One of the little traditions that I do every year when it gets close to the fall is reread the original Yu-Gi-Oh manga. From the very first volume where Yugi solves the Millennium Puzzle to the very last volume of the Millennium World arc, and all the way through all twenty-four volumes of Duelist, I read just one volume a day. And at one volume a day, it takes me over a month to get through the whole saga. Right now, I’m currently on the tail end of the Battle City arc. And of course at the center of that epic arc are the three cards I’ve decided to cover in this post.
Back during the time when the original saga was still going on, everyone wanted to own a copy of the three Egyptian God Cards. But when these three titans were made into actual cards, a huge disappointment came when everyone found that they were completely unusable in the game. They weren’t even written with effects. The Gods were simply collectors’ items, and at the time it seemed like that’s all they would be. But things drastically changed years later during the time of the 5D’s era.
It was the late winter of 2008. I was sitting in bed eating a small breakfast and doing my usual morning check of the news, email, that sort of thing. I went to a Yu-Gi-Oh news blog that I routinely check to see if there was anything new. And one of the top updates was a new promo card called God of the Obelisk, which I of course immediately recognized as Obelisk the Tormentor. This was big news to an old-school Yu-Gi-Oh fan like me. I ended up transcribing the stats and effects of this promo in a notebook to study between classes. But the bottom line was that Obelisk, one of the most powerful yet unusable cards in the game, had become usable.
That wasn’t the end though. One year later, The Winged Dragon of Ra was made into a legal card too, followed by Slifer sometime later. Though if memory serves, the legal Slifer took a little longer to come out. And today, all three are commonly available in the newest Battle Pack set. I ended up studying each of the three Egyptian God Cards in detail, trying to figure out the best way to use each one in the game. And here’s one of the first things I discovered. While it is possible to build a deck focusing on one or all three of the Gods, it’s not something I recommend doing.
Let’s face it, the God cards are hard to summon and fairly difficult to pull from the deck. Trying to build a deck like that is unreliable. But that’s not to say the Gods shouldn’t be used at all. The secret to using these cards isn’t to try and build a deck that revolves around them, but find a deck that you can fit one of the Gods into. It’s actually not that hard to find such a deck. All three of the Gods need three tributes, and this age of Synchro and Xyz summoning, finding monsters that can swarm the field and provide three tributes is pretty easy.
One thing to keep in mind though is that whatever deck you decide to use your God card in has to still be able to win without it. For one thing, the God card in question might end up being destroyed, or you might not even draw it from the deck at all. Modifying the deck in question to focus more on the God card isn’t a real good idea. And if the card even being in the deck throws it off, than it might be a good idea to take it out. All that said, let’s get into using the specific power of each of these titans.
Using Obelisk
This is the member of the Egyptian Gods that I ended up specializing in. Partly because it was the first of the three I obtained. Out of the three Gods, Obelisk is fairly easy to use. He’s basically a semi-invulnerable beatstick with a set 4000 ATK and DEF. Obelisk’s effect lets the player tribute two monsters to destroy all monsters on the opponent’s side of the field. The downside is that Obelisk is unable to attack when this effect is used. Useful I suppose for taking down something that’s a little bigger, like Five Headed Dragon, or for if the opponent has managed to build a defensive wall. But generally, the costs of Obelisk’s effect outweigh the benefits. The main reasons for using Obelisk are his high ATK and semi-invulnerability. Most of the time, he effect shouldn’t be bothered with.
It took a little bit of trial and error, but I discovered the best kind of deck to use Obelisk in is a Six Samurai deck. The Six Samurai can swarm the field pretty easily, especially the Legendary Six Samurai monsters from Storm of Ragnarok. In fact the Trap card, Back to the Walls, can summon five Six Samurai monster from the Graveyard by paying all but a hundred life points, thus getting more than enough tributes for Obelisk in an instant. Depending on the situation, the remaining two monsters can be used to activate Obelisk’s effect, or better yet they could be used to Xyz Summon Number C39: Utopia Ray. If one of the monsters brought back using Backs to the Walls is Legendary Six Samurai - Shi En, than the player can attack with all three monsters and let Shi En take care of threats like Mirror Force. Another option would be to use the Spell card, Six Strike - Triple Impact to take out all of the opponent’s set Spell and Traps before even summoning Obelisk.
