After 18 years of remaining Forbidden, Yata-Garasu has come back to the TCG. This card was infamous for being one of the first cards to earn the "Forbidden" status in August 2004. Over many years, we watched cards move on and off the Forbidden section while Yata remained. In some cases, cards from the first Forbidden List were unbanned and later returned. Other's simply returned to the game just fine. Then, we get unfortunate cases like Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the End where an errata completely changes it. Thankfully Yata avoided the fate of the latter case.
Now, with Yata finally back in the game, at least one card has to take Yata's old claim. In this instance, there are now 6 cards that earn the distinction of being the longest Forbidden cards. All of these joining the Forbidden section in April of 2005. We would of had 7 cards from this list, but Konami also brought back Change of Heart alongside Yata, so that run is over. Here, I want to go over those 6 cards, why they earned their spot, how they apply today, and why all should honestly remain Forbidden.
Fiber Jar
We start with one of the few FLIP monsters in the game to remain on the list in any capacity: Fiber Jar. Only the most powerful of FLIP effects in this game have gotten cards banned, and Fiber Jar is no exception. This card is basically a reset button for the game. Just turn it face-up and every card on the field, hands, and graveyards return to the Deck. In return, each player gets a new hand of 5 cards. It should be noted this doesn't return banished cards, so those stay gone when the game is reset. That's all this card is missing to be a complete reset minus the LP staying the same.
Current Applications
This is one of few cases where a card likely remains banned for the same reason it initially was. If you see this card, you know the goal of the player is to reset the situation. With that said, FLIP effects still aren't as reliable as they once were. This is why the total of FLIP monsters being on the list, nonetheless Forbidden, will decrease more than increase. If you're setting a monster, it's more than likely getting removed without flipping face-up. This makes FLIP effects harder to resolve in Decks not dedicated to them. With this card, the best home would probably be Empty Jar as it fits in well with the Morphing Jar shenanigans.
Why It Should Remain Forbidden
Honestly, there isn't much more left to say about Fiber Jar. The reason it should remain banned is simply the reset aspect to it. With Konami probably wanting to get tournaments and rounds done in a timely matter, Fiber Jar completely goes against this philosophy. It mainly stays banned because of how much it prolongs games when it resolves. It's almost like Self-Destruct Button where the card isn't banned because it's necessarily broken, but for what it represents. Konami hates prolonging games as much as they hate draws, so I wouldn't expect to see Fiber Jar back any time soon.
Magical Scientist
The next card to talk about, and the only other monster in this group, is Magical Scientist. This powerful little Level 1 helps spam Level 6 or lower Fusions at a cost of 1000 LP each. This isn't a once per turn effect, but the summoned monsters can't attack and return to the Extra Deck at the end of the turn. Back in the day, this had two interesting purposes. The first one spammed powerful Fusions to help swing the duel in your favor. There were some nice options like Dark Balter the Terrible, Ryu Senshi, Fiend Skull Dragon, and Thousand-Eyes Restrict. The second was a simple FTK by summoning the strongest of the Level 6 Fusions to tribute off a non-once per turn Catapult Turtle.
Current Applications
Nowadays, the FTK is gone, but the card still aged pretty well over time. Magical Scientist in 2022 would likely be used for some powerful Xyz Spam. The variety of Fusions in the game helps you make a ton of Xyzs you normally wouldn't see in every Deck. Bracchio-raidus helps make Evolzar Solda for taking care of Special Summons. Panzer Dragon can help make Constellar Pleiades or Cyber Dragon Nova into Cyber Dragon Infinity. Two Rare Fish and/or Mudragon of the Swamp lets you into Bahamut Shark plays. There's a ton of unorthodox Xyzs this helps summon with 2000 LP and the Extra Deck slots.
Not only do you get Xyzs, but there's also Synchro potential. Thanks to Sea Monster of Theseus, Magikey Beast - Ansyalabolas, and Allvain the Essence of Vanity, you get access to the Level 6, 5, and 3 Synchro toolboxes. There's also the potential for Link spam, and the Tuners do of course make Crystron Halqifibrax. There's several unorthodox Links you could probably summon in any Deck with Magical Scientist around as well.
Why It Should Remain Forbidden
There's a reason Instant Fusion is at 1. Having a variety of Fusions to summon from the Extra Deck at a low cost has grown to get better and better with time. Take away the once per turn and give an extra Level for range, and you got a way too powerful card. This card giving you all these options off one card with no bricks in the Main Deck is too powerful. This is one of few cards likely to stay Forbidden for the rest of the game's history without an errata of some sort.
