[Blue-Eyes Black]

TLM-EN036
Elemental Hero Thunder Giant
LIGHT/Warrior/Fusion/Effect/6/2400/1500
"Elemental Hero Sparkman" + "Elemental Hero Clayman"
This monster cannot be Special Summoned except by Fusion Summon. Discard 1 card from your hand to select and destroy 1 face-up monster on the field with an original ATK that is less than the ATK of this card. You can only use this effect once per turn, during your Main Phase.
ULTRA RARE/ULTIMATE RARE

Elemental Hero Thunder Giant is the second of the two Elemental Hero fusions in the English game. It fuses the other two Elemental Heroes currently available, Elemental Hero Sparkman and Elemental Hero Clayman. What's so nice about these Elemental Heroes? Sparkman has the highest ATK of the non-fusion Elemental Hero monsters (1600) and 2nd highest DEF of the Elemental Heroes (1600), while Clayman has the highest DEF of the Elemental Heroes (2000). The only bad news? Clayman has the lowest ATK of the non-fusion Elemental Heroes (800). That?s fine, though, because if you use Chorus of Sanctuary (Field Spell Card: Increase the DEF of all monsters on the field by 500 points), their DEF values jump to 2100 and 2500, respectively. In other words, they become hard to destroy in battle. That'll help you if you HAVE to play one of the monsters to the field in Defense Position. Sparkman and Clayman also get all the benefits of the other two non-fusion Elemental Heroes, Avian and Burstinatrix, except that Sparkman looses the ability to be searched by Sangan and Shining Angel. However, Sparkman and Clayman get all the other pluses of being Warriors (Command Knight, Marauding Captain, Reinforcement of the Army, The Warrior Returning Alive, etc.). But this review is about Thunder Giant, not the Elemental Heroes, so let's get to it.

Elemental Hero Thunder Giant is similar to Flame Wingman. He's a Warrior with Level 6 and can't be Special Summoned EXCEPT by a Fusion Summon. However, Thunder Giant packs 2400 ATK and 1500 DEF, 300 points higher for each. Assuming you can power up Thunder Giant just a little bit, you can burst through frequently-played Tribute Monsters like Jinzo and Airknight Parshath, while at the same time having a high enough DEF as to protect it from Tsukuyomi destroying it after flipping it to face-down Defense Position. It gets Warrior power-ups, so it's not too difficult to get its ATK higher. "Yeah, I know. I LOVE high ATK values. That means I can attack and destroy just about anything out there." Well, that's true when battling, but this monster when used properly could take out TWO monsters in one turn (one of which IS through battle)? Interested? Read the next paragraph.

Elemental Hero Thunder Giant has the ability to destroy just about any monster by discarding 1 card from your hand! Well, kind of. As long as their original ATK is higher than Thunder Giant's current ATK, you can destroy one monster by discarding 1 card from your hand. So that means if you're looking at a Goblin Attack Force and manage to Fusion Summon this monster, you can discard that Thunder Dragon you?re not using to destroy Goblin Attack Force since 2300 is obviously less than 2400. Original ATK gets tricky. Let?s say your opponent Normal Summons their Fusilier the Dual-Mode Beast with no Tributes. By Fusilier's text, its original ATK becomes 1400. If you can get Thunder Giant out and they keep the monster at an original ATK of 1400, you can discard one card to select Fusilier and destroy it. Normally, though, you?re looking at the printed ATK on the card. For example, if Goblin Attack Force's ATK can get up to 4500, its original ATK is still 2300 and makes him a prime candidate for Thunder Giant's effect. You can only use the effect once per turn during one of your own Main Phases, but that's only fair for so powerful an effect.


Final Thoughts: Beware of cards like Thousand-Eyes Restrict, Fusilier Dragon the Dual-Mode Beast, and Black Luster Soldier ? Envoy of the Beginning. You should be easily able to take care of them, though, as long as you use Thunder Giant after those monsters are Summoned OR you can save Thunder Giant for later (Interdimensional Matter Transporter, anyone?). Just make sure you can get its ATK up above 3000, usually by either Command Knight + The A. Forces (minimum of 3200) or by a single United We Stand.


