Trap
NormalDamage Gate
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3058
When you take battle damage: Target 1 monster in your Graveyard with ATK less than or equal to the amount of damage you took; Special Summon that target.
Damage Gate — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 44 ± 8 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 46 · Deck: 42 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Recovery/Recursion · Secondary: Utility
Why it scores here
Damage Gate converts one set trap into one free Special Summon from the Graveyard, but only after you take battle damage and only for a monster whose ATK is no greater than the damage taken. It has no negation, no searching, and no body of its own, so its value is a single conditional recursion. The 6 sampled decks confirm it is run as a 1-copy staple across 4 archetypes, which supports real accessibility but not intrinsic strength. The high-ATK monsters that could be revived earn nothing on their own; the damage condition limits what it can bring back.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 40 | Set trap that needs you to take battle damage before it activates; 6 sampled decks run 1 copy each across 4 archetypes, but no combo starter or searcher evidence exists (inferred). |
| Combo & Conversion | 30 | Revives one Graveyard monster with ATK at or below the damage taken, which is a single-step recursion; no combo boards were supplied to confirm a longer chain (inferred from text). |
| Resource Economy | 55 | No cost paid beyond the trap card itself, so it turns one trap card into one free Special Summon from the Graveyard, roughly card-neutral with a tempo gain (verified from text). |
| Effect & Interaction | 15 | The effect only Special Summons; it does not negate, destroy, or disrupt the opponent (verified from text). |
| Material Utility | 20 | Provides no body as material and is not a monster; it only returns a Graveyard monster to the field (verified from text). |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 25 | Single copy in a set trap zone with a battle-damage condition, so it is fragile to being unable to take damage or to the opponent avoiding battle (inferred from text). |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 75 | One slot, no garnet or brick, no self-lock and no banlist restriction in the evidence; runs as a 1-copy staple (verified from deck evidence). |
Calculation
Weight profile: Primary role Recovery/Recursion weights; no secondary blend applied. Intrinsic ≈ 46, Deck ≈ 42, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: none. Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck
Strengths
- Free Special Summon from the Graveyard with no cost beyond the trap
- Simple, single-trigger timing that is easy to play
- Runs as a 1-copy staple across 4 archetypes in the sample
Weaknesses
- Requires you to take battle damage before it does anything
- Revived monster is capped by the damage taken, so high-ATK bodies may be out of reach
- Has no negation, removal, or body of its own
Counters / choke points
- Opponent avoids battle or never lets you take battle damage
- Opponent removes or banishes Graveyard monsters before the trigger
Best use
Single-copy Graveyard recursion trap that fires after battle damage. Decks: Elemental HERO, Neo-Spacian, Witchcrafter, Dark Magician. Suggested copies: 1.
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: Card text: when you take battle damage, Special Summon one Graveyard monster with ATK at or below the damage taken; Runs 1 copy in all 6 sampled decks across 4 archetypes; Legal in TCG, OCG, MasterDuel and DuelLinks
- Observed: Partner cards co-occur in 100% of sampled decks (Bladedge, Wildheart, Winged Kuriboh), a co-occurrence, not proof of causal synergy
- Inferred: Accessibility is limited by the need to take battle damage; Value is capped by the damage taken when choosing a Graveyard target
- Data gaps: no combos supplied, so combo conversion is text-only inference no guides supplied no usage statistics (StatisticsCard) for archetype inclusion no banlist token, assumed 3 copies (unlimited)