So without further ado, let's jump right into this discussion.
A quick note: A few cards that were on the list have come back, due to the fact that Konami gave them an errata. Although I do acknowledge that this can let cards come back, I choose to continue making arguments for returning the cards as they are, with no change to the card text. Just saying that a card can be "errataed" is a bit of a lazy argument, because every single card on the banlist can come off with an errata. I feel that this would result in a discussion that is not really engaging.
Fusion Monsters
The Fusion Monster section of the list is in a tie for being the smallest, with a total of 2 monsters present.
Ocean Man, Take Me By the Hand
Elder Entity Norden is a lvl 4 WATER fusion monster that requires 2 Synchro or Xyz monsters. When you Special Summon it, you can Special Summon a level 4 or lower monster from your GY. However, its effects are negated and you banish it when Norden leaves the field.
Prior to March 2017, it was used to turbo out any Rank 4 Xyz monster. Instant Fusion was used to bring it out. In fact, almost no deck used Polymerization to summon Norden correctly, by utilizing the materials listed on it.
Players began to increasingly use Norden when the Zoodiac engine was released. 1-card Xyz summons were nothing to laugh at, and Zoodiac Broadbull was the most useful card, requiring 2 cards to normally summon it.
In the March 2017 list, Zoodiac Ratpier was Semi-Limited, causing a shift in Zoodiac gameplay. This list birthed a new form of the deck: Fusion Sub Zoo. By playing cards such as Daigusto Emeral and Fusion Substitute, it was possible to draw up to 5 cards in a single turn. Broadbull would search out a Lunalight Black Sheep, which searches out a Fusion Substitute. After getting two Xyz monsters on the field, you would Fusion Summon Norden, get back your Ratpier, and continue off from that. Fusion Substitute would recycle the Norden in the GY, and the process would repeat itself.
Konami banned it in the June 2017 banlist.
Can It Come Back?
No, it cannot. As is the problem with a lot of the previously mentioned cards on the list, Link format makes the card too good. Instant Fusion could lead to two more monsters to use for Link Summoning or general extension. Even if you could ban Instant Fusion, that is not the correct answer. Instant is a tool that many decks can utilize outside of just summoning Norden.
The New Form of Starving Venom Fusion Dragon
Supreme King Dragon Starving Venom is a lvl 8 Fusion Monster with 2800 ATK and 2000 DEF. It has two ways of being Special Summoned, both of which require 2 DARK Pendulum Monsters. You can Fusion Summon it using any fusion spell, or you can Special Summon it by Tributing those two monsters on the field.
Once per turn, Starving Venom can target another monster on the field or in the GY and copy its name and effect until the End Phase. During the Battle Phase, it can inflict piercing battle damage to the opponent.
Before it got on the banlist, there was a consistent Pendulum Magician FTK. By summoning Lyrilusc - Independent Nightingale and linking it away, it was possible to summon out two Starving Venoms and burn the opponent for 8000 LP, 4000 each.
Konami banned it in the May 2018 list.
Can It Come Back?
Similar to The Tyrant Neptune, this card cannot come back. Some may argue for banning the Lyrilusc, but the fact is, cards that copy other effects are too powerful to be in the game. This is especially true with Supreme King Dragon Starving Venom, especially with how easily accessible it is. Even outside of the FTK, Starving Venom was used to abuse effs like that of Heavymetalfoes Electrumite more times in a turn than you otherwise might be able to.
Link Monsters
This is the newest section of the banlist. Despite this, Konami has already banned a few Link Monsters. At the time of this article's writing, there are 4 monsters present.
So Much For Plot Armor
Firewall Dragon is a LINK-4 monster with 2500 ATK, and was one of the most controversial Link monsters in the game. It requires at least 2 monsters, including tokens, and has two effects.
As a quick effect, it can return a number of monsters from the field or GYs equal to less than the number of co-links it has. It it has two monsters co-linked to it, it can return up to two monsters to the hand. This effect was useful for recurring resources spent on Link summoning it. The second effect, however, truly pushed this card to the limit.
If a monster it points to is sent to the GY by any means, you can Special Summon a monster from your hand.
