[MW] Sometime After The WCS Can Mean Many Things

The calm before the storm is the scariest part for any market.

DISCLAIMER: There is currently no way of knowing what Konami has planned for the next Forbidden & Limited List; this article is fully looking at current market data, reprints, and future support for themes related to some of the cards mentioned in this article.

With the 2025 Mega Tins finally fully revealed, I wanted to make a special Market Watch article to go over a few cards that are currently Forbidden in the TCG that have been gaining traction. This is because a handful of Forbidden cards were reprinted in the tins, and there has been massive discussion in the community if they will be coming off the list or not. There is no way of confirming if they will be coming off or not, as this is just looking at data that TCGplayer provides from their sales data, along with support coming out for future decks like Rokket and Rose Dragon.

To get the memes and giggles out of the way, we are going to look at Pot of Greed first. The classic card that every player of this game knows and has memed to death. With it being a part of the first-ever Forbidden & Limited list on May 6th, 2002, this card has always seen the light on this list for the simple fact that drawing 2 cards with zero drawbacks is incredibly powerful. Lasting up to October 1st, 2005, this card saw play in every Deck that anyone played because, all those years ago, it was amazing to draw 2 cards, while today, with the pace of the game being faster than what it used to be, Pot of Greed still feels great but can be lackluster if you don’t draw anything to advance your board or advantage in the game state. We have plenty of cards that have been released over the years that simulate close to what the card does, from Pot of Desires to Pot of Extravagance, to even players using Allure of Darkness again in Decks like Maliss, because banishing a Maliss monster gains you an advantage.

It was surprising that this was reprinted in this year’s Mega Tin as a Starlight Rare. Even though it’s most likely for collectors and players who play past formats, it’s always safe to snag one for your collection.

Chaos has reigned before with Chaos Ruler, the Chaotic Magical Dragon, as it was put onto the Forbidden and Limited list in October 2022 right before the Ishizu cards were released in Magnificent Mavens. It has been slumbering for almost the past 3 years for how much power and utility this card has, especially its first effect. If you Synchro Summon it, you can excavate the top 5 cards of your Deck and add 1 excavated LIGHT or DARK monster, then you send the other cards to the GY. This was extremely powerful, as you can help thin your Deck out so you can hit additional Tearlaments cards to allow you to access plenty of Fusion Monsters from Tearlaments Kitkallos, Tearlaments Kaleido-Heart, and Predaplant Dragostapelia. 

Even though it was in the 2021 Mega Tins as an Ultra Rare, the quantity of the original Rise of the Duelist Secret Rare has gotten super low due to the huge amount of speculation going around.

Number 95: Galaxy-Eyes Dark Matter Dragon was spotted in the Ultra Rare slots of this year’s 2025 Mega Tin, and it’s interesting to see, since this is the first ever reprint this card has seen over the past 10 years since its release in Premium Gold: Return of the Bling. When this card was first released, everyone was running to get copies of this card for Mythic Rulers, turned to Dark Matter Rulers, and only had 2 weeks to use it, as on the April 1st, 2015 list, all 4 Dragon Rulers, Blaster, Redox, Tempest, and Tidal, were all slain and put on the Forbidden section, while all of their baby counterparts went straight to 3. For a while, Dark Matter Dragon didn’t do much; it was only seen in a Dragon list from time to time until it was hit for the April 2019 list, where it was finally Forbidden due to the Amorphage Goliath/Arkbrave Dragon combo, where it locks both players out of Special Summoning non-Amorphage monsters from the Extra Deck while Amorphage Goliath is on the field, thanks to one of the many versions of Thunder Dragons at the time.

It is great seeing a reprint of this powerful monster after the past 10 years. 

