Greetings Fellow Dice Fans!

Today, we’re going to take a look at Giganta: Larger Than Life from the DC Green Arrow and The Flash set.

Ruling – Ability



Gigants’s ability says that you can spin up a Giganta die by one level at the beginning of your Clear and Draw Step. If you use this ability, that Giganta die gains Overcrush until the end of turn.

When you look at the bottom of the character card, you will see the Dice Face Reference. This reference shows you all six sides of the character die, in order. The character faces are shown from level one to level three. If you have a Giganta die active in the Field Zone on level two, her attack and defense are both five. When you use her ability, this die would spin up to level three and her stats would now be six for both her attack and defense.

If Giganta is already level three, you cannot use her ability to spin her die up a level because she is already at her max level, and her die will not gain Overcrush because you were not able to spin her up.

You must use Giganta’s ability before you draw your dice for the turn and you may use this ability for each eligible Giganta die you have active in the Field Zone.

Overcrush

I also want to detail some points about Overcrush. Overcrush is a special ability for attackers that gives them the potential to deal damage to an opponent even if they’re blocked.

Overcrush is the difference in the attacker’s attack value and the blocker’s defense value. If a blocker’s defense is equal to or higher than the attacker’s attack value, there won’t be any Overcrush damage to deal. If the blocker’s defense is lower than the attacker’s attack value, then the difference will be dealt to the opponent during the Assign and Resolve Damage portion of the Attack Step.

The Overcrush damage happens at the same time as all other combat damage. Overcrush damage is still considered to be combat damage and not ability damage. It’s an ability that’s allowing the combat damage to be dealt differently than it normally would be.

Very Important! Recently, there have been folks saying that the blocker has to be KO’d before Overcrush damage will go through, which is not correct. If a blocker is KO’d or removed before the Assign and Resolve Damage portion of the Attack Step, Overcrush damage will still happen. For example: a level three Giganta with Overcrush is attacking and is blocked by a Sidekick. If that Sidekick is removed by the attacking player with Imprisoned during the Actions and Global portion of the Attack Step, Giganta will deal all six of her damage to the opponent.

Attackers with Overcrush that are blocked will return to the Field Zone if they are not KO’d. This is also an overlooked and commonly misunderstood function in regards to Overcrush. Page 11 of the Civil War Rulebook states: “Characters that blocked or were blocked but not KO’d return to the Field Zone.” The Overcrush ability does not have any special stipulation that the character would go to the Used Pile if it is blocked and still damages the opponent.

Ruling – Global

Giganta’s Global says that you can pay one of any energy type and spin one of your character dice down one level. You can only target dice you control, and those dice must be active in the Field Zone.

If a character has been dealt damage and then spun up or down and their defense is equal to or less than the damage previously done, that character will be KO’d. For example: I have a level two Giganta die in the Field Zone. My opponent used the Global on Magic Missile twice and does a total of two damage to Giganta. I pay one energy and spin her to level one. She would then be KO’d since her defense is two and she’s been dealt a total of two damage earlier in the turn.

Affiliations and Types



Giganta: Larger Than Life is a Fist Character and has the Legion of Doom and Villain affiliations. She also has a Max Dice of four.

Examples

These examples are for information purposes only, to show what would happen in certain scenarios. I am not suggesting that these examples are the best outcomes for each scenario.

Example One:

Ability timing.



~ I have a level two Giganta in the Field Zone.

~ (Clear and Draw) I spin Giganta up one level to level three and that die gains Overcrush.

~ (Clear and Draw) I clear any dice from my Reserve Pool into my Used Pile.

~ (Clear and Draw) I draw my four dice from my bag.



Example Two:

Global use Main Step.



~ (Main Step) I have one level two character die in the Field Zone and one Fist energy in the Reserve Pool.

~ (Main Step) I spend one Fist energy (moving it Out of Play) to spin my level two character to level one.

Example Three:

Global use in Attack Step (turn player).



