NeoDraft: Forbidden - Tournament Report

NeoDraft: Forbidden brought 28 players together for five rounds of one of the weirdest NeoDraft events so far.

With cards like Sixth Sense, Yata-Garasu, Graceful Charity, Monster Reborn, Confiscation, Fiber Jar and plenty of other normally forbidden cards showing up during the day, matches could change direction very quickly.

You can check the original event announcement and rules here: NeoDraft: Forbidden .

Round 1 - Mazera DeVille vs Pure Archfiend

Round 1 was probably the most Archfiend match possible: Mazera DeVille vs a pure Archfiend deck, with both players using Pandemonium.

Early in the match, the Archfiend player lost Archfiend General and his Kings to Torrential Tribute, but Pandemonium immediately helped replace the lost monster. During Main Phase 2, Last Will brought out an Archfiend Heiress, and on the following turn two Archfiend Kings hit the field to start the comeback.

We even got to see Dark Necrofear in action later in the duel.

Game 2 had another very NeoDraft moment. The Mazera player was preparing to Special Summon Mazera DeVille, but the opponent used Ring of Destruction on the monster needed for the play and stopped it before Mazera could arrive.

From there we saw cards like Last Will, Card Destruction and Magician of Faith, followed by yet another Card Destruction. The pure Archfiend deck eventually took the match.

Round 2 - Gadgets vs LIGHT

Round 2 featured Gadgets against a LIGHT-based deck.

The LIGHT player managed to use Sixth Sense, but missed the dice call. We also saw Trap Dustshoot and even Yata-Garasu enter the game.

Sixth Sense showed up again later... and failed again. This time the miss sent five cards from the top of the deck to the Graveyard instead of giving the huge draw.

Despite all the Forbidden Draft nonsense going around, Gadgets stayed consistent enough to take the match.

Round 3 - Dino Zombie vs EARTH

Round 3 was Dino Zombie vs EARTH.

The first duel already gave us two classics that normally have no business being legal together: Graceful Charity and Monster Reborn. Dino Zombie took the first game.

Game 2 brought Trap Dustshoot and Card Destruction into the mix, and this time EARTH answered back to tie the match.

The deciding duel had Magician of Faith on the Dino side and, more importantly, Fiber Jar on the EARTH side.

And yes, Fiber Jar actually resolved.

Both players had to basically restart the duel with fresh hands, but the reset was much better for Dino Zombie. EARTH never really recovered from the new hand, and Dino took Game 3 and the match.

Round 4 - Dino Zombie vs Gadgets

Dino Zombie returned for Round 4, this time against Gadgets.

Gadgets opened with Confiscation, looked at the Dino player's hand, found Raigeki sitting there and immediately got rid of it. Probably the correct reaction to seeing Raigeki in someone's opening hand.

Several turns later, the table stopped for a ruling discussion involving Spirit Reaper and Book of Moon. The question was whether simply targeting Spirit Reaper with Book would cause it to destroy itself.

The judge eventually clarified the interaction: Book of Moon resolves and flips Spirit Reaper face-down, so Reaper does not destroy itself afterward while face-down.

Gadgets eventually lost the first duel.

In Game 2, Dino had Witch of the Black Forest while the Gadget player used Card Destruction. Dino was able to take advantage of Witch going to the Graveyard and searched Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch.

The duel continued for quite a while after that, but Dino Zombie eventually closed it out and won the match 2-0.

Round 5 - Dino Zombie vs Chaos

The final recorded match was Dino Zombie vs Chaos.

Game 1 had a few Forbidden cards appear without really getting a chance to do anything. Dino found Magician of Faith, but it was removed by Nobleman of Crossout. Chaos had a Dark Hole ready, but it got caught by Heavy Storm before it could matter.

Instead, the less flashy cards ended up doing the work. Sabersaurus and Vampire Lord kept putting pressure on the Chaos player, and Dino Zombie took the first duel.

Game 2 brought Last Will for Dino and Card Destruction for Chaos, but this time Chaos managed to control the board with Chaos Sorcerer and tied the match.

Game 3 turned into a long Skill Drain game.

Dino opened well with Skill Drain, which was especially annoying for a Chaos deck full of small Flip Effect monsters. Skill Drain stayed on the field for basically the entire duel, while Vampire Lord worked particularly well under it: after being destroyed by Torrential Tribute, Vampire Lord could still return from the Graveyard.

The problem was that Dino was also spending a lot of Life Points on Solemn Judgment.

Eventually Chaos found an opening. The Chaos player took a Vampire Lord with Brain Control, Special Summoned a Chaos Sorcerer, attacked over Tribe-Infecting Virus, and then Chaos Sorcerer attacked directly for the remaining damage.

Chaos won the deciding duel and the match.

Dino still had a Last Turn among his cards, while Chaos had Butterfly Dagger - Elma, so even at the end there were still some very Forbidden Draft cards waiting around.

One Last Ban Before Going Home

The duels were finished, but NeoDraft: Forbidden still had one last part of the event left.

The central player in the final standings had the chance to choose a card to be Forbidden for the next NeoGoat banlist.

Of course, everyone in the store immediately started yelling suggestions.

After listening to the noise around him and thinking about it for a moment, the player made his choice:

Pyramid Turtle is Forbidden.

Pyramid Turtle will therefore move to the Forbidden section of the October 2026 NeoGoat banlist.

With the new ban decided, prizes were distributed and NeoDraft: Forbidden came to an end.

Five rounds, 28 players, Fiber Jar actually resolving, two failed Sixth Senses, Raigeki getting Confiscated, a Spirit Reaper ruling debate, and finally an entire store yelling card names at the guy who had to decide what to ban.

Pretty normal NeoGoat night.