DARK
4Card Guard
ATK:
1600
DEF:
500
View:
3866
If this card is Normal or Special Summoned: Place 1 Guard Counter on it. This card gains 300 ATK for each Guard Counter on it. Once per turn: You can target 1 other face-up card you control; remove 1 Guard Counter from this card, and if you do, place 1 Guard Counter on that target (if that card would ever be destroyed, remove 1 Guard Counter from it instead).
Card Guard — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 53 ± 8 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 55.5 · Deck: 51.3 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Utility / no clear role (default) · Secondary: Material body
Why it scores here
Card Guard is a generic Level 4 Fiend body. Its 1600 ATK and the +300 ATK per Guard Counter bonus earn almost nothing, because the counters are only a small, once-per-turn protective transfer rather than a conversion engine. The score comes from its clean body as material, its cheap single-copy deck slot, and its wide but unspecialised inclusion across 14 archetypes, which confirms it is a practical staple rather than a strong card.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 45 | Summonable as a Level 4 body with no searcher evidence, and it appears in 176 recent decks as a single copy, so it is reliably drawn but not searched (observed). |
| Combo & Conversion | 40 | Text places one counter on summon, giving a modest body, and the counter transfer only protects other face-up cards; no combo boards are recorded (inferred). |
| Resource Economy | 30 | A one-for-one body with no card advantage, no refuel and no recursion in its text (verified). |
| Effect & Interaction | 40 | Its only interaction is protecting a face-up card from destruction by spending counters; it cannot negate or remove anything (verified). |
| Material Utility | 60 | Level 4 Fiend with 1600 ATK is a clean generic material and remains a Level 4 body if its effect is negated (inferred). |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 55 | Counter transfer works across face-up cards but is once per turn and fails once the counters are gone; no multi-turn redundancy is recorded (inferred). |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 75 | Single-copy, no garnets or locks, and a generic Level 4 body that fits many lists (observed). |
Calculation
Weight profile: 0.7 Utility + 0.3 Material body. Intrinsic ≈ 55.5, Deck ≈ 51.3, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: none. Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck
Strengths
- Level 4 Fiend body with a clean material profile
- Counter-based ATK growth and once-per-turn protective transfer
- Appears in 176 recent decks across 14 archetypes as a single-copy staple
- Cheap to run: one copy, no garnets or locks
Weaknesses
- Negligible card advantage or recovery
- No searcher or combo evidence to confirm a real starter or payoff role
- Its ATK bonus and protection depend on the card staying on the field and face-up
- Once-per-turn limit on the counter transfer
Counters / choke points
- Effect negation on this card removes the counter-based ATK gain and the transfer ability (inferred)
- Removal before counters accumulate leaves only a 1600 ATK body (inferred)
Best use
Utility body and protective counter carrier. Decks: Generic Level 4 lists across Branded, Wicked God, Bystial/Byssted, Borrel, Sacred Beast and Knightmare (observed). Suggested copies: 1.
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: Card text: Level 4 Fiend, 1600 ATK / 500 DEF, +300 ATK per Guard Counter, once-per-turn counter transfer; Legal in TCG, OCG, MasterDuel and DuelLinks; Single-copy inclusion: average 1.01 copies per deck
- Observed: Present in 176 of the recent decks across 14 archetypes; Main deck in 176 decks; gameplay type 7 in 97.2% of them; Top partners co-occur in roughly 70% of decks, which may reflect shared template lists
- Inferred: Primary role as a utility body and secondary role as a material body from Level and Fiend type; Protective counter transfer is a minor interaction, not negation; Accessibility is reliable through the draw alone, with no searcher route
- 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 no starter-count data — deck resilience is inferred from archetype spread