Banish Banish ( Japanese : " Jogai " , lit . " exclude " ) , known as remove from play prior to the Problem - Solving Card Text update , is a term used to describe the act of making a card banished , causing the card to leave its current location . Banished cards are not in any particular zone . Cards can only be banished by a card that uses the word " Banish " . Because banished cards are not in any particular zone , a player can place their banished cards anywhere in the play area that is not a zone . They are typically placed either above or to the right of the Graveyard Zone , or just under the field ( directly in front of the player ) . Most video games place it to the right of the Graveyard . Mechanics . By default , cards are banished face - up , with these cards being public knowledge . However , several cards can banish cards face - down ( such as " Ghostrick Skeleton " and " Pot of Desires " ) ; a card that is banished face - down is not public knowledge and can thus only be looked at by its possess or . A card that is banished face - down cannot be affected by cards that specify properties of the banished card , other than the card that banished it . The number of banished cards ( including face - down banished cards ) is public knowledge . Because banishing a card causes it to leave its current location , banishing a card on the field causes it to leave the field . Consequently , if a Token Monster is banished face - up , it is simply removed from the game rather than placed with the other banished cards . Token Monsters cannot be banished face - down . Banished cards cannot be destroy ed . Return ing a banished card to the Graveyard is not considered to be send ing that card to the Graveyard , and can be done even if a card like " Dimensional Fissure " is active . If a card control led by a player that is not its owner is temporarily banished by a card like " Interdimensional Matter Transporter " , while banished it will be in the possession of its owner , but when it returns to the field it will return to the side of the field of the player that controlled it when it was banished . If its owner does not have an unoccupied Zone on the field to return it to , the card is instead sent to the Graveyard . Furthermore , if the effect that gave temporary control of that card to the opponent is no longer active , it will then return to the original owner . If a card would be banished when it leaves the field , if it is temporarily banished by another card effect , it does not return to the field . History . Originally , there were few cards which could banish other cards ( called " remove from play " at the time ) , with some of the first being " Soul Release " and " Banisher of the Light " . The first card to return them was " Miracle Dig " . However , over time , banishing cards has become a popular theme with several cards to go with it ( such as Chaos and " D . D . " cards ) . In turn , more cards were created to bring banished cards back , including " D . D . M . - Different Dimension Master " , " Dimension Fusion " , " Dimension Explosion " , " Burial from a Different Dimension " , and " Leviair the Sea Dragon " . In the Problem - Solving Card Text update , " remove from play " was renamed " banish " . This was both to make card text easier to understand and to distinguish it from the similarly - named " removed from the field " , which was renamed " leaves the field " in the same update for this reason . Thematically , cards which banish tend to either imply that the card ' s soul is being removed ( e . g . " Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer " , " Bazoo the Soul Eater " ) or are sent to another dimension ( e . g . the " D . D . " series ) . While the location that banished cards are placed does not have an official name , official sources occasionally refer to it as the Banished Zone or banished pile ( removed zone or removed from play pile prior to the Problem - Solving Card Text update ) , despite it not being a zone . These terms are never used in card text s or official ruling materials ; cards in this location are simply referred to as " banished cards " . Deck theme . Since many Decks rely on the Graveyard , Decks that rely on the effects of " Dimensional Fissure " , " Macro Cosmos " , " Banisher of the Light " , and " Banisher of the Radiance " have grown in power . Being able to shut down an opponents Graveyard plus having " D . D . Survivor " , an 1800 ATK monster that keeps returning every time it ' s banished while face - up , have shown themselves to be powerful Decks . " D . D . Scout Plane " is also incredibly useful in these Decks : if it is banished from your hand or Deck , it will be Special Summon ed . The main weakness of these Decks is the fact that it is not difficult to remove the card that banishes other cards , and cards like " Imperial Iron Wall " and " Chaos Hunter " counter such Decks with ease . " " / " The Dark Emperor Structure Deck " revolves around banishing . Anime . In " Yu - Gi - Oh ! " , if a Duel Disk is connected to a Dueling Arena , the banished cards are put where the Graveyard Zone of the Dueling Arena is . If not , the banished cards were placed in the Duelist ' s pockets . In " Yu - Gi - Oh ! 5D ' s " , cards being banished are depicted as being sucked into a black vortex . In " Yu - Gi - Oh ! ZEXAL " , monsters being banished or Special Summoned while banished sometimes enter in and emerge from portals identical to the Graveyard ' s one , but green . In " Yu - Gi - Oh ! ARC - V " , cards banished from the Graveyard disintegrate with a vortex , cards banished from the field disintegrate and scatter , and cards banished from the hand disintegrate into a purple sphere . However , it is unclear where these cards are kept . In " Yu - Gi - Oh ! VRAINS " , cards banished from the GY are disintegrated with a high - tech appearing vortex interface .