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Pojo's Duel Masters Card of the Day
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Image from
Wizards Duel Master site |
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Galklife Dragon
DM04
Card S4
Date Reviewed: 11.25.04
Constructed Average Rating: 2.5
Limited Average Rating: 2.6
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale
1 being the worst. 3 ... average.
5 is the highest rating. |
cecillbill
(Top 4 at
2004 GenCon
Championship) |
Galklife Dragon
In the right deck within the right meta Galklife
Dragon can be a useful removal card.
[Effects]
1. Double Breaker. Not the most precious commodity
for a creature except when tacked onto Evolutions
like Crystal Lancer or ones with versatile effects,
but it still can be handy because kill is not always
readily available and you might have a clear shot to
a player via Galklife Dragon's effect or other
means.
2. Destroys all Light creatures with power 4000 or
less. Its widespread "low-power anti-Light kill" is
the reason to play Galklife Dragon if your meta sees
a lot of Light creatures and you aren't running any
in your deck.
There are over 25 Light creatures with 4000 or less
power, and 2 can come unexpectedly as shield
triggers. Several of those creatures are Blockers,
the bane of any deck built with constant aggression
in mind, which is Fire's hallmark. A good number of
those Light creatures have effects that spell
trouble for Fire's creatures, like Miele's tap
ability that is commonly used to assist a Light
blocker with destroying one of Fire's 1-3 drops. One
of them, Mist Rias, you'll gladly love to see hit
the dirt. For those Light based Hydro Hurricane
decks, if an opponent isn't able to pop off that
signature spell by turn six, Galklife Dragon is a
suitable 7th turn play to help curb the potency of
those decks by decreasing the field count that
directly factors into the amount of mana you'd lose
to its bounce.
A downside of Galklife's effect is that as a 7th
turn play it can come too late to be the 'best
deterence' to many of Light's key plays like Diamond
Cutter, Holy Awe, and Hydro Hurricane and can't
overrun many of Light's deadliest walls that come
out before it like Gran Gure, Ladia Bale and Szubs
Kin. Hitting a Light deck with Galklife Dragon after
a Holy Awe or Diamond Cut run can still cause
trouble, but if Hydro Hurricane drops and the Light
player's field is aplenty then you can hang up
seeing Galklife Dragon hit.
Also, if your opponent has the jump on mana and
drops a card like Re Bil, Galklife Dragon may
destroy less than you'd like when it drops.
Effects Ratings:
Constructed: 2.5/5. Galklife Dragon could decrease
Light's presence on the field, which in and of
itself doesn't do much to usher in its own 6000
double breaking power unless your opponent doesn't
have power blockers out.
But, its effect could lessen the extent to which a
Light player is able to launch devastating plays.
Being limited to wiping out 4000 or less Light
creatures makes it persona non grata in decks
running Light or in metas that don't see much Light.
Limited: 2/5. Its kill effect can backfire here.
You'd possibly kill off some of your main hitters
since Shadowclash brings many Light creature pulls.
The double breaker ability is good here due to
sparse removal.
[Power/Cost]
Seven mana for a 6000 creature isn't the best thing
in the world. By that time big blockers like Szubs
Kin (a 5 drop 6000 blocker) or hitters may be out
that can deter or kill Galklife Dragon. Not to
mention that summoning sickness makes this guy a
less reliable late game hitter. Water's beefy
blocker Angler Cluster is still going to be a
problem for Fire and this guy won't pass it either
unless pumped or a Volcanic Arrows is handy. Still,
its kill effect is the reason to play this creature
if at all.
Power Ratings:
Constructed: 2/5. If you're facing big walls this
guy won't push through for hits. Many fatties in the
5 and up mana price range can destroy this guy when
tapped and unprotected. Power isn't everthing, so
it's effect is the reason duelists will run it.
Limited: 2.5/5. Blocker pulls are less prevalent as
are other fattie drops.
Still it's pricey at 7 mana.
[Other Considerations]
1. Evo Bait: Galklife Dragon can be evolved into
Überdragon Jabaha.
Überdragon Jabaha isn't an evolution that sees much
play--honestly I've yet to see anyone deck the
creature--primarily because Fire is about the early
beats, the Humans can do the pump-double breaker
thing faster, and all of Überdragon Jabaha's evo
bait are costly 6-7 mana creatures with summoning
sickness. Sure Armored Dragons have a bit of support
from cards like Pippie Kuppie, but it's still not
enough. The evo line is just too slow.
Evolution Bait Rating:
Overall: 2/5. It's a bit better than some of the
other Armored Dragons, but it really depends on what
you're trying to do with this race--and the Armored
Dragon evo creature sees little play anyways. It's
not a choice evolution line for Constructed, and
evos aren't a sizable presence in Limited play.
[Where To Deck]
Galklife Dragon is not the creature to pack if you
intend to use Light for defense and anti-Blocker
support for your attack-happy Fire lot. It has a
place in mono-Fire decks, which people will pilot
post-Shadowclash despite that build's inability to
impact the current meta. It's also a fit in
Fire/Darkness decks that have the room since several
cards from both civilizations are anti-Light.
