Number 106: Giant Hand

This is one of those monsters I’ve never gotten on board with. Giant Hand has seen a period of serious play, but there are so many downsides to him, it was easy to see why he dropped off after a while. There’s just too many “what if’s” with 106. What if he had only needed to use one material instead of two? What if he had ATK higher than Dark Magician Girl? What if he negated any monster effect, instead of just those on the field? What if the effect remained negated, even if Giant Hand left the field? What if he was anything but a Rock type?

There are just too many reasons not to summon Giant Hand, and as much as monsters rule the game today, it’s also too easy to overcome such a simple little roadblock. I don’t see a great future for him either, unless a revival of the rock type makes great use of him. There’s a smorgasbord of excellent Rank 4 monsters and only 15 extra deck spaces. And synchros are demanding more and more of those spaces as time goes by. If we debate whether or not to include Castel in many decks, there’s definitely no room for Giant Hand.

Advanced: 2/5

Future Potential: 2/5

Hello Pojo Fans,
 
The hand behind the series pulling the strings perhaps? Maybe not. Number 106: Giant Hand is a Championship series card that was also in Premium Gold.
 
Standard Rank 4 requirements, EARTH doesn't have too much mainstream support, same with Rock-type, but that's okay. Two Xyz materials to negate effects of one effect monster is a fair trade. Giant Hand will also prevent a position change of that monster, which may or may not come in handy. If it is a weaker monster it won't matter much because you are likely to run it over next turn. Also, if they summoned the monster on their turn and you activated Giant Hand's effect, they weren't switching its position anyways without the help of another card(s). If it prevented an attack instead it would be more helpful in the case of boss monsters attempting to use effects like BLS.
 
Not as good as it could be, but if you wanted an Xyz that could give you a quick effect negation this is alright.
 
Advanced-3/5
Art-3/5
 
Until Next Time

The penultimate prize card is here. Number 106: Giant Hand is a Rank 4 Earth Rock-type XYZ monster with 2000 Atk and 2000 Def. It's generic and therefore splashable in decks that can summon Rank 4 monsters. It is also Earth which gives it some inherent protection from decks that like to counter top tier decks which are and will always be Light and/or Dark. 2000 Atk isn't strong enough to matter, and really makes me prefer to sit on Traptrix Rafflesia in Def (2500), instead of Giant Hand. The main problem with Giant Hand is that its effect costs both XYZ material. On top of that, it targets and does not remove the single effect monster that it negates. It only negates field effects and makes that target unable to change its battle position. If the opponent doesn't have a monster that activates an effect, then Giant Hand does nothing. For targeting on field monster negation, use Breakthrough Skill. If you have space in the Extra Deck run 1 as a decent option turn one. 
 
Score: 3.5/5 Decent Rank 4 toolbox option.
Art: 4/5
 
-WarlockBlitz