Yu-Gi-Oh: The Best Generic Non-Targeting Removal Cards (Ranked)
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Non-targeting removal has become one of the most important features to have in a deck in modern Yu-Gi-Oh.
There are plenty of incredibly powerful monsters that have effects protecting them from destruction.
Some cards have clauses that means they can’t be destroyed by card effects, others can’t even be targeted by card effects – and at the very extreme you’ve got monsters that are completely unaffected by other card effects!
Non-targeting removal is the best way to deal with these threats.
These are cards that can remove other cards from the field without specifically targeting a monster, meaning regardless of what your opponent has, you’ll be able to deal with.
This list breaks down the best generic removal cards (with non-targeting effects) so you can add some handy resources to any deck of your choosing.
15. Magnarokket Dragon
If you’ve played any sort of modern Yu-Gi-Oh, then you’ll know exactly how powerful Rokket monsters can be.
In fact, Dragon Link (a link summoning based deck that utilizes Rokket monsters) has dominated the meta game for ages, and it doesn’t look like it’ll stop any time soon.
When Magnarokket Dragon is targeted by a link monster’s effect, you can destroy this card to send any monster on the field to the graveyard.
Not only is this non-targeting removal (meaning Magnarokket Dragon can work around monsters that can’t be targeted by card effects), but the word “send” means this effect can also be used to get rid of monsters that can’t be destroyed by card effects!
This is one of the best pieces of removal you can ask for in a Dragon deck – and it only gets better the more Rokket cards you play!
14. Gameciel, the Sea Turtle Kaiju
Another way of getting rid of your opponent’s monsters without targeting them is by tributing them.
I mean sure, they’re your opponent’s monsters… but who says you can’t tribute them for your own summons?
Kaijus were an archetype based entirely around tributing your opponent’s monsters and replacing them with Kaijus.
And Gameciel the Sea Turtle Kaiju can be special summoned to your opponent’s side of the field, at the cost of tributing one monster they control.
While these Kaiju monsters are generally strong, Gameciel the Sea Turtle Kaiju is the weakest of the Kaijus, coming in at a measly 2300 attack.
It sounds weird to brag about that, but in this case it’s incredibly helpful.
It means that not only can you get rid of an opponent’s monster, but you can replace it with a monster that has a low attack stat, leaving you free to demolish it in battle.
13. Hey, Trunade!
The original version of this card (Giant Trunade) was so overpowered that this was the best version we could have in the TCG.
And even though its power has been diluted, I think Hey, Trunade! is an incredibly useful card in any deck!
This spell returns all set spells and traps on the field to the player’s hands.
This is an amazing way of getting rid of any battle traps your opponent may have, so that you can attack with some peace of mind that you’re definitely not getting slapped around with a Magic Cylinder or Mirror Force any time soon.
12. Ignister Prominence, the Blasting Dracoslayer
Despite all the nerfs we’ve seen to pendulums since MR4, pendulum decks are still alive and kicking.
And Pendulum Magicians are still an incredibly powerful deck that can access a whole range of extra deck monsters, with Ignister Prominence being one of the best in their arsenal!
Here’s how it works:
Once per turn you can destroy any pendulum monster on the field or in the pendulum zone, to then shuffle any card on the field into the deck.
The crazy thing about this effect is that you don’t have to destroy your own pendulum monster to activate this effect – if your opponent is also playing a pendulum strategy, then you can use Ignister Prominence to remove 2 of your opponent’s cards all at once!
It’s the Goyo Guardian of the Link era, except way more powerful and with a much nicer artwork.
When this card battles an opponent’s monster, you can steal it right at the start of the damage step, placing it in any zone that this card points to.
You can use this to steal your opponent’s strongest monsters with ease, as this ability triggers at the start of the damage step. So you don’t have to worry about your opponent’s monsters besting Borreload Dragon in combat.
If they’re there on the field, they’re yours for the taking!
10. Drowning Mirror Force
If you thought the original Mirror Force was an amazing card, just wait till you see what the sequels look like.
Much like the original Mirror Force, this card punishes your opponent for attacking by getting rid of all of their attack position monsters.
Instead of destroying these monsters, Drowning Mirror Force instead shuffles all of your opponent’s attack position monsters back into the deck!
This is way harder to recover from.
Modern Yu-Gi-Oh has a whole bunch of cards that’ll revive monsters from the graveyard – so having your monsters destroyed isn’t as devastating as it once was.
Having them all shuffled into the deck, however?
There’s no easy way to get all of those monsters back again. Especially if they were from the extra deck.
Your opponent will just have to special summon them properly all over again.
9. Ultimate Conductor Tyranno
Ultimate Conductor Tyranno isn’t your typical definition of non-targeting removal – but he definitely gets the job done.
Instead of summoning this card like you would a normal level 10 monster, you can special summon this card from your hand by banishing 2 dinosaur monsters from your graveyard – kind of like a more palaeolithic Chaos Emperor Dragon – Envoy of the End!
Then once per turn, you can destroy any monster in your hand or on your side of the field to turn all face-up monsters your opponent controls into face-down position.
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 effectively an incredibly powerful way of sending all of your opponent’s monsters to the grave. It just takes a few attacks to actually pull off.
8. Dingirsu, the Orcust of the Evening Star
If your deck runs level 8 monsters, then Dingirsu is an absolute must have for your extra deck.
