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General description:
Next up on the roster of Neo-Spacians is a personal favorite of mine: Dark Panther. This guy was one of THE most anticipated cards out of the Power of the Duelist pack, and one of the only 2 Neo-Spacians people deem "splashable" or "good tech". And yes, this is a fairly descent card and is very side-deck worthy, but I have a different reason why this card speaks to me....well, actually two. 1) It's a Dark Beast type, so it fits perfectly with my Ninja deck , and 2) my high school mascot is a black panther lol. Now enough of my rambling and on to the review!

Uses:
Ok, there are a few uses for Dark Panther:
1) Copy an opposing monster's effect
2) Copy an opposing monster's name
3) beatstick in a Neo-Spacian deck (oddly enough, it's the strongest Neo-Spacian with 1000atk)
Above everything else, you need to know exactly what's being copied and what isn't. Dark Panther only copies the NAME and EFFECT of a monster. He will keep his original ATK, DEF, MAIN ATTRIBUTE (Dark), SUBTYPE (Beast), and LEVEL. This means he still shares support with other Beasts, other Dark types, and still fits under cards like Gravity Bind, Level Limit - Area B, and Messenger of Peace.

Strategies and game play:
Well, aside from copying an opponent's monster's effect, you are also copying the strategies that go along with the effect. For example, if you copy a Spirit Reaper's effect and name, not only would you destroy the targeted Reaper (cuz it was being targeted), but if you scored a direct attack with Dark Panther (a.k.a Spirit Reaper), you deal 1000dmg and make the opponent discard a card. AND to add to that, if you have a Nightmare Horse and/or fusion sub, you could fuse your Dark Panther into Reaper on the Nightmare.
This is just a sample strategy involving the main aspects of this card. The thing I find truly fascinating about Dark Panther is its ability to copy the name of a monster. This ability alone, in my opinion, makes him very viable in a Cyber Dragon deck seeing as how Cyber Dragons are soooo popular. You can copy the name of a Cyber Dragon on the field and fuse it with one of your own to bring out a fusion monster. BUT since Dark Panther is copying another name, he will no longer be "Dark Panther". This means (primarily) that he will NOT be able to Contact Fuse into Dark Neos with E-Hero Neos.
Also, I've heard of people using Dark Panther as tech in a Rescue Cat OTK since it's a LV3 Beast and is fetchable via Rescue Cat. Other such Beast support include Behemoth, King of all Animals, March of Animals, and Beast Soul Swap (possibly get 2 effects in 1 turn).

Combos with other cards:
This greatly varies depending on what effect/name you're able to copy. For now, just stick to reading my strategies section ^_^.

Ways to counteract it:
Aside from effect negation, be sure not to have a monster out with an effect that Dark Panther can use while face-up on the field.

Strengths/Pros:
-strongest Neo-Spacian without boost
-shares DARK type support
-shares Beast type support
-copies a monster's effect
-copies a monster's name

Weaknesses/Cons:
-very average stats for a lv3
-not many monsters on the competitive level have effects Dark Panther can utilize
-can't Contact Fuse with Neos if you use his effect (his name will no longer be "Dark Panther", so he can't contact fuse into Dark Neos)

Overall rating:
Considering how splashable this little kitty is, I'd rank him about a 6/10 for basic tech. He may be splashable, but is rarely practical in competitive environments.
Neo-Spacian deck: 7/10