Spell
NormalCup of Ace
View:
5746
Toss a coin: ● Heads: Draw 2 cards. ● Tails: Your opponent draws 2 cards.
Cup of Ace — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 51 ± 6 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 49 · Deck: 52 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Utility
Why it scores here
Cup of Ace is a free, unconditional draw spell whose text gives a coin-flip outcome: heads draws 2 for you, tails draws 2 for your opponent. Its value is access and card flow rather than board presence, so the score reflects a reliably castable spell with roughly neutral expected card advantage and no interaction or material role. High deck inclusion (all 400 attached decks, across 103 archetypes) confirms it is a generic staple that is easy to run; per guardrail 3 that breadth does not raise the score beyond what the text and its near-zero expected advantage support. No combo data was supplied, so the combo axis rests on text inference alone.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 72 | Playable from hand with no cost or condition, and present in every attached deck at an average of 2.25 copies (observed); it is a draw effect, not a searcher, so it does not fetch itself (verified). |
| Combo & Conversion | 45 | Converts one card into two cards on heads, but no recorded boards show it as a starter or payoff, so the conversion is text-only (inferred). |
| Resource Economy | 40 | It costs one card and gives an expected +1 draw for the user and +1 for the opponent, so net self-advantage is roughly zero and it has no refuel (inferred from text). |
| Effect & Interaction | 5 | It gives the opponent cards on tails but does nothing against the opponent's cards, board, or actions (verified). |
| Material Utility | 0 | It is a Spell card and cannot be used as material (verified from card frame spell). |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 50 | Its value is generic and does not depend on a field position, and multiple copies are common (observed), but a single negate removes the effect (inferred). |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 65 | It needs no garnets and fits most decks, but Duel Links caps it at one copy and the coin flip carries variance (verified legal copies; inferred variance). |
Calculation
Weight profile: Utility / no clear role (default weights); no secondary role blended. Intrinsic ≈ 49, Deck ≈ 52, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: Limited-to-1 (Duel Links) (-2). Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck
Strengths
- Castable at no cost from hand with no conditions
- Draws two cards on heads, a clean and easy-to-run effect
- Broad deck inclusion across 103 archetypes
Weaknesses
- Expected card advantage is about zero, and the -1 card cost leaves the user slightly behind
- Tails gives the opponent two cards, so the card is a gamble rather than a reliable advantage engine
- No interaction, board presence, or material value
Counters / choke points
- Negation of the spell removes the draw entirely
- The coin flip can go against the user, which gives the opponent two cards
Best use
Utility draw spell (coin-flip card advantage). Decks: Arcana Force, Toon, Sky Striker, Greed, Exodia. Suggested copies: 1.
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: Text: toss a coin; heads draws 2 for you, tails draws 2 for your opponent; Spell card, so it cannot be material; legal copies duellink: 1; Present in all 400 attached decks (decks running it in the Main Deck 400)
- Observed: Average 2.25 copies per deck; 103 distinct archetypes; Top partners include Upstart Goblin (38%) and Into the Void (34%); usage statistics shows 100% inclusion in Time Thief, Libromancer, Toon and SPYRAL
- Inferred: Expected self-advantage is roughly zero because heads and tails are symmetric; Opponent receives two cards on tails, a real downside; Reliability is limited by the single-card interaction surface and the coin-flip variance
- Data gaps: No combos supplied; combo conversion is text-only inference Copy limits for TCG, OCG and MasterDuel are not supplied; only the Duel Links limit is known No rulings or archetype-specific starter counts supplied top-card data has no rankings