Chapter 221. The Suppression Ends and Enters the List! The Forbidden Card "Cyber-Stein," the Devilish Mad Scientist, Exposed!

Crow Hogan's thoughts were the same ones held across the other 5D's worlds.

Akiza Izinski could only shake her head again and again, helpless.

She hadn't expected it.

That the K-snake of this higher world could go this far.

It wouldn't even spare Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind!

Even an ATK-reduction activation could be "suppressed!"

That's just absurd!

Good thing it didn't get terminal.

Once they learned what followed, they hurried to admit the mistake and restored the ruling for "Grandmaster of the Six Samurai."

Otherwise, the consequences would have been unthinkable.

In the VRAINS world, inside the Link world, what Yusaku Fujiki and the others were most interested in was how things would develop after the suppression.

Especially after that suppression had been falsely accused!

Why did this card still end up becoming Forbidden in the end?

"Ah, what a pity."

"A good card—vanishing again in Mr. Yū's world."

"I wonder how many Forbidden cards there still are."

"Cards that to this day can't see the light of day."

The Left Leader beside them let out a quiet sigh.

To him, what he regretted more was these cards had already exited the public stage.

Unlike other cards still active.

And as for "suppression," if not for the later short video exposing it, maybe no one would even know that part of history.

Banned-list Explainer for Yu-Gi-Oh!: "Next we'll move into the final part of the short."

Banned-list Explainer for Yu-Gi-Oh!: "That is, after the errata storm."

Banned-list Explainer for Yu-Gi-Oh!: "'Royal Oppression' had already returned to the correct ruling, but we can't deny this."

"The power of this card could still be fully realized as later card pools expanded."

"For example, the Blackwing strategy!"

"At the time, the meta's Blackwing surge was steadily rising."

"And as a card that can counter Special Summons, putting it into Blackwings could also target the mirror match!"

"And precisely because Blackwings were so strong, after that, other Decks also started packing 'Royal Oppression' to suppress Blackwings!"

"After all, Blackwings might not have a lot else, but they sure have a lot of Special Summons and searches!"

"That perfectly vaulted 'Oppression' into one of the meta's powerhouse cards of that time!"

"Back then, people even said—'Draw Oppression, and you win!'"

"That wasn't a joke."

"Not only Blackwings—lots of Decks got absolutely stuffed by 'Oppression'!"

"In March 2010, K-snake finally had enough!"

"It restricted many set-and-forget Trap 'stickers'!"

"For example, 'Royal Oppression' and 'Skill Drain,' and so on!"

"There was no helping it."

"Once upon a time, 'Oppression' might have existed to target the meta."

"But now, 'Oppression' had become an accomplice of the meta itself."

"In September 2011, 'Oppression' was officially Forbidden."

"It hasn't come back since."

"That is the entire life of the Forbidden card 'Royal Oppression.'"

After hearing the end of the short, Duelists across all worlds wore rueful expressions.

They had originally thought that, in the end, this card "Oppression" might have been Forbidden just to save K-snake's face.

Looking now, they realized they'd misunderstood.

This card was simply strong enough to define the environment.

Back when Special Summons were few, "Oppression" was trash.

Now that Special Summons are many, "Oppression" is a three-of.

And the criteria for Forbidden status include cards whose wide use disrupts the metagame.

And "Oppression" most likely fell right under that point.

Yugi Muto: "So that's how it is—when the meta has a lot of Special Summons, it just gradually gets Forbidden?"

Joey Wheeler: "That's perfectly normal, Yugi.

You've watched so many episodes of these videos and still don't get K-snake?"

Yusaku Fujiki: "I think it was the old controversy, plus the meta's evolution together—that's what sent this card packing."

Yuma Tsukumo: "Either way, countering Special Summons is kind of terrifying.

If a single card can solo-suppress an entire Deck, what are we even playing?"

The group chat immediately began discussing "Oppression" at the very end of the short.

The more they talked, the more moved—and helpless—they felt.

If "Oppression" really did single-handedly crush plenty of strategies with just one card, then it would certainly make Duelists piloting those Decks upset.

Just think.

You show up excited to Duel.

Your opponent goes first and flips an "Oppression."

You don't have Spell/Trap removal, and your Deck gets hard-stopped by that one card.

They casually pay out of 8,000 Life Points.

Special Summon—negated.

Another Special—negated.

Totally braindead.

Of course you'd be fuming.

You wouldn't think your technique was lacking, you'd think your opponent was just scummy.

This was also one of the reasons that the once-mighty Forbidden "Red Dad" got the axe.

