Name: Gigaberos

Type: Creature

Civilization: Darkness

Race: Chimera

Cost: 5

Power: 8000

Effect#1: When you put this creature into the battle zone, destroy 2 of your other creatures of destroy this creature.

Effect#2: Double Breaker (This creature breaks 2 shields.)

Mana#: 1

 

Attributes: Say hello to one of the annoying normal Rare cards that I still lack even after two boxes: Gigaberos.  Gigaberos is a creature, and a seemingly strong one.  It belongs to the Darkness Civilization, and is one of their heavies.  Its race is labeled Chimera: given that the picture looks more like a gryllus.  What’s the difference?  In terms of myths, the Chimera was a unique creature of Greek myth that had the head and body of a lion, with a serpent for a tail, and a goat head sticking out of its back for some reason.  The lion-head could breathe flame, the snake head could inject potent venom, and the goat-head could… er… spout insults.  According to European myth, a gryllus was a creature that consisted of three to five abnormally large animal heads, mounted on a pair of legs of any species.  The heads could separate to attack on their own, sprouting legs (or wings for flying creatures).  Sometimes a human head would also be included.  Of course, that means nothing for this game, and neither does being a Chimera… at least not yet, as no card specifies that race for anything.  Moving on, we note that it costs five mana to summon this creature.  Since this creature has an 8000 Power, this looks great already, as normally you only get about 1000 Power for the mana you put into a creature, though as the total cost rises, this holds less true. 

 

Abilities: So, is there anything more to a Gigaberos?  You bet.  It’s a double breaker, which means that when it attacks an opponent, if the attack is not blocked, you destroy two shields instead of one.  That’s a great ability.  To balance out the high Power and Double Breaker aspects, a potent downside was added-you must destroy 2 creatures when you summon it, or else destroy Gigaberos.  Now, this isn’t too bad, and in some ways can be turned to your advantage in multi-color decks, as there are certain combos available.  Still, it does limit the card and must be noted.

 

Uses/Combinations: It’s a heavy hitter for decks that use a decent amount of Darkness.  I recommend running it with certain creatures.  Aqua Soldier has an effect that sends it back to the hand when it is destroyed, so if you already have some blue or two, it makes a decent “place holder”, being summoned to the field to be sacrificed for creatures like this.  I prefer to go green and take advantage of Nature’s bounty.  There are two creatures that go to your mana Zone when destroyed-Mighty Shouter and Coiling Vines.  While nothing special on their own, they work nicely with this creature, and ones like it.  Then there is the Bronze-Arm Tribe, a creature that places the top card of your deck into your mana zone.  With its puny 1000 Power, its sole purpose is to accelerate you mana.  So once it’s done that, you might as well nuke it with this guy.

 

Ratings

 

Newbie Format: 3.75/5-Good card for beginners, but beginners also tend to fail to carefully read their cards, and since it nukes itself if you can’t destroy two creatures, some newbies and careless players in general may hurt themselves by playing it when it can only nuke itself, making it five wasted mana.  Otherwise it’s a double breaker for a low cost that has 8000 Power!

 

Standard: 4/5-One assumes or at least hopes that people here will thoroughly know their cards.  As such, it becomes a valuable creature for Darkness stable.  Fairly fast and strong, proper use of its effect will let you set up for things that are even stronger.

 

Limited: 4.5/5-It’s less likely your opponent will have something to counter it ready here.

 

Summary

One of the best Darkness Monsters out right now, and hey, it’s only a Rare.  If you run Darkness, this should seriously be something you consider.