More Pharaoh, More Hand Control
Out of the classic booster packs from the original yugioh era the name of this one probably turns me off the most. I know this sounds weird but due to all of the classic sets featuring Yugi in their booster art and Pharaoh’s Servant already in existence this set could cause some confusion to the less hardcore person, heck I bet it could cause minor confusion to newbies even today. Of course, I know it is part of the theme of cards in this set but I guess it threatening the uniqueness of Pharaoh’s Servant is kind of an annoyance to me. However, the contents of the set are a completely different matter. Pharaonic Guardian is home to certain cards I really like (although it also has cards that I really hate) and gives us its own share of unfair overpowered cards, some of which would become staples. Despite all the strong hand attacking cards already available Pharaonic Guardian had a few more of its own to bring to the format like they were trying to guarantee that hand control focused decks would remain the strongest.
This is also the first set to feature more than just a few cards belonging and working together linked by a group name, what we would end up refer as a “yugioh archetype”. This extends to monsters working together and spell and traps that will work only exclusively with them. Gravekeeper’s would be this archetype although in a way this set also teased what the next one could possibly be with Don Zaloog, Trap Dustshoot and the Dark Scorpion Burglars, three cards that had some connection with their artwork but by name design couldn’t be connected like how the Gravekeeper’s were. This is a similar case with the cards that share Marauding Captain in their artwork but aren’t linked outside of that art. Moreover this where the name of the set “Pharaonic Guardian” comes from; it refers to the Gravekeeper’s and their duty to act as guardians to the pharaoh’s tomb and perhaps other remains. Not to mention the theme of mummies, skeletons and other related cards to the undead, or zombie type as how they changed it in our English game. That’s it for the trivia; now let’s look at the best cards in here:
PGD Key Cards:
In some ways this is a trademark Kaiba card from the animated series, although not as much as Crush card Virus. Still, this card is as simple as it is extremely deadly. The version shown here is much weakened when they gave it an errata but its original effect can be compared to a much more extreme and flexible Magic Cylinder. You simply target any monster on the field including yours, destroy it, and inflict its attack as direct damage to both players. Just like other swift traps like Time Seal, much of this card’s power comes from its chain-ability, it doesn’t have to be the battle phase like Magic Cylinder, or even on a summon like Bottomless Trap Hole. Since the damage depends on what monster you destroy, there’s no limit to its damage potential, combine this with the ease of pulling off its effect and you have one of the most extreme one card finishers this game has seen.
Even if you had no chance of winning this card could easily enable draws like it was nothing. On the best case scenario you would even win games you should had no business winning like Last Turn, all depending on how much LP you and your opponent have left. Clearly, a perfect fit for any aggressive deck trying to finish the game quick, this card would help such strategies immensely.
Introducing another extreme draw card, Mirage of Nightmare needs a little be of aid to get the most out of but if you perform this simple combo this draw card can put even Pot of Greed to shame. After you play this spell card it won’t do anything until your opponent’s standby phase. On that moment you must draw cards until you have 4 in hand. So, the lower your hand size the more free cards you can draw. The condition for such a strong drawing effect is that on your standby phase you must randomly discard the same amount of cards you drew by this effect. As a very young child I remember reading this card and thinking of how useless it was. “What is the point of this effect?” I thought. But in reality it’s a simple combo. All you have to do is make sure you remove this card yourself from the field with Mystical Space Typhoon or some other method and you get to dodge the drawback completely. Even in the animated series and manga Judai Yuki made this combo countless times; it was an easy way for the writer to replenish his hand in duels.
A quick look at this and you can easily identify that it is a Forceful Sentry with more limitations. Your opponent needs to have 4 or more cards in hand for this card to resolve and you can only choose a monster card to put back in the deck. By being a trap card you have the handy option to use this on your opponent’s turn too but that also creates some drawbacks versus The Forceful Sentry being a spell card. However, a worse card doesn’t necessarily mean bad. The hand attacking trio from Spell Ruler was so strong that even this lesser version of The Forceful Sentry is a powerful hand attacking card you can play in addition to everything else available.
With so many extreme spell and trap cards already in the format, in addition to cards like Ring of Destruction from this same set, changing a monster to face down defence position might seem underwhelming. Speaking of Ring of Destruction ironically Book of Moon is a card that can counter it with its effect and so we get to the root of why Book of Moon is a great card. The combination of it being a quick play spell that can force a monster into face down defence position can be handy in so many different scenarios during a duel. From turning off an annoying effect on an effect monster like Jinzo, dealing with a high attack monster that has low defence, countering cards like Snatch Steal, helping you reuse a flip effect again, the list is endless. Rest assured this card will rarely be of no use to you in a game.
This is only a small excerpt from my book "The Original Yugioh Era".
If you're interested in these classic sets in terms of cards and how they staggeringly shaped every format from 2002-2003 this is the ultimate yugioh book for you. From decks, history, strategy notes and analysis, this is the most comprehensive method to endulge yourself and learn everything about old school yugioh.