Cosmic Fortress Gol’gar – #CRMS-EN044
“Alien Ammonite” + 1 or more non-Tuner “Alien” monsters – Once per turn, you can select any number of face-up Spell or Trap Cards. Return those cards to their owners’ hands, and distribute new A-Counters among monsters on the field equal to the number of cards returned. Once per turn, you can remove 2 A-Counters from anywhere on the field to destroy 1 card your opponent controls.
Date Reviewed: October 14th, 2021
Rating: 2.88
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is awful. 3 is average. 5 is excellent.
Reviews Below:
King of
Lullaby
Hello Pojo Fans,
Cosmic Fortress Gol’gar is our Throwback Thursday choice and one I didn’t think we’d ever be reviewing to be honest.
Reptiles have gotten more support as of late, but certainly not “Alien” monsters, and Gol’gar needs an “Alien” for the Sychro Summon, in addition to “Alien Ammonite”.
A sort-of Giant Trunade effect to distribute A-Counters is good at getting multiple A-Counters on monsters. Spot removal: 2 A-Counters for a card your opponent controls, meaning at the least you’ll have to return two cards to gain two A-Counters to perform this effect. Where to start? First, Aliens don’t have much constructive support in terms of the “A-Counter” strategy. Second, the removal isn’t a 1-for-1 and typically you want that, or at least a second effect meant to even things out eventually. Third, the cards returned with the first effect need to be face-up, and while Pendulum decks are ripe for this card to abuse, you may get a deck otherwise that may have a Field Spell on the field and you don’t want to allow your opponent to get more use out of it, most Field Spells search nowadays.
Gol’gar is meant to mass spread A-Counters to work with the spell/trap cards of the archetype. It can do that, but is dependent on you using Continuous Spell/Trap cards, or your opponent doing that, and I don’t like that. The archetype has things like Alien Kid and Alien Shocktrooper M-Frame that do that sort of thing without having to depend on your opponent. The removal is a -1 for you and it just seems like this card could’ve been better. Was it so hard for Gol’gar to have 1-for-1 removal?
Advanced-1.5/5 Art-3/5
Until Next Time
KingofLullaby
Crunch$G
Throwback Thursday builds up tomorrow’s card with a classic piece of Alien support from the beginning of the Synchro era: Cosmic Fortress Gol’gar.
Gol’gar is a Level 5 LIGHT Reptile Synchro with 2600 ATK and 1800 DEF. Good Level 5 stats overall, LIGHT is great, Reptile was recently supported somewhat, even if it could use more. The summoning requirements are Alien Ammonite as the Tuner and any non-Tuner Aliens to summon. You’re really locked to the archetype here, but at least Alien Ammonite is a good card. No real consistent way to get to it in Aliens, so this is likely coming down Turn 2-3 or later, especially with Ammonite’s revival effect. Do wish it was any Alien Tuner and we got more of those, but oh well. Once per turn, you can target and bounce any number of face-up Spells and Traps to the hand to distribute A-Counters to monsters on the field equal to the number of returned cards. Pretty solid way to get your A-Counters while potentially abusing some powerful Continuous Spells and Traps again. Aliens themselves have a decent one with Code “A” Ancient Ruins. You also get another once per turn effect to remove 2 A-Counters from the field to pop a monster, which is nice removal and good to not be a hard once per turn in the case you can get multiples of these out. Overall, Gol’gar holds up decently well, even if it still needs that one specific Tuner. It can abuse the power of self-bouncing, which has always caused issues, hence Brionac’s ban and errata later on. It’s something I feel is worth having in the Alien Extra Deck, cause you 100% would want to run Ammonite.
Advanced Rating: 3.5/5
Art: 4/5 Like most Aliens, this thing ugly.
Alex
Searcy
Looks like I/we have only done this once, way back in 2009, but Throwback Thursday gives us (another, that’s two in one week) Synchro with Cosmic Fortress Gol’gar. 2600 attack on a Level 5 Synchro is great and requiring a specific Tuner, while not great, who can Synchro into this guy all but likely the Turn it hits the Field is amazing as well. (For the unaware, Ammonite lets you Special Summon a Level 4 (or lower) Alien from your Graveyard upon Normal Summon. It’s destroyed during the End Phase, but if it’s there at the End Phase, that’s your fault. Then, as Aliens do, we move into Counters where once a Turn by Targeting any number of face-up Magic/Traps, and you get new A-Counters (usually resulting in weakening your opponent’s Monsters) per card returned to the Hand(s) via this Effect. So you’re disrupting the Field, and your opponent’s Monsters, all while having at least this 2600 beast staring your opponent down. Lastly, you can (once per Turn) remove 2 A-Counters from the Field to destroy 1 card your opponent controls. I hate hate HATE destruction Effects that involve more than 1 of something; Counters, in this case. But it is open destruction to destroy a card of your opponent’s, and in any position, AND, the counters can come from anywhere, which is fantastic.
Rating: 4/5
Art: 3.5/5 I mean, I’m sure in person that would be…an experience…but on the card, it’s not that menacing.
Mighty
Vee
Cosmic Fortress Gol’gar
An oldie that I only know from Duel Links: Cosmic Fortress Gol’gar debuted in the TCG more than a decade ago in Crimson Crisis, and its age certainly shows. It’s a level 5 LIGHT Synchro reptile, and while not an Alien by name, the effect and summoning materials make it abundantly clear that it is associated with the Alien archetype. 2600 attack is quite impressive for a mere level 5 monster, with 1800 defense being par for course. You’re forced to summon it using Alien Ammonite, which is actually fine, since Ammonite will revive a level 4 or lower alien for free, making Gol’gar very accessible as long as you can get level 4 Aliens (like, say Alien Shocktrooper) in the grave through Snake Rain or “A” Cell Recombination Device.
As Alien support, Gol’gar’s effects naturally involve A-counters, both being once per turn (but not hard once per turn). Its first effect bounces face-up Spells and Traps, then distributes A-counters among monsters on the field; you can even put them on Gol’gar itself! The bouncing can help with removing your opponent’s pesky floodgates, or even removing your own to go on the offensive. You can make some silly plays with Swords of Revealing Light for a weak but potentially annoying lock. Gol’gar’s other effect allows you to remove 2 A-counters from anywhere on the field to destroy one card your opponent controls. It doesn’t target, which is surprising for a relatively old card. You’ll likely be summoning Gol’gar to help clear the opponent’s board and push for game, giving it a niche use in modern decks, but Gol’gar itself doesn’t particularly make or break Aliens as an archetype, unless you’re interested in the odd loops it enables.
Advanced: 2.5/5
Art: 3/5 It’s an alien fortress, pretty much what you’d expect.
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