History GameBreaker / YuGiOhVideoGames

* The 8-digit password on the bottom left corner of ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' cards serves as an identification number so that you can get the same card in any ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' video game. Older games let you pretty much [[OldSaveBonus port your entire physical deck into the game]] for free, but there's nothing stopping you from just looking up the password of a powerful card online. Later games fixed the strength of this function by adding costs to it -- some let you obtain any card at any time but at an exorbitant price, others restrict the use of the password function only to obtaining additional copies of cards you already have in-game, and a few place the corresponding card in the shop, so [[DoubleUnlock you still have to gather up the cash if you try to obtain a game breaker early on]].
* In the original ''Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters'' for the Gameboy, there was a cycle of burn-damage cards. Sparks did 200 damage (negligible), Hinotama did 500 (not much better), Final Flame did 1000 (actually pretty considerable), Ookazi did 2000 (incredibly high), and Tremendous Fire dished out a whopping 5000 damage. Though it was one of the hardest cards in the game to get, requiring you to win 200 victories, a single Tremendous Fire activation could decide games practically by itself. Every future game in the series nerfed burn damage cards into the ground, making them borderline useless--Sparks in particular was brought down to dealing ''50'' damage--and the OCG mostly followed suit.

* In the real game, cards that let you easily draw are rare--in the anime, they're everywhere. Generic "draw 2" cards with minimal or easily-circumvented requirements include [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Akashic_Record Akashic Record]], [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Card_of_Variation Card of Variation]], [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Card_of_Adversity Card of Adversity]], or [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Card_of_Compensation Card of Compensation]], and those are the ones substantially worse than Pot of Greed, not even getting into cards like [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Spell_Books_from_the_Pot Spell Books from the Pot]] (both players draw 3), [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Kuribandit_(anime) Kuribandit]](draw 5 cards then send all monsters drawn to the graveyard by tributing itself), [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Roll_of_Fate Roll of Fate]] (roll a die, draw cards equal to the result and then mill equal to the result, though in the card's second appearance, Joey banished the cards from the top of his deck instead of discarding), [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Card_of_Safe_Return_(anime) Card of Safe Return]] (draws whopping 3 cards each time a monster is special summoned from either graveyard), [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Card_of_Demise_(anime) Card of Demise]] (draw until you have 5), [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Nibelung%27s_Treasure Nibelung's Treasure]] (toss your opponent an Equip Spell that locks down one of their monsters, then draw 5) or especially [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Card_of_Sanctity_(anime) Card of Sanctity]] (both players draw until they have 6). There's a very good reason Card of Sanctity was played in so many anime duels.

** Archetypes that are known for being adjacent to floodgates, such as Eldlich and Runick, received hits in tandem. [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Conquistador_of_the_Golden_Land_(Master_Duel) Conquistador of the Golden Land]] was first Limited in May 2022 to curb Eldlich's power before eventually getting Semi-Limited months later in February 2023, while Runick Fountain, Runick Tip, Runick Destruction, Runick Freezing Curses, and Runick Slumber all received Semi-Limits. Runick Fountain would later get Limited in December 2023, with Runick Destruction following suit in January 2024.

* In the real game, cards that let you easily draw are rare--in the anime, they're everywhere. Generic "draw 2" cards with minimal or easily-circumvented requirements include [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Akashic_Record Akashic Record]], [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Card_of_Variation Card of Variation]], [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Card_of_Adversity Card of Adversity]], or [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Card_of_Compensation Card of Compensation]], and those are the ones substantially worse than Pot of Greed, not even getting into cards like [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Spell_Books_from_the_Pot Spell Books from the Pot]] (both players draw 3), [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Kuribandit_(anime) Kuribandit]](draw 5 cards then send all monsters drawn to the graveyard by tributing itself), [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Roll_of_Fate Roll of Fate]] (roll a die, draw cards equal to the result and then mill equal to the result), [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Card_of_Safe_Return_(anime) Card of Safe Return]] (draws whopping 3 cards each time a monster is special summoned from either graveyard), [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Card_of_Demise_(anime) Card of Demise]] (draw until you have 5), [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Nibelung%27s_Treasure Nibelung's Treasure]] (toss your opponent an Equip Spell that locks down one of their monsters, then draw 5) or especially [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Card_of_Sanctity_(anime) Card of Sanctity]] (both players draw until they have 6). There's a very good reason Card of Sanctity was played in so many anime duels.

