Yugioh banlist – January 2026

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 regularly check for Konami’s newest card bans and unbans in order to track the full list 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.

We were told to expect the next banlist update “in a few months”, but as of December, there’s been no further changes. Yugioh banlist updates are sporadic, with fans expecting to hear of changes every three to four months, but with sudden emergency bans from month-to-month also being possible. Given that nothing urgent was banned this winter, we expect we’ll get our next bit of news after the new year.

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
• Archnemeses Protos
• Artifact Mjollnir
• Artifact Scythe
• Barrier Statue of the Drought
• Barrier Statue of the Inferno
• 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
• Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo
• Gimmick Puppet Nightmare
• 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
• Supreme King Dragon Starving Venom
• Tearlaments Kitkallos

Monster/Link

• Apollousa, Bow of the Goddess
• Crystron Halqifibrax
• Curious, The Lightsworn Dominion
• Guardragon Agarpain
• Guardragon Elpy
• Heavymetalfoes Electrumite
• Isolde, Two Tales of the Noble Knights
• Knightmare Goblin
• Knightmare Mermaid
• Linkross
• Mecha Phantom Beast Auroradon
• Moon of the Closed Heaven
• Prank-Kids Meow-Meow-Mu
• Predaplant Verte Anaconda
• Simorgh, Bird of Sovereignty
• Splash Mage
• Spright Elf
• Superheavy Samurai Scarecrow
• Topologic Gumblar Dragon
• Union Carrier

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
• Evilswarm Ouroboros
• Kashtira Arise-Heart
• King of the Feral Imps
• Lavalval Chain
• M-X-Saber Invoker
• Number 16: Shock Master
• Number 42: Galaxy Tomahawk
• Number 67: Pair-A-Dice Smasher
• 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

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

Trap

• Appointer of the Red Lotus
• Branded Expulsion
• Dimensional Barrier
• 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
• Ext Ryzeal
• Keldo The Sacred Protector
• Maliss P Dormouse
• Mathmech Circular
• Miscellaneousaurus
• Psy-Framegear Gamma
• Substitoad
• Summon Sorceress
• Tearlaments Havnis
• Tearlaments Merrli
• Tearlaments Scheiren
• Tenpai Dragon Chundra
• Vanquish Soul Razen
• Zoodiac Ratpier

Monster/Fusion

• Fiendsmith’s Lacrima
• Gem-Knight Master Diamond
• Phantom of Yubel

Monster/Link

• Linkuriboh
• Striker Dragon
• Sunavalon Dryas
• Sunvine Healer

Monster/Synchro

• Herald of the Arc Light
• 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
• Zoodiac Drident

Spell

• Brilliant Fusion
• Bonfire
• Called By The Grave
• Card Destruction
• Card Of Demise
• Chain Strike
• Change of Heart
• Chaos Space
• Chicken Game
• Crossout Designator
• Crystron Inclusion
• Divine Wind Of Mist Valley
• 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
• Obedience Schooled
• 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
• Stake Your Soul!
• 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
• Solemn Judgment
• There Can Only Be One

Semi-limited Yugioh cards

Monster/Effect

• Black Dragon Collapserpent
• Ice Ryzeal
• Maliss

  White Rabbit

• Sword Ryzeal
• Unchained Soul of Sharvara
• White Dragon Wyverburster

Spell

• Branded Fusion
• Maliss In Underground
• Purrely Delicious Memory
• Purrely Sleep Memory
• Runick Fountain

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.

Which cards might get banned next?

As of January 2026, we still don’t have a confirmed date for Konami’s next Yugioh banlist update (beyond the usual “in a few months) – but that doesn’t stop fans fiercely debating which cards should be for the chop.

This video by TCG YouTuber and former Yugioh tournament player Robbie Kohl, a.k.a. MKohl40, covers off some of the common arguments and fan speculation around the next bans, as of the beginning of 2026.

According to Kohl, some cards sitting squarely in many players’ ban crosshairs are:

• Herald of the Arc Light (Monster/Synchro) – confirmed to be moving to Limited 1 in Yugioh Master Duel as of January 8, 2026.
• K9-66A Jokul (Monster/Effect)
• Dracotail Faimena (Monster/Effect)
• Pre-Preparation of Rites (Spell)
• Harpie’s Feather Storm (Trap)

However, it really is just speculation based on the cards generating the most fan ire online. To find out which cards are actually getting Limited or Forbidden in the TCG, we have to wait for Konami’s next official banlist.

Are there any permanently banned Yugioh cards?

While there’s no official status for a Yugioh card being banned forever, there are a few cards we expect will never return from the Forbidden zone, because the features that made them too powerful are only becoming more overpowered as time goes on.

Because matches of the Yugioh TCG can be dominated by extremely powerful, quick combo plays that can end the game very quickly, some of the most powerful banned cards tend to be ones that let you draw extra cards, or find exactly the cards you need from your deck, without a significant cost attached.

The three most prominent examples of these long banned cards are:

• Pot of Greed (Spell card) Draw two cards.
• Painful Choice (Spell card) Select five cards from your deck and show them to your opponent. They choose one card to add to your hand, and the rest go to your Graveyard.
• Graceful Charity (Spell card) Draw three cards, then discard two cards.

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.

And that’s it for our complete guide to the official Yugioh TCG banlist – for now! If you want to trade hot takes and predictions for upcoming bans, or just hype about Yugioh and every other bangin’ tabletop game on the planet, join us in the free Wargamer Discord community!