Ever since the release of Infinite Forbidden, many of the most dominant decks in Yu-Gi-Oh TCG tournament play made use of the Fiendsmith engine. Of all these Fiendsmith cards, the one which was regarded by the majority of the Yu-Gi-Oh TCG community as the most problematic and harmful for the health of the metagame was Fiendsmith’s Lacrima.

Having noted recent tournament outcomes as well as community opinions, Fiendsmith’s Lacrima has now been banned from tournament play outside Japan and other Asia-Pacific countries.

About Fiendsmith’s Lacrima (Infinite Forbidden INFO-JP035)

Fiendsmith Lacrima’s ban was one of three issued to curb the overwhelming power of the Fiendsmith engine. With this card’s ban, it’s no longer possible for the player to use Fiendsmith’s Lacrima to Special Summon Fiendsmith Engraver, another card from Infinite Forbidden. Doing so can serve as a gateway to forming some of the most game-breaking combos in the meta—some of which as of right now are extremely difficult to counter.

Fiendsmith’s Lacrima also made winning games by having more Life Points when time expired way too easy due to the burn damage it inflicted.

The full ban placed on Fiendsmith’s Lacrima works in tandem with that imposed upon Beatrice, Lady of the Eternal—a card from Quarter Century Chronicle side:UNITY. Both cards had been crucial parts of the Fiendsmith engine and major reasons why deck archetypes containing it had begun to over-centralize the meta.

This card has now broken the all-time record for the shortest span between release and total ban. Infinite Forbidden’s international release date was 18 July 2024 while this card was banned on 2 September. Therefore, Fiendsmith’s Lacrima was tournament-legal outside Japan and Asia-Pacific for just 46 days. It beat the previous record held by Sixth Sense from The Valuable Book 6 promotional cards which was tournament-legal outside Japan and Asia-Pacific for a total of 81 days.

Release Details

This card has already been released in English.

Since this card isn’t particularly rare, it doesn’t cost much right now. The price of a Fiendsmith’s Lacrima (Infinite Forbidden INFO-JP035) card as of the latest figures is just 270 JPY (~US$1.86).

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