Trap
CounterRecall
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1579
When your opponent activates a monster effect: Your opponent draws 1 card, also negate the activation, and if you do, destroy it.
Recall — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 63 ± 5 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 64 · Deck: 63 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Negation/Interaction · Secondary: Removal
Why it scores here
Recall delivers strong hard negation and destruction against monster effects, making it a reliable control tool across 52 distinct archetypes. However, the cost of letting the opponent draw a card offsets some value, and its reactive nature limits resilience against passive boards. Its score reflects solid effect quality and exceptional splashability in control decks, offset by lack of combo potential and conditional activation.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 68 | Trap card without archetype-specific searchers, but appears in 52 distinct archetypes with consistent 1–3 copy counts, showing practical accessibility in diverse homes (observed). |
| Combo & Conversion | 28 | No combo appearances recorded; as a purely reactive trap, it does not build or extend combos—it only interrupts opponent effects (verified). |
| Resource Economy | 52 | Opponent draws 1 card while you negate and destroy, leaving resource exchange roughly even; positive value depends on quality of the negation (inferred). |
| Effect & Interaction | 76 | Negates any monster effect activation and destroys its source—flexible hard negation with a removal component that resists playing around (verified). |
| Material Utility | 0 | Trap cards cannot be used as monsters for Synchro, Fusion, Xyz, or Link summoning, yielding zero material value (verified). |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 42 | Reactive trap requires opponent to activate monster effects and is vulnerable to passive boards or preemptive board state—triggers only once per opponent turn (inferred). |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 72 | Splashable across control, midrange, and niche combo decks with no garnet risk or deck locks; runs 1–3 copies without restriction (observed). |
Calculation
Weight profile: Primary role: Negation/Interaction. Intrinsic ≈ 64, Deck ≈ 63, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: none. Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck
Strengths
- Hard negation combined with destruction—two-layered interaction
- Fully generic effect text works against any monster effect
- Highly splashable: runs in 52 distinct archetypes
- Clean deckbuilding profile with flexible copy count (1–3)
- Consistent inclusion in control, midrange, and defense-oriented strategies
Weaknesses
- Reactive only—requires opponent to activate monster effects to trigger
- Opponent draws 1 card, offsetting negation value
- Dead against passive boards or non-effect-based strategies
- Trap timing makes it vulnerable to chaining and negation
- No combo potential or deck acceleration role
Counters / choke points
- Decks that minimize monster effect activation avoid the trigger entirely
- Cards that resolve passively (field spells, continuous traps) bypass negation
- Preemptive disruption or anti-trap cards close the activation window
Best use
Reactive trap negation in control and defensive strategies. Decks: Control, Eldlich, Gouki, Zombies, Deskbot. Suggested copies: 2.
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: Card text: 'When your opponent activates a monster effect: Your opponent draws 1 card, also negate the activation, and if you do, destroy it.'; Appears in 71 decks across 52 distinct archetypes; Runs 1–3 copies per deck (average 1.73); 100% inclusion in Gouki, Zombies, and Deskbot per usage statistics; Hard negation and destruction effect are fully universal and non-archetype-gated
- Observed: 49.3% of Recall decks are Control (gameplay_type 4); 31% are Midrange (gameplay_type 6); Top co-deck partner is Dark Bribe at 53.5% overlap; Consistent appearance with other trap-based control tools
- Inferred: Once-per-turn activation is standard reactive trap behavior, though not explicit in text; Opponent drawing 1 card is a cost balanced against the strength of hard negation; Trap nature inherently limits accessibility versus hand traps or searchable monsters; Effect flexibility (negates any monster effect) drives splashability across archetypes
- Data gaps: No combos supplied—cannot confirm true synergy or role in specific combo lines No guides supplied—no expert meta or matchup context No banlist token—assumed unlimited (3 copies in all formats) No dated metagame sample—meta power cannot be assessed