Trap
NormalCounter Gem
Archetype:
Crystal Beast
View:
3497
Send all cards in your Spell & Trap Card Zone to the Graveyard. Place as many "Crystal Beast" monsters as possible from your Graveyard in your Spell & Trap Card Zone, face-up, as Continuous Spell Cards. During the End Phase, destroy all face-up "Crystal Beast" cards you control.
Counter Gem — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 50 ± 8 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 46 · Deck: 52 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Starter / Combo enabler
Why it scores here
Counter Gem is a Crystal Beast engine trap: it sends your own Spell & Trap zone to the Graveyard, then places Crystal Beast monsters from the Graveyard face-up as Continuous Spells, which are destroyed in the End Phase. Its value is temporary board presence plus a Graveyard-to-Graveyard loop for Crystal Beast, not lasting card advantage or interaction. Deck evidence (31 decks, 96.8% partner co-occurrence with the Crystal Beast core) confirms a real, practical role inside that archetype. The lack of combo data keeps the conversion score moderate, and the card's ATK-free, trap-based nature earns no points from raw stats.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 55 | Set from hand into the Spell & Trap zone and in 31 of 31 sampled decks, but it is archetype-locked and needs a Crystal Beast in the Graveyard to matter (inferred from text and deck evidence). |
| Combo & Conversion | 55 | Turns Crystal Beast in the Graveyard into several temporary board bodies, but no recorded combo boards exist to confirm the depth (text-only inference). |
| Resource Economy | 45 | Self-cost on the Spell & Trap zone is offset by Graveyard recycling of Crystal Beast that are destroyed at End Phase, so the net is roughly even (inferred). |
| Effect & Interaction | 5 | No negation, removal, or opponent-facing effect in the text (verified). |
| Material Utility | 5 | A Trap card, so it is never material; its only body value is the Crystal Beast monsters it places, which are not this card (verified). |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 30 | Set-and-activate trap that is vulnerable to Spell & Trap removal before use, with only moderate redundancy across the Crystal Beast deck (inferred). |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 70 | Single-copy, non-garnet trap with 1.06 average copies per deck and no lock restrictions (observed from decks_evidence and text). |
Calculation
Weight profile: Starter / Combo enabler (primary) only; no secondary role blend. Intrinsic ≈ 46, Deck ≈ 52, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: none. Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck
Strengths
- Converts Crystal Beast in the Graveyard into temporary Continuous Spell board presence (verified text)
- Near-universal inclusion in Crystal Beast decks, with 96.8% co-occurrence with the core partners (observed)
- Clean deckbuilding: one copy typical, no garnet or lock restriction (observed)
Weaknesses
- Self-cost: sends all of your Spell & Trap zone to the Graveyard (verified text)
- Placed Crystal Beast are destroyed at End Phase, so the board is temporary (verified text)
- No opponent interaction and no material value as a card (verified text)
- Archetype-locked: low value outside Crystal Beast (observed from decks_evidence)
Counters / choke points
- Negation or destruction of the set trap before activation (inferred)
- Spell & Trap removal that wipes the set zone before it resolves (inferred)
Best use
Starter / Combo enabler. Decks: Crystal Beast. Suggested copies: 1.
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: Card text: sends the Spell & Trap zone to the Graveyard, places Crystal Beast from the Graveyard as Continuous Spells, destroys face-up Crystal Beast in the End Phase; Trap card type, Normal race, Crystal Beast archetype
- Observed: Present in 31 of 31 sampled decks; 1.06 average copies; Crystal Beast archetype in 21 of 31 decks (67.7%)
- Inferred: Starter role is real but unconfirmed by combo data; Set trap is exposed to removal before activation
- Data gaps: no combos supplied — combo conversion is text-only inference no guides supplied no banlist token — assumed 3 copies (unlimited) no usage statistics (StatisticsCard) — archetype inclusion % inferred from deck sample only