The TCG Forbidden & Limited List took effect on September 21, 2026, replacing the list from May 18, 2026. It has 21 changes: 8 cards newly Forbidden, 2 newly Limited, 1 newly Semi-Limited and 10 moved to Unlimited.
One date matters more than the rest: Mind Master and Elder Entity Norden did not become Unlimited until September 28, 2026. Both stayed Forbidden from September 21 through September 27.
Konami did not publish an explanation for any of these changes. The notes below describe what each card does, not why it was moved. If you need a refresher on what each status means, read the ban list, explained.
All 21 changes at a glance
| Card | Was | Now |
|---|---|---|
 Archlord Kristya |
Unlimited | Forbidden |
 Dimension Shifter |
Limited | Forbidden |
 Kewl Tune Rotary |
Unlimited | Forbidden |
 Wind-Up Hunter |
Unlimited | Forbidden |
 Protectcode Talker |
Unlimited | Forbidden |
 Reprodocus |
Unlimited | Forbidden |
 Phantasmal Lord Ultimitl Bishbaalkin |
Unlimited | Forbidden |
 PSY-Framelord Omega |
Limited | Forbidden |
 Elfnote Tinia |
Unlimited | Limited |
 Prohibited Power Patron Portal - Terminus |
Unlimited | Limited |
 Branded in High Spirits |
Unlimited | Semi-Limited |
 Mind Master |
Forbidden | Unlimited (from Sept 28) |
 Elder Entity Norden |
Forbidden | Unlimited (from Sept 28) |
 M-X-Saber Invoker |
Forbidden | Unlimited |
 Wind-Up Carrier Zenmaity |
Forbidden | Unlimited |
 Mirage of Nightmare |
Forbidden | Unlimited |
 Metamorphosis |
Limited | Unlimited |
 Premature Burial |
Limited | Unlimited |
 Unchained Soul of Sharvara |
Semi-Limited | Unlimited |
 Purrely Delicious Memory |
Semi-Limited | Unlimited |
 Runick Fountain |
Semi-Limited | Unlimited |
All eight newly Forbidden cards are Limited in Traditional Format rather than Forbidden.
Newly Forbidden
Archlord Kristya (Unlimited → Forbidden). A Level 8 Fairy you can Special Summon from your hand when you have exactly 4 Fairy monsters in your GY. When it arrives that way, it adds a Fairy from your GY to your hand. While it is face-up, neither player can Special Summon monsters, and if it would be sent from the field to the GY, it goes on top of your Deck instead.
Dimension Shifter (Limited → Forbidden). A hand trap you can use only while your GY is empty. Send it from your hand to the GY, and until the end of the next turn, any card that would go to the GY is banished instead. That shuts off GY effects for both players for a full turn cycle.
Kewl Tune Rotary (Unlimited → Forbidden). A Level 1 Tuner that lets a Tuner in your hand count as Synchro Material alongside it. You can reveal it with another Tuner to get an immediate extra Normal Summon of a Tuner. When it goes to the GY as Synchro Material, it either puts a card from your opponent’s GY on the bottom of their Deck, or lets you look at their hand and then search a “Kewl Tune” Spell or Trap.
Wind-Up Hunter (Unlimited → Forbidden). Tribute another face-up “Wind-Up” monster to send a random card from your opponent’s hand to the GY. The effect can be used once while Hunter stays face-up.
Protectcode Talker (Unlimited → Forbidden). A Link Monster that stops your opponent from targeting your Link-4 or higher monsters with card effects and makes them unable to be destroyed by battle. If you control a “Firewall” Link Monster, it can revive itself from the GY by banishing Link Monsters whose Link Ratings add up to exactly 3.
Reprodocus (Unlimited → Forbidden). A Link Monster made from any 2 monsters. Once per turn it changes the Type or the Attribute of every face-up monster it points to until the end of the turn, which can turn monsters into legal material or targets for cards that care about Type or Attribute.
Phantasmal Lord Ultimitl Bishbaalkin (Unlimited → Forbidden). A Level 12 Synchro that can’t be Synchro Summoned. You Special Summon it by sending a Level 8 or higher Tuner and non-Tuner with the same Level from your field to the GY. It can’t be destroyed by card effects and gains 1000 ATK for each monster on the field. During either player’s Main Phase it can fill both fields with Level 1 tokens, at the cost of not attacking that turn.
PSY-Framelord Omega (Limited → Forbidden). A Level 8 Synchro. During the Main Phase it can banish itself and a random card from your opponent’s hand until your next Standby Phase, so the opponent loses that card during their turn. It can also return a banished card to the GY, and shuffle itself and another card from the GY back into the Deck.
Newly Limited
Elfnote Tinia (Unlimited → Limited). It Special Summons itself to your center Main Monster Zone and places an “Elfnote” Continuous Spell from your Deck face-up on your field. On your opponent’s turn it can swap places with your center monster, then banish a random card from their hand until the End Phase. Tinia was in the Elfnote lists that topped events before the change, and those lists now run a single copy.
Prohibited Power Patron Portal - Terminus (Unlimited → Limited). A Normal Spell that sends a “Power Patron” monster from your Deck or Extra Deck to the GY, then lets you add a DARK Fairy monster from your Deck to your hand. From the GY, it can banish face-down an opponent’s monster that battles your “Power Patron” monster. It shows up in both Elfnote and Artmage / Power Patron lists, which now play one.