Fire/Nature is another place of employment because
it's an aggressive deck that has problems with Light
over the course of the duel. Galklife Dragon
probably won't have a huge presence in Water/Fire
because of quicker removal choices and Crystal
Paladin. You might find room for it in decks packing
3 or more civilizations, but there are far better
kill choices for those decks that have little space
for each civilization. Above all, it's best in decks
that face a considerable amount of Light
competition, otherwise it's a costly beatstick with
dismal power for that job.
[Some Cards That Amplify The Pain]
Searing Wave, Burst Shot--sure it's redundancy, but
few things are more devastating to certain decks
than widespread field clearance that happens turn
after turn. If you were to drop Searing Wave, then
Burst Shot, then Galklife Dragon on a Light player
it's a good bet that any creatures remaining in his
field by the 7th turn are mid-range to large
creatures that guys like Valdios, Galklife, Groblav,
or Bolshack might be able to handle.
Searing Wave is heavily favored over Burst Shot
because it only targets your opponent's 3000 or less
field for the price of 5 mana and 1 of your shields.
These spells may not hit the most problematic Light
creatures--power blockers--but they can wipe away
many of Light's low powered utility creatures like
Laguna or Mist Rias. Also, it's not necessary to run
these cards in the same deck as Galklife Dragon,
although you should heavily consider Searing Wave if
you're playing with Fire.
[Format Ratings Overall]
1. Constructed: 2/5. Okay in metas with a sizable
number of Light decks, which do exist as it turns
out. LOL. If Light is sparse then so is this
creature's usefulness.
2. Limited: 2/5. A lot of Shadowclash's Light
creature offerings are 4000 and below. But,
considering that the bulk of your creatures might be
Light and low powered guys too, this creature can be
a double edged sword. If you don't pull heavy Light
in Sealed or Draft, then Galklife Dragon could be an
okay pull.
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Knives101 |
Galklife Dragon
Ohh, what an evil text. "Let the Skies Burn!!" This
card just looks cool. If only it had an effect that
I could use VS every deck. Shadowclash introduces
Duel Masters to what I would like to call
Paper/Rock/Scissors tactics.
Certian cards in Shadowclash are only really
effective VS certian decks.
Galklife Dragon is the Rock, and Light decks are the
Scissors. I really don't think it is fair for a
Light deck to lose, because his/her opponent was
running Galklife. I feel the same way about
Photocide, and Aeris, being ran agianst the opposing
color. Oh well, there is good news. None of these
Paper/Rock/Scissors cards makes winning impossible
for the unlucky player.
It's just a little harder, to win this time around.
That's all. Anyway Galklife Dragon is great in a
Meta that is Light Dominated. Otherwise this card
isn't that great.
Rating: 3
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Jordyce |
GALKLIFE DRAGON:
It's me again. Back again. Back to please. Well if
you enjoyed my last review, you should enjoy this
one. Sorry I didn't review King Aquakamui, I just
got Kaijudo Showdown. (expect a review)
Anyway, Galklife Dragon is the flaming super rare
from Shadowlcash, and he is a god in light
destruction. You play him at 7 mana, and by that
time your mono-light opponent will probably have at
least 3-4 creatures, most likely under 4000 power
and with Galklifes effect you would probably
devastate your opponent. But that does have a catch.
If you play in a heavy mono-light, shadowclash theme
light-nature or mana bouncing Hydro Hurricane meta
game then playing 1 or 2 of these cards would be OK
in a fire deck not focused on rush. It could also
fit into a dark/fire deck as well. However, if you
are facing Gran Gure, Ladia Bale, Szubs Kin or
another powered up light card than not only will
this creatures ability not work, it's dead if it
attacks.
WIth only 6000 power, not an unblockable and it has
Double Breaker slapped on this really useless
against other decks. At least other fire cards like
Scarlet Skyterror and Metalwing Skyterror are more
viable for use because they take down a variety of
decks and colors with blocker-killing.
His effect is a little weak to be game breaking,
considering Light has high power, low cost blockers
that if powered up, evolved will kill this card. My
final rating:
CONSTRUCTED: 2.5/5.0 - Light is a popular color, and
as we know - more light = more playable.
LIMITED: 3.0/5.0 - There are lots of light in
Shadowclash, but you'll probably be playing with
light anyway - and you don't want to kill your
creatures.
ARTWORK: 4.0/5.0 - Average SR style art. Cool, but
not amazing.
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Parshathrules
8391 |
Galklife Dragon
Another seven drop, this time red and a double
breaker. 7 for 6000 isn’t always a good trade off,
but with the right effect…
Nope. Red mass destruction comes better in Searing
Wave then in this guy. If your opponent isn’t
running Light, his effect is useless, and even if he
is, he can’t take care of blockers like Gran Gure
and Skyforce. I’d rather use one of the
blocker-hating Skyterrors over this, as they would
be much more effective against most light, and could
do some damage to blue and black as well.
In limited, he has but six targets, one being Mist
Rias. Then again, you have a 6000 double breaker.
Not bad, I suppose.
Constructed: 2/5, Red has better choices.
Limited: 3/5, double breaker that can take care of
the common limited color, light.
-Parshathrules8391 |
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