Though Yugioh is more of a wild west than other TCGs like Magic the Gathering or Pokemon TCG, the official Yugioh banlist makes many Yugioh cards Forbidden, Limited, or Semi Limited to keep the game fair, fun, and balanced. To help you keep your beloved tournament decks legal, we track the full list and latest updates in this guide.
Once you’ve pored through the Yu Gi Oh banlist (and the YuGiOh Master Duel banlist, which we cover in a separate guide), you might also enjoy our guides on how to play Yugioh online and the best Yugioh Master Duel meta decks. Or, if you’re a collector, check out the most expensive rare YuGiOh cards around, or even the best YuGiOh cards, like, ever.
For now, though, we’ll launch right into the latest Yugioh banlist (in force from January 1, 2024), and then explain exactly how the banlist rules work surrounding Forbidden, Limited, and Semi-Limited cards.
Yugioh banlist 2024
The most recent version of the Yugioh banlist was released on December 19, 2023, which came into force on January 1, 2024. We’ll update this guide the moment we hear more.
The January 1 Yugioh banlist changes are as follows:
These cards are now Forbidden
- Agido The Ancient Sentinel
- Kelbek The Ancient Vanguard
- Mathmech Circular
- Isolde, Two Tales of the Noble Knights
These cards are now Limited:
- Unchained Soul of Sharvara
- Rescue-ACE Air Lifter
- Redox, Dragon Ruler of Boulders
- Orcust Harp Horror
- Gozen Match
- Rivalry of Warlords
- There Can Only Be One
- Sunavalon Dryas
- Sunvine Healer
- Ib The World Chalice Justicar
- Snatch Steal
These cards are now Semi-Limited:
- Purrely Sleep Memory
- Dinowrestler Pankratops
- Speedroid Terrortop
These cards have been taken off the banlist:
- Infernity Archfiend
- Kashtira Unicorn
- Mind Control
- Spellbook of Judgement
- Upstart Goblin
- Pot of Desires
- Spright Starter
If a Yugioh card is on the banlist, that means it is either Forbidden, Limited, or Semi-Limited. You can’t play Forbidden cards, you can only have one copy of a Limited card in your Yugioh decks, and you can can only run two copies of a Semi-Limited card.
There are two Yugioh banlists, one for Advanced Format and another for Traditional Format. The banlists contain all the same cards, but cards that are Forbidden in Advanced Format (ie, totally banned) are Limited in Traditional Format: you can take one copy of the card.
The official Yugioh banlist for Advanced Format contains the following cards:
Forbidden Yugioh cards
Monster/Effect
- Agido The Ancient Sentinel (Previously Limited)
- Archnemeses Protos
- Artifact Scythe
- Barrier Statue Of The Stormwinds
- Blackwing – Gofu The Vague Shadow
- Block Dragon
- Cyber-Stein
- Dandylion
- Djinn Releaser Of Rituals
- Eclipse Wyvern
- Eva
- Fairy Tail – Snow
- Fiber Jar
- Fishborg Blaster
- Glow-Up Bulb
- Grinder Golem
- Kelbek The Ancient Vanguard (Previously Limited)
- Level Eater
- Magical Scientist
- Majespecter Unicorn – Kirin
- Master Peace, The True Dracoslaying King
- Mathmech Circular (Previously Limited)
- Maxx “C”
- Mind Master
- Performage Plushfire
- Phoenixian Cluster Amaryllis
- Ronintoadin
- Spyral Master Plan
- The Tyrant Neptune
- Tidal, Dragon Ruler Of Waterfalls
- Victory Dragon
Monster/Fusion
- Elder Entity Norden
- Supreme King Dragon Starving Venom
- Tearlaments Kitkallos
- Thunder Dragon Colossus
Monster/Link
- Crystron Halqifibrax
- Curious, The Lightsworn Dominion
- Guardragon Agarpain
- Guardragon Elpy
- Heavymetalfoes Electrumite
- Isolde, Two Tales of the Noble Knights (New)
- Knightmare Goblin
- Knightmare Mermaid
- Linkross
- Mecha Phantom Beast Auroradon
- Prank-Kids Meow-Meow-Mu
- Predaplant Verte Anaconda
- Simorgh, Bird of Sovereignty
- Spright Elf
- Summon Sorceress
- Superheavy Samurai Scarecrow
- Topologic Gumblar Dragon
- Union Carrier
Monster/Synchro
- Ancient Fairy Dragon
- Chaos Ruler, the Chaotic Magical Dragon
- Tempest Magician
Monster/Xyz
- Kashtira Arise-Heart
- Lavalval Chain
- M-X-Saber Invoker
- Number 16: Shock Master
- Number 42: Galaxy Tomahawk
- Number 86: Heroic Champion – Rhongomyniad
- Number 89: Diablosis The Mind Hacker
- Number 95: Galaxy-Eyes Dark Matter Dragon
- Number S0: Utopic Zexal
- Outer Entity Azathot
- True King Of All Calamities
- Wind-Up Carrier Zenmaity
- Zoodiac Broadbull
- Zoodiac Drident
Spell
- Brilliant Fusion
- Butterfly Dagger – Elma
- Card Of Safe Return
- Chicken Game
- Cold Wave
- Confiscation
- Delinquent Duo
- Dimension Fusion
- Giant Trunade
- Graceful Charity
- Heavy Storm
- Kaiser Colosseum
- Last Will
- Mass Driver
- Metamorphosis
- Mirage Of Nightmare
- Mystic Mine
- Painful Choice
- Pot Of Greed
- Premature Burial
- Smoke Grenade Of The Thief
- Soul Charge
- That Grass Looks Greener
- The Forceful Sentry
- Zoodiac Barrage
Trap
- Appointer of the Red Lotus
- Branded Expulsion
- Imperial Order
- Last Turn
- Red Reboot
- Return From The Different Dimension
- Royal Oppression
- Self-Destruct Button
- Sixth Sense
- Time Seal
- Trap Dustshoot
- Ultimate Offering
- Vanity’s Emptiness
Limited Yugioh cards
Monster
- Left Arm Of The Forbidden One
- Left Leg Of The Forbidden One
- Right Arm Of The Forbidden One
- Right Leg Of The Forbidden One
Monster/Effect
- Armageddon Knight
- Astrograph Sorcerer
- Black Dragon Collapserpent
- Blaster, Dragon Ruler Of Infernos
- Bystial Magnamhut
- Cyber Jar
- Danger!? Jackalope?
