EARTH
4Stronghold Guardian
Archetype:
Guardian
ATK:
0
DEF:
1500
View:
3079
If a Defense Position monster you control is attacked, you can send this card from your hand to the Graveyard during the Damage Step to have your attacked monster gain 1500 DEF until the End Phase.
Stronghold Guardian — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 41 ± 8 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 42 · Deck: 41 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Hand trap
Why it scores here
Stronghold Guardian is a hand-only, defensive trick: it costs itself to give one attacked Defense Position monster +1500 DEF for the turn, which only matters during a battle against a DEF monster. The evidence shows it is a real tech choice in 18 recent decks, mostly alongside defensive partners such as Stone Statue of the Aztecs, Mirror Wall and Wall of Disruption, but there are no combos, so its conversion score stays low. Its 0 ATK, 1500 DEF stats earned nothing; the score comes from the narrow but reliable protection it offers when the right situation arises.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 45 | Live from hand whenever a DEF-position monster is attacked, and it is played in 18 of 18 sampled decks with an average of 2.11 copies, but it needs that specific board state (observed). |
| Combo & Conversion | 10 | No combo boards in the evidence (appearances 0); it only prevents a battle loss and does not build a board (verified from text, inferred from absence of combo data). |
| Resource Economy | 25 | Costs itself to protect one monster with no draw or recovery, so it is a one-for-one defensive trade at best (verified from text). |
| Effect & Interaction | 40 | Blanks a battle-based loss in the Damage Step, but only against attacks on DEF monsters, so its reach is narrow (verified from text, inferred for the practical reach). |
| Material Utility | 15 | A 4-Level 0-ATK Warrior that is sent to the GY from hand, so it is rarely on the field to act as material (inferred from text). |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 35 | The effect works from hand during the Damage Step, a window few interaction cards cover, but it depends on a DEF-position monster being attacked (inferred from text). |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 55 | Max 3 copies, no garnet or lock, and it is a single tech slot in DEF-focused lists; the cost is that it is dead in decks without DEF monsters (observed from deck counts and partners). |
Calculation
Weight profile: Hand trap primary, no secondary role. Intrinsic ≈ 42, Deck ≈ 41, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: none. Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck
Strengths
- Cheap, hand-only protection for a DEF monster during the Damage Step
- Appears in 18 of 18 sampled decks, 3 copies in 10 of them, across 9 archetypes
- Consistently paired with defensive support cards
Weaknesses
- Only useful when a Defense Position monster is attacked
- Zero combo conversion in the evidence
- Dead in decks with no DEF-position monsters
- Sends itself to the GY with no card advantage
Counters / choke points
- Decks that avoid attacking DEF-position monsters or that use attacks that bypass the DEF-position condition
Best use
Defensive hand trap that keeps a DEF-position monster alive through a battle. Decks: DEF-focused Guardian and Destiny HERO lists with Stone Statue of the Aztecs, Mirror Wall or Wall of Disruption.
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: Hand-only effect: send from hand to GY during the Damage Step after a DEF-position monster you control is attacked; Effect grants the attacked monster +1500 DEF until the End Phase; Frame: Level 4 EARTH Warrior Effect Monster, 0 ATK, 1500 DEF; Average 2.11 copies per deck, 3 copies in 10 of 18 decks
- Observed: Present in 18 of the recent sampled decks, across 9 archetypes; 16 of 18 decks in gameplay type 4 (88.9%); Top partners (Stone Statue of the Aztecs, Destiny HERO - Defender, Mirror Wall, D2 Shield and others) appear in 50-56% of its decks; No combo boards recorded (appearances 0)
- Inferred: Its practical value depends on the opponent attacking a DEF-position monster, so it is a situational defensive tool; Low score despite 9 archetypes reflects narrow function, not broad versatility; Combo conversion is near zero because it is a defensive reaction, not a board builder
- Data gaps: no combos supplied, so combo conversion is text-only inference no guides supplied no banlist token, assumed 3 copies no usage statistics (StatisticsCard), so archetype inclusion is inferred from the deck sample only no evidence of how often the effect actually triggers in live matches