~ (Attack Step) I am the turn player, or active player. I have one Mask energy in my Reserve Pool. I have one level three Hulk: Jade Giant in the Field Zone. My opponent has a level three character and a Sidekick die in the Field Zone.

~ (Attack Step – Assign Attackers) I assign my Hulk die to attack.

~ (Attack Step – Assign Blockers) My opponent assigns a Sidekick to block Hulk.

~ (Attack Step – Actions and Globals) I can now use Action Dice, but I don’t have any that I want to use. I then look at Globals and abilities that can be used as Globals. I choose to use Giganta’s Global.

~ (Attack Step – Actions and Globals) I spend one Mask energy (moving it Out of Play) to use Giganta’s Global to spin my Hulk die down one level to level two.

~ (Attack Step – Actions and Globals) I pass priority to my opponent. They do not use any Globals and pass priority back. I choose not to do anything, proceeding to Assign and Resolve Damage.

~ (Attack Step – Assign and Resolve Damage) My level two Hulk takes one damage from the Sidekick and the Sidekick takes seven damage from Hulk and is KO’d (which will send it to the Prep Area). I can trigger Hulk’s ability when he takes damage and because he’s on his level two side with the burst ability, I can KO the level three character my opponent has in their Field Zone, sending it to the Prep Area. Hulk returns to the Field Zone.

~ (Clean Up Step) All of the dice that are Out of Play move to the Used Pile. All effects end unless otherwise stated.



Example Four:

Global use in Attack Step (non-turn player).



~ (Attack Step) I am the non-turn player, or inactive player. I have one Mask energy in my Reserve Pool. I have one level two Beast: Genetic Expert in the Field Zone. My opponent has a character with two attack and two defense in the Field Zone.

~ (Attack Step – Assign Attackers) My opponent attacks with their character.

~ (Attack Step – Assign Blockers) I assign my Beast as a blocker.

~ (Attack Step – Actions and Globals) My opponent does not use any Actions or Globals and passes priority.

~ (Attack Step – Actions and Globals) I spend one Mask energy (moving it Out of Play) to use Giganta’s Global to spin my Beast die down one level to level one. I pass priority back to my opponent.

~ (Attack Step – Actions and Globals) They do not use any Actions or Globals, passing back to me. I choose to not do anything else, proceeding to Assign and Resolve Damage.

~ (Attack Step – Assign and Resolve Damage) My Beast will take two damage from the attacker and deal one damage back to the attacker’s defense of two. Beast is KO’d and his ability triggers, which allows me to gain one life and because he was on his burst side, he also deals two damage to my opponent. Beast will go to the Prep Area and the attacker will return to the Field Zone because it wasn’t KO’d.

~ (Clean Up Step) All of the dice that are Out of Play move to the Used Pile. All effects end unless otherwise stated.



Official Sources

You can find the official ruling for Giganta’s Global on WizKids Official Rules Forum (WORF), here.

Competitive Play Rating I don’t think Giganta is a bad character for a competitive team. I think she has huge potential, especially with how well her Global works with her ability. There are plenty of other characters that benefit from being on lower levels with bursts and would also benefit from her Global. She definitely has the potential to find herself on a rogue team. Her purchase cost isn’t terrible and is definitely possible in the current meta. Her fielding costs and stats are pretty good too, especially with her ability and Global. She can be a very aggressive character or a utility character and I hope that someone finds a way to sneak her into a competitive scene somewhere! Giganta: Larger Than Life gets a competitive play rating of three out of five stars.

Casual Play Rating For a more casual setting, this character is amazing. She has lots of teaching potential as well as being a fun and playable character. She can help teach new players how the turn order works and how they can use abilities effectively in the proper order. I overlooked her in the draft we had and I regret that. She’s not only a great casual character, but she’s a wonderful limited character as well. Her stats are really good for her fielding costs and she has the potential to give herself Overcrush without the use of an additional card. Having that built in mechanic is a huge advantage for a casual team. She’s also a Villain and there are loads of casual Villain teams that are fun. She would make a great addition to almost any Villain team. Giganta: Larger Than Life gets a casual play rating of four out of five stars.



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