Trap
NormalInfestation Terminus
Archetype:
Infestation
View:
3515
Target 1 "lswarm" monster you control and 2 cards your opponent controls; banish the first target, and if you do, return the second targets to the hand.
Infestation Terminus — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 56 ± 8 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 55 · Deck: 56 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Removal · Secondary: Negation/Interaction
Why it scores here
Infestation Terminus converts a board of its own lswarm monster into a one-for-two interaction: it banishes one opponent card and returns a second to hand, with no combo data to show it leads to a larger board. Its real value is as a reliable, single-copy answer in the Phantom Knights and Evilswarm shells, where the monster it needs is almost always present (Evilswarm Ophion is in 97.8% of the sampled decks). The card's very high deck presence (180 of 180 decks) and its 3,461 page views confirm it is played, but they do not raise the score. It is a narrow, cost-gated trap, so it scores middling rather than high.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 60 | Needs a specific lswarm monster on the field to activate, but that monster is nearly always present in the sampled decks (Evilswarm Ophion 97.8%, one copy in 176 of 180 decks), so the trap is usually live (observed + inferred). |
| Combo & Conversion | 35 | No recorded combos, so no measured board conversion; the text converts a 1-cost into one banish plus one bounce and nothing more (inferred from text, no combo stats). |
| Resource Economy | 45 | Costs a banish of your own monster to hit two opponent cards, so the trade is roughly even at best and not a refuel (inferred from text). |
| Effect & Interaction | 62 | Banishes one opponent card and returns a second to hand, which reaches both faceup and set cards; it is solid but limited to two targets and needs a live board (verified from text). |
| Material Utility | 10 | A Trap card with no material value; contributes nothing as a body (verified from frame_type). |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 40 | A set trap that a single negate or a board wipe can stop, and it depends on the lswarm monster surviving to activation (inferred from text, no interaction stats). |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 70 | Single-copy slot with no garnet or lock; redundancy is not needed for the copy count observed (1.02 avg copies, observed). |
Calculation
Weight profile: Removal / Negation primary role; no secondary blend applied (Negation/Interaction secondary is inside the same profile). Intrinsic ≈ 55, Deck ≈ 56, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: none. Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck
Strengths
- Banishes one opponent card and bounces a second, so it answers two cards for one trap
- Reliable activation in its host decks because the required lswarm monster is near-universal in the sample
- Single-copy, cheap-to-run slot with no garnet cost
Weaknesses
- Requires a specific lswarm monster you control, so it is dead without that board presence
- Costs a banish of your own monster, so it trades board for disruption
- A set trap that a single negate can stop, and it scores no body or material value
Counters / choke points
- Negates or board wipes that remove the lswarm monster before the trap resolves
- Targets that leave the field before the trap resolves (inferred from text)
Best use
Single-copy removal and bounce trap in its host shells. Decks: Phantom Knights, Steelswarm (Inverz), Evilswarm. Suggested copies: 1.
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: Card is a Normal Trap whose text targets one lswarm monster you control and two opponent cards, banishes the first target and returns the second to hand if the banish happens; Formats are TCG, OCG, MasterDuel and DuelLinks; Card appears in 180 of 180 sampled decks, with 1.02 average copies per deck
- Observed: Evilswarm Ophion is a partner in 176 of 180 decks (97.8%); Phantom Knights is the dominant host archetype at 66.7% of decks; Two guides mention the card, one listing it as a Phantom Knights staple
- Inferred: Its activation is usually reliable because the lswarm monster is near-universal in host decks; It trades board presence for disruption and is a weak body-less card; Its single-copy slot is cheap and redundancy-free
- Data gaps: no combos supplied, so combo conversion is text-only inference no banlist token, assumed 3 copies (unlimited) no usage statistics (StatisticsCard) available, so archetype inclusion is from the deck sample only card text names the cost monster as "lswarm" (possibly a typo for Evilswarm); the cost identity is inferred from partners, not from the text no rulings supplied to confirm timing of the bounce and banish decks_evidence avg starter count is null, so DeckResilience is set from archetype spread only