Tail Swipe

Tail Swipe — Power Evaluation

Final Score: 46 ± 7 · Confidence: Medium

• Intrinsic: 45 · Deck: 46 · Meta: provisional
• Primary role: Removal · Secondary: Board breaker / Going-second

Why it scores here

Tail Swipe converts an existing board presence requirement (a face-up Level 5 or higher Dinosaur you control) into a one-card bounce of up to two opponent monsters, so its removal value is real but strictly conditional. It generates no engine, builds nothing on its own, and appears in zero recorded combos, making it a purely reactive removal spell. Its sub-60 score reflects narrow Dinosaur-only access, un-searchable Normal Spell status, and the 'if that Dinosaur monster is still face-up on the field' clause that lets the opponent blank it by removing the target. No points come from stats (it has none) or from popularity; the 11 decks running it only confirm the card is a live Dinosaur-deck tech, not that it is intrinsically strong.

Axis scores

Calculation

Weight profile: Primary Removal/Negation weights; secondary Board breaker/Going-second not blended (single dominant role). Intrinsic ≈ 45, Deck ≈ 46, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: none. Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck

Strengths

• Bounces up to two opponent monsters with a single card, a board-level 2-for-1
• Non-destructive removal that bypasses destruction protection and also hits face-down monsters
• Condition is trivial to satisfy in a Dinosaur deck that already fields Level 5+ monsters like Ultimate Conductor Tyranno or Transcendosaurus
• No locks or garnet, low slot cost at ~1 copy per deck

Weaknesses

• Requires a face-up Level 5 or higher Dinosaur you control before it can do anything
• The 'still face-up on the field' clause lets the opponent blank it by removing the target Dinosaur in response
• Bounce is temporary — the returned monsters can simply be re-Summoned
• Normal Spell that is not searchable by an evidenced searcher and is narrow Dinosaur-only support
• Appears in 0 recorded combos, confirming it is not a combo payoff or engine piece

Counters / choke points

• Chain a removal/negation effect to the targeted Dinosaur so it is no longer face-up on resolution
• Negate the activation of Tail Swipe itself
• Control only monsters with a Level equal to or higher than your Dinosaur and keep them face-up
• Re-establish the bounced monsters from hand on the following turn

Best use

Reactive conditional bounce removal. Decks: Jurrac, Dinomorphia, Dinosaur (Transcendosaurus/Ultimate Conductor Tyranno shells). Suggested copies: 1.

Evidence & gaps

• Verified: Card text: target 1 Level 5 or higher Dinosaur you control; if it is still face-up on the field, return up to 2 opponent monsters with lower Level or that are face-down to the hand; Card is a Normal Spell in TCG, OCG, and Master Duel with no ATK/DEF and no archetype; It runs in 11 decks, all in the main deck, avg 1.09 copies (max 2)
• Observed: 0 recorded combo appearances — never a starter, material, or payoff piece; Deck spread across 6 distinct archetypes with top partners heavily Dinosaur-oriented (Transcendosaurus pieces, Xeno Meteorus, Lost World, Ultimate Conductor Tyranno); Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring co-occurs in 90.9% of decks running it, indicating a generic hand-trap shell rather than dedicated synergy
• Inferred: Its condition is easily met in Dinosaur decks that already summon Level 5+ monsters, so it functions as conditional reactive removal; As a Normal Spell with no evidenced searcher, it is drawn rather than tutored, limiting reliability; One card bouncing up to two opponent monsters is a board-level 2-for-1 but bounce is recoverable by the opponent
• 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 no dated metagame sample — meta_power left null