* Floowandereeze Decks are very irritating to play against, usually requiring HighlySpecificCounterplay to fight effectively, but including cards to counter them often hurts your Deck in most other matchups. Floowandereeze is so effective at searching and Normal Summoning on the opponent's turn that they would usually slap down a [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Barrier_Statue_of_the_Stormwinds_(Master_Duel) Barrier Statue of the Stormwinds]] to render most non-WIND Decks unable to play, while the Floowandereeze goes largely unhindered by it. The Barrier Statue would get banned on December 2022 to deny Floowandereeze Decks a strong floodgate that they can play under; this ban would later be mirrored in both the OCG and TCG for similar reasons in conjunction with major "Tearlaments" hits. Even with their most prominent floodgate banned the deck remained a cheap yet decent contender, causing "Floowandereeze & the Magnificent Map" and "Floowandreeze & Empen" to get Limited to further reduce its consistency and ceiling.
* [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Flying_%22C%22_(Master_Duel) Flying "C"]] is deliberately designed to be anti-Xyz tech, but in regular gameplay it only counters a small fraction of Summoning mechanics, and players would simply Tribute/Link/Synchro it off. Naturally, in the Xyz Festival where players could only run Xyz cards in the Extra Deck, this card would be ridiculously strong, often tantamount to a free win. The card was forbidden in the first Xyz Festival, but was allowed in the second Xyz Festival, likely due to an oversight. The error was quickly rectified.

** Various floodgates like [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Skill_Drain Skill Drain]], [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Gozen_Match_(Master_Duel) Gozen Match]] and [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Rivalry_of_Warlords_(Master_Duel) Rivalry of Warlords]] have been Limited (while [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/There_Can_Be_Only_One_(Master_Duel) There Can Be Only One]] is only Semi-Limited) to make the game's best-of-1 format a little more tolerable. [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Inspector_Boarder_(Master_Duel) Inspector Boarder]], a Level 4 monster with beefy stats and an effect that restricts monster effect activations, and [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Kaiser_Colosseum_(Master_Duel) Kaiser Colosseum]] which restricted monster Summons, would also get Limited on January 2024.

* Floodgates are a significantly bigger issue in this game due to the lack of sideboarding, since countering them requires running HighlySpeificCounterplay cards that weaken your own consistency or are less useful in other matchups. The Stun Deck, which is built around running them to prevent the opponent from playing properly, is a ''very'' frustrating Deck to face whenever you match against one on the ladder. Hence, several cards, be them the floodgates themselves or cards adjacent to them, would receive hits that their physical counterparts wouldn't see.

