Trap
NormalVivid Tail
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586
Target 1 card you control; return it to the hand. If this card is in your GY: You can target 1 face-up card you control; Set this card (but banish it when it leaves the field), and if you do, return that face-up card to the hand, but for the rest of this turn, you cannot activate cards, or the effects of cards, with the same name that card had once it returned to the hand. You can only use 1 "Vivid Tail" effect per turn, and only once that turn.
Vivid Tail — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 53 ± 8 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 52 · Deck: 54 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Recovery/Recursion · Secondary: Utility
Why it scores here
Vivid Tail's text supports a self-reset: it returns one of your own face-up cards to hand, and from the Graveyard it can be Set again (banished when it leaves the field), which gives it recursion value. Its 230-deck presence across 42 archetypes and low copy count (avg 1.17) show it is a cheap, portable staple, so deckbuilding and portability score well. No combo, guide, or usage-statistics evidence exists, so conversion and interaction stay modest and the score is capped near the middle; high co-occurrence with popular partners was not used to inflate it.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 50 | Carried in 230 recorded decks, normally as a single copy, but no searcher or starter data shows how reliably it is drawn into play (observed deck count; inferred route). |
| Combo & Conversion | 35 | Text only: a self-bounce that makes a card re-usable, with no recorded board or power index to show what it converts into (inferred). |
| Resource Economy | 50 | Recursion from the Graveyard via Set, but no card advantage, search or refuel is stated; the trap banishes itself when it leaves the field (verified text). |
| Effect & Interaction | 35 | No opponent-facing negation or removal in the text; the effects act on the player's own cards, so interaction is only indirect protection (verified text, inferred use). |
| Material Utility | 15 | Not a monster and not a material body; it can only return a card you control to hand (verified text). |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 55 | Works from the Graveyard and across turns, but the one-per-turn and same-name activation limits restrict repeat use (verified text). |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 78 | Single-copy trap in most decks (avg 1.17 copies, 198 of 230 decks at one copy), with no garnet or lock restriction stated (observed, verified text). |
Calculation
Weight profile: 0.7 Recovery/Recursion + 0.3 Utility (blended). Intrinsic ≈ 52, Deck ≈ 54, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: none. Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck
Strengths
- Self-recursion: the Graveyard Set-and-return effect gives repeat use from the Graveyard (verified text)
- Cheap to run: single-copy trap in most decks, with no garnet or lock restriction stated (observed)
- Portable: appears in 230 decks across 42 archetypes (observed)
Weaknesses
- No combo or guide evidence, so conversion into a board is unproven (data gap)
- Returns your own card, which costs tempo unless the bounce is itself the goal (inferred)
- Same-name activation lock and one-per-turn limit restrict repeat use (verified text)
- Gives no direct opponent interaction (verified text)
Counters / choke points
- Negating or destroying the set trap before it is activated (generic inference; not in evidence)
Best use
Recovery/Recursion utility trap: reuse of a face-up card you control and Graveyard recursion. Decks: Tearlaments, Paleozoic, Kashtira, Danger!, Labrynth. Suggested copies: 1.
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: Trap Card type; text returns one face-up card you control to hand; Graveyard effect Sets this card, banished when it leaves the field, and returns a face-up card to hand; Same-name activation lock and once-per-turn limit on its effects; 230 recorded decks, 42 archetypes, 198 of 230 at one copy
- Observed: Average 1.17 copies per deck; 61.7% of decks in gameplay type 7; Top partner co-occurrence (for example 73.9% with Destructive Daruma Karma Cannon); Heaviest archetype presence: Tearlaments and Paleozoic at 14.3% each
- Inferred: Normal trap speed, from the 'Trap Card' type with no speed stated in evidence; Main practical use is reuse or protection of your own card, since its text is self-targeting only; Deck synergy is moderate because no combo data exists
- Data gaps: No combos supplied: combo conversion and starter/searcher/material shares are text-only inference No guides supplied No usage statistics (StatisticsCard); inclusion % not available No banlist token; assumed 3 copies (unlimited) Activation speed (Normal/Quick/Counter) not in evidence; inferred as a Normal trap No resilience or interaction data from real boards