of their standby phases and the inherent equip spell downsides of being unable to target facedown monsters and losing to spell and trap destruction. It was banned for 8 years before Konami decided to bring it back in the January 2015 banlist... where it proved to be nothing more than a cheap topdeck card that can be searched or reused with [[http://yugipedia.com/wiki/Hidden_Armory Hidden Armory]] (which prevents normal summons during the turn it's activated, but that's irrelevant in decks that don't need to do so) resulting in it being immediately re-banned in the following format.

** [[http://yugipedia.com/wiki/Djinn_Releaser_of_Rituals Djinn Releaser of Rituals]], by far the best of the ritual supporting Djinn archetype that can also be banished from the graveyard for ritual summons, blocks Special Summoning ''only'' on the opponent's side if used for one. However as Ritual Summoning were incredibly impractical at the time it was released, such an effect never became a huge problem, until Nekroz came about and alleviated every single weaknesses that Rituals have. All of a sudden, the Djinn-lock becomes a massive headache for the duelists to deal with because they can use Nekroz Cycle in tandem with Djinn and Clausolas in order to lock the other player from Special Summoning, essentially shutting down their entire turn as long as the Ritual Summoned card remains on the field. This forces many players in the format to main deck anti-Djinn cards such as Bull Blader, Book of Eclipse, and D.D Warrior Lady in order to make their plays or else they get locked forever. There are accounts of players running ''Shock Troops of the Ice Barrier'' to try to get rid of Clausolas. Due to forcing the usage of otherwise mediocre and/or outdated cards just to answer it, the card was banned in the TCG, though it took the OCG a few years to do the same.
** [[http://yugipedia.com/wiki/Kaiser_Colosseum Kaiser Colosseum]] has the effect that basically makes it so that the opponent can't summon any additional monsters if it would make it so they control more than you do if you have a monster on the field. While it saw little play back when it was released, once new summoning mechanics came into being, such as Synchro and Xyz summons (as well as Link summoning, which came after this card's ban), this card became a nightmare for many duelists to deal with. As these mechanics require multiple cards to be on the field to be used, if a player using this card can maintain a monster on the board (an easy feat in protection and/or floater based decks), many decks will be stuck being unable to get their critical plays off if they fail to get rid of Kaiser Colosseum.
** Rounding out the unholy trinity of anti-Special Summon floodgates is [[http://yugipedia.com/wiki/Vanity%27s_Emptiness Vanity's Emptiness]]. It's a Continuous Trap Card that completely prevents any sort of Special Summoning by both players, and because of this, it generally will be activated on the opponent's turn in response to an effect that Special Summons a monster(s), making them waste resources for absolutely nothing and more often than not making them lose a turn entirely. But it also stops the owner from Special Summoning so it's a fair exchange, right? Well, Vanity's Emptiness also sports a "downside" that causes it to destroy itself if a card is sent from its owner's deck or field to the Graveyard, which is almost embarassingly easy to exploit with something as simple as using a Spell or Trap Card. And, like Royal Oppression, you can simply do all of your Special Summoning ''before'' flipping Vanity's Emptiness and watching your opponent squirm. While the downside also makes it easier to play around than Djinn Releaser or Royal Oppression, Vanity's Emptiness still proved game-breaking enough to warrant a ban.
** As of Feb 2018, [[http://yugipedia.com/wiki/Maxx_%22C%22 MAXX "C"]] joins these ranks. At the time of introduction, it was the most balanced anti-special summoning card of its kind, simply allowing the player using it to draw any time the opponent special summons, while being a dead draw against a deck that doesn't need to special summon. However, due to PowerCreep, it's increasingly the case that decks that need to do multiple special summons are more common than not, and the introduction of many more powerful hand trap effect monsters, has changed things considerably. Now, MAXX "C" can leave an opponent in a [[MortonsFork Catch 22]], make the plays they need to make, and risk getting them derailed by newly drawn cards and/or likely lose next turn due to the cards they drew, or awkwardly end their turn before the opponent gets to draw tons of cards, and leaving themselves vulnerable. This led to its ban.[[labelnote:Trivia]]This marks the major difference between the TCG and OCG banlists, where it is banned in the former and is an '''''all-time staple''''' in the latter. This leads to some major differences between the two metas.[[/labelnote]]
** [[http://yugipedia.com/wiki/Number_86:_Heroic_Champion_-_Rhongomyniad Number 86: Heroic Champion Rhongomyniad]] is a pure beast of a card. It is summmoned with anywhere from 2 to 5 Warrior-type monsters, and gains powerful stacking effects based on its number of materials, although it is forced to detach one at the end of each of the controller's turns. At 1+ it is indestructible in battle, at 2+ it gains 1500 ATK, at 3+, it is [[NoSell unaffected by any other effects]], at 4+ it ''prevents the opponent from Normal or Special Summoning'', and on 5 materials you can nuke the opponent's field once per turn. While it had some use in the Tellarknight, Igknight, and Clownblade decks of the Arc-V era, this card truly came into its own when combined [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Number_75:_Bamboozling_Gossip_Shadow Number 75: Bamboozling Gossip Shadow]]. The combo was to summon a Link with multiple arrows (often Summon Sorceress or Isolde), Summon Rhongomyniad with two materials, then summon Number 75 in the same way and use its effect to transfer itself and its materials to Rhongomyniad, giving you access to the field nuke and locking your opponent out of summoning anything for two turns while you have free reign over the field. Dark Warrior decks often combined this strategy with Topologic Gumblar Dragon, depleting the opponent's hand ''and'' preventing them from summoning anything to protect themselves from attacks, leading to a literally unavoidable defeat. This card was thus banned in the January 28 2019 TCG List.
** Meet [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Thunder_Dragon_Colossus Thunder Dragon Colossus]]. This card can be easily Special Summmoned from your Extra Deck by Tributing a Thunder Effect non-Fusion Monster during the same turn you activated a Thunder monster’s effect in your hand. While on the field, it acts as a one-sided [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Thunder_King_Rai-Oh Thunder King Rai-Oh]], preventing only your opponent from adding cards from their Main Deck to the hand except by drawing, shutting down your opponent's searches. What's worse, if it would be destroyed by battle or card effect, you can banish a Thunder monster from your GY instead, which can trigger the on-banish effects of the Thunder Dragons to gain even more advantage. Thunder Dragons became top tier after it was released, and combining it with high ATK beatsticks such as [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Ultimate_Conductor_Tyranno Ultimate Conductor Tyranno]] (easily summoned by [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Double_Evolution_Pill Double Evolution Pill]] which fits right in an archetype that wants their cards banished) or [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Thunder_Dragon_Titan Thunder Dragon Titan]] (Summoned by banishing the aforementioned Colossus and one Thunder monster in your hand) grants an oppressive board of locking down the opponent's searches and a field filled with indestructible monsters. The introduction of [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Nemesis_Corridor Nemesis Corridor]] made it even easier to summon in other decks besides Thunder Dragons, being essentially a one card Colossus while recovering a banished monster as a cherry on top. This ultimately prompted the fusion monster getting limited in the OCG's January 2020 ban list and flat out banned in the TCG the same month.

