Trap
CounterLink Restart
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3119
When a Spell/Trap Card, or monster effect, is activated that would inflict damage to you: Negate the activation, and if you do, Special Summon 1 Link Monster from your GY.
53± 8/ 100
Power Score
Intrinsic
57
Deck
55
Link Restart — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 53 ± 8 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 57 · Deck: 55 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Negation/Interaction · Secondary: Recovery/Recursion
Why it scores here
Link Restart is a conditional negation trap with specific but valuable utility: it hard-negates damage-dealing effects and recycles Link Monsters from the graveyard. However, its effectiveness is heavily matchup-dependent (only live against damage-focused strategies), and the card doesn't initiate combos or generate card advantage on its own. The high damage-interaction score and clean deckbuilding profile are offset by narrow trigger conditions and lack of proactive power.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 60 | A single-card trap that doesn't require searchers but needs opponent damage attempts to activate, appearing reliably in 12 decks across 7 archetypes as a 1-copy tech. (observed) |
| Combo & Conversion | 35 | Reactive card with no combo-initiating capability; only generates value (special summon) when opponent attempts damage and deck has Link Monsters in GY. (verified + inferred) |
| Resource Economy | 48 | Negation provides no card advantage; special summoning from GY is 1-for-1 recovery, not advantage; costs 1 deck slot. (verified) |
| Effect & Interaction | 65 | Hard negates damage-dealing Spell/Trap/monster effects but targets only that narrow class; no evidence of the trigger occurring reliably in non-burn matchups. (verified + inferred) |
| Material Utility | 8 | Trap cards cannot be used as material; the card's only material contribution is summoning Link Monsters from GY, not inherent body value. (verified) |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 55 | Trap card vulnerable to destruction and negation; survives turns without damage triggers but becomes dead card in non-damage matchups; no redundancy across copies. (verified + inferred) |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 70 | Clean one-card tech with no garnet risk or deck-building restriction; appears as 1-copy in nearly all decks, suggesting safe slot cost and splashability. (observed) |
Calculation
Weight profile: 0.7 Negation/Interaction + 0.3 Recovery/Recursion. Intrinsic ≈ 57, Deck ≈ 55, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: Matchup-dependent utility (-3). Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck
Strengths
- Hard negate on damage-effect class with no soft-lock conditions
- Bonus special summon from GY fits Link-centric strategies perfectly
- Clean deckbuilding profile with no garnet or brick risk
- Proven tech choice across multiple Link archetypes
Weaknesses
- Reactive, not proactive — cannot initiate or advance combos
- Highly matchup-dependent trigger condition (only live vs. damage)
- No card advantage generation of any kind
- Trap card vulnerable to destruction and hand-trap negation
- Requires Link Monster in GY to maximize value, adding condition
Counters / choke points
- Trap destruction effects (Twin Twisters, Cosmic Cyclone, Feather Duster)
- Hand-trap negation (Infinite Impermanence, HTS Psemtember)
- Decks that use zero damage effects (bypass the negation trigger entirely)
Best use
Tech negation with GY recovery in Link-centric decks. Decks: Gouki, Code Talker, Cynet, Gadgets, Appliancer.
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: Card is a Counter Trap that hard-negates activation of Spell/Trap/monster effects that would inflict damage; Special Summoning one Link Monster from GY is the bonus effect if negation succeeds; Trap card type prevents use as material for any summon method (Synchro, Fusion, Xyz, Link); Appears in exactly 12 recent decks across 7 distinct archetypes (2023-2025 sample); Most decks run 1 copy (11/12); one runs 3 copies, confirming tech-slot status
- Observed: Heaviest in Gouki (4 decks, 33.3%) and Code Talker (2 decks, 16.7%); Top partners are all Link-centric cards: Infinite Impermanence, Link into the VRAINS!, Code Exporter, Code Radiator, Cyberse Wizard; Card runs main-deck only in all 12 appearances (never sided); Average 1.17 copies per deck indicates consistent tech presence, not core include
- Inferred: Damage-negation utility is highest-value against burn-heavy and effect-damage strategies; Card is conditional tech choice, not universal include in Link decks; Recovery value depends entirely on having Link Monsters in GY when trigger occurs; Card is significantly diminished in matchups where opponent deals zero damage
- Data gaps: No combos supplied — combo conversion is text-only inference; cannot empirically verify how often Link summoning occurs in practice No guides supplied — no human strategy context on utility or metagame positioning No banlist token — assumed unlimited (3 copies); cannot verify restriction status No usage statistics (StatisticsCard) — cannot confirm inclusion % across larger historical sample beyond 12-deck sample No metagame context — cannot measure frequency of damage triggers in the format or rank vs. other tech choices