Yata - Garasu Lockdown The " Yata - Garasu " Lockdown , nicknamed " Yata - Lock " , was an infamous Deck build whose goal was to empty both the opponent ' s field and hand , followed by Summon ing " Yata - Garasu " and attack ing with it . Upon dealing battle damage , " Yata - Garasu " ' s effect would cause the opponent to skip their next Draw Phase . Without their usual normal draw , the opponent would then be required to begin their next turn with no cards to play either on their field or in their hand , forcing them to pass that turn . On the player ' s next turn , the player could then Summon " Yata - Garasu " and attack again , and repeat . The opponent would never have any cards to play for the rest of the Duel , effectively locking them out of the Duel and guaranteeing the player a win . " Yata - Garasu " became Forbidden on the " OCG " s very first Forbidden list in March 2004 , retiring the lockdown from all " OCG " official formats . The " TCG " Advanced Format would follow suit in its own very first Forbidden list introduced in October 2004 , leaving the " TCG " Traditional Format the only official format where the lockdown is still usable . Methods . Original Method . Before the banning of " Yata - Garasu " , this was the most common method to create the lockdown . While it was still usable , it was very easy to accomplish , requiring access to as few as 2 specific cards in the hand or field ( by comparison , " Exodia " requires five ) . The following cards must be gathered : The player must also have " Yata - Garasu " anywhere in their Deck and at least 1 LIGHT and 1 DARK monster in their Graveyard . Strategy : With " Sangan " or " Witch " on the field , Special Summon " Chaos Emperor Dragon " and activate its effect . This will get rid of all cards on the field and in both players ' hands , including " Sangan " or " Witch " , allowing its effect to add " Yata - Garasu " to your hand . Normal Summon it , proceed to your Battle Phase , and use it to attack directly while the opponent controls no cards and has no cards in their hand . This completes the lockdown . Retirement . On September 15 , 2016 , " Sangan " received an erratum in the " TCG " that prevents the monster they search from using their effects in the same turn ; this prevents " Yata " from activating their effect to skip the opponent ' s Draw Phase that turn . The strategy remained possible with " Witch of the Black Forest " until July 6 , 2017 , when " Witch " also received the same erratum in the " TCG " , thus retiring this method of the lockdown from the " TCG " Traditional Format and therefore all official formats . Alternate method . As of the retirement of the original method , this method is currently the most viable way to perform the lockdown in the " TCG " Traditional Format . As a side benefit , it can be pulled off with " Yata - Garasu " as the only Forbidden card , allowing it to work in some environments where only 1 Forbidden card is allowed in the player ' s Deck ( such as in most video games , where the player can often unlock the ability to put a single Forbidden card in their Deck as a completionist reward ) . This strategy generally requires access to 2 specific cards in the hand or field and 2 specific cards in the Graveyard . The following cards must be gathered : Strategy : Similar to the first method , " Phantom of Chaos " must be on your field while you can still Normal Summon ; you can either Summon it the turn before and protect it , or use a card like " Double Summon " or " Call of the Haunted " . Next , use whatever card effect you have to place " Yata - Garasu " on top of your Deck . Activate the effect of " Phantom of Chaos " , banish ing " Norleras " in the Graveyard to copy its effect . " Norleras ' s " copied effect will empty both players ' hands and fields , then allow you to draw 1 card ( this will be " Yata - Garasu " ) . Now you can Normal Summon " Yata " , enter your Battle Phase , and attack directly with it , completing the lockdown . Counters . Some cards have effects that can activate any time from the Graveyard , allowing them to potentially break the lockdown even after the opponent ' s hand and field have been emptied : Some cards can protect the opponent against having their hand or field emptied : It is worth noting that the vast majority of the above cards did not exist until after " Yata - Garasu " was Forbidden . Before then , almost nothing at all in the game could stop the lockdown . Trivia . In most video games , if the lockdown is successfully performed ( specifically , if a player damages their opponent with " Yata - Garasu " while their opponent has an empty hand and field ) , then the opponent is programmed to automatically surrender the Duel at the start of their next turn . This applies to both human and CPU players , and will occur even if not surrendering would have been beneficial ( such as if the player performing the lockdown had no cards left in their Deck and would have lost had their opponent not surrendered ) . This particular lockdown is one of the two only known ways to get an AI opponent to surrender ( another way is to get rid of one of the AI opponent ' s " Exodia " cards ) .