- Danger!? Tsuchinoko?
- Dark Grepher
- Exodia The Forbidden One
- Infernity Archfiend
- Keldo The Sacred Protector
- Lunalight Tiger
- Miscellaneousaurus
- Morphing Jar
- Mudora The Sword Oracle
- Orcust Harp Horror (Previously Forbidden)
- Performapal Monkeyboard
- Phantom Skyblaster
- Psy-Framegear Gamma
- Red Rose Dragon
- Redox, Dragon Ruler Of Boulders (Previously Forbidden)
- Rescue-ACE Air Lifter (New)
- Substitoad
- Tearlaments Havnis
- Tearlaments Merrli
- Tearlaments Scheiren
- Unchained Soul of Sharvara (New)
- Tempest, Dragon Ruler Of Storms
- White Dragon Wyverburster
- Zoodiac Ratpier
Monster/Fusion
- Gem-Knight Master Diamond
Monster/Link
- Striker Dragon
- Sunavalon Dryas (New)
- Sunvine Healer (New)
Monster/Synchro
- Ancient Fairy Dragon
- Denglong, First Of The Yang Zing
- Ib The World Chalice Justiciar (Previously Forbidden)
- Psy-Framelord Omega
- T.G. Hyper Librarian
Monster/Xyz
- Beatrice, Lady Of The Eternal
- Daigusto Emeral
Spell
- Called By The Grave
- Card Destruction
- Card Of Demise
- Chain Strike
- Change of Heart
- Chaos Space
- Divine Wind Of Mist Valley
- Dragonic Diagram
- Final Countdown
- Foolish Burial
- Gateway Of The Six
- Gold Sarcophagus
- Harpie’s Feather Duster
- Infernity Launcher
- Instant Fusion
- Into The Void
- Magical Mid-Breaker Field
- Mind Control
- Monster Gate
- Monster Reborn
- One Day Of Peace
- One For One
- Purrely Delicious Memory
- Reasoning
- Reinforcement Of The Army
- Sekka’s Light
- Set Rotation
- Sky Striker Mecha – Hornet Drones
- Slash Draw
- Snatch Steal (Previously Limited)
- Spellbook Of Judgment
- Terraforming
- Upstart Goblin
Trap
- Gozen Match (New)
- Magical Explosion
- Naturia Sacred Tree
- Rivalry of Warlords (New)
- There Can Only Be One (New)
- Time Seal
Semi-limited Yugioh cards
Monster/Effect
- Destiny Hero – Malicious
- Dinowrestler Pankratops (Previously Limited)
- Kashtira Unicorn
- Speedroid Terrortop (Previously Limited)
Spell
- Lightning Storm
- Pot of Desires
- Purrely Sleep Memory (New)
- Runick Fountain
- Sky Striker Mobilize – Engage!
- Spright Starter
No longer on list
The following YuGiOh cards used to be on the banlist, but as of the September 25 update, they’re totally free to use.
Monster/Effect
- Herald of Orange Light
- Salamangreat Gazelle
What is the Yu Gi Oh banlist?
Yu Gi Oh! Trading Card Game’s publisher, Konami, releases an updated version of the Yu Gi Oh banlist on its official website every couple of months. This lists restrictions on the cards you can include in constructed Yu Gi Oh! decks.
The Yugioh banlist’s rules are simple:
- If a card is ‘Forbidden’, it cannot be used in your Main Deck, Extra Deck, or Side Deck
- If a card is ‘Limited’, you can only have one copy of it in your main Deck, Extra Deck, and Side Deck combined
- If a card is ‘Semi-limited’, you can only have two copies of it in your Main Deck, Extra Deck, and Side Deck combined.
There are separate banlists for the game’s ‘Advanced’ format (which is used in Regional, National, and World Championship events) and the much looser ‘Traditional’ format. For example many cards are Forbidden in Advanced, but only Limited in Traditional format.
Forbidden, Limited, and Semi-limited cards can be cards of any type, and the Yu Gi Oh banlist typically contains numerous Monster, Monster/Effect, Monster/Fusion, Monster/Link, Monster/Synchro, Monster/Xyz, Spell, and Trap type cards.
Disappointed that the prize cards in your collection aren’t viable with the latest banlist? You could look into other TCGs. The first Disney Lorcana set is much easier to get hold of since it received a much-needed reprint, so now’s a great time to get on board with a new game.
Source: Wargamer
