Today we are looking at: Number 54: Lion Heart

English
3 Level 1 monsters
This face-up Attack Position card cannot be destroyed by battle. When you take battle damage from a battle involving this card: Inflict damage to your opponent equal to the amount of battle damage you took. If this card battles an opponent's monster, during damage calculation in either player's turn: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card; your opponent takes any battle damage you would have taken from that battle.

This card instantly reminds me of Number 96: Dark mist, but made using level one monsters, and just transferring the damage instead of being able to run over the other creature. I like it, if for no other reason than the fact that its one of the best rank 1 XYZ monsters currently available for use in the TCG. If nothing else, this card lets you swing in for some free damage.

Advanced: 3/5
Traditional: 1/5

Number 54: Lion Heart
EARTH/Warrior/Xyz/Effect/Rank1/100/100
3 Level 1 monsters
This face-up Attack Position card cannot be destroyed by battle. When you take battle damage from a battle involving this card: Inflict damage to your opponent equal to the amount of battle damage you took. If this card battles an opponent's monster, during damage calculation in either player's turn: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card; your opponent takes any battle damage you would have taken from that battle.

Next we have a Number from the upcoming Number Hunters pack, Number 54: Lion Heart used by Gauche in the anime. even though it isn't a Heroic monster and he plays mostly level 4. Anyway Number 54: Lion Heart has a lot of things I like about it, it has a cannot be destroyed in battle effect, it has an effect similar to Relinquished one of my favourite monsters and it has an effect similar to Amazoness Swords Woman, except it requires Xyz materal.

Sadly though things aren't as great as they seem, first of all is that it requires 3 level 1 monsters, making it not that easy to summon, secondly its cannot be destroyed in battle only works in ATK mode, so if it goes into DEF mode it's going to the graveyard. Thirdly it requires you and your opponet to be very aggressive and I have seen from many Yubel decks that isn't going to happen.They are just going to find a way to get around your monster. This is a shame because I really want to like this card and I do, but it just isn't playable enough.

Overall, a card that is probably best left for fun duels

Traditional: 1.5/5
Advanced: 1.5/5

Rebellious Fighter Raion Hato will come to those with an indomitable burning passion for the fighting spirit and those who use a deck full of…Level 1 monsters?!
 
From experience I tend not to expect great things from Rank 1 monsters, especially those requiring three Xyz Material. Baby Tiragon uses up a lot of resources just to allow fellow weak monsters to attack directly (and is very weak itself). Gold Rat is even weaker and its effect does not provide significant advantage. Galaxy Queen is ok since she has a built-in protection effect, although it is clumsy to use. I’ve personally used Mira the Giant Star numerous times (usually with Battle Faders) since it has a protection effect that works like Gachi Gachi Gantetsu or Wind-Up Zenmaines; Mira, however, is currently a Japanese-only card and there is no telling when an English release will be. Slacker Magician is currently the best Rank 1 monster, due to her high defensive capabilities and requiring only the bare minimum of two Xyz Material.
 
So what can Lion Heart do? Do you know how annoying it is that cards like Relinquished or Number 105: Battlin’ Boxer Star Cestus can protect themselves in battle and bounce back at you any Life Point damage you do to it? Same thing with Lion Heart, you can’t wipe him out while he’s in Attack Position and whenever you attack him, you eat the same amount of damage you do to him. This causes a problem when your LP is already less than the opponent’s, because both of your Life Points will be dropping steady amounts. But wait, that’s not all! For three of those battles, Lion Heart can cancel the damage done to him and make you take twice as much! Don’t think you’re safe by switching all your monsters into Defence Position, because Lion Heart will himself be attacking anyway and still make you feel the LP burn.
 
“Wow,” I thought, as I was writing this up “that is going to be really annoying how Lion Heart will just rip chunks out of your LP and you can’t destroy it. However, nowadays there is a lot of effect destruction, and as annoying as Lion Heart is, chances are you will find a way to destroy him outside of battle sooner or later.” On the other hand, I neglected to think about two Continuous Trap cards: Xyz Tribalrival and Number Wall. Both of these cards can shield Lion Heart from effect destruction for as long as they’re faceup, and Lion Heart’s own effect protects him in battle; it’s not a bad combo that forces you to first destroy the Trap before the monster. Lion Heart's real limitation is the amount of decks that can bring him out, but most decks that run Slacker Magician can manage the more aggressive Lion Heart.
 
Trad: 1/5 (battle damage is even more irrelevant here, so you’re better off with Slacker Magician who can defend herself from being targeted or Mira the Giant Star who can defend itself from being destroyed three times)

Adv: 3.3/5 (this is the second-best Rank 1, and the clumsiness of needing three Xyz Material hurts the score to keep it from tying with Slacker Magician)

Aesthetics: 3.5/5 Lion Heart is one of the seven Legendary Numbers, seven of the Original 100 Numbers. These Legendary Numbers are special as they have a connection to the past lives of the Seven Barian Emperors. These seven Numbers are keys to the Numeron Code; both Astral and his enemy Don Thousand wish to obtain this Code for unlimited power and omniscience. At the time of this publication, it is unclear what their Number signifies, but they appear to have a deep, connected meaning. Out of the Legendary Numbers, 4 seems to represent loyalty or nobility and 5 is aggression, and Alit’s past life was a boxer that was friends with his prince. One interesting aspect, evident in Lion Heart’s art, is how much emphasis it puts on the actual heart organ rather than the metaphoric meaning of perseverance. I thought maybe the 4 in 54 represents the number of chambers in a human heart, but that feels silly.
 
Philosophy Corner: Throughout the years, I accumulated a great amount of friends, mostly from my time from high school. They've since been scattered across the world, and I am mostly estranged from them, except that I make it a duty to call each person once a year on their birthday. I practically never speak on the phone otherwise, so this annual call is often the only time I ever talk to them. In the year that passes across each time, a lot of questions tickle my mind: Are they married, did they move and the phone number is worthless, did they get in a crucial accident or perhaps die? So far, I’ve met people born from 250 of the 366 days, and I constantly try to collect more. For their birthdays, I try to submit to you a lengthy, original essay of my interpretation of them; this means often need to write multiple essays almost every day, and actually it does get rather depressing writing so many unique essays after a while. However, I grew up a lonely person; the people I've known throughout life, they mean more than family. This means it is not only easy to write the essays, they are worth doing.
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