Pendulum decks can fill the field with monsters in one turn and bring them back over and over again, making them hard to beat.
When playing against this kind of approach, it’s easy to get overwhelmed if you’re not ready.
But don’t worry, Duelist, because each strength has a weakness.
Pendulum Removals in Yu-Gi-Oh!
Link monsters made it harder to get to the extra deck, but pendulum monsters are still a dangerous threat in Yu-Gi-Oh!
They are flexible cards that can be used to call monsters in the same way as other cards.
They can also be used as “pendulum scale” spells that can be used over and over to summon other monsters.
If a pendulum is killed on the field, it goes to the extra deck instead of the graveyard.
It can be brought back through a pendulum summon, so it’s hard to get rid of it for good.
In this list, I’ll tell you about some great pendulum counter cards or should i say Anti-Pendulum Cards and how to use them to their best potential.
15. Imperial Order
You can only have one Order in your deck because it was on the banned list for a long time. However, it is a very strong card that cancels out all spell effects.
This doesn’t stop opponents from playing pendulum scales, but it cancels out their effects, which can be almost as bad, and it also makes fields and other spells less effective.
Now, to keep Order up, you have to pay 700 life points at your backup, but that’s a small price to pay for how powerful it is.
Use it in decks that don’t care much about spells like Traptrix and Paleozoic for a dangerous setup on turn one.
14. Spell Shattering Arrow
Arrow kills as many of your opponent’s face-up spells as it can, dealing 500 damage to them for each one.
This doesn’t affect traps like Fairy Wind does, but it does leave your field alone, making it safe for your own spells.
The effect damage and quick-play speed are just icing on the cake. It gets rid of pendulum scales, fields, and other spells that last for a long time all at once.
Arrow is a flexible card that I’ve used in many different decks. It’s also surprisingly cheap, costing well less than a dollar!
13. Twin Twisters/Heavy Storm Duster
These guys have some of the best ways to get rid of spells and traps in the game.
Both can destroy up to two spells or traps, so they can get rid of pendulum scales, field spells, or anything else in the spell/trap zone.
Twin Twisters makes you throw away a card, and Heavy Storm, like all traps, needs to be set up first before it can be used.
However, both offer a brutal way to get rid of non-pendulum decks that is just as strong as the other.
You also lose your fight phase for the round if you use Heavy Storm, but that doesn’t matter if you use it on your opponent’s turn.
12. Solemn Strike/Solemn Warning
Strike costs 1500 life and can cancel a monster’s special summon or effect. Warning costs 2000 life and can cancel any summon or effect.
When you stop a pendulum summon, the cards go to the graveyard instead of the extra deck because they are destroyed before joining the field.
This makes it harder for your opponents to bring them back.
Strike costs less life than Warning, but Warning can stop more types of cards. Both are great ways to stop pendulum swarms.
“Solemn Judgment” can also help, but it costs you half of your LP and sometimes costs you 4000 life.
11. Fairy Wind
Fairy Wind smashes all other face-up spells and traps on the field, dealing 300 damage to each player.
This gets rid of pendulum scales, fields, and any other spells or traps that keep working. It could also kill an opponent who was already close to death.
But keep in mind that your own cards can be destroyed, and you’ll also take LP damage. To escape its blast, use Fairy Wind in decks with few consecutive cards.
Even though the cards are great at getting rid of scales, remember that they can come back as monsters in the future.
10. Mystical Space Typhoon
This card has been used for years to get rid of Spells and Traps in all kinds of competitive decks.
It also works well against Pendulum decks.
Mystical Space Typhoon just lets you destroy one Spell or Trap on the field that you choose. Simple as pie.
This lets you remove cards in your opponent’s pendulum scales, making it harder for them to use their pendulum summons.
MST is at the bottom of this list because it only gets rid of one card.
But it can be used in any deck and doesn’t cost anything. What’s not to like about this?
9. Pendulum Storm
Storm gets rid of as many cards as it can from all pendulum zones, and then it lets you get rid of a spell or trap from the other player.
Only pendulum cards can turn the farthest spell/trap slot into a pendulum zone.
This means that you can safely use Storm with a full spell/trap area as long as you don’t use pendulums.
In the best case, you spend one card to get rid of three (two scales and a spell or trap).
Storm is also a great choice for a side deck, since you can switch it out between rounds if you find out your opponent is using a pendulum theme.
8. Wavering Eyes
Here’s a great way to fight back against the pendulum plan, and it works even better if you also use pendulums.
