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Yu-Gi-Oh! Forbidden and Limited list update aims the banhammer at Tearlaments archetype

Dry your Tearlaments.

Card art for Tearlaments Kitkallos from Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG
Image credit: Konami

The Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game revealed all of the cards that have earned a spot on the Forbidden and Limited list, which is scheduled for an official update on February 13th. How players feel about these changes will likely be determined by their affection for a certain mermaid-themed archetype.

The currently dominant Tearlaments strategy was hit hardest with one Monster card chucked into the Forbidden prison and three more slapped with Limited status. Forbidden cards cannot be added to decks because their sheer power or combination potential have warped the current metagame in a way publisher Konami has deemed unhealthy. Limited cards can only appear once in a deck, while Semi-Limited cards are allowed two copies.

Since Yu-Gi-Oh! doesn’t maintain a standard rotation like Magic: The Gathering, this list of offending cards needs to be updated regularly to keep the ever-expanding list of archetypes and strategies playing nice with one another. In fact, several cards were set free from their previous limitations, ostensibly because the current environment can better self-regulate.


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Below are all of the individual cards that will be added or removed from the Forbidden and Limited list on February 13th:

Forbidden Cards

  • Tearlaments Kitkallos
  • Artifact Scythe
  • Barrier Statue of the Stormwinds
  • Spright Elves

Limited Cards

  • Tearlaments Havnis
  • Tearlaments Merrli
  • Tearlaments Scheiren
  • Ancient Fairy Dragon
  • Agido the Ancient Citadel
  • Kelbek the Ancient Vanguard
  • Keldo the Sacred Protector
  • Mudora the Sword Oracle

Unlimited (cards removed from previous lists)

  • Destrudo the Lost Dragon’s Frisson
  • Jet Synchron
  • Mecha Phantom Beast O-Lion
  • Servant of Endymion
  • True King Lythosagym, the Disaster
  • Yata-Garasu
  • SPYRAL Resort


Elsewhere in the trading card game’s recent news, the 2023 World Championship will be held in Japan come August - the first one in three years after Konami cancelled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We don’t yet know what sort of safety precautions, if any, will be implemented for this year’s grand tournament.

We recently looked back at Yu-Gi-Oh! in 2022, a year in which Master Duel provided a digital platform for online play that became an instant hit with both longtime and returning players. As for the rest of this year, check out Dicebreaker’s list of every set, core booster and structure deck scheduled to release in 2023.

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