Trap
NormalRelieve Monster
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3741
When an opponent's monster declares an attack: Target 1 monster you control; return that target to the hand, then Special Summon 1 Level 4 monster from your hand.
Relieve Monster — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 41 ± 5 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 40 · Deck: 42 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Board breaker / Going-second
Why it scores here
Relieve Monster is a situational trap that softly disrupts opponent attacks by bouncing your own monster and summoning a Level 4 from hand, functioning primarily as a defensive tech in specific recursive decks like Revival Jam variants. The card offers reasonable resource efficiency when the bounced piece has repeatable value or the Level 4 summon aligns with your strategy. However, the card's effectiveness is severely limited by its reliance on opponent attacks, vulnerability to common trap negation, lack of any recorded combo presence, and niche applicability—it appears only as a 1-copy tech in two defensive-themed decks with zero evidence of broader synergy or multi-home viability.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 37 | Trap requiring opponent attack declaration and Level 4 in hand to resolve; appears as 1-copy tech only in 2 decks with no searcher routes (observed). |
| Combo & Conversion | 29 | Zero recorded combo appearances; effect yields single Level 4 summoning plus monster bounce—insufficient for complex board development and requires external opponent action to trigger (verified). |
| Resource Economy | 52 | Consumes one trap slot to recycle a monster and summon Level 4 from hand, roughly neutral trade if the bounced piece repeats effects; no card advantage or refuel generation (inferred). |
| Effect & Interaction | 42 | Soft disruption of single attack by forcing opponent's monster to waste its action on a recycled target; does not negate effects or remove opponent's threats (verified). |
| Material Utility | 8 | Trap cards lack ATK/DEF and level, providing only generic hand-discard utility with no clean material value (verified). |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 38 | Face-down trap provides partial protection offset by common trap negators (Solemn Judgment, Solemn Warning); requires opponent cooperation via attack declarations to function (inferred). |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 44 | Appears as 1-copy tech only in Revival Jam/defensive builds; requires Level 4 availability and defensive line setup; not splashable to most competitive archetypes (observed). |
Calculation
Weight profile: Primary role: Board breaker / Going-second. Intrinsic ≈ 40, Deck ≈ 42, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: none. Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck
Strengths
- Recycling mechanism for defensive monsters with repeatable effects (Revival Jam, Jam Defender)
- Converts opponent's attack action into board maintenance plus Level 4 summoning
- 100% inclusion in its native defensive deck archetypes
Weaknesses
- Requires opponent to declare attack; dead if opponent skips Battle Phase or lacks attackers
- Mandatory Level 4 in hand to fully resolve; deck-building constraint
- Soft disruption only—does not negate, remove, or stop the attacking monster
- Vulnerable to trap negation (Solemn suite, trap-negating effects)
- Zero recorded combo presence; pure defensive tech with no line-extension value
- Strictly niche: appears only in two Revival Jam/defensive decks with single copies
Counters / choke points
- Solemn Judgment, Solemn Warning, Solemn Strike trap negation
- Effect Veiler, Infinite Impermanence or other negation during trap activation
- Decks that minimize attack declarations to avoid triggering defensive traps
- Trap negation effects that stop the activation entirely
Best use
Offensive phase disruption and monster recycling. Decks: Revival Jam, Defensive Ra builds. Suggested copies: 1.
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: Card text clearly describes bounce-own-monster plus Level 4 summoning activation on opponent attack; Appears in 2 confirmed decks, both running exactly 1 copy in main deck; Top deck partners are all defensive/recursive monsters or support spells (Revival Jam, Jam Defender, Monster Reborn, Magical Stone Excavation)
- Observed: 100% inclusion rate in the 2 decks that run it (2/2 decks); All copies placed in main deck, zero sideboard copies recorded; Paired exclusively with non-archetype (defensive/custom) deck builds; Moderate view count of 3,672—lower-tier card popularity
- Inferred: Primary role as board-breaker/going-second trap inferred from text (attack disruptor) plus defensive deck context (Revival Jam, Jam Defender synergy); Requires Level 4 availability in hand for optimal resolution; Soft disruption mechanic: attack wasted on a recycled/defensive piece rather than removed threat; Card is extremely niche—limited to specific recursive/defensive deck homes
- Data gaps: No combo board evidence: zero appearances across recorded combo builds prevents confirmation of role in combo pipelines or line development No guide mentions: human-context analysis on optimal play patterns unavailable No usage statistics (StatisticsCard): archetype inclusion percentages inferred from 2-deck sample only; cannot confirm broader multi-archetype inclusion No ban list entry: assumed unlimited (3 copies legal in all supplied formats)