Banish

Banish, formerly known as remove from play prior to the Problem-Solving Card Text update and called exclude (Japanese: Jogai) in the OCG, is a term used to describe the act of moving card(s) to the Banished Zone.

Cards can only be banished by a card that uses the word "banish" (or "remove from play" for cards without Problem-Solving Card Text).

Banished cards cannot be destroyed. Returning a banished card to the Graveyard does not count as sending that card to the Graveyard. Unless banished face-down, banished cards are public knowledge.

The Banished Zone can be placed anywhere on the table, as it has no actual place in the game since it is not actually a zone (as demonstrated from its absence on official play mats). However, it is typically placed either above or to the right of the Graveyard Zone, or just under the field (right in front of the player). Most video games place it to the right of the Graveyard.

Banishing face-down
By default, cards are banished face-up, and banished cards are public knowledge. However, several cards can banish cards face-down, such as "Goblin Circus", "Ghostrick Skeleton" and "Xyz Override"; a card that is banished face-down is not public knowledge and can thus only be looked at by its controller. However, it cannot be used for any purpose except that prescribed on the card that banished it.

History
Originally, there were few cards which could banish other cards (called "remove from play" at the time), with some of the first being "Soul Release" and "Banisher of the Light". The first card to return them was "Miracle Dig".

However, over time, banishing has become a popular theme with several cards to go with it (Chaos and "D.D." cards). In turn, more cards were created to bring them back, including "D.D.M. - Different Dimension Master", "Dimension Fusion", "Dimension Explosion", "Burial from a Different Dimension", and "Leviair the Sea Dragon".

In the Problem-Solving Card Text update, "remove from play" was renamed "banish" to make card texts less "clunky" and easier to understand, because in normal English "remove" and "from play" would often be broken up making many card texts unclear. Also, the term was often confused with "removed from the field", which was renamed "leaves the field" for this reason.

Thematically, cards which banish tend to either imply that the card's soul is being removed (e.g. "Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer", "Bazoo the Soul Eater") or are sent to another dimension (e.g. the "D.D." series).

Deck theme
Since many Decks rely on the Graveyard, Decks that rely on the effects of "Dimensional Fissure", "Macro Cosmos", "Banisher of the Light", and "Banisher of the Radiance", along with have grown in power. Being able to shut down an opponents Graveyard plus having "D.D. Survivor", an 1800 ATK monster that keeps returning every time it's banished while face-up, have shown themselves to be powerful Decks. "D.D. Scout Plane" is also incredibly useful in these Decks: if it is banished from your hand or Deck, it will be Special Summoned. The main weakness of these Decks is the fact that it is not difficult to remove the card that banishes other cards; "Imperial Iron Wall" and "Chaos Hunter" counter such Decks with ease.

Structure Deck: The Dark Emperor revolves around banishing.

Anime
In Yu-Gi-Oh!, if a Duel Disk is connected to a Dueling Arena, the banished cards are put where the Graveyard Zone of the Dueling Arena is.

In Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, cards being banished are depicted as being sucked into a black vortex.

In Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL, monsters being banished or Special Summoned from the Banished Zone sometimes enter in and emerge from portals identical to the Graveyard's one, but green.

In Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V, cards banished from the Graveyard are depicted as disintegrating with a vortex.