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Pojo's Yu-Gi-Oh Card of the Day

Embodiment of Apophis
Ultra Rare

You can only activate this card during a Main Phase. After activation, this card is treated as a Normal Monster Card (Reptile-Type/EARTH/Level 4/ATK 1600 / DEF 1800), and is Special Summoned to your Monster Card Zone. (This card is also still treated as a Trap Card).

Type - Trap
Card Number - SP1-EN003

Card Ratings
Traditional: 1.1
Advanced: 2.9

Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale 1 being the worst.
3 ... average. 5 is the highest rating.


Date Reviewed - 11.22.05

 

ExMinion OfDarkness
Embodiment of Apophis

This guy isn't that horrible but he's seriously outweighed by something in Shadow of Infinity. We'll get to that in a few months though...

Embodiment has a lot of vulnerabilities but can be worth it in the right hands. You can't spring him in the battle phase like you can Call, so you'd have to activate EoA right before the opponent went into their battle phase (when they end Main Phase 1) if trying to block with him. This gives your opponent more options as to who they want to attack with what -- not good. The worst part about this card has to be it's vulnerable to both Spell/Trap AND monster removal. Even if it's a monster the opponent can still Heavy Storm or Dust Tornado it away.

The good thing is that you not only have a decent monster as a Special Summon but also Tribute bait; just like with Cyber Dragon, you can pop this out and immediately sacrifice it for Mobius the Frost Monarch or something. You're trading extra vulnerability for versatility with this guy; good players who need the extra monster will find a way to make it work.

1.25/5 Traditional
2.75/5 Advanced
 

Dark Paladin
Embodiment of Apophis is our card for today, another card we saw used on the anime by Odion in his duel vs. Joey. It was Awakening of Evil Part 1, if I'm not mistaken.

Let's look at some cons:

a Trap card
vulnerable to Royal Decree, Jinzo, Heavy Storm, and Mystical Space Typoon 1600 attack

Let's look at some pros:

Trap monster (sweetness)
can be sacrificed to summon tribute monsters can be sacrificed as effect for Cannon Soldier or the like umm...I guess that's about it 1800 defense

I really like the idea of a trap monster, but, sadly, the playabilty isn't that great. If it were 1800 or 1900 attack, or even had 1900 or more defense, that would increase the playability of this card.

Ratings:

Trap deck: 4.0/5
Tribute heavy deck: 4.5/5

Art: 3.5/5

You stay classy, Planet Earth :)
 
WiCkEd Embodiment of Apophis

Well, taking a note from Lord Tranorix's book. This card is fairly rentsy. It's a Trap Card but the sexy thing about it is it turns into a monster! A 1600/1800 monster to be exact. What good would this bring you? Well, field presence for one. Providing a monster with the simple whim of flipping over a card. Downside? It's vulnerable not 1, but 2 ways.

1.) Any monster removal.
2.) Any Magic/Trap removal.

While this card may seem sexy, I deem it highly un-sexy due to the vulnerability issues.

Traditional: 1/5 (CCCC, who need this?)
Advanced: 2.5/5 (Eh...Aggro runs right over everything)

Casual: 2.95/5 (Anything goes, but realistically you aren't just splashing this into anything)
 

Satisfaction
embodiment of apophis

Before I get to Embodiment of Apophis, I would like to congratulate all of the Shonen Jump Top 8 players for creative decks. Talking about events Embodiment of Apophis was handed out from a Prerelease as a promo.

Embodiment of Apophis changed the way we looked at traps. The ability to take on characteristics of a monster is extremely interesting.
Being able to be a tribute for a tribute monster makes the bad hand playable. Having a hand full of tribute monsters have never been a good thing but Embodiment of Apophis gives you a way to survive.

Being a trap that has characteristics of a monster is great, but still being the trap will decrease it's playability. Being able to be destroyed by Dust Tornado, Heavy Storm, Mystical Space Typhoon and stopped by Royal Decree is it's major flaw. The stats are not that great in this format. The card has some potential but is it really worth it?

Decks really only run about 1-3 tribute monsters anyways, so this makes the card situational. Soul Control needs room for better defensive traps and already has the great monsters it needs. If you want to try this out it will need to take patience and creativity to make it work at the right time. But if you use this as a beat down card, it won't survive.

Traditional: 1.0/5.0
Advanced: 2.0/5.0
Soul Control: 2.8/5.0

Otaku

Embodiment of Apophis is one of the infamous “Trap Monsters”, and was used in the animé by Odion as he pretended to be Marik.  It is a Continuous Trap, making it vulnerable to S/T removal, even after it also becomes a Monster.  Yeah, that’s right: Monster Removal and Spell/Trap removal can kill this snake.  It even takes up both a Spell/Trap Zone and a Monster Zone.  It can only be activated during a Main Phase, which really, really hurts it: no “surprise defender” during the opponent’s battle phase.  There are many more headaches associated with this cards dual nature; I recommend you head over to the official Upper Deck FAQ and read up on it if you plan to use it.  I’ll list the most important here though: once Jinzo or Royal Decree become active, this reverts to a face-up Trap card in your Spell/Trap Zone, sitting their uselessly until it’s removed from play, even after Jinzo/Royal Decree leave play.

 

The Monster you get out of this has “okay” stats: Level 4, Earth/Reptile with 1600 ATK and 1800 DEF.  There is just enough ATK to do as a minimal beatstick and a “solid” defender (while the top beatsticks can kill it, anything but will have trouble).  Been pretty sweet as a Level 3… and the Attribute/Type pairing has no real synergy.  Still, you can fetch a few combos out of it.

 

So… is it any good?

 

Yes, for certain decks.  Obviously, if you want to make an all Trap deck, this would be handy.  I advise against such a procedure since it’s pretty easy to shut an all Trap deck down.  As a Trap, it can be forced to the top of your deck with A Cat of Ill Omen and it can be recycled with Mask of Darkness.

 

More realistic uses are Dinosaur decks and decks that need a lot of Tribute fodder.  Why Dinosaur decks?  Ultra Evolution Pill turns this into a Special Summoned Dinosaur from your hand.  Unfortunately, it has to be a real nice big one, since you’ll be burning a Set Trap (that can function as a Monster) and a Spell from either the hand or Field.  The good news is that after you get out one of the few, big, playable Dinosaurs… you still have your normal Summon.  Plus, Dinosaurs are one of those Types that have cards, but many aren’t so great.  So Embodiment of Apophis isn’t too shabby bye comparison.  Otherwise, just about any deck that needs Monsters for Tributes will like this.  So cards like Gilford the Lightning (who has the effect of Raigeki if you Tribute Summon it with three Monsters), decks using Summoner of Illusions (again, make sure it’s for something real strong since that’s a lot of cards worth of effort, and you need one more card to keep the Monster for more than a turn), decks using Cannon Soldier, etc.

 

All in all, it’s an interesting card, but its usefulness is pretty low.

 

Ratings

 

Traditional: 1.5/5-It makes some very poor rogue decks a bit less pathetic, but this thing destroyed by Raigeki or Harpy’s Feather Duster.  No thank you.

 

Advanced: 3/5-This is not a straight forward score.  There are a few decks that get a nice boost from this card.  Also, the average deck can make decent use of it as well.  So once again, we have a card that is getting a good boost from its “specific deck use” component.  Considering that only boosts it to a three, you better be real low on cards, or have some combo I idiotically missed (it happens…) to be using this even in your side deck, let alone your main.

 

Limited: N/A-This is only available as a promo.  You know, it seems like any card that would be really nice here is a promo. ;)

 


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