It’s extremely rare for a Yu-Gi-Oh TCG card to receive a total ban from tournament play following an edit that modifies its function. This is because such edits are usually added to make a card more balanced within the current metagame. Such a post-edit ban has only happen to one card before: Imperial Order, first printed in Curse of Anubis. Imperial Order was banned from tournaments outside Japan and Asia-Pacific in February 2022; those two regions followed suit in April 2022.

However, a second card has been added to this list. Despite a recent functional edit, Catapult Turtle has now been completely banned from Yu-Gi-Oh TCG tournaments in Japan and Asia-Pacific. This is primarily the result of its interactions with the Tachyon cards from the recently-released Duelist Pack: Duelists of Brilliance.

When paired with Tachyon cards, Catapult Turtle can be used to set up a combo that makes the dreaded First-Turn Kill (FTK). The most dangerous of these Tachyon cards is Seventh Tachyon. It facilitates a combo that starts by using Seventh Tachyon to search for Catapult Turtle, then Tributing a Number 100: Numeron Dragon card with 16000 ATK to deal massive damage and potentially finish off the opponent there and then.

Prior to the release of Duelist Pack: Duelists of Brilliance, Catapult Turtle wasn’t deemed a particularly powerful card, making its ban a surprise to some who had underestimated the true power of the combo mentioned. Additionally, its recent ban may jack up its value to collectors thanks to its new “reputation” as it had never been particularly rare or valuable in and of itself.

This card has already been released in English.

While as mentioned, the price of a Catapult Turtle (Memories of the Duel King: Duelist Kingdom Arc 15AY-JPA08) card has never been that high—the most recent figure is just 250 JPY (~US$1.55)—don’t be surprised if that begins to rapidly rise soon.

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