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TheYu-Gi-Oh! Master Duelbanlist is handled differently than every other format of Yu-Gi-Oh! Rather than have spread out changes, Master Duel uses its digital platform to have a more active role in what cards are allowed to be played and in what capacity. The banlist is updated once a month, generally closer to the end of the month.
The banlist is a mixture of cards that are banned to reign in the power of the best archetypes so other decks have a fair chance in the meta, and cards that make for unfun gamestates. A card has to be very egregious to be banned, and the limitations of cards are often consistency hits.
Forbidden Cards
Cards that are forbiddencannot be played in any deckin any capacity. Only the most powerful cards end up being forbidden, as otherwise, their power would warp the game around their existence. Many forbidden cardsenable FTKs(first-turn kills), providetoo much card advantage, or aretoo strong at enabling combos.
Barrier Statue of the Stormwinds
Too easy to summon in WIND decks and prevents any non-WIND monsters' special summon.
Appointer of the Red Lotus
Hand disruption for low-cost. Banned to prevent player going first from taking away a key card from the opponent’s hand.
Block Dragon
Enabled EARTH combos and provided too much card advantage for Rock-based decks.
Shuts down everything but monster cards.
Provided too much card advantage and free special summoning.
Chaos Ruler, the Chaotic Magical Dragon
Puts too many cards into the graveyard, recurs itself, and too easy to make.
Dandylion
Provided too many monsters on the battlefield for synchro and link summoning.
Destiny HERO - Celestial
To weaken the power of the Destiny HERO - Destroyer Phoenix Enforcer engine.
Divine Sword - Pheonix Blade
Enabled many combos by bringing it back to hand and re-using it.
Djinn Releaser of Rituals
Too strong at shutting down special summoning, and provided too much consistency for Ritual decks.
Eclipse Wyvern
Lack of once-per-turn effects made it too easy to loop its effect.
Elder Entity Azathot
Too easy to summon on your opponent’s turn with a Rank-Up Spell card. Its effect does not start a chain so cannot be interacted with.
Elder Entity Norden
Easily summoned, effect triggers off any special summon, not just fusion summon.
Gandora-X the Dragon of Demolition
Enabled FTKs when its effect is copied by other monsters with 8000 ATK.
Glow-Up Bulb
Gives a free body for link-climbing and synchro summoning, and was too strong with Cryston Halqifibrax before its ban.
Guardragon Agarpain
Made it too easy to cheat out Dragon monsters from the Extra Deck.
Guardragon Elpy
Made it too easy to cheat out Dragon monsters from the hand or deck.
Hot Red Dragon Achfiend King Calamity
Too easy to summon on your opponent’s turn to prevent them from doing anything, cannot be interacted with if the summon resolves.
Ib the World Chalice Justiciar
Easy to summon, provided too much consistency for decks using World Legacy cards.
Imperial Order
Too strong at shutting down Spell cards for the entire duel.
Instant Fusion
Free special summon that could be used for any further Extra Deck plays.
Provided too much protection and a free normal summon.
Knightmare Mermaid
Provided too much consistency for Knightmare cards (most commonly used in Orcust).
Last Will
Easy conditions to meet to summon directly from deck - one of the best effects in the game.
Lavalval Chain
Too easy to summon for too powerful of effects that gave too much consistency.
Linkross
Too easy to make and gave free bodies for synchro summoning.
Master Peace, the True Dracoslaying King
Too easy to make unaffected by the most common cards. Too strong of a boss monster for multiple decks.
Metamorphosis
Made it too easy to fusion summon monsters that require specific materials.
Mind Master
Non-once-per-turn effect enabled multiple OTK and FTKs that locked your opponent out of the game.
Mirage of Nightmare
Provided too much card advantage and could be removed before you have to discard the cards drawn.
Number 16 Shock Master
Too easy to summon and could shut down entire card types too easily.
Number 89 Diablosis the Mind Hacker
Enabled locking all of your opponent’s zones in Kashtira decks and could cause too many cards to be banished facedown.
Number S0 Utopic ZEXAL
Too easy to summon, effect shuts down your opponent’s ability to play the game while you’re able to still use effects.
Painful Choice
Too strong at setting up the graveyard, got a powerful card into your hand as well all for no cost.
Phantasmal Lord Ultimitl Bishbaalkin
Used in an FTK to burn with Number 33: Chronamaly Machu Mech when Bishbaalkin has 8000 ATK.
Phoenixian Cluster Amaryllis
Premature Burial
Too strong in graveyard-based strategies and made it too easy to bring back a boss monster after it was removed.
Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon
Too strong of a boss monster with too many powerful effects. Easy to summon with Predaplant Verte Anaconda.
Royal Oppression
Slows the game down by shutting down any special summoning. Can be flipped after you already special summoned so only your opponent is hurt by it.
Set Rotation
Added too much consistency for decks focused on a Field Spell.
