WATER
3Graydle Cobra
Archetype:
Graydle
ATK:
1000
DEF:
1000
View:
3624
If this card in your Monster Zone is destroyed by battle or Trap effect and sent to your Graveyard: You can target 1 face-up monster your opponent controls; equip this card to that target. While this card is equipped to a monster by this effect, take control of that monster. When this card leaves the field, destroy the equipped monster.
Graydle Cobra — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 60 ± 8 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 59.7 · Deck: 59.8 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Board breaker · Secondary: Material body
Why it scores here
Graydle Cobra scores on its conditional control-steal: when it is destroyed in the Monster Zone by battle or Trap effect and sent to the Graveyard, it equips to a face-up opponent monster and takes control of it, destroying that monster when Cobra leaves the field. Its 1000 ATK / 1000 DEF earned no points. The 76-of-76 deck inclusion, 40.8% Graydle share and strong partner overlap raise accessibility and deck fit, but they are treated as consistent play, not as proof of intrinsic strength. With no recorded boards, the combo axis rests on text inference alone, which caps the score.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 75 | Run in 76 of 76 sampled decks at an average of 2.61 copies, mostly in the Graydle archetype (inferred from deck evidence, observed). |
| Combo & Conversion | 45 | Text converts one destroyed body into a steal of an opponent monster, but there are no combo boards or starter, searched or payoff stats to confirm it (inferred). |
| Resource Economy | 50 | The trade is roughly one body for one opposing monster, with no draw, search or Graveyard refuel stated in the text (verified from text, inferred balance). |
| Effect & Interaction | 60 | Steals a face-up opponent monster, a real board swing, but it only fires after the card is destroyed by battle or Trap effect (verified from text). |
| Material Utility | 40 | Level 3 WATER Aqua body, but no material role combo evidence exists to show it converts when its effect is negated (inferred). |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 50 | The trigger depends on being destroyed and sent to the GY, so it is one-shot per destruction and nothing in the evidence shows redundancy or multi-zone reach (inferred). |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 70 | Used at 2 to 3 copies with no garnet or lock text, a cheap slot in the sampled decks (observed, verified from text). |
Calculation
Weight profile: 0.7 Board breaker + 0.3 Material body. Intrinsic ≈ 59.7, Deck ≈ 59.8, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: none. Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck
Strengths
- Included in every sampled deck, so it is reliably accessible in its archetype homes
- Steals a face-up opponent monster, a real board swing rather than a plain body
- Clean deckbuilding cost: 2 to 3 copies, no garnet or lock text
- Spans 23 archetypes, so it is portable across homes
Weaknesses
- Conditional trigger: it needs to be destroyed by battle or Trap effect, and does nothing if it is not destroyed that way
- The steal is undone when the card leaves the field, since the equipped monster is then destroyed
- No recorded combo or starter/payoff evidence to confirm a high conversion rate
- 1000 ATK / 1000 DEF body with no stated card advantage
Counters / choke points
- Inferred: effects that banish, return or otherwise remove the card without destroying it would avoid the battle/Trap destruction trigger
- Inferred: cards that stop the Graveyard send or the equip step would break the steal
Best use
Board breaker: a destruction-triggered steal that swings a board after the card is lost. Decks: Graydle (archetype 925, 31 of 76 sampled decks), Umi, Kaiju.
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: Effect text: if destroyed in the Monster Zone by battle or Trap effect and sent to the GY, equip to a face-up opponent monster and take control while equipped; Destroys the equipped monster when this card leaves the field; Run in 76 of 76 sampled decks, average 2.61 copies, max 3
- Observed: Graydle archetype holds 31 of 76 decks (40.8%); Top partners Graydle Alligator and Graydle Eagle each co-occur in 71 decks (93.4%); Gameplay type 7 accounts for 71.1% of decks
- Inferred: Board breaker is the primary role, with Material body as secondary, based on the steal effect and Level 3 body; Steal is a one-for-one swing rather than card advantage; Negated or banished versions still leave a Level 3 body usable as material, but this is not confirmed
- Data gaps: No combos supplied, so combo conversion and starter/material/payoff roles are text-only inference No guides supplied No rulings supplied for the destruction and equip timing No usage statistics (StatisticsCard) for this card No banlist token, so 3 copies assumed as the legal limit No legal copies entries per format