Using Slifer
Out of all three of the Egyptian God Cards, Slifer’s effect was the most unchanged when he was made into a legal card. Unlike Obelisk, Slifer is more geared toward Defense/Field Control. Slifer’s ATK is equal to the number of card in the player’s hand times a thousand. This can be a slight problem, as most swarming monsters can empty the hand pretty quickly. So depending on the situation, Slifer could have zero to 2000 ATK when summoned. The iconic Sky Dragon makes up for this weakness with the effect of his “Second Mouth”. When the opponent summons a monster in Attack Mode, Slifer’s effect either takes away two thousand points of that monster’s ATK, or just simply destroys it.
For those who want to get the most out of Slifer’s “Second Mouth”, a Blackwing deck with a few Wind monsters and Dark Simorgh mixed in would work pretty well, as Simorgh’s effect would prevent the opponent from setting cards. Another option for using Slifer would be a Gadget deck. The Gadgets would replace themselves in the hand when summoned and allow Slifer to keep some ATK. Unfortunately because of the new changes to the Limited and Forbidden List, the Trap card, Ultimate Offering is going to become unusable in Advanced Format tournaments, so if anyone still wants to use Slifer in a Gadget deck and still compete in the Advanced Format, they’ll have to come up with ways to stall until Slifer can be summoned. A Six Samurai deck would probably work with Slifer too, though perhaps not as well as with Obelisk. Whatever deck Slifer gets used in, it might be a good idea to include a few ways to draw extra cards as well.
Using Ra
Sadly, because of being the most powerful member of his three-card pantheon, Ra’s effects were watered down the most when he was made into a legal card. For starters, Ra cannot be Special Summoned at all. And he lacks the invulnerability to effects that target specific cards. Though this does allow Equip cards to be used with Ra. The biggest blow though was that Ra lost his effect of gaining the combined ATK and DEF of the monsters used to summon it, which would’ve made this card so much easier to use. Instead, Ra’s ATK power is dependant on its “Point to Point Transfer” effect. When summoned, the player has the option of giving up all but a hundred life points and converting them into Ra’s ATK. But like I said, this effect is optional. Ra’s only other effect is his “Phoenix Mode” which lets him destroy an enemy monster at the cost of a thousand life points.
In short, Ra is designed for two things. The player can either charge Ra for a single all or nothing final attack, or keep his ATK at zero and pick off stronger monster with its “Phoenix Mode” effect. If the latter option is used, then the player will have to find a way to protect both Ra and his or her life points. Both effects can be used together too, but it is kind of difficult. That said, if I were to pick one deck that Ra could be used in, a Psychic deck would be one of the best options. They can swarm the field effectively, and also have a few cards that can recover life points.
Of course, Psychic monsters have effects that cost life points too. But keep in mind, the idea isn’t to build a deck that focuses on Ra, it’s to create a deck that can support Ra and use him effectively yet still win without using him. One good strategy is to use DNA Surgery to turn Ra into a Psychic monster and equip him with Telekinetic Charging Cell. That way, Ra can use his “Phoenix Mode” without the life point cost. It also might be a good idea to use at least to copies of Life Absorbing Machine to gain back the life points used to charge up Ra or pay for the effects of the Psychic monsters used. Two or more copies of Solemn Wishes would work well too, as they’d grant life points each time a card was drawn. Lastly, Ancient Fairy Dragon would be a good card to include too, as her effects can grant extra life points and provide tributes for Ra.
Using All Three
As I said before, using all three God cards in one deck probably isn’t the best idea. There’s only one reason to even do it at all, and it’s to use this card
The Creator God of Light, Horakhty
That’s right, this is the monster that Pharaoh Atem used to destroy Zorc in the final battle of the original saga. All one has to do is sacrifice the three Egyptian Gods to summon Horakhty to win the game. But let’s think about what’s involved here for a moment. We’re talking about a card that needs three hard-to-summon titans to be brought onto the field. It is somewhat possible. For instance, one could banish Obelisk and Slifer somehow, summon Ra, activate Return from the Different Dimension to bring Slifer and Obelisk back, and then summon Horakhty to win the game. But again, such a move would be real hard to pull off. It’s kind of a mote point anyway. Horakhty hasn’t even been released in the U.S. In fact only ten thousand copies of the card were even released in Japan.
When it comes down to it, the Egyptian God Cards are relics from another time when the game was a bit simpler. But even though they aren’t quite as powerful as they were in the original anime and manga, all three are still good cards to use. All it takes is the right kind of deck. And while the God cards may not be the best cards to base a deck around, they still make effective secret weapons. That’s it for this post. Stay tuned for more card tips in the future.
