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We have seen an old-school Trap monster go from a one-off card to an full-blown archetype. Embodiment of Apophis. This sinister, serpentine monster may not seem like much at first glance, but beware! This snake hides many secrets. So, who is Apophis? Let’s take a look at this card and the inspiration behind it.
Mythology
Apophis is the Greek name given to the ancient Egyptian entity Apep. In Egyptian mythology, Apep was known as the “chaos serpent,” and embodied the powers of chaos. At the end of each day, the sun god Ra, along with other Egyptian gods, battled Apep. A cycle of order versus chaos. As the embodiment of chaos, Apep represented everything that threatened life on Earth and the balance of nature. While not explicitly evil, Apep threatened existence and had to battled each night to keep chaos at bay. Apep could not be completely destroyed and therefore remained a constant antagonist to life.
In-Game
In Yugioh!, Apophis is a Trap monster, the very first Trap monster that remained a Normal Monster after it resolved. This one card remained exactly that for a long time before being turned into its own archetype. The Apophis archetype, commonly called “Odion” after the anime character, uses Apophis Trap monsters and Fusion monsters to dominate the board and establish control over the Field. The cards Apophis the Serpent and Apophis the Swamp Deity work together with Temple of the Kings to work the board, and Divine Serpent Apophis and Divine Scorpion Beast of Serket help maintain control. This deck can certainly be a threat!
Anime
In the anime, Apophis was first used by Odion against Joey Wheeler. This is why the archetype is tied to him. In fact, The Man with the Mark is Odion himself! Odion was a servant to the Gravekeepers Ishizu and Marik Ishtar. Apophis would later appear in Leichter’s flashbacks as well as one of Yugi’s Battle City flashbacks. It even makes an appearance in GX as a Spirit Monster used by Abidos the Third.
Give this deadly deck a try, if you dare!
