Forbidden One



Exodia the Forbidden One is a series of cards first released in Legend of Blue Eyes White Dragon and were the first ever cards to permit an automatic win rather than to reduce your opponent's Life Points to 0. The main card, Exodia the Forbidden One (Often called Exodia's Head) is also one of the first ever 5 effect monsters to be released. They are perhaps some of the most iconic cards of the series, being well known for their Automatic Win effect and how, in the anime, Yugi was the first ever person to summon Exodia (and in the first episode). While many people simply refer to these cards as "Exodia" cards, only the head of Exodia actually contains the name, the other pieces are called "Forbidden One" in any card effect that refers to them.

While the original set of Exodia was extremely hard to obtain (all five pieces were Ultra Rare), they have since been reprinted in lesser rarities, with a common practice to only print the head of Exodia as an ultra rare and the remaining limbs as commons, making the set much easier to obtain. While the Exodia deck was perhaps one of the first decktypes, it still remains a popular one, being supported through several new cards (specifically, new draw engines and draw loops).

While Exodia's primary purpose is to declare an automatic win through having all five pieces, there have been other methods to using Exodia. The first of these was Exodia Necross, which is considered to be a zombie version of Exodia, and possessing the near-invulnerability of the Anime Exodia (in the anime, it is said that Exodia, once summoned, is unstoppable). The next such incarnation was Exodius the Ultimate Forbidden Lord, which provided an alternate method of winning with Exodia.

Main Cards

 * "Exodia the Forbidden One"
 * "Right Arm of the Forbidden One"
 * "Left Arm of the Forbidden One"
 * "Right Leg of the Forbidden One"
 * "Left Leg of the Forbidden One"

If you have all five of the above in your hand you automatically win the duel.

Other Cards
There are also the Exodia Necross cards:


 * "Exodia Necross"
 * "Contract with Exodia"

"Exxod, Master of The Guard" and "Exodius the Ultimate Forbidden Lord" are also considered Exodia cards.

Exodia is the only monster that wins the duel automatically without having to use a dangerous special effect like "Exodius the Ultimate Forbidden Lord" or "Last Turn".

Notably, Exodia was the only monster ever specifically mentioned in the rulebooks, even having the rule that should the five pieces be in your hand at any time you win the duel. This was, however, prior to other cards being released with effects that declared an automatic win. Exodia has since been removed from the rulebooks, as the effects written on the head are sufficient enough.

Yu-Gi-Oh!
In the Yu-Gi-Oh! second series anime, the Exodia cards were notable for never being played until Yugi Muto was able to assemble all five pieces during his duel against Seto Kaiba. Exodia appeared in this duel when Yugi gathered all five pieces in his hand. Then, the complete Exodia appeared on the field and launched one attack, prompted by the line 'Hellfire's Range, Exodo Flame!" from Yugi. The attack wiped out all three of Seto's "Blue-Eyes White Dragons" and reduced his Life Points to zero.

However, Yugi never used the Exodia cards again in the series, as Weevil Underwood threw them overboard during the boat trip to Duelist Kingdom and despite the best efforts of Joey Wheeler only two pieces were recovered.



In the Battle City arc, Seeker of the Rare Hunters uses Exodia to defeat Joey in a duel. In the duel against Yugi that follows, the Rare Hunter almost wins, but is defeated when Yugi is able to wipe out every single copy of Exodia the Forbidden One in his deck. Following this, Yugi rips up the Exodia cards (for different reasons between the original and dub. In the original, the cards were counterfeits. In the dub, they were marked with invisible ink so the Rare Hunter knew when he would draw one.)

In the Virtual World arc, Gozaburo Kaiba uses an Exodia Deck against Seto Kaiba believing that since Yugi defeated Kaiba with Exodia that Kaiba would fear it. Instead of collecting the parts of Exodia in his hand he instead sends them to his graveyard so he can summon "Exodia Necross". Kaiba is able to overcome his fears and see the weakness in Exodia Necross and removes the Exodia parts in the graveyard from play leaving Exodia Necross powerless.

Exodia makes one final appearance during the Dawn of the Duel (Millenium World) arc as the Ka spirit of Shimon Muran. Shimon sealed Exodia away, but released him to do battle with Zorc Necrophades. Despite a strong effort, Exodia was eventually defeated because while Exodia drew his power from Shimon, Zorc used the power of the darkness.

Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
In Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, Exodia is used by two separate duelists. First the Yubel-possessed Marcel uses an Exodia deck, which he discards after obtaining the three Sacred Beasts. He gives the five Exodia pieces to Adrian Gecko as part of a deal.

Later, after Jaden Yuki is released from being the Supreme King, Adrian discovers the seal of Exodia and realizes he must sacrifice the Duel Energy of someone close to him in order to free Exodia. He decides to sacrifice Echo, whom he loved, but he was opposed by Aster Phoenix. The two duel and Aster is able to block Adrian's Exodia cards using a card to limit the number of cards in each player's hand to four.

However, Adrian is able to make a comeback with "Exodius the Ultimate Forbidden Lord". Echo willingly sacrifices herself to release Exodia and despite Aster coming close to victory, Adrian is able to summon Exodia using Exodius's automatic victory rule and Aster is defeated.

Adrian uses his Exodia deck against the Yubel-possessed Jesse Anderson, but is defeated when Jesse plays Yubel and Echo, whose spirit remains a part of Adrian's deck, orders Adrian's Grinder Golem to attack Yubel in a fit of rage after Jesse threatens Adrian. The irony is that Jesse (speaking for Yubel) continually mocks Adrian for sacrificing the woman he loved, only to gain Exodia. In truth, if Grinder Golem hadn't attacked, Adrian would have won on his next turn, as he had the four regular Exodia pieces in his hand and he was about to draw Exodia the Forbidden One.

Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's
In the dub of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, Yusei compared the Earthbound Immortals to Exodia. No such comparison was made in the original.