EARTH
3Psychic Commander
ATK:
1400
DEF:
800
View:
3213
When a Psychic-Type monster you control battles, during the Damage Step you can pay Life Points in multiples of 100 (max. 500) to have the monster it's battling lose that much ATK and DEF, until the End Phase.
Psychic Commander — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 61 ± 6 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 60 · Deck: 61 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Material body / Tuner · Secondary: Combo enabler, Battle modifier
Why it scores here
Psychic Commander scores as a solid Tuner enabler for Synchro-centric strategies, not as a standalone board builder. Its Level-3 Tuner body is its primary value—enabling Synchro summons via partners like Emergency Teleport (94% co-deck rate) and working cleanly even when its effect is negated. The battle-phase ATK/DEF reduction is situational and soft (no negation or hard removal), relying on an existing Psychic monster to be battling and on opponent life totals mattering. Without combo evidence, the effect's practical board impact cannot be verified, but the Tuner utility alone justifies its consistent inclusion across 21 distinct archetypes.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 72 | Strong searchability via Emergency Teleport (94% co-deck) and Level-3 Tuner accessibility in Synchro-centric decks; confined to Psychic/Synchro strategies rather than universally live (verified) |
| Combo & Conversion | 48 | No combos supplied; Tuner body enables Synchro plays but the card's effect does not drive board construction—it is a battle modifier, not a combo generator (inferred) |
| Resource Economy | 32 | No card advantage generation and LP payment is a tempo cost, not a resource multiplier; card-neutral or slightly negative in resource efficiency (verified) |
| Effect & Interaction | 28 | Soft ATK/DEF reduction during battle is not negation or hard removal; conditional on Psychic monster battling and Damage Step occurrence, making it situational and play-around-able (verified) |
| Material Utility | 68 | Level-3 Tuner is valuable and generic for Synchro-enabling; works cleanly as material even when effect is negated; EARTH Psychic tag is niche but well-supported in the archetype sample (observed) |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 38 | No built-in protection or recovery; effect is strictly battle-phase dependent and Psychic-conditional; low flexibility across game states (verified) |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 62 | Avg 1.28 copies per deck with no self-lock or severe garnet risk; splashable within Synchro strategies but not universally free-roll across all decks (observed) |
Calculation
Weight profile: Material body / Normal role. Intrinsic ≈ 60, Deck ≈ 61, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: none. Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck
Strengths
- Strong Level-3 Tuner utility enabling Synchro summons
- Excellent searchability via Emergency Teleport (94% co-deck rate)
- Clean generic Tuner body even when effect is negated
- Works across 21 distinct archetypes including Armed Dragon, P.U.N.K., Kashtira
Weaknesses
- Battle-phase effect is highly conditional, requiring Psychic monster on field and active battle
- ATK/DEF reduction is soft interaction, not hard negation or removal
- No card advantage generation; purely tempo-based
- LP payment cost can outweigh benefit in short, fast games
- Effect is only useful during Damage Step and dependent on opponent battle strategy
Counters / choke points
- Decks minimizing battle-phase interaction (control/stun strategies)
- Hand traps negating the Psychic monster before battle (Ash Blossom, Infinite Impermanence)
- Decks with Tuner-less or non-Synchro strategies that do not value the Tuner body
Best use
Tuner material for Synchro summons; secondary battle-phase LP drain utility. Decks: Armed Dragon, P.U.N.K., Kashtira, Synchro-centric Tuner strategies.
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: Level-3 Tuner, Psychic type, EARTH attribute (from card frame/text); Effect: When Psychic-Type monster you control battles, Damage Step, pay LP (max 500) to reduce opponent monster ATK/DEF until End Phase (from card text); Appears in 50 decks spanning Armed Dragon, P.U.N.K., Kashtira, Relinquished, Monarch (from deck data); Emergency Teleport is top partner at 94% co-deck rate (from deck data); Synchro monsters Black Rose Dragon, Stardust Dragon, Thought Ruler Archfiend appear in 56–66% of decks running this card (from top partners)
- Observed: Avg 1.28 copies per deck, ranging 1–3 (from deck data); Present in 21 distinct archetypes (from deck data); 70% inclusion in Synchro-centric gameplay type (formats data)
- Inferred: As Level-3 Tuner, enables Synchro summons with any Level-4+ non-Tuner; LP-drain effect is situational, best in longer games where LP is a resource buffer; Tuner redundancy with other Level-3 Tuners (implied from deck sample diversity and multiple Synchro options); Effect is unlikely to be a board-driving payoff piece (no combo evidence showing it as payoff material)
- Data gaps: No combos supplied — effect's practical board-building impact cannot be verified No guides supplied — no human-written commentary on optimal usage strategy No usage statistics (StatisticsCard) — archetype inclusion % inferred from 50-deck sample only No banlist data — assuming unlimited (3 copies typical for Tuners) No ruling clarification on edge cases with LP payment during Damage Step calculation