This effect is what made the card so good. It helped Goukis become the most consistent way to make an Extra Link. What was even more impactful was the fact that it generated many FTKs. ABCs had one, Dark Worlds had one; FTKs were everywhere, all it took was for someone to look for it.
Konami banned it in the May 2018 list.
Can It Come Back?
Absolutely not. This card already caused so much collateral damage and degeneracy before it was finally banned. We do not need to go through that again. The second effect is, by its very nature, deeply prone to infinite loops.
I'm Gnot A Gnelf, I'm a Gnoblin
Flames of Destruction released the Knightmare Link
monsters. All of them were extremely powerful, generic Link monsters that had great effects. Thus far, Knightmare Goblin is the only one that has been banned in the TCG.Goblin is a LINK-2 monster with 1300 ATK. Like the other Knightmare Link monsters, if Link Summoned you can discard a card to gain a specific effect. In this case, you gain an additional Normal Summon the turn you summon it. Then, if it is co-linked when you activate the effect, you can draw a card. It also had a continuous effect where your opponent cannot target co-linked monsters you control with card effects.
To see just how good this card is, we need to compare it to another similar engine used for additional Normal Summons: the Brilliant Fusion engine. For the Brilliant engine to work, you needed to run 3 Spells and what is considered a "Garnet" in the deck. In comparison, Knightmare Goblin is better in all ways. It requires no main-deck engine, and any deck that can make two monsters can have a free Normal Summon.
Konami banned it in September of 2018.
Can It Come Back?
Nope, it cannot. Many decks today are able to make many Link materials; Goblin would allow those decks to take full advantage of those and accrue even more advantage. Many of the most powerful monsters today have an effect that triggers off a Normal Summon.
The fact that it protects co-linked monsters from targeting effects would boost any future decks that are able to Extra-Link.
Free Summons From the Deck Spell Doom
Summon Sorceress is a LINK-3 DARK Spellcaster with 2400 ATK. It requires at least 2 monsters of the same type, except Tokens. If Link Summoned, you can Special Summon a monster from your hand to a zone on the opponent's field this card points to. Then, during your turn, you can target a monster it points to, and Special Summon a monster from the deck with the same type as that monster. It is in Defense Position, and its effects are negated.
This one card, similar to Firewall Dragon, spawned a myriad of degenerate FTKs and combos. In general, cards that summon directly from the deck are considered by many to be "broken", and Summon Sorceress was no exception.
ABCs were able to consistently end on a board with Knightmare Gryphon, ABC-Dragon Buster, and any set S/T of choice. Orcusts were able to very consistently bring out Topologic Bomber Dragon and Longirsu, the Orcust Orchestrator. Goukis were able to Extra-Link even easier than before.
Konami banned Sorceress on the April 2019 list.
Can It Come Back?
Likely not. As mentioned above, many of the top decks today are able to pump out many monsters with the same type. Thunder Dragons and Orcusts would benefit a lot from having Summon Sorceress legal. This would create too many problems with the game in the future.
The Topologic Brother That Was Banned
Topologic Gumblar Dragon is a LINK-4 monster with 3000
ATK that, similarly to its other brothers, requires at least 2 effect monsters to summon. While on the field it has two effects. If a monster is Special Summoned to any linked zone, you discard up to 2 random cards from your hand, then your opponent discards the same amount you did. Then, during your turn, if it is in your Extra Link, you can make your opponent discard up to 2 cards (at least 1), and burn for 3000 damage if they have no cards after this.For the first two months after this card was released in BLRR, not many decks utilized it. It was an interesting card, to say the least, but no one thought about including in in their deck lists. However, the September 2018 list changed this drastically. With the banning of both Goblin and M-X-Saber Invoker, Goukis lost two important tools. However, with how powerful Isolde, Two Tales of the Noble Knights was, this did not really matter too much. The playstyle of Goukis changed to bringing out Gumblar as soon as possible in an Extra Link and having a Gouki Octostretch on the field and a Linkuriboh on the field. Not only that, but Neo-Spacian Aqua Dolphin began to be used. This would amount to the opponent consistently having to discard their entire hand to the GY, before they even had a chance to play the game.