As one of the best rank 8 monsters out there, Dingirsu can remove spells, traps, or monsters, making it a great response to any threat your opponent throws at you.
When it’s special summoned you have 2 options:
You can either attach one of your banished machine monsters to it as an XYZ material (useful if you’re playing an Orcust strategy!), or you can send any card your opponent controls to the graveyard.
If you’re playing any Orcust monsters in your extra deck, then you also XYZ summon Dingirsu using any Orcust link monster as the full material for the XYZ summon, making this guy ludicrously easy to bring out onto the battlefield.
7. Lava Golem
Lava Golem was a Kaiju monster before Kaijus were even a thing.
To get this guy out, you can tribute two of your opponent’s monsters to special summon this card to their side of the field – as if you’re normal summoning using their monsters.
This gets rid of two monsters all at once, without targeting a single one of them.
While this card does have 3000 attack, it certainly won’t be doing any favors for your opponent. And here’s why:
During each standby phase, they’ll take 1000 damage from this card. And before you know it they could be close to defeated from burn damage!
For maximum damage here, combine this card with spells/traps that prevent battle – like Swords of Revealing Light or Threatening Roar.
That way your opponent will get none of the benefits of Lava Golem, and all of the burn damage.
6. Raigeki
There are a few old-school cards in Yu-Gi-Oh! that will never stop being good.
And Raigeki is one of them.
Honestly, I never thought this card would get released from the clutches of the ban list.
But to my surprise this has come back to one copy per deck (as of this writing).
Raigeki destroys all monsters your opponent controls, regardless of their battle positions. That’s face-up and face-down monsters.
If it’s on their side of the field, it’s getting destroyed!
This is probably the easiest way to clear your opponent’s board in one fell swoop, and I’d highly recommend a copy in pretty much every deck you play.
5. Evenly Matched
Evenly Matched is the most brutal trap card I’ve ever seen.
At the end of the battle phase, if your opponent has more cards on their field than you do, Evenly Matched forces them to banish cards from their field, face-down, until they control the same number of cards as you.
The real kicker is that if you have no cards on your side of the field, then you can activate Evenly Matched straight from your hand!
This card makes going second in Yu-Gi-Oh super advantageous – you simply let your opponent set their board up, waste their cards playing a whole bunch of different extra deck monsters or whatever, then slam Evenly Matched on the board… and it all goes down the drain.
4. Nibiru the Primal Being
Nibiru takes the concept of Kaiju monsters and ramps it up all the way up to 11.
Here’s what it does:
During the main phase, if your opponent special summons 5 or more times in a turn (which in modern Yu-Gi-Oh! happens all the time), you can tribute all monsters on the field and special summon this card to your side of the field.
Your opponent then gets a token, with attack and defense equal to the total attack and defense of the monsters destroyed.
What may have been 5 monsters you’d have to deal with on your turn, now becomes just 1 token, which is way easier to destroy – especially considering it has no effect whatsoever!
Never before has there been a Yu-Gi-Oh! card that makes players so scared of the number 5…
3. Lightning Storm
Lightning Storm takes the power of 2 incredibly powerful spell cards and combines it into one.
It’s practically a Raigeki and a Harpie’s Feather Duster in one spell card!
The fact that you can choose which type of card to destroy(monsters/spells/traps) makes Lightning Storm an amazingly versatile response to anything your opponent throws at you.
There is a catch, though:
To activate this card, you can’t control any face-up cards.
If you’re going second, however, this isn’t a problem – as you’re not going to have any cards on your side of the field anyhow.
This is a great card to keep 3 copies of in your side deck.
If you know that you’re going second in the next duel, then this is an amazing way to ensure that you’ve got removal power on your side.
2. Super Polymerization
Fusion summoning is awesome.
But isn’t it such a drag having to use your own monsters?
Super Polymerization fixes this problem, being a quick-play fusion spell that allows you to fusion summon a monster from your extra deck using monsters from either side of the field as fusion materials.
Theoretically this means you could fusion summon without losing any monsters whatsoever, while your opponent could lose 2+ monsters from their field at once.
The broken thing about Super Polymerization is that neither player can activate cards of effects in response to its activation, meaning your opponent has no way of stopping you from tributing their monsters.
This XYZ monster provides total board destruction like no other.
And I don’t think we’ll ever see an XYZ monster as powerful as this guy again!
You can XYZ summon this card in 2 ways:
You can either overlay two level 12 monsters (and let’s be real, who on Earth would do that?!) or you can simply have an XYZ monster battle.
When that monster battles, you can then use any XYZ monster you control as the sole material for this card.
And by detaching 2 XYZ materials from this card, you can send every other card on the field straight to the graveyard.
That’s right: spells, traps, and monsters, all removed by a non-targeting effect that can even get around cards that can’t be destroyed by card effects.
What’s crazy about AA-Zeus is that it powers itself up to board wipe all over again.
Once per turn, whenever another monster you control is destroyed by battle or an opponent’s card effect, you can attach any card from your hand, deck, or graveyard to AA-Zeus – meaning this guy will be right back at 2 XYZ materials before you know it.
You won’t get board removal like this anywhere else in Yu-Gi-Oh!
Rob Myers is a physics student from England, who spends his time looking at space and turning it into numbers. In his free time he enjoys playing card games, reading the Discworld series, and working his way through his never ending video game library.