Ratings:

Traditional Tournament: 6/10. You?ll have Imperial Order to help you against Harpie's Feather Duster, Raigeki, etc. You can easily raise his ATK so you can take out just about any monster. It actually has an advantage over Chaos Emperor Dragon ? Envoy of the End. A Fusion Summon will take 3 cards from your hand and/or field. You put 1 monster on the field. You saved yourself 900 points of damage, but you'll end up adding 300 by Fusion Summoning the monster. You saved yourself 600 Life Points, which MIGHT be enough to keep you alive should Chaos Emperor Dragon?s effect occur. What hurts its tournament rating is how fairly weak the Fusion Material Monsters are, but in a LIGHT-themed Warrior deck Sparkman might prove to be formidable by itself.

Traditional Casual: 10/10. Run this monster and its Fusion Material Monsters and Polymerization in 3s in a Warrior-based Elemental Hero deck. Just make sure you carry at least 2 Magic Jammer and an Imperial Order.

Advanced Tournament: 8/10. You don't have Imperial Order, but you also don't have to worry about Harpie's Feather Duster, Raigeki, etc. Again, raising ATK is easy, especially in this format. It holds no advantages over Chaos Emperor Dragon since Chaos Emperor Dragon is banned. Just watch your timing on activating this card?s effect. This monster gets 2 additional points because none of the 3 monsters (Sparkman, Clayman, Thunder Giant) are easily succeptible to being attacked after Tsukuyomi might flip them face-down, unlike some of the more popular monsters used in Chaos decks.

Advanced Casual: 10/10. See my Traditional Casual rating. Instead of Imperial Order, though, add in 1 more Magic Jammer since Imperial Order is banned.



My next CotD Review: Brain Control, this Friday (7/15).

[Modi]

will if i have to give my opinion this review is great you saud every part of it's power but you didn't say what is it's downfalls
in my opinion it's downfall in it's own deck is it's way to summon it neeeds its two monsters and oplemyrzation if you succeeded in getting the three cards traps like bottomless trap hole can make you lose 4 cards on one turn and this is very bad

[Blue-Eyes Black]

modi, on Jul 12 2005, 03:16 PM, said:

will if i have to give my opinion this review is great you saud every part of it's power but you didn't say what is it's downfalls
in my opinion it's downfall in it's own deck is it's way to summon it neeeds its two monsters and oplemyrzation if you succeeded in getting the three cards traps like bottomless trap hole can make you lose 4 cards on one turn and this is very bad

You're right. I'm not listing the downfalls. Why? Any downfalls I list are inherent of all the kinds of monsters he is.

Beatdown-ish: Bottomless Trap Hole
Activated Effect: Divine Wrath
Fusion: Magic Jammer (rarely used), Solemn Judgment (negating Polymerization), Mispolymerization (possible), De-Fusion.
Any Monster: Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning, Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the End, Chaos Sorcerer, Raigeki, Dark Hole

However, the only cards on that list that are heavily played are Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning and maybe Solemn Judgment. But all cards have problems with those two cards, so it almost goes without saying.

I'll tell you what's a downfall: Even though it's Level 6, you cannot use Magical Scientist or Summoner of Illusions to Special Summon it. However, if you're running Magical Scientist you're usually running either Scientist One-Turn Kill or a Spellcaster deck that can Special Summon some Sanwitches as Tribute food for Sorcerer of Dark Magic or to more easily Special Summon the LOD fusions (Dark Baltar the Terrible, Ryu-Senshi, Fiend Skull Dragon) to help counter cards.

Besides, I'm a bit of an optimist. I usually see mainly good in Monster Cards. Spell and Trap Cards, though, are a whole 'nother matter. They can go either way.


A proper deck that wants it to work will find a way to protect his/her monsters.

