The meme answer is that after all these years people are still discovering the secrets of Pot of Greed and don't fully understand it yet, much less its synergy cards.
For a proper answer I have to disclose my knowledge of YuGiOh is about 15 years out of date, so I really have no idea. But I do recall there were a few cards that were treated as cards of other names, e.g. A Legendary Ocean wasn't Umi, but stated 'This card's name is always treated as "Umi"'. Maybe there is something similar with PoG? I.e. an actually balanced version that is treated as PoG for synergy purposes?
If not, then maybe they just wanted to print cards referencing PoG because of its special place in the history of the game, but only made them for use in casual settings where players can make their own ban lists.
It’s simply a case where those cards are not on the banlist so there isn’t really a reason why they should be excluded. No cards treat themselves as Pot of Greed, save for Pot of Greed itself. There is no use for their effects currently, but that doesn’t mean there never could be. While Pot of Greed is highly unlikely to be unbanned in the competitive format anytime soon (if ever), there is always the possibility that some events allow for some banned cards to be played
Those cards were likely printed before Pot was banned, and Konami seems to not really care that a bunch of cards are unplayable. Also, there's Traditional format, where banned cards are only limited.
How do these cards work in a game with no Pot of Greed? Do they work with the other pot cards? I cannot seem to find an answer anywhere else.
Your face is already dead
The meme answer is that after all these years people are still discovering the secrets of Pot of Greed and don't fully understand it yet, much less its synergy cards.
For a proper answer I have to disclose my knowledge of YuGiOh is about 15 years out of date, so I really have no idea. But I do recall there were a few cards that were treated as cards of other names, e.g. A Legendary Ocean wasn't Umi, but stated 'This card's name is always treated as "Umi"'. Maybe there is something similar with PoG? I.e. an actually balanced version that is treated as PoG for synergy purposes?
If not, then maybe they just wanted to print cards referencing PoG because of its special place in the history of the game, but only made them for use in casual settings where players can make their own ban lists.
It’s simply a case where those cards are not on the banlist so there isn’t really a reason why they should be excluded. No cards treat themselves as Pot of Greed, save for Pot of Greed itself. There is no use for their effects currently, but that doesn’t mean there never could be. While Pot of Greed is highly unlikely to be unbanned in the competitive format anytime soon (if ever), there is always the possibility that some events allow for some banned cards to be played
That's the neat part: They don't...
Those cards were likely printed before Pot was banned, and Konami seems to not really care that a bunch of cards are unplayable. Also, there's Traditional format, where banned cards are only limited.
Okay, so it looks like PoG does indeed exist in the game, as is evident by all the hackers using it in their 8 card decks.
Your face is already dead