Trap
ContinuousViper's Grudge
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Non-Reptile monsters you control cannot attack, also you cannot activate their effects. You can only use each of the following effects of "Viper's Grudge" once per turn. If a face-up Reptile monster(s) you control is destroyed by battle or sent to the GY: You can Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower Reptile monster from your Deck. If this card is destroyed in the Spell & Trap Zone: You can return all your banished Reptile monsters to your GY.
Viper's Grudge — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 42 ± 8 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 42 · Deck: 43 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Extender · Secondary: Recovery/Recursion
Why it scores here
Viper's Grudge converts Reptile board presence into value: when a face-up Reptile is destroyed by battle or sent to the GY, it Special Summons a Level 4 or lower Reptile from the Deck, and when it is destroyed in the Spell & Trap Zone it returns banished Reptiles to the GY. Both effects are once per turn each, so the card is a repeatable but capped engine, not a board-breaker. Its high presence in 32 decks (mostly Ogdoadic/Abhyss) confirms accessibility and partner fit but is not counted as power, and the self-lock on non-Reptile monsters is the main cost that holds the score down. No combo boards were recorded, so the conversion score rests on card text alone.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 50 | Set as a Continuous Trap and used in 32 of 32 sampled decks, but no searcher or combo routes to it were recorded, so access is assumed from deck presence (observed). |
| Combo & Conversion | 40 | The Deck Special Summon on a Reptile's destruction is a one-for-one body gain with no recorded boards to confirm it reaches a full board (inferred from text). |
| Resource Economy | 55 | Each trigger yields a Reptile from the Deck or a returned banished Reptile, giving roughly even to slightly positive advantage with no cost beyond the trap slot (inferred from text). |
| Effect & Interaction | 10 | The effect only restricts the controller's own non-Reptile monsters and offers no opponent-facing negation or removal (verified from card text). |
| Material Utility | 0 | A Trap card is never a material body, so the axis is scored at its floor (verified from card type). |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 45 | The S/T-zone destruction trigger gives some value after removal, but each effect is once per turn and the trap can be destroyed or negated before it resolves (inferred from text). |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 30 | The lock on non-Reptile monsters forces a Reptile-leaning build, which is a real restriction even though it is run as a 1-of in most decks (verified from text, observed from deck copies). |
Calculation
Weight profile: 0.7 Extender + 0.3 Recovery/Recursion. Intrinsic ≈ 42, Deck ≈ 43, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: Self-locking restriction (-4). Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck
Strengths
- Repeatable Deck-to-field Special Summon of a Level 4 or lower Reptile, once per turn per effect
- Recovers banished Reptiles to the GY when the card itself is destroyed
- Runs in 32 sampled decks across 9 archetypes, showing it is a live pick rather than a forgotten niche card
Weaknesses
- Locks the controller's own non-Reptile monsters from attacking and from effect activation
- Engine is gated on a face-up Reptile being destroyed or sent to the GY, so it does nothing without that trigger
- Provides no opponent interaction and no material value as a Trap card
Counters / choke points
- General inference: negating or destroying a Trap card in the Spell & Trap Zone before its effects resolve (not drawn from recorded evidence)
- General inference: removing or avoiding the Reptile triggers so the Deck summon never happens
Best use
Reptile-support Extender trap that converts destroyed Reptiles into Deck summons. Decks: Ogdoadic/Abhyss, Alien, Reptilianne, Ragnaraika, Reptile. Suggested copies: 1.
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: Continuous Trap: non-Reptile monsters you control cannot attack and you cannot activate their effects; Once-per-turn Deck Special Summon of a Level 4 or lower Reptile when a face-up Reptile is destroyed by battle or sent to the GY; Once-per-turn return of banished Reptiles to the GY when the card is destroyed in the Spell & Trap Zone; Present in 32 of 32 sampled decks, 27 of them at 1 copy
- Observed: Partner co-occurrence with Ogdoadic cards at 75–97% of decks, a deck-theme signal rather than proof of power
- Inferred: Extender role: the Deck summon adds a body on each Reptile destruction; Self-lock severity: a meaningful restriction given the Ogdoadic/Alien/Reptilianne homes it runs in
- Data gaps: no combos supplied, so combo conversion and starter/material shares are text-only inference no guides supplied no banlist token, assumed 3 copies (unlimited) no usage statistics (StatisticsCard), so archetype inclusion is inferred from the 32-deck sample only no recorded evidence of how often the Reptile trigger actually occurs in play