Sillva, Warlord of Dark World
Too good at hand destructing your opponent if they didn’t have interaction.
Sixth Sense
Either provided too much card advantage or a milling of six or fewer cards.
Snatch Steal
Forces a negate otherwise is a free steal of an opponent’s boss monster.
Summon Sorceress
Made it too easy to special summon any monster directly from your deck for no cost.
The Tyrant Neptune
Enabled FTKs by copying the effect of an effect monster in the graveyard to deal lethal burn damage by giving it 8000 ATK.
Time Seal
To prevent forcing your opponent to lose their draw for turn.
Toadally Awesome
Too easy to summon and provided too much consistency for WATER and Aqua decks.
Topologic Gumblar Dragon
Too easy to force your opponent to discard the majority of their hand.
True King of All Calamities
Too powerful of an effect to negate the activations and attacks of your opponent’s monsters.
Union Carrier
Too easy to summon, a free way to get any monster into the graveyard.
Vanity’s Emptiness
Too good at shutting down special summoning. Could be flipped after you special summoned your monsters so only your opponent is hurt by it.
White Dragon Wyverburster
Provided too much consistency for Chaos and Dragon decks, effect to add Black Dragon Collapserpent isn’t once-per-turn.
Zoodiac Broadbull
Too easy to summon and gave too much consistency to any Beast-Warrior deck.
To weaken the power of Branded decks.
Limited Cards
Limited cardsare cards that can be played in your deck, butonly one copycan be played. Limiting cards is most often done to weaken the strength of archetypes to make them less consistent, as well as to cards with strong effects but not so strong they require a ban.
Brilliant Fusion
To weaken the consistency of summoning Gem-Knight Seraphinite to get an extra normal summon and Light monster in the graveyard.
Bystial Magnamhut
To weaken the power of the Bystial package and Dragon decks.
To prevent free discards and re-draws happening too frequently.
Eradicator Epidemic Virus
To weaken the ability for control decks to force discards of Spell and Trap cards.
Exodia, the Forbidden One
Limited to weaken the possibility of FTKs and for lore reasons.
Left Arm of the Forbidden One
Right Arm of the Forbidden One
Left Leg of the Forbidden One
Right Leg of the Forbidden One
Floowandereeze and the Magnificent Map
Foolish Burial Goods
To weaken the consistency to put a Spell/Trap card into the graveyard.
Foolish Burial
To weaken the consistency to put a monster into the graveyard.
Gateway of the Six
Gold Sarcophagus
To weaken the power of Thunder Dragon decks (which want to banish their cards).
Harpie’s Feather Duster
To weaken the ability to destroy all Spell and Trap cards for no downside or activation requirement.
Kashtira Fenrir
To limit the consistency of summoning a free monster, heavy play usage in many decks led to limiting.
Monster Reborn
To weaken the consistency of reviving cards from the graveyard for no cost.
Morphing Jar
To weaken the ability to FTK by re-using Morphing Jar’s flip effect multiple times a turn.
M-X-Saber Invoker
Too generic and to weaken the consistency for Earth Warrior and Beast-Warrior-based decks.
One for One
To weaken the consistency of summoning a free monster from the deck.
Performapal Five-Rainbow Magician
Too strong a floodgate, limited due to its consistency with Superheavy Samurai decks.
Predaplant Verte Anaconda
Weaken the consistency of fusion summoning from deck if the original copy gets removed.
PSY-Framelord Omega
Not a hard once-per-turn, limited to prevent multiple copies ripping multiple cards out of your opponent’s hand.
Reinforcement of the Army
Supreme King Dragon Starving Venom
To weaken FTKs built around copying a specific effect of a different monster.
To weaken the power of WATER Aqua and Frog decks.
Synchro Zone
To weaken the power of floodgates, too powerful against non-Synchro decks.
T.G. Hyper Librarian
To weaken the consistency of Synchro-based combo decks by weakening the amount of card draw they can get.
To weaken the power of Kashtira and Tearlament decks.
To weaken the power of Thunder Dragon decks
To weaken the power of Zoodiac decks.
Semi-Limited
Cards that aresemi-limted can have two copiesof them played in your deck. Semi-limited is the least common form of being put on the banlist. Generally, cards are semi-limited when they are strong, but not overly powerful. Often,cards are semi-limited for minor consistency hitsso a deck can keep most of its original power while not taking over the meta.
Called by the Grave
Fusion Destiny
To weaken the consistency of the Destiny HERO - Destroyer Phoenix Enforcer engine.
Kashtira Unicorn
To weaken the power of Kashtira decks and the consistency of a free special summon.
Mask Change II
To weaken decks' ability to summon Masked HERO Dark Law in non-HERO decks.
Parallel eXceed
To weaken the consistency of getting two copies on the battlefield after a link summon.
Sekka’s Light
To weaken the card advantage provided to decks that don’t play other Spell or Trap cards.
