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Pojo's Yu-Gi-Oh Card of the Day
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Big Shield
Gardna
Super Rare
Warrior / Effect Monster
Negate the activation of a Spell Card that
designates this 1 face-down monster. At that time,
flip this card into face-up Defense Position. If
this card is attacked, change the Battle Position of
this card to Attack Position at the end of the
Damage Step.
Type
- Earth / 4 / 100 / 2600
Card Number
- TP5-EN002
Traditional:
Advanced:
Ratings
are based on a 1 to 5 scale
1 being
the worst. 3 ... average. 5 is the highest rating
Date Reviewed - 11.04.04 |
|
Coin Flip |
The first thing we're going to do is admire the large
DEF power of Big
Shield Gardna.
Oooh... Aaah.... Wow... Whoah...
Okay, now that that's done, say hello to the biggest
4-star defender
in the game. The first thing someone notices about
Big Shield Gardna
is, of course, its DEF. The second thing is the
effect. Here is what
someone's reaction should be: "Whoah, 2600 DEF! Oh,
it has an
effect. ::reads:: Oh God, now I see." And, for the
most part, that
is right. The effect is scarily weak - All you get
out of it is a
one-turn wall for the most part, making it a reverse
GAF, in essence.
The cool part about it is that it has a secondary
effect that will
almost always be beneficial for you. Immunity
against Change of Heart
and Nobleman of Crossout will probably win you 1
game out of 1000, and
come into play in only 30. It switches to attack
mode after attacked.
Sort of like a reverse GAF, except without any
offensive power. It
does quite well with Level Limit - Area B, though.
The bad part is
that it is a fairly useless warrior - Command Knight
is harder to kill
and has the better effect.
Rating: 3.3/5 overall. Chuck on .4 if the deck is
maxed out on Level
Limit - Area B. |
|
Tranorix |
Big Shield Gardna
Most people probably think BSG should have been the
Ultra instead of Luminous Soldier. It doesn't really
matter, though; they’re more or less just as hard to
get. Big Shield Gardna is a fun monster, and he can
be extremely useful in the correct deck. With 2600
DEF, he has the highest base DEF of any Level 4
monster or lower. Not even End of Anubis can kill it
straightaway. 100 ATK is pretty poor, though you
won’t be putting BSG into ATK.
...Of course, his effect will do that for you. The
big drawback is that BSG is only really going to
protect you from one attack. Then he switches to
Attack Position, where he's a sitting duck. You can
use cards like Book of Moon or Zero Gravity to
switch him back, but that kind of defeats the
purpose of having a great defender like him to begin
with. If your opponent has more than one monster on
the field, it's likely that BSG won't help you very
much.
Late-game, he's a great monster to topdeck. Your
opponent's Change of Heart and/or Nobleman of
Crossout won't kill him, and any monster your
opponent topdecks will likely result in HIS losing
LP from attacking your Gardna. He's a fun monster,
great for some Defense Decks (Shield and Sword or
Weapon Change, anyone?) but only a crazy little
surprise anywhere else.
Traditional – CCCC: 2.5/5
Traditional – Defense Deck: 4/5
Advanced – Defense Deck: 4.5/5 |
|
ExMinion OfDarkness |
Thursday:
Big Shield Gardna
This "Yugi card" from the show finally gets to see
play. But will it ever get into a half-decent Deck?
Basically, this is the Goblin Attack Force of
defending. It's a 4 star monster with an obscenely
high Defense score that can only block one shot
before becoming vulnerable. Most people will
outright attack F/D DEF monsters now though, so
you're most likely going to be doing that damage.
DDWL takes 1100 to remove it. The elemental
searchers (like Shining Angel) take 1,200 for
attacking it. A Spear Dragon takes 700. If your
opponent has two monsters, this thing WILL die
though, as the second shot will be hitting it while
it has 100 attack.
If that isn't good enough, IT NEGATES NOBLEMAN OF
CROSSOUT. Targeting spells can't touch this thing
while it's face-down. Your opponent would have to
waste TWO effects to get rid of it -- the Nobleman
or Tribute to the Doomed that would flip it face up,
and then another spell, trap, or monster effect to
get rid of it from there. I'd like to note that
Raigeki Break still kills this thing -- it only
blocks spells, not traps.
And finally, it's a Warrior. Like Warriors NEED any
more support. They already have a solid deck in
Marauding, Don Z, Blade Knight, Command Knight, DDWL,
Exiled Force, Mataza...searchable by Reinforcements
of the Army, pulled back by Warrior Returning
Alive...
Warrior deck typically don't stall, but they have a
way to now. And it'll be funny as heck when your
opponent cusses you out when their Nobleman doesn't
work.
Traditional: 3/5 (Only thing people use that breaks
through the DEF score is BLS, and he'd just remove
this more often than not if it's F/D.)
Advanced: 3/5 (Spirit Reaper is a slightly better
method of stall, but this just compounds on the
problem an opponent can have against decks using all
of thos continuous stall cards.) |
|
Snapper |
Big Shield Gardna
Today’s card is Big Shield Gardna, a Super Rare from
TP5 that would have
been MUCH better as just a Normal Monster. Let’s see
why.
