There are few cards in the Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD that are so powerful that their strengths need not be explained. Raigeki is one of those cards. Its effect text is a total of 6 words, and even amateur Duelists have no trouble understanding its power. Ever since its release in the very first Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME booster set, Legend of Blue Eyes White Dragon, Duelists have trembled when faced with its text: Destroy all monsters your opponent controls.
That’s it. There’s nothing subtle about how awesome Raigeki is, and there’s no drawback attached to it. If your opponent has a monster on the field, Raigeki will destroy it. If your opponent has more than one monster on the field, Raigeki will destroy all of them. Raigeki doesn’t target those monsters – it just destroys them. There are no strings attached.
Raigeki was among the first cards ever to become Limited in the Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME back in 2002. It was also among the first cards ever to become Forbidden in the Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME, back in 2004.
Now, over a decade later, Raigeki is making its way back into Duelists’ Decks. As of October 2014, Duelists are permitted to use a single copy of Raigeki in their Advanced Format Decks. And ever since that change to the Forbidden & Limited List was implemented, Duelists have been taking full advantage of it.
Any Deck can use Raigeki to wipe out a swarm of monsters before it wins your opponent the Duel. In that sense, Raigeki can be used defensively.
But Raigeki is also amazing when used offensively by any Deck. Any Duelist can activate Raigeki before attacking with his or her own swarm of monsters, in order to land direct attacks that win the Duel.
Regardless of whether you’re using Qliphort monsters, Ojama monsters, HERO monsters, Machina monsters, Dark World monsters, Burning Abyss monsters, Nekroz monsters, or any other monsters you can think of, Raigeki will eliminate your opponent’s field and let your monsters attack directly. It’s that simple.
I remember using Raigeki in my Deck back in 2002. It was always an awesome card to draw, whether I was struggling to keep up with my opponent, or I was dominating the Duel and wanted to score a direct attack with my Blue-Eyes White Dragon and Summoned Skull.
Times have changed, but Raigeki is as powerful as ever before. Soon, you’ll be able to get your hands on a new copy of this classic card in Premium Gold: Return of the Bling!
