The Winged Dragon of Ra Rises From The Ashes In The Yu-Gi-Oh Millennium Pack

Following a recent wave of nostalgia, with sets like the Battle City Packs and the Dragons of Legend sets over the last few years, the latest Yu-Gi-Oh set takes us back to the early days with the Millennium Pack. Featuring reprints of some of the most popular monsters, spells and traps of yesteryear, the set also contains a powerful new beast in the form of The Winged Dragon of Ra- Immortal Phoenix. Despite being summoned by Marik as the God Card’s most powerful form close to 15 years ago, this is the first time this card has made its way into the real game, finally making all three of its versions available for play.

Even in their heyday, the God Cards weren’t usually worth the trouble of trying to build a deck around when their summoning conditions were so hard to achieve. With Immortal Phoenix now in play however, Ra is looking to become more viable going forward, thanks to its ability to easily rotate onto the field. Its synergy with its other forms are a must if you’re looking to play with these cards, Revolving around Sphere Mode, (from the Battle City set,) making it much easier to get Ra in play with its ability to be tribute summoned using three monsters on yours, or your opponent’s side of the field. Tributing it allows you to bring out Ra’s base form from your deck or hand, which can deliver a powerful blow to your opponent since you can give up Life Points to boost its strength. Despite all of its forms being immune to all card effects that target it, there’s still a good chance that a sweeping spell could take out your beast, which is why the risk of summoning a God Card wasn’t always the best move to make.

With Phoenix Mode however, that all changes. Gaining a base 4000 points in both attack and defense, this card can be special summoned if Ra is sent to the Graveyard. Unlike its other two forms, it’s not affected by any other card effects, making it immune to being destroyed by anything other than a higher attack. Making matters worse for its opponent, the player can give up 1000 life points to destroy any Monster on the field as often as they can afford it. The fun only lasts for one turn though, since at the End Phase, it must by cycled back out with Sphere Mode to start the fun all over again. Even with this handicap, opening up the field for an easy 4000 damage can win most games. The trick however, is getting Phoenix Mode into the Graveyard, since that’s the only way it can be summoned, which shouldn’t be hard since the game offers a variety of ways to do so with the right cards.

Every ounce of fearsome power promised in the anime without having to fuse with it or give up your life force to control it! 

While Ra might be the star of this set, don’t ignore some of the other great cards in this set. Outside of fan favorites like Kunai With Chain, Flame Swordsman, Kuriboh, Toon cards and Red Eyes support, some of the most powerful cards in the game make a return with the likes of Five Headed Dragon and Harpy’s Feather Duster. Sure, they’re either banned or hard to play due to rule changes, but who’s to say you can’t just play for fun? Personally, Kaiba’s brutal trap cards like Ring of Destruction, which destroys a Monster and does damage to both players equal to its Attack Points, and Crush Card Virus, which destroys all of the Monsters in your opponent’s hand and in the top five cards in their deck that are over 1500 Attack Points, and you’ll have more ways to cripple your foe’s deck. Is there any wonder why they’re banned yet?

With these great cards come a few novelty ones too, namely Symbol of Friendship and The True Name. While both symbolize important events in the beginning and end of the show respectively, it’s safe to say you’ll never use them. The former can only be activated when you draw it as part of a normal draw while you have no Monsters and your opponent has three, and the only payoff to its contrived ruling is to add one Monster from your deck to your hand. Hardly worth the deck space, especially if you draw it as part of an effect, since you can’t do anything with it at that point. The latter card is just as unlikely, asking the player to guess the name of the card at the top of their deck. If it’s correct, add it to you hand, and either Special Summon, or add a Divine type monster to your hand, (meaning a God Card since they’re the only ones with this type). Unless you’re lacing your cards with perfumes like Mai did… Chances are this will never happen.

If you’re longing for the days where the game was more simple, you had no idea what Pendulum Summoning was, and the only “Xyz” monster you knew of was a Dragon Cannon, then you’ll do well to give the Millennium Pack a shot. With five cards per pack for a total of 48 cards in the set, you’ll have plenty of material to live out your Battle City fantasies with.