FIRE
1Link Apple
ATK:
0
DEF:
0
View:
3192
You can reveal this card in your hand; banish (face-up) 1 random face-down card from your Extra Deck, then, Special Summon this card if the banished card was a Link Monster. Otherwise, discard this card, and if you do, draw 1 card. You can only use this effect of "Link Apple" once per turn.
Link Apple — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 57 ± 5 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 57 · Deck: 53 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Utility · Secondary: Recovery/Recursion
Why it scores here
Link Apple is a hand-utility card that provides situational value in decks with multiple Extra Deck Link Monsters: it either Special Summons itself as a 0/0 Cyberse body (useful for Level-1 synergies) or draws a card if the banish misses a Link. The card's 0/0 stats mean neither payoff is intrinsically strong—the summon is a free body but useless for combat, and the draw is roughly resource-neutral. Its strength lies in exceptional splashability across 38 distinct archetypes as a generic filler that requires no setup. The lack of opponent interaction, once-per-turn limit, and Extra Deck dependency prevent it from scoring higher.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 75 | Lives in hand with no setup required, functioning as a hand-trap-style effect; found in 81 sampled decks across formats (verified) |
| Combo & Conversion | 45 | No combo evidence supplied; text analysis shows mixed conditional payoff (0/0 summon or +0 draw) insufficient to drive multi-step plays (inferred) |
| Resource Economy | 50 | Roughly neutral resource exchange—Special Summon or single draw once per turn; no persistent card advantage generation (verified from text) |
| Effect & Interaction | 15 | Zero opponent-facing interaction; no negation, disruption, removal, or hand-trap disruption effect (verified from text) |
| Material Utility | 55 | Level-1 Cyberse FIRE body is useful in niche strategies despite 0/0 stats; high archetype diversity (38) suggests type-based rather than stats-based utility (observed) |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 40 | Once-per-turn clause caps usage to once per turn; 0/0 body is vulnerable if summoned; Extra Deck state dependency limits flexibility (inferred from text) |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 65 | Minimal garnet risk and modest slot cost; average 1.58 copies per deck suggest clean filler role without deck restrictions (observed from distribution) |
Calculation
Weight profile: 0.7×Utility + 0.3×Recovery/Recursion. Intrinsic ≈ 57, Deck ≈ 53, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: Exceptional splashability (2). Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck
Strengths
- Live in hand activation with no setup required
- Highly splashable across 38 distinct archetypes and formats
- Predominantly in control decks (70.4%) where hand-utility and stabilization are valued
- Free conditional effect—either summons a body or draws a card
- Level-1 Cyberse FIRE typing provides niche material synergy
Weaknesses
- 0/0 stats on Special Summon are useless for combat or generic synergy
- Once-per-turn clause caps activation to one use per turn
- Conditional payoff is a gamble: effectiveness depends on random Extra Deck banish and Link Monster density
- Draw payoff is resource-neutral (no card advantage)
- No opponent interaction—purely self-contained utility with zero disruption
Counters / choke points
- Decks running few Extra Deck Link Monsters have higher draw rate, reducing summon payoff consistency
- Extra Deck disruption (Macro Cosmos, Dimensional Fissure) prevents banish effect entirely
- Hand disruption before activation (Maxx C on reveal, effect negation)
Best use
Hand-utility filler for conditional stabilization and minor extension. Decks: Dragon Ruler, Exodia, Fire King, Snake-Eyes, Vanquish Soul. Suggested copies: 1.
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: Level 1 Cyberse FIRE Effect Monster with 0/0 ATK/DEF; Effect: Reveal in hand, banish 1 random face-down card from Extra Deck, Special Summon this card if banished card was Link Monster, else discard and draw 1 card; Once-per-turn activation clause; Appears in 81 sampled decks across 38 distinct archetypes; Average 1.58 copies per deck; distribution: 48 decks run 1, 19 run 2, 14 run 3; Recency range 2022-02-27 to 2026-09-26; legal in TCG, OCG, MasterDuel, DuelLinks
- Observed: Top partners are generic staples (Ash Blossom, Called by Grave, Infinite Impermanence) and Fire King suite (25.9% co-deck rate); Predominantly in control decks (70.4%) with secondary combo presence (24.7%); Dragon Ruler, Exodia, and Fire King are top three homes; no single archetype dominates (11.1%, 11.1%, 9.9%); High archetype diversity (38 distinct) with no archetype synergy cluster in top partners suggests generic filler role
- Inferred: Level-1 Cyberse FIRE body has marginal material utility in Level-1 or Cyberse-specific synergies despite 0/0 stats; Once-per-turn clause limits effect usage to one activation per turn, capping refuel to once per game turn; Card functions as a utility filler rather than a combo core or enabler (zero combos found; appears in 38 archetypes with no tight synergy cluster); Effectiveness correlates with Extra Deck Link Monster density; high Link concentration increases summon rate, low concentration increases draw rate; Special Summon payoff is modest (free body, zero stats); draw payoff is resource-neutral (+0 advantage when factoring activation cost)
- Data gaps: No combos supplied—combo conversion inferred from text only; card's actual combo participation is unknown No guides supplied—no human context on meta role or usage patterns No banlist token—assumed unlimited (3 copies); legal status unconfirmed No usage statistics (StatisticsCard)—archetype inclusion percentages inferred from 81-deck sample only No top-card ranking—tier-1 competitiveness unconfirmed