EARTH
3Construction Train Signal Red
Archetype:
Train
ATK:
1000
DEF:
1300
View:
3305
When an opponent's monster declares an attack: You can Special Summon this card from your hand, and if you do, change the attack target to this card and proceed to damage calculation. This card cannot be destroyed by that battle.
Construction Train Signal Red — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 57 ± 6 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 58 · Deck: 57 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Hand trap · Secondary: Material body
Why it scores here
The card is a free Special Summon from hand that fires only when an opponent's monster declares an attack. It redirects that attack onto itself and survives the battle, so it converts a hand card into a defensive body with no cost. It has no negation, no removal and no card advantage, and its combo conversion is unevidenced. Its 1000 ATK and Level 3 Machine body earn only modest material credit; the score rests on reliable defensive conversion and a clean deckbuilding profile.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 65 | Live from hand on any opponent attack with no searcher needed, but dead on the controller's own turn (text; inferred). |
| Combo & Conversion | 30 | No combo boards recorded; the card only redirects an attack and does not build a board on its own (text-only inference). |
| Resource Economy | 45 | Free hand-to-field summon that saves itself from battle destruction, but gives no card advantage or GY refuel (text). |
| Effect & Interaction | 45 | Redirects an attack onto itself and protects itself from that battle; does not stop the attacker's effects or the attacking monster itself (text). |
| Material Utility | 60 | Level 3 EARTH Machine is a generic material body and stays a valid Level 3 body when its effect is negated (text; inferred). |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 50 | Single-spot effect that only works against attacks; a negation of its own effect ends the protection, but it is not a fragile multi-turn line (text; inferred). |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 80 | No garnet, no self-lock and no banlist restriction in evidence; one copy in most decks (observed: 163 of 236 decks run 1 copy). |
Calculation
Weight profile: 0.7 Hand trap + 0.3 Material body. Intrinsic ≈ 58, Deck ≈ 57, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: none. Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck
Strengths
- Free, cost-less hand-to-field summon that answers an attack on the opponent's turn
- Battle protection for itself: it cannot be destroyed by the battle it redirects
- Generic Level 3 EARTH Machine body fits many material and Link routes
- Clean deckbuilding: single copy in most decks, no garnet or self-lock
Weaknesses
- Only live against attacks; dead on the controller's own turn and against a non-attacking opponent
- No negation, removal or card advantage; it blunts one attack rather than stopping the threat
- Combo conversion is unevidenced: no recorded boards show it as a starter, searched or payoff card
- 1000 ATK body is easily outclassed on the field
Counters / choke points
- Inferred: opponents whose attack is not declared, such as direct-effect or non-battle plays, bypass it entirely
- Inferred: effects that negate or stop Special Summon from hand shut the summon down before the redirect resolves
Best use
Hand trap. Decks: Ancient Gears, Earth Machine, Railway, Train. Suggested copies: 1.
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: Card text: Special Summon from hand on an opponent's attack declaration, redirects the attack, and cannot be destroyed by that battle; Level 3 EARTH Machine with ATK 1000 and DEF 1300; Present in 236 recent decks; 143 of them (60.6%) are Ancient Gears decks; Copies: average 1.4, with 163 decks running 1 copy
- Observed: Ancient Gears inclusion is 100% in the historical usage statistics; Gameplay type 3 accounts for 73.7% of the recent decks; 25 distinct archetypes across the recent decks
- Inferred: Hand trap role: the card acts on the opponent's attack step from hand; Its defensive value comes from the redirect plus battle protection, not from stats; Causal caution: high Ancient Gears inclusion reflects that archetype's staple slot rather than standalone power
- Data gaps: no combos supplied: combo conversion is text-only inference no banlist token supplied: assumed 3 copies (unlimited) description contains no once-per-turn clause; none assumed no average starter count supplied: deck resilience inferred from archetype spread only no rulings supplied for the attack-redirect and damage-calculation timing