Spell
NormalCost Down
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5770
Discard 1 card; for the rest of this turn, reduce the Levels of all monsters in your hand by 2 (even after they are Summoned).
Cost Down — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 50 ± 8 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 48 · Deck: 51 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Combo enabler · Secondary: Utility
Why it scores here
Cost Down is a hand-based enabler: it discards one card to lower the Level of every monster in hand by 2, which lets Level-sensitive summons and Tributes work from hand. Its strength is access and flexibility across 32 archetypes, not board conversion, since it summons nothing and costs a card with no return. The 62-deck sample and strong partner overlap (Monster Reborn, Polymerization) confirm real play, but that frequency is a generic-staple signal and was not used to raise the score. Combo evidence is absent, so conversion is scored from text alone.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 65 | A Spell live in hand in 54.8% of Gameplay-7 decks at 1.73 average copies, but it needs a Level monster in hand to do anything (deck and text evidence; no combo starter data) (observed/inferred). |
| Combo & Conversion | 30 | The text only lowers hand monster Levels and summons nothing, so conversion depends on a second card (inferred from text; no combo data). |
| Resource Economy | 15 | Discards one card with no recovery, a net -1 card cost that only changes Levels (verified from text). |
| Effect & Interaction | 5 | No negation, removal, or disruption on the opponent's side (verified from text). |
| Material Utility | 20 | Not a body; it changes Levels of hand monsters, which helps material and Tribute fit but cannot itself be material (inferred from text). |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 40 | Its effect persists after the monsters are Summoned, but nothing shows how it fares against interruption (inferred from text; no interaction data). |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 70 | Single-slot, one-copy-friendly, and no locks or garnets; the 1.73 average copies show low slot cost (observed from deck data). |
Calculation
Weight profile: Combo enabler weights, single role; no secondary blend. Intrinsic ≈ 48, Deck ≈ 51, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: none. Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck
Strengths
- Access to Level-based summons from hand without a board presence
- Used across 32 distinct archetypes, so it is portable between homes
- Cheap single-slot card with no garnet or lock cost
Weaknesses
- Costs one card with no return, so it is a net -1 card advantage
- Does nothing on its own and needs a Level monster in hand
- No opponent interaction or board conversion
Counters / choke points
- No specific counters were supplied in the evidence; a Spell in hand is exposed to generic spell responses, but this is not confirmed by the evidence
Best use
Combo enabler: lowers hand monster Levels so Level-sensitive summons work from hand. Decks: Level-sensitive hand-summon lines (Blue-Eyes, Dark Magician, Jinzo, Ancient Gears, Magician Girls, Monarch, per the archetype spread). Suggested copies: 2.
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: Text: discard 1 card; hand monsters' Levels reduced by 2 for the turn, even after Summon; Formats: TCG, OCG, MasterDuel, DuelLinks
- Observed: Played in 62 sampled decks, 1.73 average copies, 32 distinct archetypes; Top partners Monster Reborn (41.9%) and Polymerization (40.3%)
- Inferred: Enables Level-sensitive summons from hand; Little interaction with opponent cards
- Data gaps: no combos supplied, so combo conversion is text-only inference no guides supplied no banlist token, assumed 3 copies (unlimited) no usage statistics (StatisticsCard), so archetype inclusion % comes from the deck sample only