Big Core is a big Dark/Machine.  This means it is friendly to Chaos, and has access to all those Machine goodies, like Limiter Removal.  As a Level 6 Monster, it requires one Monster be offered as Tribute to normal Summon it.  It has a 2300 ATK and an 1100 DEF.  All in all, a hair sub-par.  A good effect could offset this and turn it into a great card though…

 

It does get a complicated effect, or four tiny effects, depending upon how you look at it.  Sadly, it just doesn’t help.  The first part of the effect is Big Core places three counter on itself when Normal Summoned.  That means a Tribute Summon or Cost Down to trigger it.  The next portion is as long as there are Spell Counters on Big Core, it can’t be destroyed in Battle.  Sadly, we get another intentionally negative part of the effect: at the end of the damage step, you have to remove a counter from it.  Finally, if Big Core battles without a counter, it is destroyed at the end of the Damage Step.

 

Why do I consider that pretty bad?  Well, if this was a Level 4 or less Monster so that normal Summoning it didn’t require Tribute, even if it meant a lower ATK, it would be better.  Ironically, the higher ATK isn’t work being a Tribute, since guess what?  How often will you really be using it?  You summon it, you attack and kill something; you lose a counter.  Once you kill three Monsters with it, your opponent can kill it by suiciding any sort of peon s/he wants to into it.  2300 means that only your opponent’s two or three Tribute Monsters could have taken it out in battle normally.  Plus, this is a Machine: Limiter Removal plus Heavy Metal Support Platform is a common combo for Machines, and again, makes this effect rather pointless (it’d have a 5600 ATK after the combo).  If the effect let you keep it alive by removing a counter anytime it would be destroyed, it’d be a whole lot more useful.

 

There are nice Yu-Gi-Oh cards I found with “Big” in their names.  Four will be reviewed this week.  Of the remaining five, four were worth reviewing as much as or more than this.  That or I missed some combo.

 

Ratings

 

Traditional       : 1/5-Zap.  This thing will get nuked by Monster removal like everything else, completely invalidating its effect.  Blowback Dragon has the same or better stats and a much better effect.  Use it if you want a Dark/Machine Level 6 Monster other than Jinzo.

 

Advanced        : 1/5-When with better stats (Blowback Dragon has the same stats except for 100 more DEF) and a superior effect vying for the same 2-3 deck slots… there’s no real point in this card existing.

 

Limited            : 3.5/5-It is actually a good pick here.  It was pretty close though: most other Tributes are better.  Still, it can be offensive or temporarily Defensive, and that can be enough to win you the game/keep you from losing.  Most other Tributes are better attackers or defenders, just not so good at doing both at once.