Trap
NormalInfestation Wave
Archetype:
Infestation
View:
2863
Return 1 face-up Tribute Summoned "Steelswarm" monster you control to the hand to target 1 card your opponent controls; destroy that target.
Infestation Wave — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 47 ± 8 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 50 · Deck: 49 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Removal / Negation
Why it scores here
Infestation Wave is a normal Trap that destroys one opponent card, and its real cost is returning a face-up Tribute Summoned Steelswarm monster you control to hand. Its score comes from that flexible one-card removal, which can hit any opponent card, offset by a board condition that must be met first. Its 3 sampled decks all run it inside the Steelswarm (Inverz) shell, so the card is consistently accessible there but has no evidence of portability beyond that home. No combo evidence exists, so no board-conversion credit is given; the ATK/DEF of the archetype's monsters earn nothing here.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 45 | Needs a face-up Tribute Summoned Steelswarm monster on the field before it can resolve, and the 3 sampled decks all run it with Steelswarm partners such as Steelswarm Moth and Steelswarm Hercules (observed, plus inferred conditional access). |
| Combo & Conversion | 25 | No combo data boards are supplied, so conversion is text-only: it removes one card and does not build a board on its own (inferred). |
| Resource Economy | 55 | Trades one returned monster for one destroyed opponent card, a roughly even card exchange with tempo cost on the board (inferred from text). |
| Effect & Interaction | 62 | Destroys any one card the opponent controls, with no type restriction in its text, which is flexible removal, but it is a single-target trap with a cost (verified from card text). |
| Material Utility | 5 | The card is a Trap and never enters play as material, so this axis is near zero (verified from card type). |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 45 | Depends on the Steelswarm monster staying on the field and is easily stopped by an opposing response, with no redundancy in the sampled evidence (inferred). |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 70 | Copies per deck range 1 to 3 with no garnet or lock restriction, so it is cheap to run in its shell (observed from copies per deck). |
Calculation
Weight profile: Primary role Removal / Negation, no secondary blend. Intrinsic ≈ 50, Deck ≈ 49, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: Conditional cost restriction (-3). Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck
Strengths
- Destroys any single card the opponent controls, with no type restriction in its text
- Cost is a monster return rather than a card, so the card-economy trade is roughly even
- Cheap to run in its own shell with 1 to 3 copies per deck and no garnet
Weaknesses
- Requires a face-up Tribute Summoned Steelswarm monster before it can resolve
- Single-target trap that the opponent can respond to or play around
- Little portability: all 3 sampled decks are the same Steelswarm (Inverz) archetype
Counters / choke points
- Opposing negation on the trap activation
- Opponent removing or negating the Steelswarm monster before activation
Best use
Removal / Negation. Decks: Steelswarm (Inverz). Suggested copies: 2.
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: Card text: returns a face-up Tribute Summoned Steelswarm monster you control to hand to destroy 1 opponent card; Card type is Trap Card, so it has no material or body value
- Observed: Runs in 3 of 3 sampled decks, all in the Steelswarm (Inverz) archetype, with 1 to 3 copies each
- Inferred: The cost is a tempo trade with roughly even card economy; The conditional Steelswarm requirement limits accessibility to that shell
- Data gaps: no combos supplied — combo conversion is text-only inference no guides supplied no banlist token — assumed 3 copies (unlimited) no usage statistics (StatisticsCard) — archetype inclusion % inferred from deck sample only