EARTH
4Sylvan Bladefender
Archetype:
Sylvan
ATK:
1900
DEF:
700
View:
3713
When this card destroys an opponent's monster by battle and sends it to the Graveyard: You can excavate the top card of your Deck, and if it is a Plant-Type monster, send it to the Graveyard. Otherwise, place it on the bottom of your Deck. If this card is excavated from the Deck and sent to the Graveyard by a card effect: You can add this card from your Graveyard to your hand.
Sylvan Bladefender — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 55 ± 6 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 57 · Deck: 56 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Material body · Secondary: Recovery/Recursion
Why it scores here
Sylvan Bladefender earns its score as a recurring Level-4 EARTH Plant body rather than as a threat: its excavate-triggered recovery lets it keep returning to hand whenever Sylvan engine cards mill it, giving sustained material for Rank-4/Plant plays. Its 1900 ATK is a statline, not a power source, and its battle-only first effect is slow and situational, so it contributes almost nothing as disruption. It is a genuine cheap engine piece inside Sylvan decks (Core-listed in the guide, 87.5% co-decking with the Sylvan suite), but with zero combo records and minimal cross-archetype utility its ceiling stays modest.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 55 | Normal-Summonable Level 4 run at 1.62 copies across 8 decks and Core-listed for Sylvans, but no name-specific search route is shown in the evidence (observed). |
| Combo & Conversion | 40 | No combo data exists (0 appearances); text-only inference is that it makes one recurring body rather than a full board (inferred). |
| Resource Economy | 50 | Excavated-and-sent effect lets it add itself from GY to hand, a repeatable but small +1 each Sylvan excavate cycle, and the battle effect only mills one card (verified). |
| Effect & Interaction | 20 | Both effects are self/Deck-oriented with no opponent disruption — battle-only excavate is the sole opponent-facing clause (verified). |
| Material Utility | 65 | A clean Level-4 EARTH Plant body with 1900 ATK usable as Xyz/Synchro material and Plant-link fodder even when its effects are blanked (verified). |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 55 | Self-recovers across Deck-GY-hand zones when milled, but the battle trigger is fragile and it offers no protection (inferred). |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 60 | No locks or garnet risk; a small splashable body, though its value depends on dense excavate support so it is not a free-roll outside Sylvan (observed). |
Calculation
Weight profile: 0.7 Material body + 0.3 Recovery/Recursion. Intrinsic ≈ 57, Deck ≈ 56, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: none. Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck
Strengths
- Recovers itself from GY to hand when excavated, giving repeatable Sylvan-engine material
- Cheap Level-4 EARTH Plant body with 1900 ATK that is fine Xyz/Synchro/link material
- No locks or heavy brick cost; run at 1.62 copies on average in Sylvan decks
Weaknesses
- First effect only triggers after a battle destruction and only mills a single card
- Provides no disruption, negation, or removal against the opponent
- Value is tightly bound to excavate/mill support; weak outside Sylvan shells
Counters / choke points
- Negation of battle or preventing the battle-destruction trigger blanks the excavate effect
- Graveyard hate stops the self-recovery from GY to hand
- Effect negation on summon leaves only a vanilla 1900/700 body
Best use
Recurring Level-4 material body for Sylvan excavate lines. Decks: Sylvan, Rose Dragon, Plant Synchro shells. Suggested copies: 2.
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: Card text: battle-destruction excavate effect milling a Plant or bottoming the card; Card text: adds itself from GY to hand when excavated and sent to GY by a card effect; Level 4 EARTH Plant with 1900 ATK / 700 DEF and Sylvan archetype
- Observed: 8 decks run it, all main deck, average 1.62 copies (max 3); Spread across 5 distinct archetypes but with 87.5% co-decking on the Sylvan monster/spell suite; Listed in the Sylvan guide's Core section; No combo appearances recorded (0 of combos)
- Inferred: Self-recovery makes it a recurring material body inside excavate-heavy lines; Battle-triggered excavate is a slow, low-impact effect in practice
- Data gaps: no combos supplied — combo conversion is text-only inference no banlist token — assumed 3 copies (unlimited) no usage statistics (StatisticsCard) — archetype inclusion % inferred from deck sample only