The Forbidden & Limited List—truly the symbol of power cards.

In the main world, once Sei Yuki saw that video finish playing, he quickly queued up the next short.

Its title was "Forbidden Cyber-Stein Exposed!

A Cross-Era Repeat Offender!"

The reason he chose this video was because Cyber-Stein counts as one of the most radiant old cards in all of Yu-Gi-Oh!

It might be a casual Deck card, or a staple in hyper-meta builds.

More importantly, Sei Yuki also wanted to see the development history of this Forbidden card.

Decision made.

The title appeared across the Duel worlds.

And for the OG DM veterans—when they saw another familiar Forbidden name in that title, they all showed looks of surprise—even shock.

In the DM world.

"Whoa!

Am I seeing this right?!"

"Cyber-Stein."

"This card is Forbidden in their world, too?"

Weevil Underwood couldn't help speaking up the moment he saw the card.

"Huh?

That really is bizarre!"

"I remember this card's effect is that you pay 5,000 Life Points to Special Summon a Fusion Monster from the Extra Deck, right?"

"And a card like that deserves to be Forbidden?!"

Rex Raptor blinked at the info as well.

To them, they'd certainly seen this card when buying packs.

The problem is—their Life Points are only 4,000 LP.

This card needs you to pay 5,000 LP to Summon a Fusion Monster!

That's pure fodder!

And in the GX world, Jaden Yuki and the others were all equally puzzled.

They hadn't expected that even this card would be on the Forbidden list.

"Mama mia!

Pay 5,000 Life Points!"

"To Summon one Fusion Monster!"

"And that made the list, too?"

"K-snake, have you lost your mind?"

Professor Cronos immediately spat a complaint.

If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, and the cover artwork besides, he'd have thought he misread.

A Level 2, 700 ATK fodder-tier monster—Forbidden?

But on second thought, it made a bit of sense.

In the higher world, it's 8,000 LP.

Perhaps—this "Cyber-Stein" has some absurd combo?

While the OG DM world was confused, the short's breakdown soon began.

Banned-list Explainer for Yu-Gi-Oh!: "Hello!

Good evening, Duelists."

Banned-list Explainer for Yu-Gi-Oh!: "Today we bring you the history of the Forbidden card 'Cyber-Stein'!"

Banned-list Explainer for Yu-Gi-Oh!: "This one's pretty interesting!"

"Looking only at the effect—nothing special."

"Pay a massive cost and then pull a Fusion Monster out of the Extra."

"At first glance, it seems super minus, right?"

"But in reality, as the card pool and metagame changed, the power and value of this card rose in a straight line."

"This card is somewhat similar to the 'Royal Oppression' I covered before, but the difference is—this one is a repeat offender."

"Not as many times as 'Graceful Charity,' which hit three times, but enough for us to review its timeline."

"Let's first look at the timeline."

"Released in '99, Forbidden in '07."

"Unbanned in '14, Forbidden again in '23."

"Notice anything?"

"Aren't those Forbidden windows spanning a very long stretch?"

Indeed.

Just looking at those dates, Yugi Muto, Yuma Tsukumo, and the others all wore odd expressions.

Long.

It really does span long.

From '99 to the recent '23.

That means it took nearly twenty years to become a repeat offender.

And in between, it was only Forbidden once, then not again until '23.

That's… intriguing.

What's with this card, exactly?

Why did the waves and gaps in Forbidden status turn out like this?

Which Decks joined hands with "Cyber-Stein" to wreak havoc?

Banned-list Explainer for Yu-Gi-Oh!: "After seeing the dates, our path is clear."

Banned-list Explainer for Yu-Gi-Oh!: "The inflection points are those two Forbidden periods."

Banned-list Explainer for Yu-Gi-Oh!: "Let's start from release and see how the card performed."

"Back when it released, we can't deny—its power at the time was very low, rarely even seen in casual Decks."

"However, it changed how 'Fusion' was done."

"We often joke today: can Fusion Decks please actually 'Fusion' properly?"

"But we also have to understand: in the ancient Duel environment, the Fusion environment simply couldn't 'Fusion' properly."

"Because at that time—what were Fusion Monsters?

'Gaia the Dragon Champion,' 'Chimera the Flying Mythical Beast,' and the like."

"Playing Fusion honestly was too weak."

"And the resource loss was way too big."

"Do you know what the first Fusion Monster with an actual effect was?"

"It was 'Alligator's Sword Dragon.'"

"It requires 'Baby Dragon' + 'Alligator's Sword.'"

"Its effect is only a conditional direct attack, and its ATK is a mere 1700."