** [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/True_King_of_All_Calamities True King of All Calamities]] is an Xyz monster that is special summoned by overlaying 2 or more Level 9 monsters. By detaching 1 Xyz material and declaring 1 Attribute, all face-up monsters on the field become that Attribute, also all monsters in your opponent's possession with that Attribute cannot activate their effects (even in the hand or GY) or attack for one turn. Even if the monsters that are not within the declared Attribute can still activate their effects in hand or GY, it still proved devastating for the opponent because the majority of monster effects activate while on the field, potentially shutting down their entire turn. Any decks that can turbo out at least 2 Level 9 monsters such as the aformentioned True King, Dinosaur, or Virtual World became viable meta decks just for being able to summon this card. It can even be used in Orcusts by Ranking up [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Dingirsu,_the_Orcust_of_the_Evening_Star Dingirsu, Orcust of the Evening Star]] using [[https://bit.ly/2EEtGhR The Phantom Knights' Rank-Up-Magic Launch]] (which can be summoned from the Extra Deck by using 1 Orcust Link as material). Thanks to a combo involving the Knightmare/Orcust monsters (see the [[GameBreaker/YuGiOhCardGame VRAINS]] folder) this card can be turboed out using just ANY 2 monsters on the field, eventually becoming a cheap, easy lockdown against the meta. With the ever-expanding array of good Rank 9 support, such as Virtual World and Generaiders, Calamities eventually became an omnipresent lockdown card in the meta (earning itself the sarcastic FanNickname of "Very Fun Dragon" in the process), and as such was banned in the TCG lists in March 2021, where the OCG follows suit seven months later.

