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Doomkaiser Dragon
Card# CSOC-EN043
Doomkaiser Dragon's effect isn't just for Zombie World duelists: remember that its effect can swipe copies of Plaguespreader Zombie, too!
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And now, the missing set review. This week, it's Pharaonic Guardian, #7 on the list of Yu-Gi-Oh! sets, and boy is it a lucky one. Well, I don’t think it’s lucky, but I’m sure some people would consider Zombies closing in all around them lucky . . . maybe.
That’s right. Pharaonic Guardian (PGD) is themed around the undead. The set is positively littered with Zombies. It also features Egyptian cards that fit the undead theme, such as the protective Gravekeepers, and some interesting Fiends. Let's take a closer look at what this set has to offer.
 Timeater - This bizarre Machine monster has an equally bizarre effect. By destroying a monster on your opponent’s field, you can make him or her skip main phase 1. But what would this mean if your opponent had no field? It means he or she loses a chance to attack, too, unless he or she had Call of the Haunted set. This monster requires one tribute, and its attack is below average for its level, but the effect may prove itself useful enough to balance out the shortcomings.
Servant of Catabolism - The effect should be self-explanatory by now, as direct attackers were featured in Metal Raiders. The difference, though, is that this one is stronger than any of the attackers from the earlier set. If you're still running the little weenie rushers, then replace three of them with three of these. The damage is nothing to scoff at.
Dark Dust Spirit - Not only does Dark Dust Spirit fit into Pharaonic Guardian's undead theme, but it also heralds the return of the Spirit monster theme from Legacy of Darkness. Dark Dust Spirit will often be worth the tribute needed to summon it, especially when the opponent has a strong field of face-up monsters. It’s definitely a card worth trying out in a Zombie or Spirit deck, and will almost always be helpful to you. Remember that Dark Dust Spirit can be set and flipped on the opponent’s turn by an attack.
The Swarms - This includes both Swarm of Scarabs and Swarm of Locusts. Both have effects that activate when flip summoned, yet they aren’t flip effects. This means that they don’t get their effects through attacks or by being flipped by a card effect. While the Swarms can’t be thrown into just any deck, they are a potentially serious nuisance when combined with attack prevention cards like Gravity Bind, Messenger of Peace, or even the new Ordeal of a Traveler.
Dice Jar - This chaotic monster can potentially inflict very little damage, but can also potentially deal a really massive chunk. And by massive chunk, I mean a horrifically painful three fourths of yours or the opponent’s life points. Be warned that this effect can’t have damage redirected, so a card like Barrel Behind the Door is useless with it. It’s a bit too random for tournament play, but it’s always a joy to make the opponent lose a casual game to the big grinning Jar.
Dark Scorpion Burglars - Pharaonic Guardian introduced a new monster theme that was expanded on in both of the two successive sets—Magician's Force and Dark Crisis. The Dark Scorpion Burglars are the simple form of the collection of these new monsters, and their ability to thin the spells from their opponent’s deck can be useful. This card is always a strong choice for the Dark Scorpion theme.
 Des Lacooda - This card joins the ranks of Insects for synergy with Gravity Bind. It gives a nice little boost to Exodia decks, too. As long as you can keep it from being attacked, this monster will eventually provide you more than enough card draws to make up for its presence in your deck.
Book of Taiyou - The best way to describe the Book of Taiyou is to compare it to Stop Defense. Stop Defense can only be used on the opponent’s monster, but it affects their monster whether it's face up or face down. Book of Taiyou only targets face-down monsters, but it affects your field, too. However, it’s not meant to be played for its “Stop Defense” ability. Rather, this spell card can give you a game changing flip effect immediately, such as Cyber Jar or even Morphing Jar. It’s the prime choice for deck destruction, giving you the chance to flip massive deck thinning monsters quickly and easily.
Call of the Mummy - PGD finally gives Zombies the support they need to be successful. Patrician of Darkness may not seem like it is worth the tribute required to normal summon it; if you don’t want to do that, you can merely special summon it with this effect. This spell can easily bring out Patrician of Darkness, Despair from The Dark, or even Vampire Lord if the opponent ends up clearing your field. This spell is great for almost any Zombie deck.
Ordeal of a Traveler - If you’re willing to sacrifice a Waboku to use this instead, it'll irritate your opponent far more than any Waboku could. Ordeal of a Traveler gives you a chance to send the opponent’s monsters back to his or her hand, not only protecting you and your monster, but also clearing the opponent's field for a direct attack. Of course, you need to refresh and replenish your hand so the opponent won’t know what to guess. Cards like Reload and Monster Recovery help with this.
Gravekeeper Set - The common Gravekeeper theme in Pharaonic Guardian consists of the following cards.
