Konami Must Fix Yu-Gi-Oh's Egyptian Gods

The Egyptian Gods cards are among the most iconic monsters of the Yu-Gi-Oh! Game franchise. They are a focal point in the official manga, the second series anime, and several video games, most of which treat them as nearly unstoppable forces of nature to be feared and respected. The original printings of the Egyptian God Cards are intended for collectors only and are not intended to be used in Duels. They have restriction text stating this in the lower left corner of their frames, and their lack of printed effects makes their “abilities” undecipherable in casual play.

These prints were released as pre-orders or as bundle bonuses for specific Yu-Gi-Oh! Game movie and video game releases, as well as a Shonen Jump promotion for magazine subscribers. Konami's official statement was that these cards could not be used in tournaments, but the Egyptian Gods cards would later receive legal printings as effect monsters. Unfortunately, the legal releases are disappointing at best compared to their media counterparts.

The Three Egyptian Gods in Legal Gambling

Requiring three tributes, they are difficult to summon.

To attempt to build a deck centered around the Egyptian gods, players must understand their common traits. All three Egyptian Gods require three Tributes to Normal Summon and cannot be Normal Summoned. Their Normal Summon cannot be negated, and there is nothing to activate in response to their Normal Summon. Slifer the Sky Dragon and Obelisk the Tormentor must be sent to the Graveyard during the End Phase if they are Special Summoned, while The Winged Dragon of Ra cannot be Special Summoned unless under specific circumstances.

Each of the Egyptian gods has unique effects that they bring to the board. — Slifer gains 1000 ATK/DEF for each card in the controller's hand and weakens the ATK of any Normal or Special Summoned monsters on the opponent's side of the field by 2000, Obelisk cannot be targeted and can Tribute 2 other monsters to destroy all opponent's monsters, and Ra can make its controller pay all but 100 Life Points to either strengthen its ATK/DEF or destroy opponent's monsters at a cost of 1000 Life Points each. It is impossible for Ra to use both effects in the same turn without the support of Life Points.

Ra later received two more forms as separate monsters — Sphere and Immortal Phoenix Modes, which simulate Ra's transformations in the manga/anime. One last monster, Holactie, the Creator of Light, present only in the OCG, can only be Special Summoned by Tributing all three Egyptian Gods. Tributes cannot be replaced, but in return, Holactie's Special Summon cannot be negated and its Special Summon is an instant win condition. All six monsters are the only DIVINE Attribute monsters in the game. The first five are the only Divine Beast-type monsters, while Holactie is a separate Creator God type that is currently unsupported.

Although Egyptian god cards have support cards, most are impractical for today's meta. Ra's Disciple and Reactor Slime can both grant the necessary Tributes but do not grant an additional Normal Summon. Egyptian God Slime does a better job of being treated as three Tributes but must be Fusion Summoned or Special Summoned by Tributing a Level 10 Water monster with zero ATK. Currently, only three monsters fit that category on their own: two of them start as Continuous Traps. The last one, Guardian Slime, can be Special Summoned if its owner takes HP damage and generally supports Ra more than the other two.

Most Spells/Traps that support Egyptian Gods are either win-more cards that already require their controller to have an Egyptian God on the board or in the Graveyard, or a desperate option that requires the opponent to do something. Some of these cards also require a Reborn Monster to be sent to the Graveyard to be used, which is rarely worth the cost. Soul Crossing is the only Egyptian Gods support card that is generally useful, assuming the opponent has three monsters on their board to offer for free, but has the unique handicap of only allowing one non-Divine Beast effect for the rest of the turn and the next.

Consistency is mandatory for the three tribute monsters

Especially those who use a normal summon.

Unfortunately, Egyptian Gods are impractical at best, considering the effort it takes to Normal Summon them. Aside from Obelisk, none of the Egyptian Gods have any protection. It's absurdly easy for your opponent to remove one from the table the same turn you Normal Summon it. The last thing an Egyptian Gods Deck needs is another win-more card, so the best support is something that could hypothetically bring an Egyptian deity onto the chessboard quickly and efficiently.

A new Slime monster with zero ATK that can be easily Summoned and raised to Level 10 for the Egyptian God Slime is the best way to do so, especially if the Slime monster in question has an effect that allows its owner to search for and/or mill an Egyptian God or one of its Support cards. Three copies of such a card would make Egyptian Gods much easier to Summon.

Another hypothetical support card You should be able to search for Mound of the Bound Creator or even Divine Evolution. The first grants all Level 10 or higher monsters protection from targeting and destruction, like all Egyptian Gods. The second is extremely cumbersome to use without being able to search for it, but grants an Egyptian or Evil God numerous benefits: 1000 additional ATK/DEF, immunity to negation, and the ability to force an opponent to send one of their monsters to the Graveyard when they attack. Bonus points if said support card has an effect to destroy all Field Spells upon its resolution, which can trigger Mound of the Bound Creator's search effect for any DIVINE Attribute monsters.

A third hypothetical support card should be able to exchange excess Egyptian Gods on hand to Special Summon Slime monsters from the Deck. This decreases the chance of a dead draw if an Egyptian God cannot be Normal Summoned, and also provides an incentive to play more than a single copy of each Egyptian God in a Deck.

Extra Deck Summons should be limited to only Egyptian God Slime for such a card, as Guardian Slime can already search for a Ra support card on its own. The ability to trade excess Slime monsters for a draw could also be useful, but should require the controller to have an Egyptian God on the board.

Potential support for Slifer and Obelisk

The Winged Dragon of Ra has broad support

The three hypothetical support cards above should allow any Holactie or Ra deck to function properly, but Slifer and Obelisk need more support. Their Level 10 Slime monsters that search for a related Spell/Trap card might be a good start, but they'll need different Special Summon conditions to differentiate them from Guardian Slime. Slifer's Slime should require enough cards in the owner's hand to incentivize having enough ATK/DEF for Slifer when it's on the board. Obelisk's Slime should require a monster to be Tributed, which can be done in multiple ways outside of Obelisk's “two Tributes to Raigeki on the opponent's board” effect.

These Slime monsters should also bring other effects to the board, other than Guardian Slime's ability to make its DEF equal to that of an opposing attacker once per turn. Slifer's Slime monster should be treated as Revival Jam on the board and allow a search whenever it attacks or is attacked. This idea fits well with Jam Defender and brings the duel between Yugi and Strings into the Yu-Gi-Oh! Game manga/anime in mind.

By the way, Slifer should also have his Continuous Spell that grants its controller an infinite hand size and forces him to draw whenever a monster is Special Summoned from a Graveyard. The term “forced” is used for the latter, as certain monsters like Treeborn Frog can turn this against the Slifer player and force him to Deck out, thus mimicking Strings's final defeat in Yu-Gi-Oh! Game manga/anime.

As for Obelisk's Slime monster, it should start with ATK above zero to reflect how Obelisk is the only Egyptian god with a printed ATK. However, This Slime monster should also be able to give up all of its ATK in exchange for two Slime Counters, thus paving the way for Egyptian God Slime and Obelisk to have an effect. Additionally, this Slime's search effect should be activated if it is Tributed, which Egyptian God Slime's Special Summon conditions do anyway. Since Obelisk's current support cards are actually pretty good, it doesn't need anything else besides this Slime and the other three hypothetical support cards to be played effectively.