EARTH
4Weathering Soldier
Archetype:
Fossil
ATK:
2000
DEF:
1200
View:
3666
If this card is destroyed by battle or sent to the GY by a card effect: You can add 1 "Fossil Fusion", or 1 card that specifically lists "Fossil Fusion" in its text except "Weathering Soldier", from your Deck to your hand. You can only use this effect of "Weathering Soldier" once per turn. Once per turn, during your End Phase: This card loses 600 ATK.
Weathering Soldier — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 59 ± 6 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 58 · Deck: 60 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Searcher/Tutor · Secondary: Material body
Why it scores here
Weathering Soldier is a Fossil-archetype search engine: when destroyed by battle or sent to the GY by a card effect it floats into a search for Fossil Fusion or a card that names it, and the body double-duties as a Level-4 EARTH Rock that feeds Fossil Fusion's GY-based materials. It provides no direct disruption and no recorded combo boards exist, so its value is steady incremental engine value rather than a one-card win. Its 2000 ATK earns no points here; the score is driven by reliability of the float, the clean Rock material body, and the fact that it only functions inside the Fossil package.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 60 | A Normal-Summonable Level-4 EARTH Rock also searchable via common Rock support, but its own search only triggers on battle destruction or an effect send, so it needs a setup enabler (inferred). |
| Combo & Conversion | 50 | No recorded combos (appearances 0) and text-only it turns one GY send into a single Fossil Fusion fetch, not a one-card full board (inferred). |
| Resource Economy | 55 | The trigger replaces the spent body with a card in hand, roughly even-to-plus economy, and the GY body stays usable as Fossil Fusion material (inferred). |
| Effect & Interaction | 15 | The card itself offers no negation or removal; any disruption is only indirect through the Fossil Fusion it fetches (verified). |
| Material Utility | 68 | Level-4 EARTH Rock with 2000 ATK is clean Xyz/Rock material — Gallant Granite co-occurs in 58% of its decks — and still a 2000-ATK body if its effect is negated (observed). |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 58 | Two trigger conditions (battle destruction or effect send) let it float into a search even through removal, but it is a single once-per-turn soft trigger (verified). |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 60 | No self-locks and only ~1.72 copies average with 191 decks at a single copy, though it demands the Fossil Fusion package to earn a slot (observed). |
Calculation
Weight profile: 0.7 Searcher/Tutor + 0.3 Material body. Intrinsic ≈ 58, Deck ≈ 60, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: none. Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck
Strengths
- Floats into a search for Fossil Fusion or a card naming it even when destroyed by battle or sent to the GY by effect
- Level-4 EARTH Rock body with 2000 ATK is clean Xyz/Rock material (Gallant Granite co-occurs 58%) and remains useful when negated
- 100% main-deck inclusion across the 400-deck sample with an average of 1.72 copies, confirming it is a real engine piece
- No self-locking restriction, so it slots into mixed Rock builds (Adamancipator, Vernusylph, Magnet Warriors)
Weaknesses
- Provides no direct disruption or negation on its own
- Search only fires on battle destruction or an effect send, so it needs another card to enable the trigger
- Text is locked to the Fossil Fusion archetype, capping its generic utility despite a high archetype count in the sample
- Once-per-turn trigger with a slow End Phase ATK decay; value is incremental rather than explosive
- No recorded combo appearances, so its ceiling is text-only inference
Counters / choke points
- Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring or other search negation stops the float value
- Effect negation / banishment that avoids sending it to the GY denies the trigger
- Cards that remove it without destroying by battle or effect-sending (e.g. banishing, bouncing to hand/deck)
- Macro Cosmos / Dimensional Fissure style effects that prevent cards reaching the GY
Best use
Searcher / engine enabler for the Fossil Fusion line and Rock material body. Decks: Fossil, Adamancipator, Vernusylph/Vernalizer Fairy. Suggested copies: 2.
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: Level-4 EARTH Rock, 2000 ATK / 1200 DEF, archetype Fossil; If destroyed by battle or sent to the GY by a card effect: add 1 Fossil Fusion or 1 card naming Fossil Fusion (except Weathering Soldier) from Deck to hand, once per turn; Once per turn during the End Phase it loses 600 ATK; Sample of 400 decks runs it, all in the main deck, average 1.72 copies; Top partner Fossil Fusion co-occurs in 99% of its decks
- Observed: 35 distinct archetypes in the sample, led by Fossil (22.2%), Adamancipator (20.8%), Vernusylph (11.5%); Copy distribution: 191 decks at 1, 129 at 2, 80 at 3; Gallant Granite co-occurs in 58% and Block Dragon in 46% of its decks
- Inferred: The search acts as engine fuel that leads into a Fossil Fusion (GY-material Fusion) play; Rock typing supports Block Dragon and Adamancipator lines; Role assessment leans on text because zero combo appearances were recorded
- 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