Gravekeeper's Spy
Gravekeeper's Curse
Gravekeeper's Guard
Gravekeeper's Spear Soldier
Gravekeeper's Vassal
Gravekeeper's Cannonholder
Gravekeeper's Assailant
Royal Tribute
Rite of Spirit
Combined with the field spell Necrovalley, these seemingly weak monsters with reasonable effects become powerful monsters with even better effects. The Gravekeeper theme is the ultimate in budget decks, requiring only a few holofoil cards, and it’s by far one of the most powerful deck themes I've ever seen.
 A Cat of Ill Omen - While this monster was designed for use with Necrovalley, A Cat of Ill Omen can seek out any trap in your deck for you to draw in your next draw phase. That’s not bad, especially if you run numerous traps or if you need that Mirror Force immediately.
Cobra Jar - This new Jar monster from PGD offers an interesting effect. When flipped, it provides you with one more defensive wall, and when it’s destroyed by battle, it deals a small amount of damage. The one thing duelists may forget when they use tokens is that not all of them have a Scapegoat drawback effect. This token can be used for a tribute summon, making high-level monster summoning a lot easier than before.
Terraforming - This spell is instant deck thinning and access to any field spell of your choosing. If you run more than one type of field, play this card. If you run three of the same field, try this card. It will almost always help you, functioning as a fourth or fifth opportunity to get your field out on turn one.
Metamorphosis - Scapegoat tokens, Magician of Faith, Magical Scientist—these sacrifices to Metamorphosis bring out Thousand Eyes Restrict with ease. Metamorphosis is incredibly easy to abuse, especially in stall decks. It’s an easy way to initiate a Fire Princess burn, or a Final Countdown win situation.
Raigeki Break - This card acts as the trap version of Tribute to the Doomed. The difference is that this can destroy any card on the field, can be activated during the opponent’s turn, and can chain to spell and trap removal. That’s not bad for a common, and it’s especially good for monster removal.
Pyramid Turtle - Patrician of Darkness, Ryo Kokki, Vampire Lord—all of them are one monster away from being summoned to your field. Pyramid Turtle is, without a doubt, one of the best cards you could ever use to summon an army of the undead. Not only will this thin your deck, but it also easily brings your in-deck monsters to the field, giving you the opportunity to strike the opponent with sheer force.
Book of Moon - With the ability to change any face-up monster to a face-down defense position, Book of Moon is a very popular card. As a quickplay spell, it can be activated at almost any time, making it even more versatile. It’s useful for switching high ATK monsters into defense position, giving your monsters a chance to break through weak defenses. It also gives you the chance to use flip effects more than once or to prepare a monster like Guardian Sphinx for an easy flip summon.
Reckless Greed - When this card was originally unrestricted, a duelist could activate three of them in one turn, allowing them to draw six cards and skip only two draw phases. A restriction quickly fixed that, but getting your cards as soon as possible is no less important. Reckless Greed still has its use, especially in Exodia decks.
Dark Jeroid - Adding to the collection of nasty Fiend monsters, Dark Jeroid is another reason why Mystic Tomato is good. Dark Jeroid may seem timid with its moderate ability, but that ability will always help you in the long run. Dark Jeroid reduces a Gemini Elf to 1100 ATK, Vampire Lord down to 1200 ATK, or Jinzo down to 1600 ATK. This leaves all of those monsters vulnerable to your attacks later, through monsters such as Dark Necrofear. It’s one of the best Fiend type monsters released to this date.
 Spirit Reaper - This small Zombie has one of the most irritating effects in the game. Spirit Reaper cannot be destroyed through battle, and it has the ability to destroy your opponent’s hand. In a standard Control deck, or even in a random theme deck, Spirit Reaper will help, but not dominate. In a Zombie deck, however, Spirit Reaper not only creates possible attack locks with the Patrician of Darkness, but it can also be summoned to the field with ease with all that Zombie support.
Sasuke Samurai - Monsters like Guardian Sphinx, Fiber Jar, and Cyber Jar are not a problem with Sasuke Samurai. Even if the opponent activates Waboku, he or she won’t be able to stop the battle, and Sasuke Samurai can still destroy face-down monsters. The problem is that its 500 ATK leaves it vulnerable to an assault during the opponent’s turn, but if that stops Fiber Jar, then it may very well be worth it.
Book of Life - Pharaonic Guardian’s Zombie support continues with this Zombie trump card, Book of Life. Not only does this card have no drawback whatsoever, it also has the ability to remove annoying monsters (such as Sangan or Sinister Serpent) from your opponent’s graveyard. It’s basically an extra Monster Reborn for Zombies . . . or an extra two or three Monster Reborns if you’re running a full-on Zombie deck. There’s no way to keep Vampire Lord or Spirit Reaper dead with this recursion spell.