With the game ever-changing and new Fusion Monsters always being added to the game each year, this comes into question: Why was Metamorphosis reprinted in the 2025 Mega Tins? Having been currently Forbidden for the past 18 years, many wonder how it would fare in today’s game. By tributing a monster that has a Level, you can Special Summon 1 Fusion Monster from your Extra Deck with the same Level. This could help Decks that utilize Horus monsters or other Level 8 monsters to Special Summon Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon or many other powerful Fusion Monsters. While some Fusion Monsters are able to be summoned with Metamorphosis, you have to be extra cautious with some, as they would have the phrase “Must be Fusion Summoned” as a way to prevent this interaction from happening. Another interesting thing about this card is that there is 1 Effect Monster, which was originally a Fusion Monster from the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Anime, that must be Special Summoned with this card, that being Elemental HERO Neo Bubbleman, which can be brought out by sending a copy of Metamorphosis in your hand and 1 Elemental HERO Bubbleman from your field to the GY. In addition, it destroys any opponent’s monster it battles at the end of the Damage Step, so it truly makes an old card playable once again.

With this receiving a new rarity in Ultra Rare in this year’s tin and recently a Platinum Secret Rare and Quarter Century Secret Rare in Quarter Century Stampede, it is a curious position to see if it will ever return to the game.

Rose Dragon stole the show in Doom of Dimensions, as it gives new options of how to play the deck, and one key piece is missing: Glow-Up Bulb. This Level 1 Plant Tuner has been Forbidden since April 2020 due to Crystron Halqifibrax being the best Link Monster in the game at the time, but it’s been nearly 3 years since the banning of Halqifibrax itself, and by happenstance, Bulb is the last card still on the list due to what this card does to the metagame. With Glow-Up Bulb itself, you can send the top card of your Deck to the GY to Special Summon it from your GY, though this is an effect you can only use once per Duel. So it is crazy to think a card like this is still Forbidden for unknown reasons. It would be great for this card to come off the list to help the Rose Dragon Deck, as they have a brand new Synchro Monster, Hate Rose Witch (YGOrganization Translation), which can send up to 2 Plant monsters to the GY, 1 from your Deck and/or 1 from your Extra Deck. This can help you access Black Rose Dragon or Bramble Rose Dragon (YGOrganization Translation) thanks to Hate Rose Witch (YGOrganization Translation) being a Level 6 monster. 

With a few printings over the past 10 years, Glow-Up Bulb took up traction for certain past formats, but nowadays it would be an interesting tech for Decks that would like to have access to this card.

With Rokkets receiving support in Burst Protocol, players have been anticipating the return of Borreload Savage Dragon in the TCG to help Dragon Link return to somewhat… a former glory that it once had. Back in 2024, the TCG banned this card due to nearly every Deck ending on this card, Apollousa, Bow of the Goddess, and/or Baronne de Fleur, and as such, Konami had to take action to force players to end on different endboards for every deck. But many say that Borreload Savage Dragon was wrongfully banned, as it wasn’t as oppressive or a big offender as the other two mentioned since you had to put more resources into the Synchro Summon and make sure to have a Link Monster in the GY for it to gain counters for its negations. But hopefully by the time that the TCG receives Burst Protocol, Savage will have finally returned to us, so many Decks can utilize it again.

Thanks to Rarity Collection II, Savage Dragon has multiple easily accessed prints that players can pick up, while the high-end Quarter Century Secret Rare has been going crazy in the recent weeks.

With Master Duel releasing Block Dragon straight from Limited to Unlimited, many players have been talking about what the TCG will do for this card. With the OCG currently having it Limited, and with Adamancipators’ performance not doing too well within MD/OCG itself, plenty of players have been wanting this card to be limited once again over the past few years. This card alone can add up to 3 Rock monsters, whose total Levels equal 8, from your Deck to your hand when Block Dragon is sent from the field to the GY. This is extremely powerful in most cases, but with how the format has adjusted, Rock Decks struggle with multiple interruptions via effects that activate in the hand and other types of interactions. Being able to Special Summon Block Dragon as many times as you want is great, at the cost of banishing 3 EARTH monsters from your hand and/or GY each time. It gives you additional Link Materials or helps you access Level 10 Synchro Monsters.

With it coming off the Master Duel Forbidden & Limited List and the OCG having it legal this whole time, it could be very telling that a card of this magnitude could come off to help the sales of the new Megalith support in Doom of Dimensions.

What will this mean for the future of Yu-Gi-Oh!? Well… nothing really, as the next Forbidden & Limited List can come out over the next week, at the next YCS, or even in October. It’s only a matter of time until the next list will drop, but I don’t see it coming out until YCS Anaheim, California.

Edited and co-written by Angryjon