Stats: Big Shield Gardna has 100/2600 ATK/DEF,
allowing you to search for it
with Sangan. Big Shield Gardna was obviously created
for one reason and one
reason only, to have the highest DEF of any Level 4
or lower monster. The
DEF is amazing; no Level 6 or lower monster will be
able to destroy it while
in Defense Position without some kind of power up.
It’s an EARTH monster,
which is nothing special. It’s also a Warrior,
giving you the capabilities
to search for it with Reinforcement of the Army and
Freed the Matchless
General. Stats – Good.
Effect: The effect is what makes Big Shield Gardna
utter crap. The first
effect negates Spell Cards that designate only a
face-down Big Shield
Gardna. So, that limits it to being able to negate
Change of Heart, Nobleman
of Crossout, and a few others. That’s not too bad,
but that’s about as good
as it gets because once that happens, Big Shield
Gardna is flipped into
Face-up Defense Position. Now you’re probably asking
what is so wrong with
the effect; it seems okay so far. Well, that’s true,
but it’s the last part
of the effect that makes Big Shield Gardna basically
un-useable. When Big
Shield Gardna is attacked, it goes to Attack
Position at the end of the
Damage Step. While this part of the effect won’t be
a problem if your
opponent has only one monster, if they have two, it
might as well be a
Direct Attack to your Life Points. Now in
retrospect, the effect isn’t that
bad I guess. If your opponent is going to attack a
Defense Position Big
Shield Gardna, they are most likely going to lose a
fair amount of Life
Points. It’s the after effect that earns Big Shield
Gardna a bad grade in my
book. Effect – Badish.
Combos: Big Shield Gardna combos with Level Limit –
Area B, and really
nothing else. Doing this will ensure Big Shield
Gardna stays in Defense
Position.
Usability: Big Shield Gardna works in Defensive
Decks, decks that try to
stall the opponent with high DEF monsters. It could
also be used in a Yugi
Deck, seeing as Yugi uses this card.
You could try Big Shield Gardna in a casual deck,
but it shouldn’t be used
elsewhere.
Advanced Format: 1/5. It won’t appear in a
competitive deck.
Traditional Format: .5/5. It definitely won’t appear
in a competitive deck.
Overall: .75/5.
Art: 2/5. It’s interesting I guess. I don’t know
what a gardna is but, oh
well. |
|
JAELOVE |
Thursday: Big Shield Gardna
Rated For: Any Deck
Sometimes, an object can grow so big that it has
weeds and debris cluttered around it. The shield of
this Big Shield Gardener, in fact, has grown so big
that he has to trim it and take care of it.
Yes, a ridiculous name like "Big Shield Gardna"
deserves scathing heaps of ridicule dumped upon it,
but at least one of the most famous monsters from
the show is finally making its way stateside, albeit
in a pricey and rare form.
This is no typo; Big Shield Gardna has a staggering
2600 defense! Wow! Whoa! Of course, such a monstrous
defense is not without drawbacks.
Advantage F/H: Obviously this card is intended
to be a big, bad defensive wall. It can lead to the
waste of one of your opponent's targeted spell
cards, including Change of Heart and Nobleman of
Crossout. But it won't hold out long if your
opponent has a multiple force of attack monsters.
While they may take 500-1000 points of life point
damage, the next attack will wipe out the puny 100
attack of the Gardna. Thus, he won't provide passive
field advantage for long.
Traditional: 5/10
Advanced: 5/10
Limited (highly unlikely you'll be running an all
TP5 limited draft): 7/10.
Best Draw for the Situation: This is the best
monster you can possibly set in the opening turn. He
negates almost anything in the post-ban format that
could possibly destroy him, and you'll be able to
re-use him immediately because your opponent will
only have one monster on the field. But here's the
catch; if BSG is on the field, you're basically
FORCED to take life point damage with him, because
your opponent's next monsters will ram him, turn him
into attack, then whup on him. He's a fantastic
opening drop, but after that point you're in for a
lot of trouble. Try to use tribute monsters to mask
the pain.
Traditional: 6.5/10
(More mass non-targeted removal)
Advanced: 7.5/10
Limited: 7.5/10
Attributes/Effect: He would be absolutely
fantastic with an attack strength of 1000 plus. As
it stands, 2600 is great but his secondary effect
makes it almost useless. You'll almost want to
suicide him with your own traps to prevent him from
being turned to attack position. Yet you can try to
circumvent his weaknesses through Book of Moon and
Tribute monsters. Simply tribute him the next turn,
so that he can't be used against you!
Traditional: 6/10
(Monster defense, but bad effect)
Advanced: 6.5/10
Limited 7.5/10
(Less that can hurt you)
Dependability: If you're using him as a
defensive wall, look elsewhere. Using this guy can
get you in trouble. If you're using him as almost
guaranteed tribute fodder, however, his prospects
brighten.
Traditional: 4/10
Advanced: 4/10
Limited: 5/10.
The Bottom Line: Great stats done in by a
horrible effect.
A BAD Score -- Traditional:
21.5/40= 2.69/5
Advanced:
23/40= 2.88/5
Limited:
27/40= 3.38/5
Cards it functions well with: Book of Moon, Tribute
monsters, Waboku |
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