LIGHTThunder Dragon Thunderstormech
Archetype:
Thunder Dragon
ATK:
2800
LINK-4
View:
1408
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2+ Thunder monsters During your Main Phase, if you control this Link Summoned card: You can target 1 of your "Thunder Dragon" monsters that is banished or in your GY; apply that monster's effect that discards itself to activate, then place that monster on the top or bottom of your Deck. You can only use this effect of "Thunder Dragon Thunderstormech" once per turn. If a Thunder monster(s) you control would be destroyed by battle or card effect, you can banish 3 cards from your GY instead.
Thunder Dragon Thunderstormech — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 61 ± 8 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 57 · Deck: 63 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Recovery/Recursion · Secondary: Material body
Why it scores here
The card reliably converts its Link Summon into recursion: once per turn it returns a discarded or banished Thunder Dragon to the top or bottom of the Deck, which refuels the line. Its second effect protects other Thunder monsters from battle or effect destruction at the cost of banishing 3 GY cards, a soft defensive effect rather than negation. Its 2800 ATK earns no points; the score rests on accessibility, recursion, and a clean single-copy deck cost, and the absence of combo data keeps the combo axis at a midpoint.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 65 | Present in 400 of 400 sampled decks at about one copy each, but it needs a Link Summon from two or more Thunder monsters, so its live window is conditional (observed, with inference on the Link requirement). |
| Combo & Conversion | 50 | No recorded boards, so conversion is text-only: recursion adds a body or Thunder monster back to the Deck, but it does not build a board by itself (inferred). |
| Resource Economy | 65 | The Main Phase recycle of a Thunder Dragon from GY or banishment is a real refuel, and the GY-banish protection is a cost that trades resources (verified from text, with a deck-level observation of one-copy inclusion). |
| Effect & Interaction | 45 | The protection clause only prevents destruction of Thunder monsters and does not negate or remove opposing cards, so interaction is soft (verified from text). |
| Material Utility | 50 | As a Light Thunder Link-4 it can serve as Link material, and its Thunder race fits Thunder Dragon Link lines, but no material usage was observed in combos (inferred). |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 55 | One copy only, and its own once-per-turn recursion is gated behind its Link Summon, though the protection clause covers several Thunder monsters across turns (verified from text, with inferred redundancy). |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 60 | Single-copy Extra Deck slot with no garnets or locks, though it is restricted to Thunder-race decks and cannot be splashed (observed from copies per deck, with inference on splashability). |
Calculation
Weight profile: 0.7 Recovery/Recursion + 0.3 Material body. Intrinsic ≈ 57, Deck ≈ 63, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: none. Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck
Strengths
- Included in all 400 sampled decks at one copy on average
- Main Phase recycle returns a discarded or banished Thunder Dragon to the Deck, refuelling the line
- Protection clause shields Thunder monsters from battle or effect destruction
- Co-occurs with core Thunder Dragon partners in nearly all sampled decks (100% with Thunder Dragon Colossus and Titan)
Weaknesses
- Recursion is once per turn and only available after a Link Summon
- Protection costs 3 GY cards, so it competes with GY-based effects
- No combo evidence to confirm its starter, searcher, or payoff role
- Restricted to Thunder-race builds, so it does not port to other decks
Counters / choke points
- Hand traps or on-summon negates that stop the Link Summon before the recycle triggers (inferred)
- GY or banish hate that removes the Thunder Dragon recursion target (inferred)
- Effect destruction that is not blocked by the protection clause (inferred)
Best use
Link-4 recursion hub that refuels Thunder Dragon monsters and protects Thunder monsters. Decks: Thunder Dragon, Bystial/Byssted, Branded. Suggested copies: 1.
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: Main Phase recycle of a Thunder Dragon from GY or banishment to the top or bottom of the Deck, once per turn, only if Link Summoned (card text); Protection of Thunder monsters from battle or effect destruction by banishing 3 GY cards (card text); Present in 400 of 400 sampled decks, about 1.04 copies per deck (deck data)
- Observed: Partner co-occurrence of 100% with Thunder Dragon Colossus and Thunder Dragon Titan (deck data); Gameplay type 7 in 98.2% of decks (deck data)
- Inferred: Link material role for other Thunder Link monsters (inference from race and Link rating); Recursion as a refuel rather than a card-advantage engine (inference from effect structure)
- Data gaps: no combos supplied; combo conversion is text-only inference no banlist token; assumed 3 copies (unlimited) no usage statistics (StatisticsCard) so inclusion is inferred from the deck sample only no rulings on the recycle and protection interaction no observed Link material usage