Was Ra really good in the Duelist Kingdom saga?

[withheldforprivacy]

According to Ishizu, Pegasus made the cards, including Gods, before Battle City, which means he had DK rules in mind. So how is it explained that the supposed most powerful of the three gods is not really strong in the original gameplay?

 

[Pyro]

Duelist Kingdom operated under different rules from the basic rules actually.

https://yugioh.fandom.com/wiki/Duel_Monsters#Basic

Pegasus didn't really give Ra effects. He couldn't even read the ancient Egyptian on the stone so he just copy-pasted it onto the card. I'm not sure if this was mentioned in the anime, but it was a plot point in the manga during Marik's duel with Mai.

 

[Papasmurf]

I think Ra's first effects requiring the tribute rule to be in effect was just an oversight by Takahashi. Marik and Yami Bakura acted like with just that effect (which seemed to be the only one normal Marik knew), Ra was powerless without tributes, and Kaiba was able to summon Obelisk without tributes in the manga version of his duel with the duel robot.

 

[Pyro]

I thought that was super odd when I first read it, but it seems the Super Expert Rules weren't in effect until the actual tournament started, unlike in the anime where Kaiba used them in his Duel Disk test and Joey's duel with Seeker used them.

 

[Papasmurf]

I liked how in the anime, Obelisk set that robot on fire and Kaiba's cards conveniently escaped it scot free 2

 

[Pyro]

I literally just noticed that today when I went back to check on the rules situation. Dude's "strongest" deck, including all 3 BEWDs, were in that robot when it exploded, yet they're all seemingly fine. Fucking hilarious. Cards in the anime are made of iron.

 

[Papasmurf]

Or maybe his deck's plot armor was just that thicc

 

[Captain Cadaver]

I liked how in the anime, Obelisk set that robot on fire and Kaiba's cards conveniently escaped it scot free 2

Obviously, with how much serious business a children's card game was to Kaiba, putting in place some high-level damage protection for his deck was the priority. We all know that in YGO, loads of company technology being destroyed is fine, but if you destroy a card? Oh, you've just committed a sin beyond all others