Casual Dueling: The Sacred Beasts

Remember the Sacred Beasts? Also known as the "Three Phantasms" or "Phantom Demons," they were Egyptian God knockoffs that appeared in the first season of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. Each Sacred Beasts resembles one of the Egyptian God cards in some fashion: Uria, Lord of Searing Flames is a counterpart to Slifer the Sky Dragon, as is Raviel, Lord of Phantasms to Obelisk the Tormentor, and Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder to The Winged Dragon of Ra. Despite their imposing appearances and prominent role in the anime, the Sacred Beasts never really had their due in the actual card game, mostly because (with the possible exception of Hamon) it's next to impossible to summon the dang things. Uria requires a tribute of three Continuous Trap cards, Hamon needs three Continuous Spell Cards, and Raviel requires three Fiend-type Monsters. The odds, as they say, are not in your favor.

With the release of Duelist Saga, however, all of that is about to change. A decade after their time in the spotlight, the Sacred Beasts are getting two new support cards, and they are amazing. 

Monsters x 19

Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder x2
Raviel, Lord of Phantasms x2
Uria, Lord of Searing Flame
Dark Summoning Beast x3
Dark Grepher x2
Stygian Street Patrol x3
Armageddon Knight
Summoner Monk x2
Phantom of Chaos x3

Spells x 15

Allure of Darkness x3
Reinforcement of the Army
Terraforming x2
Foolish Burial
Twin Twister x2
Supply Squad x3
Fallen Paradise x3

Traps x6

Escape from the Dark Dimension x2
Fiendish Chain x2
Spiritual Swords of Revealing Light
Call of the Haunted

Extra Deck

Armityle the Chaos Phantom x1
Utopia the Lightning, Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon, and however many other Rank 4s you want to run. 

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The two cards introduced in Duelist Saga that make the Sacred Beasts semi-viable are Fallen Paradise and Dark Summoning Beast, and both are absolutely central to the deck. By tributing Dark Summoning Beast, you can summon Uria, Hamon, or Raviel from the hand or deck, ignoring their highly restrictive summoning conditions, with the only downside being that your monsters cannot attack that turn. Fallen Paradise, on the other hand, is a Field Spell that, while active, makes any of the Sacred Beasts (as well as their fusion, Armityle the Chaos Phantom) immune to targeting and destructive effects from your opponent, and allows you to draw an additional two cards as long as they're on the field. That's right: not only are you able to summon a Sacred Beast at the drop of a hat, but you can draw three cards every turn as long as you have one active. Crazy.

The goal of the deck is simple: abuse the effect of Dark Summoning Beast to summon the Sacred Beasts, and protect them with Fallen Paradise. Cards like Dark Grepher and Armageddon Knight make it easy to either dump Stygian Street Patrol to help accomplish this, or get off Dark Summoning Beast's secondary effect and add a Sacred Beast to your hand. Phantom of Chaos is another way to go about this, as it lets you banish a DARK monster in order to copy its effect. One way or another, your Dark Summoning Beasts are going to be getting banished a lot, which is where Escape from the Dark Dimension comes in. This nifty Trap card can bring your Dark Summoning Beasts back from banishment, allowing you to reuse their effects. Like I said, it's a pretty straightforward setup, but it gets the job done.

Since Uria's attack power relies on the number of Continuous Trap cards you have in the Graveyard, every Trap in the deck is Continuous: this gives me an opportunity to run one of my favorite cards, Fiendish Chain, as well as another chance to try out Spiritual Swords of Revealing Light (you know, it's funny, but I never thought I would miss Vanity's Emptiness... ah, well). Other than a single copy of Armityle (a stupid 10,000 attack beater that can't be destroyed by battle, making it basically invulnerable under Fallen Paradise), whatever you include in the Extra Deck is up to you, as there are plenty of generic Rank 4 Xyz that can be useful depending on the situation. This deck won't be winning a YCS anytime soon, but the fact that the Sacred Beasts can even be played in a semi-viable deck is something special. If you have any suggestions or stories to tell about the new Sacred Beast cards, you know where to find
me. Happy dueling!