DARK
4Dark Honest
ATK:
1100
DEF:
1900
View:
4563
Once per turn, during your Main Phase: You can return this face-up card to the hand. During the Damage Step, when your DARK monster battles an opponent's monster (Quick Effect): You can send this card from your hand to the GY; that opponent's monster loses ATK equal to its own ATK, until the end of this turn.
Dark Honest — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 51 ± 6 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 52 · Deck: 50 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Removal / Negation · Secondary: Recovery/Recursion
Why it scores here
Dark Honest's value is a Damage Step Quick Effect that costs the card itself from hand and reduces an opposing monster's ATK to 0, but only in battles involving a DARK monster of yours. Its Main Phase self-return gives it reuse across turns, which is why it scores above a one-shot effect. Its 1100 ATK and 1900 DEF earn nothing, and the card does not build a board on its own, so combo conversion stays low.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 45 | Usually a single copy (271 of 400 sampled decks run 1), and it is a hand-activated card with no searcher evidence, so it is live only when already held (observed, inferred). |
| Combo & Conversion | 15 | No combos_evidence is supplied, and its text only ATK-zeroes one battling monster, so it builds nothing from a start (inferred). |
| Resource Economy | 40 | Costs itself for a non-destructive ATK reduction, roughly 1-for-0 at best, with a repeatable self-return that gives reuse rather than card advantage (verified, inferred). |
| Effect & Interaction | 60 | A reactive battle-step effect that reliably zeroes one monster's attack when the battle involves a DARK monster, but it is situational and does not destroy (verified, inferred). |
| Material Utility | 40 | A Level 4 DARK Fairy body is a usable generic material, but at 1100 ATK and with no material-side text it is only a fair body (verified, inferred). |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 50 | The self-return gives reuse across turns and the effect works in several battle spots, but it is a monster effect that a generic negate can shut off (verified, inferred). |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 70 | Mostly a one-of with no garnet or lock restriction, spread across 77 archetypes, so it is cheap to splash in most homes (observed). |
Calculation
Weight profile: 0.7 Removal/Negation + 0.3 Recovery/Recursion. Intrinsic ≈ 52, Deck ≈ 50, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: none. Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck
Strengths
- Reusable self-return in Main Phase keeps the card available across turns
- Reliable battle-step ATK reduction for DARK battles at 1 card cost
- Spread across 77 archetypes, so it is portable between homes
- Cheap to run: one-of, no garnet or lock restriction
Weaknesses
- Only works when a DARK monster of yours is in battle
- Costs the card itself for a non-destructive effect
- Does not build a board, so combo conversion is minimal
- Blanked by a generic negate on the Quick Effect
Counters / choke points
- Opponent avoids battling into DARK monsters (inferred)
- Opponent negates the Quick Effect in response to activation (inferred)
Best use
Battle-step ATK reduction for DARK attackers and defenders, with reuse via self-return. Decks: Branded, Bystial/Byssted, Darklord, Wicked God.
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: Card text: Main Phase self-return once per turn and Damage Step Quick Effect that zeroes the opposing monster's ATK, costing the card from hand; Formats: TCG, OCG, MasterDuel; no banlist token supplied
- Observed: Copies per deck: avg 1.47, with 271 of 400 decks at 1 copy; Distinct archetypes: 77; top archetypes Branded 15%, Bystial 9%, Darklord 8.5%; Top partners: Super Polymerization 59.5%, Monster Reborn 53.8%
- Inferred: Battle-step removal role, with secondary recursion from the self-return; Accessibility limited to being already held (no searcher evidence); Deck inclusion is not established because the sample appears pre-filtered to decks containing the card
- Data gaps: no combos supplied, so combo conversion is text-only inference the 400-deck sample appears pre-filtered to decks containing the card, so 400/400 running it does not measure inclusion rate no usage statistics (StatisticsCard), so archetype inclusion is inferred from the deck sample only no banlist token, so 3 copies assumed no searcher or material-side evidence in the pack