The Deep Grave

The Deep Grave — Power Evaluation

Final Score: 37 ± 6 · Confidence: Medium

• Intrinsic: 36 · Deck: 37 · Meta: provisional
• Primary role: Recovery/Recursion · Secondary: Material body

Why it scores here

The Deep Grave is a generic delayed revival trap: it targets any monster in either player's GY and Special Summons it during your next Standby Phase. Its payoff is a single telegraphed body one full turn later, with no disruption, removal, or immediate board impact, which is why combo_conversion and effect_interaction sit near the floor despite the fully generic target text. It still shows up across 28 distinct archetypes (37 decks, 1.46 copies average), confirming it is a real, accessible budget revival tool, but frequency is not power here. The card's 0 ATK/DEF and trap status earn no points; only its reliability, timing cost, and deck slot cost drive the score.

Axis scores

Calculation

Weight profile: Recovery/Recursion profile (primary); secondary Material body not blended due to low, non-overlapping contribution. Intrinsic ≈ 36, Deck ≈ 37, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: none. Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck

Strengths

• Fully generic target text: any monster in either player's GY, no type/level/attribute restriction
• Can revive high-value monsters or set up material a turn later
• Splashes across many decks (28 distinct archetypes in the 37-deck sample)
• No archetype lock or summon restriction, so it stays live in a wide range of strategies

Weaknesses

• Extremely slow — the summon only happens on your next Standby Phase after activation
• No interaction: no negation, removal, or disruption
• Telegraphed as a set trap and easily removed or played around
• Fully dependent on a valid GY target surviving until resolution (vulnerable to GY hate)
• Traps a deck slot versus faster revival cards like Monster Reborn

Counters / choke points

• GY hate (e.g. Called by the Grave-style effects, D.D. Crow, Abyss Dweller) removing the target before the Standby Phase
• Backrow removal (Mystical Space Typhoon, Cosmic Cyclone, Harpie's Feather Duster) destroying the set trap
• Solemn Judgment / trap negations stopping the activation
• Banishing the intended revive target in response to activation

Best use

Delayed GY revival for material or recovery. Decks: Vampires, Zombie World builds, Red-Eyes, Heroic. Suggested copies: 1.

Evidence & gaps

• Verified: Card text: 'Target 1 monster in either player's GY; during your next Standby Phase, Special Summon it from the GY.'; It is a Normal Trap with 0 ATK/DEF and no archetype membership.
• Observed: Appears in 37 recent decks, all main deck, averaging 1.46 copies (max 3).; Spans 28 distinct archetypes, led by Vampires (4 decks, 10.8%), Heroic (3, 8.1%), and Egyptian God (2+2).; Top co-occurring card is Monster Reborn (64.9% of its decks), pointing to a revival-oriented shell.; combo data records 0 appearances and no board power index.
• Inferred: Because it is a Normal Trap with a delayed trigger, it is slow, telegraphed, and provides no opponent interaction.; The revived monster can serve as material, but the trap contributes no body of its own.; Generic target text (any monster, either GY) explains its broad, cross-archetype splashability.
• 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