Shining Sarcophagus – #LEDE-EN051
Cannot be destroyed by monster effects. You can only use each of the following effects of “Shining Sarcophagus” once per turn. During your Main Phase: You can add 1 card that mentions “Shining Sarcophagus” from your Deck to your hand, except “Shining Sarcophagus”. If your opponent Special Summons a monster(s) from the GY (except during the Damage Step): You can discard 1 Spell, then target 1 of those monsters; send it to the GY.
Date Reviewed: May 13th, 2024
Rating: 3.68
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is awful. 3 is average. 5 is excellent.
Reviews Below:
King of
Lullaby
Hello Pojo Fans,
Shining Sarcophagus continues our look at Legacy of Destruction, but also begins our look at Yugi’s monsters from the ceremonial battle in the original series.
Having your card text begin with “Cannot be destroyed by monster effects” is a fantastic start no matter the card, and for a Continuous Spell that is fantastic as Spell/Trap cards that do destruction aren’t played in heavy demand nowadays. You’ve got Cosmic Cyclone, Harpies Feather Duster, and Lightning Storm still as the dominant cards, but not as much as you used to see. RoTA effect once per turn for a card that mentions it tells you this card is the focus of the “archetype” that it belongs to. Nine other cards mention this card in their card text somewhere, giving you several options to search from. Search any retrain of old Yugi monsters that are within the archetype. Depending on if you control a monster already that mentions Shining Sarcophagus, you’d be inclined to search a Spell/Trap. Ties that Bind can act like a cost-free Ties of the Brethren, while Turn Silence can jump a monster’s level by three and can also double as a negation if played in response to an opponent’s monster effect. You have options on what you choose, but you are likely to search tomorrow’s monsters with this or a card to help advance their standing on the field.
Opponent interaction is also good to see on a Continuous Spell, and Shining Sarcophagus makes reference to the show when Yugi used Gold Sarcophagus to banish Monster Reborn to counter Atem’s Monster Reborn a few turns later. Instead of that niche, and highly-situational effect, we get a better one (they’re still paying us back for an absolute atrocious Card of Sanctity). Discarding a Spell is something a player will trade to stop a Special Summon from the grave. It doesn’t negate, so they will get any effect that triggers upon its summon. It does avoid destruction protection and beneficial effects triggered by destruction. If your opponent summons more than one monster at a time from the grave you will have to pick one. Not a situation you will come across a lot but if you do, pick the right one.
I think they could’ve given this card blanket Special Summon negation power, considering you will eventually run out of Spell cards to discard, or even limit it to twice a turn or something like that. As it stands, Shining Sarcophagus is a good card to anchor the archetype because of its once per turn search ability and consistent destruction prevention. The Special Summon interaction is above average as well, but since you’re discarding Spells, I think it would’ve been nice for Shining Sarcophagus to get you back a Spell from the grave as part of its search ability.
Advanced- 3.5/5 Art- 4.5/5
Until Next Time,
KingofLullaby
Crunch$G
Little Yugi’s Deck from the Ceremonial Duel against Pharaoh Atem is finally updated and retrained to function as a proper strategy, and we start the week with the card the whole thing is centered around: Shining Sarcophagus.
Shining Sarcophagus is a Continuous Spell that cannot be destroyed by monster effects, which makes sense with the boss monster at the end of the week. The remaining effects are each a hard once per turn, the first letting you search out any card that mentions Shining Sarcophagus from the Deck, besides another copy of this. The basic thing to likely to is search Gadget Trio to get to Ties That Bind and summon Silent Magician Zero and Silent Swordsman Zero from the Deck, or use Trio to search the Sarcophagus and then search Ties That Bind. Either way, you end on a Spell negate and a targeting negate, which is fine. You can also get to your boss monsters, with the new Gandora being a field nuke, the new Dark Magician getting to some of the DM support into the Shining Sarcophagus Deck, and Archfiend’s Arrival taking an opponent’s monster upon summon. You can also get Future Silence for more Deck thinning or Turn Silence for a monster effect negate basically. The other effect basically takes inspiration from anime Gold Sarcophagus, triggering when an opponent summons a monster(s) from the graveyard, letting you discard a Spell to send one of the revived monsters back to the grave, copying Yugi using Gold Sarcophagus and putting Monster Reborn inside to stop Atem from summoning Slifer back. I doubt this will come up much in the actual game, but it’s there if you need it. Shining Sarcophagus as a Deck is fine, mainly thanks to the centerpiece of the whole strategy being somewhat decent for searching the entire archetype. You play 3 in the theme cause you want it on the field as fast as possible so all your cards can do something.
Advanced Rating: 3.75/5
Art: 4.5/5 Very shiny.
Mighty
Vee
Little Yugi gets some time in the spotlight as we start our coverage of the Shining Sarcophagus series, the flagship theme of Legacy of Destruction. The titular Shining Sarcophagus is our first card this week, a Continuous Spell searchable by Gadget Trio (and by extension Future Silence, which searches Gadget Trio). While it’s active, Sarcophagus is protected from being destroyed by monster effects– that’ll save it from that pesky Knightmare Phoenix and will generally keep it safe in game 1. Afterward, your opponent will likely side in Cosmic Cyclone, but having it is still better than nothing, plus it synergizes with the fact this series has a built-in way to negate Spell effects. Sarcophagus has two other hard once per turn effects, the first letting you search any card that mentions Shining Sarcophagus except, of course, itself. Because of how Shining Sarchophagus combos work, it’ll depend on what you need at the time; if you need a nuke, you can search their boss monster, or if you need disruption, you can search tomorrow’s monsters instead. Infinite Forbidden gives them a way to make Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon as well, but we’ll get there in due time. Konami’s penchant for Continuous Spell searchers makes Sarcophagus deceptively powerful, since you’ll gain more and more resources as the duel goes on (much like Voiceless Voice). Sarcophagus’s last effect triggers if your opponent Special Summons a monster (or monsters) from the Graveyard, letting you discard a Spell to target and send one of them to the Graveyard. It’s rare to have disruption baked into a Continuous Spell, but it’s very welcome considering how dry the deck is for disruption. It’s unfortunately limited to the Graveyard and requires a Spell discard fodder, but it’s better than nothing. Sarcophagus has a lot of weird overbalancing quirks, but honestly it does enough that I’m fine with it! Obviously, play 3 in Shining Sarcophagus decks.
+Provides a lot of value in longer duels
+Additional disruption
-Requires a Spell discard to disrupt and only works on Graveyard summons
-Doesn’t protect itself from banishing or backrow
Advanced: 3.75/5
Art: 3.5/5 A Millennium Puzzle box to go with your Millennium Puzzle model kit?
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