[[folder: Banned cards (TCG)]]

** On that note there's [[http://yugipedia.com/wiki/The_Tyrant_Neptune The Tyrant Neptune]], this Level 10 monster can gain effects on a card that it's tributed with the most notable card leading to it's banning being [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Lyrilusc_-_Independent_Nightingale Lyrilusc - Independent Nightingale]]. When tribute summoned with that card, which you can bring out using Instant Fusion, you have a boss monster that has 6000 attack, immune to card effects bar a few exceptions, and can deal ''5000'' burn damage per every turn. To make things worse, the monster is easily searchable with [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/King_of_the_Feral_Imps King of the Feral Imps]], a generic rank 4 XYZ monster. The Tyrant Neptune is banned on April 2017.

** And speaking of Performapals there's [[http://yugipedia.com/wiki/Performapal_Monkeyboard Performapal Monkeyboard]]. It is a one card pendulum setup with the card at it's prime being the [=PePe=] Deck. It can easily search out [[http://yugipedia.com/wiki/Performapal_Lizardraw other]] [[http://yugipedia.com/wiki/Performapal_Guitartle notable]] [[http://yugipedia.com/wiki/Performapal_Odd_Eyes_Unicorn Performapal]] monsters critical to [=PePe=]'s success. Even after the second emergency banlist of the game that limited Monkeyboard, it's still too strong and so on the August 2016 it banned Monkeyboard and despite Pendulum Monster being hit the hardest since the Master Rule Revisions there is a great reason this card is still banned to this day.

** And speaking of Performapals there's [[http://yugipedia.com/wiki/Performapal_Monkeyboard Performapal Monkeyboard]]. It is a one card pendulum setup with the card at it's prime being the [=PePe=] Deck. It can easily search out [[http://yugipedia.com/wiki/Performapal_Lizardraw other]] [[http://yugipedia.com/wiki/Performapal_Guitartle notable]] [[http://yugipedia.com/wiki/Performapal_Odd_Eyes_Unicorn Performapal]] monsters critical to [=PePe=]'s success.

** [[http://yugipedia.com/wiki/Zoodiac_Drident Zoodiac Drident]]: One of two Zoodiac Xyz monsters to be banned, it has the quick effect that it can pop any face-up card on the field, at a detach cost. While its 4 material Xyz "requirement" might seem too prohibitive at first glance, the Zoodiac archetype has the xyz summoning mechanic of allowing it to be summoned on top of any other member of the archetype, rendering this a moot point. And its effect pretty much forces the opponent to answer it, or plan to lose their first big monster if they can't. Ending off with one of these was a very standard play in Zoodiacs, and a major part of the reason the archetype was so dominant. And, good luck winning if they break out another one in the following turn. Even if you weren't playing a Zoodiac deck, it's so good that you'd be foolish not to run it if you ran any other Zoodiac Xyz monster, including Broadbull. It was brought off to limited in April 2020, but even then, the fear for Zoodiac's return to dominance with it was enough to send Barrage to limited status as a precaution. As of July 2021, however, Drident has once again returned to being Forbidden, making limiting Barrage completely pointless. The possible reason Drident had returned to being Forbidden again is likely because of "Divine Arsenal AA-Zeus - Sky Thunder", a Rank 12 Xyz monster that can Special Summon itself from the Extra Deck, using any Xyz monster that previously attacked as Xyz material. Another possible reason is that because Drident was limited, it meant that Zoodiac monsters became an engine again in the meta, in decks like Eldlich and Tri-Brigade, and Drident allowed for strong Turn 1 plays.

