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Pharaonic Guardian is set #7, coming before Magician’s Force.
This set has a lot of ancient Egyptian cards. It introduces Gravekeepers. It’s a set known for powerful common cards which were overlooked then but appreciated in later metas.
Ratings: 4-5 is strong/meta. 3-3.9 is good. 2-2.9 is offmeta/playable. 1-1.9 is bad or obsolete.
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Card Name |
Pojo Avg |
My Rating |
Notes |
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4.4 |
4.75 |
Meta-altering card that makes life points matter more and can end the duel in a draw. Chainable removal with no cost. Auto-include card. |
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~3.7 |
3.75 |
I love the utility of it both being a defense wall and generating card advantage depending whether you’re defending or have an opportunity to be aggressive. The targeting effect isn’t too big of a downside because the opponent has to spend a card on it, making it a 1-for-1. This card can plus but it almost never minuses!! The downside is you take a lot of damage if you leave this in attack position, especially from Don Zaloog. |
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4 |
4 |
Agreed. It can keep plussing if it remains on the board. If you’re concerned about its low ATK, you can just run 1 copy and search it out when its needed. And this card is very searchable: Witch, Sangan, Tomato and ROTA. |
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3.5 |
3 |
Strong effect and reasonable defense stat. But it costs a tribute and provides no immediate value on the turn you use it, giving the opponent time to play around it. If the opponent attacks into it, yes, they take some damage. But you’d have to flip it down. Either not being able to use its effect or leaving it in attack mode vulnerable to LV4 beaters. |
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n/a |
4.75 |
The combo is to destroy this card with MST before you draw. If you use it with an empty hand you essentially +2 (and draw 4 cards deeper into your deck). This card means MST x3 as a staple, if it wasn’t already. |
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~3 |
3.5 |
This may not have the plus potential of the power spells, and there is limited deckspace, but it has a ton of utility. Block an attack. Negate a continuous effect (i.e. Jinzo). Get over a monster in battle. Re-use a flip effect. Protect your monsters from cards like Mirror Force, Snatch Steal and Ring of Destruction. etc One of the best designed cards in the game. |
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2.4 |
1 |
Situational and -1. |
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3.75 |
3 |
Optional side deck card against burn. Don’t main. |
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2 |
1 |
Even a rating of 2 is way too high. Too many problems. Is a -1 at best. It’s unusable with 0 cards in hand, and a loss condition Can only be used in Battle Phase. Only works when monster is destroyed in battle. Maybe if the effect were “If your monster is recently destroyed, |
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2 |
2 |
I think we’re all in agreement that this is definitely a card. |
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2.6 |
3.5 |
In all fairness, Vampire Lord and Ryu Kokki weren’t out yet so you’d search Patrician of Darkness (or Spirit Reaper) with it. This could have a place in Rat Toolbox decks, for some deck thinning and Creature Swap synergy. |
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~2.5 |
2.5 |
I agree with the reviews. This card would eventually go up to a 3-3.5 when Vampire Lord and Ryu Kokki come out. And when Monster Reborn is banned so there’s an extra slot for a revival card. |
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~3 |
2.5 |
Spicy, fun and cheeky card. It’s kind of slow since it’s a Battle Phase trap and the first turn you activate it, all you really do is just return a card to the hand (assuming they guess wrong). It takes time to get the full value out of this, and that gives time for the opponent to play around this. |
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~2.5 |
3.75 |
My rating may seem high, but my premise is. 1 – You’re summoning this only Metamorphosis You can have a few Fusion monsters of each level. For the LV5 slot, you can have 1-2 Dark Balter and 1 of this. |
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~3 |
3.5 |
Scapegoat + Meta into Thousand-Eyes Restrict would not become hard-meta until the Tsukuyomi ruling. But it’s still a viable, and probably underrated back in 2003. You’d need to find 4-6 deck slots to fit this, which was hard to do before the ban list happened a year later. If you wanted to make a Goat Control deck, you could reduce your monster or trap count to accommodate this engine. |
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~2.5 |
2.5 |
Agreed. This would later become a viable side deck card in Goat Format. But right now it’s the beatdown era with lots of 1400+ ATK monsters. |
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1.2 |
1 |
