Gaia Dragon, the Thunder Charger, is a Rank 7 XYZ Monster, with 2600 attack and 2100 defense, of the Wind attribute, who is XYZ Summoned with two Level 7 Monsters.  However, ONE of the Monsters used for said Summon can be a Rank 5 or 6 XYZ Monster you control.  XYZ Materials on said Monster also become new material for this Monster.  That's a really good thing instead of just having two material used for Gaia, you could potentially have at least three, or possibly more, although it seems a bit of a waste of effort to summon one just to use for another, but I digress.  Now, what do you get for going through this?  Just a Monster with trample...not that a Rank 7 is the hardest thing to pull of in the world (it isn't) and I find trample to be an underrated tactic in Yugioh, outside of notable things like Airknight.  The 2600 attack is good, but to go through this just for trample?  The things that really strikes me as odd, is you don't have to discard XYZ Material for the effect, or any effect, for that matter.  Meh

Ratings:

Traditional:  1.5/5
Advanced:   2.5/5

Gaia Dragon, the Thunder Charger definitely has a good chance to make a spot in an extra deck. At first glance, 2600 attack with piercing does not seam like a lot for a Xyz monster that takes two level 7 monsters. It this monster’s second summoning requirement that makes this monster special. Once you use up your Xyz materials on your Rank 5 and 6 Xyz monster’s like Adreus, Keeper of Armageddon, Tiras, Keeper of Genesis, and Wind-Up Arsenal Zenmaioh, you can then summon this monster to give you a bigger monster on the field. If your opponent has a Rank 5 or 6 monster on the field, take control of it with Enemy controller or Mind Control to special summon Gaia Dragon.
 
The other nice thing about Gaia Dragon is that you can Monster Reborn or Call of the Haunted it and still get its full effect as it does not require Xyz material. I am sure we will see more Rank 5 and 6 monsters with future sets making Gaia Dragon even more useful. If you are playing Rank 5 and 6 monsters in your extra deck, you should also have Gaia Dragon, the Thunder Charger.
 
Traditional: 2/5
Advanced: 3/5

Today we look at Gaia Dragon, The Thunder Charger. A Rank 7 Xyz, that you need 2 level 7 monsters to bring out....or so you think. Gaia lets you use a Rank 5 or 6 Xyz monster as well as a level 7 monster, also any Xyz materials that monster had gets attached as materials to Gaia. Not bad....if Gaia did anything other than inflict piercing damage. Gaia's stats are pretty good, but as far as removing Xyz materials to do anything, you're outta luck. Gaia works with other cards like Xyz Territory and Xyz Unit. Also, there's a Draw 2 for Xyz monsters that lets you detach 2 Xyz materials to Draw 2 cards who's name slips my mind, that can work well with this card too. And Oni-Gami Combo too, to have it double attack. Overall, there is too much set up for this card that really doesn't do that much, other than pierce and making it a little easier to summon IF you have a Rank 5 or 6 on your field. If did something else, it might have gotten a higher score from me.

Traditional: 1
Advanced: 2
Tomorrow: Your new Mystical Space Typhoon....sort of.

Tuesday:

Gaia Dragon, the Thunder Charger
Rk 7/WIND/Dragon-XYZ/2600A/2100D
"2 Level 7 monsters
You can also Xyz Summon this card by using a Rank 5 or 6 Xyz Monster you control as the Xyz Material. (Xyz Materials attached to that monster also become Xyz Materials on this card.) If this card attacks a Defense Position monster, inflict piercing Battle Damage to your opponent."

They just keep trying to make a version of Gaia Knight that people will play... And they missed yet again. So far, only Gaia Knight, the Force of Earth has proven usable on a competitive level and this card is nowhere near that level. GD-TC isn't the best use of resources despite having the highest flexibility in summoning conditions of any XYZ thus far. Symply getting a piercing effect for all that effort and stats that aren't anything special make this card bargain bin fodder like so many other could-have-beens.

Traditional: 1.5
Advanced: 1.5

So if Gaia the Fierce Knight gets a robotic Synchro counterpart, I suppose it only makes sense to make a robotic Xyz counterpart for Gaia the Dragon Champion?
There are only two other Rank 7 Xyzs that have no specific summoning requirements. For Rank 7, usually the best option is Number 11: Big Eye (the other is Number 7: Lucky Straight, who requires a triplet of Level 7 monsters). The way Gaia is designed, however, is that he (it?) can use a pair of any of Level 5, 6, or 7 monsters.
 
Being a Dragon is very important for Thunder Charger. He is also unique in the fact he is an Xyz Monster that does not have to exhaust his Xyz Materials for his effects. This makes it very easy to assemble his materials in a given Dragon Deck (especially considering Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon, who not only can assemble materials but can easily revive Thunder Charger, a much better revival choice than say Leviathan Dragon).
 
Being an Xyz Monster that doesn't use up Xyz Materials has small benefits. Most "support" cards that require Xyz Materials to exist are usually very situational. Xyz Burst can work as a pseudo Harpie's Feather Duster, but it works with ANY Rank 6 or higher monster regardless of materials. I suppose Xyz Gift works really well with Thunder Charger (I'd use up the material that's an Xyz Monster to be forced to return less cards to Main Deck with Pot of Avarice). Most notable of all is probably Xyz Territory, but it only works in extremely specialized Decks.
 
Now, despite being able to be summoned with only two monsters that share a Level on your field (given it's 5 to 7), it's not exactly easy to summon this in a given Deck; how often will you actually have a pair of Level 5, 6, or 7 monsters? Well, Rank 5 monsters do see quite a bit of usage in Decks such as Wind-Ups or Dark World; after exhausting all the materials on that one monster (such as Adreus, Keeper of Armageddon), substitute it for a Thunder Charger. The one Deck that undoubtedly sees a lot of use out of Thunder Crasher is Hieratics; Thunder Crasher is used a lot for their infamous dragonic OTK's. It's very easy for Hieractics to set up a pair of Level 6 monsters, Xyz Summon Hieratic Dragon King of Atum, use him to summon Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon, transition from Atum into Thunder Crasher. The end result is something like two Thunder Crashers and two Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragons (who are then used to Xyz Summon that one Rank 10 Xyz I mention from time-to-time).
 
One final dastdardly tactic I came up with is to use Mind Control or Enemy Controller over the opponent's Rank 5 or 6, plop down Thunder Charge over it, they ain't gettin it back.
 
It's cards like these that make me want to make an actual Gaia the Fierce Knight Deck.
 
Traditional: 2/5 (nice attack-increaser to Overlay upon a Rank 5 or 6 you already have out, but the Battle Step is not quite as important in Traditional and usually you want all the Extra Deck space you can afford in Trad)
Advanced: 3.7/5
Aesthetics: 5/5 You know, the piercing effect comes from the Continuous Spell "Spiral Spear Strike," which gave the original Gaia the Dragon Champion piercing ability and a draw off it as well.
 
Philosophy Corner: Game, set, match: You got served.
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