Memory of an Adversary

Memory of an Adversary — Power Evaluation

Final Score: 56 ± 5 · Confidence: Medium

• Intrinsic: 58 · Deck: 55 · Meta: provisional
• Primary role: Removal / Negation · Secondary: Board breaker

Why it scores here

Memory of an Adversary is a reactive trap that removes attacking monsters and steals them as a delayed payoff. It achieves broad splashability across 31 distinct archetypes (Melffy, World Chalice, Labrynth prominent) running 1–3 copies, confirming solid accessibility and clean deckbuilding fit. The core strength is the removal-plus-theft combo—the attacker is banished and summoned to your field—but the LP cost (equal to the attacker's ATK) is a substantial penalty, and the effect is entirely gated on opponent attacks, missing threats that don't summon or don't attack. With zero combo synergy and low resilience to negation, it scores as a solid but situational control tech, not a core engine.

Axis scores

Calculation

Weight profile: Primary role: Removal / Negation. Intrinsic ≈ 58, Deck ≈ 55, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: none. Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck

Strengths

• Splashable across 31 distinct archetypes with no deck-building restrictions or searchability requirement
• Unconditional trap activation on opponent's attack declaration; live in hand without support
• Dual payoff: removes attacker by banishing and summons it to your field (resource swing)
• Clean 1–3 copy tech slot; plays well in Control and Combo-heavy formats

Weaknesses

• LP cost equal to attacking monster's ATK is substantial; 3000+ ATK monsters create severe LP drain
• Entirely gated on opponent attacking; useless against threats that don't summon or don't attack
• No combo synergy or multi-card enablement; standalone trap response
• Vulnerable to single negate at activation or during End Phase summon, losing the payoff

Counters / choke points

• Infinite Impermanence or trap negation
• Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring on the banish
• Effect negation during End Phase summon
• Opponent decks that attack infrequently or summon only small bodies

Best use

Reactive control tech; disrupts attacking monsters and generates delayed board resource. Decks: Melffy, World Chalice, Labrynth, Armed Dragon, Elemental Hero, Speedroid. Suggested copies: 2.

Evidence & gaps

• Verified: Card text: banish attacking monster, steal it at opponent's End Phase; Played in 60 recent decks across 31 distinct archetypes; Typical copies per deck: 1–3 (37 at 1, 18 at 2, 5 at 3); No banlist restriction (assumed unlimited); Top partners are generic staples (MST, Ash Blossom, Bottomless Trap Hole, Raigeki); 60% of decks using it play Control gameplay type
• Observed: Melffy is highest archetype at 15% (9/60 decks); Fishborg shows 100% inclusion at 3 copies in usage statistics (1 archetype sampled); No combo appearances despite 31 distinct archetype homes; Generic staple partner profile (MST, Ash, Bottomless) vs. archetype-specific synergies
• Inferred: Effect is gated on opponent attack declaration, limiting reliability vs. threats that don't attack; LP cost equal to attacker's ATK is a real resource drain, especially vs. high-ATK bodies; No combo synergy expected (doesn't search, extend, or enable multi-card lines); Broad splashability (31 archetypes, generic text) suggests solid accessibility; Single negate at activation or summon can nullify the effect or payoff entirely
• Data gaps: No combos supplied — combo conversion is text-only inference No guides supplied — human context on role and meta position unavailable No banlist token — assumed unlimited; actual ban status unknown No competitive tournament data — can't measure meta prevalence or win-rate correlation