Forbidden One



In the Yu-Gi-Oh card game, 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 referred to as Exodia's head) is also one of the first five Effect Monsters ever 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 person to ever 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).

Exodia is one of the few card that can actually declare an automatic win. Others include "Destiny Board", "Final Countdown", "Exodius the Ultimate Forbidden Lord", "Last Turn", "Victory Dragon" and "Vennominaga the Deity of Poisonous Snakes".

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.

Exodia was, at first, a beast of such incalculable and intimidating might, that he was split up into five distinctive parts - each one of them being chained and then sealed away by magic, from all the other monsters (hence "The Forbidden One"). This would prevent his power from ever being used again.

As a result, in the Yu-Gi-Oh card game, there are five distinctive Exodia cards, each one symbolizing a part of the complete Exodia. In order for Exodia to regain his ginormous power, all of the five cards must be reuinted in the player's hand. This brings the parts of The Forbidden One together, allowing Exodia to break free - his strength being so great that he guarantees the summoner an automatic win, regardless of the situation.

It's the effect of The Forbidden One that makes it one of the most godlike monsters amid normal ones in Duel Monsters; unlike the rest of the monsters used in duels, Exodia doesn't rely on attack and defense - it declares an immediate victory whenever complete & uncut - every time that all five cards are assembled in hand, the owner wins.

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"

Other cards
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 had to be summoned via Contract with Exodia. It is considered to be a zombie version of Exodia, and possessing the near-invulnerability of the anime version of Exodia (in the anime, it is said that Exodia, once summoned, is unstoppable) as long as the actual Exodia pieces remain in the Graveyard. It gains 500 ATK during each of the player's Standby Phases and cannot be destroyed in battle or by Spell and Trap effects. It is automatically destroyed if any of the five Exodia pieces do not exist in the Graveyard.

The next such incarnation was "Exodius the Ultimate Forbidden Lord", which provided an alternate method of winning with Exodia. Exodius can only be summoned by returning all monsters in your Graveyard to your deck. When Exodius attacks, you are required to send a monster from either your hand or your deck to the Graveyard. Exodius gains 1000 ATK for each Normal Monster in your Graveyard. Should all five pieces of Exodia exist in player's Graveyard as a result of being sent there via Exodius's effect, the player automatically wins the duel. Since the limbs of Exodia are Normal Monsters, being sent there via Exodius's effect powers up Exodius, allowing you to maintain field presence, while also contributing to the possibility of an automatic win. Since it's summoning condition puts monsters from the Graveyard back into your deck, it allows the possibility of an automatic win to persist even if Exodia pieces are sent to the Graveyard, and in fact makes it beneficial to send them there again.

In addition, there is "Exxod, Master of The Guard" who greatly resembles Exodia though has no automatic win effect. In the same vein as Necross being the deceased version of Exodia, Exxod resembles a completed Exodia while still sealed.

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 during episode 1. 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 Rage, Exodo Flame!" ("Exodia, Obliterate" in the dub) 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, using "Chain Destruction." 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, the Exodia cards were real, but 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 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 using "Soul Demolition", thus rendering Necross powerless.

Exodia Necross's effect was marginally different in the anime. It gained a different effect for each Exodia piece in the Graveyard. It was immune to Spells if the Left Leg was in the Graveyard, immune to Traps if the Right Leg was in the Graveyard, immune to Monster effects if the Right Arm was in the Graveyard and gained 1000 ATK each time damage that involved it was calculated if the Left Arm was in the Graveyard. Having "the head" in in the Graveyard granted it the effect of not being destroyed in battle.

Exodia vs. Dark Master Zorc
Exodia makes one final appearance, during the Dawn of the Duel (Millennium World) arc, on episode 216, "The Dark One Cometh, Part II", as the Ka spirit of Shimon Muran. Shimon had long time ago sealed Exodia away due to its godly strength, but released him now to engage in battle with the all-powerful Zorc Necrophades. Despite a strong effort, Exodia was defeated by Zorc, because Exodia drew his power from Shimon, while Zorc used the power of the darkness. Initially, though, both of them seemed imperishable, but as The Forbidden One's life force was drawn from a single human, any damage caused to Exodia was also caused Shimon himself, and Shimon, being a sole mortal, wasn't able to stand up to the omnipotent power of Zorc, thus allowing the Dark Master to easily cleave Exodia in half, killing Shimon in the process.

Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
In Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, Exodia is used by two separate duelists. First the Yubel-possessed Marcel Bonaparte 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 in the season, Adrian discovers the seal of Exodia in the third alternate dimension 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 "Force of 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 in order to become King of the third alternate dimension. He is defeated when his opponent summons "Yubel" and Echo (whose spirit remains a part of Adrian's deck in the form of Exodia), orders Adrian's "Grinder Golem" to attack "Yubel" in a fit of rage after Jesse threatens Adrian. The irony is that 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" after previously placing it on top of his deck with "A Feather of the Phoenix."

In the anime, Exodius's effect was marginally different. It needed be summoned via "The Ultimate Ritual of the Forbidden Lord" and was immune to Monster, Spell and Trap effects controlled by the player's opponent. Rather than gaining attack for Normal Monsters in the Graveyard, it gained attack only for Exodia pieces in the Graveyard and only Exodia pieces (not any monster) could be sent from the deck or hand to the Graveyard when it attacked. It's condition of granting an automatic victory should all Exodia pieces be sent to the Graveyard via it's effect remained the same.

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

Deck Types
See also: Instant Win Deck, Exodia OTK