* ''VideoGame/YuGiOhMasterDuel'' is essentially a digital parallel to the modern card game, and as such most cards that break the game in real life will be similarly powerful. However, due to a different release schedule of its cards and its best-of-1 format, expect to see some banlist decisions differ from the physical card game.
** Near the beginning of the game, players discovered an insanely quick way to win duels on the spot: Using [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Banquet_of_Millions_(Master_Duel) Banquet of Millions]] to banish the opponent's Extra Deck for a turn, then using two copies of [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/D.D._Dynamite_(Master_Duel) D.D. Dynamite]] to inflict 9000 damage (assuming their victim had the standard 15-card Extra Deck) for game. Aiding this combo was [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Trap_Trick_(Master_Duel) Trap Trick]], a card that could banish a D.D. Dynamite from the Deck and Set another copy to the field that could be activated immediately, which made the deck incredibly consistent. It was so oppressive that some players started to consider playing with 13-card Extra Decks to prevent themselves from being instantly wiped out. This resulted in D.D. Dynamite being Semi-Limited in May 2022, which severely hurt the deck's consistency because it meant players couldn't use Trap Trick to find the second copy needed.
** During the first Xyz Festival, one of the most common decks being played was Nurse Burn, a deck that used [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Darklord_Nurse_Reficule_(Master_Duel) Darklord Nurse Reficule]] or [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Bad_Reaction_to_Simochi_(Master_Duel) Bad Reaction to Simochi]] to turn cards that would normally give LP to the opponent into potent damaging cards instead. Not only did this deck not use Xyz Monsters, going against the spirit of the event, but the majority of its key cards were N or R rarity, making the deck incredibly easy to craft. All subsequent Festival events ban Reficule and Simochi to prevent it from dominating the special formats.
** Floodgates are a significantly bigger issue in this game due to the lack of sideboarding, since countering them requires running cards that weaken your own consistency or are less useful in other matchups. As a result, various floodgates like [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Skill_Drain Skill Drain]], [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Gozen_Match_(Master_Duel) Gozen Match]] and [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Rivalry_of_Warlords_(Master_Duel) Rivalry of Warlords]] have been Limited (while [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/There_Can_Be_Only_One_(Master_Duel) There Can Be Only One]] is only Semi-Limited) to make the game's best-of-1 format a little more tolerable, while archetypes that are known for being adjacent to floodgates, such as Eldlich and Runick, received hits in tandem. [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Conquistador_of_the_Golden_Land_(Master_Duel) Conquistador of the Golden Land]] was first Limited in May 2022 to curb Eldlich's power before eventually getting Semi-Limited months later in February 2023, while Runick Fountain, Runick Tip, Runick Destruction, Runick Freezing Curses, and Runick Slumber all received Semi-Limits.
** The [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Destiny_HERO_-_Destroyer_Phoenix_Enforcer_(Master_Duel) Destroyer Phoenix Enforcer]] package (using [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Predaplant_Verte_Anaconda_(Master_Duel) Verte Anaconda]] to copy [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Fusion_Destiny Fusion Destiny]] and fuse DPE using [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Destiny_HERO_-_Celestial_(Master_Duel) Celestial]] and [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Destiny_HERO_-_Dasher_(Master_Duel) Dasher]] from the Deck) was as impactful as it was in real life when it hit ''Master Duel'', but it was addressed much differently. Celestial has a Graveyard effect that lets you draw 2 if you've got no cards in hand, so even if DPE has been dealt with, you still have an extra Pot of Greed to give you the leg-up in the long-term advantage game. ''Master Duel'' didn't ban DPE or Verte (yet), but instead banned in Celestial August 2022. Now, without Celestial, players looking to use this package would resort to [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Destiny_HERO_-_Denier_(Master_Duel) Denier]] as a body on board, but Denier itself is much less valuable than Celestial's draw power. Fusion Destiny would also be Limited in this same list, eventually coming back to 2 in March 2023.
** Floowandereeze Decks are very irritating to play against, usually requiring HighlySpecificCounterplay to fight effectively, but including cards to counter them often hurts your Deck in most other matchups. Floowandereeze is so effective at searching and Normal Summoning on the opponent's turn that they would usually slap down a [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Barrier_Statue_of_the_Stormwinds_(Master_Duel) Barrier Statue of the Stormwinds]] to render most non-WIND Decks unable to play, while the Floowandereeze goes largely unhindered by it. The Barrier Statue would get banned on December 2022 to deny Floowandereeze Decks a strong floodgate that they can play under; this ban would later be mirrored in both the OCG and TCG for similar reasons in conjunction with major "Tearlaments" hits. Even with their most prominent floodgate banned the deck remained a cheap yet decent contender, causing "Floowandereeze & the Magnificent Map" and "Floowandreeze & Empen" to get Limited to further reduce its consistency and ceiling.
** [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Flying_%22C%22_(Master_Duel) Flying "C"]] is deliberately designed to be anti-Xyz tech, but in regular gameplay it only counters a small fraction of Summoning mechanics, and players would simply Tribute/Link/Synchro it off. Naturally, in the Xyz Festival where players could only run Xyz cards in the Extra Deck, this card would be ridiculously strong, often tantamount to a free win. The card was forbidden in the first Xyz Festival, but was allowed in the second Xyz Festival, likely due to an oversight. The error was quickly rectified.
** [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Amano-Iwato_(Master_Duel) Amano-Iwato]] prevents non-Spirit monsters from activating their effects, but it's normally held back by its own effects that force it to the player's hand at the end of the turn, keeping it from stopping plays during the opponent's turn. However, this monster serves as yet another floodgate wielded by Runick Decks, which can shut off the opponent's handtraps or on-field Quick Effects so that the Runick player can dismantle the opposition unimpeded. Amano-Iwato was Limited to 1 in the March 2023 list to make it much harder for Runick stun players to open an incredibly potent floodgate. The Runick Deck in itself wasn't completely let off the hook, either, with Fountain, Tip, Freezing Curses, Destruction, and Slumber all getting Semi-Limited to reduce its consistency and access to in-house disruption.
