Sacred Phoenix of
Nephthys
Otherwise
affectionately referred to as the "Flaming
Turkey", this is a
card that hails
from the 'olden days' of Flaming Eternity.
The Modern duelist
would likely ask 1 question when offered this
card:
"Why would I want
to tribute 2 monsters for a 2400 ATK Beatstick,
when
I can tribute 1
monster for a 2400 ATK Monarch AND score a +1?"
Sound familiar?
Whereas it's hard
to argue with the above statement, it's not all
as
cut & dry as that.
Why you should run
Sacred Phoenix:
If this card is
destroyed by a card effect, Special Summon this
card
during your next
Standby Phase. If you Special Summon this card
in this
way, destroy all
Spell and Trap Cards on the field.
One of the reasons
that Vampire Lord was so powerful back in the
day
was because of
it's effect. It laughed at your opponent's
Torrential
Tribute, Ring of
Destruction, Raigeki, Dark Hole, and always came
back
from the graveyard
for more.
Well, not only
does Phoenix laugh at your opponent's Spell and
Trap
Removal, but it
also shrugs off the effects of your opponent's
Monsters! Cards
like Old Vindictive Magician, Night Assailant,
Zaborg
the Thunder
Monarch, Exiled Force, and even the newly
popular Snipe
Hunter all become
temporary solutions.
What's even
better, is that unlike Vampire Lord, Phoenix
returns when
destroyed by ANY
card effect, even your own. If you've ever
enjoyed
summoning
Wildheart and activating your own Torrential
Tribute to clear
the field, you
know what I'm talking about.
Phoenix
will also return if destroyed by the effects of
your Premature
Burial or Call of
the Haunted, making both playable again in a
format
that is currently
shunning both.
Since the current
Format seems to be moving towards pure 1-for-1
removal, through
cards like Exiled, Zaborg, Smashing Ground, and
Sakuretsu Armor,
the Phoenix will give you quite an edge against
your
typical deck. It
only gets better now that the Gadgets are out
(you may
have heard about
them) as those decks tend to run TONS of 1-for-1
removal.
And, if that
wasn't enough, when Special Summoned by it's
effect,
Phoenix
provides you with a free 'Heavy Storm' to clear
your opponent's
backfield. Not
bad.
"But what about
the 2 Tribute thing"?
Well, Vampire
Lord's 2nd strength was it's searchability via
Pyramid
Turtle.
Fortunately though, Phoenix isn't to be outdone
by the Lord of
the Dead.
It does however,
require the use of another card: The Hand of
Nephthys.
Tribute this card
and 1 other monster to Special Summon 1 "Sacred
Phoenix of
Nephthys" from your hand or Deck.
Seems simple, no?
- Summon Hand of
Nephthys
- Tribute it and
Treeborn Frog / Sangan / face-up Dekoichi
and voila...2400
ATK of Pyrotechnic Poultry, summoned from your
hand OR
your deck. Sweet.
(If the Creator
Incarnate was as good as Hand of Nephtys, you
would see
more Creator
Decks!)
And, just to
further things along, why not run Apprentice
Magician to
search out Hand of
Nephthys, who is conveniently, a 2-star
Spellcaster.
Now, as to why you
shouldn't run Phoenix.
Unfortunately,
Phoenix can only be resurrected via it's effect
if it
was destroyed by a
card effect and sent to the Graveyard. If it
ends up
in the Removed
from Game pile, it's gone for good.
Cards like D.D.
Warrior Lady / D.D. Assailant, Bottomless Trap
Hole,
and Dimensional
Fissure / Macrocosmos all counter what makes
Phoenix so
good, and all the
above are seeing consistent play throughout
Local and
Regional
tournaments.
The other downside
is that Phoenix must be 'destroyed' by a card
effect. This
doesn't count the effects of cards like 'Soul
Exchange',
or having your
opponent use 'Brain Control' and then tributing
your
Phoenix
for a Monarch.
Not the perfect
monster by any means, but not to be arbitrarily
dismissed either.
Advanced:
4/5 vs. Gadgets
3/5 vs. typical
Monarch deck
Traditional:
1.5/5 - too slow
and is useless against BLS