Bottomless Trap Hole, Mispolymerization: Royal Decree, Jinzo
De-Fusion: Magic Jammer, Imperial Order (Traditional)
Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning: Summon it later in the game and Equip it with at least a Malevolent Nuzzler. Or use cards like Solemn Judgment or Divine Wrath.

As well as needing the two specific monsters, there's Sangan for Clayman and there's Reinforcement of the Army for either Sparkman or Clayman. Essentially, once you get Sangan and Reinforcement, you've got the two Fusion Materials, essentially giving you up to 4-5 ways to get out each Elemental Hero. As well, you've got Fusion Sage and King of the Swamp (AST Rare) to help search for Polymerization. You can also use Fusion Gate if you don't care about having your Elemental Heroes removed from play. With all those combos, you've got up to 12 ways to make sure you have the ability to fuse your Elemental Heroes readily at hand.

[Blizz3112]

One big downside is that the monster cannot destroy face-down monsters... I'd prefer Zaborg in this case... Even so, your opponent isn't going to Summon monsters with an ATK lower than Thunder Giant, because that would be a waste of a monster...

[Blue-Eyes Black]

Blizz3112, on Jul 13 2005, 11:58 AM, said:

One big downside is that the monster cannot destroy face-down monsters... I'd prefer Zaborg in this case... Even so, your opponent isn't going to Summon monsters with an ATK lower than Thunder Giant, because that would be a waste of a monster...

That's not much of a problem. You could use Ceasefire to help in doing damage (and an okay combo with Flame Wingman), The Spell Absorbing Life to help you keep your Life Points up, and Swords of Revealing Light to stall. In all cases, you gain the ability to filp your opponent's monsters face-up. And if you have Sinister Serpent in your hand, well, let the fun commence!

Besides, if you play power-up cards like The A. Forces, Malevolent Nuzzler, United We Stand, Command Knight, etc., then even against a normal Warrior deck your opponent won't Summon monsters unless they can get rid of the threat. So it's almost a non-issue in a Thunder Giant-based Warrior theme, anyway.

[Mickey]

*looks at prestons posts @_@ arr dont think I'll read them XD*

GJ you finaly have some free time anyways. Maybe you could duel xyz (hes a super mod) to shut him up for once so he gets totaly pwned ^^

[Stormfierce]

THis is a very intresting card and all the things Blue-Eyes mentioned are relevant and accurate.

However i find that after getting this fusion summon on the field (which is always harder then normal summon) you could be low on cards in hand.

The main problem will be encountered with Dark Rules Ha Des, the Monarchs and Jinzo, since it says 'with an original attack that is LESS then 2400' so you can't target monsters with 2400 or more attack power and that kinda hurts a lot.

But you have a 2400 monster and that pretty nice with a very good effect too that makes up for the defiances mentioned above.

Also you can only target face-up but thats not much of a problem.

This post has been edited by Stormfierce: 21 August 2005 - 08:06 PM

[Blue-Eyes Black]

Stormfierce, on Aug 21 2005, 03:05 PM, said:

THis is a very intresting card and all the things Blue-Eyes mentioned are relevant and accurate.

However i find that after getting this fusion summon on the field (which is always harder then normal summon) you could be low on cards in hand.

The main problem will be encountered with Dark Rules Ha Des, the Monarchs and Jinzo, since it says 'with an original attack that is LESS then 2400' so you can't target monsters with 2400 or more attack power and that kinda hurts a lot.

But you have a 2400 monster and that pretty nice with a very good effect too that makes up for the defiances mentioned above.

Also you can only target face-up but thats not much of a problem.

Re-read that part of the effect.

Quote

Discard 1 card from your hand to select and destroy 1 face-up monster on the field with an original ATK that is less than the ATK of this card. You can only use this effect once per turn, during your Main Phase.

While the opponent's monster needs to have an original, unmodified ATK point check, Thunder Giant only needs to check its current ATK.

So let's say you're looking at a situation of Thunder Giant vs. Blue-Eyes White Dragon (Special Summoned through Paladin of White Dragon in the previous turn, so it couldn't attack). You have 2 cards in your hand and draw Axe of Despair.

