Yugioh banlist – June 2025

What cards are on the Yugioh banlist? Konami's official ban list is updated every few months and includes all banned Yugioh cards in the game right now. These cards are made Forbidden, Limited, or Semi Limited to restrict their use and 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, you might also enjoy our guides on the most expensive YuGiOh cards around, or even the best YuGiOh cards, like, ever. Be sure to check out the YuGiOh Master Duel banlist for changes to online play, too.

Most recent changes
Full current banlist
What is the banlist?

Yugioh banlist changes - April 7, 2025

The most recent version of the Yugioh banlist came into force on Monday, April 7, 2025. As usual, Konami says the next update after this will be in a few months. This guide will be updated as soon as we know more.

The April 7 Yugioh banlist changes are as follows:

These cards are now Forbidden in Advanced format and Limited in Traditional format

Knightmare Gryphon
Link Decoder
Abyss Dweller
Bahamut Shark

These cards are now Limited (Limited 1) in all formats:

Bystial Druiswurm
Dimension Shifter
Master Peace, the True Dracoslaying King
Mathmech Circular
Ryzeal Detonator
Bonfire
Brilliant Fusion
Crossout Designator
Triple Tactics Talent

These cards are now Semi-Limited (Limited 2) in all formats:

Black Dragon Collapserpent
Ext Ryzeal
Ice Ryzeal
Maliss P Dormouse
Maliss <P> White Rabbit
Morphing Jar
Snake-Eye Ash
Snake-Eyes Poplar
Sword Ryzeal
Unchained Soul of Sharvara
White Dragon Wyverbuster
Maliss in Underground

These cards have been taken off the banlist and are now Unlimited:

Cyber Jar
Danger!? Jackalope?
Danger!? Tsuchinoko?
Eva
Performapal Monkeyboard

Full YuGiOh Banlist as of April 2025

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 only run two copies of a Semi-Limited card.

There are two Yugioh formats, Advanced Format and Traditional Format. The banlists contain all the same cards, but cards that are Forbidden in Advanced Format are instead Limited in Traditional Format.

Forbidden Yugioh cards

Monster/Effect

Agido The Ancient Sentinel
Artifact Scythe
Barrier Statue Of The Stormwinds
Blackwing - Gofu The Vague Shadow
Block Dragon
Cyber-Stein
Dandylion
Djinn Releaser Of Rituals
Eclipse Wyvern
Fairy Tail - Snow
Fiber Jar
Fishborg Blaster
Gimmick Puppet Nightmare
Glow-Up Bulb
Grinder Golem
Jowgen the Spiritualist
Kelbek The Ancient Vanguard
Knightmare Gryphon
Level Eater
Link Decoder
Magical Scientist
Majespecter Unicorn - Kirin
Maxx "C"
Mind Master
Phoenixian Cluster Amaryllis
Ronintoadin
Spyral Master Plan
The Tyrant Neptune
Victory Dragon

Monster/Fusion

Elder Entity Norden
Fiendsmith's Lacrima
Supreme King Dragon Starving Venom
Tearlaments Kitkallos

Monster/Synchro

Baronne de Fleur
Borreload Savage Dragon
Chaos Ruler, the Chaotic Magical Dragon
Hot Red Dragon Archfiend King Calamity
Tempest Magician

Monster/Xyz

Abyss Dweller
Bahamut Shark
Beatrice, Lady Of The Eternal
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

Butterfly Dagger - Elma
Card Of Safe Return
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
Original Sinful Spoils - Snake-Eye
Painful Choice
Pot Of Greed
Premature Burial
Smoke Grenade Of The Thief
Soul Charge
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
Summon Limit
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

Archnemeses Protos
Astrograph Sorcerer
Bystial Druiswurm
Bystial Magnamhut
Dark Grepher
Dimension Shifter
Exodia The Forbidden One
Keldo The Sacred Protector
Master Peace, The True Dracoslaying King
Mathmech Circular
Miscellaneousaurus
Mudora The Sword Oracle
Phantom Skyblaster
Psy-Framegear Gamma
Substitoad
Tearlaments Havnis
Tearlaments Merrli
Tearlaments Scheiren
Tenpai Dragon Chundra
Zoodiac Ratpier

