Spell
ContinuousArchfiend's Oath
Archetype:
Archfiend
View:
3181
Once per turn: You can pay 500 Life Points, then declare 1 card name; excavate the top card of your Deck, and if it is the declared card, add it to your hand. Otherwise, send it to the Graveyard.
Archfiend's Oath — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 44 ± 8 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 44.5 · Deck: 44 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Searcher/Tutor
Why it scores here
Archfiend's Oath is a once-per-turn, 500 LP gamble: the player declares one card name and only a matching top card reaches the hand, otherwise it is milled. Its value is a repeatable, low-probability search that is at best card-neutral when it misses, so the score rests on accessibility and deck cost rather than on any reliable conversion. It is played in 35 recent decks across 14 archetypes at about 2 copies each, which confirms it is a real, cheap option, but that frequency does not raise the score, and no combo evidence supports any board-building role.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 40 | Continuous Spell that must be placed before the once-per-turn ability is live; it is played in 35 decks at about 2 copies each, but there is no starter or searched-appearance data (observed; inferred for the activation window). |
| Combo & Conversion | 25 | Text alone shows a single card to hand per successful hit with no board or extender component, and combo data records zero appearances (inferred). |
| Resource Economy | 45 | A hit is +1 card, while a miss mills the top card and costs 500 LP, so the card is roughly even to slightly positive over repeated turns (inferred from text; no measured netCardAdvantage). |
| Effect & Interaction | 5 | No negation, removal, or hand-trap reach; the card is a pure search engine (verified from text). |
| Material Utility | 0 | A Spell Card cannot be used as material, so this axis is zero (verified from card frame and card text). |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 40 | Continuous Spell stays on the field across turns, so it can be used repeatedly, but it is exposed to Spell/Trap removal and its hit rate is low (inferred). |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 65 | Cheap to run at 1 to 3 copies with no garnet or lock restriction; the 500 LP cost is a play cost rather than a deckbuilding restriction (verified from text and copies per deck). |
Calculation
Weight profile: Searcher/Tutor primary, no secondary role blend. Intrinsic ≈ 44.5, Deck ≈ 44, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: none. Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck
Strengths
- Repeatable once-per-turn search that is card-neutral at worst when it misses
- Cheap to run: about 2 copies per deck with no garnet or lock restriction
- Used across 14 distinct archetypes, so it has a wide home base
Weaknesses
- Hit rate depends entirely on one declared name matching the top card, which makes it a low-probability gamble
- 500 Life Points per activation is a real cost each turn
- Adds at most one card per activation and has no board or extender component
- No combo evidence: zero recorded boards show it as a starter, searched, material, or payoff piece
Counters / choke points
- Spell/Trap removal or banish effects that remove the face-up Continuous Spell
- Opponent LP or board pressure that makes the 500 LP cost unaffordable (inferred)
Best use
Searcher/Tutor (low-reliability gamble) in Exodia-line and Archfiend-themed decks. Decks: Exodia, Summoned Skull, Dark Magician, Vernusylph/Vernalizer Fairy. Suggested copies: 2.
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: Once per turn: pay 500 Life Points, declare 1 card name, excavate the top card, and add it to hand only if it matches; otherwise send it to the Graveyard; Card type is Spell Card (Continuous), so it cannot be material; No banlist token supplied, so 3 copies are assumed legal
- Observed: Present in 35 recent decks, averaging 2 copies per deck, across 14 distinct archetypes; Most decks are gameplay type 7 (85.7%); Top partners are Exodia pieces and Exodia-line support, co-occurring in about 28 to 31% of decks
- Inferred: Hit rate is low because the search depends on one declared name matching the top card; Net card advantage is at worst neutral and only positive on a hit; Its main use is as a gamble alongside Exodia-line pieces
- Data gaps: no combos supplied, so combo conversion is text-only inference no guides supplied no banlist token, assumed 3 copies (unlimited) no usage statistics (StatisticsCard), so archetype inclusion is inferred from the deck sample only no measured hit rate or net card advantage for the search