** [[http://yugipedia.com/wiki/Zoodiac_Broadbull Zoodiac Broadbull]], the other of the two Xyz monsters from the infamously broken Zoodiac archetype to be banned, allows for the detach of an Xyz material to search any Beast-Warrior from the deck. As if being a universal type searcher wasn't bad enough, all Zoodiac monsters can be Xyz summoned as long as you have a Zoodiac monster on the field. This mechanic also allows you to use its effect twice in one turn by simply Xyz summoning it the normal way, stacking a different Zoodiac Xyz on top of it, then stacking ''another'' Broadbull on top of that, enabling some crazy combos such as an instant Pendulum scale setup off of essentially one Xyz summon, and that's not even getting into the fact that even after all that, you could still stack a Zoodiac Drident on top as well.

** [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/M-X-Saber_Invoker M-X-Saber Invoker]]. At the time of its release, it saw little play due to being a niche card at best. But then power creep kicked in, and it was a key card of two of the game's more notoriously overpowered archetypes, those being Zoodiacs and Gouki. Its abuse in the latter as a crucial combo piece proved the card's demise.

** [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Guardragon_Agarpain Guardragon Agarpain]]. Its effect, while requiring a bit of setup, it's extremely easy to accomplish on dedicated decks. So basically you could use Agarpain to summon any Galaxy-Eyes Xyz Dragon, use N95 and dump 3 Dragon-type monsters, allowing for more combos, or summon powerful beatsticks like [[[[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Hot_Red_Dragon_Archfiend_Abyss]] to provide more negations to your field. Agarpain would get banned in the Oct 2019 lists.

** [[http://yugipedia.com/wiki/Victory_Dragon Victory Dragon]] has the effect to allow you to win the match if you reduce the opponent's life points to 0 with a direct attack. [[note]]To be clear, this doesn't mean you win just the duel, you win the match (meaning no games 2 and/or 3 if used successfully before then).[[/note]] A nasty effect indeed if you can get it off, but given that it can only be summoned by tributing 3 dragon type monsters, just how overpowered it is is, [[AwesomeButImpractical debatable]]. However, there's a very good reason why it was banned and why [[http://yugipedia.com/wiki/Match_winner all cards like it]] since have been World championship prize cards that have "This card cannot be used in a duel" printed on them by default. The card was responsible for some of the most obnoxious and confusing rulings out there due to unscrupulous players [[LoopholeAbuse attempting to surrender or find other ways to simply lose a duel]] to avoid its match win effect, or players of the card attempting to use it to circumvent the typical match rules (for instance, insisting on a third match after having already lost two of three, because a win by Victory Dragon would undo two losses). This was one of the reasons it was banned. [[note]]OCG rulings around surrendering work differently, as the opponent must accept your surrender, and if they don't you must forfeit the match to still surrender, reducing the ruling hassles brought on by Victory Dragon. There actually was a competitive OCG deck built around Victory Dragon, which is the other part of why it was banned.[[/note]]

