One of the coolest cards from Primal Origin is one of the biggest Xyz Monsters of all time! Clocking in at a spine-crushing 4000 ATK, Number 62: Galaxy-Eyes Prime Photon Dragon has more attack points than any other generic 2-Material Rank 8: while Neo Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon and Number 22: Zombiestein both have 4500 Attack Points, Neo Galaxy-Eyes needs three Xyz Materials instead of two, and you can only use DARK monsters for Zombiestein.

So why’s Prime Photon Dragon so cool? It’s a great card because you can play it in two totally different ways. First, it can be a generic Rank 8 that shines in certain strategies regardless of theme. With 4000 ATK and easy Summoning requirements, Prime Photon Dragon can beat almost anything in battle and then become a giant wall to protect your Life Points. Nothing in tournaments today is big enough to take this thing down in battle.

…But pair it with (or against!) Skill Drain and suddenly it’s a Rank 8 version of Number 85: Crazy Box! Check it out…

Since a 4000 ATK Xyz Monster is kind of nuts, Number 62: Galaxy-Eyes Prime Photon Dragon has an effect that halves the battle damage it deals to your opponent unless it has regular Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon as an Xyz Material. A Galaxy-Eyes Duelist dodges that effect by playing Galaxy-Eyes to unleash Prime Photon Dragon’s full power, but other strategies can do the same thing just by activating Skill Drain. That shuts off the damage-halving effect while stumping all of your opponent’s monster effects as well.

How mean would it be to let your opponent Flip Summon Geargiarmor, then Chain Skill Drain and run over their monster next turn for 2900 Battle Damage? You can do the same thing to Traptrix Myrmeleo for 2400 damage, or stomp stuff like Sylvans, Infernities, and Artifacts right into the ground. Skill Drain’s a huge card right now, and while countless Duelists have been comboing Skill Drain with cards like Beast King Barbaros and Fusilier Dragon, the Dual-Mode Beast for years, those monsters pale in comparison to the sheer wrecking ball might of Prime Photon Dragon.

Splashable potential aside, Number 62: Galaxy-Eyes Prime Photon Dragon is also a killer boss monster for the dedicated Galaxy-Eyes strategy. This theme’s been around ever since the Zexal Collection Tin brought us Galaxy Knight and Galaxy Expedition a year and a half ago, and it got better and better with cards like Starliege Lord Galaxion and Paladin of Photon Dragon.

The Deck’s really good at Special Summoning Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon. The problem was that once you got Galaxy-Eyes on the field, there wasn’t much else to do. Overlaying for cards like Number 107: Galaxy-Eyes Tachyon Dragon and Neo Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon was costly and rarely worthwhile; it was just too easy for your opponent to knock out your one card. You were better off just keeping regular old Galaxy-Eyes on the field and keeping all your cards separate.

Prime Photon Dragon solves that problem, because it’s way bigger than Tachyon Dragon and way easier to Summon than Neo Galaxy-Eyes. It’s also got an effect that revives it two Standby Phases later if your opponent destroys it with card effects… Which is just about the only way to destroy it, since attacking over it is nearly impossible. When Prime Photon Dragon comes revives itself it even returns at a stunning 8000 Attack Points! So how do you Summon it?

The Galaxy-Eyes deck has tons of ways to Summon Number 62: Galaxy-Eyes Prime Photon Dragon. Cards like Starliege Lord Galaxion and Paladin of Photon Dragon can Special Summon regular Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon straight from your Deck. From there you can play Galaxy Expedition to Summon another Level 8 and combine them to Summon Prime Photon Dragon.

Once Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon is in your graveyard, you can Normal Summon Galaxy Knight without Tributing if you control another “Galaxy” or “Photon” monster. That Normal Summon triggers the Knight’s ability to revive Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon from your graveyard. Overlay them both and once again, you’ll have a Prime Photon Dragon with no damage reduction, plus a self-reviving ability.

On top of all that you can detach an Xyz Material from Number 82: Galaxy-Eyes Prime Photon Dragon to boost its ATK by 200 times the combined Ranks of all Xyz on the field… including itself. Even against a cleared field Prime Photon Dragon gains 1600 Attack Points just for its own Ranks alone, going to a whopping 5600 ATK.

It’s huge, it’s resilient, and it’s incredibly easy to play. Number 82: Galaxy-Eyes Prime Photon Dragon is a great pick both in and out of its themed strategy, making it one of the fiercest monsters in Primal Origin.