Trap
NormalFlame Swordsdance
Archetype:
Flame Swordsman
View:
605
If a monster(s) is Special Summoned: Special Summon 1 Level 7 or lower Fusion Monster from your Extra Deck that is "Flame Swordsman" or mentions it, then you can change 1 face-up monster on the field to face-down Defense Position. During your opponent's Battle Phase: You can banish this card from your GY and Tribute 1 face-down Defense Position monster; Special Summon 1 "Flame Swordsman" or 1 monster that mentions it from your Deck or Extra Deck. You can only use this effect of "Flame Swordsdance" once per turn.
Flame Swordsdance — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 52 ± 8 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 47.6 · Deck: 55.1 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Starter / Combo enabler · Secondary: Extender
Why it scores here
Flame Swordsdance is a Normal Trap that cannot act from hand: it must be set, and its main effect is a once-per-turn graveyard cost (banish itself, Tribute one face-down DEF monster) that Special Summons a Flame Swordsman or mentioning monster from the Deck or Extra Deck. Its value is converting a cheap cost into one body, so it scores as a starter with only moderate resource gain and modest interaction (the field effect turns one face-up monster face-down). It is a trap, so its material utility is near zero and the summoned monster carries the real value. The card is played in 400 of 400 sampled decks and is near-universal in its archetype, but that inclusion confirms accessibility, not power, so it does not lift the score much. Its high deck-fit score comes from co-occurrence with its own archetype.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 50 | Needs to be set in a Spell/Trap zone or reached through the graveyard cost; not live from hand, but near-universal inclusion (400/400 decks, 1.11 avg copies) shows the route is practical (observed/inferred). |
| Combo & Conversion | 55 | The graveyard effect turns one cost into one Special Summon from Deck or Extra, and the guide mentions one-card combo potential; no recorded boards exist, so this is text-based inference (inferred). |
| Resource Economy | 45 | Banishing itself and Tributing a face-down DEF monster to summon one monster is roughly card-neutral with no recursion or draw (verified from text). |
| Effect & Interaction | 30 | The only disruption is changing one face-up monster to face-down DEF, and the guide calls the disruption insignificant (verified from text, guide snippet). |
| Material Utility | 5 | A Trap cannot be material; the value comes from the Flame Swordsman body it summons, not from the card itself (verified from text). |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 45 | The graveyard effect works after the set card is destroyed, but it is once per turn and needs a face-down DEF monster to Tribute (verified from text, inferred). |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 70 | One-copy trap slot with no garnet or lock restriction, and the 1.11 average copies per deck point to a cheap slot (observed). |
Calculation
Weight profile: 0.7 Starter / Combo enabler + 0.3 Extender. Intrinsic ≈ 47.6, Deck ≈ 55.1, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: none. Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck
Strengths
- Graveyard effect converts a cheap cost into a Special Summon with no setup beyond a face-down DEF monster
- Near-universal inclusion across 400 sampled decks and 40 archetypes confirms it is a live, practical piece
- Cheap single-copy trap slot with no garnet or lock restriction
Weaknesses
- Cannot act from hand; it must be set or reached through the graveyard
- The graveyard effect is once per turn and needs a face-down DEF monster to Tribute
- Little opponent interaction beyond changing one face-up monster to DEF
- Cannot be material; its value depends on the Flame Swordsman body it summons
Counters / choke points
- Monster-removal or board-breaking effects that prevent a face-down DEF monster from being on the field
- Once-per-turn and battle-phase timing limits make the graveyard effect easy to miss
- Opponent interaction that destroys or negates the set card before it resolves (inferred from trap timing)
Best use
Trap that converts a graveyard cost into a Special Summon from the Deck or Extra Deck, mainly inside Flame Swordsman lines. Decks: Flame Swordsman, Infernoble Knight, Noble Knights, Snake-Eyes, Diabellstar. Suggested copies: 1.
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: Card text: a set Trap with a once-per-turn graveyard effect (banish self, Tribute one face-down DEF monster) that Special Summons a Flame Swordsman or mentioning monster from Deck or Extra Deck; Card text: a field effect that changes one face-up monster to face-down DEF; Card is a Trap, so it cannot be material; 400 of 400 sampled decks run it, average 1.11 copies
- Observed: Appears in 400/400 sampled decks across 40 distinct archetypes; Top partners are Flame Swordsman-line cards at 80%+ co-occurrence; Guide describes the Flame Swordsman deck as capable of one-card combos, with disruption that is not significant
- Inferred: Graveyard cost plus Special Summon converts one resource into one body with no net card advantage; Interaction is soft (one monster changed to DEF), not a hard negate; Set-and-hold timing and the once-per-turn limit make the graveyard route fiddly
- Data gaps: no combos supplied — combo conversion is text-only inference no banlist token — assumed 3 copies (unlimited) no usage statistics (StatisticsCard) — archetype inclusion % inferred from deck sample only no rulings supplied — timing of the set-trap activation and graveyard cost is inferred from text