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Hieratic

This article is about the archetype. For the writing system, see Hieratic text.

"Hieratic", known as "Hieroglyphic" (聖（せい）刻（こく） Seikoku) in the OCG, is an archetype of LIGHT Dragon monsters. The archetype's playstyle involves having its monsters Tribute each other with their effects, in order to Special Summon themselves from the hand, activate their monster effects, or Trigger their Trigger Effects to Special Summon a Dragon Normal Monster from the hand, Deck, or Graveyard when they are tributed.

Hieratic
"Hieratic Seal of the Heavenly Spheres"
"Hieratic Seal of the Heavenly Spheres"
Japanese
  • 聖（せい）刻（こく）
  • 聖刻 (base)
  • せいこく (ruby)
  • Seikoku (romanized)
  • Hieroglyphic (translated)
Simplified Chinese
  • 圣刻
  • Shèngkè (pinyin)
  • Hieroglyphic (translated)
French
  • Hiératique
German
  • Priesterlich
Italian
  • Ieratico
Korean
  • 성각
  • 聖刻 (Hanja)
  • Seonggak (romanized)
  • Hieroglyphic (translated)
Portuguese
  • Hierático
Spanish
  • Hierático
Sets
TCG
OCG
Korean
Simplified Chinese
Anime appearances
Lists

Contents

DesignEdit

 
The artwork of "Hieratic Seal of the Sun Dragon Overlord", showing the marking based on the Eye of Horus found on all "Hieratic" monsters.

The "Hieratic" archetype is based on Egyptian hieroglyphs and the Ennead, a group of Egyptian gods from Ancient Egyptian mythology. "Hieratic" monsters take the form of either "Hieratic Dragon" monsters or "Hieratic Seal" monsters. "Hieratic Dragon" monsters take the form of luminous humanoid winged dragons wearing golden scaly armor. "Hieratic Seal" monsters take the form of metallic spheres apparently formed by the armor pieces of "Hieratic Dragon" monsters, suggesting that they have sealed up their physical bodies inside them. Each "Hieratic" monster has an "eye" symbol based on the Eye of Horus marked on its armor.

Title Hieratic Dragon Hieratic Seal Origin
Dragon Asar Osiris
Sutekh Set
Eset Isis
Nebthet Nephthys
Gebeb Geb
Nuit Nut
Su Shu
Tefnuit Tefnut
Dragon King Atum Seal of the Dragon King Atum
Sun Dragon Overlord Heliopolis Seal of the Sun Dragon Overlord Heliopolis (Ra)
Ennead (OCG name)
Sky Dragon Overlord Heliopolis
(Heavenly Spheres) (All Hieratic Monsters) Seal of the Heavenly Spheres Celestial spheres

Playing styleEdit

The "Hieratic" archetype revolves around having its monsters Tribute each other with their effects, in order to provide advantage and trigger their shared Trigger Effect to Summon Dragon monsters from the hand, Deck, or Graveyard. Excluding the "Hieratic Seal" Main Deck monsters, the "Hieratic" Xyz monsters, and "Hieratic Dragon" of "Sutekh", "Asar", and "Nuit", all "Hieratic" monsters trigger a mandatory Trigger Effect when they are tributed (regardless if from the hand or field), to Special Summon 1 Dragon monster from the player's hand, Deck, or Graveyard, who will have 0 ATK/DEF.

Hieratic Trigger Effect Summon
Gebeb "Hieratic" Normal Monster[a]
Eset Dragon Normal Monster[b]
Nebthet
Su
Tefnuit
Heavenly Spheres Dragon monster[b][c]
  1. ↑ The only monster fitting this criteria is "Hieratic Seal of the Sun Dragon Overlord", who has 0 ATK/DEF.
  2. ↑ a b Make the summoned monster's ATK/DEF 0.
  3. ↑ "Heavenly Spheres" cannot summon from GY with this effect; it can only summon from hand or Deck.

This effect allows "Hieratic" monsters to compensate for the costs of being used as tribute fodder. The replacement monster would typically be summoned from the Deck, and would typically be a Normal Monster with some beneficial properties. Common options include Level 5 or 6 Dragon Normal Monsters to enable Rank 5/6 Xyz plays, or Tuner Dragon Normal monsters (e.g. "Galaxy Serpent") to enable Synchro plays. "Nebthet" and "Su" are the main monsters with Tributing effects to engage these Tribute Trigger Effects. They both can Special Summon themselves by Tributing a "Hieratic" monster from the field, and can destroy opposing cards by Tributing a "Hieratic" monster from hand or field. The Deck's starters are "Hieratic Dragon of Tefnuit" and "Hieratic Dragon of Eset", who have easier Summoning conditions, and can still summon non-"Hieratic" Dragon Normal Monsters for more diverse plays; they would be first summoned onto the field, and then Tributed to Special Summon "Nebthet" or "Su" from the hand, triggering their Trigger Effects. The other monsters in the archetype have more varied effects.

  • "Sutekh" and "Asar" can Special Summon themselves by banishing monsters from the GY.
  • "Gebeb" and "Nuit" are Level 4 monsters that can be Normal Summoned without Tributes, and have conditional on-field effects to Summon Dragon Normal Monsters.
  • The on-field effect of "Eset" equalizes the levels of the player's monsters for Xyz plays.

The archetype's Extra Deck monsters have simple but relatively powerful effects related to Summoning Dragons and Tributing.

  • The Rank 6 Xyz "Atum" and the Link 2 "Heavenly Spheres" can both Special Summon Dragon Effect Monsters from the Deck, rather than just Normal Monsters, opening up far more combo opportunities. "Heavenly Spheres" also has an on-field disruption Quick Effect involving Tributing monsters from the hand or field.
  • The Rank 8 Xyz "Sun Dragon Overlord" and "Sky Dragon Overlord" have offensive or defensive effects, sometimes involving tributing the player's monsters.

Externally, the archetype can combo with:

Recommended cardsEdit

Recommended cards

Monster Cards

Normal Monsters

Effect Monsters

Gemini monsters

Tuner monsters

Ritual Monsters

Spell Cards

Normal Spells

Ritual Spells

Continuous Spells

Quick-Play Spells

Trap Cards

Normal Traps

Counter Traps

Continuous Traps

Fusion Monsters

Synchro Monsters

Xyz Monsters

Link Monsters

From Hieratic Dragon Deck recipe sampleEdit

Hieratic Dragon Deck
聖（せい）刻（こく）龍（りゅう）デッキ

From Deck recipe PDF version (August 2013)Edit

Vampire Hieratic Deck
ヴァンパイア聖（せい）刻（こく）デッキ

WeaknessesEdit

  • Since the archetype primarily consists of high-Level monsters with restrictive Special Summoning conditions, and requires playing Normal Monsters for maximum advantage, the archetype has issues with dead draws, as the player may draw "Tributers" but no starter for it to tribute, or draw a starter but have no "Tributers" to tribute it.
  • Since most "Hieratic" monsters require Tributing a preexisting monster to summon themselves from the hand, removing the initial monster summon before it can be tributed can shut down the Deck's plays.
  • The Deck's playstyle is directly countered by:

TriviaEdit

  • This archetype might have been released in order to celebrate the 2012 Year of the Dragon on the Chinese calendar.
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