Trident Dragion

Trident Dragion — Power Evaluation

Final Score: 54 ± 6 · Confidence: Medium

• Intrinsic: 51 · Deck: 60 · Meta: provisional
• Primary role: Boss / End-board · Secondary: Combo enabler

Why it scores here

Trident Dragion is a Synchro-only Level 10 finisher whose real power is turning an already-built Dragon board into lethal: on Synchro Summon it destroys up to 2 cards you control and gains one extra attack per destroyed card, which is what makes the Tenpai Dragon OTK line work (up to 3 attacks of 3000 ATK). Its accessibility is strong in practice — it lives in the Extra Deck so it never bricks, and usage data shows 100% inclusion in Tenpai Dragon/Sangen builds with 88–91% co-deck rates alongside Sangenpai Bident Dragion and Tenpai Dragon Paidra. It earns no points for its 3000 ATK or Level 10, and it is penalized hard for bringing zero interaction with the opponent and for a self-destruction effect that is a net loss of your own cards. The result is a narrow but genuinely central payoff card that is strong inside its home line and mediocre-to-dead elsewhere.

Axis scores

Calculation

Weight profile: Boss/End-board primary weights applied (no secondary blend). Intrinsic ≈ 51, Deck ≈ 60, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: Synchro-Summon-only restriction (-2). Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck

Strengths

• Extra Deck monster: it never bricks a hand and costs no main-deck space
• Converts an established Dragon board into a multi-attack finisher (up to 3 attacks of 3000 ATK) for OTK pressure
• Its destruction effect doubles as a way to clear your own used Sangen/Field Spell or spent cards for extra attacks
• Backed by observed deck data: 100% inclusion in Tenpai Dragon/Sangen builds, 88.8–91.2% co-deck rates with the Tenpai core and Sangenpai Bident Dragion
• 3000/2800 body still functions as a large beater if its effect is negated

Weaknesses

• Zero interaction with the opponent: no negation, no removal of opposing cards, no disruption
• Effect destroys your own cards, which is a net loss of board presence and card advantage
• Material requirements are Dragon-locked (1 Dragon-Type Tuner + Dragon-Type non-Tuner), so it does nothing in non-Dragon decks
• Synchro-Summon-only clause prevents revival or cheating it out
• No protection: a single negate on the summon or on the trigger neutralizes the payoff
• Only relevant during your own Battle Phase, so it is a poor defensive or grind card

Counters / choke points

• Negating the Synchro Summon (e.g. Solemn-style summon negation) denies the card entirely
• Effect negation on the on-summon trigger (Infinite Impermanence-style) removes the extra attacks
• Hand traps or removal on the Dragon Tuner/non-Tuner before the Synchro Summon breaks the climb
• Removing Sangen Summoning in Main Phase takes away the protection Tenpai Dragons rely on to reach it
• Battle-phase removal, damage prevention, or a large enough defensive board blunts the multi-attack payoff

Best use

OTK finisher / end-board Synchro boss summoned off a Dragon Tuner line. Decks: Tenpai Dragon, Sangen, Dragon Synchro (Blue-Eyes, Dragonmaid, Hieratics, Dragon Ruler). Suggested copies: 1.

Evidence & gaps

• Verified: Card text: '1 Dragon-Type Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner Dragon-Type monsters'; Card text: 'Must be Synchro Summoned, and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways'; Card text: on Synchro Summon you can destroy up to 2 other cards you control and gain 1 additional attack this turn per destroyed card; Level 10 FIRE Dragon Synchro, 3000 ATK / 2800 DEF, no archetype
• Observed: 400 of 400 sampled decks run it, 380 at exactly 1 copy (avg 1.06); Tenpai Dragon appears as its home in 33.8% + 9.2% of decks; 52 distinct archetypes total; Co-deck rates: Sangenpai Bident Dragion 91.2%, Sangenpai Transcendent Dragion 90.5%, Tenpai Dragon Paidra/Chundra and Sangen Summoning/Sangen Kaimen 88.8%; usage statistics: 100% inclusion with ~1 copy in Tenpai Dragon/Sangen/Watt archetype rows, 87.5% in the largest Tenpai row; Two guides mention it, including the Tenpai Dragon guide's 'CORE' section
• Inferred: Its observed role is the terminal Synchro payoff of the Tenpai climb (Bident Dragion + Dragon non-Tuner), converting a built board into multi-attack lethal; Low resilience: no protection and a Synchro-only clause mean one negate collapses the payoff to a vanilla 3000-ATK body; Its 'removal' is self-directed, so it provides no interaction against the opponent
• Data gaps: no combos supplied — combo conversion is text-only inference no banlist token — assumed 3 copies (unlimited) combo data has 0 appearances, so starter role/material role/payoff role and average power index are unavailable no dated metagame sample; meta power left null no zone/extra-deck placement data (deck data counts it in main for all 400 decks)