Knightmare Gryphon – #GEIM-EN041
2+ monsters with different names
If this card is Link Summoned: You can discard 1 card, then target 1 Spell/Trap in your GY; Set it to your field, but it cannot be activated this turn, then, if this card was co-linked when this effect was activated, you can draw 1 card. You can only use this effect of “Knightmare Gryphon” once per turn. Special Summoned monsters on the field cannot activate their effects, unless they are linked.
Date Reviewed: January 14th, 2021
Rating: 3.58
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is awful. 3 is average. 5 is excellent.
Reviews Below:
King of
Lullaby
Hello Pojo Fans,
Knightmare Gryphon is the Throwback Thursday choice and and one you could see in the archetype we’ve covered this week.
A Link 4, Gryphon is a 1-for-1 off its Link Summon. Getting back a spell/trap can be very useful, even if you can’t use it this turn. Defensive traps like any of the Solemn cards or an archetype Counter Trap would fit with Gryphon’s effect just fine. Spells you want to use immediately and that is where Gryphon loses some playability. Like all Knightmare Link Monsters you get another effect when co-linked to draw a card. Summon Gryphon to a link point and +1 off the first effect. 2500ATK is respectable, and Gryphon is, as described above, useful. Often times though there are just better Link 4 monsters. When it was released we still had Firewall, and now we have things like the Borreload monsters, Apollousa, and even Link 3 monsters that may gain you more advantage than Gryphon.
It is a good Link 4, especially when you can use two Link Monsters you summoned rather easily and have gotten their effect(s) off, like the Evil Twins, but there just may be better choices.
Advanced-3/5 Art-3.5/5
Until Next Time
KingofLullaby
Crunch$G
Considering how great Knightmares can be for Evil Twins, it’s fitting we look at their Link-4 with how easily they could summon it, so Throwback Thursday leads us to Knightmare Gryphon.
Gryphon is a Link-4 LIGHT Fiend with 2500 ATK and arrows pointing Up, Down, Left, and Right. 2500 ATK is the base line for solid Link-4 bosses, also being LIGHT and Fiend works well with Chaos strategies and especially the Twins. The arrows are also great considering the Knightmare gimmick is to co-link, which Evil Twins had great arrows for. The summoning requirements are 2 Monsters with different names, which is pretty simple to do. Upon being Link Summoned, you can discard a card to set a Spell/Trap from the graveyard that can’t be activated that turn, and then draw if this was co-linked. Retrieving a good Trap could be great off this, or one of your power Spells to use later potentially, and this is also pretty easy to co-link in Evil and Live Twins considering the Twins themselves have good arrows to co-link, you can use the other Knightmares, and Unchained Abomination at least points down for you. This is a hard once per turn effect on Gryphon, which is fine since you’re likely only using 1 with Link-4s requiring a good amount of resources from time to time to make it hard to justify dedicating Extra Deck space to multiples. The other effect is a floodgate-like effect where Special Summoned Monsters cannot activate their effects unless they are Linked. This can be a hard effect for the opponent to deal with, especially if you don’t give them an arrow by making sure this doesn’t enter the EMZ. You would have to get this Linked on summon to use the effect to gain a Spell/Trap back, so that is something to consider. Either way, Gryphon is a nice final boss for the Knightmares, even if cards like Unicorn and Phoenix are more popular.
Advanced Rating: 4/5
Art: 4.5/5 Knightmares have cool color schemes while also looking terrifying, each one matching a Mekk-Knight with this one being Purple Nightfall I believe.
Alex
Searcy
A BIG Link Monster for Throwback Thursday, in Knightmare (love the pun) Gryphon. Link 4, 2500 attack, arrows to the direct above and below, as well as the direct left and right, Light/Fiend (love this too as it’s ever growing more common) requiring 2+ differently named Monsters for a Link Summon. So a Link Summon nets you a Magic/Trap from your Grave to your Field, but it can’t be activated that Turn. Said card is Targeted. Cool to get a resource back to the Field even if you have to wait a Turn to use it. You net a Draw also if this card was co-Linked when the prior effect happened. The Draw effect is optional, too, which is fun, late game that can prevent you from Decking out, assuming a game were to go that long. The real meat here is that Special Summoned Monsters can’t activate effects unless they’re Linked. Obviously in the right build, this should be glorious for you, but it could really hurt and slow the opponent down. A nice splash in our Evil Twin Theme, its own, and beyond this week.
Rating: 3.75/5
Art: 4.5/5 I do rather like this. But the Gryphon almost blends too well into the background art here.
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