Yu-Gi-Oh Legendary Duelists: Rage of Ra – What You Should Know
Crunch$G
The mega ultra chicken has received some real support. Hello Pojo Readers, Crunch$G here to tell you about the latest Legendary Duelists set release: Rage of Ra. This does change up Legendary Duelists a bit as instead of 5 characters getting archetype support, instead we see 3 different characters. This does allow for more support cards though, so that’s a plus and looking at the chosen archetypes, they could use more than the previously standard 5 cards. As the name of the set suggests, we got support for Marik and The Winged Dragon of Ra alongside Espa Roba’s Jinzo and Aporia’s Meklord cards. We also got a return of a special rarity, so let’s take a look at this set and see what we got.
Ghost Rare God Card
Yes, we do have the return of Ghost Rares for the first time since Dimension of Chaos was released 5 years ago. Like previous sets with Ghost Rares, we only got 1 Ghost Rare and in here it’s The Winged Dragon of Ra. This version of Ra is in the original artwork, as there is also an alternate art of Ra in this set, but I think it’s fitting that the artwork we’ve been used to for the game’s entire existence is the one getting the Ghost Rare foiling. It’s nice to see this rarity return, especially considering it was a standard thing in the OCG’s Legendary Duelists and we didn’t get them in the previous six versions here in the TCG, but it’s nice to finally get a Ghost Rare once again over here, even if it’s going to remain to 1 a case like how it once was.
Egyptian Gods of Slime
So first we’ll go over the new support for Ra, including the release of Egyptian God Slime finally coming to the TCG. Egyptian God Slime is a Fusion of any Level 10 WATER Monster or any Aqua Monster, or you can simply Special Summon it from the Extra Deck by tributing a Level 10 Aqua with 0 ATK. In return, you get a monster that can be treated as 3 Tributes for the Tribute Summon of a monster, can’t be destroyed in battle, and prevents the opponent from targeting monsters that aren’t Egyptian God Slime for attacks or card effects. Reactor Slime is a Level 4 that lets you summon 2 Slime Tokens during your Main Phase at the restriction of you not being able to Normal or Special Summon monsters that aren’t Divine-Beasts for the rest of the turn, plus you can tribute Reactor Slime during the Battle Phase to set a Metal Reflect Slime from the hand, Deck, or graveyard that can be activated that turn. Guardian Slime is a new Level 10 Aqua that can be Special Summoned from the hand if you take damage, can gain the DEF of a monster it battles during the Damage Calculation, and can search for any Spell or Trap that lists The Winged Dragon of Ra in its text from Deck to hand when Guardian Slime is sent to the graveyard from the hand or field. Ancient Chant is a Normal Spell that lets you add a copy of The Winged Dragon of Ra from your Deck to your hand while also letting you gain a Tribute Summon that turn in addition to your Normal Summon or set, and you can banish this card from the graveyard to have a The Winged Dragon of Ra you Tribute Summon that turn gain ATK and DEF equal to the combined original ATK and DEF of the monsters tributed for the summon. Blaze Cannon is a Quick-Play Spell that’s always treated as a Blaze Accelerator card (because the OCG named this Blaze Cannon as well and that’s the archetype’s name in the OCG) and can let your The Winged Dragon of Ra gain the effect to be unaffected by the opponent’s card effects, tribute monsters that didn’t attack that turn when Ra attacks to gain the ATK of the tributed monsters until the end of the turn, and send all monsters the opponent controls to the graveyard after Ra attacks and that’s all during the duration of the turn you activate Blaze Cannon and your opponent cannot respond to this card with cards or effects. Millennium Revelation is a Continuous Spell that lets you send a Divine-Beast from your hand to the graveyard to add a Monster Reborn from the graveyard to the hand, lets you send this face-up card to the grave to let you be allowed to revive The Winged Dragon of Ra by using Monster Reborn that turn, but The Winged Dragon of Ra will go to the graveyard the turn it is revived with Monster Reborn using this effect. Finally, Sun God Unification is a Continuous Trap that can be activated the turn it was set if you control a monster whose original name is The Winged Dragon of Ra, can let you pay LP until you have 100 left to have Ra gain the ATK and DEF equal to the LP paid, and once per turn can let you tribute a The Winged Dragon of Ra to gain LP equal to the ATK the Ra had on field, and to note you can’t use the previously stated two effects in the same chain.