Mirage of Nightmare - Tournament duelists find Mirage of Nightmare more than useful in a Control-dominated environment. If your hand is brought down to zero cards, Mirage fills that hand back up to four, provided you can get rid of it before your standby phase. Duelists don’t seem to realize that playing Mirage of Nightmare with only three Mystical Space Typhoons or without an Imperial Order set is still a risk. If you lose Imperial Order, or if you don’t draw any Typhoons when you need them, you can lose some very valuable cards. Adding an Emergency Provisions to your deck increases your chances of stopping Mirage. Just be careful if you’re relying on Typhoons—some duelists will be running Cursed Seal of the Forbidden Spell.
Gravekeeper's Chief - This Gravekeeper monster seems like a below average attacker with a useful effect. With Necrovalley out, it’s as powerful as Jinzo, and can revive even more powerful monsters like Gravekeeper’s Assailant. Just be careful if you have Necrovalley out with this card—your opponent can still target your graveyard as long as this remains face up on the field.
Necrovalley - This field spell is one of the best cards in Pharaonic Guardian, and is key to making the Gravekeepers a devastating force. Necrovalley not only powers up Gravekeepers, but it also protects your graveyard from harmful effects such as Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer or Soul Release. Not only that, but it hinders the opponent by rendering his or her Monster Reborn or Call of the Haunted totally useless. Just be sure to protect this field spell card, or you’ll be in for a world of hurt until you draw another Necrovalley.
 Guardian Sphinx - If your opponent has swarmed the field with many monsters, use the Guardian Sphinx to clear their entire field. This Egyptian-themed card does wonders for field control, and also supports hand control. By using the Sphinx effect, you can return strong monsters to the opponent’s hand, and then destroy those strong monsters through effects such as Confiscation or D. D. Designator. Guardian Sphinx was restricted to two in Japan for a while, and it’s quite obvious why it was on that list.
Don Zaloog - In the Dark Scorpion Burglars, Don Zaloog leads many of the support cards in taking the opponent down. In a tournament environment, Don Zaloog is an overrated and overused monster with the ability to destroy your opponent’s hand. This Warrior can combo well with Mystic Tomato, and it has reasonable support in Dark Scorpion decks. Perhaps someday we’ll see somebody willing to give the rest of the burglars a try.
Helpoemer - This Fiend is a very intimidating monster. At first, it appears to have just average attack and defense statistics. If it’s destroyed in battle, however, your opponent will probably become very annoyed with you. Of course, it needs to be destroyed specifically through battle for its effect to occur. If it isn’t, then it’s just dead weight in your graveyard, unless you use it as sacrifice to Dark Necrofear.
Mystical Knight of Jackal - With the release of Kaiser Seahorse in the Kaiba Evolution deck, Mystical Knight of Jackal has gained some extra support. Fitting in with the theme of Pharaonic Guardian, Knight of Jackal has very impressive strength and an ability that can alternately hurt you or help you. If you destroy a monster like Sangan or Mystic Tomato, then you’ll have to deal with a swarm of monsters that can kill the Jackal. If you destroy a monster like Sinister Serpent or Don Zaloog, and the opponent has no hand, you can successfully create a “Jackal Lock”—a condition very similar to the Yata-lock mentioned in the Legacy of Darkness set review.
Lava Golem - The Fiend type in Yu-Gi-Oh! has become very diverse. Lava Golem adds to that diversity with a strange ability. This monster is normally never on your field, and you’re pretty much giving your opponent an incredibly strong titan. There are times when this is beneficial to you, if it means sacrificing a flip effect monster and a powerhouse like Jinzo on your opponent’s field. However, Lava Golem’s special effect is one of the deadliest burner effects ever to be released. Combine this monster with cards like Waboku, Gravity Bind, or Amazoness Swords Woman, and your opponent will be dead in no time.
Ring of Destruction - Pharaonic Guardian adds another potential staple to the card pool in Yu-Gi-Oh! with the secret rare Ring of Destruction. This may seem like the ultimate way of killing yourself in a duel, but you cannot forget that it damages your opponent, too. Combine this card with Barrel Behind the Door, and it'll blow your opponent away. Ring of Destruction is amazing, and it’s no wonder that it’s restricted to one per deck.
Pharaonic Guardian brought some strong diversity to the game, with added support for Zombies and the addition of new Yu-Gi-Oh! themes like Gravekeepers. It's also brought us some overplayed cards, but they cannot detract from the usefulness of the set's theme cards. Pharaonic Guardian has allowed the creation of many new deck types and has granted new life to some crippled old favorites.
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