EARTHClockwork Knight
ATK:
500
LINK-1
View:
4496
Link Arrow:
Left
1 non-Link Machine monster with 1000 or less original ATK If this card is Link Summoned: You can send 1 face-up Continuous Spell you control to the GY; add 1 "Clockwork Night" from your Deck to your hand. You can target 1 Machine monster with 1000 or less ATK in your GY; Tribute 1 Machine monster, except this card, and if you do, Special Summon that targeted monster in Defense Position. You can only use each effect of "Clockwork Knight" once per turn.
Clockwork Knight — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 61 ± 7 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 57 · Deck: 64 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Combo enabler · Secondary: Material body, Recovery/Recursion
Why it scores here
Clockwork Knight is a Link-1 whose Link Summon trigger converts a face-up Continuous Spell into a search for Clockwork Night, and whose GY effect recycles a Machine of 1000 ATK or less through a Tribute and Defense Special Summon. That gives a one-card search plus a body swap, which is a real but modest conversion. The 500 ATK and the Link-1 body earn nothing on their own. Its wide deck presence (400/400 sampled decks, 71 archetypes) confirms it is a practical, portable piece and is not counted as extra strength. The combo corpus shows it in all 19 boards with an average power index of 90.2, but it is classified as starter or searched in zero of them, so the score does not credit a starter role.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 62 | Link-1 Extra Deck body that is 400/400 sampled decks and co-occurs with Ash Blossom in 81.5% of them, but it has as_starter and as_searched counts of 0, so a live-in-hand route is not shown by the combo corpus (observed). |
| Combo & Conversion | 62 | The card appears in all 19 recorded boards at an average power index of 90.2, yet only 2 boards tag it as material and 2 as payoff, so the conversion it provides is real but its exact role is unclear (observed). |
| Resource Economy | 60 | The Link Summon trigger searches Clockwork Night for +1 card, and the GY effect recycles a Machine through Tribute and Special Summon, but the Continuous Spell send is a real cost (verified). |
| Effect & Interaction | 8 | The text contains no negation, removal, or hand-trap effect, so the card offers no opponent interaction (verified). |
| Material Utility | 40 | A Link-1 Machine with a Left arrow is a narrow material, and its effects remain available only on the Link Summon trigger and the GY, so it converts only when Left-arrow Links are wanted (inferred). |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 40 | Both effects are once-per-turn and depend on a single Link Summon, so one negation of the trigger ends most of the value, and the GY effect is the only backup route (inferred). |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 72 | It costs one Extra Deck slot, has no garnet or lock restriction, and is run 1 to 2 copies per deck (avg 1.14), so it is cheap to add (observed). |
Calculation
Weight profile: 0.7 Combo enabler + 0.3 Material body. Intrinsic ≈ 57, Deck ≈ 64, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: none. Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck
Strengths
- Link Summon trigger gives a one-card search for Clockwork Night (verified from text)
- Recycles a Machine from the GY through Tribute and Defense Special Summon (verified from text)
- Present in all 400 sampled decks across 71 archetypes (observed)
- Cheap to run: one Extra Deck slot with no garnet or lock restriction (observed)
Weaknesses
- No negation, removal, or hand-trap effect (verified from text)
- Dead in hand; it needs a Link Summon and a Left-arrow material to function (verified from text)
- Both effects are once per turn and hang on one Link Summon trigger (verified from text)
- The combo corpus classifies it as starter or searched in zero boards (observed)
Counters / choke points
- Negation of the Link Summon trigger, which ends both effects in one response (inferred from text)
- A single hand trap, which a guide notes can end Cyber Dragon lines that rely on this support (guide snippet, observed)
Best use
Combo enabler: Link-1 that searches Clockwork Night and recycles a Machine from the GY. Decks: Cyber Dragon, Cyberdark, R.B., Crystron. Suggested copies: 1.
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: Link Summon trigger: send 1 face-up Continuous Spell you control to the GY and add Clockwork Night from the Deck to hand (card text); GY effect: target a Machine of 1000 or less ATK, Tribute 1 other Machine, and Defense Special Summon the target (card text); Each effect is once per turn (card text); Link-1, EARTH, Machine, 500 ATK, Left arrow (card fields)
- Observed: Present in 400/400 sampled decks, 71 archetypes, with 1.14 average copies (decks_evidence); Co-occurs with Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring in 81.5% of decks (top_partners); Appears in 19/19 recorded boards at average power index 90.2, with 0 as_starter and 0 as_searched (combos_evidence); Inclusion 75–100% across 25 archetype homes (usage_statistics; consistent play, not intrinsic power)
- Inferred: Primary role is combo enabler, not starter, because the text drives the search and recursion while the combo corpus does not show it starting boards; Material utility is narrow because it converts mainly into Left-arrow Links; Resilience is low because one negation of the Link Summon trigger removes most of the value
- Data gaps: No banlist token; assumed 3 copies (unlimited) Combo examples have empty role_in_combo, and role counts sum to only 2 of 19 boards despite 100% appearance, so the role split is weakly determined No rulings or counter-card statistics in the evidence top_card_context is empty, so no cross-format ranking confirmation is available Confirmation that Clockwork Night is a Continuous Spell is not in the evidence