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Banish

Various "Gem-Knight" monsters banished by "Fragment Fusion" in Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V
Various "Gem-Knight" monsters banished by "Fragment Fusion" in Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V

Japanese

(じょ) (がい)
Formerly: ゲームから () (のぞ) く, then ゲームから (じょ) (がい)

Japanese (ruby)

じょがい
Formerly: ゲームからとりのぞく, then ゲームからじょがい

Japanese (base text)

除外
Formerly: ゲームから取り除く, then ゲームから除外

Japanese (romanized)

jogai
Formerly: gēmu kara torinozoku, then gēmu kara jogai

Japanese (translated)

exclude
Formerly: remove from the game, then exclude from the game

English

banish
Formerly: remove from play

English (anime)

remove from the game

Banish (Japanese: (じょ) (がい) Jogai, lit. "exclude"), known as remove from play prior to the Problem-Solving Card Text, is a term used to describe the act of putting a card away from the game. Banished cards are not in any particular zone. Cards can only be banished by a card that uses the word "Banish" (or older terms).

Because banished cards are not in any particular zone, a player can place their banished cards anywhere in the play area that is not a zone. They are typically placed either above or to the right of the Graveyard Zone, or just under the field (directly in front of the player). Most video games place it to the right or above of the Graveyard.

Mechanics[]

"Dimensional Prison"

Banishing a card(s) causes them to leave the field, and is stacked face-up (by default, unless stated otherwise) in a special pile outside the playing field. These face-up cards, and the total number of Banished cards are Public knowledge. Banishing a card also does not specify the place the card(s) will end up.

If a Token Monster(s) would be banished, it simply disappears, and is not stacked with banished cards.

Banished cards cannot be destroyed. Returning a banished card to the Graveyard is not considered to be sending that card to the Graveyard, and can be done even if a card like "Dimensional Fissure" is active.

Banishing Face-down[]

In addition to normal face-up banishes, several cards can banish cards face-down. Cards banished face-down are not public knowledge, and any of its properties cannot be specified.

Cards banished face-down can only be looked at by its possessor, but the number of banished face-down cards owned by either player is still public knowledge. They are also unaffected by cards that specify properties of the banished card, other than the card that banished it.

Token Monsters cannot be banished face-down, and cannot be targeted with such Effects.

If a card is banished face-down, it cannot activate its own "Leaves the field" effect.

Temporary Banish[]

A Temporary banish can be identified with a timing statement directly behind the word "banish", telling when to return the card. Returning a banished card(s) to the field does not start a chain.

If a temporarily banished card will not be able to return to the field, due to having no appropriate open zone to place in, or is prevented (such as by "Prohibition"), then it will be placed in the Graveyard when it would return.

If a card controlled by a player that is not its owner is temporarily banished by a card like "Interdimensional Matter Transporter", it will be in the owner's possession, but it will return to the player who control it when it was banished. However, if the effect that gave temporary control of that card to the opponent is no longer active, it will then return to the original owner.[1]

If a card would be banished when it leaves the field is temporarily banished by another card effect, it will not return to the field when it should.

If an effect that banishes temporarily targets a face-down card, the target will be banished face-down, and will return to the field face-down.

Info on cards affected by Temporary Banish[]

When a card stops being face-up, in this case, because of being temporarily banished, it will lose some specific information/applications on it.[2]

Info lost[]

  • Whether if it was placed on the field by specific method or not (Special Summoned by certain effect, Tributing a certain monster for Tribute Summon, etc).
  • Any previously applied effects.

Info not lost[]

Monster cards[]
  • Material used for its Summon.
  • Its time of Summon.
  • Its place before being Summoned.

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 recover banished cards was "Miracle Dig".

However, over time, banishing cards has become a popular theme with several cards to go with it (such as Chaos and "D.D." cards). In turn, more cards were created to bring banished cards 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". This was both to make card text easier to understand and to distinguish it from the similarly-named "removed from the field", which was renamed "leaves the field" in the same update for this reason.[3]

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).

While the location that banished cards are placed does not have an official name, official sources occasionally refer to it as the Banished Zone[4] or banished pile[5] (removed zone[6] or removed from play pile[7] prior to the Problem-Solving Card Text update), despite it not being a zone. These terms are never used in card texts or official ruling materials; cards in this location are simply referred to as "banished cards".

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" 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, and cards like "Imperial Iron Wall" and "Chaos Hunter" counter such Decks with ease.

Structure Deck: Advent of the Emperor/The Dark Emperor Structure Deck revolves around banishing.

Anime[]

In Yu-Gi-Oh!, if a Duel Disk is connected to a Dueling Arena, the banished cards were put where the Graveyard Zone of the Dueling Arena is. If not, the banished cards were placed in the Duelist's pockets.

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 while banished 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 disintegrate with a vortex, cards banished from the field disintegrate and scatter, and cards banished from the hand disintegrate into a purple sphere. However, it is unclear where these cards are kept in a duel disk.

In Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS, cards banished from the GY are disintegrated within a high-tech-appearing vortex interface.

References[]

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