* [[http://yugipedia.com/wiki/Dark_Magician_of_Chaos Dark Magician of Chaos]], easily the strongest spell recursion card ever made, originally allowed for a spell card to be added to your hand upon summon. This allowed potentially instant recursion of cards that summoned it, most notoriously [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Monster_Reborn Monster Reborn]] and the long banned [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Dimension_Fusion Dimension Fusion]], both of which allowed for quick and easy One-Turn Kills and/or loops. Add in its 2800 attack stat and powerful anti-floater effect by banishing monsters it destroys by battle, and you have a fearsome card indeed. Its only downside originally is that it banishes itself upon leaving the field, though this made its combo with Dimension Fusion even more potent, earning it a key role in the notorious Dark Armed Return that became the final nail in both cards' coffins. Furthermore, with the creation of Xyz monsters that would allow for the card to dodge its banishment effect, and cards like [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Soul_Charge Soul Charge]], and it's no wonder that it only came back via an erratum making its recursion a true once per turn that happens only at the end of the turn it's summoned.

* [[http://yugipedia.com/wiki/Dark_Magician_of_Chaos Dark Magician of Chaos]], easily the strongest spell recursion card ever made, originally allowed for a spell card to be added to your hand upon summon. This allowed potentially instant recursion of cards that summoned it, most notoriously [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Monster_Reborn Monster Reborn]] and the long banned [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Dimension_Fusion Dimension Fusion]], both of which allowed for quick and easy One-Turn Kills and/or loops. Add in its 2800 attack stat and powerful anti-floater effect by banishing monsters it destroys by battle, and you have a fearsome card indeed. Its only downside originally is that it banishes itself upon leaving the field, though this made its combo with Dimension Fusion even more potent, earning it a key role in the notorious Dark Armed Return that became the final nail both cards' coffins. Furthermore, with the creation of Xyz monsters that would allow for the card to dodge its banishment effect, and cards like [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Soul_Charge Soul Charge]], and it's no wonder that it only came back via an erratum making its recursion a true once per turn that happens only at the end of the turn it's summoned.

** [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/True_King_of_All_Calamities True King of All Calamities]] is an Xyz monster that is special summoned by overlaying 2 or more Level 9 monsters. By detaching 1 Xyz material and declaring 1 Attribute, all face-up monsters on the field become that Attribute, also all monsters in your opponent's possession with that Attribute cannot activate their effects (even in the hand or GY) or attack for one turn. Even if the monsters that are not within the declared Attribute can still activate their effects in hand or GY, it still proved devastating for the opponent because the majority of monster effects activate while on the field, potentially shutting down their entire turn. Any decks that can turbo out at least 2 Level 9 monsters such as the aformentioned True King, Dinosaur, or Virtual World became viable meta decks just for being able to summon this card. It can even be used in Orcusts by Ranking up [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Dingirsu,_the_Orcust_of_the_Evening_Star Dingirsu, Orcust of the Evening Star]] using [[https://bit.ly/2EEtGhR The Phantom Knights' Rank-Up-Magic Launch]] (which can be summoned from the Extra Deck by using 1 Orcust Link as material). Thanks to a combo involving the Knightmare/Orcust monsters(see the [[GameBreaker/YuGiOhCardGame VRAINS]]folder) this card can be turboed out using just ANY 2 monsters on the field, eventually becoming a cheap, easy lockdown against the meta. With the ever-expanding array of good Rank 9 support, such as Virtual World and Generaiders, Calamities eventually became an omnipresent lockdown card in the meta (earning itself the sarcastic FanNickname of "Very Fun Dragon" in the process), and as such was banned in the TCG lists in March 2021, where the OCG follows suit seven months later.
** [[http://yugipedia.com/wiki/Number_S0:_Utopic_ZEXAL Number S0: Utopic ZEXAL]]. It can be summoned by discarding a Rank-Up-Magic (RUM) spell from your hand and overlaying onto a Utopia monster. (Note that this is any Utopia monster, not just the Rank 4 ones). Furthermore, its summon cannot be negated or responded to. Its stats are dependent on how many materials it has, 1000 A/D per material; finally, during your opponent's turn, you can remove one material to prevent them from activating any cards or effects for the rest of the turn. And since it is a quick effect, it can be played the instant they draw for their normal draw. No spells, traps or monster effects, including those already on field can be used, essentially preventing your opponent from even ''playing the game'' on their turn as long as it has material. Not only is this insane in its own right, its addition to the game makes sure Konami will never print a consistent RUM searcher to prevent the summoning of this monster from being consistent. And now you can easily Xyz Summon it the proper way using Don Thousand's [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Numeron Numeron]] cards (see the [[GameBreaker/YuGiOhCardGame SEVENS folder]]). It got banned in the OCG in October 2020, and sure enough, not long after it was banned, Konami printed an easily-used Rank-Up-Magic search card, [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/ZEXAL_Construction ZEXAL Construction]]. The TCG subsequently gave it the axe in March 2021.

