Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Story of Exodia, the Forbidden One!

Exodia the Forbidden One is one of the most iconic cards in the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise, being well known for its auto-win condition and its use by Yugi Muto in the anime's first episode.

Despite this, many don't know about its origin and history, so I bring this article, so you can stay on top of this lore!

"Exodia" is a Spellcaster-Type and Darkness Attribute monsters archetype, with the first member released in Legend of Blue Eyes White Dragon (first set of the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG) and its first support released in the Millennium Box Gold Edition. The archetype is focused on alternate victory conditions and is related to the "Forbidden One" archetype.

However, "Forbidden One" cards are not considered "Exodia" cards, except Exodia the Forbidden One, which was one of the first 5 Effect Monsters released and the first card to have an alternate win condition. .

In the beginning, even before the counting of time, while the gods appeared, a beast of incalculable power also appeared, its name was Exodia. His power was so great that even the gods feared him and, being immortal, the only way out was to seal the powerful creature.

Using all the energy in the universe, the gods created a sacred seal capable of imprisoning the mighty Exodia and they did so, however, its power was so great that it was necessary to seal it in 5 parts. Thus, Exodia would be known for generations to come as “The Forbidden One”.

As the years passed, Exodia fell into obscurity and for most was nothing more than a legend, but some still believed that he would return to purify this world. Great monuments were erected, those that came to life being filled with the energy of summoning rituals in an attempt to contact Exodia.

Dark contracts were made, but all they got was to summon Exodia Necross. A weaker form, but still more powerful than many of the creatures of that time.

However, one day a great evil threatened this world, so a powerful sorcerer of the Egyptian royal family managed to free part of the chains of the mighty Exodia. He was reincarnated and emerged to fight alongside the sorcerer. However, his form depended on the life force of the one who summoned him, unable to release the maximum of his power.

But the legendary being will return one day in its next incarnation called Exodius the Ultimate Forbidden Lord, the one that gradually absorbs its power from its sealed form and after absorbing the energy of the 5 parts it can defeat anyone.

The story of Exodia and its appearance were inspired by the myth of the god Osiris, the main god of the Egyptian people, and considered by them to be a powerful and magnificent being. However, he would meet a tragic end at the hands of his brother Seth, who was filled with jealousy and desired to take over his throne.

Seth cut Osiris into several pieces and scattered them throughout Egypt. So, his wife Isis set out to pick up the pieces, and as soon as she did, she brought him back to life long enough for them to have their son Horus. After that, Osiris went to the realm of death and became the ruler of that world.

The Exodia FTK deck works in an elementary way and has a single victory condition: Win the duel through the auto-win effect of Exodia the Forbidden One, plus it must be done in just one turn.

For this, the deck is focused on generating spell counters for the Royal Magical Library to draw more and more cards, until you gather all 5 parts of Exodia in your hand, reaching your win condition!

For that to happen, you need several Spell Cards to help you draw cards and “reduce the deck”. Tri-Horned Dragon and Dragon Core Hexer are only here because they are normal Level 8 Dark Attribute Monsters, so they are seekable by Summoner's Art, as well as “combat” with cards like Allure of Darkness and Trade-In. Also thinking about the synergy with Allure of Darkness, the “Toon” engine uses 3 copies of Toon Table of Contents and 1 Toon Dark Magician.

Another engine that is part of the deck is the “Bamboo Sword”, which generates counters for Royal Magical Library with Cursed Bamboo Sword and Broken Bamboo Sword, and draws cards with Golden Bamboo Sword.

Cards like Golden Bamboo Sword and Hand Destruction help you "fix" bad hands, while Upstart Goblin, Card of Demise, Into the Void, One Day of Peace and Pot of Duality are here because they allow you to draw 1 card without major difficulties. And finally, Pot of Avarice, which isn't a great card since it increases the number of cards in the deck, but it is necessary in case one of the parts of Exodia ends up in the graveyard.

Last but not least, the deck is finished with 1 copy of each part of Exodia: Exodia the Forbidden One, Right Arm of the Forbidden One, Left Arm of the Forbidden One, Right Leg of the Forbidden One, Left Leg of the Forbidden One, which are run as one-ofs since they are limited by the banlist.

But what do you think of Exodia? Tell us here in the comments.

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