Equip Thunder Giant with Axe of Despair. Thunder Giant now has 3400 ATK.

Discard a card from your hand (preferably Sinister Serpent if you have it) and declare that you're destroying Blue-Eyes White Dragon.

You check the ATKs. Blue-Eyes White Dragon's original ATK is 3000. Thunder Giant's current ATK is 3400. 3000 is less than 3400, so Blue-Eyes White Dragon is destroyed.

[TwilightZero]

Very cool. Another card that could a problem for all fusions including this one, is probably Cursed Seal Of The Forbidden Spell, unless of course that card's banned...xD

[Blue-Eyes Black]

TwilightZero, on Nov 28 2005, 11:17 PM, said:

Very cool. Another card that could a problem for all fusions including this one, is probably Cursed Seal Of The Forbidden Spell, unless of course that card's banned...xD

Or unless you have other means at your disposal.

Let's say your opponent uses Cursed Seal of the Forbidden Spell when you play Fusion Gate.

If you're really trying to get the Elemental Hero fusion monsters out, you won't use multiple copies of 1 Spell Card to do it. You'll use multiple copies of a few Spell Cards to do it.

You'll use at least 2 Polymerizations and 2 Miracle Fusions, so Cursed Seal of the Forbidden Spell just lets you know that you can discard Fusion Gate when your hand reaches 7+ cards at the End Phase of your turn.


Of course, add in the fact that no one competetively plays Cursed Seal of the Forbidden Spell in major tournaments (Regionals, Nationals, and Worlds) and you have a low likelyhood of actually facing Cursed Seal of the Forbidden Spell. If you're too afraid of it, though, you can always use another of Jaden's cards, Solemn Judgment.

[Deckbuilding master3]

Well if you really wanna do some damage with thunder Giant I recommend equipping him with fusion weapon. That'll give him a nice 1500 attack point boost, bringing him up to 3900 and to protect him from you opponents pesky traps, monster effects, and magic cards equip him with a metal silver armor to protect thunder giant. That'll mean he can only become vulnerable once your opponent destroys your magic and trap cards, wich you could protect.

[soulis]

That's the reason that i don't have make a Elemental Hero Deck.I don't have this card, that's powerful because he can destroy a monster with original attack lower than Thunder Giant's attack.It's useful when the opponent has a monster with equipped magic cards and an original attack<2400.

[DragonSword89]

"This monster cannot be Special Summoned except by Fusion Summon"
Does this mean I can't bring him back from the graveyard with Monster Reborn?

[Blue-Eyes Black]

DragonSword89, on Dec 21 2005, 07:21 AM, said:

"This monster cannot be Special Summoned except by Fusion Summon"
Does this mean I can't bring him back from the graveyard with Monster Reborn?

That's correct.

The text literally means that the only way to Special Summon the Elemental Hero fusion monsters is to Fusion Summon them.

You do have a few options in doing this, though:

Polymerization: Just your usual Fusion Summon.

Fusion Gate: a more permanent Polymerization that removes the material monsters from play AND could be used to Fusion Summon more than one Elemental Hero fusion in one turn. Maybe use Return from the Different Dimension after you've exhausted your Miracle Fusions?

Miracle Fusion: Remove the proper Fusion Materials from your field or Graveyard for the proper Elemental Hero fusion. This helps you because you don't have to make sure your Elemental Heros survive, just make sure they don't get removed from play easily.

[VinZ07]

great fusion for an e-hero deck.

made off the 2 best e-hero normal monsters

and the ability to discard is also nice

[kojix knight of the abyss]

I like this fusion i have this fusion and all english fusions in my e-hero deck.I love those cards i just wish the stats were better.

[Gilmore]

If you ask me. E-Hero thunder gaint is still a weak monster. First of all you need to fuse it and that is alot harder than normal summoning . Even a Blue eyes white dragon is still strong even if we don't fuse it. And discarding a card from your hand to destroy one monster then what if you are in a situation where you don't have a card in your hand or the card left is very important.
E-hero thinder gaint is still a good but weak.