First Forbidden Monsters

The first monsters of their respective monster card type (Fusion, Synchro, Xyz, Pendulum, Link) to become forbidden in the OCG.

 

Thousand-Eyes Restrict made its first appearance in the manga’s chapter 131 “Strike of Chaos!!” (混沌の一撃！！), published on 21 June 1999 in Weekly Shonen Jump. In the final battle of the Duelist Kingdom arc, Pegasus J. Crawford (Maximillion Pegasus) Fusion Summoned Thousand-Eyes Restrict against Yami Yugi.

Thousand-Eyes Restrict was later released in Thousand Eyes Bible on 14 December 2000. However it did not see play in the competitive scene until Metamorphosis was released in The New Ruler on 16 May 2002, and Magical Scientist was released in Champion of Black Magic on 19 September 2002.

The OCG 2005.03 format was dominated by Goat Control, also known as Metamorphosis Chaos (変異カオス) in Japan. The deck revolves around using Metamorphosis to Special Summon Thousand-Eyes Restrict. Thousand-Eyes Restrict creates a soft-lock on the board by preventing other monsters on the field from changing positions or attacking, and also functions as a removal by equipping the opponent’s monster to itself.

Combined with Tsukuyomi, this allows the player to turn off their own Thousand-Eyes Restrict during Main Phase 1 by turning it face-down, attacking with the other monsters during the Battle Phase, and then turning on Thousand-Eyes Restrict again in Main Phase 2 by Flip Summoning it. This also cause the monster that was equipped to Thousand-Eyes Restrict to drop off, allowing Thousand-Eyes Restrict to equip another monster to itself.

Goat Control, piloted by Miltiadis Markou from Greece, would go on to win the Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship 2005.

Shortly in the following OCG 2005.09 Forbidden & Limited List, Thousand-Eyes Restrict together with Tsukuyomi, Scapegoat and Metamorphosis became limited.

The release of Instant Fusion in Cyberdark Impact on 10 August 2006 was the catalyst that put Thousand-Eyes Restrict on the OCG 2006.09 Forbidden List, making it the very first Fusion Monster to become forbidden.

Almost 10 years later, Thousand-Eyes Restrict was finally revised to limited status in the OCG 2016.04 Limit Regulation, semi-limited in OCG 2016.07, and eventually released in OCG 2016.10.

 

Dark Strike Fighter made its first appearance in Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s anime’s episode 21, aired on 20 August 2008. In the Semi-Final of the Fortune Cup, Bommer (Greiger) summoned Dark Strike Fighter against Fudo Yusei.

Dark Strike Fighter was later released in Crimson Crisis on 15 November 2008. Two copies of Dark Strike Fighter were played in almost every deck as it was the basis of an One-Turn-Kill (OTK). The OTK involves Synchro Summoning 2 Dark Strike Fighter, direct attacking with both, and then tributing themselves to their own effect to burn the opponent. This would deal exactly 2600 + 2600 + (200 × 7) + (200 × 7) = 8000 points of damage.

Cat Synchro and Blackwing were the top two popular decks that were able to pull off this OTK combo easily. Cat Synchro simply had to open with Summoner Monk to Special Summon another Summoner Monk and then Rescue Cat, which in turn brings out 2 X-Saber Airbellum. Blackwing involves using Black Whirlwind to search and Special Summon Blackwing – Bora the Spear and Blackwing – Gale the Whirlwind.

Blackwing, piloted by Benjamin Tan Hong Hwee from Singapore, would go on to win the Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship 2009.

Shortly in the following OCG 2009.09 Forbidden & Limited List, Dark Strike Fighter went straight to forbidden.

It was until OCG 2014.04 that Dark Strike Fighter was released from the Limit Regulation, but with an errata to its effect. The new effect of Dark Strike Fighter can only be activated during Main Phase 1 with a hard once-per-turn clause.

 

Wind-Up Carrier Zenmaity was first released in Order of Chaos on 19 November 2011.

Wind-Up Carrier Zenmaity was used together with Wind-Up Hunter and Wind-Up Rat to create a loop that discards the opponent’s hand. This caused Wind-Up Carrier Zenmaity to become limited in OCG 2012.09.

However, the release of Wind-Up Shark, Wind-Up Rabbit and Tour Guide From the Underworld in Extra Pack 2012 on 13 October 2012, enabled Wind-Up to swarm effectively even with just 1 Wind-Up Carrier Zenmaity, causing Zenmaity to become forbidden in OCG 2013.03.

Wind-Up Carrier Zenmaity was later revised to limited status in the OCG 2014.04 Limit Regulation by having Wind-Up Hunter forbidden instead. Zenmaity went to semi-limited in OCG 2015.04 and was eventually released in OCG 2015.10.

 

Performage Plushfire made its first appearance in Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V anime’s episode 57 on 24 May 2015. Dennis McField Special Summoned Performage Plushfire onto his opponent, Gongenzaka Noboru’s (Gong Strong) field.

Performage Plushfire was later released in Dimension of Chaos on 18 July 2015. Performage Plushfire was played in Performapal Performage, a Pendulum deck that uses Performapal Pendulum Sorcerer and Luster Pendulum, the Dracoslayer to trigger Performage Plushfire‘s effect and quickly swarm the field with monsters.

Performapal Performage was so dominating that Performage Plushfire went straight to forbidden in the OCG 2016.01 Limit Regulation. It holds the OCG record of being the fastest card to go from release to forbidden in a short span of 167 days.

 

Summon Sorceress was first released in V Jump January 2018 on 21 November 2017.

Summon Sorceress first saw competitive play in Plant Link FTK during OCG 2018.01. Plant Link FTK was eventually hit in the following OCG 2018.04, but Summon Sorceress continues to enjoy widespread usage across multiple different top decks – Sky Striker, Magician, ABC.

But it was only in OCG 2018.07 that saw the rise of the Knightmare Link decks – Gouki, Good Stuff Link, DARK Warrior Link, ABC, SPYRAL. All these decks made use of Crystron Halqifibrax and/or Isolde, Two Tales of the Noble Knights to combo into Summon Sorceress and then into Firewall Dragon and Knightmare Mermaid.

Summon Sorceress went straight to forbidden in the OCG 2018.10 Limit Regulation, making it the first Link Monster to become forbidden.