Shield Worm

Shield Worm — Power Evaluation

Final Score: 45 ± 6 · Confidence: Medium

• Intrinsic: 44 · Deck: 45 · Meta: provisional
• Primary role: Utility · Secondary: Material body, Combo enabler

Why it scores here

Shield Worm converts its accessible state — a plain Level 4 EARTH Insect that always normal-summons itself — into only a small, scaling mill: on Summon it goes to Defense Position and sends 1 opponent Deck card to the Graveyard per face-up Insect you control, which is a single card when it is alone. It builds no board, generates no card advantage, and offers no disruption, so almost all of its value sits in being a clean 2000-DEF EARTH Insect body/material plus a marginal mill trigger inside established mill packages. Its 2000 DEF and insect typing earn it points only through material/body utility, not through stats or rarity; the high-DEF wall does not by itself justify a higher score. The 9-deck sample confirms it is a real but minor one-of tech in mill shells, which is why it lands just below the mid-point rather than in the low-20s.

Axis scores

Calculation

Weight profile: 0.7 Utility + 0.3 Material body. Intrinsic ≈ 44, Deck ≈ 45, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: none. Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck

Strengths

• Level 4 EARTH Insect with 2000 DEF — a clean generic body/wall that can be used as material even if its effect is negated.
• No cost, no lock, no once-per-turn clause; the mill scales with the number of face-up Insects you control.
• Compact one-of tech that slots into established mill packages (Warm Worm, Needle Worm, the Jar series, Card Destruction).

Weaknesses

• Effect does nothing on its own beyond a 1-card mill; it produces no board and no card advantage.
• It forces itself into Defense Position, so it contributes almost nothing offensively.
• Milling the opponent can actively fuel graveyard-based opposing strategies.
• Zero interaction — no negation, removal, or disruption of the opponent's plays.

Counters / choke points

• Graveyard-reliant opposing decks that benefit from being milled.
• Anti-mill / deck-out defense and graveyard-shuffling effects.
• Negating or removing it on Summon leaves only an 800 ATK / 2000 DEF body.

Best use

Mill engine piece and EARTH Insect material body. Decks: Worm mill, Insect mill / deck-out. Suggested copies: 1.

Evidence & gaps

• Verified: Card text: when Summoned it is changed to Defense Position, then sends 1 card from the top of the opponent's Deck to the Graveyard for each face-up Insect-Type monster you control.; Stats/typing: Level 4 EARTH Insect, 800 ATK / 2000 DEF, no once-per-turn clause stated.; The effect provides no card advantage, negation, removal, or protection.
• Observed: 9 decks in the sample run it, 8 of them as a single copy (avg 1.22 copies), main deck only.; Co-deck partners are mill/stall pieces: Warm Worm 100%, Needle Worm / Morphing Jar / Card Destruction ~77.8%.; 0 appearances across the recorded combo sample; no starter, material, or payoff presence.
• Inferred: Being a Summon trigger that self-positions to Defense, it still functions as a generic Level 4 EARTH material when its effect is negated or irrelevant.; The mill is near-blank outside dedicated mill/Insect shells, since it is only a single card when it is your only Insect.; Milling the opponent's Deck can hand resources to graveyard-based opposing strategies.
• Data gaps: no combos supplied — combo conversion is text-only inference no guides supplied no banlist token — assumed 3 copies (unlimited) no usage statistics (StatisticsCard) — archetype inclusion % inferred from deck sample only