Trap
NormalPower Frame
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When a face-up monster you control is targeted for an attack by a monster with a higher ATK: Target the attack target; negate that attack, and if you do, equip this card to that target. The equipped monster gains ATK equal to the difference between its ATK and the ATK of its attacker when this card resolves.
Power Frame — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 33 ± 6 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 32 · Deck: 34 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Utility · Secondary: Negation/Interaction
Why it scores here
Power Frame is a combat-oriented Normal Trap that scores modestly because its activation requires a specific, opponent-dependent condition: your monster must be targeted for attack by a higher-ATK monster. When this condition is met, the card negates the attack and boosts your monster's ATK to match the attacker's, creating a meaningful board swing, but it provides no card advantage, no combo utility, and no hand-trap reach outside the battle step. The 13-deck sample across 5 archetypes confirms genuine real-world use primarily in Cyber Dragon and Synchron strategies, but zero combo appearances leave the card's actual in-game impact unverifiable beyond deck-slot presence. ATK and DEF stats played no role in this score—Power Frame has none as a Trap Card.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 25 | As a Normal Trap, Power Frame must be set a turn before use and requires the opponent to declare an attack with a higher-ATK monster—a narrow, opponent-dependent trigger that severely limits reliable activation windows (verified from card text). |
| Combo & Conversion | 20 | Zero combo appearances in the database confirm the card does not function as a starter, extender, or board-builder; its contribution ends at the combat step it activates (observed: 0 combo appearances). |
| Resource Economy | 30 | The card is a -1 on activation (set cost) with a conditional payoff of preserving a monster and gaining an ATK boost; it generates no card draw, search, or GY recursion (verified from card text). |
| Effect & Interaction | 35 | Negating one attack is meaningful defensive interaction, but the effect is combat-specific and does not reach spell/trap resolution or monster effect negation, requiring the opponent to attack into it first (verified from card text). |
| Material Utility | 10 | Power Frame is a Trap Card that equips itself to a monster; it has no monster body and cannot serve as Synchro, Fusion, Link, or Xyz material under any circumstance (verified from card text). |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 25 | The ATK boost persists as long as the equipped monster remains on field, offering some staying power, but the initial activation window is narrow and the card is completely dead if the opponent uses removal before declaring an attack (inferred from card text and standard trap interaction rules). |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 25 | Runs at 1–2 copies with an average of 1.46 per deck in the sample, occupying a trap slot for a conditional combat trick with no search access or redundancy—a modest but real deckbuilding cost (observed from deck data). |
Calculation
Weight profile: Utility / no clear role (default). Intrinsic ≈ 32, Deck ≈ 34, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: none. Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck
Strengths
- Turns an unfavorable combat into a board advantage by negating the attack and matching the attacker's ATK on the equipped monster
- Provides a durable ATK boost that persists on the equipped monster for follow-up offensive plays
- Sees real use across 5 distinct archetypes including Cyber Dragon and Synchron
- Can protect a key monster from destruction in battle and flip the combat situation in the same activation
Weaknesses
- Highly conditional—requires the opponent to attack your monster with a higher-ATK monster during the battle phase
- Provides no card advantage; resolving it is still a -1 in hand/set resources
- Dead card if the opponent uses removal effects instead of attacking, or simply chooses not to attack
- No effect outside the battle step—purely reactive and combat-limited
- Zero appearances in recorded combo lines confirming it adds no combo utility
Counters / choke points
- Spell/trap removal (Twin Twisters, Cosmic Cyclone) before the opponent declares an attack
- Non-combat targeted removal or destruction effects to bypass the combat trigger entirely
- Strategies that win without entering the battle phase (FTK, burn, direct effect damage)
Best use
Combat trap to protect a key monster and generate ATK advantage for a follow-up counterattack. Decks: Cyber Dragon, Synchron, Majestic, Guardian. Suggested copies: 1.
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: Power Frame is a Normal Trap Card legal in TCG, OCG, MasterDuel, and DuelLinks; Activates when a face-up monster you control is targeted for attack by a monster with higher ATK; Negates the declared attack and equips itself to the targeted monster; The equipped monster gains ATK equal to the difference between its original ATK and the attacker's ATK at resolution
- Observed: Appears in 13 decks across 5 distinct archetypes in the deck sample; Cyber Dragon is the primary home at 46.2% of the deck sample; Average 1.46 copies per deck with a maximum of 2 copies; Zero appearances in recorded combo lines
- Inferred: The equipped monster's ATK after resolution equals the attacker's ATK (own ATK + the difference = attacker's ATK), effectively matching the threat; Best suited for decks that field a key lower-ATK monster that would otherwise be run over in battle; Usage across both gameplay type 4 (53.8%) and type 7 (46.2%) suggests relevance across multiple format styles
- Data gaps: no combos supplied — combo conversion is text-only inference no guides supplied — guide context entirely absent no banlist token — assumed 3 copies (unlimited) no usage statistics (StatisticsCard) — archetype inclusion percentages inferred from 13-deck sample only