Synchro Extermination
Next up we get some modernized support for Meklords to make them less linear than being an anti-Synchro strategy and giving you some OTK potential at least. Meklord Astro Dragon Triskelion is a Level 10 that cannot be Normal Summoned or Set and must first be Special Summoned from the hand by banishing 3 Meklord monsters with different names from your graveyard, once per turn when it attacks can take any monster from the opponent’s Extra Deck and equip it to this monster to gain the ATK of the equipped monster or monsters, and if it is equipped with a Synchro Monster you can make up to 3 attacks on monsters during each Battle Phase. Meklord Emperor Wisel – Synchro Absorption is a Level 1 that cannot be Normal Summoned or Set and must be Special Summoned via its own effect, during the opponent’s turn as a Quick Effect lets you send a face-up Meklord monster you control to the graveyard to Special Summon this card from the hand, if Special Summoned can let you target an opponent’s monster and prevent it from attacking for the rest of that turn, and can be tributed to negate a card or effect that would destroy a card on the field and destroy the negated card. Meklord Nucleus Infinity Core is a Level 1 that isn’t destroyed the first time it would be destroyed in battle, can search a Meklord Spell or Trap out of the Deck upon Normal or Special Summoned, and if destroyed by a card effect lets you summon a Meklord Emperor from the Deck, ignoring the summoning conditions, that has a different Attribute from the monsters you control at the cost of you only being able to attack with 1 monster for the rest of that turn. Meklord Army Deployer Obbligato is a Level 4 that can destroy itself to summon 2 Meklord Army monsters from the Deck in Defense Position at the cost of preventing you from Special Summoning non-Machine monsters for the rest of the turn, and if sent to the graveyard you can activate the effect at the end of the turn to burn the opponent for 100 LP times the number of Meklord monsters you control. Meklord Assembly is a Continuous Spell that lets you add a Meklord monster from Deck to hand on activation, can let you discard a card to target and destroy a monster you control, and if a face-up Meklord monster is destroyed by battle or card effect you can target another face-up Spell or Trap on the field and destroy it. Meklord Deflection is a Quick-Play Spell that targets a Meklord monster you control and prevents it from doing battle damage for the rest of the turn in exchange for a permanent ATK boost to become the combined ATK of all Meklords you currently control, and it can be banished from the graveyard to prevent a Meklord monster you control from being destroyed by battle or card effect. Finally, Meklord Astro the Eradicator is a Normal Trap that lets you target 3 Meklord monsters in the graveyard to either add them to your hand or Special Summon them, ignoring the summoning conditions, at the cost of you not being able to Special Summon non-Machine monsters until the end of the next turn, and if you control a Meklord Astro monster then you can banish this card from the graveyard to destroy a Synchro Monster the opponent controls and deal damage to them equal to the monster’s original ATK.
