Stainless Steel Egyptian God Cards: A New Collectible Frontier

Yu-Gi-Oh! the trading card game is an amazing hobby based on a gorgeous story and very complex characters. Fans that started watching the anime or reading the manga from the very first Duel Monsters arc, know that there are a few very iconic cards that played a key role in it for different reasons. Surely, Exodia the Forbidden is one of them as it marked the very first win of Yami Yugi against Seto. Other very iconic and important cards include for sure Dark Magician, Blue Eye White Dragon, Red-Eye Black Dragon, and The Seal of Orichalcos. Most important, the story of Yugi and the pharaoh Atem is strongly linked to the Three Egyptian Gods cards that are among the most powerful cards in the whole game and likely the most iconic ones.

Knowing how great these cards are, Konami has dedicated to them a very special treatment to make the quarter of a century anniversary of the game. In fact, as part of the 25th year celebrations, Konami has just started distributing “Yu-Gi-Oh! Stainless Steel Egyptian God”, a 3-card collectible set in which each card is made of stainless steel. The cards are also enclosed in a protective acrylic display with the 25th Anniversary logo that deserves to be admired. Interestingly, the cards in this set used their original Manga version and thus are named “The God of Obelisk”, “Saint Dragon-The God of Osiris” and “The Sun of God Dragon”. I quite like the efforts Konami made to provide a more precise translation of the original version of these cards, instead of their historical English translation considering how important these cards are in the story of Yu-Gi-Oh!  

What are the Egyptian Gods cards?

(Spoiler alert) The story of the three Egyptian Gods cards dates back to the Ancient Egypt. The mighty spirits of the three Gods were linked into stone tablets and could be used by the Pharaoh to defend their people against any enemy. As we discover the past of the spirit living within Yugi, we learn that Atem used the power of this mighty beasts to help seal Zorc the Dark One and save the world from falling into the Shadow Ream. To avoid the dark spirit to escape, Atem also sealed himself in the Millennium Puzzle that will be then discovered by Yugi.

Fast forward in the future, Maximillion Pegasus discovers the three Egyptian Gods depicted on the Tablet of Lost Memories, and decides to turn them into cards. However, the power of these cards is so impressive that only one copy of each of them was ever created. Destined to help the Pharaoh fulfil his destiny once again, the three Egyptian Gods cards find their way to Yugi and helped him to reveal the past of both the Pharaoh and Seto. However, the return of the cards and the discovery of the Tablet ultimately lead to the return of Zorc that threatened to destroy humanity once more. During the final battle of “World of Memories”, however the three Egyptian Gods cards showed the true power they wielded by merging into the Creator of Light and destroying Zorc forever.  

How good are the Stainless Steel Egyptian God Cards?

Considering the role they had in Yu-Gi-Oh! it does not surprise Konami decided to turn these original cards into one of the best Yu-Gi-Oh! Collectables items. I like the idea of making them out of stainless steel to allow them to not age in a similar way the cards managed to arrive to Yugi through the centuries. Of course, we do not expect them to last for another 5000 years but the fact that the details are etched in the metal and the paint is screen printed on them make also the entire cards looking luxurious. The light gloss varnish applied to protect the coating and the encasing into the acrylic display are just the finishing touches which turn them into truly epic items. As you may remember from the 2021 limited-edition Yu-Gi-Oh! TGC Masterpiece Series Platinum that included Blue-Eyes White Dragon and Dark Magician, Konami is not new to create metal Yu-Gi-Oh! collectibles but this time the price is much more affordable and the number of copies are not as limited as it was in 2021.

In addition to the Stainless Steel Egyptian God Cards, buyers from US and Canada were also able to opt into a sweepstakes to win a coveted Ultra Rare tournament-legal Normal Monster version of Black Luster Soldier. The choice of this card is very important as it holds a lot of nostalgia. At a first glance, Black Luster Soldier, is a basic Ritual Monster with no special abilities that was used by Yugi in his first games. Digging a bit deeper into the story of Yu-Gi-Oh! the Trading Card Game, a very specific version of Black Luster Soldier was awarded to the champion of the very first tournament of Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters. It is quite fitting that the same card is added as an additional prize to celebrate once more the quarter of a century anniversary of the TGC game.

One other aspect to remind is that the Egyptian God Cards in this collectible set are not the tournament-legal version of them we are used to. For example, the text on “The God of Obelisk” card reads “The Player shall sacrifice two bodies to the God of Obelisk. The opponent shall be damaged. And the monsters on the field shall be destroyed”. This ability seems closely related to the ability “You can Tribute 2 monsters; destroy all monsters your opponent controls” on the Obelisk the Tormentor but it lacks all the other ability/special rules that we have on the normal version of the card.

The Hieratic text on “The Sun Dragon Ra” card is also completely different from the English version of the “Winged Dragon of Ra” but completely aligned to the version Mai failed to summon during the Battle City arc.

Overall, it should be reminded that these cards are memorabilia, only intended for display and not for playing. Considering this, I personally like the choice to make them identical to the cards we saw in the series to add to the nostalgic value of them. I may have loved to see them encased in a piece of the Tablet of Lost memory but the black background of the acrylic display looks cool anyway.

How much the Stainless Steel Egyptian God Cards worth?

Assigning a value to this type of limited edition, collectible memorabilia is not easy. For almost 400 USD a piece, it is for sure a vanity item that collectors will carefully treasure or hang on a wall to show everyone how passionate they are for Yu-Gi-Oh! However, the value of these products is clearly destined to increase as hard core collectors will likely be purchasing these Stainless Steel Egyptian God Cards the same way the Masterpiece Series Platinum products get sold every now. In this case, the price of the Egyptian God cards is much more affordable making it suitable for a larger group of passionate fans. At the end, it is not every day that a Trading Card game hits 25 years and we should remind that Yu-Gi-Oh! is still one of the most played card game in the world.

On the other hand, these cards are of course not for playing and not just because they can not be sleeved... In this sense, players may not necessarily see the Stainless Steel Egyptian God Cards as a good investment. In fact, with a retail value close to the one of some of the most pricey meta-relevant deck, those who are mainly interested in playing the game, may prefer to invest their money on cards they can use instead of into an item for display. In this case, the Quarter Century products released last year may be a better alternative to obtain high rarity cards that can also be played with. These were specifically designed by Konami with both the collectors and players in mind and they are definitely nice products for everyone. Eventually, players interested in the Three Egyptian Gods may also consider The Legendary Collection 25th Anniversary that features three playable promo cards of them.