Spell
ContinuousSubterror Cave Clash
Archetype:
Subterror
View:
3190
All "Subterror" monsters you control gain 500 ATK and DEF for each Set monster on the field. Once per turn, when a "Subterror" monster you control inflicts battle damage to your opponent: You can target 1 "Subterror" card in your Graveyard, except "Subterror Cave Clash"; add it to your hand.
Subterror Cave Clash — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 52 ± 6 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 49.5 · Deck: 54 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Recovery/Recursion · Secondary: Utility
Why it scores here
The card reliably converts Subterror battle damage into a free card: its once-per-turn effect returns a Subterror card from the Graveyard to hand, and its static buff adds 500 ATK and DEF per Set monster to Subterror monsters you control. Its presence in 250 of 250 sampled decks across 25 archetype tags confirms it is consistently played and easy to reach, but that frequency does not add points on its own (guardrail 3). It earns little for interaction or material value, and the battle-damage gate and vulnerability to backrow removal keep resilience moderate. There are no recorded combos, so conversion is text-only inference.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 55 | Present in 250 of 250 sampled decks at about 1.09 copies, and partnered with 100% co-occurrence with Subterror Fiendess; no combo starter data exists to confirm how it is reached (observed). |
| Combo & Conversion | 50 | Text gives a board buff and a recursion trigger gated on battle damage, but no recorded boards show what it builds into (inferred). |
| Resource Economy | 60 | Once-per-turn Graveyard-to-hand recovery of a Subterror card is repeatable card advantage, though it needs battle damage to fire (verified). |
| Effect & Interaction | 10 | No negation, removal, or hand-trap reach; it is purely a board-support effect (verified). |
| Material Utility | 5 | A Continuous Spell, so it cannot be used as material and contributes no body (verified). |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 45 | Stays on the field across turns, but as a backrow card it is exposed to spell/trap removal and its trigger depends on connecting attacks (inferred). |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 65 | Runs as a single copy in 231 of 250 decks with no garnet or lock restriction, so it is cheap to play (observed). |
Calculation
Weight profile: 0.7 Recovery/Recursion + 0.3 Utility. Intrinsic ≈ 49.5, Deck ≈ 54, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: none. Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck
Strengths
- Run in 250 of 250 sampled decks, almost always at one copy
- Once-per-turn Graveyard-to-hand recovery gives repeatable card advantage after a connecting attack
- Board buff scales with Set monsters, which Subterror decks commonly supply
Weaknesses
- No opponent interaction of its own
- Recovery trigger requires battle damage to fire
- Continuous Spell is exposed to backrow removal and contributes no body
- No recorded combo data, so its conversion power is unmeasured
Counters / choke points
- Spell/trap destruction effects aimed at the backrow
- Negation of its continuous effects
- Stopping the attacking Subterror monster before battle damage is dealt (inferred generic answers, not from evidence)
Best use
Recovery/recursion support backrow for battle-damage Subterror lines. Decks: Subterror (archetype 711), Subterror (archetype 176), Horus (archetype 1561) as a secondary home. Suggested copies: 1.
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: Text: Subterror monsters gain 500 ATK and DEF per Set monster you control; Text: once per turn, on Subterror battle damage to the opponent, add a Subterror card from the Graveyard to hand (excluding itself); Decks: present in 250 of 250 sampled decks, avg 1.09 copies, 231 at one copy; Formats: TCG, OCG, MasterDuel, DuelLinks
- Observed: Partners: Subterror Fiendess, Subterror Final Battle, Subterror Guru each at 99% to 100% co-occurrence; Gameplay types 7 (44.4%) and 4 (41.6%) account for most decks; Guides describe Subterror as a flip/control deck with a backrow count that is not large
- Inferred: Graveyard recursion is the card's main value, since the buff depends on Set monsters; Its recovery target set is Subterror cards in the Graveyard; Counters listed are generic answers to a continuous spell and battle-damage trigger
- Data gaps: no combos supplied, so combo conversion is text-only inference no banlist token, assumed 3 copies (unlimited) no usage statistics (StatisticsCard), so archetype inclusion is inferred from the deck sample only only two guides, one with a truncated snippet no ruling or rulings data for the battle-damage timing