Jinzo’s Mind Scan
Finally, we get to the new Jinzo cards to be more anti-Trap than it already was. Jinzo the Machine Menace is a Level 7 that can be Special Summoned from the hand as a Level 6 for a turn if there is a Trap Card face-up on the field or in the graveyard and it can tribute itself during the Main Phase as a Quick Effect to Special Summon a Jinzo from your hand or graveyard and then destroy all Traps the opponent controls (if they’re set you reveal them to check if they’re Trap Cards). Psychic Bounder is a Level 4 that on Normal or Special Summon lets you add a Jinzo or a Spell/Trap that lists Jinzo in its text from your Deck to your hand and when this monster is attacked by an opponent’s monster you can destroy both the attacking monster and this card before Damage Calculation. Psychic Megacyber is a Level 6 that can be Special Summoned from the hand if the opponent controls more Spell/Trap Cards than you do and when it declares an attack on an opponent’s monster while you control a Jinzo you can tribute this card to place the opponent’s monster in their Spell/Trap Zone face-up as a Continuous Trap. Cyber Energy Shock is a Quick-Play Spell that if you control a Jinzo, you can target a card on the field and destroy it and if it was a Trap you can either negate the effects of 1 face-up card on the field or have all Jinzos you control gain 800 ATK. Law of the Cosmos is a Normal Spell that can let the opponent either set a Trap directly from the Deck and let you Special Summon a Jinzo from the Deck or the opponent can not opt to set a Trap from their Deck and you instead add Jinzo or a monster that lists Jinzo in its text from Deck to the hand. Cosmos Channeling is a Continuous Spell that can let you send a monster you control that’s owned by the opponent to the graveyard to Special Summon a Machine from your hand or graveyard and when the opponent draws for their normal Draw Phase while you control Jinzo you can declare a card type (Monster, Spell, Trap) and reveal the drawn card and if you called it right you can send this card to the graveyard to draw a card. Finally, Everlasting Aloy is a Quick-Play Spell that if you control a Jinzo you can activate 1 of 2 effects to either make all Machines you control not be destroyed by the opponent’s card effects that turn or you can negate a card or effect when it targets a Machine you control.
Noteworthy Reprints
Now to take note of the reprints in this set, but first to discuss a new errata. Makyura the Destructor has received an errata to now it must be sent from the field to the graveyard to activate a Trap from hand, it lets you only activate 1 Trap from hand that turn, and it’s a hard once per turn effect. Now for your Marik and Ra related reprints outside your Ghost Rare Ra and errataed Makyura you got Juragedo, Holding Arms, Holding Legs, Monster Reborn, Left Arm Offering, The True Name, Metal Reflect Slime, Ra’s Disciple, A Wild Monster Appears!, Mound of the Bound Creator, Token Sundae, and Token Stampede. Plus, as I mentioned, the Ultra Rare form of Ra comes in a new alternate artwork debuting in the TCG. Your Aporia and Meklord related reprints include Meklord Emperor Wisel, Meklord Emperor Granel, Meklord Emperor Skiel, Meklord Astro Mekanikle, Meklord Astro Dragon Asterisk, Meklord Army of Wisel, Meklord Fortress, Chaos Infinity, Meklord Army of Skiel, Meklord Army of Granel, Boon of the Meklord Emperor, and Reboot. Finally your Espa Roba and Jinzo related reprints include Jinzo, Jinzo – Return, Jinzo – Lord, Jinzo – Jector, Brain Control, Amplifier, Mind Control, and Psychic Shockwave. Also we got a random reprint for White Aura Bihamut in here likely to make it playable outside the US and anywhere else that received the Manga it was released in.
In Conclusion
Overall the archetypes aren’t as strong as we previously seen in Legendary Duelists, but it supports some fun strategies and offers good Collector’s Value mainly with the Ghost Rare version of Ra and the support around it, though they might like the Meklord and Jinzo cards as well. The reprints aren’t too special, though it’s nice to get some of those cards from the Millennium Pack reprinted in here, Psychic Shockwave needed a reprint, the Meklords are good to have for Meklord players, White Aura Bihamut was needed for European players mainly, and it’s always good to have cards like Monster Reborn and Mind Control. It’s a fun set, though you could expect reprints eventually with them doing Seasons of the Legendary Duelists in those little boxes with 2 packs and promos, so that’ll be helpful when it comes along and makes some of these cards Secret Rare. Overall, I’d say it’s fun and I like it boosting Jinzo Decks and finally making Meklords playable and turning The Winged Dragon of Ra into its own Deck proper.
