Marshmallon

Marshmallon — Power Evaluation

Final Score: 67 ± 5 · Confidence: Medium

• Intrinsic: 67 · Deck: 69 · Meta: provisional
• Primary role: Floodgate / Control · Secondary: Material body

Why it scores here

Marshmallon is a defensive wall that punishes opponents for attacking through blanket battle immunity and 1000 damage reflection, making it a valuable control staple across 117 archetypes. It achieves its score primarily through strong synergy with control/stall shells (Swords of Revealing Light, Mirror Force, Magic Cylinder appearing in 31–40% of co-decks) and minimal deckbuilding cost (1.74 average copies, with 106 decks comfortably running 3), not from offensive value or resource generation. The 300 ATK earns zero points—it remains pure defensive utility. Its limitations (damage reflection only triggers while face-down, vulnerable to non-battle removal, absent from combo lines) reflect its niche as a going-second control tool rather than a generative engine.

Axis scores

Calculation

Weight profile: Primary: Floodgate / Control. Intrinsic ≈ 67, Deck ≈ 69, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: Timing restriction on reflection effect (-1). Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck = 68.2 → 67

Strengths

• Unconditional blanket battle immunity blocks all physical removal without activation
• 1000 damage reflection punishes every attack without cost or once-per-turn clause
• Searchable via generic tutors like Sangan (27.3% co-deck rate across the sample)
• Highly splashable across 117 distinct archetypes from Monarch to Lightsworn to Exodia
• Minimal garnet/brick risk; 1.74 average copies per deck shows 3-copy lines run cleanly
• Synergizes with defensive staples (Swords of Revealing Light 39.8%, Mirror Force 39.2%)

Weaknesses

• 300 ATK/500 DEF provides zero offensive pressure or deck-tuning capability
• Damage reflection dies immediately upon flipping face-up—once revealed, it loses all punitive value
• Vulnerable to non-battle removal: tributing effects, banishing, hand bouncing, forced-discard
• 1000 damage is modest in modern formats where match totals exceed 8000 HP
• No card advantage, no refuel, no recursion—pure defensive value with zero resource generation
• Cannot generate combo value or serve as combo piece in linear strategies

Counters / choke points

• Effect negation (Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring, etc. stops the damage reflection)
• Non-battle removal (tributing, banishing effects, hand bouncing, forced-discard)
• Forced-flip effects that do not target (Divine Wrath style interactions)
• Modern combo chains that skip or bypass the Damage Step entirely
• Archetype-specific disruption that does not rely on or interact with attacking

Best use

Floodgate/Control—defensive wall that punishes aggression via unconditional battle immunity and damage reflection. Decks: Monarch (5.6%), Exodia (5.3%), Egyptian God (4.2%), Timelord (3.0%), Control / Stall shells (49.6% in gameplay type 7). Suggested copies: 3.

Evidence & gaps

• Verified: Cannot be destroyed by battle—blanket immunity from card text; Damage reflection: +1000 to attacking player after Damage Step if face-down at start (card text); 337 decks across 117 distinct archetypes run it (deck data); Average 1.74 copies per deck; distribution: 193 (1x), 38 (2x), 106 (3x) (deck data); Top partners (Swords, Mirror Force, Magic Cylinder) all control-oriented, 31–40% co-deck rate (deck data)
• Observed: 49.6% of decks are gameplay type 7 (control/stall-heavy) (deck data.formats); Sangan co-appears in 27.3% of the same decks as primary search route (top partners); Monster Reborn (32.6%) and Call of the Haunted (17.2%) co-appear, confirming reanimation synergy (top partners); Appears predominantly in Monarch, Exodia, Egyptian God, Timelord—all defense-focused archetypes (archetypes list)
• Inferred: Primary role is Floodgate/Control based on effect design (immunity + punitive reflection) and partner synergy on defensive strategy; Accessibility is high (75) because Level 3 Normal Summon with no restrictions, searchable via multiple generic tutors; Material utility is weak (35) because 300/500 stat line has no specific material synergy; effect-negated becomes blank; Combo conversion is minimal (25) because card has no text-based generative capability and appears in zero combo boards; Resource economy is neutral (40) because it generates no advantage but costs only one Normal Summon
• Data gaps: No combos supplied—combo conversion and board synergy are text-only inferences, not observed statistics No guides supplied—no third-party expert commentary on optimal usage in specific archetypes No StatisticsCard rows (usage statistics.available = false)—archetype inclusion % inferred from 337-deck sample only, not from larger historical dataset No banlist restrictions token—assumed 3 copies unlimited across TCG, OCG, MasterDuel No top_card ranking—doesn't appear in any format's Top Card statistics, limiting meta-strength confirmation