On Thursday, March 29, Irish comedian Dara Ó Briain tweeted about filming at an Egyptian pyramid, where, he reveals, he found “an ancient and mysterious artifact, presumably left there four thousand years ago, as a warning to intruders”. That’s right, this tomb was protected by the Yugioh God card Obelisk the Tormentor.
Ó Briain explains that he found the mysterious Yugioh Egyptian God card in an alcove by King Djoser’s Burial chamber in the Step Pyramid of Djoser in Giza.
A less famous forefather of the Great Pyramids of Giza, the Step Pyramid is a little older. In fact, while it’s less postcard-pretty than those monuments, the Djoser Pyramid is notable for being the first pyramid the Egyptians ever built, and the earliest stone pyramid in the world.
Certainly a valuable find then, this ancient Yugioh card. In fact, there might be some link with this Sumerian card game that cropped up centuries later. But, being no tomb robber, Ó Briain says “I returned the rune to its resting place, on a ledge, and pray I have not angered Obelisk the Tormentor.”
It’s probably for the best. The Egyptian God cards don’t have much well-defined lore, but if there’s one we wouldn’t want to mess with, it’d be the guy with ‘the Tormentor’ in his name.
Also, while some Obelisk cards rank among the most expensive Yugioh cards available, this promo version of Obelisk, which we believe comes from the Yugioh Legendary Collection, does not.
Later on, Ó Briain clarified that he had not set the card up himself as a joke. “To be clear, we were there filming and discovered somebody had left a suitable Yu-Gi-oh card, in protective wrapper, by one of the tombs.”
What a shame! We were hoping the comedian had outed himself as an avid TCG-enthusiast. More’s the pity. Or doth the comedian protest too much? Perhaps Ó Briain’s trying to avoid an overly geeky image here and protect whatever street cred hasn’t been eroded by presenting TV shows about science and math?
We’re inclined to take the man at his word, in which case this is still a pretty cool encounter. Who knows if we’ll ever find out who placed the Egyptian God card in this pyramid, and what other treasures they might have sequestered around the Ancient world.
For more TCG content, check out this list of the best Yugioh decks, or the Yugioh release schedule for 2024.