Trap
NormalFake Trap
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1790
Activate only when your opponent activates a Spell, Trap, or Effect Monster's effect that would destroy a Trap Card(s) you control. Destroy this card instead. (If the cards that would have been destroyed are face-down, you can look at them to confirm.)
Fake Trap — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 48 ± 6 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 47 · Deck: 48 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Utility · Secondary: Negation/Interaction
Why it scores here
Fake Trap is a set trap that only protects your other Trap Cards: when the opponent activates an effect that would destroy them, this card is destroyed instead. It does not negate, remove, or build anything, so its conversion value is low and it earns little from combo_conversion or material_utility. Its score comes from being cheap, generic, and easy to run across 28 archetypes, not from strong interaction. The combo records that list it as a Yubel starter with zero board output are not supported by its text, so they were not used to raise the score.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 55 | Set trap that must be drawn and set before it can act; no searcher or searched-for role evidence in the pack, and 39 decks run it at an average of 1.74 copies (observed, inferred). |
| Combo & Conversion | 15 | The text only redirects an opponent's destruction and creates no board; the combo records show zero board, disruption and end-board output (verified, observed). |
| Resource Economy | 40 | It destroys itself to save another trap, which is roughly a card-for-effect trade with no card advantage or refuel (inferred from text). |
| Effect & Interaction | 35 | Narrow protection only: it does not negate, does not stop the opponent's activation, and only covers Trap Cards you control (verified). |
| Material Utility | 0 | Trap Card; cannot be used as Fusion, Synchro, Xyz, or Link material (verified, inferred). |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 40 | Set-and-wait protection that the opponent can avoid simply by not using destruction effects; no multi-turn or recursion value (inferred). |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 70 | Generic, non-archetype, near free-roll with 1–3 copies accepted across decks and no garnet or lock cost (observed, verified). |
Calculation
Weight profile: 0.7 Utility + 0.3 Negation/Interaction. Intrinsic ≈ 47, Deck ≈ 48, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: none. Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck
Strengths
- Generic: appears in 28 distinct archetypes and 4 gameplay types
- Cheap, unrestricted, and redundant-copy friendly
- Protects set traps from opponent destruction effects
Weaknesses
- Does not negate or remove anything
- Protects only Trap Cards you control
- Combo evidence is not supported by the card text
Counters / choke points
- Opponent avoids destruction effects that target your traps
- Opponent negates or destroys the card before it is needed
Best use
Protective set trap for your other Trap Cards. Decks: Ninja, Labrynth, X-Saber, Red-Eyes, Greed, Blue-Eyes, Reptile, Monarch, Archfiend, Shark.
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: Card text: destroy-substitution protection for Trap Cards you control; Normal Trap frame; no material use; No banlist token; treated as unlimited
- Observed: 39 of 39 recent decks run it as main deck; 28 distinct archetypes; average 1.74 copies; Partners are generic staples (Called by the Grave, Infinite Impermanence); Combo records show 0 board, disruption and end-board output
- Inferred: Role is protective utility with a mild negation-adjacent effect; Combo starter records are a data mapping problem, so they carry little weight
- Data gaps: Combo evidence is implausible: Fake Trap is listed as a starter in 5 Yubel Fiendsmith combos with zero board stats; treated as a data error and not used to raise the score No guides supplied No banlist token; assumed 3 copies (unlimited) No usage statistics (StatisticsCard); inclusion inferred from the 39-deck sample only