Spell
NormalTrade-In
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8990
Discard 1 Level 8 monster; draw 2 cards.
Trade-In — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 55 ± 8 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 52.2 · Deck: 56.6 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Utility · Secondary: Extender
Why it scores here
Trade-In converts one Level 8 monster from hand into two cards drawn, a clean net +1 card with no interaction and no board presence. Its score is carried by resource economy and a low slot cost, while its requirement for a specific Level 8 monster in hand caps accessibility. The 400-of-400 deck presence and the 85 archetypes show it is a broadly played staple, but that frequency is not used to inflate the score, since it does not show that the card is strong on its own.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 60 | Needs a Level 8 monster in hand as its cost, so it is live only when the hand holds one; the card text is verified and the partner data shows Level 8 bodies are common in the decks that run it (verified text, observed partners). |
| Combo & Conversion | 45 | No combo boards were supplied, so the conversion is text-only: one Level 8 body becomes two draws, with no board or end-state output of its own (inferred). |
| Resource Economy | 85 | Discard one Level 8 monster and draw two is a verified net +1 card, the core value of the card (verified). |
| Effect & Interaction | 5 | A plain Normal Spell with no negation, removal or hand-trap reach (verified). |
| Material Utility | 5 | A Spell Card cannot be used as material and provides no body, so the axis is near its floor (verified). |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 50 | Spell-speed-free, one-shot effect that is lost to a single spell negation, but it has no board exposure and runs as 1 to 3 copies across 85 archetypes (observed, inferred). |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 70 | No garnet or lock, a single slot, and redundant copies are fine, though the Level 8 cost pushes it toward Level 8 monster builds (observed, inferred). |
Calculation
Weight profile: 0.7 Utility + 0.3 Extender. Intrinsic ≈ 52.2, Deck ≈ 56.6, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: none. Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck
Strengths
- Net +1 card from one Level 8 monster discarded for two draws
- Cheap single slot with redundant copies
- Runs across 85 archetypes, so it is portable between homes
Weaknesses
- Requires a Level 8 monster in hand, so it is dead without one
- Provides no board presence, interaction or material value
- Dependent on the Level 8 monster base of the deck
Counters / choke points
- Spell negation or a spell-stopping effect in the opponent's hand or field
- Hand disruption that removes the Level 8 cost monster
Best use
Draws two cards by trading one Level 8 monster from hand, to turn dead Level 8 bodies into fuel. Decks: Blue-Eyes, Red-Eyes, Horus, Therion. Suggested copies: 3.
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: Card text: discard 1 Level 8 monster, draw 2 cards (net +1 card); Normal Spell, no interaction or board presence in the text; Present in 400 of 400 supplied decks, 85 distinct archetypes, copies average 2.17
- Observed: Top partners are Level 8 Blue-Eyes and Horus bodies, such as Blue-Eyes White Dragon at 43.8% and Blue-Eyes Tyrant Dragon at 28.2%; Usage statistics show 100% inclusion in Danger! (3 copies) and 40% in Zombies (1 copy); Guides name Blue-Eyes, Horus and Tachyon as Level 8 decks where the card is a staple
- Inferred: Its value depends on the availability of a Level 8 monster in hand at the time it is played; Its requirement to discard a Level 8 monster makes it a Level 8 deck staple rather than a universal card
- Data gaps: no combos supplied: combo conversion is text-only inference no banlist token: assumed 3 copies (unlimited) no rulings supplied for the Level 8 discard timing deck sample is 400 of 400 decks running the card, which suggests the sample was filtered to decks that contain it, so the deck count is not a population inclusion rate