Therion Cross

Therion Cross — Power Evaluation

Final Score: 61 ± 6 · Confidence: Medium

• Intrinsic: 57 · Deck: 63 · Meta: provisional
• Primary role: Negation/Interaction · Secondary: Removal

Why it scores here

Therion Cross is a conditional trap: it converts an opponent's monster effect activation into either a negation or a banish, as long as the controller has a Therion monster. Its score comes from the interaction axis and its access, which is live because it appears in 400 of 400 sampled decks at one copy each. The combo sample is too thin to attribute board power to it, since no board records it as a starter, searched, material or payoff piece, so the 100 average power index is not credited to this card. The 1-for-1 trade, the single-archetype text and the once-per-turn limit keep it in the middle band.

Axis scores

Calculation

Weight profile: Primary role Negation/Interaction only (secondary Removal shares the same profile, so no blend needed). Intrinsic ≈ 57, Deck ≈ 63, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: Compactness (1). Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck

Strengths

• Strong, flexible answer to any opponent monster effect activation: negate or banish.
• Present in 100% of sampled decks at 1 copy, so it is consistently run.
• Costs one slot with no garnet or self-lock restriction.

Weaknesses

• Conditional on controlling a Therion monster.
• Negates or banishes only monster effects, not spells, traps or summons.
• Once per turn, and a backrow card exposed to backrow removal.

Counters / choke points

• Backrow removal or destruction before activation.
• Opponent plays that do not activate a monster effect, such as spell or trap plays and non-effect summons.
• Opponent monster effects that resolve before a Therion monster is on the field.

Best use

Backrow monster-effect interaction in Therion decks (negate or banish the effect). Decks: Therion. Suggested copies: 1.

Evidence & gaps

• Verified: Card text: negate or banish a monster on opponent monster-effect activation, conditional on a Therion monster, once per turn, with Argyro enabling both effects.; Present in 400 of 400 sampled decks at 1 copy in 379 of them.; Usage inclusion of 52.6% in the Therion archetype (StatisticsCard).
• Observed: Co-occurs with Therion Lily Borea in 97.8% of sampled decks.; Appears in 6 of 6 recorded combos, with no recorded starter, searched, material or payoff role.; Average starter count of 0.67 in boards where it appears.
• Inferred: Interaction value depends on the opponent's activation patterns; Therion boards likely face monster effects often.; The Argyro clause is an upgrade path, not a baseline assumption.; Deck power reflects Therion lineage density rather than the card's standalone strength.
• Data gaps: No banlist token; assumed 3 copies (unlimited), so no banlist modifier was applied. Combo role fields (combo role) are empty, so the card's role in boards cannot be confirmed. No top-card ranking, and guides mention Therion only in passing. Card-text dependence on Therion monsters is not measured by any sample.