In the last two articles, we’ve covered the best cards to use against specific strategies. Now, I’m going to take a look at the best generic cards. These cards are so generic that they are better called “non-targeting removal” cards. These are the removal tools that are used to disrupt the game plan of your opponent no matter what deck you’re playing. These cards are so powerful that they need to be considered even when you have no idea what deck your opponent is playing.
When playing Magic, sometimes we want to play a certain card, but we don’t want it to be targeted, which means it doesn’t work if our opponent wants to kill it. There are some cards which are not very good, but have a large enough body to be your best option, like Devour Flesh, but for the purpose of this article, I’m going to rank the generic non-targeting removal cards (that do not target a specific creature, artifact, or land) from 1-5 based on how good they are at removing your opponent’s creatures.
We know it’s hard to get the most out of your games when they come from a narrow range of cards. Why does this happen? Well, it’s almost certainly down to the lack of powerful non-targeting removal cards in the format. Some cards are just too narrow to ever be worthwhile; others may be too powerful to ever get played in the first place. But if you aren’t playing them, it’s really hard to be the best player.
In contemporary Yu-Gi-Oh, non-targeting removal has become one of the most essential characteristics to have in a deck.
There are a lot of extremely strong creatures with effects that prevent them from being destroyed.
Other cards contain conditions that prevent them from being destroyed by card effects, while others can’t even be targeted by card effects – and some monsters are totally immune to all card effects!
The easiest approach to deal with these dangers is to remove them without targeting them.
These are cards that can eliminate other cards from the field without explicitly targeting a monster, so you’ll be able to deal with anything your opponent has.
This article breaks down the finest generic removal cards (those that have no targeting effects) so you can add some useful resources to any deck.
Magnarokket Dragon (number 15)
If you’ve ever played a recent Yu-Gi-Oh game, you’re well aware of how strong Rokket monsters can be.
Dragon Link (a link summoning-based deck that uses Rokket monsters) has dominated the meta game for a long time, and it doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon.
When a link monster’s effect targets Magnarokket Dragon, you may destroy this card to send any monster on the field to the graveyard.
Not only is this a non-targeting removal (meaning Magnarokket Dragon can work around monsters that aren’t targeted by card effects), but the phrase “send” also implies that this effect may be used to get rid of monsters that aren’t destroyed by card effects!
This is one of the strongest removal spells you can receive in a Dragon deck, and it only gets stronger as you play more Rokket cards!
Gameciel, the Sea Turtle Kaiju, is number fourteen.
Tributing your opponent’s monsters is another method to get rid of them without attacking them.
Sure, they’re your adversary’s creatures… But who’s to say you can’t pay homage to them in exchange for your own summons?
Kaijus were an archetype focused solely on tributing and replacing your opponent’s monsters with Kaijus.
Gameciel the Sea Turtle Kaiju may also be special summoned to your opponent’s side of the field at the cost of tributing one of their monsters.
While all of the Kaiju monsters are powerful, Gameciel the Sea Turtle Kaiju is the weakest of the bunch, with a mere 2300 attack.
It may seem strange to boast about it, but it is very beneficial in this instance.
It means you can not only eliminate an opponent’s monster, but also replace it with one with a low attack stat, allowing you to destroy it in combat.
13. Greetings, Trunade!
This was the greatest version of this card we could have in the TCG since the previous version (Giant Trunade) was so powerful.
And, despite its diminished power, I believe Hey, Trunade! is an extremely helpful card in any deck!
All placed spells and traps on the field are returned to the player’s hands with this spell.
This is a fantastic method to get rid of any combat traps your opponent may have, allowing you to strike with the confidence that you won’t be smacked about with a Magic Cylinder or Mirror Force very soon.
Ignister Prominence, the Dracoslayer of Blasting
Despite all of the pendulum nerfs we’ve seen since MR4, pendulum decks are still alive and well.
Pendulum Magicians are still a very strong deck that has access to a wide variety of extra deck monsters, with Ignister Prominence being one of the finest.
The following is how it works:
You may shuffle any card on the field into the deck once each turn by destroying any pendulum monster on the field or in the pendulum zone.
