Spell
NormalLightning Vortex
View:
6017
Discard 1 card; destroy all face-up monsters your opponent controls.
Lightning Vortex — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 58 ± 4 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 59 · Deck: 59 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Board Breaker · Secondary: Removal
Why it scores here
Lightning Vortex is a straightforward board-sweeping removal spell that destroys all opponent face-up monsters for a single card discard. Its accessibility and deckbuilding efficiency are high—it appears in 123 distinct archetypes with strong redundancy at 1.77 copies per deck—but combo conversion is minimal since it doesn't generate advantage or enable synergies, merely stopping opponent threats. The discard cost prevents perfect resource economy, keeping it a solid generic staple rather than an exceptional engine, and the lack of recorded combo synergy places it as reliable insurance rather than a power driver.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 72 | Lives in hand as a normal spell and appears consistently across 400 sampled decks with average 1.77 copies, though the discard cost gates early-game readiness in tight hands (verified) |
| Combo & Conversion | 8 | No combo appearances recorded and text shows no board-building or synergy generation; pure removal that does not extend your own board state (verified) |
| Resource Economy | 58 | Costs one discard to destroy all opponent face-up monsters, typically a net −1 card that yields +1 to +3 bodies removed, making it roughly even or slightly positive depending on opponent board density (inferred) |
| Effect & Interaction | 64 | Provides hard removal against all face-up monsters with no flexibility against set cards or effect negation, making it strong for going-second but incomplete against control strategies (verified) |
| Material Utility | 3 | As a spell card it has no material role and cannot be used for synchro, xyz, link, or fusion summoning (verified) |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 42 | Single-use removal with no recursion, but decks run 1–3 copies for redundancy and it appears across 123 archetypes for multi-home backup (observed) |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 76 | Splashable generic staple with no archetype lock or brick risk beyond the discard cost; appears in Gadgets (100%), Ice Barrier (100%), Elemental HERO (100%), and Penguin (66.7%) with clean slot economics (verified) |
Calculation
Weight profile: Board Breaker. Intrinsic ≈ 59, Deck ≈ 59, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: Discard cost tension (-2); Exceptional splashability (1). Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck
Strengths
- Comprehensive board wipe: destroys all face-up monsters in one spell
- Generic staple: appears in 123 archetypes with consistent adoption
- Redundancy: 1.77 average copies per deck supports multiple copies
- Splashable: no archetype restrictions or locks
Weaknesses
- Discard cost reduces resource efficiency compared to free removal
- Single-use: no recursion or multi-turn application
- Cannot hit set cards or negate effects
- No deck synergy or combo generation
Counters / choke points
- Set cards: Lightning Vortex only destroys face-up monsters, allowing opponent to avoid it by setting
- Hand disruption: discarding your own resources (Ash Blossom, D.D. Crow effects) can empty the hand before casting
- Effect negate traps: opponent can chain negation to stop the spell activation
Best use
Going-second board wipe to clear opponent's established field. Decks: Gadgets, Ice Barrier, Elemental HERO, Lightsworn, Blue-Eyes, Red-Eyes. Suggested copies: 1.
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: Card text: Discard 1 card; destroy all face-up monsters your opponent controls; Legal in TCG, OCG, MasterDuel, DuelLinks; Appears in 400 sampled decks at 100% matched rate; Average 1.77 copies per deck (distribution: 1–203 decks, 2–85 decks, 3–112 decks); Gadgets 100% inclusion (1 copy), Ice Barrier 100% (3 copies), Elemental HERO 100% (1 copy)
- Observed: Appears in 123 distinct archetypes across sample; Top co-deck partner: Mirror Force (58.5% co-occurrence); Mentioned in 6 guides as tech/staple support; Penguin 66.7% inclusion at 3 copies; all usage_statistics archetypes show consistent adoption
- Inferred: Board-breaker role: destroys all face-up monsters, optimal going-second value; Discard cost trades card-advantage parity for board-wipe efficiency; Generic utility: no archetype lock, appears uniformly across all sampled homes; High redundancy: 1.77 average suggests 1–3-copy slots are standard across all archetypes
- Data gaps: No combos supplied (0 combos recorded) — combo conversion scoring is text-only inference Top-card ranking absent — cannot confirm competitive meta presence or tournament inclusion No ruling complexities documented — assuming standard activation and chain resolution