UFO Turtle

UFO Turtle — Power Evaluation

Final Score: 51 ± 7 · Confidence: Medium

• Intrinsic: 49.8 · Deck: 51.1 · Meta: provisional
• Primary role: Recovery/Recursion · Secondary: Searcher/Tutor, Material body

Why it scores here

UFO Turtle is a one-card self-replacing engine piece: when it is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard it Special Summons a FIRE monster with 1500 or less ATK straight from the Deck, so it turns a combat trade into a fresh body plus further setup. That makes it genuine recursion and a conditional Deck-tutor for FIRE themes, and the 55 sampled decks running it at 2.58 average copies confirm the role is real. Its 1400 ATK, Level 4 body and FIRE Machine typing earn no points by themselves — the value sits in the Deck-summon trigger, which is opponent-dependent, fires only on battle destruction, and returns the target in face-up Attack Position. With zero recorded combo appearances it is an engine/float card rather than a combo centerpiece, which caps the score in the low 50s.

Axis scores

Calculation

Weight profile: 0.7 Recovery/Recursion + 0.3 Searcher/Tutor. Intrinsic ≈ 49.8, Deck ≈ 51.1, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: none. Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck

Strengths

• Self-replacing: when destroyed by battle it Special Summons a FIRE monster with 1500 or less ATK directly from the Deck.
• Generic FIRE support text with no archetype lock, so it fits Fire King, Nephthys, Fire Fist, Laval and Volcanic shells.
• Level 4 FIRE Machine body is usable as generic material and FIRE fodder even if the effect never resolves.
• Very cheap to run: one main-deck slot, no garnet, no restriction, and 3 copies are used in 41 of 55 sampled decks.
• Legal in TCG, OCG, Master Duel and Duel Links (assumed unlimited at 3 copies).

Weaknesses

• The trigger only fires on battle destruction — effect removal, banish, or negation blanks the card entirely.
• No proactive effect; it does nothing on your own turn and cannot be triggered by your own plays.
• The Summoned monster arrives in face-up Attack Position, handing the opponent an easy battle target.
• 1400 ATK / 1200 DEF is thin and is easily run over by modern bodies.
• Zero appearances in the supplied combo sample, so there is no evidence of it anchoring a strong end board.

Counters / choke points

• Called by the Grave (banishes it from the Graveyard and negates the trigger).
• D.D. Crow and other Graveyard-banish effects that remove the card before the trigger resolves.
• Any non-destruction removal (banish/exile, return to hand/Deck) that never sends it to the Graveyard.
• Effect negation or Special Summon prevention such as Solemn Warning/Judgment.
• Simply attacking over it and accepting the small replacement body.

Best use

Self-replacing recursion wall that fetches a 1500-or-less ATK FIRE monster from the Deck after a battle trade. Decks: Fire King, Nephthys, Fire Fist, Laval, Volcanic, Generic FIRE piles. Suggested copies: 3.

Evidence & gaps

• Verified: Card text: when destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard, you can Special Summon 1 FIRE monster with 1500 or less ATK from your Deck in face-up Attack Position.; Level 4 / FIRE / Machine / 1400 ATK / 1200 DEF with no archetype, no Summoning condition and no once-per-turn clause in the text.; Legality in TCG, OCG, Master Duel and Duel Links per card.formats.
• Observed: 55 sampled decks run it, all in the main deck, averaging 2.58 copies with 41 lists at the full 3.; 15 distinct archetypes use it; the most common are Nephthys, Fire King and Fire Fist at 9 decks (16.4%) each.; Top partners are Fire King Avatar Barong/Kirin, Fire King High Avatar Garunix, Flamvell Firedog, Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys and Manticore of Darkness (~49-51% co-deck).; 0 appearances across the supplied combo sample, with no starter/material/payoff assignments recorded.
• Inferred: Because the trigger requires battle destruction, the card functions as a slow self-replacing wall rather than a proactive tutor you can control.; The 'FIRE monster with 1500 or less ATK' clause limits its fetch targets to small FIRE bodies/setup pieces rather than bosses.; Being a Level 4 FIRE Machine, it remains a usable material body and FIRE fodder for Fire King/Garunix lines even if the effect is negated.; Called by the Grave or D.D. Crow can remove it from the Graveyard to stop the trigger, since the effect activates there.
• 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 no avg_power_index / starter-count data when present, so deck resilience could not be measured directly