Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG - Banned Cards: How Would the Game Change if They Came Back?

The Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG banlist is a tool KONAMI uses to keep the meta balanced. It outlines which cards are forbidden, limited, and semi-limited in official tournaments. It also determines which decks are viable competitively and prevents excessively powerful strategies from dominating the game indefinitely.

With that in mind, we at Cards Realm asked ourselves... What if some of these banned cards returned to the game? In this article, we'll explore how these cards could change the current meta if they ever left the banlist.

Let's see how some scary cards from the past could see play in the best decks in the game right now and change the meta entirely!

To understand how important a banned card was, first we need to understand why KONAMI banned it. Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG might be known for its incredibly strong cards, but balanced decks are actually the essence of the meta. Whenever a card tilts the scales too much, it becomes a target for the banlist.

Below, let's see some reasons why KONAMI bans cards:

They Create an Unfair Advantage

Some cards create a big advantage for a very low cost or no cost at all and make duels quite unbalanced early on.

They Explore Broken Interactions that Get Out of Control Fast

Some old cards weren't too relevant for their time. However, when you combine them with modern cards, they become extremely powerful and affect the whole meta.

They Prevent the Opponent From Playing

Some cards prevent the opponent from playing through lingering or continuous effects that disable an entire game mechanic. They often don't give them a chance to answer them "fairly" either.

They Force the Meta to Focus Solely on Generic Interactions

When a card is so efficient that all decks start using it, it becomes a structural problem for game "diversity".

Maxx "C" shapes the Yu-Gi-Oh! OCG meta, and it would undeniably do the same in Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG if it was ever unbanned. I say that because of how relevant Mulcharmys are nowadays, though they are less generic versions of Maxx "C". Furthermore, Maxx "C" is completely unfair when you're going first and already built a solid board, which would definitely be problematic for the game.

Pot of Greed is the most generic "pot" in Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG and has no cost at all. Throughout the years it has been banned, the community reached the conclusion that no card should create an advantage "for free", that is, without costing something or requiring you to meet a condition. If Pot of Greed came back, it would make all types of decks consistent and speed up the game even more. Going first would be even more essential, and going second would mean a nearly instant loss.

Kaiser Colosseum is a very efficient floodgate in decks centered around keeping just 1 monster in play. If it came back, many control decks would become viable options for tournaments.

If Mystic Mine came back, we'd be back at that time when all decks had to play at least 1 out for it in the main deck. All players would have to "sideboard" backrow removals against decks that don't focus on spells and traps, all because of Mystic Mine. As such, Mystic Mine is extremely unhealthy for the game.

Cyber-Stein was a problem in Yu-Gi-Oh! more than once, and has been in and out of the banlist multiple times. Historically, it always caused trouble when it returned, and nothing is stopping it from doing it again if it does come back another time. Through its effect, we can access powerful fusion monsters, such as Naturia Exterio.

Throughout the years, Cyber-Stein was in many FTK combos and would certainly do it again if it ever returned.

Apollousa, Bow of the Goddess, Baronne de Fleur, and Borreload Savage Dragon are iconic generic boss monsters that have negate effects. If they returned to the game, they would be part of most boards in the game eventually and would once again make negating effects the main interaction in the game.

If Beatrice, Lady of the Eternal, Lavalval Chain, and Curious, the Lightsworn Dominion returned to the game, they'd be quite helpful to mill strategies, to the point they would become a problem. After all, mill strategies are incredibly strong and have always become a structural issue when they're too generic.

Not all cards that were once too strong have to stay in the banlist forever, as some were banned because of their respective metas. Today, some of them could return to the game and not cause any issues.

Check out below some cards that could leave the banlist and not create issues for the current format whatsoever, all while potentially being relatively relevant for the Yu-Gi-Oh! competitive scene.

Elder Entity Norden was once problematic because it was extremely generic when you accessed it with Instant Fusion and because it also gave you 2 bodies to access a rank 4 Xyz monster, usually. However, this is not unhealthy for the game right now because many other strategies are a lot more powerful.

If this card returned, it would be a lot of help to mill and chaos decks, but it wouldn't impact the meta immediately because these decks are not as dominant as they once were.

Zoodiac Drident has been in and out of the banlist a few times, but it has clearly been power-crept by Ryzeal Detonator. Detonator has a similar effect, and you can use it multiple times in the same turn. And, if Detonator is no longer an issue in the meta, a limited Zoodiac Drident surely wouldn't be either.

Heavymetalfoes Electrumite would certainly be a lot of help to Pendulum lists, but not enough to make them tier 1 again. And that's mostly because Apollousa, Bow of the Goddess, Baronne de Fleur, and Borreload Savage Dragon are banned. Without them, these decks don't have many great boss monsters to use.

If Heavy Storm ever came back, limited to 1 copy, it would act more as another copy of Harpie's Feather Duster, a great side deck card to deal with backrow cards.

Do you agree with our picks? Tell us your thoughts in our comment section below.

To keep exploring the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG universe, keep browsing our articles.

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!