Newly Semi-Limited
Branded in High Spirits (Unlimited → Semi-Limited). A Quick-Play Spell. Reveal a monster in your hand and send a Level 8 Fusion Monster of the same Type with 2500 ATK or DEF from your Extra Deck to the GY. Then you can discard the revealed monster to search “Fallen of Albaz” or a monster that mentions it. If a Fusion Monster went to your GY that turn, it returns to your hand in the End Phase.
Now Unlimited
Mind Master (Forbidden → Unlimited, effective September 28). A Level 1 Psychic Tuner. Pay 800 LP and Tribute another Psychic monster to Special Summon a Level 4 or lower Psychic monster from your Deck in Attack Position.
Elder Entity Norden (Forbidden → Unlimited, effective September 28). A Level 4 Fusion Monster whose materials are any 2 Synchro or Xyz Monsters. When it is Special Summoned, it revives a Level 4 or lower monster from your GY with its effects negated, and that monster is banished when Norden leaves the field.
M-X-Saber Invoker (Forbidden → Unlimited). A Rank 3 Xyz. Detach a material to Special Summon a Level 4 EARTH Warrior or Beast-Warrior from your Deck in Defense Position. That monster is destroyed during the End Phase.
Wind-Up Carrier Zenmaity (Forbidden → Unlimited). A Rank 3 Xyz. Detach a material to Special Summon a “Wind-Up” monster from your hand or Deck, or detach to return a destroyed “Wind-Up” monster to your hand. It comes back on the same list that took Wind-Up Hunter away.
Mirage of Nightmare (Forbidden → Unlimited). A Continuous Spell. During your opponent’s Standby Phase you draw until you hold 4 cards. During your next Standby Phase, you randomly discard as many cards as you drew, or your whole hand if you don’t have enough.
Metamorphosis (Limited → Unlimited). Tribute a monster to Special Summon a Fusion Monster from your Extra Deck with the same Level.
Premature Burial (Limited → Unlimited). Pay 800 LP to revive a monster from your GY in Attack Position. If the Equip Spell is destroyed, so is the monster.
Unchained Soul of Sharvara (Semi-Limited → Unlimited). During the Main Phase, it can destroy a Fiend or a face-down card you control as a Quick Effect from your hand and Special Summon itself, which locks you into Fiends while it stays face-up. When it goes to the GY, it Sets an “Unchained” Spell or Trap from your Deck.
Purrely Delicious Memory (Semi-Limited → Unlimited). A Quick-Play Spell that protects a monster from battle destruction until the end of the next turn, then lets you discard a card to Special Summon a Level 1 “Purrely” monster from your Deck. A “Purrely” Xyz with it as material gains 300 ATK/DEF per material. Purrely Sleepy Memory stays Semi-Limited.
Runick Fountain (Semi-Limited → Unlimited). A Field Spell that lets you activate “Runick” Quick-Play Spells from your hand on your opponent’s turn. Once per turn, when you activate one, you can put up to 3 “Runick” Quick-Play Spells from your GY on the bottom of your Deck and draw the same number.
What it means for the format
Three weeks of results give a fairly clear picture, even though Konami never said what it was aiming for.
Elfnote is still the deck to beat. Losing extra copies of Elfnote Tinia and Prohibited Power Patron Portal - Terminus did not slow it down. Elfnote won YCS Guayaquil (October 3-4, 263 players), took 4 of that event’s Top 8 and 12 of its Top 32, and won 15 regionals and YCS events between September 24 and October 11. Most lists simply cut to one Tinia and one Terminus and kept the rest of the Lucina, Regina and Power Patron engine intact.
The Light and Darkness Ritual pile is right behind it. This 60-card mix of Light and Darkness Ritual, the Diabellstar and Sinful Spoils package, Dark Magician and Mitsurugi had the most top 8 finishes of any deck before Beyond the Brave arrived, came second at YCS Guayaquil and put 10 copies into its Top 32. That second-place list already had Elder Entity Norden in its Extra Deck, one week after Norden came back.
Kewl Tune dropped out of the picture. With Kewl Tune Rotary gone, Kewl Tune did not appear among the decks winning regionals in the weeks after the list. The other new Forbidden cards (Kristya, Dimension Shifter, Wind-Up Hunter, Protectcode Talker, Reprodocus, Bishbaalkin and PSY-Framelord Omega) mostly affect Extra Deck options and side-deck choices rather than a single top deck.
The second tier is wide. Invoked, Blitzclique, Artmage / Power Patron, Yummy, Branded and Maliss all won events. Branded still took two regionals with Branded in High Spirits at two copies.
Beyond the Brave is already shifting things. The set came out in North America on October 9, and only the October 10-11 regionals had it legal. In that small, early sample, Elfnote lists using the new Ars Magna cards were winning, and the TCG-only Angelechy deck put up a win and several top 8s. It is too early to call either a lasting change.
What to watch next: YCS Houston (October 16-18) will be the first big event with Beyond the Brave legal, and Magnificent Maestros arrives in November. If you are building for your next event, Elfnote and the Light and Darkness Ritual pile are the decks to prepare for, and a solid hand trap lineup remains standard in both.