Subject: God Cards and correction on the imaginary combos-Pegasus
Hello again.
Turns out that Graceful Dice and Skull Dice are real cards, but Skull Dice is a trap card instead of a monster (and apparently, both cards' effects only last one turn). Was this small correction really worth wasting an entire tip for? Actually, I don't think so so I'm going to fill it with a few more pointless, untested combos that spewed out of my head.
This tip's topic, rather than cards that don't exist, are God cards (which technically exist...). First, let me explain what god cards are. God cards are special Japanese cards that are all Dark and all 10 stars released with the Japanese Duel Monsters 4: Great Duelists of Japan video game for the Gameboy. Reportedly, the game has three versions and each one carries a different God. They can't be played in official tournaments of any sort. And they are all INCREDIBLY powerful. Here's a quick mini-review of the three:
Obelisk the Tormentor/God of Obelisk: Made very popular by the show, but perhaps I should explain its effect a bit more. Obelisk is Dark/10/4000/4000.
Effect: This monster requires three tributes to summon (treated as a Special Summon). Tribute two monsters: When this monster attacks during this turn, it attacks all of your opponent's monsters at the same time and does 4000 points of direct damage to your opponent's life points. This card cannot be targeted by Magic, Trap, or Monster Effects. Look at what this means. It's almost IMPOSSIBLE to have a monster with ATK or DEF higher than 4000, so the attacking all monsters essentially allows it to destroy all of your opponent's monsters. Then there's the 4000 points of direct damage. And since activating Obelisk's effect doesn't count as attacking, Obelisk can also attack normally (or can he? email me on this point). So activating its ability = almost guaranteed win as long as your opponent hasn't played any pesky trap/magics facedown ready to spring on poor Obelisk.
Picture: http://www.kingyugi.com/cards/card-god-06.jpg
Sylpher the Sky Dragon/Saint Dragon-God of Osiris: Marik's trump card. Sylpher/Osiris is Dark/10/X000/X000.
Effect: This monster requires three tributes to summon (treated as a special summon). This monster's Attack and Defense are each equal to 1000 times the number of cards in your hand. While this card is on the field, if your opponent Summons (or Flip Summons) a monster with a Defense of 2000 or less, destroy that monster. This card cannot be targeted by Magic, Trap, or Monster Effects. Though I'm not entirely sure, I believe that the "X" is a variable monitored every turn, e.g. if you have five cards when you play Sylpher, it'll be 5000/5000. If you play three cards, next turn (after drawing a card) it becomes 3000/3000. So it doesn't remain constant (unfortunately). Kinda like Muka Muka, only 10/3 times more powerful. And it has that awesome effect that essentially destroys all level 4 monsters your opponent plays (there are currently no American 4-star cards with more than 2000 defence, although there are in Japan) as well as many strong level 5/6 monsters (Summoned Skull, Jinzo). This guy would be killer against a standard beatdown. (Note: The effect applies to BASE DEF, so increasing a mon's DEF using a Field Card doesn't work) Unfortunately, there is a way to get around his killer effect, namely putting down a mon in defense mode, protecting it, and tributing it for Beast of Talwar or similar. And Delinquent Duo will weaken this card by 2000 points. Ouch.
Picture: http://www.kingyugi.com/cards/card-god-07.jpg
Winged Dragon of Ra/Ra the Sun of God Dragon: I believe Marik has this card in the show but doesn't use it. Ra is Dark/10/????/????. I don't have an exact translation of its effects unfortunately (namely because Konami apparently hasn't released any data on it). But I know someone who has the Japanese version of this card and can read Japanese.
