WATER
3Butterfly Fish
ATK:
700
DEF:
400
View:
2126
If this card is sent to the GY to activate a monster effect: You can add this card to your hand. If a monster(s) is sent to your GY, except by battle, while this card is in your GY (except during the Damage Step): You can discard 1 card to the GY; Special Summon this card. You can only use 1 "Butterfly Fish" effect per turn, and only once that turn. You cannot Special Summon from the Extra Deck, except WATER monsters, the turn you activate either of this card's effects.
Butterfly Fish — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 54 ± 6 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 52.5 · Deck: 54.8 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Recovery/Recursion · Secondary: Material body
Why it scores here
Butterfly Fish converts itself into value through recursion: it returns to hand when sent to the GY to activate a monster effect, and it Special Summons from the GY when a monster is sent there (except by battle) by discarding 1 card. Both effects share one once-per-turn limit, and it is a 1-of body with no garnet cost, so the score rests on repeatable GY recovery rather than on its 700 ATK or 400 DEF, which earn nothing. The score stays in the middle because access depends on a monster reaching the GY first, there is no combo data to confirm what it converts into, and its 400/400 deck inclusion mostly reflects one Atlantean/Mermail shell rather than proof of standalone strength.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 50 | Card text only reaches it from the GY after a monster is sent there, so it is not an opening-hand card; it is live mid-game in the sampled decks (400/400 decks run 1 copy on average, 1.01) (observed). |
| Combo & Conversion | 35 | No recorded boards exist (appearances 0), so conversion is limited to text: one 700-ATK Level 3 body per activation, once per turn (inferred). |
| Resource Economy | 60 | Effect 1 returns the card to hand after its own activation and effect 2 recovers a body from the GY at a cost of one discard, giving roughly neutral to modestly positive card economy (verified text, inferred net). |
| Effect & Interaction | 5 | The card has no negation, removal or hand-trap effect in its text, so it provides essentially no opponent interaction (verified). |
| Material Utility | 45 | A WATER Level 3 body without a Tuner fits Xyz/Link material requirements; its value as material is clean but generic and unconfirmed by combo data (inferred). |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 55 | Its effects work from the GY, which keeps it away from most field interaction, but the two effects share one once-per-turn limit (verified text, inferred resilience). |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 70 | It is a 1-of with no garnet or lock, and the only restriction is that Extra Deck Special Summons are limited to WATER monsters on turns it is activated (verified text, mild restriction). |
Calculation
Weight profile: 0.7 Recovery/Recursion + 0.3 Material body. Intrinsic ≈ 52.5, Deck ≈ 54.8, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: none. Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck
Strengths
- Recurs itself from the GY to hand after activation, so one card can produce repeated recovery.
- Special Summons itself from the GY when a monster goes to the GY, reusing the same card.
- Level 3 WATER body usable as Xyz/Link material.
- Appears in all 400 sampled decks at 1 copy each, across 27 archetypes.
Weaknesses
- Requires a monster to reach the GY before it can be used, so it is not an opening-hand card.
- Effects share one once-per-turn limit.
- Extra Deck Special Summons are restricted to WATER monsters on the turn it is activated.
- No combo evidence confirms what it converts into.
- No opponent interaction of its own.
Counters / choke points
- Graveyard-based disruption that stops the monster-to-GY trigger or the GY activation (inferred from text; not named in evidence).
Best use
GY recursion body / extender in WATER-based Atlantean and Mermail shells. Decks: Atlantean, Mermail, Mermail Atlantean, Deep Sea. Suggested copies: 1.
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: Card text: GY-to-hand effect, GY Special Summon effect with discard cost, shared once-per-turn limit, Extra Deck restriction for non-WATER monsters.; Stats: Level 3, WATER, Fish, 700 ATK / 400 DEF, no link rating.; Decks: present in 400 of 400 sampled decks, average 1.01 copies per deck, 27 distinct archetypes.; Top partners co-occur in 95.5% to 99.5% of decks.
- Observed: Inclusion is 100% in the Elemental Lord, Atlantean and Mermail usage statistics, each at 1 typical copy.; Main deck in 400 of 400 sampled decks; 71.5% of decks are gameplay type 7 and 23.2% are type 6.
- Inferred: Access is mid-game only, since the card needs a monster in the GY before it can act.; Recursion gives roughly neutral to modestly positive resource value.; Level 3 WATER fits Xyz/Link material requirements.
- Data gaps: no combos supplied; combo conversion is text-only inference no guides supplied no banlist token; assumed 3 copies (unlimited) deck sample is dominated by one Atlantean/Mermail shell (partner co-occurrence 95 to 99%), so deck fit is not independent evidence of power