Butterfly Dagger - Elma
For the remaining four cards in this group, we'll look exclusively at Spells. The first one is one of few Equip Spells to be banned in this game's history: Butterfly Dagger - Elma. The reason this card was banned is simple: loops. The effect to add itself back after being equipped and destroyed wasn't once per turn. This meant you got infinite loop potential with Gearfried the Iron Knight. The most common combo for this was Royal Magical Library to draw into Exodia the Forbidden One, and that's all we really saw before this was banned.
Current Applications
Now, the applications of this card hasn't really changed. The loops are still possible as long as you get to Gearfried the Iron Knight. Nowadays, getting to this combo is much easier thanks to Isolde, Two Tales of the Noble Knights. You can summon the Gearfried from the Deck and get Elma into the grave to add back later. Overall, the combos wouldn't be that consistent, but it's still an infinite loop.
Why It Should Remain Forbidden
The loops are really the only reason this is staying banned. Even if the combos are hard to achieve, we try to avoid infinite loops as much as possible. Their are always going to be new ways to break these infinite loops in one way or another. The solution to this is simple, just add a once per turn. Until then, the card won't see the light of day.
Mirage of Nightmare
Secondly in the banned Spells, we get to Mirage of Nightmare. Powerful generic draw power has typically seen the list, and this is no exception. This card let you fill your hand until you had 4 cards during the opponent's Standby Phase. In return, during your next turn you had to discard cards randomly equal to the number you drew. This restriction didn't matter that much because you usually saw this hit with Mystical Space Typhoon before you had to discard.
Current Applications
Now, the application of this card hasn't changed. You still draw a bunch of cards and remove it before you had to discard. With that said, the discard isn't the end of the world. Some cards would like to be discarded off this, which is why we could be thankful this is random. Still, there are more ways than ever to remove this before you discard if you didn't want to. Twin Twisters, Cosmic Cyclone, and many more cards exist to get rid of this.
Why It Should Remain Forbidden
The draw 4 might be slow, but it's still a draw 4, and it's too easy to get around the downside. There's more Spell/Trap removal options than ever to make sure you didn't discard if you didn't want to. Even then, if you didn't have the removal, you might be running a Deck to benefit from the discard. The downsides of this card are too easy to get around, which is why this was banned to begin with.
Painful Choice
Now we probably get to one of the most powerful cards in the game's history: Painful Choice. This card let you take 5 cards from your Deck to add one to your hand by the opponent's choice while the others go to grave. What got this card banned is that the choice the opponent made didn't really matter, you wanted to load your graveyard. This set up the infamous Yata Lock pretty well to get Chaos Emperor Dragon fuel in the grave. Even after that, it could fuel a Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning or a Chaos Sorcerer.
Current Applications
If fueling the grave could be an issue in 2005, it's a major problem in 2022. With all the graveyard effects roaming around, Painful Choice is a massive plus to resolve. The choice the opponent would make would matter less than ever, because you'll gain a ton of advantage anyways. Shaddolls would be a strategy that would love this card for one. Anything using Chaos monsters still also would like to put LIGHTs and DARKs in grave. There's a ton of graveyard stuff that benefits from this that it'd take too long to mention it all.
Why It Should Remain Forbidden
The choice the opponent makes should honestly matter, even though they'll always give you the worst option. It's just that over time, the "worst option" has kind of become a non-factor. The advantage is going to be generated one way or another. A card that lets you plus as much as Painful Choice without as much RNG is way too good to have in the game.
The Forceful Sentry
We end off with the most simple of cards in this group, The Forceful Sentry. This was banned because it's one of the best one-for-ones in the game. It lets you look at the opponent's hand AND snipe a monster in it back to the Deck. This was part of a powerful trio of cards alongside Delinquent Duo and Confiscation, all of which have also been banned a long time.
Current Applications
I mean, it's free to activate just as long as the opponent has a card in the hand. You draw it, you're likely to use it right away. Now, you can snipe hand traps as well to really ensure your plays aren't disrupted.
Why It Should Remain Forbidden
So not only does this snipe a card from the opponent's hand, but you get the knowledge of what they have as well? All at no real cost? Yeah, this is way too good for the game right now. Triple Tactics Talent is a good enough replacement, cause this will never come back in its current form.
Conclusion
There's always been a good reason some cards stay Forbidden for so long. All the powerful and degenerate stuff they promote is way too good. A ton of these cards age well as well, getting better over time. I went into details as to why some of these cards got better over time. The others? Well, they just promote unhealthy gameplay in general more than actually being consistently broken. I imagine all six of these will remain the longest Forbidden cards and not come back at all, barring an errata of some sort.