Effects: This monster requires three tributes to summon (treated as a special summon). This monster's Attack and Defense are each equal to the sum of the base Attack and Defense of the three monsters that were tributed to summon this monster, respectively. Cut your life points in half in order to destroy an enemy monster on the field. Reduce your life points to one in order to destroy all enemy monsters on the field. Winged Dragon of Ra's ATK points are increased by the amount of life points you lost in this fashion. This is truly a magnificent card. If you have 8000 lp (although that's very unlikely once you've summoned Ra unless you used Cyber Jar to do it), you get to reduce it to 1, clear the field of enemy monsters, and increase Ra's ATK points by 7999! This is essentially an instant kill (there are very few mon killers that aren't targeted magic/trap). It's a very CLOSE instant kill, however: If your opponent plays Tremendous Fire facedown and sneakily activates it, the duel is tied. And if your opponent plays Ookazi or other direct lp magic attackers facedown (although WHO uses Ookazi nowadays?), they actually end up winning. And look at the method used to determine its base statistics! Although perhaps I wasn't very clear. What it means is that, when you tribute three monsters, the sum of the ATK of the three monsters becomes the ATK of Ra, and the sum of the DEF of the three monsters becomes the DEF of Ra. This has unlimited potential. If you're running a Blue-eyes deck (heaven forbid), you can sac three of those babies to make Ra 9000/7500. And then activate its special ability to power it up to a whopping 16999 ATK points! While your opponent has no monsters in play!
Picture: http://www.kingyugi.com/cards/card-god-08.jpg
The problem with God cards as a whole is the 3 tributes (and the 2 extra for Obelisk's ability). It's very difficult to get out three monsters and have them survive a turn without SORL. The exception would seem to be Cyber Jar, so I suggest any casual-play deck with Gods should seriously run 3. By the way, all three Gods are invincible against TARGETED magic/trap/effects. Untargeted magic (Raigeki, Dark Hole, etc) still affects them. They can't be ENTIRELY invincible, or else casual play against someone with a God card would just be pointless. But still, three cards that are unaffected by Man-eater Bug, Horn of Heaven, Two-Pronged Attack, Change of Heart, or Brain Control is still pretty cool... your opponent can't even use negative equip magic on them.
Combos:
I. Obelisk + Cyber Jar + SORL (this is obvious). Cyber Jar allows up to 5 monsters to be played (instrumental for playing Obelisk and activating its ability) and the SORL is to ensure that all five survive one turn. SORL can also be replaced with Messenger of Peace or similar. (Heck, Trap Hole would work... ) This is really the only useful combo with Obelisk because its effect is basically an instant win. The problem with its effect lies in the tributes, and that's what this combo fixes.
II. Osiris + Cyber Jar + Pot of Greed. Wow, first SORL then Pot of Greed. Both staple broken magic, and both used in conjunction with a God card + Cyber Jar to make bringing it out easier. Anyway, the Pot is for obvious reasons (powering up Osiris). I advise that, when playing Osiris, try to keep as many cards in your hand as possible. If you have a deck based around Osiris, don't put a lot of trap cards in. Rather, focus on monsters (for Cyber Jar to use) and magic.
III. Ra + Cyber Jar + Megamorph. Eh, it's not a broken magic this time (although that really depends on your style of play). But because you're reduced to 1 LP, your opponent will certainly have more LP than you, making Megamorph very useful. Of course, after using Ra's effect, Ra is powered up so much that the Megamorph might not even help (unless you didn't have much LP when you activated the effect and if you don't have many cards in your hand. Cyber Jar helps conserve LP by being able to play Ra earlier). So if you have only, say, 2 cards in your hand (Ra is a pitiful 2000/2000) and you only have 2000 LP, Megamorph will power you up from a mere 3999 ATK (which might not be enough to finish off your opponent) to 7998, much more likely to finish off your opponent.
The lack of combos is due to the powerful nature of the God cards, which doesn't really need amplification. But I felt that I needed something controversial to fill the gap created by my lack of research into the purported cards that don't exist.
Questions, Comments, or pointless banter you feel that's important enough to email to me: <mailto:qc@fengyuan.com>qc@fengyuan.com
-Pegasus
(P.S. thanks to Mighty Mollusk (<mailto:themightymollusk@yahoo.com>themightymollusk@yahoo.com) for the exact translations of Obelisk and Sylpher's effects)
(P.P.S. I want Ra. It is just so cool. I don't care that I can't use it in my deck, I want it just so I can show it off to my, erm, friends)
(P.P.P.S. The data on Ra's special effects might not be 100% accurate, especially the third effect. It looks too powerful for even a God card. The person I spoke to might've lied! The first effect is definitely 100% accurate though... the part about determining its stats)