** Much like what happened in the TCG and OCG, Tearlaments became the dominant deck in the game on debut, despite the pre-emptive Limits and Semi-Limits to a number of their members. This resulted in a few additional cards getting sideswiped that didn't previously see hits in paper formats because of ''Master Duel''[='s=] banlist schedule relative to its Selection Pack schedule. Notably, [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Instant_Fusion_(Master_Duel) Instant Fusion]], a card that could put [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Tearlaments_Kitkallos_(Master_Duel) Kitkallos]] on the field for free, was banned. [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/King_of_the_Swamp_(Master_Duel) King of the Swamp]] and [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Foolish_Burial_Goods Foolish Burial Goods]] were also Limited to 1, the former being played to easily make [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Tearlaments_Rulkallos_(Master_Duel) Rulkallos]] and [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Tearlaments_Kaleido-Heart_(Master_Duel) Kaleido-Heart]], and the latter being used to dump Tearlaments Spell/Traps (and occasionally [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Rainbow_Bridge_of_Salvation_(Master_Duel) Rainbow Bridge of Salvation]]) to trigger their GY effects. "Tearlaments Sulliek" eventually got Limited as well, putting a harsh damper on the deck's ability to control the board and generate resources. The August 2023 list would finally ban a Tear name, albeit one that didn't see a hit in the physical card game: "[[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Tearlaments_Merrli Tearlaments Merrli]]", dealing a severe blow to the deck as Merrli's ban further reduces the deck's mill power, limits its access to Fusion Summoning and additionally locks them out of viable access to [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Spright_Elf Spright Elf]] and [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Spright_Sprind Spright Sprind]] as play starters and extenders.
** [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Terraforming_(Master_Duel) Terraforming]] is a Spell Card with a simple but powerful effect, letting you grab any Field Spell from your Deck. The fact that the card is generic and Field Spells have gotten exponentially better since the card was first introduced meant that Terraforming was trapped in the Limited list for the longest time. This has come to a peak with [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Primeval_Planet_Perlereino_(Master_Duel) Primeval Planet Perlereino]] which has three amazing effects, and given the power of Field Spells to come, Terraforming would be banned.
** [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Eradicator_Epidemic_Virus Eradicator Epidemic Virus]] is a massive blowout of a Trap Card, as its ability to nuke every Spell or Trap (of your choice) your opponent possesses makes it immensely powerful to the point of being potentially game-determinative. Its main flaws are it being typically unsearchable, its activation requirement (Tributing a DARK monster with 2500+ ATK) and requiring knowledge of what your opponent is playing, but in [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Labrynth Labrynth]] you can not only get to Eradicator fairly consistently but also always have a card to send for it by using [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Welcome_Labrynth Welcome Labrynth]] to fetch [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Lovely_Labrynth_of_the_Silver_Castle Lovely Labrynth of the Silver Castle]] from your hand or Deck. This only leaves the latter condition, which isn't much of a hindrance regardless as calling Spell is enough to cripple the vast majority of decks in the game save for other Trap decks. Eradicator Epidemic Virus was thus Limited on the June 2023 list in advance of future "Labrynth" support to limit the deck's ability to either draw into it or fetch it off "Trap Trick". Incidentally, this announcement was made exactly a day after [[https://youtu.be/lbE47EXLtAc?t=1820 TCG German Nationals 2023]] in which a "Labrynth" player game-ended his opponent in the first two minutes of the duel by flipping exactly Eradicator Epidemic Virus.
** [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Sillva,_Warlord_of_Dark_World Sillva, Warlord of Dark World]] is a Dark World monster that has an immensely powerful ability to handrip your opponent for two cards and has no once-per-turn on its effect due to its age. The big catch is that it must be discarded by your opponent's card effect to do so, which used to be virtually impossible against most decks, but the then-upcoming advent of new Dark World support in tandem with the existence of Link Monsters enables a devastating combo with fellow card [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Ceruli,_Guru_of_Dark_World Ceruli, Guru of Dark World]] to trigger Sillva's effect multiple times in a single turn, robbing your opponent of the ability to play before they can even start playing the game. To stop this from happening, Sillva was preemptively shot down on the July 13th, 2023 list.
** [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Phantasmal_Lord_Ultimitl_Bishbaalkin Phantasmal Lord Ultimitl Bishbaalkin]] is a Synchro Monster with a difficult but not unfeasible Special Summoning condition that has the ability to flood both players' fields with Tokens once per turn and gain ATK equal to the number of monsters on the field x1000. The fact that Token spam cards are already fairly nonsense in a post-Link Monster era makes this card very strong, but its most common play was to execute FTK combos by using cards like [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Geonator_Transverser Geonator Transverser]] and [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Number_33:_Chronomaly_Machu_Mech Number 33: Chronomaly Machu Mech]] to swap it to the opponent's field and then inflict 8000+ burn damage to the opponent. While extremely susceptible to interruption from handtraps, the game's format lent itself to a fair amount of abuse in Ranked due to the high volatility, causing the card to eventually get banned in the August 2023 list.
** [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Card_of_Demise Card of Demise]] lets you draw until you have 3 cards in hand, but you're forced to discard all that at the end of the turn, you're locked out of Special Summoning that turn, and your opponent takes no further damage after it resolves. Due to all these restrictions, it's best used in Decks that can quickly Set all their playmakers and use them during the opponent's turn without concern for maintaining hand advantage. Of the few Decks that can make the most of Card of Demise, the most infamous are Stun Decks that use the card to draw into their floodgates to restrict the opponent from playing. The best-of-1 format and lack of side decking makes it difficult to prepare against potential floodgates without hurting your own consistency, so Konami saw it fit to ban Card of Demise to hurt the consistency of the floodgate players in January 2024.
** [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/White_Dragon_Wyverburster White Dragon Wyverburster]] is an incredibly strong playstarter and combo piece for the "Dragon Link" deck, being able to be dumped and/or searched off of several cards and works in tandem with the related "Black Dragon Collapserpent" to recover hand advantage when used for Link Summons or other power plays, making it one of the big reasons why "Dragon Link" is so resilient to interruption and is able to combo into extremely powerful boards. This was deemed too powerful and ended up being Forbidden in the January 2024 list alongside "Chaos Ruler, the Chaotic Magical Dragon".

