Trap
NormalPlant Food Chain
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2757
Target 1 Plant-Type monster you control; equip this card to that target. It gains 500 ATK. If this card is destroyed by a card effect while equipped: You can target 1 Plant-Type monster in your Graveyard; Special Summon that target.
Plant Food Chain — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 36 ± 7 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 37 · Deck: 37 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Recovery/Recursion · Secondary: Utility
Why it scores here
Plant Food Chain scores in the low-mid range because its primary payoff — Special Summoning a Plant-Type monster from the GY — is locked behind a narrow condition: the equip trap must be destroyed by an opponent's card effect, a trigger the controller cannot reliably force. The +500 ATK boost is negligible in modern Yu-Gi-Oh! and earns no points here. Its spread across five Plant archetypes (Predaplant, Aroma, Ragnaraika, Mystical Beast, generic) confirms genuine niche utility, but the Normal Trap speed tax and the passive, opponent-dependent trigger cap both its combo and resilience ceilings. ATK and DEF did not factor into the score.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 35 | Normal Trap requires a prior set turn and a Plant-Type monster already on field; no searchers are evidenced, and in-hand dead draws before setup are common. (inferred) |
| Combo & Conversion | 30 | Zero combo appearances in the database; the only active conversion is a conditional GY Special Summon that fires only when an opponent destroys the equipped trap with a card effect. (inferred) |
| Resource Economy | 35 | The card is a net -1 that upgrades to a rough 1-for-1 only when the destruction trigger fires; the +500 ATK generates no meaningful card advantage. (inferred) |
| Effect & Interaction | 15 | No negation, no removal, and no proactive disruption; the closest interaction is punishing an opponent's S/T removal, which is purely reactive. (verified from card text) |
| Material Utility | 25 | The GY Special Summon can generate a body usable as material, but it is indirect and conditional — Plant Food Chain itself occupies only the S/T zone and cannot be used as monster material. (inferred) |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 22 | Opponent ignoring the equipped trap, attacking the monster into battle, or simply not destroying S/T cards all blank the recursion trigger entirely, leaving only a +500 ATK buff. (inferred) |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 40 | Fits cleanly into Plant-type decks with no special prerequisites beyond a Plant on field; runs as low as 1 copy (avg 1.5 across 6 observed decks) and imposes no archetype lock. (observed from deck data) |
Calculation
Weight profile: 100% Recovery/Recursion. Intrinsic ≈ 37, Deck ≈ 37, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: Normal Trap speed tax (-1). Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck
Strengths
- Usable across multiple Plant archetypes (Predaplant, Aroma, Ragnaraika) giving it modest genericity within the Plant type
- GY recursion is free — no cost beyond the trap itself — when the trigger fires
- Can turn opponent's backrow removal into a free Special Summon, punishing common board-clearing effects
Weaknesses
- Normal Trap speed: must be set a turn before use, drastically reducing its impact in combo-heavy or fast formats
- Trigger is entirely opponent-dependent — requires the trap to be destroyed by a card effect while equipped, which opponents can easily avoid
- The +500 ATK boost is negligible in a format of 3000+ ATK monsters
- Opponent can simply attack into the equipped monster without destroying the trap, stranding the recursion effect
Counters / choke points
- Attacking the equipped Plant monster in battle (does not destroy the trap by card effect)
- Spell/Trap negation such as Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring against the initial equip activation
- Decks that do not run backrow removal leave the card sitting inert as a mild ATK boost only
Best use
Passive GY recursion insurance in Plant-type control/grind strategies. Decks: Predaplant, Aroma, Ragnaraika, Mystical Beast of the Forest. Suggested copies: 1.
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: Card equips to a Plant-Type monster and grants +500 ATK; If destroyed by a card effect while equipped, optionally Special Summons a Plant-Type monster from the GY; Legal in TCG, OCG, MasterDuel, and DuelLinks formats; Normal Trap card — must be set before activation
- Observed: Appears in 6 decks across 5 archetypes (Predaplant 33%, Aroma 17%, Ragnaraika 17%, Mystical Beast 17%, generic 17%); Average 1.5 copies per deck; most common at 1 copy (4 of 6 decks); Top partner Aromage Jasmine co-appears in 66.7% of observed decks; Not a top card in any format; not in any recorded combo boards
- Inferred: The 'destroyed by card effect' condition is not reliably triggerable by the controller; Primary utility is GY recovery insurance in Plant grind strategies rather than proactive combo development; Spread across 5 archetypes suggests moderate generic fit within Plant strategies, not format-defining strength
- Data gaps: No combos supplied — combo conversion is text-only inference No guides supplied — human role assessment unavailable No banlist token — assumed unlimited (3 copies) No usage statistics (StatisticsCard) — archetype inclusion % inferred from 6-deck sample only Exact ruling on 'destroyed by card effect' edge cases (e.g., Mystical Space Typhoon chain timing) is unconfirmed