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n/a |
3.5 |
Reviews on this card were all over the place. This card is auto-include in Gravekeepers, but bad everywhere else, so the power level of this card is dependent on how meta Gravekeeper’s are. To be fair, GK’s do win some retro tournaments nowadays, but they were seen as offmeta back then probably because players weren’t building the deck properly. |
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3.2 |
3 |
Pojo reviews were all over the place on this one and I understand. It’s chainable with a good effect but also a -1. You need more than just Sinister to make this work. You’d want Thunder Dragon or maybe a monster you plan on reviving. Not a bad side deck card, since it affects set monster and spells/traps, it could be a catch-all for a variety of decks. But if I were to use it, I’d only use 1 since the discard cost makes it situational. This card would become better after the ban list is introduced, but right now there are just too many strong spells/traps that compete against this. |
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1.5 |
1.5 |
Fair rating. People will call LV4, which will force you to use little to no LV4’s and instead use more higher level monsters make this card consistent (which will lead to brick hands). |
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2.6 |
1.5 |
This effect seems good on paper but its slow. You have to wait a turn for it to be attacked, and the opponent would be leery to attack a set tribute monster (and would probably want to use removal on it). The opponent can play around it For the memes, you could use Thunder Dragon to make your opponent think you’re setting a Thunder Dragon so they attack into it. |
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2.4 |
2 |
Might be okay for burn decks, but the opponent needing 2 monsters and you needing a stall card to protect yourself makes this unreliable. |
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2 |
1 |
Even burn decks don’t use this. Low damage. And it does nothing by itself. |
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2.1 |
1.5 |
Too many issues with this card. It’s inconsistent if the opponent doesn’t fall for the bluff, and slow if the opponent takes a few turns to remove it. Setting this means you have a card that does nothing for a few turns instead of a trap that protects you. |
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1.8 |
1 |
No deck should use this. Even burn decks avoid this. 300 damage isn’t much. It’s very slow. And it requires you to destroy opponent’s monsters, which a stall/burn deck probably isn’t attacking into them much. |
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~2 |
1.5 |
Good effect but is basically a -2. You give up 2 cards but it doesn’t actually get rid of any of the opponents cards. |
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1.7 |
1.5 |
The downside of this card is that if you set another trap card, you could -1 from Heavy Storm and HFD. So it puts you in a situation where you risk minusing, or you don’t set traps and leave yourself vulnerable. |
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2.25 |
1 |
Horrible. Too many requirements. You need to set this card and wait a whole turn. The opponent can’t attack it (or else this dies and you wouldn’t be able to attack with a Fusion monster summoned on the opponent’s turn anyway) Then you’d have to give up a Normal Summon and tribute another monster. So that’s -2 (the tribute and using this low stat creature). Just to summon a Fusion that will die at the end of the turn anyway. |
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3 |
1 |
Reviewers were way off… 🙁 Three tributes is not viable ever. Having 3 monsters on the field is a difficult condition to meet, and it puts yourself at risk of mass removal. 3 tributes + 1 tribute summon is 4 summons so this is too slow to ever work. But even if you could meet that cost, it’s a -3. You would need to destroy 3 spell/trap cards just to break even. This might’ve been a viable side deck card against stall/burn if you could use the effect with only 2 tributes. But honestly, just side Dust Tornado (it’s quick and reliable) |
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3.2 |
3.5 |
Not safe to main deck because you may face beatdown decks that don’t set monsters much. But a great card to side deck against defensive or flip effect based decks if you decide that 2 Nobleman of Crossout isn’t enough. + Searchable by ROTA |
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3 |
1 |
So this requires a very specific card to summon. That specific card is a tribute monster with low stats and it needs to have an effect fulfilled. |
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3 |
2 |
Viable in deck destruction decks, but those are off-meta. Otherwise this card is just really situational. It only helps a handful of flip effect monsters you have, but it doesn’t interact with anything else. And it’s a -1, so you basically have to have a Magician of Faith + Pot/Duo set up just for this to pay for itself. |
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2.5 |
3 |
