Trap
CounterParadox Fusion
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When a monster(s) would be Special Summoned, OR a Spell/Trap Card is activated: Banish 1 face-up Fusion Monster you control; negate the Special Summon or activation, and if you do, destroy that card, also during your 2nd End Phase, return the banished Fusion Monster to your field in face-up Attack Position.
Paradox Fusion — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 54 ± 6 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 54.6 · Deck: 56.51 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Negation/Interaction · Secondary: Board breaker
Why it scores here
Paradox Fusion scores as a moderately strong control tool delivering reliable negation of both Special Summons and Spell/Trap activations with a destroy effect, making it flexible disruption across two categories. However, its requirement for a face-up Fusion Monster as cost significantly limits accessibility and deckbuilding efficiency—introducing a hard constraint that makes it a brick if unavailable. In Runick, where it sees 50% adoption, this cost is manageable through hybrid Fusion engines, but the card's zero combo presence and narrow activation window prevent it from reaching higher tiers despite solid effect interaction.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 40 | Requires a face-up Fusion Monster on your field to activate, creating a hard cost that limits live activation windows; trap status allows setup but the Fusion prerequisite significantly reduces practical accessibility (verified) |
| Combo & Conversion | 15 | Zero combo appearances in the dataset with no combo-building capability from text; purely reactive negation tool with no synergy to board extension or advantage generation (observed) |
| Resource Economy | 60 | Negates and destroys a card while banishing your own Fusion Monster temporarily; returns the Fusion at 2nd End Phase for roughly even to +1 card advantage depending on target destroyed (inferred) |
| Effect & Interaction | 75 | Negates both Special Summons and Spell/Trap activations with a destroy effect applied to the negated card, providing broad and flexible disruption across two distinct categories (verified) |
| Material Utility | 5 | Trap card with no ATK/DEF stats; banishes the player's own Fusion Monster as cost (not using this card as material), leaving no inherent material utility for this card itself (verified) |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 55 | Survives as a trap until activation and responds to two broad categories of effects; the temporary banish of a Fusion Monster creates a vulnerability window until 2nd End Phase return (inferred) |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 45 | Requires Fusion Monsters in the deck and specifically a face-up Fusion Monster to activate, creating deckbuilding constraints and brick risk; 50% adoption in Runick suggests this is manageable only in Fusion-capable archetypes (observed) |
Calculation
Weight profile: Negation/Interaction primary role. Intrinsic ≈ 54.6, Deck ≈ 56.51, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: Fusion Monster cost (-2). Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck
Strengths
- Flexible negation covering both Special Summons and Spell/Trap activations in one card
- Destroys the negated card, adding 2-for-1 value to the negation effect
- Broad applicability across 34 distinct archetypes with Fusion engines
- Counter trap status allows reactive play and setup before activation
Weaknesses
- Requires a face-up Fusion Monster as cost, severely limiting accessibility and creating brick scenarios
- Zero combo synergy; purely reactive interaction tool with no board-building capability
- Fusion Monster requirement creates significant deckbuilding constraint outside Fusion-focused archetypes
- Temporary banish of your own monster creates vulnerability window until 2nd End Phase return
- Not a format staple—highly dependent on archetype having a Fusion engine
Counters / choke points
- Field wipe effects (Swordsoul Strategist Longyuan, Lightning Storm) can remove the temporary Fusion banish target before End Phase return
- Trap negation (Solemn Judgment, Infinite Impermanence, Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring) stops activation
- Decks without Fusion Monsters cannot activate this card at all
Best use
Control/disruption piece in Fusion-capable control-focused decks. Decks: Runick, Invoked, Gem-Knights, Magnet Warrior. Suggested copies: 2.
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: Trap Counter card requiring a face-up Fusion Monster to activate; Negates Special Summons or Spell/Trap Card activations; Destroys the negated card when negation resolves; Returns banished Fusion Monster to field at 2nd End Phase in face-up Attack Position; Legal in TCG, OCG, MasterDuel, and DuelLinks; 100% main deck placement across all 122 decks (0% side deck)
- Observed: 50% inclusion in Runick decks (61 of 122 total decks); Average 1.67 copies per deck; 66 decks run 1 copy, 30 run 2, 26 run 3; 34 distinct archetypes run this card across the dataset; Top partners are exclusively Runick archetype cards and control staples; 73.8% of decks using this card are going-first control (gameplay type 7)
- Inferred: Primary role is Negation/Interaction based on text and deck construction patterns; Runick uses secondary Fusion engine to enable the Fusion Monster requirement; Card serves as control/disruption tool rather than combo extender; Fusion Monster cost creates deckbuilding constraints outside pure Fusion archetypes; No meta dominance despite Runick popularity suggests balanced power level
- Data gaps: No combos supplied—combo conversion is text-only inference; card shows zero combo synergy No guides supplied—meta-game role relies entirely on deck construction patterns No banlist token—assumed 3 copies unlimited; verify actual format restrictions No usage statistics (StatisticsCard)—archetype inclusion percentage inferred from 122-deck sample only, not historical data Unclear if Runick decks contain dedicated Fusion engines or accept the Fusion requirement as a constraint