It can also do more than one thing, based on how many cards are already in play.
Wavering Eyes is a fast-playing spell card that removes as many cards as possible in the pendulum zones.
If it kills one card, you can give your opponent 500 burn damage. You can draw a pendulum monster from your deck for the cost of two.
You can get rid of a monster on the field by destroying three cards. If you destroy four cards, you can add another Wavering Eyes from the deck to your hand.
If you don’t mind losing some of your cards, this set of effects can make it hard to get back on your feet.
7. Macro Cosmos
When you face a Pendulum deck, it can feel like you’re fighting an army that never ends.
Since every monster you kill can come back on the next turn of your opponent.
If your deck has ways to keep from losing cards, this card can stop your opponent’s plans.
Helios The Primordial Sun is probably not something you use. But if you do, Macro Cosmos lets you special call it.
This card is very good against Pendulum decks because it keeps cards from going to the extra deck after they have been destroyed.
Instead of going to the graveyard when a Pendulum monster is sent there, it goes to the extra deck face up. But that won’t happen if they are sent away.
Just remember that this affects both of you. So, if getting rid of cards is hard for your deck, you should avoid this card.
6. Iron Dragon Tiamaton
There aren’t many cards that can stop your opponent from using parts of their field.
But against a Pendulum deck in particular, these cards can be very bad.
Iron Dragon Tiamaton can only be special called if 3 or more cards are in the same column on the field.
This monster also has a special ability that destroys all cards in the column you call it to, and neither player can use zones in that column while the monster is on the field.
With a good 2000ATK, Tiamaton is also hard to get rid of. And if you can line it up with a swinging zone, it will be hard for your opponent to take it away.
5. Zaphion The Time Lord
Most of the time, Pendulum decks use cards to protect their Pendulum Zones from things that could destroy them.
But that’s not a problem for this monster because it has a smart way to get around that.
Zaphion The Time Lord can only be called if you don’t control any monsters, and it has 0 attack and 0 defense.
Sounds good, right?
Well, neither battle nor card effects can destroy this card, and it takes no damage from battle.
But when it goes into battle, your opponent has to put all of the Spell and Trap cards they control back into their deck and shuffle them.
See where I’m going with this?
4. Lighting Storm
Spells and traps that get rid of Pendulum cards are always good. But sometimes you’d rather get rid of all the monsters on the field.
If there was only a card that let you choose…
Lucky for us, there is!
When Lightning Storm first came out, it caused quite a “storm” because it is so strong.
If you don’t have any face-up cards, you can either destroy all of your opponent’s Spell/Trap cards or all of their face-up monsters.
If your opponent is already low on life points, you may only need them to have an empty field for one turn for you to win.
3. Harpie’s Feather Duster
Now, this card is so powerful that it has been on the banned list for 16 years.
But after September 2020, each deck could only have one copy. And Harpie’s Feather Duster can be used once more.
This spell is as strong as its history says it is. All of your opponent’s Spells and Traps are destroyed by its effect.
Nothing to lose, nothing to gain. When you play this card, it gets rid of the back row of your opponent’s deck.
And against a swinging deck?
So, let’s play!
2. Dimensional Barrier
If you lock your opponent out of a summoning type at the right time, you can win a fight outright.
And you can do just that with this trap card.
When you use Dimensional Barrier, you choose a type of summoning, and for the rest of the turn, your opponent can’t use that type to special summon.
If you say “Pendulums,” that’s all! No more Pendulums.
Your opponent can still call creatures in other ways.
So Dimensional Barrier doesn’t always give you a win right away.
But keeping their best cards from them is a very powerful effect.
1. Anti-Spell Fragrance
We’ve talked about a lot of cards that are great at stopping Pendulum calls and giving you time to get ready for an attack.
But if you just want to be mean, this is the card you should use.
Anti-Spell Fragrance is great for tactics that use a lot of spells and traps. But against Pendulum decks, it really shines.
Anti-Spell Fragrance is an ongoing trap card that prevents Spell/Trap cards from working until they have been set for a turn.
You might think that this effect is good because it delays pendulum calls for one turn. It’s so much better than that, though.
This is why:
You can’t set up a pendulum card, end of story.
This means that a Pendulum deck can’t do anything as long as Anti-Spell Fragrance is in play.
There aren’t many Yu-Gi-Oh cards that can stop a plan like this one. And because of that, Anti-Spell Fragrance is the clear winner on this list.