** [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/True_King_of_All_Calamities True King of All Calamities]] is an Xyz monster that is special summoned by overlaying 2 or more Level 9 monsters. By detaching 1 Xyz material and declaring 1 Attribute, all face-up monsters on the field become that Attribute, also all monsters in your opponent's possession with that Attribute cannot activate their effects (even in the hand or GY) or attack for one turn. Even if the monsters that are not within the declared Attribute can still activate their effects in hand or GY, it still proved devastating for the opponent because the majority of monster effects activate while on the field, potentially shutting down their entire turn. Any decks that can turbo out at least 2 Level 9 monsters such as the aformentioned True King, Dinosaur, or Virtual World became viable meta decks just for being able to summon this card. It can even be used in Orcusts by Ranking up [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Dingirsu,_the_Orcust_of_the_Evening_Star Dingirsu, Orcust of the Evening Star]] using [[https://bit.ly/2EEtGhR The Phantom Knights' Rank-Up-Magic Launch]] (which can be summoned from the Extra Deck by using 1 Orcust Link as material). Thanks to a combo involving the Knightmare/Orcust monsters(see VRAINS folder) this card can be turboed out using just ANY 2 monsters on the field, eventually becoming a cheap, easy lockdown against the meta. With the ever-expanding array of good Rank 9 support, such as Virtual World and Generaiders, Calamities eventually became an omnipresent lockdown card in the meta (earning itself the sarcastic FanNickname of "Very Fun Dragon" in the process), and as such was banned in the TCG lists in March 2021, where the OCG follows suit seven months later.
** [[http://yugipedia.com/wiki/Number_S0:_Utopic_ZEXAL Number S0: Utopic ZEXAL]]. It can be summoned by discarding a Rank-Up-Magic (RUM) spell from your hand and overlaying onto a Utopia monster. (Note that this is any Utopia monster, not just the Rank 4 ones). Furthermore, its summon cannot be negated or responded to. Its stats are dependent on how many materials it has, 1000 A/D per material; finally, during your opponent's turn, you can remove one material to prevent them from activating any cards or effects for the rest of the turn. And since it is a quick effect, it can be played the instant they draw for their normal draw. No spells, traps or monster effects, including those already on field can be used, essentially preventing your opponent from even ''playing the game'' on their turn as long as it has material. Not only is this insane in its own right, its addition to the game makes sure Konami will never print a consistent RUM searcher to prevent the summoning of this monster from being consistent. And now you can easily Xyz Summon it the proper way, see SEVENS folder. It got banned in the OCG in October 2020, and sure enough, not long after it was banned, Konami printed an easily-used Rank-Up-Magic search card, [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/ZEXAL_Construction ZEXAL Construction]]. The TCG subsequently gave it the axe in March 2021.

** [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Soul_Charge Soul Charge]], a card that lets you Special Summon multiple monsters from the Graveyard, at the cost of 1000 LP per card, and skipping your own Battle Phase this turn. However, there is absolutely nothing that prevents you from Special Summoning another monster that turn, unlike most other cards released today, and if you're playing this when going first, you aren't able to attack anyway, effectively giving this card zero drawbacks. There are also zero restrictions on which monsters you can bring back, letting you use high level monsters as materials, then simply bring them back to use again. The card ended up enabling the revival of Infernity and allowed the [[http://yugipedia.com/wiki/Sylvan Sylvan]] archetype to make some quite absurd powerful fields with only two cards. The card sat at 1 copy for years and was considered very sacky, and only got worse as the meta shifted to more aggressive single-turn plays. Konami finally put it to banned status in 2019.

