Trap
NormalBackup Team
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2365
Draw cards equal to the number of cards your opponent controls, then place cards from your hand on the bottom of the Deck in any order, equal to the number of cards you drew. During the End Phase, if your opponent controls more cards than you do while this card is in your GY: You can Set this card, but banish it when it leaves the field. You can only use 1 "Backup Team" effect per turn, and only once that turn.
Backup Team — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 50 ± 6 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 50 · Deck: 50 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Utility · Secondary: Recovery/Recursion
Why it scores here
Backup Team is a Normal Trap that draws as many cards as the opponent controls, then bottoms the same number from hand, so it filters and cycles the hand rather than gaining card advantage. Its GY clause (Set and banish when it leaves the field, only if the opponent controls more cards) adds a conditional recursion line. The card does not earn points for its clean text or its 82-deck presence alone; the score comes from being a single-copy, broadly playable, reliable filter with no combo evidence to push it higher.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 65 | Present in 82 of 82 sampled decks at 1.06 copies average across 29 archetypes, but as a Trap it must be Set and has no searcher route in the evidence (observed, inferred). |
| Combo & Conversion | 45 | Text draws N cards and no combo boards are supplied, so conversion is text-only inference from the draw-equals-opponent-field clause (inferred). |
| Resource Economy | 50 | Draw N then bottom N from hand is roughly card-neutral; the GY Set-and-banish clause gives conditional recursion but not net advantage (verified, inferred). |
| Effect & Interaction | 10 | No negation, destruction, or hand-trap reach; the effect only reorganises the player's own hand and deck (verified). |
| Material Utility | 5 | Normal Trap with no material or level body; it does not convert as material (verified). |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 40 | The GY clause is limited to once per turn and needs an opponent card-count condition, so it is conditional and fragile (verified, inferred). |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 80 | Single-copy 1.06 average, no garnet or lock restriction, and legal in TCG and OCG; cheap to run in any deck that wants a filter (observed). |
Calculation
Weight profile: Utility default profile, no secondary blend (Recovery/Recursion is secondary and not weighted). Intrinsic ≈ 50, Deck ≈ 50, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: none. Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck
Strengths
- Broad deck presence across 29 archetypes with near-universal single-copy inclusion
- Draw count scales with the opponent's board, so it is strongest against wide boards
- Cheap, single-copy slot with no garnet or restriction
Weaknesses
- No opponent interaction; it does not stop anything
- Net hand size is roughly unchanged, so it is a filter rather than a card-advantage engine
- GY recursion only fires under a specific opponent card-count condition, once per turn
Counters / choke points
- Opponent with few cards on field (the draw count drops to near zero)
- Negation of the Trap while Set
- Hand-disruption that removes the card before it is Set
Best use
Utility / hand filter with conditional GY recursion. Decks: Paleozoic, Cyber Dragon. Suggested copies: 1.
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: Draws cards equal to opponent's controlled cards, then bottoms the same number from hand (card text); GY clause: Set and banish when leaving the field, only if opponent controls more cards, once per turn (card text); 82 of 82 decks run 1 copy on average 1.06 (deck data)
- Observed: Present in 29 archetypes; top archetypes Paleozoic 13 decks and Cyber Dragon 10 decks (deck data); Partners Lost Wind 69.5% and D.D. Post 58.5% co-occurrence (deck data)
- Inferred: Filter rather than card-advantage engine, from draw-then-bottom equality; Conditional recursion is fragile given the opponent card-count clause
- Data gaps: no combos supplied — combo conversion is text-only inference no guides supplied no banlist token — assumed 3 copies (unlimited) no searcher or staple-usage data beyond deck counts