EARTH
3Puppet Plant
ATK:
1000
DEF:
1000
View:
2821
You can discard this card to the Graveyard, then target 1 Warrior or Spellcaster-Type monster your opponent controls; take control of that target until the End Phase.
Puppet Plant — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 60 ± 5 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 59 · Deck: 60 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Hand trap · Secondary: Board breaker, Removal / Negation
Why it scores here
Puppet Plant is a situational disruption card that costs a discard but offers meaningful temporary board control in exchange. Its low combo conversion reflects that it doesn't build anything on its own, and the cost-benefit trade-off—lose a card to steal one temporarily—keeps it at mid-tier despite strong deck inclusion across 34 archetypes. The high material utility score reflects its Level 3 body's clean role as Synchro material in its primary Synchron and Junk homes, but its effectiveness is gated by the type restriction (Warrior/Spellcaster only) and the temporary nature of the control steal.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 60 | Can be summoned as a Level 3 body or used for its discard effect in decks with outlet synergy; runs at 2.21 copies per deck on average across 124 deck appearances (verified). |
| Combo & Conversion | 30 | Zero combo appearances despite 124 deck inclusions indicate it is a one-off disruption tool, not a combo engine; the effect doesn't build boards on its own (verified). |
| Resource Economy | 42 | Costs one discard (the card itself) to gain temporary control of one opponent's monster until End Phase; net card advantage is slightly negative unless the hijacked monster generates significant value (inferred). |
| Effect & Interaction | 55 | Temporary control steal of Warrior or Spellcaster monsters provides situational but meaningful disruption; limited by 1-turn duration and type restriction (verified). |
| Material Utility | 68 | Level 3 body is clean Synchro material; useful in its primary Synchron (24.2% of decks) and Junk (12.1%) homes where Synchro plays are core, and splashable to other Synchro archetypes across the 34 distinct homes (inferred). |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 50 | Discardable effect is instant-speed once in hand, but the card itself is a one-off; resilience depends on running 2–3 copies for redundancy, with no recovery or multi-turn utility (verified). |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 67 | Runs at 2–3 copies cleanly without heavy deckbuilding restriction; splashable to any deck with Warrior/Spellcaster synergy or discard outlets, though can brick if discarded late-game without synergy (inferred). |
Calculation
Weight profile: 0.7 Hand trap + 0.3 Board breaker. Intrinsic ≈ 59, Deck ≈ 60, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: none. Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck (decks present, combos absent)
Strengths
- Clean Level 3 Synchro material in primary homes (Synchron 24.2%, Junk 12.1%)
- Discardable effect enables synergy with discard outlets across 34 distinct archetypes
- Instant-speed disruption once activated (hard to interrupt)
Weaknesses
- Zero combo appearances suggest it does not enable or participate in recorded combo lines
- Temporary control steal (End Phase only) is weaker than permanent removal or negation
- Type restriction (Warrior/Spellcaster only) limits applicability against some boards
- Resource cost (discard) means net advantage requires the hijacked monster to create value
Counters / choke points
- Negation of discard or targeting (Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring, Effect Veiler if timed)
- Decks running mostly non-Warrior/non-Spellcaster monsters (niche matchup weakness)
Best use
Discard outlet and temporary board disruption in Synchro-heavy decks. Decks: Synchron, Junk, Secret Six Samurai. Suggested copies: 2.
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: Card text: discard this card, target 1 Warrior or Spellcaster monster your opponent controls, take control until End Phase; 124 deck appearances across 34 distinct archetypes; runs at 2.21 copies per deck average; Gameplay type 7 (78.2% of appearances) correlates with Synchron/Synchro-heavy decks; Zero combo appearances despite widespread deck inclusion
- Observed: Top partners (Brionac 75.8%, Black Rose Dragon 74.2%, Trishula 73.4%) are Synchro enablers, confirming Synchron/Junk as primary homes; Runs at 2–3 copies in main deck (80 decks at 2 copies, 35 at 3 copies) indicating strong redundancy
- Inferred: Level 3 body is valued in Synchron/Junk as clean Synchro material (Level 3 is a Synchro tuner level for 4-level Synchros); Discard cost enables synergy with decks running discard outlets (Synchron, Junk have these); Temporary control steal generates value only if opponent's board contains relevant Warrior/Spellcaster monsters; Absence from combo lines indicates it is used as a tech card, not a combo engine
- Data gaps: No combos supplied — combo conversion and synergy are inferred from text and deck partnerships only No guides supplied — no human context on intended roles or matchup considerations No usage statistics (StatisticsCard) — inclusion rates are from the 124-deck sample only, not a larger historical dataset No banlist token — assumed 3 copies (unlimited) based on absence of restriction note