Konami banned Gumblar on the January 2019 banlist.
Can It Come Back?
Although there may be some arguments as to whether this card can come back, the main one being the fact that there aren't any decks that can consistently Extra-Link, it should not come back. A similar card to this - Delinquent Duo - is also on the banlist. In general, a card that can consistently take cards out of the opponent's hand (especially on an accessible Extra Deck monster) should not exist in the game.
Synchro Monsters
As mentioned above, this section is tied with Fusions for being the smallest part of the list. Both of the monsters on this list are considered to be "generic", meaning that they can take any tuner and non-tuner monster as material, unlike Goyo Guardian.
Ancient Fairy Dragon
Ancient Fairy Dragon is a lvl 7 Synchro Monster with two Once per Turn effects. You are able to Special Summon a lvl 4 or lower monster from the hand, or you can destroy all Field Spells on the field, gain 1000 LP, then add a field spell from the deck to your hand.A deck that popularly used this card was Dragon Rulers, back in 2013. Since it is a level 7 that could get out level 4 or lower monsters onto the field, it was able to help the Dragon Rulers build their boards of level 8 synchros and Rank 7 Xyz monsters. After that period of time, it fell off for a bit. It wasn't until the rise of SPYRALs that this card began to see more use. Cards like Blackwing - Gofu the Vague Shadow allowed them to go into Ancient Fairy Dragon relatively easily to out the opponent's SPYRAL Resort.
However, it was the release of Destrudo the Lost Dragon's Frisson that allowed players to truly push Ancient Fairy Dragon to the limits.
Destrudo is a level 7 Dragon monster that, by paying half your LP and targeting a level 6 or lower monster, can Special Summon itself from the hand or the GY. It reduces its level by the level of the targeted monster, and it goes to the bottom of the deck if it leaves the field.
Immediately, decks began to utilize the "Destrudo Engine" by running Terraforming, Dragon Ravine, Destrudo, and in some cases, Supreme King Dragon Darkwurm. Ravine would let you discard a card and send Destrudo to the GY. Most of the SPYRAL cards - SPYRAL Quik-Fix, SPYRAL MISSION - Rescue - have GY effects. Another deck that popularly used this engine was ABC; Dragon Ravine, summon a piece to use as material for Ancient Fairy Dragon, get Union Hangar, summon out the piece you search with AFD, and continue on from there.
Konami banned this monster in the May 2018 list.
Can It Come Back?
As much as I personally would like to see it come back (since I do enjoy playing ABC), this card cannot come back as long as Destrudo exists in the game. Destrudo would provide a lot of decks with a powerful engine, and with how good field spells are nowadays, this would give too many decks a lot more power.
Not only that, but summoning a monster from the hand for relatively free is a good effect, especially since it is possible to summon out AFD without your Normal Summon.
CL1, MST, CL2, Torrential Tribute
First introduced in Duelist Alliance, the Yang Zing archetype is a set of monsters that all have a Special Summon effect when something destroys them. Most also have an effect to Synchro Summon during the opponent's turn.
This set of monsters is well known because of the idea of "missing timing." This is where an effect is not allowed to activate or resolve because its activation window was not correct. These cards are characterized by the use of "When...you can" in the card text. Thus, if the opponent were to summon a Yang Zing monster while you have both a Mystical Space Typhoon and a Torrential Tribute in the hand, you can make the Yang Zing miss timing when destroyed by the Torrential. If they summon it, you would chain MST to the summon, then chain Torrential to the MST, since it is still within the activation window. Thus, the last thing to happen in the chain is the destruction of the Torrential by MST, not the destruction of the monster. This causes their effects to not go through.
Denglong, First of the Yang Zing is one of the only members that does not miss timing. If Special Summoned, you can add one "Yang Zing" card from the deck to the hand. Once per turn, you can send one Wyrm-type monster from the deck to the GY to change Denglong's level to that sent monster's. Then, IF the face-up card is sent to the GY, you can Special Summon a "Yang Zing" monster from the deck.