The Pojo reviewers were focused on its matchups vs. regular decks which is not a factor since you’re never main decking this card. It’s a side deck card |
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1.5 |
1 |
Cute |
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3.9 |
2.25 |
The revival effect essentially pays for the tribute which is fine, but I wouldn’t consider that card advantage either. Negative synergy with Royal Tribute. If this card is stuck in your hand, then you’ll have to discard it and that’s a -1. |
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3.6 |
4.5 |
Many people underrated this card back then. A few years later people realized you can run Spies without the other GK cards, and it’s essentially a +1 that puts a 2nd body on the board, that you can use to stall, or push for 2400 direct damage. And it thins your deck. |
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3.5 |
3.5 |
GK decks only. |
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~3.2 |
3.75 |
Aside from Spy, this is the other GK that is most splashable in non-GK decks. Good defense. Effect can let you make aggressive plays and push damage. |
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3.5 |
3.5 |
GK decks only. Good effect, but I would probably only use 1 because it has no baseline value without Necrovalley. |
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3.5 |
3.5 |
GK decks only, used in lieu of Reborn, Call and Premature. |
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~2.6 |
3.5 |
If you use this card, it would be in a dedicated Gravekeeper deck with a low monster count. (And no Chief) Maybe reviewers underrated this card because many players were using decks that didn’t meet ths |
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3 |
1.25 |
Reviewers were way off. The damage effect is more of a late-game finisher effect, but with Gravekeeper’s setting up your board early-game is super important and this is a dead draw early game. |
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3.1 |
1.25 |
Martin’s review was correct. This is horrid. Two tribute monsters in general are dead on arrival because they’re dead-draws that need to be discarded and special summoned (which is situational) The effect is decent. If this were a 1-tribute monster with 2400 ATK, this may have seen play. |
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2.75 |
3 |
Great, but only for dedicated burn decks. But in beatdown, control or aggro you’d rather just destroy the opponent’s monster. |
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2.25 |
1.25 |
Very slow, as in it doesn’t do any significant damage until the 3rd or 4th turn, and by then, it’s destroyed by removal. It also damages you, so if you’re a burn deck and your life points are low, the opponent can just destroy your defenses and win with only 1 direct attack. It wasn’t good even on release, but the very next set, Wave-Motion Cannon makes this obsolete. |
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3 |
3 |
Since decks already use Tomato for Witch and Sangan, you could use 1 of these as a target for it. It replaces itself, can help you get rid of high ATK monsters and rarely minuses. 1200 ATK means it’ll destroy recruiters like Tomato with its effect rather than in battle. But the downside is you get punished by Don Zaloog if it’s left in attack position. (Yes, that’s only 1 card but it’s searchable). I’d also be wary about attacking into a set Don. |
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~3 |
2.5 |
This could get over a 1900 ATK beater. Or occasionally help your beater get over a Jinzo. But it’s only a one-time effect and it’s likely to be destroyed in battle next turn. Weakening an opponent’s monster once isn’t as useful as having a beater on the field that consistently has attacking power. And as said above, 1200 ATK in attack mode is vulnerable to Don Zaloog. |
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2 |
1.25 |
This card is a -2. You lose 1 card by offering a tribute, and you lose another 1 by this being easily destroyed in battle by almost anything. Searchable by Tomato, but still… |
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2 |
1.25 |
There are too many issues with this card. 1 – What if the first monster in your graveyard is a Flip Effect? 2 – What if its a monster you don’t want to summon? 3 – Decks already have 3 much stronger revival cards 4 – It does nothing if the opponent answers correctly. 5 – Revival cards in general are weak early game, but this one especially because the opponent is likely to remember. |
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And here’s a bonus.
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Trap Dustshoot |
n/a |
3 |
This card would become very powerful, and it was overlooked for a few years, but on release it wasn’t great. In this meta, hand counts were low. People used less monsters. Hand removal like Don Zaloog and Yata leave both players with small hand sizes in the lategame. Possibly side-deckable against decks with higher monster counts but not safe to main. |
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Baneful