The Egyptian God Cards were touted as the most powerful monsters in the Yu-Gi-Oh universe. Made by Maximillion Pegasus, the creation of the cards angered the Egyptian Gods themselves. As such, Pegasus decided they were too powerful to be mass produced and so limited them to one copy in existence. He buried the cards which were so powerful that they posed the risk of legitimate injury or death. Even counterfeit cards crippled, drove insane, or outright killed their users. Today, we will investigate how strong the cards are, if they are still viable today and how their usage has changed over the years.
Table of Contents
- The 3 Egyptian God Cards
- The God Cards In the Anime
- Why Are the Cards Different In the Trading Card Game?
- Egyptian God Cards Fusion
- Divine Beast Support Cards
- How Much Are the Egyptian God Cards Worth?
- Can You Play With the God Cards Today?
The 3 Egyptian God Cards
The first question is, what are the 3 Egyptian God Cards? They are three divine beings of immense power in the Yu-Gi-Oh lore. They are as follow:
- Slifer the Sky Dragon – A large red-skinned dragon characterised by its bat-like wings and two jaws – the bottom of the smaller top set being part of the upper jaw of the larger set.
- Obelisk the Tormentor – Huge and imposing, the muscled soldier of god is recognisable for its brute strength; jagged spikes, and red, glowing eyes.
- The Winged Dragon of Ra – This is the only card named after an actual Egyptian God, Ra, the God of the Sun. Considered to be the most powerful card in the manga, the Winged Dragon of Ra is characterised by its bird-like body covered in rich golden metal.
The God Cards In the Anime
We are introduced to the Egyptian God Cards as weapons of destruction. They could not be affected by magic or trap cards, nor could they be targeted by monster effects. Basically, if you got them on the field in the anime, you had almost certainly won. Below we will describe their effects and we will highlight in bold the additional effects shown in the anime.
First, we will discuss the shared effects of the God cards which made them so incredibly powerful:
- If the God Card is special summoned in face-up defence position when an opponent’s monster declares an attack, you can change the target to the God card.
- Unaffected by all non-Divine cards, as described above.
- The God Cards cannot be tribute summoned by either player, control of the card cannot switch and your opponent cannot attach equip cards to your God card.
Second, Each God Card specifically had multiple different effects which helped them in any given situation:
- Slifer – (1) The Attack and Defence of Slifer is equal to the number of cards in the player’s hand x1000. (2) When your opponents summon a monster its attack is reduced by 2000, if the attack becomes 0 it is destroyed.
- Obelisk – During your Battle Phase you may tribute two monsters to destroy all monsters your opponents control and inflict battle damage equal to Obelisks original attack (4000). This is very strong considering characters in the anime often only had 4000 life points.
- Ra – If this card is special summoned from the graveyard, it cannot be prevented from attacking and can attack each of your opponent’s cards once each. Pay all but 1 LP to increases the ATK and DEF of the card equal to the number of life points you paid (This is the card’s summoning condition in the TCG rather than an additional effect and is not optional). Pay 1000 life points, Ra does not take any battle damage and any monster involved in battle with it is destroyed at the end of the battle step. Instead in the trading card game you can pay 1000 points to destroy one singular monster your opponent controls.
Why Are the Cards Different In the Trading Card Game?
The first way in which the Egyptian God Cards differ in the trading card game is that they were targetable, in fact, they were super easy to remove; the exception being the Winged Dragon of Ra as this did have some innate protection. As you can see in the section above, over half of the abilities were removed from the trading card game.
In the Trading Card Game, there was simply not enough space on a card to list all the effects they had on the anime. Konami decided, therefore, to give them some of the effects from the anime, not all.
Egyptian God Cards Fusion
There is only one example of a fusion card relating to the Egyptian God Cards, but Konami certainly has done it justice. The card is Egyptian God Slime and appears as a slime covered Obelisk the Tormentor.
Importantly, the card can both not be destroyed by battle and prevents your opponent from targeting with effects any card except itself. The card acts as three tribute summons, so you can instantly tribute it to lay a God card.
Alternatively, while not strictly a fusion Holactie the Creator of Light is the manga/anime merger of the 3 God Cards. When this card is summoned, you win the duel. Holactie is one of the few alternative win conditions in the game, but exceedingly hard to pull off.
Divine Beast Support Cards
As Konami realised that the Egyptian God Cards were weakening with time, they added additional support. This is not uncommon and happens with many archetypes such as dark magician and toon cards. The three most helpful support cards are as follow, however there are many more:
1) Winged Dragon of Ra Sphere mode: You can special summon this card using three monsters from either side of the field – this is most useful by using your opponents cards as tribute.
2) Mound of the Bound Creator: This gives the cards some of their anime abilities back, namely, Level 10 monsters or above cannot be targeted by card effects.
3) Ancient Chant: This is the best card used to search the deck for God Cards, unfortunately, it is limited to the Winged Dragon of Ra.
How Much Are the Egyptian God Cards Worth?
There have been many different editions of the God cards released over the years, the cheapest are typically the battle pack mosaic editions and the most expensive are the Shonen Jump Scholastic Promos. Of course, there are even rarer promotions that can range between $200 and $300, but the table below shows you a rough range of prices that the cards can be.
| Edition | Obelisk the Tormentor | Slifer the Sky Dragon | Winged Dragon of Ra |
| Battle Pack Mosaic | $1.50 | $1.50 | $6.00 |
| Shonen Jump Scholastic Promos | $30.00 | $65.00 | $50.00 |
Can You Play With the God Cards Today?
Well, yes, of course you can. Even if you just use Obelisk as a 4000 point beat stick it is still a viable way to win. The insane popularity of Yu-Gi-Oh in the early 2000s is a double edged sword. It led to hundreds of cards being released each year, but there was also need to develop and improve mechanics. The addition of link cards and XYZ monsters changed the Yu-Gi-Oh landscape forever and unfortunately, the Egyptian God cards were just not built for it.