The amazing thing about this effect is that you don’t even have to kill your own pendulum monster to trigger it; if your opponent is also using a pendulum strategy, you may use Ignister Prominence to eliminate two of your opponent’s cards at once!
Borreload Dragon (#11)
Borreload Dragon is widely regarded as one of the finest link monsters available, and it’s simple to understand why.
It’s the Link era’s Goyo Guardian, but considerably more powerful and with much better artwork.
When you use this card to fight an opponent’s monster, you may steal it at the start of the damage step and place it in any zone this card points to.
Because this ability activates at the start of the damage phase, you may easily take your opponent’s strongest monsters. As a result, you don’t have to be concerned about your opponent’s monsters outperforming Borreload Dragon in battle.
They’re yours for the taking if they’re on the field!
Drowning Mirror Force (#10)
Just wait till you see what the sequels look like if you thought the first Mirror Force was a fantastic card.
This card, like the original Mirror Force, punishes your opponent for attacking by removing all of their monsters in the attack position.
Drowning Mirror Force shuffles all of your opponent’s attack position monsters back into the deck instead of killing them!
This is far more difficult to overcome.
Modern Yu-Gi-Oh has a slew of cards that allow you to resurrect monsters from the graveyard, so losing your monsters isn’t as catastrophic as it previously was.
However, having them all mixed into the deck?
There’s no simple method to resurrect all of those creatures. Especially if they came from a different deck.
Your opponent will just have to re-special summon them from scratch.
Tyranno is the Ultimate Conductor.
Tyranno, the Ultimate Conductor, isn’t your usual non-targeting removalist, but he gets the job done.
You may special summon this card from your hand by banishing two dinosaur monsters from your graveyard, similar to a more palaeolithic Chaos Emperor Dragon – Envoy of the End!
Then, once each turn, you may destroy any monster in your hand or on your side of the field to make all face-up monsters controlled by your opponent face-down.
This card can then attack every single monster your opponent controls, once each, and if it attacks a defense position card you can immediately send that monster to the graveyard & inflict 1000 damage to your opponent.
This is a very efficient method to send all of your opponent’s monsters to the grave. It just takes a few of attacks to pull it off.
8. Dingirsu, the Evening Star’s Orcust
Dingirsu is a must-have for your extra deck if you have level 8 monsters in your main deck.
Dingirsu, being one of the finest rank 8 monsters available, has the ability to destroy spells, traps, and monsters, making it an excellent answer to any danger your opponent may provide.
You have two choices when it’s special summoned:
You may either utilize one of your exiled machine monsters as an XYZ material (helpful if you’re using an Orcust strategy!) or send any card your opponent controls to the graveyard.
If you have any Orcust monsters in your extra deck, you may XYZ summon Dingirsu using any Orcust link monster as the entire material for the XYZ summon, making this guy ridiculously simple to summon.
7. The Golem of Lava
Before Kaijus were even a thing, Lava Golem was a Kaiju monster.
You may special summon this card to your opponent’s side of the field by paying tribute to two of their monsters, as if you were normal summoning with their monsters.
This kills two creatures at the same time without targeting either of them.
Despite the fact that this card has 3000 attack, it will not help your opponent in any way. What’s more, here’s why:
This card will deal 1000 damage to them throughout each standby phase. And before you know it, they’ll be in danger of succumbing to burn damage!
Combine this card with spells/traps that hinder combat, such as Swords of Revealing Light or Threatening Roar, for maximum damage.
That way, your opponent will get none of Lava Golem’s advantages but all of the burn damage.
Raigeki is number six.
In Yu-Gi-Oh!, there are a few old-school cards that will never go out of style.
One of them is Raigeki.
To be honest, I never expected this card to be freed from the ban list’s grasp.
However, this has now been reduced to one copy each deck, much to my surprise (as of this writing).
Raigeki eliminates all monsters controlled by your opponent, regardless of their combat locations. That’s the difference between monsters who are facing up and creatures that are facing down.
It’ll be demolished if it’s on their side of the field!
This is arguably the simplest method to clear your opponent’s board in one go, and I’d suggest include a copy in almost any deck you play.
5. Equally Distributed
I’ve never seen a trap card as devastating as Evenly Matched.