** [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Amano-Iwato_(Master_Duel) Amano-Iwato]] prevents non-Spirit monsters from activating their effects, but it's normally held back by its own effects that force it to the player's hand at the end of the turn, keeping it from stopping plays during the opponent's turn. However, this monster serves as yet another floodgate wielded by Runick Decks, which can shut off the opponent's handtraps or on-field Quick Effects so that the Runick player can dismantle the opposition unimpeded. Amano-Iwato was Limited to 1 in the March 2023 list to make it much harder for Runick stun players to open an incredibly potent floodgate. The Runick Deck in itself wasn't completely let off the hook, either, with Fountain, Tip, Freezing Curses, Destruction, and Slumber all getting Semi-Limited to reduce its consistency and access to in-house disruption.\\

** A [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Number_86:_Heroic_Champion_-_Rhongomyniad_(Master_Duel) Rhongomyniad]] with 4 or more Xyz materials is unaffected by card effects and also prevents the opponent from Normal or Special Summoning so they can't out it by Tributing it for a Kaiju or Ra Sphere Mode. Normally designed to be a DifficultButAwesome payoff, but the inclusion of [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Number_75:_Bamboozling_Gossip_Shadow_(Master_Duel) Bamboozling Gossip Shadow]], who can transfer itself and its Materials to a Number monster, made a high-Material Rhongo much easier to accomplish. Rather than ban Rhongo outright, Gossip Shadow was the one to get banned on August 2022, removing the easiest method to access a high-Material Rhongo. Unfortunately, this didn't stop Rhongomyniad from being abused by other cards such as [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Numbers_Eveil_(Master_Duel) Numbers Eveil]], resulting Konami finally caving in and taking an axe to Rhongo in the August 2023 banlist.

