Abraker got the link first, lol. In sort, the banned list initiated because of the combo of Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the End, a Sangan/Witch of the Black Forest and Yata-Garasu in the first tournaments. With how the deck worked, you would want to go second because if you go first you can not attack. You wanted to get either Witch of the Black Forest or Sangan on the field via something like Monster Reborn (as to not eat up your normal summon for that turn) and you would get Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the End out. Using the dragon's effect, you would nuke the field and both players hands. When Sangan/Witch was sent to the graveyard, you got to search Yata out of your deck. All you had to do is summon Yata and attack, making your opponent skip their next draw. With nothing in their hand or their side of the field, they literally could not play the game. Though other cards have had an errata so they are less powerful (and able to be unbanned), Yata still remains on the banned list due to this lock potential.
And nope, wrong map coldtooth. Also, the Nekros archtype was out long after the first banned list was actually put into the game. Quite literally one of their ritual monsters is based off of a banned card.
