Yata-Garasu Lockdown

The "Yata-Garasu Lockdown", nicknamed "Yata-Lock", was an infamous Deck build whose goal was to empty both the opponent's field and hand, followed by Summoning "Yata-Garasu" and attacking with it. Upon dealing Battle Damage, "Yata-Garasu"'s effect would cause the opponent to skip their next Draw Phase. The opponent would then have to start their next turn with no cards to use in their field or their hand, forcing them to pass their turn. The player could then Summon "Yata-Garasu" and attack again, and repeat. The opponent would never be able to play a single card for the rest of the Duel, effectively guaranteeing the player a win.

"Yata-Garasu" has been Forbidden since the very first Forbidden list introduced in September 2004. During the time the lockdown was still usable in Advanced Format, it was very easy to accomplish, requiring access to just 2-3 cards in the hand or field (by comparison, Exodia requires five).

Methods

Most Common Method

Before the banning of "Yata-Garasu", the most common method to create the lockdown involved gathering the following cards:

• "Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the End", in the player's hand
• "Sangan"/"Witch of the Black Forest", on the player's field

The player must also have "Yata-Garasu" in their Deck and at least 1 LIGHT and 1 DARK monster in their Graveyard.

Strategy: With "Sangan" or "Witch" on the field, Special Summon "Chaos Emperor Dragon" and activate its effect. This will get rid of all cards on the field and in both players' hands, including "Sangan" or "Witch", allowing its effect to add "Yata-Garasu" to your hand. Normal Summon it, proceed to your Battle Phase, and use it to attack directly. This completes the lockdown, as now the opponent has no cards to play and will not get any cards to play on their next turn (since their Draw Phase will be skipped). If you Summon "Yata-Garasu" and attack again on your next turn, and repeat, they will never have any cards to play for the rest of the Duel.

"Chaos Emperor Dragon", "Sangan", and "Witch of the Black Forest" have all since been Forbidden in addition to "Yata-Garasu".

Tips

• You will generally want to Special Summon "Sangan"/"Witch" in the same turn that you pull off the lockdown, rather than Normal Summoning it on the previous turn and leaving it vulnerable. A straightforward way to do this is "Monster Reborn".
• Cards like "Foolish Burial" and "Painful Choice" can send needed cards from the Deck to the Graveyard, allowing for easier retrieval with "Monster Reborn" or "Monster Reincarnation". "Painful Choice" is also good for sending DARK and LIGHT monsters to the Graveyard to satisfy "Chaos Emperor Dragon"'s Summoning condition.

Alternate method

This method is best in environments where only one Forbidden card is allowed in the player's Deck, such as most video games.

The following cards must be gathered:

• "Yata-Garasu", in the player's hand (required)
• "Sky Scourge Norleras", in the player's Graveyard (required)
• "Phantom of Chaos", on the player's field (strongly recommended)
• "Plaguespreader Zombie", in the player's Graveyard (recommended)

Similar to the first method, "Phantom of Chaos" must be on your field while you can still Normal Summon; this is possible with "Double Summon" or "Call of the Haunted". Activate "Plaguespreader Zombie"'s effect, Special Summoning it by returning "Yata-Garasu" from your hand back to the top of your Deck. Activate "Phantom of Chaos"'s effect, banishing "Norleras" in the Graveyard to copy its effect. "Norleras"'s copied effect will then empty both players' hands and fields, then allowing you to draw 1 card (this will be "Yata-Garasu" which was just put on top of your Deck). Now you can Normal Summon "Yata", enter your Battle Phase, and attack directly with it, completing the lockdown.

Tips

• It is possible to directly summon "Norleras" instead of relying on "Phantom of Chaos" to copy its effect, but the latter is much easier to pull off.
• "Yata" can be added to the player's hand through the effect of "Aratama" or "Tour Bus To Forbidden Realms".
• "Foolish Burial" can send "Plaguespreader Zombie" directly from the Deck to the Graveyard. You can also use it to send "Yata" to the Graveyard, where "A Feather of the Phoenix" can put it directly on top of the Deck without having to rely on "Plaguespreader Zombie".

Other methods

• "Ocean Dragon Lord - Neo-Daedalus" can also empty both players' hands and fields, while "Huge Revolution" empties only the opponent's hand and field, but both effects have much more difficult activation requirements and so are not recommended.
• It is not strictly necessary to empty the opponent's hand; as long as the opponent has no cards that can get rid of "Yata-Garasu", they will never be able to draw any and the lockdown will remain intact. However, video games that reward the player for pulling off the lockdown require the opponent's hand to be empty in order to receive the achievement.
  • Note that "Yata" can be surprisingly hard to get rid of, as it returns to the player's hand during the opponent's turn instead of staying on the field. Even if the opponent has a powerful card like "Dark Hole" left in their hand, it will be useless.
  • "Demise, King of Armageddon", "Judgment Dragon", "Final Destiny", and several other cards can empty both players' fields. If the opponent has few or no cards in their hand at this time, they may not be able to access anything that can stop "Yata".

Weaknesses

Some cards have effects that activate from the Graveyard, allowing them to potentially break the lockdown even after the opponent's hand and field have been emptied:

• If "Necro Gardna" or "Bacon Saver" is in the opponent's Graveyard, its effect can negate one attack from "Yata-Garasu" even after the opponent's hand and field have been emptied. This allows the opponent to enter their Draw Phase next turn for a potential comeback.
• If "Treeborn Frog", "Mezuki", or "Spore" is in the opponent's Graveyard, the opponent can use its effect to Summon a monster to their field, blocking "Yata" from inflicting Battle Damage that turn and allowing the opponent to enter their next Draw Phase.

Some cards can protect the opponent from having their hand or field emptied:

• Some cards, like "Trifortressops", are unaffected by monster effects and so will not be sent to the Graveyard while the lockdown is being set up. This will block "Yata" from inflicting Battle Damage.
  • Note that both "Chaos Emperor Dragon" and "Sky Scourge Norleras" send cards to the Graveyard without destroying them. This means that any of the numerous effects that help prevent destruction will not work.
• If the opponent controls a card like "Dandylion" or "Lightpulsar Dragon", or they have a card like "Despair from the Dark" in their hand, then they will be able to Summon a monster(s) after their field and hand has been cleared, again blocking "Yata" from inflicting Battle Damage.
• "Divine Wrath", "Skill Drain", and especially "Effect Veiler" can negate whatever monster effect is used to try to empty the hand and field.

It is also possible to avoid the lockdown entirely by getting rid of its key cards before the strategy can be assembled. Most notably, if "Yata-Garasu" is banished, there is no easy way to get it back, since it cannot be Special Summoned.

It is worth noting that the vast majority of the above cards did not exist until after "Yata-Garasu" was Forbidden. At the time the lockdown was playable, almost nothing at all in the game could stop it.

Trivia

In most video games, if the lockdown is sucessfully performed (specifically, if the player damages the opponent with "Yata-Garasu" while the opponent has an empty hand and field), the opponent will automatically surrender the Duel at the start of their next turn. This applies to both human and CPU players, and will occur even if not surrendering would have been beneficial (such as if the player had no cards left in their Deck and would have lost had the opponent not surrendered). This particular lockdown is the only known way to get an AI opponent to surrender.