The Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG has been around for over two decades, with the meta game constantly changing. Although the meta game between years and eras has vast differences, over time, many cards are sidelined for newer ones with similar yet improved effects, being more well-suited for the current meta game.
However, a handful of cards can stand the test of time and stay relevant despite the debut of many new and powerful cards. These cards are typically able to stay in the meta game due to their powerful effects andsplashability, or their ability to fit well in a large variety of decks.
8 Effect Veiler
One of the few monsters to remain part of the meta game, Effect Veiler is a Spellcaster-type Tuner monster that first appeared through 2010's Duelist Revolution booster pack. Effect Veiler can be sent from your hand to the Graveyard during the opponent's Main Phase to target one Effect Monster in the opponent's control and negate its effects until the End Phase of that turn.
Although it only serves as a temporary stall depending on the effect it negates, Effect Veiler can still prevent you from facing damage or loss in various ways. If played at the correct time, it can even prevent you from losing a duel, which could then lead to victory.
7 Foolish Burial
Foolish Burial is a Spell card first released through the Rise of the Dragon Lords Structure Deck in 2007. Foolish Burial allows you to send any one monster card from your deck to your Graveyard at no cost.
It's a straightforward effect but has various uses due to how many monster effects activate when they're sent to or in the Graveyard. It can also help with any effects requiring specific monsters to be in the Graveyard. Because it can fit in many decks and has more usefulness than many old and new cards, Foolish Burial is limited to one copy per deck in the Advance Format.
6 Terraforming
Primarily used in decks revolving around the Kashtira archetype in the current meta game, Terraforming, from 2003's Pharaonic Guardian booster pack, allows you to add one Field Spell card from your deck to your hand. Besides Kashtira, this card is beneficial in any deck where Field Spell cards have a pivotal role, such as Water attribute decks that utilize Umi or Gravekeeper's decks dependent on Necrovalley.
Due to how useful it is in so many decks as a Spell card that can search for any Field Spell, Terraforming has become limited, restricting you to using only one copy per deck in the Advanced Format.
5 Book Of Moon
An infamous Quick-Play Spell card from 2003's Pharaonic Guardian booster pack, Book of Moon allows you to target one face-up monster on the Field and flip it to face-down defense position. An extra benefit of this effect is the built-in effect negation, meaning Book of Moon can prevent the effect activation of a monster on the Field even without mentioning such.
You can also use Book of Moon to flip one of your opponent's monsters to face-down defense position. If that wasn't enough, it can also prevent Extra Deck summons, prevent the attack of any monster that isn't a Link Monster, reuse flip effect monster effects, and destroy any cards equipped to the targeted monster.
4 Lava Golem
Lava Golem, a card many fans saw through the anime during the Battle City Finals arc, first appeared in 2003's Pharaonic Guardian booster pack. Lava Golem cannot be Normal Summoned or Set, but it can be Special Summoned to the opponent's side of the Field by tributing two monsters they control. It also takes 1000 of their Life Points each of their Standby Phases, ensuring they don't obtain the powerful monster for free.
The one caveat to Special Summoning Lava Golem is that you can't Normal Summon or Set on the same turn they Special Summon it. Lava Golem is best used when opponent monster destruction is prevented by any other means since it circumvents most of these effects because they lack tribute prevention.
3 Harpie's Feather Duster
Harpie's Feather Duster made its TCG debut in 2003 as a promotional card for the Yu-Gi-Oh! Worldwide Edition: Stairway to the Destined Duel Game Boy Advance video game, and although it has had reprints since then, it was on the Forbidden list between 2004 and 2020, being unplayable in the Advanced Format, the format used by all official tournaments, for nearly two decades.
When activated, Harpie's Feather Duster destroys all the opponent's Spell and Trap cards they've placed on the Field, successfully clearing the opponent's back row if not negated. The card's activation also has no cost, which is likely why it was banned for nearly two decades.
2 Upstart Goblin
A card that usually simultaneously benefits the player and the opponent, Upstart Goblin from 2002's Spell Ruler booster pack, known as Magic Ruler at launch, allows you to draw one card at the cost of increasing your opponent's Life Points by 1000, and remains a popular card even over two decades after its original release.
Since 1000 Life Points can be regained relatively quickly, the drawback is well worth the benefit, and cards like Bad Reaction to Simochi and Darklord Nurse Reficule can be used in conjunction with Upstart Goblin, so the opponent loses 1000 Life Points instead, without inflicting any harm to you.
1 Solemn Judgment
A Counter Trap card that first debuted in the Metal Raiders booster pack in 2002, the second booster pack ever released for the TCG, Solemn Judgment negates a monster summon or a Spell or Trap card activation and then destroys it when negation is successful, at the cost of half of your Life Points. It's a high cost, but various ways exist to circumvent that cost or regain the lost Life Points.
Solemn Judgment was a popular deck staple for years before eventually being banned in 2013, but it became limited in 2018, and as of 2019, is unlimited, being the first Counter Trap card to have been on each of the respective lists in that order.