by Yugioh! has tons of cards and lore tied to ancient Egypt and tons of cards feature artwork and themes inspired by Egyptian motifs. From pharaohs to tombs to pyramids to sarcophagi to literal Egyptian gods, it is everywhere! Some of the most iconic cards feature Egyptian Symbolism like Monster Reborn and Exodia! But, there is a card that you might not remember that embodies the iconic resurrected desert king: Spirit of the Pharaoh!
Forgotten Pharaoh
There is a good reason why you may not remember Spirit of the Pharaoh (SotP). It’s kind of a really bad card. Especially by modern standards. However, this forgotten pharaoh’s design is super cool, even if it’s summoning condition is totally ridiculous for the minimal gain it actually provides. In the artwork for this card, we see a regal pharaoh dressed in gold wearing the traditional headdress of the King of Egypt along with the heads of Horus and Anubis on his shoulders. He is also shown with other Egyptian symbols like the crook staff, postiche, scarab, and eye of Anubis. This guy looks insane! But his effect…
The Zombie King
SotP is a Zombie of a king, but he is hardly the king of zombies. The effect of SotP is: Cannot be Normal Summoned/Set. Must be Special Summoned by “The First Sarcophagus”. When this card is Special Summoned: You can target up to 4 Level 2 or lower Zombie Normal Monsters in your GY; Special Summon those targets.” Okay, so SotP can only be Special Summoned by the effect of a Trap Card. This is not new. But, even with decent stats of 2500 ATK and 2000 DEF, its effect is pretty lackluster. Sure it lets you summon 4 monsters, but those monsters have to be in your GY, Zombie-type, Level 2, and Normal. Which really translates to: useless. That literally only gives you 8 options, and 4 of those are OCG-only cards. And, it gets worse…
Now, SotP can only be Special Summoned with The First Sarcophagus. This is a Trap Card with the effect that, during your opponent’s End Phase, you can place The Second Sarcophagus in your Spell and Trap zone, and then The Third Sarcophagus during your opponent’s next End Phase. These two Spells do absolutely nothing! And to make it worse, if any of the three are destroyed, they are all destroyed. And they have zero protection. This setup takes too long to pull off, and your opponent can easily interrupt the whole thing. The pay off is just not worth the hassle.
Anime Appearance
Even so, this guy did make an appearance in the anime. In episode 40 of the GX series, a character named Abidos the Third uses the three sarcophagi to Special Summon SotP. He then uses SotP’s effect to Special Summon two copies of Pharaoh’s Servant and two copies of Pharaonic Protector from the GY. Abidos even uses Thousand Energy – a card that features a power-bound Pharaoh’s Servant – to boost the power of his Normal Zombies. SotP appears again in episode 159 when Axel Brodie has a flashback.
Fun Facts
Now, SotP may be a rather lackluster card, but its design is still pretty cool. The idea of resurrecting a powerful, ancient pharaoh through a series of unlocking coffins is pretty cool. And the ancient king can even resurrect a whole army to join him in battle! But, don’t expect to see this card in any duels any time soon. Even so, here are some fun facts about this card:
- This card appeared on the cover of Pharaoh’s Inheritance.
- SotP has the same ATK and DEF as Dark Magician, which could be a reference to Atem.
- SotP was the very first LIGHT Zombie monster published.
- This card appears in the artwork of the anime card Delta Barrier.
- The Japanese name of this card translates to “Spirits of Pharaoh.” This hints that the monster may represent several different pharaohs instead of one spirit. Which makes sense since this card is summoned using three different sarcophagi.
