[Dragon/Effect]
ATK/3000 DEF/2500
You can Special Summon this card (from your hand) by Tributing 2 monsters with 2000 or more ATK. During either player’s Battle Step, when this card battles an opponent’s monster: You can target the monster this card is battling; banish both the opponent’s monster and this card. At the end of the Battle Phase, return any monsters banished by this effect to the field, and if the other monster was an Xyz Monster, this card gains 500 ATK for each Xyz Material it had when it was banished.
The signature monster in the Photon archetype is Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon. He is Kite’s favorite monster in Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal. Kite use it to dominated his opponents, who were using XYZ monsters. Its second effect shutdown many strategies by making XYZ monsters useless and outclassed. There are many XYZ versions of him such as Neo Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon, Number 62: Galaxy-Eyes Prime Photon Dragon, and Number 107: Galaxy-Eyes Tachyon Dragon.
Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon’s first effect allows you to special summon him from your hand by tributing two monsters with 2000 or more ATK. Playing Photon Sanctuary is the easiest method to Special Summon Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon with his effect. It provides the monsters that are necessary to perform the Special Summon. Photon decks are not the only decks that can greatly benefit from having Photon Dragon in their corners. Dragon decks can easily special summon it to the field as well. Hieratic Dragon King of Atum special summons it with his effect.
He is the original anti-XYZ card. Battling and banishing XYZ monsters give 500 ATK for each Xyz Material on the monster to Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon. He can easily become a 4,000 ATK monster in one turn. This added pressure to an already 3,000 ATK will turn the game in your favor. Furthermore, you can also use his banishing ability to make a clear path for your reminding monsters to attack your opponent’s weaker monsters or directly. Furthermore, the XYZ monsters lose their XYZ Material as the material goes to the Graveyard once the XYZ monster leaves the field in any manner. They lose the resources that are necessary to active their effects.
Finally, Photon Dragon’s status as a level eight monster makes him a prime candidate for Rank eight plays. Use it as material to special summon Neo Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon to negate effects from face-up monsters on the field, and its second effect removes all XYZ Material from opposing monsters. Neo Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon is one of the most powerful cards in the game if you are able to successfully summon it to the field. If your opponent has multiple XYZ monsters with a lot of material than Neo Galaxy-Eyes Dragon also gains 500 ATK for each material that was removed for its effect, and also can attack up to that many times for each material.
Overall, Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon is a nightmare match-up against XYZ oriented decks. He perfectly counters XYZ monsters by stripping them of their XYZ Materials and gaining power to destroy them in the next battle. They will become vanilla cards without much use other then to attack. The power bonus makes him even stronger as a card. Two to three copies of Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon in a Photon deck and one copy in a dragon deck will set up your winning image.
Card Rating: 
(4 / 5)