** [[http://yugipedia.com/wiki/Norden Elder Entity Norden]], one of the best Fusion monsters the game has ever seen, is a Level 4 Fusion monster that can summon ''any'' Level 4 or lower monster from your graveyard upon Special Summon, though its effects are negated. Sure it requires two Synchro/Xyz monsters or one of each to Fusion summon, but it ''can'' be Special Summoned by [[http://yugipedia.com/wiki/Instant_Fusion Instant Fusion]], potentially giving you advantage and very easy access to any Rank 4 or Synchro monsters that are between level 5 and up to Level 8, so much so that it turned Instant Fusion, previously a niche card that only saw use in a select few decks, into a staple card overnight. Its water attribute also made it very easy to target another water attribute monster to summon [[http://yugipedia.com/wiki/Bahamut_Shark Bahamut Shark]], which gave easy access to [[http://yugipedia.com/wiki/Toadally_Awesome Toadally Awesome]]. Not to mention, it can be abused with Super Polymerization. Most importantly, it does not have any Summoning restrictions and its effect can be used multiple times per turn! (Several [=OTKs=] and ''[=FTKs=]'' can be achieved very easily with Norden. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86Mr3ABuYlY Here]] is an example.) Because of that, it is banned in the OCG. It remained Limited in the TCG for a while, until a powerful combo involving Zoodiacs came to light, contributing to Zoodiacs completely dominating the Top 32 of a Yu-Gi-Oh! Championship Series tournament, which ended up being the final nail in this card's coffin. Instant Fusion itself would later get limited in both the April 2020 OCG & TCG lists.

* For a period, the wording of [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/XX-Saber_Darksoul XX-Saber Darksoul]], which allows the searching of an X-Saber during the End Phase of a turn it was sent from the field to the Graveyard, meant it could activate its effect for ''every'' time it was sent to the Graveyard that turn, even if it was just the same copy over and over. And X-Sabers, being a Synchro-based deck with [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/XX-Saber_Faultroll multiple]] [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/XX-Saber_Fulhelmknight revival]] [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Gottoms%27_Emergency_Call options]], had absolutely no problems with recycling Darksoul. This took a deck that was already incredibly good and made it downright silly--not only could it make extensive Synchro plays and switch flawlessly between control and OTK, but a Darksoul with a bit of setup could also yield two or three searches for the next turn to finish the job. This resulted in Konami changing the wording of its effect so that it would now only trigger once per copy.

** [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Salamangreat_Miragestallio Salamangreat Miragestallio]] is one of the most powerful combo pieces in the Salamangreat deck. Easily summoned using cards like [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Salamangreat_Gazelle Gazelle]] and [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Salamangreat_Spinny Spinny]], it serves as both a toolbox and non-destruction removal card. Because of these advantages, Miragestallio was banned in the January 2020 TCG List.

With few exceptions, ''any'' card that winds up banned or nerfed ([[http://www.yugioh-card.com/en/limited/ see here]]) is too powerful for its own good.

With few exceptions, ''any'' card that winds up banned or nerfed ([[http://www.yugioh-card.com/en/limited/ see here]]) is too powerful for its own good, and would heavily skew the game in a player's favour if they're used in any number. ----

!Banned/Nerfed Game Breakers:

[[folder:Banned Cards (TCG)]]
With few exceptions, ''any'' card that winds up on the banlist ([[http://www.yugioh-card.com/en/limited/ see here]]) is too powerful for its own good, and would heavily skew the game in a player's favour if they're used in any number.
----

* Special case cards [[labelnote: explana