Due to the fact that it does not miss timing, Konami banned it in the September 2017 list.
Why Was it Actually Banned, and Can It Come Back?
At the time Denglong hit the list, the Dinosaur deck had won the Worlds Championship. Denglong allowed these decks to have a Nine Pillars of Yang Zing (an omni-negate) and oftentimes a True King of All Calamities. This card was easily accessible due to Miscellaneousaurus, serving as a consistent negation engine. Although it hurt the Yang Zing deck greatly, many saw it at the time as a necessary hit.
However, I feel that this card can come back, at least to 1. Many decks nowadays have ways to easily get a negation of the same caliber, so giving another deck the chance to get the same cardpool should be fine. The only problem I would see with this is the lvl 9 spam with World Legacy Monstrosity on Denglong. Another consideration to have would be the fact that, if destroyed, you can summon a Herald of the Arc Light. However, this combo requires the use of a few garnets.
Xyz Monsters
Although this summoning mechanic is relatively new in comparison to the others, Xyz monsters make up the largest section of the list. In this section, I will be abbreviating their Ranks as RXNK, where X is the number of stars on the monster. Also, if I do not mention anything about materials, assume that they are generic and require 2 materials to summon.
#UnchaintheChain
Lavalval Chain is a R4NK monster. By detaching a material,
you can either send a card from the Deck to the GY, or place one monster in the deck on top of it.The deck that used this card the most was Nekroz. By summoning lvl 4 monsters such as Nekroz of Unicore or Senju of the Thousand Hands, it was easy to bring out Chain. Chain would then send a Djinn Releaser of Rituals to the GY, which would then banish itself from the GY as Ritual material to lock the opponent out of Special Summoning.
Another deck that utilized this R4NK was Shadolls. By running a small Chaos Dragon engine, it was possible to summon Chain to send any of the Shaddoll monsters to the GY to utilize their effects.
Due to the interaction with Djinn, Konami banned Lavalval Chain on the July 2015 banlist.
Can It Come Back?
With how fast the game is evolving today, likely not. Chain has a lot of versatile usage in the game. By having this card in the game, it would limit future card design, since a deck that can easily bring out R4NK monsters will appear someday. Arguments that there are answers to the card's effect do not necessarily mean that it can come back.
The Invoker Before Aleister
M-X-Saber Invoker is a R3NK monster that, by detaching a material, allows you to Special Summon a lvl 4 EARTH Beast-Warrior or Warrior monster from the deck in Defense Position. As was alluded to with Summon Sorceress, monsters that can easily summon monsters from the Deck will likely be dealt with in the future. Invoker was no exception to the rule, as is apparent.Although it saw a bit of use in X-Saber decks, it was Zoodiacs that brought this card into the limelight. The Speedroid engine was widely used in these decks. Speedroid Terrortop and Speedroid Taketomborg allowed the Zoo deck to begin their combos with Invoker, all without using the Normal Summon. Despite this widespread usage, Invoker escaped Konami's clutches in the banlist that finally killed off the Zoo deck.
It wasn't until the Gouki Extra-Link that this card finally hit the list. As before, the Speedroid engine was still used to start off combos with Isolde. However, other lvl 3 starters were used, such as Junk Forward and Marauding Captain. This helped Gouki players reach Invoker faster.
Konami banned Invoker in the September 2018 banlist.
Can It Come Back?
In the same way as Summon Sorceress, it likely cannot come back. Warrior Monsters are one of the most represented monsters in the game. A card that can easily bring out the vast majority of them from the deck is too powerful. Not only that, but Link Summoning is also another big problem, especially with Isolde benefiting off of this.
#UnlocktheShock
Number 16: Shock Master is a R4NK monster that requires 3 materials. Once per turn, you can detach a material, and call a card type (Monster, Spell, or Trap). Until your next turn, neither player can activate cards or effects of the card type called.
When it was first released as a JUMP promo in 2012, not many decks used it. It wasn't until the Wind-Up deck became a thing that this card became a problem. Wind-ups were first able to Hand Loop you to bring down your hand size, then end turn with a Shock Master. Unlike other combo decks, this was pretty consistent.
