Probably the biggest gamble of all the BCNMs, this one can either give you fortune and items beyond your wildest dreams... or grant you instant and unescapable death. For some, the reward is worth the risk. For others, they'd rather spend their seals elsewhere. How lucky are you feeling?

Step up! Step up! And spin the wheel!

When you enter this BCNM, you will find 3 Treasure Boxes in the room. There will be a small, medium, and a large one. Inside one of these boxes is the treasure. The other two boxes are Mimics.



You can perform any sort of attack on the boxes to pick which one to try. If you are lucky, you will get the treasure and be transported back out of the arena (this is the desirable goal). If you are unlucky, you will spawn a Mimic and must fight him for the treasure.

OMGWTFBBQ, A MIMIC?!

If you are unfortunate enough to spawn the Mimic, then I give you my condolances. The Mimic's level tends to be rather high, and he has some horrible attacks making him a real beast to beat. I have heard it can be done, however, I have never done it myself.



When you spawn the Mimic, the other chests disappear. The Mimic will immediately attack whoever spawned him. He hits fast and he hits hard. My level 50 MNK with oodles of HP went down in two or three hits. The Mimic also has a special attack "Draw-In" which prevents you from getting away from him. Any mages in the room should stay back or else they will be drawn in with this attack.



My personal recomendation if you spawn the Mimic is NOT to fight him. Bring a warp scroll or a mage buddy who can teleport or warp you both back out of there. If you feel like taking him on, and have a full party of people just as foolhardy as you, be my guest. If you can come up with a winning strategy for beating this guy, I'd love to hear it.



Honestly, the best situation is to just get the chest and call it good.

Sam's Strategy

My strategy is simple. Go in with a low level character or a job I don't care losing EXP on and just try it. If I'm lucky then "HOORAY!". If not, then at least all I am out is 50 seals (which is still pretty bad).



I have done this BCNM 9 times now with various people, and we have gotten Astrals 3 different times. We have also gotten Mimics 5 times, which shows you how bad the odds are against you :-)

Rumors and Myths

First of all, because the payoff is so great, there have been a lot of rumors and myths surrounding this BCNM. I will now comment on those that I have heard and give you any insight I may have about them.

• Reraise earring and a second shot
  
  Some people on our server (people I've had squabbles with in the past over other BS issues) have claimed that going in here with reraise will help. The theory goes like this:
  • Choose a chest. If right, "Yay!", if not...
  • Kiss the dirt. Let the Mimic eat your face...
  • Mimic turns back into chest. Other chests reappear.
  • Raise yourself.
  • Check another chest and BOOM! MONIES!!

  Well, this doesn't work. When you die the Mimic does turn back into a chest, but he is still a Mimic. Also, the other chests do not respawn. So, you can reraise yourself and have the pleasure of being destroyed by the Mimic again.
  
  

• Ranged Attacks and Pet Attacks
  
  Other people claim that parties of all ranged attackers will be able to do this one. I've tried this with several Rangers and Thiefs all using ranged attacks and standing away from the Mimic. We found that there was no way to get away from the "Draw-In" attack. Every single Ranger was sucked in, every single Ranger died.
  
  
  
  I have also heard rumors of entire parties of SMNs with one PLD or NIN tank being able to do this. I have not been able to verify it, but it seems plausible. Someone will have to be sucked in to the Mimic, so you will need either a tank or a sacrifice (take your pick). But the rest of the party could easily stand far enough away to evade the "Draw-In" attack and yet still have their summons wail on the Mimic. This might also work for BSTs.
  
  
  
  If anyone in our clan wants to test this and confirm or disprove it, please feel free.
  
  
• Beating the Mimic gives better treasure
  
  From what I have read, many people claim that if you beat the Mimic you will get better treasure than if you had just gotten lucky on your chest pick. Some people even say that one or more Astrals will automatically drop.
  
  
  
  This seems somewhat plausible (perhaps not guaranteed Astrals, but certainly more drops than normal). The mob is certainly hard enough to warrant getting better crap. However, I personally have never beaten this guy, so I can't say for certain if it is true.
  
  
• The "real" chest has a different color on the inside
  
  One of the most persistent rumors to fly around about this BCNM is that, if you can position the camera in the game such that you can see inside the chests, you will see that one of them will be a different shade of pink than the other ones. This one that has a different color inside is thus supposed to be the real chest.
  
  
  
  I have tried this with the PS2, and have been with people who have tried it with the PC. We have even taken screenshots of both and performed color analysis with the Gimp. Not only have I never found any difference in the color inside these chests, I've also found that the even when you suspect a color may be off, it is meaningless (you still are just as likely to get the mimic).
  
  
  
  So, I would have to say that I think this rumor is bullocks. There doesn't seem to be anything about the Mimics or the chests that indicate what it really is.
  
  

Conclusion

This is a tough BCNM to recommend when there are so many other ones that are more of a sure thing. 50 seals is a pretty big gamble, especially considering you only have a 1 in 3 chance of getting anything good.



I personally have tried it around 9 times, but only got lucky 3 of those times. I have personally sunk 150 seals into this BCNM and only gotten an Astral once with my personal orb.



However, if you feel especially lucky, feel free to attempt this one. It certainly is a rush to get the "right" chest and see all those fancy rings drop :-)