** [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Amano-Iwato_(Master_Duel) Amano-Iwato]] prevents non-Spirit monsters from activating their effects, but it's normally held back by its own effects that force it to the player's hand at the end of the turn, keeping it from stopping plays during the opponent's turn. However, this monster serves as yet another floodgate wielded by Runick Decks, which can shut off the opponent's handtraps or on-field Quick Effects so that the Runick player can dismantle the opposition unimpeded. Amano-Iwato was Limited to 1 in the March 2023 list to make it much harder for Runick stun players to open an incredibly potent floodgate. The Runick Deck in itself wasn't completely let off the hook, either, with Fountain, Tip, Freezing Curses, Destruction, and Slumber all getting Semi-Limited to reduce its consistency and access to in-house disruption.
** The Ishizu retrains -- [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Agido_the_Ancient_Sentinel_(Master_Duel) Agido]], [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Kelbek_the_Ancient_Vanguard_(Master_Duel) Kelbek]], [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Keldo_the_Sacred_Protector_(Master_Duel) Keldo]] and [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Mudora_the_Sword_Oracle_(Master_Duel) Mudora]] -- are a set of Fairy monsters designed to synergize with [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Exchange_of_the_Spirit_(Master_Duel) Exchange of the Spirit]] by loading up both Graveyards to fulfill its activation condition and remove unwanted cards that inevitably wind up there. On their own, however, the quartet can trigger and enable each other, leading to a spontaneous cascade of milling from both players. The Ishizu Fairies were released in ''Master Duel'' ahead of Tearlaments to let players experience them without their most infamous interactions (albeit with three of their members Semi-Limited), and they proceeded to be great inclusions almost everywhere to support and work against Graveyard-based Decks.\\
\\
They're also played by FTK mill builds -- some using all this to augment the Runick mill strategy -- where they can set up [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Fairy_Tail_-_Snow_(Master_Duel) Fairy Tail Snow]] to banish [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Necroface_(Master_Duel) Necroface]] for even more milling power before the opponent can react. The high representation of these mill builds in the March 2023 Duelist Cup led to Necroface getting Semi-Limited, but once Tearlaments made their proper debut in the game, some players have come to the conclusion that the Ishizu Fairies are the root of the "Tear Zero" problem. After the conclusion of the WCS 2023 Qualifiers (where Ishizu Tear ran rampant) Keldo, Mudora and Agido would all be Limited like they would in real life. The August 2023 banlist would later go a step further and outright ban Agido, while the October 2023 list would follow suit with the OCG and ban Kelbek as well.

They're also played by FTK mill builds -- some using all this to augment the Runick mill strategy -- where they can set up [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Fairy_Tail_-_Snow_(Master_Duel) Fairy Tail Snow]] to banish [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Necroface_(Master_Duel) Necroface]] for even more milling power before the opponent can react. The high representation of these mill builds in the March 2023 Duelist Cup led to Necroface getting Semi-Limited, but once Tearlaments made their proper debut in the game, some players have come to the conclusion that the Ishizu Fairies are the root of the "Tear Zero" problem. After the conclusion of the WCS 2023 Qualifiers (where Ishizu Tear ran rampant) Keldo, Mudora and Agido would all be Limited like they would in real life. The August 2023 banlist would later go a step further and outright ban Agido while Limiting the last remaining card, Kelbek the Ancient Vanguard, for good measure.

* There are many more card recycling effects here as well, and the ones that benefit players the most are [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Elemental_HERO_Flash Elemental HERO Flash]] (adds any spell or trap from graveyard when it's sent there by any means), manga version of [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Revival_Magic_(manga) Spell Reproduction]] (adds any spell from graveyard), [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Altar_of_Restoration Altar of Restoration]] (adds any card in the graveyard by banishing 2 top cards of the deck), [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Burning_Soul_(manga) Burning Soul]] (adds any card from graveyard, a quick-play spell), and [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Blade_Graveyard Blade Graveyard]] (adds any card from ''either'' player's graveyard by banishing itself). But the one that takes the cake is [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Graveyard_Rebound Graveyard Rebound]], which allows the player to activate any Spell or Traps from the Graveyard, which'd mean it can be infinitely re-activated as those cards go there after activation. This card can make Jar of Greed draw your entire Deck!

** Much like what happened in the TCG and OCG, Tearlaments became the dominant deck in the game on debut, despite the pre-emptive Limits and Semi-Limits to a number of their members. This resulted in a few additional cards getting sideswiped that didn't previously see hits in paper formats because of ''Master Duel''[='s=] banlist schedule relative to its Selection Pack schedule. Notably, [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Instant_Fusion_(Master_Duel) Instant Fusion]], a card that could put [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Tearlaments_Kitkallos_(Master_Duel) Kitkallos]] on the field for free, was banned. [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/King_of_the_Swamp_(Master_Duel) King of the Swamp]] and [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Foolish_Burial_Goods Foolish Burial Goods]] were also Limited to 1, the former being played to easily make [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Tearlaments_Rulkallos_(Master_Duel) Rulkallos]] and [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Tearlaments_Kaleido-Heart_(Master_Duel) Kaleido-Heart]], and the latter being used to dump Tearlaments Spell/Traps (and occasionally [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Rainbow_Bridge_of_Salvation_(Master_Duel) Rainbow Bridge of Salvation]]) to trigger their GY effects. "Tearlaments Sulliek" eventually got Limited as well, putting a harsh damper on the deck's ability to control the board and generate resources. The August 2023 list would finally ban a Tear name, albeit one that didn't see a hit in the physical card game: "[[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Tearlaments_Merrli Tearlaments Merrli]]", dealing a severe blow to the deck as Merrli's ban further reduces the deck's mill power and additionally locks them out of access to [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Spright_Elf Spright Elf]] and [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Spright_Sprind Spright Sprind]].

