Simorgh, Bird of Sovereignty – Yu-Gi-Oh! Review

King of
Lullaby

Hello Pojo Fans,

Simorgh, Bird of Sovereignty wraps up this week and is the only Link 3 we’re looking at for the week.

Two or more monsters needed for Simorgh, but you need a Winged Beast, so you won’t be seeing this splashed everywhere. Not sure why you’d want to use it as Link Material, but in case you did, you can’t…bummer. All arrows down are good and targeting protection for Winged Beasts it points to (including itself) is a great counter to your opponent. The pop another Simorgh card to save itself is a save effect we’ve seen, and within its own archetype where several monsters function in the grave while the opponent has no spell/traps, this effect becomes better. The Special Summon effect at the End Phase from the hand or deck creates a lot of potential combos as long as your opponent has few to zero spell/traps. First turn this card gets the Wind Barrier Statue to lock your opponent out of Special Summons other than WIND, or you can go for another Simorgh monster. In other decks using Winged Beast monsters like Harpies and Blackwing this effect gets you another monster onto the field and another effect(s) if applicable off the Special Summon. If you could Simorgh and Dark Simorgh first turn you will keep getting a Level 5 or lower Winged Beast as long as you keep their spell/traps off the field, and Simorgh destroy spell/traps thus clearing the way for Winged Beasts to be summoned. You also count your own spell/trap zones, giving you something back for having no protection in your backrow, making Level 8 monsters easier to pull and summon from the deck, giving you more access to cards like Dark Simorgh. This effect happening each End Phase is the cherry on top of this impressive Winged Beast.

Simorgh wasn’t strong when the first monster was introduced, and it took a LONG time, but now it is a full-blown archetype and has some pretty impressive monsters. Blackwings, Harpies, and Winged Beast- centered strategies have a Link Monster that is all theirs and one that can control the game as you keep playing to its strengths (summon that free Winged Beast to a link point).

Advanced-4/5     Art-4/5

Until Next Time
KingofLullaby

Crunch$G

We end this week off with a Link-3 to help anything Winged-Beast related, not just DARKs like Wise Strix, as we have Simorgh, Bird of Sovereignty.

Sovereignty is a Link-3 WIND Winged-Beast with 2400 ATK and arrows only pointing downwards. Good ATK on Link-3, Type and Attribute are common together, and great arrows. The summoning requirements are any 2+ monsters, as long as you include 1 Winged-Beast. Crazy how it doesn’t need only Winged-Beasts, gives you more combo potential as long as you can get to a Winged-Beast somehow. Zephyros comes to mind here. First off, it can’t be used as Link Material, but its fine since it gives you 3 zones for Links. It gives targeting protection to itself and Winged-Beasts it points to from the opponent’s effects, which is nice to get your boss Winged-Beasts in zones this points to. Next it can prevent its own destruction by destroying another Simorgh card you control instead, which is exclusive to Simorghs, but good protection nonetheless. Finally, it lets you Special Summon a Winged-Beast from hand or Deck during your End Phase with a Level less than or equal to the number of unoccupied Spell/Trap Zones on the field. Basically it gets you a Winged-Beast from Level 1-10 based on the field, I’m assuming the Field Spell Zones don’t count. 7 zones means Mist Valley Apex Avian for negation, and it becomes infinite if you can get to Union Carrier to equip your Simorgh with Mist Valley Thunderbird before you summon the Apex Avian. You can summon any Winged-Beast just to get them out the Deck, though. Barrier Statue of the Stormwinds is a great option, and it needs 4 unused zones for no Special Summons of non-WIND monsters. Zephyros is the same for future combo potential. 8 for Simorgh of Darkness since it really doesn’t need to be Tribute Summoned in the Deck for its effects unlike their boss, or you got 7 for Dark Simorgh to prevent the opponent from Setting. 1-4 gets your base Simorghs to give Sovereignty his destruction protection. The summon from Deck is the hard once per turn, because of course it is. It’s such a great card for Winged-Beasts that I’d feel like it’s staple in any Deck using the Type for all the options it can give. It’s a great card.

Advanced Rating: 4.5/5

Art: 4.5/5 King bird has come to rule the skies.

Solember
YouTube

   This card begs to be played in a modern WIND, Winged Beast deck. This can include Harpies, which is what I use it in. The new Simorgh support can make use of it as well. Outside of the WIND attribute decks, it can still be used powerfully in any Winged Beast deck, but it does miss a fairly technical play in doing so.

   So it is a Link-3 that requires 2 or more materials that include a Winged Beast. That’s easy enough while also being restrictive enough to be fair. With 2400 ATK and a powerful effect I am not complaining.

   The Simorgh protection effect is decent. It isn’t substantial, but it doesn’t detract from the card at all.

   The summoning effect is where the real plays come from. This card might be the new mascot of modern lock-downs. My preferred play is a simple Barrier Statue of the Stormwinds into one of Simorgh’s protected zones with additional safeguards in place if possible, but there are some convoluted plays that work with Mist Valley monsters that can provide infinite negations as well. I find that the requirements for the latter can clutter opening hands easily, though, so use at your own risk.

   This card is balanced well. The HOPTs are as practical as ever.

   As for the art, I like that the back-glow of this card makes sense from a design perspective instead of being a lazy way to make the card stand out. Simorgh, itself, draws strongly from its Persian origins.

Versatility – 3
Rogue Plays – 5
Art – 5
Balance – 5
Uniqueness – 5

I score this card a 5/5. It does what it is intended to do incredibly well. Type and Attribute support cards always resonate well with me, and I would personally love to see more cards like this one.