DARKBorrelguard Dragon
Archetype:
Borrel
ATK:
3000
LINK-4
View:
4886
Link Arrow:
Top
Right
Bottom
Bottom-Right
3+ Effect Monsters Cannot be destroyed by card effects. Once per turn: You can send 1 card from your Spell & Trap Zone to the GY; Special Summon from either GY to your field, 1 monster that was destroyed and sent there this turn, but negate its effects. Once per turn (Quick Effect): You can target 1 monster on the field; change it to face-up Defense Position. Your opponent cannot activate cards or effects in response to this effect's activation.
Borrelguard Dragon — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 64 ± 8 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 64 · Deck: 64 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Recovery / Recursion · Secondary: Board breaker
Why it scores here
Borrelguard Dragon reliably turns a monster destroyed this turn into a negated body from either graveyard, at the cost of one Spell/Trap, and it cannot be destroyed by card effects, so its value comes from recursion and destruction resilience. Its 3000 ATK earns nothing by itself. The card is live in all 400 sampled decks across 79 archetypes, which confirms it is a practical home card (guardrail 3), but no combo boards were recorded, so conversion value rests on text inference alone.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 70 | Extra-deck Link-4 that appears in 400/400 sampled decks with strong partner support (verified deck count, observed; the starter route is not confirmed by any combo). |
| Combo & Conversion | 45 | Text gives a body plus a GY revival of a destroyed monster, but no combo examples or power index exist to confirm the conversion (inferred). |
| Resource Economy | 55 | Once-per-turn revival costs one Spell/Trap card to send to the GY and returns a monster, so net advantage is roughly even rather than a repeated gain (verified text, inferred value). |
| Effect & Interaction | 50 | The Quick Effect changes one monster to face-up DEF and cannot be responded to, which is soft interaction, not negation or removal (verified text). |
| Material Utility | 55 | A DARK Dragon Link-4 that keeps its Link rating when its effects are negated, so it still works as Link material (inferred from text and type). |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 78 | Cannot be destroyed by card effects and can be recovered from the GY and the field, which covers several zones and turns (verified text, inferred resilience). |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 75 | One copy in the Extra Deck with no garnet, lock, or self-restriction in the text; the sampled decks run exactly 1 copy each (verified deck stat). |
Calculation
Weight profile: 0.7 Recovery/Recursion + 0.3 Board breaker. Intrinsic ≈ 64, Deck ≈ 64, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: none. Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck
Strengths
- Cannot be destroyed by card effects
- Once per turn, revives a monster destroyed this turn from either GY and negates it
- Quick Effect DEF change that the opponent cannot respond to
- Live in all 400 sampled decks across 79 archetypes (1 copy each)
Weaknesses
- Revival costs one Spell/Trap card sent to the GY
- Revival needs a monster destroyed and sent to the GY this turn
- Quick Effect only changes battle position; it does not negate or remove
- No combo evidence to confirm starter or conversion value
Counters / choke points
- No named counter cards in the evidence; the once-per-turn activations are answerable only by generic effect negation (inferred)
Best use
Recovery / Recursion Link-4 body in the Extra Deck. Decks: Mimighoul, Rokket, Dragon Link, Lightsworn, Borrel, Fiendsmith, Kashtira, Ninja, Shaddoll. Suggested copies: 1.
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: Link-4, DARK Dragon, Borrel archetype, 3000 ATK, Top/Right/Bottom/Bottom-Right arrows (card text); Cannot be destroyed by card effects (card text); Once per turn: send 1 S/T card to GY to Special Summon a monster destroyed and sent there this turn, negating it (card text); Quick Effect, once per turn: change 1 monster to face-up DEF, opponent cannot respond (card text); Present in 400/400 sampled decks, 1 copy each, all main deck (deck data)
- Observed: Called by the Grave in 69.2% of decks, Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring in 52.5% (top partners); Mimighoul is the largest home at 25.5% of decks; gameplay type 7 accounts for 86.5% (deck data); Usage statistics show 100% inclusion at 1 copy for Tindangle and Rokket; only 2 archetypes sampled (usage statistics)
- Inferred: A destroyed monster revived this way converts into a negated body, so the revival is a one-for-one recovery (text); Keeps Link rating when effects are negated, so it still works as Link material (type and text); Resilience to card-effect destruction covers the common destruction-based interaction (text)
- Data gaps: no combos supplied; combo conversion is text-only inference no guides supplied no banlist token; assumed 3 copies (unlimited) usage statistics cover only 2 archetypes