Lord of the Heavenly Prison debuted in the western market as a Secret Rare (SR) in the Burst of Destiny expansion. A level 10 rock type monster, it never really turned any heads nor did it see much in the competitive scene. Despite this, there's been some curious movement in this card's price recently on the secondary market.
A Shift in the Clouds
Typically, the original printings of Lord of the Heavenly Prison sell for around $2 at the best of times. There's the odd exception here or there that goes so far as $5, but this isn’t exactly wallet-breaking, to say the least.
Oddly enough, the QCSR version has suddenly exploded from its rough $3-4 to a $10 average. Some copies are already skipping into the $15 selling price range. According to the data provided at TCGplayer, the market trend shifted to a near-vertical spike around March 15th. This spike follows around 56 copies of the card being sold over the weekend.
Normally, a market shift like this is in reaction to something, or anything really. Typically, a card’s value will get hyped up because of an incoming release. Since Yu-Gi-Oh’s format allows players to use the game's oldest cards, sometimes older cards get a breath of fresh air because something new comes around that makes them viable.
Other times, a card’s value skyrockets because it or the deck it is in has seen some form of success in the competitive scene. The more a deck archetype or card shows a promise of performance at the highest levels of organized play, the more the market will shift as players scramble to purchase their own copies.
For the case of Lord of the Heavenly Prison, it might be a little mix of both with a good dose of nostalgia thrown in.
Favor from the Heavens
Roughly a week ago, Konami released their Maze of the Master expansion. This set featured several retrains and support for some of the older archetypes in the game’s lifespan. One of its main advertisements was the new Odion archetype.
This archetype was centered around the cards used by the character of Odion from the Yu-Gi-Oh! animated series.
With a focus on trap cards and a theme centered around Temple of the Kings -or cards mentioning it-, the Odion archetype was initially received with general positivity. It was considered a solid but most likely non-competitive archetype players could use to have some fun now and again.
Turns out that may not be just the case. Last March 15th, a World Championship Qualifier (WCQ) was held in Herzliya, Israel. With a modest participant population of 60 duelists, the final 8 players boiled down to competitive staples like Ryzeal, Maliss, and Blue-Eyes.
Additionally, stepping onto the plate was a player with an Odion deck. Mind you the deck at this WCQ did not run Lord of the Heavenly Prison but this may be the catalyst as to why people are now looking into this card.
The Offerings
Lord of the Heavenly Prison is a card that a player may not want more than a single copy of. Getting it to your hand aside, in a vacuum it does have something to offer to the Odion archetype.
Just by revealing it, all of the controlling player’s set trap/spell cards on the field will be given an almost permanent anti-destruction blanket. For an archetype that has a lot of focus on trap cards, especially the trap cards that can be treated as monsters like the in-archetype Apophis trap cards, this is definitely a boon.
A player can further sequence their turn by special summoning Lord of the Heavenly Prison through its own capabilities. Once on the field and if it was revealed previously, Lord of the Heavenly Prison can bring out another trap card onto the field.
Sure the trap card is on a timer as it will be banished by the end phase of the next turn. That said, the Odion archetype works wonders with trap cards. It can easily extend their line of play by bringing out Divine Serpent Apophis.
As for Lord of the Heavenly Prison itself, outside of being a 3,000 attack power beatstick, it can pair up with Anubis the Last Judge for some Superdreadnought antics with both Gustav Max and Liebe.
It’s unknown whether or not Lord of the Heavenly Prison will be that silver bullet that’ll catapult the Odion archetype into a competitive status. It wouldn’t be the first time that a rogue deck manages to steal the win from the tournament staples.
After all, there was that time back in Birmingham where the lone Fire King deck managed to beat the competition thanks to some skillful deck building and piloting, even with the odds favoring everyone else.