DARKBeyond the Pendulum
Archetype:
Pendulum
ATK:
1200
LINK-2
View:
8787
Link Arrow:
Bottom-Left
Bottom-Right
2 Effect Monsters, including a Pendulum Monster If this card is Link Summoned in the Extra Monster Zone: You can pay 1200 LP; add 1 Pendulum Monster from your Deck to your hand, but for the rest of this turn, unless you Pendulum Summon after this effect resolves, you cannot activate monster effects, and the effects of any cards in your Pendulum Zones are negated. If 2 monsters with different original Levels are Pendulum Summoned at the same time to the zones this card points to: You can target 2 cards on the field; destroy them. You can only use this effect of "Beyond the Pendulum" once per turn.
Beyond the Pendulum — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 63 ± 7 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 61 · Deck: 64 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Searcher/Tutor · Secondary: Board breaker
Why it scores here
Beyond the Pendulum is scored as a Searcher with a board-breaking secondary effect. Its deck presence (400/400 sampled decks, 86.8% alongside Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring) confirms it is reliably accessible, but that popularity is not counted as power. The 94.6 average board power index is shared by the whole board and the combo evidence has no starter role, searched-for role or material role labels, so the conversion is not attributed to this card; the 1200 ATK body earns only modest material and resilience credit. Unlabeled combo roles and guide snippets that never name this card keep confidence at Medium.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 72 | Present in 400/400 main decks at 1.05 average copies, but the search needs a Link Summon into the Extra Monster Zone and 1200 LP (verified; live-route frequency from combos is inferred). |
| Combo & Conversion | 70 | Appears in 12/12 recorded boards with average power index 94.6, but combo role is empty and the index is board-level, so attribution to this card is inferred (observed). |
| Resource Economy | 60 | Effect 1 is a +1 Pendulum Monster search paid in life points rather than cards, with no refuel; net card advantage of 6 is board-level only (verified text; observed board stat). |
| Effect & Interaction | 50 | Effect 2 destroys two field cards after a gated double Pendulum Summon, and effect 1 negates monster and Pendulum Zone effects for the turn; both are conditional (verified text, inferred strength). |
| Material Utility | 35 | No material role labels across 12 combos and no material-use evidence; the Link-2 body's material value is unevidenced (observed absence, inferred score). |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 45 | Single-copy line in most decks (380/400 at 1 copy), a 1200 ATK body and conditional effects give little redundancy (observed deck distribution; inferred resilience). |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 60 | One slot in 380/400 decks with no garnet or lock, but it requires Pendulum and Link support, a mild restriction (observed deck distribution; inferred restriction). |
Calculation
Weight profile: 0.7 Searcher/Tutor + 0.3 Board breaker/Going-second. Intrinsic ≈ 61, Deck ≈ 64, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: none. Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck
Strengths
- Live in all 400 sampled decks (main, 1.05 average copies), a stable single-slot staple
- Effect 1 adds a Pendulum Monster from Deck for a fixed life-point cost, with no card cost
- Effect 2 destroys two field cards without a card cost, gated by a double Pendulum Summon
- Top partner is Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring (86.8% of decks), showing a common real-deck home
- Present in all 12 recorded boards, with an average board power index of 94.6
Weaknesses
- Recorded combo role counts (starter role, searched-for role, material role, payoff role) are all zero, so the search role is inferred from text, not observed
- The board power index is shared across the board and is not attributed to this card
- Effect 1 costs 1200 LP and requires a Link Summon into the Extra Monster Zone
- Effect 2 needs two simultaneous Pendulum Summons with different original Levels, which is fiddly to set up
- Guide evidence does not help: no snippet names this card and no guide co_card_ids list passcode 22125101
Counters / choke points
- Monster-effect negation aimed at the add-from-Deck effect (inferred from text; no ruling in evidence)
- Field removal or hand-trap interruption in response to effect 2 (inferred from text; no ruling in evidence)
Best use
Searcher/Tutor with a secondary board-breaking effect. Decks: Pendulum-based Link decks seen in Supreme King, Odd-Eyes, Dark Magician, Performapal, Artmage, Solfachord and Power Patron lists. Suggested copies: 1.
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: Card text: Link-2, DARK Spellcaster, Pendulum archetype, ATK 1200, Link arrows Bottom-Left and Bottom-Right; Main deck in 400/400 sampled decks at 1.05 average copies (380 at 1, 20 at 2); Top partner Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring in 347/400 decks (86.8%); Effect 1 costs 1200 LP and requires a Link Summon in the Extra Monster Zone; Effect 2 requires two Pendulum Summons at the same time with different original Levels
- Observed: Appears in 12/12 recorded combos (100%); Average power index of boards containing the card is 94.6; average starter count 0.75; Usage inclusion is 100% in 19 of 25 archetype rows and 68.75% to 83.33% in the other six
- Inferred: Primary role Searcher/Tutor from effect 1 (add a Pendulum Monster from Deck), with Board breaker secondary from effect 2; Resilience and redundancy follow from 1.05 average copies and the text-level gates; Effect 1 reading: monster effects and Pendulum Zone effects are negated for the turn unless a Pendulum Summon follows (text only, no ruling in evidence); Vaylantz (Dimension Shift archetype row) typical copies are 2; not used in scoring
- Data gaps: No banlist token; assumed 3 copies (unlimited) Combo role counts are all zero, so the role is not corroborated by combo labels combo role is empty on all three worked examples Guides report 6 mentions, but no snippet names this card and no co_card_ids contain passcode 22125101 No material-use evidence (material role 0) legal copies is empty for all formats top-card data shows no ranking The once-per-turn wording sits after effect 2, so it is read as applying to effect 2; no ruling confirms this