** Much like what happened in the TCG and OCG, Tearlaments became the dominant deck in the game on debut, despite the pre-emptive Limits and Semi-Limits to a number of their members. This resulted in a few additional cards getting sideswiped that didn't previously see hits in paper formats because of ''Master Duel''[='s=] banlist schedule relative to its Selection Pack schedule. Notably, [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Instant_Fusion_(Master_Duel) Instant Fusion]], a card that could put [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Tearlaments_Kitkallos_(Master_Duel) Kitkallos]] on the field for free, was banned. [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/King_of_the_Swamp_(Master_Duel) King of the Swamp]] and [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Foolish_Burial_Goods Foolish Burial Goods]] were also Limited to 1, the former being played to easily make [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Tearlaments_Rulkallos_(Master_Duel) Rulkallos]] and [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Tearlaments_Kaleido-Heart_(Master_Duel) Kaleido-Heart]], and the latter being used to dump Tearlaments Spell/Traps (and occasionally [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Rainbow_Bridge_of_Salvation_(Master_Duel) Rainbow Bridge of Salvation]]) to trigger their GY effects. "Tearlaments Sulliek" eventually got Limited as well, putting a harsh damper on the deck's ability to control the board and generate resources. The August 2023 list would finally ban a Tear name, albeit one that didn't see a hit in the physical card game: "[[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Tearlaments_Merrli Tearlaments Merrli]], dealing a severe blow to the deck as Merrli's ban further reduces the deck's mill power and additionally locks them out of access to [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Spright_Elf Spright Elf]] and [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Spright_Sprind Spright Sprind]].

** Much like what happened in the TCG and OCG, Tearlaments became the dominant deck in the game on debut, despite the pre-emptive Limits and Semi-Limits to a number of their members. This resulted in a few additional cards getting sideswiped that didn't previously see hits in paper formats because of ''Master Duel''[='s=] banlist schedule relative to its Selection Pack schedule. Notably, [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Instant_Fusion_(Master_Duel) Instant Fusion]], a card that could put [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Tearlaments_Kitkallos_(Master_Duel) Kitkallos]] on the field for free, was banned. [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/King_of_the_Swamp_(Master_Duel) King of the Swamp]] and [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Foolish_Burial_Goods Foolish Burial Goods]] were also Limited to 1, the former being played to easily make [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Tearlaments_Rulkallos_(Master_Duel) Rulkallos]] and [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Tearlaments_Kaleido-Heart_(Master_Duel) Kaleido-Heart]], and the latter being used to dump Tearlaments Spell/Traps (and occasionally [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Rainbow_Bridge_of_Salvation_(Master_Duel) Rainbow Bridge of Salvation]]) to trigger their GY effects. "Tearlaments Sulliek" eventually got Limited as well, putting a harsh damper on the deck's ability to control the board and generate resources.

** A [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Number_86:_Heroic_Champion_-_Rhongomyniad_(Master_Duel) Rhongomyniad]] with 4 or more Xyz materials is unaffected by card effects and also prevents the opponent from Normal or Special Summoning so they can't out it by Tributing it for a Kaiju or Ra Sphere Mode. Normally designed to be a DifficultButAwesome payoff, but the inclusion of [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Number_75:_Bamboozling_Gossip_Shadow_(Master_Duel) Bamboozling Gossip Shadow]], who can transfer itself and its Materials to a Number monster, made a high-Material Rhongo much easier to accomplish. Rather than ban Rhongo outright, Gossip Shadow was the one to get banned on August 2022, removing the easiest method to access a high-Material Rhongo, though it hasn't stopped some players from trying other means to access Rhongo, such as [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Numbers_Eveil_(Master_Duel) Numbers Eveil]].

They're also played by FTK mill builds -- some using all this to augment the Runick mill strategy -- where they can set up [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Fairy_Tail_-_Snow_(Master_Duel) Fairy Tail Snow]] to banish [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Necroface_(Master_Duel) Necroface]] for even more milling power before the opponent can react. The high representation of these mill builds in the March 2023 Duelist Cup led to Necroface getting Semi-Limited, but once Tearlaments made their proper debut in the game, some players have come to the conclusion that the Ishizu Fairies are the root of the "Tear Zero" problem. After the conclusion of the WCS 2023 Qualifiers (where Ishizu Tear ran rampant) Keldo, Mudora and Agido would all be Limited like they would in real life.

