Rasterliger

Rasterliger — Power Evaluation

Final Score: 64 ± 5 · Confidence: Medium

• Intrinsic: 64 · Deck: 62 · Meta: provisional
• Primary role: Board breaker / Removal · Secondary: Material body, Utility

Why it scores here

Rasterliger is a utility Link-4 that slots as removal in broad Link-based strategies, particularly Sky Striker and control decks. Its destruction effect (Effect 2) provides clean, hard interaction when you have tribute material, while its GY-recycling ATK boost is incidental padding rather than a power driver. The card scores solidly on accessibility (82 distinct archetypes), material utility (standard LIGHT Link-4), and deck efficiency (a clean 1-of with no garnet risk), but falls short on combo conversion (it's a finisher, not a linker) and resilience (one-time summon, no recovery). It earns 64 as a dependable tech card rather than a meta pillar.

Axis scores

Calculation

Weight profile: 0.7·Board breaker + 0.3·Utility. Intrinsic ≈ 64, Deck ≈ 62, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: Broad splashability across 82 archetypes (2); Thin combo evidence (only 1 combo, role not recorded) (-1). Final formula: 0.40·Intrinsic + 0.60·Deck = 0.40·64 + 0.60·62 = 63, adjusted +2 for broad splashability −1 for thin combo data = 64

Strengths

• Clean, hard removal (destruction-based) that works on demand when you have tribute material
• Exceptional deck-building efficiency: a 1-of with no garnet risk, no lock, and no archetype restriction
• Broadly accessible across 82 distinct archetypes, particularly strong in Link-heavy strategies (Sky Striker, Knightmares, Cyberse)
• Generic LIGHT Cyberse body usable as material for Link summons and archetype-specific support
• Link-4 with all four arrows provides flexible tribute material access from multiple zones

Weaknesses

• Requires already-established board presence to summon (not a starter or hand-trap)
• Tribute-based removal is conditional and once-per-turn, limiting reusability
• Low resilience: one-time summon with no built-in recovery or multi-turn utility
• Acts as a utility finisher rather than a combo linker; doesn't generate significant card advantage on its own
• Removal effect loses value if opponent has few cards to destroy or limited material available

Counters / choke points

• Summon negation (Infinite Impermanence, Solemn Judgment, negation hand-traps) stops both effects
• Decks with few Spell/Trap cards or bodies reduce the value of Effect 2
• Opponent's own board clears or Ash Blossom on earlier summons can prevent Rasterliger from being summoned

Best use

Utility removal finisher; tech 1-of for hard destruction when board has tribute material. Decks: Sky Striker, Knightmare-Link hybrids, Salamangreat, Cyberse variants, Altergeist. Suggested copies: 1.

Evidence & gaps

• Verified: Link-4 Cyberse with 2000 ATK; summon requirement: 2+ non-Token monsters (card text); Appears in 400 decks across 82 distinct archetypes (decks_evidence); Runs exactly 1 copy in 99.25% of decks (397 out of 400 run 1 copy; 1.01 average) (decks_evidence.copies_per_deck); Effect 1: Target 1 Link Monster in GY; gain ATK equal to its ATK until end of turn (card text); Effect 2: Tribute monsters this card points to; destroy equal number of cards on field (card text); Once-per-turn clause on each effect (card text)
• Observed: Sky Striker is the dominant home (34%, 136 decks) (decks_evidence.archetypes); Knightmare Phoenix and Unicorn are co-deck partners in 69.5% of decks running Rasterliger (decks_evidence.top_partners); Appears in 1 combo (Altergeist #1) with power index 82 (combos_evidence); Broad splashability confirmed by 82 distinct archetypes in the 400-deck sample (decks_evidence.distinct_archetypes); Mentioned in 2 guides, both listing it in tech/extra deck sections (guides_evidence)
• Inferred: Primary role is Board breaker / Removal based on Effect 2 (tribute-based destruction) and its role in removal-heavy Sky Striker strategies (inferred from text + deck context); Lack of recorded starter/material/payoff roles in the single combo suggests Rasterliger is a finisher/utility tool, not a combo linker (inferred from combos_evidence role zeros); Link-4 with all four arrows (Top, Left, Right, Bottom) provides flexible tribute material access (inferred from link_arrows array); Generic utility value in Link-based strategies confirmed by presence in non-Cyberse archetypes (Salamangreat, Altergeist, Ninja) (inferred from archetypes list); Material utility as LIGHT Cyberse body applicable to Cyberse support and generic Link summons (inferred from card type + attribute)
• Data gaps: Banlist status unknown; assumed unlimited (3 copies) based on no restriction data Usage statistics (StatisticsCard) not available; archetype inclusion percentages inferred from 400-deck sample only, not historical multi-format data Combos evidence is extremely thin (only 1 combo total); Rasterliger's role in board-building and starter/extender function not recorded (all role fields = 0), limiting confidence in combo synergy assessment No detailed combo examples showing how Rasterliger is deployed or its interaction patterns No guide snippet explicitly describing Rasterliger's strategic role; only menu placements in deck lists