One of the most satisfying things to do in theYu-Gi-Oh! TCGis showing your opponent all five pieces of Exodia and shouting “Exodia Obliterate”! It is a difficult thing to do but will instantly win you the game. Over the years, there has been countless support for the Exodia archetype which attempts to make it easier to get all five cards in hand or offer an alternative boss Monster that uses the five pieces.
While many of the other Exodia Monsters are not necessarily good, there are some cards that stand out as they make you feel like an Egyptian Pharoah. Here are the ten best Exodia cards ever printed on paper.
10True Exodia
A Joke Monster
While the main goal of the game is to win, True Exodia has an Effect that will make you instantly lose. This card was only ever released in Japan as part of the 20th Anniversary Monster Art Box. This Monster has an inverted version of the original card’s Effect.
Rather than having all five pieces in hand to win the game, True Exodia requires you to have the four Normal Monster Pieces on the field along with it. However, rather than winning you the game, this combo automatically gives the win to your opponent.
9Exodius The Ultimate Forbidden Lord
An Early Attempt At Adding Support
One of the earlier Monsters that tried to give the Exodia pieces more to do in your deck is Exodius The Ultimate Forbidden Lord. It can be easily Special Summoned by shuffling your Monsters from the grave back to your deck.
The card promises to get stronger when Normal Monsters are in your grave. While you technically could win by sending all five pieces to the grave with its Effect, Exodius does not have any protection that would keep it on the field for five turns.
8Exxod Fires Of Rage
An Exodia Trap Card
If you have one of the special Level Ten Exodia Monsters on the field, then you can use this card to wipe your opponent’s entire board. This is a pretty decent effect since it can act as both an interruption and a way to reset your opponent’s play.
It can also banish itself from the grave to fetch an Exodia piece from the deck or graveyard to your hand. It also lets you shuffle back Exodia pieces from the banish pile, which is always cumbersome. It’s not bad, just a bit slow.
7Obliterate!!!
Bouncing Monsters Back
One of the best ways to get rid of a Monster is to bounce it back to the hand. If you do this toan Extra Deck Monster, it gets sent back to the Extra Deck and your opponent has to get it out again. Obliterate!!! is a Continuous Trap that uses Exodia pieces as ammunition.
You send an Exodia piece from your deck to your grave, and you can bounce a Monster back. If it gets destroyed, you can add a piece of Exodia from the grave to your hand. It’s not terrible going first, but not ideal going second.
6Obliterate Blaze!!!
A Powerful Swing
Obliterate!! Blaze is a card that can potentially win you the game through sheer numbers. If you have a Level Ten Exodia Monster on your side of the field, you can use this Spell to destroy both back rows and then play all five Exodia pieces as Equip Spells.
Altogether, this amounts to the Exodia Monster gaining 10,000 attack points and piercing damage. This can usually win you the game if you hit anything with less than 2000 attack or defense points. The downside is it shuts down your other Card Effects.
5Exodia The Legendary Defender
Another Win Condition
Exodia, The Legendary Defender is a special card because it offers you another alternate win condition for your Exodia deck. If it manages to destroy a Dark Fiend Monster that belongs to your opponent, you automatically win the Duel.
The biggest downside to this card is that you need to Tribute Summon it using five Monsters, which eats up resources and uses up your Normal Summon. This is pretty hefty for a card that doesn’t have any protection and still needs to land a punch on a specific type of Monster.
4The Legendary Exodia Incarnate
Unaffected By Card Effects
The Legendary Exodia Incarnate has something that all the other members of its archetype seem to lack. This is some form of protection. You can Special Summon this card by Tributing a Forbidden One Monster from the field, and it comes with full immunity to Card Effects.
This means that your opponent will either have to Tribute over it with a Kaiju or beat over it. The highest attack it can have is 5000 with 1000 for each piece of Exodia. It requires some graveyard setup and lets you draw cards if destroyed by battle.
3Millennium Ankh
An Instant Fusion Monster
The Infinite Forbiddenintroduces some fresh Exodia support. Millennium Ankh is one of the best because it can Fusion Summon The Unstoppable Exodia Incarnate using the pieces from your deck. You also don’t dump them to the grave or banish them, you just show them to your opponent.
While you can’t Summon Monsters for the rest of the turn after you Activate this Spell, you can do anything you want before you use it. As long as the Monsters on the field are Millennium Monster Cards, they won’t get shuffled back when using this Spell.
2The Unstoppable Exodia Incarnate
An Easy To Summon Boss Monster
The Unstoppable Exodia Incarnate is easy to Summon with Millennium Ankh, but does it live up to its name? This Fusion Monster has protection against being destroyed by Card Effects. However, it is not unaffected, which means it can still be stolen, bounced back, or simply sent to the grave.
Luckily, this card at least has a Spell and Trap negate. It also lets you set an Exodd or Obliterate!!! Spell or Trap from your deck. If it survives long enough to do battle, you may make its attack equal to your Life Points.
1Exodia The Forbidden One
Collect All Five To Win
Dominating their place in history, the original five pieces of Exodia fromLegend of Blue Eyes White Dragonare still the best cards in the archetype. This is because they don’t need to be vulnerable on the field to win the game. They only need to be in your hand.
So what your deck needs to meet the alternative win condition, is not a powerful Monster with a high attack on the field, but rather other cards that can help you dig deeper into your deck. All the other cards also require these pieces to do anything, so these five cards become the most important resource in the deck.