Other decks that were able to utilize this R4NK included Infernities, Evilswarms, and Prophecy.
Konami banned Shock Master on the September 2013 list.
Can It Come Back?
If Konami's treatment with Outer Entity Azathot is anything to go by, likely not. Cards that are able to completely lock out the opponent from using a type of card are extremely unhealthy for the game. Floodgates, which I would consider Shock Master to be, are even worse since they linger on the field after activated.
As was mentioned above with Lavalval Chain, R4NK monsters that are too powerful cannot exist in the game. Future decks that spam lvl 4 monsters will likely appear and break the game.
At Least We Still Have Dracossack...
Number 42: Galaxy Tomahawk is a R7nk monster. By detaching 2 materials, you can Special Summon as many lvl 6 machine-type tokens as possible. They are destroyed during the End Phase, and you opponent takes no further damage that turn.Prior to the Link era, this card saw little to no use. Almost no deck was able to easily bring out lvl 7 monsters, and what use would some random tokens be?
The release of Dangers absolutely broke this card. Finally, it was easy to bring out lvl 7 monsters to make the Tomahawk. This would spawn at least 5 more materials to be used for Link Summoning. This made the Extra Link an easy thing to perform.
Then players began to mix in Dark World into the game. By using this card to make a Firewall Dragon, a scarily consistent FTK was born. By having Cannon Soldier and Grapha on the field, you can loop a Dark World monster in the hand and Grapha, Dragon Lord of Dark World infinitely with Firewall Dragon.
Konami banned this R7Nk monster in the January 2019 banlist.
Can It Come Back?
Absolutely not. This card provided too much Link materials for nearly no cost. Just like the previously mentioned token generators, this card is not likely to come back. This would give decks that can easily make lvl 7 monsters too powerful, such as Danger decks and Mermails.
Oingo Boingo!
Number 86: Heroic Champion - Rhongomyniad is a R4NK that requires at least 2 monsters, with a maximum of 5. This card is special, because unlike the other monsters on this list, it gains different effects that stack based on the number of materials it has. With 1, it cannot be destroyed by battle. With 2, it gains 1500 ATK/DEF. 3 materials grants it immunity to all other card effects. 4 materials will prevent your opponent from Normal or Special Summoning any monster. With 5 materials, you can destroy all cards your opponent controls once per turn. During your opponent's End Phase, you must detach a material.
Immediately, it can be seen that the best way to utilize this monster is to stuff it as full of materials as humanly possible. The first deck that was able to pull this off was Satellarknights. After spamming the field with cards like Satellarknight Vega or Satellarknight Altair, it was possible to amass 5 lvl 4 monsters to summon a Rhongo. After Tellars were powercrept, it fell out of use, but this changed when Konami released Battles of Legend: Relentless Revenge.
Number 75: Bamboozling Gossip Shadow made the Rhongo Bongo deck take off. Utilizing Goukis, it was possible to make both a R4NK and a R3NK at the same time. After you make Rhongo with 2 materials, you swarm the field with lvl 3 monsters and summon Gossip Shadow. It would then attach itself and its materials to another Number monster - Rhongomyniad. This results in a Rhongo with up to 6 materials, which even now is nearly impossible to get rid of.
Konami banned this card on the January 2019 banlist.
Can It Come Back?
Just like Shock Master, it cannot come back. Cards that shut off the opponent from playing the game are unhealthy for the game. The fact that this type of floodgate is in an easily accessible R4NK monster exacerbates the problem, especially with Gossip Shadow in the game. It's further exacerbated by having no real outs outside of a few very specific counter cards that get around Rhongo's myriad protection effects.
Whatsa Matta, Dragon?
Number 95: Galaxy-Eyes Dark Matter Dragon is a R9NK monster that requires 3 lvl 9 monsters, or another Galaxy-Eyes monster as material. While on the field, you cannot use it as Xyz material.When Xyz Summoned, you to send 3 different Dragon monsters from the deck to the GY, then your opponent banishes 3 monsters from their deck. By detaching a material, you can make up to 2 attacks on monsters that turn, which is a big deal considering it has 4000 ATK.
