Trap
NormalRelay Soul
View:
2923
Special Summon 1 monster from your hand. While it is face-up on your side of the field, you take no damage. When it leaves the field, your opponent wins the Duel.
Relay Soul — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 38 ± 6 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 41 · Deck: 44 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Utility · Secondary: Recovery/Recursion, Floodgate/Control
Why it scores here
Relay Soul scores as a niche utility trap with severe drawbacks that limit its competitive applicability. While it enables special summoning and provides damage prevention in specific archetypes like Exosister (43.5% of decks running it), the immediate loss condition when the summoned monster leaves the field creates extreme vulnerability that outweighs its benefits. The card generates no combo value, creates no resource advantage, and provides no opponent interaction, relying entirely on archetype-specific protection strategies to justify its inclusion. Its scattered presence across 12 different archetypes reflects tech usage rather than inherent strength.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 55 | As a Normal Trap, it is searchable via Trap Trick (43.5% of decks show Trap Trick partnership) and playable when monsters are in hand, though it requires specific setup and protection strategy. (verified) |
| Combo & Conversion | 40 | The card generates no combo chains or board development on its own; it only special summons one monster from hand without multiplier effects or extension potential. (verified) |
| Resource Economy | 35 | Playing the trap is a net-neutral trade (−1 trap card, +1 monster on field) with no card generation, graveyard refuel, or advantage generation. (verified) |
| Effect & Interaction | 5 | The card provides zero opponent disruption, no negation, no removal capability, and no hand traps—purely defensive with no interactive elements. (verified) |
| Material Utility | 50 | The summoned monster can serve as material for synergy, but utility is entirely dependent on the specific monster chosen and the archetype's synergy engines. (inferred) |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 15 | The card has a catastrophic failure mode where any removal, bounce, or banishing of the summoned monster causes immediate game loss for the controller. (verified) |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 45 | Running up to 3 copies (39% of decks) creates hand clogging risk; the card is a garnet when no suitable monsters are in hand and locks strategy around monster preservation. (observed) |
Calculation
Weight profile: Utility/no clear role (default). Intrinsic ≈ 41, Deck ≈ 44, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: Doomsday clause (-3); Zero combo presence (-2). Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck
Strengths
- Enables special summon from hand for quick monster deployment in specific archetypes
- Provides damage prevention while monster remains on field (anti-burn utility)
- Searchable via Trap Trick (43.5% deck partnership indicates tutor access)
- Concentrated utility in Exosister (43.5% of decks), suggesting designed synergy
Weaknesses
- Catastrophic doomsday clause creates immediate loss when summoned monster leaves field
- Generates zero combo value, card advantage, or board multiplier effects
- Provides no opponent interaction, negation, or removal capability
- Creates variance in playability based on hand composition
- Severely restricts deck flexibility and recovery options once activated
Counters / choke points
- Monster removal (Kaiju, Forbidden Droplet, Raigeki, etc.) causes immediate loss
- Monster bounce or return effects (Compulsory Evacuation Device, bounce traps)
- Banishing effects (Dimensional Barrier, macro-style cards)
- Board wipes and multi-target removal
- Negation of the special summon (Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring, Nibiru)
Best use
Niche tech for archetype-specific monster protection and damage prevention. Decks: Exosister, Dark Magician, Silent Magician.
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: Card text is a Normal Trap enabling special summon with continuous damage prevention and immediate loss condition; 23 decks run Relay Soul across 12 distinct archetypes per deck evidence; Exosister is dominant home (43.5% of decks; 10 of 23); Trap Trick appears in 43.5% of decks running Relay Soul, confirming tutor accessibility; Card provides zero opponent interaction, negation, or removal in text; Doomsday clause: opponent wins if summoned monster leaves field (textual verification)
- Observed: Card appears in main deck only (23 main, 0 side); Average 1.83 copies per deck, range 1–3, with 56.5% running single copy and 39% running 3 copies; Top 5 partners are Exosister cards (Elis, Martha, Stella, Pax, Kaspitell) at 47.8% co-deck rate; Book of Moon partnership (47.8%) is highest non-Exosister synergy; Card is in 12 distinct archetypes but with heavy Exosister concentration
- Inferred: Special summon enables monster to serve as material for Xyz, Synchro, Fusion, or Link summons in compatible decks; Damage prevention suggests anti-burn or anti-direct-damage role in Exosister control strategy; Trap Trick searchability provides reactive tutor access via trap activation chain; High copy counts (up to 3) in Exosister suggest deck optimization around the card's effect; Scattered presence across 12 archetypes indicates tech card status rather than universal power engine
- Data gaps: No combos supplied—combo conversion assessment is text-only inference with zero empirical combo data No guides supplied—archetype strategy, synergy mechanics, and protection lines are undocumented No usage statistics (StatisticsCard)—archetype inclusion percentages and historical play patterns inferred from deck sample only No banlist token—assumed unlimited (3 copies allowed in all formats) No tournament performance data—competitive viability and actual meta impact unknown No recorded combo examples—impossible to verify real combo utility or board strength when present