Monster/Fusion

Gem-Knight Master Diamond
Phantom of Yubel

Monster/Link

Striker Dragon
Sunavalon Dryas
Sunvine Healer

Monster/Synchro

Psy-Framelord Omega
T.G. Hyper Librarian

Monster/Xyz

Daigusto Emeral
Number 40: Gimmick Puppet of Strings
Number C40: Gimmick Puppet of Dark Strings
Ryzeal Detonator

Spell

Branded Fusion
Brilliant Fusion
Bonfire
Called By The Grave
Card Destruction
Card Of Demise
Chain Strike
Change of Heart
Chaos Space
Chicken Game
Crossout Designator
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
Pot of Prosperity
Reasoning
Reinforcement Of The Army
Sangen Kaimen
Sangen Summoning
Sekka's Light
Set Rotation
Sky Striker Mecha - Hornet Drones
Slash Draw
Snatch Steal
Terraforming
Triple Tactics Talent
That Grass Looks Greener
Zoodiac Barrage

Trap

Anti-spell Fragrance
Gozen Match
Magical Explosion
Naturia Sacred Tree
Rivalry of Warlords
Skill Drain
There Can Only Be One

Semi-limited Yugioh cards

Monster/Effect

Black Dragon Collapserpent
Ext Ryzeal
Ice Ryzeal
Maliss P Dormouse
Maliss <P> White Rabbit
Morphing Jar
Snake-Eye Ash
Snake-Eyes Poplar
Sword Ryzeal
Unchained Soul of Sharvara
White Dragon Wyverburster

Spell

Lightning Storm
Maliss In Underground
Purrely Delicious Memory
Purrely Sleep Memory
Runick Fountain

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 three restricted types in Yugioh banlist are:

Forbidden - This card cannot be used in your Main Deck, Extra Deck, or Side Deck
Limited / Limited 1 - You can only have one copy of this card in your main Deck, Extra Deck, and Side Deck combined.
Semi-limited / Limited 2 - You can only have two copies of this card 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.

Why do Yugioh cards get banned?

As with all the best trading card games, the Yugioh TCG regularly releases new sets of cards to keep the game fresh and offer players new strategies, themes, and options for their decks. When players get their hands on the new cards, they quickly discover the most powerful options, especially cards that create strong combo effects with existing or older cards. This is, of course, part of the fun!

However, it can lead to just a handful of the best Yugioh decks becoming dominant, able to beat any other decks they face - and thus the game's overall scene (often called its 'meta') becomes very samey, as everyone is forced to play with similar decks and cards if they want to have a chance of winning games.

Konami, the publisher of the Yugioh TCG, generally tries to maintain competitive balance with the range of new cards it releases - but with a game as complex and high-powered as Yugioh, cards will always emerge that 'warp the meta' and generate bad player feedback.

These are the sorts of cards that end up getting banned - either Semi-Limited, Limited or Forbidden - because they:

Are inherently too powerful (normally in combat power)
Are part of a combo that is too powerful / too easy to win with
Are too versatile in cancelling out, or 'shutting down' multiple other strategies
Are likely to cause problems in one of the above ways, after an upcoming release joins the meta

Who decides which Yugioh cards to ban?

New Yugioh card bans are decided and communicated online by Konami. Yugioh's ban policy is generally thought to be more opaque than some other live, competitive games such as Magic: The Gathering, which tends to publish more detailed designer commentaries and rationales when it changes the MTG banlist.

What's the difference between the Yugioh TCG and OCG?

There are two separate forms of the Yu-Gi-Oh! card game: the Trading Card Game (TCG) - which is sold and played worldwide, with cards printed in English and several European languages - and the Official Card Game (OCG), which is only available in Japanese language, and played mainly in Japan.

The Japanese OCG has a different release schedule for new sets and products; it runs on slightly different tournament rules; it gets its own exclusive cards not available in the TCG; and it has its own separate banlist of Forbidden and Limited cards, which gets updated via its own Japanese language website.

It's a key difference from the Pokémon TCG, where the main differences between Japanese Pokémon cards and English ones are in the card designs, print quality, and release schedule, but the game rules are the same and there's no structural separation between the two.

Disappointed that the prize cards in your collection aren't viable with the latest banlist? You could look into other TCGs. Here's all you need to know about rare Pokémon cards, as well as the best MTG Arena decks you can make with the latest MTG sets.