The fact that this card sends the Dragon monsters to the GY as cost make it really good. In general, Dragon monsters like to be in the GY. Thunder Dragons sent the Chaos dragons to the GY for materials, Blue-Eyes fueled Return of the Dragon Lords, and Dark Neostorm made an FTK legal.
Konami banned this card on the April 2019 list.
Can It Come Back?
Unfortunately, it cannot. Dragon Decks would benefit too much off of this card, and the fact that the FTK is live as long as Dark Matter exists keep this card from coming back. This card also was a huge contributing factor to the Dragon Rulers originally being banned all the way back in April of 2015, so this isn't it's first time showing up at the scene of the crime.
Surprise Infinity
Tellarknight Ptolemaeus is a R4NK monster that requires at least 2 materials. During either player's turn,you can detach 3 materials from the card to Special Summon a monster that is 1 rank higher that this card using it as material. You can also detach 7 materials from the card to completely skip your opponent's turn. To get more materials on this card, it attaches a "Stellarknight" card from the Extra Deck to itself as material during each End Phase.
This card allowed any deck that makes R4NKs to be able to access powerful cards like Cyber Dragon Infinity easily. Usually, Cyber Dragons were the only deck that could access it, but Ptolemaeus opened it up to many more.
The Performapal Performage (PePe) deck utilized this card extremely well. Not only were they able to end turns on Solemn Strike and Solemn Warning, but Infinity would provide another layer of negates.
Konami banned this card on the April 2016 banlist.
Can It Come Back
If the previous R4NK monsters were a problem, this is an even bigger one. This opens up the R4NK 4 pool to many R5NK and R6NK monsters in the game. This would give decks that spam lvl 4 monsters even more power than they would otherwise have. There is also the presence of cards like Outer Entity Azathot that this card can summon to lock the opponent out of the game.
The Party Boat
Wind-Up Carrier Zenmaity is a R3NK monster with two effects. By detaching a material, you can Special Summon a "Wind-Up" monster from the hand or deck. Then, if a "Wind-Up" monster on the field is destroyed, you can detach a material to return it to the hand.This Xyz monster was the main reason that Wind-Ups were a really good deck. It allowed players to either hand loop the opponent for 4 or 5 cards or make a Shock Master.
Konami banned this card on the March 2013 banlist.
Can It Come Back?
Unlike the other similar cards that summon from the Deck, I feel that this card can come back. Since it only summons a "Wind-Up" monster from the deck, I do not foresee any degenerate combo appearing. However, it should only come back if Konami deals with Wind-Up Hunter in some way. Doing this would prevent any future hand loop combos. Zenmaity would provide an excellent boost to the deck.
The Zoodiacs
For the last two cards, I will combine them into the same section, as they went hand in hand. Both R4NK monsters have different material requirements in terms of normally summoning them, but can be Xyz Summoned by using one Zoodiac monster. They also gain ATK equal to the combine ATK of the attached materials.
Zoodiac Broadbull needs 2 monsters, and detaches a material to search a Beast-Warrior monster that can be Normal Summoned. Usually Broadbull has Ratpier attached to it, and would use two effects in the same turn: summon Ratpier from deck then search out another Zoodiac monster. Later on, it would search out a Lunalight Black Sheep.
Zoodiac Drident needs 4 monsters to summon, and detaches a material during either player's turn to destroy a face-up card on the field. Drident would help further the Zoodiac combo by popping a Zoodiac Ramram to summon another monster from the GY.
Konami banned both on the September 2017 banlist.
Can They Come Back?
Both of them can probably come back. Broadbull's search targets are not as powerful as they were after it was first banned. Drident would help the Zoo deck have some power plays after it lost most of them.
It would be interesting to see these two cards come back to at least one. It would help the deck become more powerful; who knows, it might even become an interesting Link engine. Broadbull is by far the riskier of the two though, since it does still have a very wide search pool.
Conclusion
We have now made it to the second section of the banlist series. Coming up next, we will be discussing the banned Spells cards, so be on the lookout for that. Hopefully you guys have enjoyed the series so far.
