winged dragon of ra

===The Winged Dragon of Ra===
[[Image:Winged Dragon of Ra.jpg|right|150px|thumb|The Winged Dragon of Ra]]
The Winged Dragon of Ra is the final and strongest of the God cards. It is the key card of [[Marik Ishtar]] during the Battle City arc of the series, and is described as being so powerful even the other two God cards combined cannot defeat it. To contain this power, an extra level of protection exists on the card; besides the above mentioned qualification of possessing a Millennium Item, a special text on the card referred to as the "[[Hieratic]] Text" (古代神官文字, ヒエラティックテキスト) prevents anyone who does not recite this text from using it. The text is described in the series as a secret code known only to the highest ranking members of the Pharaoh's court.''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]''. Episode #92. January 05, 2008. Atem's version of the chant is: "Almighty protector of the sun, sky / I beg of thee, please heed my cry, / Transform thyself from orb of light, and bring me victory in this fight, / I beg of thee, grace our humble game, / But first I shall call out thy name, Winged Dragon of Ra!"

In the quarter-finals of Battle City, Marik has his servant and adopted brother [[Ghouls (Yu-Gi-Oh!)#Rishid Ishtar|Rishid]] use a counterfeit copy of the card to impersonate him, but when Rishid loses, Marik reveals himself before being consumed by his evil alter-personality.''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]''. Episode #89. January 05, 2008. Marik uses the card in his duels with [[Mai Kujaku]] (Mai Valentine in the English version) and [[Katsuya Jonouchi]] (Joey Weeler in the English version) during the finals as well as against [[Ryo Bakura]] in an unofficial duel, exploiting Ra's various powers during the duels to easily claim victory. During his duel with Yugi, Marik's evil side merges with Ra using one of its powers, and Yugi takes the chance to destroy Marik's evil side by destroying Ra and him together. Afterwards, a reformed Marik surrenders and hands the card to Yugi.''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]''. Episode #142. January 05, 2008.

Ra makes sporadic appearances after the Battle City arc. It is used in season four of the anime to battle the Leviathan, and in the final season it battles Bakura's Diabound. Unlike Slifer and Obelisk, it is able to destroy Diabound, but Bakura [[time travel|reverses time]] to prevent Ra's summoning and avoid defeat. In the anime, it also takes part in the final battle between Atem and Yugi, although Atem does not use the full extent of its power in the battle. It is not used in Atem's final duel against Yugi in the manga. Ra appears in [[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX]], when a counterfeit version of the card is stolen from [[Maximillion Pegasus]] by a rogue card designer, '''Frantz'''. By using a card of his own design, '''Mound of the Bound Creator''', Frantz is able to enslave Ra and avoid having to fulfill any of the requirements to using it. He is defeated in a duel by [[Jaden Yuki]], and the card is returned.

When summoned by sacrificing three monsters, Ra's attack and defense points become the combined attack and defense points of the sacrificed monsters.''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]''. Episode #92. January 05, 2008. Ra also has several additional powers; its owner can sacrifice a number of life points to increase Ra's attack points by the same amount,''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]''. Episode #97. January 05, 2008. and sacrifice other monster(s) to increase Ra's attack points by the sacrificed card(s) attack. Ra's final effect is to turn into a [[Phoenix (mythology)|Phoenix]] by paying 1000 life points, causing immunity to destruction and the ability to instantly destroy all monsters on the opponent's field - basically identical to the effect of the card 'Raigeki'. Unless the owner keeps paying the additional 1000 during each of his/her following turns, '[[Phoenix (mythology)|Phoenix]] mode' only lasts until the end of the turn it is activated in.''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' Episode #139. January 05, 2008. However, the exact manner in which any of these powers activates varies from duel to duel in the series{{fn|2}}, and because Ra's card text is written in the unreadable Hieratic Text, its true effects cannot be determined.

The first version of the God Cards was released by [[Ubisoft]] as a privilege for those who made a pre-order of the Japanese [[Game Boy Color]] game ''Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters 4: Battle of Great Duelist'' released on December 7, 2000. The second set was released by [[Konami]] on April 17, 2003 as special pack-in cards in the [[Game Boy Advance]] game ''Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters International — Worldwide Edition'', the Japanese version of the English-language ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! Worldwide Edition: Stairway to the Destined Duel]]''.

Unlike previous versions, the third version of the God Cards was not released simultaneously. ''The Winged Dragon of Ra'' was included as a limited edition card in the ''Yu-Gi-Oh! The Dawn of Destiny'' game for [[Xbox]], released March 23, 2004. ''[[Slifer the Sky Dragon]]'' was released as a special pack-in card for the [[ani-manga]] of ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: The Pyramid of Light]]'', published November 23, 2004 by [[VIZ Media]]. ''[[Obelisk the Tormentor (card)|Obelisk the Tormentor]]'', finally, was released as a free gift to subscribers of [[Weekly Shonen Jump#United States Shonen Jump|United States ''Shonen Jump'']] in May 2005.

Obtaining the God Cards once demanded high prices on the [[secondary market]]. This was prior to their current widespread availability. During this time, countless counterfeit copies were made and distributed primarily throughout [[Iraq]], causing widespread warning articles on the internet and in card price guides on how to avoid paying for counterfeits and ensuring authenticity.