12 Banned 'Yu-Gi-Oh!' Cards You Can't Use in Tournaments

Change of Heart lets you control one of your opponent's monsters until the end phase of your turn. That makes it possible to destroy your opponent’s strategies. If they only have one monster on the field, it would allow you to attack them directly. This could completely change the course of the duel.

Last Turn can only be played when the activating player has less than 1000 Life Points. They can choose one monster to battle, and the opponent can special summon any monster they’d like from their deck to face them. The winner of that battle would win the duel. The car seems fair at first glance because it allows the opponent to special summon any monster from their deck. Over time, the problem is that duelists found a way to hack this rule by summoning choosing monsters such as Jowgen, the Spiritualist that prevent the opponent from special summoning any monster of their choosing. This would mean that the activating player would automatically win the duel

Cyber Jar is one of the most powerful cards in the game as, when flipped, it can destroy all monsters on the field and cause both duelists to draw five cards. If they draw and monsters that are level 4 or below, those monsters are automatically summoned. This could allow a player to change the game with this card completely. Stacking a deck with low-level monsters wouldn’t be hard for Cyber Jar to end the game potentially.

Snatch Steal is another magic card that, similarly to Change of Heart, allows the player to take control of your opponent's monster. The difference with this card is that the stolen monster can permanently remain in the opponent’s possession as long as this card remains attached to it. The player whose monster was stolen receives 1000 life points for every turn this card is played. This card allows the opponent to use any monster against them or as a sacrifice.

Ultimate Offering is a trap card that allows a player to pay 500 Life points during an opponent's Main Phase or Battle Phase in order to normal summon one extra monster. This can give a player a huge advantage as this card’s effect can be activated during either player's turn. That means that a player can summon monsters during their opponents turn, misleading them and leaving them open to a counterattack.

Yata-Garasu is an effect monster that can literally end the game if used correctly. It was so powerful that it was almost immediately put on the ban list. If this monster attacks an opponent's life points directly, it can prevent them from drawing a card on their next turn. Because it is a spirit monster, it will return to the user’s hand at the end of each turn. That means that this card can prevent the opponent from drawing new cards, yet cannot be destroyed because it will always return to the user's hand.

Metamorphosis is a magic card that allows you to skip most of the setup that’s normally required to summon fusion monsters to the field. Normally, to summon a fusion monster, one must possess a Polymerization card and the other monsters that comprise that fusion monster. With Metamorphosis, it allowed the player to sacrifice a card on the field in order to summon a monster at the same level. That means that a player can sacrifice a useless card for a more useful fusion monster from their deck with relative ease.

Sixth Sense is a trap card that completely changed the outcome of certain cards. The player who activates this card declares two numbers between 1 and 6. The opponent rolls a dice, and if that dice lands on one of the two numbers, then the player who activated the card will draw cards equivalent to that number. If the dice lands on one of the other numbers, the player will discard that many cards from the top of their deck to their graveyard. This card provides a low-risk / high-reward scenario where the player who activates it can easily draw five or six cards while only risking losing four or fewer cards from their deck.

Magical Scientist is an effect monster that allows the player that activates it to summon Fusion Monsters with a few conditions. First, the player must sacrifice 1000 Life Points for each Fusion Monster they summon. Next, the summoned monster must be lower than level six and cannot directly attack the opponent's life points. This card is one of the most powerful cards in the game because it allows the player to summon many powerful monsters to their field with little consequence. When combined with the card Catapult Turtle, this card allows players to repeatedly summon monsters and sacrifice them to deal damage with little consequence.

Painful Choice is a magic card that offers a high-risk / high-reward scenario. When a player activates this card, they select 5 cards from their deck, their opponent selects one of the cards, and it’s added to the activating player’s hand. The other cards are discarded. The disadvantage of this is that the player is guaranteed to lose 4 cards, but the benefit is that it is a guaranteed way to secure at least one game-changing card to the hand.

Dimension Fusion is an all-powerful magic card. When a monster is destroyed in battle, it is either sent to the graveyard or removed from the game. This card allows both players to summon as many monsters as they choose from the graveyard or banished zones to the field. The only consequence for the player who activates this card is having to pay 2000 Life Points. This card allows a duelist to strategize and use is specifically at a time when they have more monsters in their graveyard and can allow them to win the game.

Fiber Jar is an effect monster that can completely change the course of a game. It’s effectively a restart as it forces each player to put all of the cards on the field into their hands and all of the cards in the graveyard. It can ruin any plans that the opponent has planned as well as revealing them before they can ever truly take effect.