Number 20: Giga-Brilliant (PHSW-EN042)

Card:  PHSW-EN042
Card Name:  Number 20: Giga-Brilliant
Attribute:  Light
Level/Rank:  3
Type:  Insect/Xyz/Effect
ATK:  1800
DEF:  1800

Card Text:
2 Level 3 monsters
Once per turn: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card; all face-up monsters you currently control gain 300 ATK.

Personal Comment:

Another great Xyz Monster from the Photon Shockwave release, Number 20: Giga-Brilliant is a support card that can give you that slight edge in winning a duel.  The summoning requirement is simple and it can be ran in virtually any deck (I don't know of any deck that doesn't have Level 3 Monsters).  The question is which is a better card...Number 20: Giga Brilliant or Number 17: Leviathan Dragon?

Attribute:
Giga-Brilliant - Light
Leviathan Dragon - Water
Winner - Giga-Brilliant.  This is the first Light Xyz Monster and can be played in more decks.

Level:
Giga-Brilliant - 3
Leviathan Dragon - 3
Winner - Push

Summoning Requirement:
Giga-Brilliant - 2 Level 3 monsters
Leviathan Dragon - 2 Level 3 monsters
Winner - Push

Stats:
Giga-Brilliant - 1800 ATK, 1800 DEF
Leviathan Dragon - 2000 ATK, 0 DEF
Winner - Leviathan Dragon.  The extra ATK will help it stay on the field longer.

Effect (these are lingering effects so the ATK increase are cumalative):
Giga-Brilliant - Once per turn: you can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card; all face-up monsters you currently control gain 300 ATK.
Leviathan Dragon - Once per turn: you can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card; this card gains 500 ATK.  If this card has no Xyz Materials, it cannot attack your opponent directly.
Winner - Push (this all depends on the situation during the duel)

So which card is better?  There's no correct answer (that's not the answer some are looking for but it's the honest truth).  Which card you play depends on what you want to accomplish.  If you're swarming the field with monsters, using Giga-Brilliant to boost all your monster's ATK by 300 (600 if you can detach the second Xyz Material) is absolutely brutal for an opponent to deal with.  However, the additional 500 ATK (1000 if you can detach the second Xyz Material) that Leviathan Dragon brings into play can take out most beat stick monsters your opponent might throw at you.  So whichever card you decide to run, have the other one in your side deck so you can adjust accordingly.  Don't run them both since summoning one will make it tougher to summon the other.  Both are great cards...that much I can say with certainty.

Personal Rating:
Artwork - 8/10
Power - 7/10
Easy To Play - 8/10
Collectable - 6/10
Overall Score - 7.25/10

Earthbound Immortal Uru (SOVR-EN025)

Card:  SOVR-EN025
Card Name:  Earthbound Immortal Uru
Attribute:  Dark
Level/Rank:  10
Type:  Insect/Effect
ATK:  3000
DEF:  3000

Card Text:
There can only be 1 face-up "Earthbound Immortal" monster on the field.  If there is no face-up Field Spell Card on the field, destroy this card.  Your opponent cannot select this card as an attack target.  This card can attack your opponent directly.  Once per turn, you can Tribute 1 monster, except this card, to select and take control of 1 face-up monster your opponent controls, until the End Phase.

Personal Comment:
-  Only one "Earthbound Immortal" on the field...eh, getting two would be silly hard.
-  Make sure there's a face-up Field Spell Card...ok, shouldn't be an issue.
-  Opponent can't attack this guy...hhhmmm, now we're cooking.
-  Attack my opponent directly with 3000 ATK...sweet, so sweet, oh so sweet.
-  Once per turn ditch a monster to control 1 of my opponent's monster...OMG, OMG!

Personal Rating:
Artwork - 7/10
Power - 9/10
Easy To Play - 8/10
Collectable - 8/10
Overall Score - 8/10