LIGHT
5Union Pilot
ATK:
2100
DEF:
1000
View:
2402
Once per turn, you can either: Target 1 Effect Monster you control; equip this card to that target, OR: Unequip this card and Special Summon it. If the equipped monster would be destroyed by battle or card effect, destroy this card instead. You can return this card equipped to a monster to your hand; equip 1 appropriate, banished Union monster to 1 monster you control as an Equip Spell, as if it were equipped by that Union monster's effect, and if you do, Special Summon this card from your hand. You can only use this effect of "Union Pilot" once per turn.
Union Pilot — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 50 ± 8 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 51 · Deck: 49 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Utility · Secondary: Material body
Why it scores here
Union Pilot is a single-copy Level 5 Machine body whose text gives it two modes: equip to an Effect Monster with a destruction redirect, or unequip and Special Summon itself. Its hand effect returns it to hand and re-equips a banished Union monster, so it can recur, but that is reuse rather than card advantage. Its 400-of-400 deck presence and 91% co-occurrence with core Union partners confirm it is a live, cheap slot in the Union/ABC ecosystem. Those deck numbers do not raise the score by themselves, and the card's 2100 ATK earns nothing on its own.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 40 | Only reachable through a Union/Effect target or a banished Union monster, with no searcher in the text (verified text; deck presence confirms it is drawn, but no starter role data) (verified+observed). |
| Combo & Conversion | 40 | Text converts into an equip redirect or a self Special Summon, with no combo boards recorded to show a disruptive end state (verified text, no combo sample) (inferred). |
| Resource Economy | 30 | No draw, search, or GY-banish advantage; the hand effect is a recursive reuse of itself (verified text) (verified). |
| Effect & Interaction | 35 | The destruction redirect protects the equipped monster but disrupts nothing on the opponent's side (verified text) (verified). |
| Material Utility | 55 | Generic Level 5 LIGHT Machine body suitable as a Level material; its body remains usable when its effects are negated (verified attribute/level/race, inferred for material use) (verified+inferred). |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 50 | Can move between hand, field, and equipped states across turns, but is once per turn and needs a host or banished target (verified text) (inferred). |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 70 | One copy in 400 decks, no garnets or locks, and a single slot with no restriction beyond Union targeting (observed copies per deck avg 1) (observed). |
Calculation
Weight profile: Utility primary (no secondary blend). Intrinsic ≈ 51, Deck ≈ 49, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: self-locking restriction (-2). Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck
Strengths
- One copy and a single slot, easy to run in many Union/ABC builds
- Recurs itself from hand and the field, so it is rarely dead for long
- Generic Level 5 LIGHT Machine body usable as a material
Weaknesses
- Needs a Union or Effect Monster host, so it is weak when the field is empty
- Its effects are once per turn and do not generate card advantage
- No combo evidence shows it leading to a board
Counters / choke points
- Targets that negate its effects leave a plain 2100 ATK body behind
- Opponents who destroy or banish its equip host remove its reason to stay on the field
Best use
Union support body and recursive equip piece. Decks: ABC, Therions, Cyber Dragon, Synchron, Galaxy Photon. Suggested copies: 1.
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: Card text: once-per-turn equip or self Special Summon, and the hand return/re-equip effect; Level 5 LIGHT Machine, 2100 ATK / 1000 DEF; Formats: TCG, OCG, MasterDuel; No archetype membership on the card record
- Observed: Present in 400 of 400 sampled decks at 1 copy average; 91% co-occurrence with core Union partners; Usage statistics: 100% inclusion in the ABC gameplay bucket at 1 copy
- Inferred: Utility role inferred from the text, since no combo evidence exists; Material use inferred from Level 5 body, not from recorded combos; Resilience reads as moderate from the recursion text
- Data gaps: no combos supplied; combo conversion is text-only inference no banlist token; assumed 3 copies (unlimited) no rulings available for the equip-redirect and hand-recursion interaction deck sample is 400/400 with this card, so inclusion may reflect the sampling rather than the card's pull usage statistics has a single ABC row; no cross-archetype StatisticsCard coverage