DARK
5Background Dragon
ATK:
1600
DEF:
1800
View:
3085
If this card is in the GY and you control no cards: You can Special Summon both this card, and 1 Level 4 or lower Dragon monster from your hand, in Defense Position, but banish this card when it leaves the field. You can only use this effect of "Background Dragon" once per turn.
Background Dragon — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 47 ± 8 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 46 · Deck: 47 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Starter / Combo enabler · Secondary: Material body
Why it scores here
Background Dragon converts a hand Level 4 or lower Dragon plus its own GY presence into two Defense-position bodies, so it earns its points as a conditional two-body starter rather than as a threat. Its access is gated on the GY and on controlling no cards, and it banishes itself when it leaves the field, which caps both its reliability and its resilience. Its 1600 ATK and 1800 DEF earned nothing; the 54-deck presence, mostly inside the Dragon and Dragonmaid shells, confirms it is a real, practical include rather than a score driver.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 45 | Live only from the GY with an empty field, and the 54-deck sample at 1.26 copies average shows it is routinely reached (verified deck stats; the empty-field condition is verified card text). |
| Combo & Conversion | 35 | Text converts to two bodies, one of them a Defense-only special; no combo boards were supplied, so the conversion is text-only inference (inferred). |
| Resource Economy | 40 | Turns one hand Dragon into two field bodies without drawing or refueling; the banish clause means it does not recur (verified text, inferred advantage). |
| Effect & Interaction | 5 | No negation, removal, or disruption on the card (verified card text). |
| Material Utility | 40 | Level 5 DARK Dragon body usable as material in the Dragon space, but it is banished once it leaves the field, so its material value is situational (verified stats and text, inferred use). |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 35 | Once per turn, GY-only, and banished on leaving, with no redundancy in its own text; the spread across 11 archetypes adds some flexibility (verified deck archetype spread, inferred fragility). |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 60 | Mostly one copy per deck with no garnet or lock; the empty-field condition is a mild restriction (verified copy distribution and text). |
Calculation
Weight profile: 0.7 Starter / Combo enabler + 0.3 Material body / Normal. Intrinsic ≈ 46, Deck ≈ 47, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: Self-restriction: empty-field GY activation (-2). Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck
Strengths
- Two-body conversion from a single GY-activated effect
- Searchable-by-hand Dragon partner gives a second body
- Played across 54 recent decks in 11 archetypes at 1.26 copies average
Weaknesses
- Requires the GY and an empty field, so it is dead in most mid-combo spots
- Once-per-turn limit and a self-banish on leaving the field
- Defense-only special summon with 1600 ATK adds little pressure
Counters / choke points
- Board-clearing or mass-removal effects that leave it stranded
- Negations on the Special Summon, since the card has no protection of its own
Best use
Conditional two-body starter from the GY. Decks: Dragon, Dragon Link, Dragonmaid. Suggested copies: 1.
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: Card text: GY activation requires controlling no cards, two-body Special Summon, banish on leaving the field, once per turn; 54 decks run it, 1.26 copies average, 47 decks at 1 copy and 7 at 3 copies; Top partners include Dragonmaid Changeover (59.3%) and Hieratic Seal (55.6%)
- Observed: Archetype spread: Dragon 48.1%, Dragon Link 11.1%, Rokket 11.1%, Borrel 9.3%; Gameplay type 3 (48.1%) and type 7 (40.7%) account for most decks
- Inferred: The empty-field condition makes it hard to use mid-combo, lowering accessibility; Its Defense-position body gives limited board pressure; Dragon-type tagging rather than archetype tagging makes it portable across Dragon-type homes
- Data gaps: No combos supplied: combo conversion and starter/material shares are text-only inference No usage statistics (StatisticsCard): archetype inclusion is inferred from the 54-deck sample only No banlist token: assumed 3 copies (unlimited) No rulings supplied for the empty-field and banish interactions