If your opponent has more cards on their field than you have at the conclusion of the combat phase, Evenly Matched compels them to exile cards from their field, face-down, until they have the same number of cards as you.
The true kicker is that you may trigger Evenly Matched right from your hand if you don’t have any cards on your side of the field!
This card makes going second in Yu-Gi-Oh very beneficial — all you have to do is let your opponent build up their board, spend their cards on a variety of extra deck monsters or whatever, and then smash Evenly Matched on the board… and it’s all a waste of time.
4. The Primal Being, Nibiru
Nibiru takes the idea of Kaiju creatures and turns it up to eleven.
Here’s how it works:
If your opponent special summons 5 or more monsters in a turn (which occurs often in contemporary Yu-Gi-Oh!), you may tribute all monsters on the field and special summon this card to your side of the field during the main phase.
After that, your opponent is dealt a token with attack and defense equal to the total attack and defense of the creatures destroyed.
What might have been five monsters to deal with each round is now reduced to just one token, which is much simpler to destroy – particularly since it has no impact!
Never before has a Yu-Gi-Oh! card made players fear the number 5 as much as this one…
Lightning Storm No. 3
Lightning Storm combines the power of two very strong spell cards into one.
It’s essentially a Raigeki and a Harpie’s Feather Duster rolled into one!
Lightning Storm is a very flexible answer to whatever your opponent sends at you since you may select which kind of card to destroy (monsters, spells, or traps).
However, there is a catch:
You can’t control any face-up cards in order to activate this card.
However, if you’re going second, this isn’t an issue since you won’t have any cards on your side of the field anyhow.
It’s a good idea to have three copies of this card in your side deck.
If you know you’ll be second in the upcoming duel, this is a great method to make sure you have removal power on your side.
2. Polymerization via superpolymerization
Fusion summoning is a lot of fun.
But isn’t it a pain to have to create your own monsters?
Super Polymerization, a quick-play fusion effect that enables you to fusion summon a monster from your extra deck utilizing monsters from both sides of the field as fusion ingredients, solves this issue.
This implies that you may fusion summon without losing any monsters, while your opponent could lose two or more monsters from their field at the same time.
The problem with Super Polymerization is that neither player may activate effect cards in response to it being activated, which means your opponent has no method of preventing you from tributing their monsters.
There are also a slew of generic fusion monsters available these days. Super Polymerization is thus an excellent complement to any main deck.
1. Divine Arsenal AA-Zeus – Thunder of the Gods
This XYZ monster destroys the whole board like no other.
And I doubt we’ll ever see another XYZ monster with the same level of strength as this one!
There are two methods to XYZ summon this card:
You can either overlay two level 12 monsters (and, let’s be honest, who on Earth would do that?!) or you can overlay two level 12 monsters (and, let’s be honest, who on Earth would do that?!) Alternatively, you may just engage in an XYZ monster fight.
You may utilize any XYZ monster you control as the sole material for this card after that monster fights.
You may also send every other card on the field directly to the graveyard by detaching 2 XYZ resources from this card.
That’s right: spells, traps, and monsters are all destroyed by a non-targeting effect that even works around cards that aren’t destroyed by card effects.
What’s amazing about AA-Zeus is that it keeps recharging itself to wipe the board clean.
You may attach any card from your hand, deck, or graveyard to AA-Zeus once per turn whenever another monster you control is destroyed by battle or an opponent’s card effect — meaning this guy will be back at 2 XYZ materials before you know it.
You won’t find this kind of board removal anywhere else in Yu-Gi-Oh!
What is your best/most underrated card in your deck? If you’ve got a weak card that’s often being overlooked, you may have a powerful card that fulfills the same role in your deck. Take, for example, an “I win” card. It’s essentially useless because it makes you lose. However, it fulfills the same function as cards that make you lose. It’s a constant barrage of damage that eventually overwhelms your opponent.. Read more about yugioh cards that destroy your own monsters and let us know what you think.
Related Tags
This article broadly covered the following related topics:
- yugioh card that destroys all opponent’s monsters
- non targeting removal yugioh
- yugioh non targeting removal
- monster removal yugioh
- yugioh cards that destroy your own monsters
