Exodia Unchained

I’m sure you remember this iconic scene. Even if it was years ago, people still remember Yugi pulling Exodia and defeating Kaiba. There were plenty of people who hoped that they themselves could one day pull off their own “Exodia Obliterate!” moment. However, as time went on, we all came to the same conclusion: Exodia is terrible. You wouldn’t think that a card that lets you immediately win the game would be, yet here we are. The only decks that can make it work are ones dedicated to pulling it off, however even those can get stopped with just one card. Konami has tried multiple times in the past to make Exodia work, however each time failed to make it work. All previous support did was give Exodia a different way to use its pieces instead of addressing the underlying issues. Playable Exodia seemed hopeless. Enter February of 2024. Konami has finally made Exodia good by giving it its own archetype known as ‘Millenium’. This archetype centers around bringing Exodia’s newest iteration to the field: ‘Phantom Exodia, the Manifested’. While this card doesn’t have the same instant win ability as the original, it still feels like a card that once you bring it out, your victory is assured. This card has the ability to permanently gain attack points equal to your life points when it battles. So if you summon it while you have 8000 life points, then you’ll have an 8000 attack monster that can continue to get stronger every turn. As a drawback this card makes you lose 1000 life points at the beginning of your turn, however you are likely winning by that point.

The Millenium archetype centers around bringing out this new Exodia at the cost of either 2000 life points or revealing the new card ‘Millenium Cross’. So in situations like this where your life points will be low, the other new card ‘Exodo Blaze’ will come in handy. This card uses the original pieces in a new way by giving Phantom Exodia a grand total of 10k attack points. And when you combine that with its own effect, you’ll be obliterating everything in your path.

These new cards don’t automatically make Exodia an unstoppable power house. There are still plenty of ways to interrupt them and the reliance of needing a certain card to avoid taking damage is not good, even if it’s relatively easy to do. However, if you are a casual player that really likes Exodia, then you will likely enjoy them a lot. So go pick them up and obliterate your opponents!

Logan Floyd-Mcgee | Writer
POP-COOLEDTURED SPECIALIST
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