"Joke's on us—after 'Polymerization' plus two materials to make this, my verdict: worse than 'Axe Raider.'"

"There's an even funnier one."

"'Aqua Dragon.'"

"'Fairy Dragon' + 'Amazon of the Seas' + 'Zone Eater'—three materials plus 'Polymerization'—four cards—just to make a 2250-ATK vanilla…"

"'Summoned Skull' needs only one Tribute and is 2500 ATK."

"I ask you—was that Fusion system worth playing honestly?"

"Even 'B. Skull Dragon!'"

"As a Fusion of Summoned Skull and Red-Eyes Black Dragon, its ATK is decent."

"It hits 3200, but the problem is—is it worth Summoning?

Put aside searchability."

"With that many vanillas, your hand bricks you to death."

"Sure, support later arrived, like 'Fusion Sage,' 'Sangan,' 'Goddess with the Third Eye,' 'Scapegoat,' and so on."

"But running all that flashy fluff was still worse than paying 5,000 LP with a single 'Cyber-Stein' to bring out 'B. Skull Dragon.'"

"The problem is—are 5,000 LP worth it?"

"Back then, there were Cannon Soldier burn Decks."

"At 3,000 LP, you could easily get burned out."

"Paying 5,000 LP for a 3200 plus 700 equals 3900 board wasn't actually profitable."

"So in that era, 'Cyber-Stein' had no place to shine."

After hearing that early Fusion history, the OG DM-world Duelists all fell silent.

One by one they closed their mouths, at a loss for words.

Because—the Fusion environment and situation described in the video—weren't those exactly the early Duel environments of their DM and early GX worlds?

Fusion Monsters had no effects; Fusion Monsters were mediocre.

So many Fusion Monsters made no sense.

The more they listened, the more Yugi Muto and Jaden Yuki felt the vlogger was talking about them.

Right.

To bring out a single Fusion Monster, the resources they wasted really were huge.

There was no helping it.

That's just how powerful their Duel worlds were at the time.

It left the veterans wearing bitter, helpless smiles.

They wanted to play a beautiful, powerful, fusion-invincible Deck like Tearlaments, too.

Banned-list Explainer for Yu-Gi-Oh!: "Although 'Cyber-Stein' didn't shine back then, its strongest point—the one that would later make it Forbidden—was already beginning to surface."

"Simply put, this card is one card into your Fusion ace."

"And it can be the Fusion ace of any other archetype."

"It requires no other setup—so long as you've got Life Points."

"Filling the board with Fusion Monsters in one go isn't even the craziest part."

"And it doesn't conflict with any archetype."

"So long as you draw it and meet the LP condition, you can pull out a Fusion Monster."

"In other words, it's splashable."

"It can be teched, built around, played fast, or played slow."

"Basically, you can put it in anything."

"And so, a high-ATK OTK Deck centered on 'Cyber-Stein' emerged."

"You have to get one thing—the stronger Fusion Monsters get, the stronger 'Cyber-Stein' gets."

"High-ATK Fusions plus ATK-boosting Spells equals a quick OTK."

"That was the mindset back then—pair it with 'Axe of Despair' and 'Megamorph!'"

"Especially 'Megamorph!'"

"It needs your LP to be lower than your opponent's—how convenient is that?"

"Perfectly matches Stein's requirement!"

"A monster that might originally be 3000 ATK—with 'Megamorph' becomes 6000."

"If you've got recovery, you can high-roll even harder—two 6000-ATK monsters."

"Plus, the then-new 'Mystic Tomato' could search Stein."

"The pain point was, even with high ATK, you couldn't always actually finish them—that felt bad."

"Luckily, later 'Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon' became the go-to."

"With 'Megamorph' it reached 9000 ATK—enough to close the OTK."

"Build with consistency draws, 'Dark Hole' to clear the front row, and 'Giant Trunade' to bounce the back row, etc.!"

"That massively upped the success rate."

"That was the most famous high-ATK OTK 'Cyber-Stein' shell of the time."

Genius.

Truly genius.

In the DM world, after hearing the "Cyber-Stein" + "Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon" combo, Seto Kaiba was stunned on the spot.

What the—!

How had he never thought of that play!

Bring out "Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon" easily!

What "three 'Blue-Eyes White Dragon' and then 'Polymerization'"—four cards, just to Summon "Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon."

With this one "Cyber-Stein," a single card handles it.

Isn't that sweeter than honest Fusion?

And "Megamorph!"

Just double the ATK!

A 9000-ATK "Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon!"

Pair some duplication and OTK in one go!

Isn't that better than slow-roll Duels.

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