** [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Eradicator_Epidemic_Virus Eradicator Epidemic Virus]] is a massive blowout of a Trap Card, as its ability to nuke every Monster, Spell or Trap (of your choice) your opponent possesses makes it extremely game-determinative. Its only real flaws are it being typically unsearchable, its activation requirement (Tributing a DARK monster with 2500 ATK) and requiring knowledge of what your opponent is playing, but in [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Labrynth Labrynth]] you can not only get to Eradicator fairly consistently but also always have a card to send for it by using [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Welcome_Labrynth Welcome Labrynth]] to fetch [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Lovely_Labrynth_of_the_Silver_Castle Lovely Labrynth of the Silver Castle]] from your hand or Deck. This only leaves the latter condition, which isn't much of a hindrance regardless as you already have a 33% chance to hit the correct card type before even factoring in hand knowledge cards like "Triple Tactics Talent". Eradicator Epidemic Virus was thus Limited on the June 2023 list in advance of future "Labrynth" support to limit the deck's ability to either draw into it or fetch it off "Trap Trick". Incidentally, this announcement was made exactly a day after [[https://youtu.be/lbE47EXLtAc?t=1820 TCG German Nationals 2023]] in which a "Labrynth" player game-ended his opponent in the first two minutes of the duel by flipping exactly Eradicator Epidemic Virus.

** Floodgates are a significantly bigger issue in this game due to the lack of sideboarding, since countering them requires running cards that weaken your own consistency or are less useful in other matchups. As a result, various floodgates like [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Skill_Drain Skill_(Master_Duel) Drain]], [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Gozen_Match_(Master_Duel) Gozen Match]] and [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Rivalry_of_Warlords_(Master_Duel) Rivalry of Warlords]] have been Limited (while [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/There_Can_Be_Only_One_(Master_Duel) There Can Be Only One]] is only Semi-Limited) to make the game's best-of-1 format a little more tolerable, while archetypes that are known for being adjacent to floodgates, such as Eldlich and Runick, received hits in tandem. [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Conquistador_of_the_Golden_Land_(Master_Duel) Conquistador of the Golden Land]] was first Limited in May 2022 to curb Eldlich's power before eventually getting Semi-Limited months later in February 2023, while Runick Fountain, Runick Tip, Runick Destruction, Runick Freezing Curses, and Runick Slumber all received Semi-Limits.

** Floowandereeze Decks are very irritating to play against, usually requiring HighlySpecificCounterplay to fight effectively, but including cards to counter them often hurts your Deck in most other matchups. Floowandereeze is so effective at searching and Normal Summoning on the opponent's turn that they would usually slap down a [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Barrier_Statue_of_the_Stormwinds_(Master_Duel) Barrier Statue of the Stormwinds]] to render most non-WIND Decks unable to play, while the Floowandereeze goes largely unhindered by it. The Barrier Statue would get banned on December 2022 to deny Floowandereeze Decks a strong floodgate that they can play under; this ban would later be mirrored in both the OCG and TCG for similar reasons in conjunction with major "Tearlaments" hits. "Magnificent Map" would also be Limited in April to keep them in check going forward.

** Much like what happened in the TCG and OCG, Tearlaments became the dominant deck in the game on debut, despite the pre-emptive Limits and Semi-Limits to a number of their members. This resulted in a few additional cards getting sideswiped that didn't previously see hits in paper formats because of ''Master Duel''[='s=] banlist schedule relative to its Selection Pack schedule. Notably, [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Instant_Fusion_(Master_Duel) Instant Fusion]], a card that could put [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Tearlaments_Kitkallos_(Master_Duel) Kitkallos]] on the field for free, was banned. [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/King_of_the_Swamp_(Master_Duel) King of the Swamp]] and [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Foolish_Burial_Goods Foolish Burial Goods]] were also Limited to 1, the former being played to easily make [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Tearlaments_Rulkallos_(Master_Duel) Rulkallos]] and [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Tearlaments_Kaleido-Heart_(Master_Duel) Kaleido-Heart]], and the latter being used to dump Tearlaments Spell/Traps (and occasionally [[https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Rainbow_Bridge_of_Salvation_(Master_Duel) Rainbow Bridge of Salvation]]) to trigger their GY effects.