DARK
8Desperado Barrel Dragon
ATK:
2800
DEF:
2200
View:
4086
If a face-up DARK Machine monster(s) you control is destroyed by battle or card effect: You can Special Summon this card from your hand. Once per turn, during the Battle Phase (Quick Effect): You can toss a coin 3 times; destroy face-up monsters on the field, up to the number of heads, then if the result was 3 heads, draw 1 card. This card cannot attack the turn this effect is activated. If this card is sent to the GY: You can add 1 Level 7 or lower monster that has a coin tossing effect, from your Deck to your hand.
Desperado Barrel Dragon — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 55 ± 8 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 53 · Deck: 56 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Board breaker · Secondary: Searcher/Tutor
Why it scores here
Desperado Barrel Dragon converts a DARK Machine loss into a hand Special Summon and then, once per Battle Phase, a coin-driven wipe of up to three face-up monsters, with a draw on three heads. Its strength is the board-breaking effect, but the coin toss, the Battle Phase-only timing and the no-attack restriction cap how reliably that converts. The card has no recorded combo evidence, so its conversion score rests on text. High deck counts across 45 archetypes and strong partner overlap support playability, not raw power, so they only lift the deck-level scores.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 45 | Hand Special Summon needs a face-up DARK Machine destroyed first, and the GY search needs a Level 7 or lower coin-tossing monster; it is played in 219 decks, but no starter data exists (inferred). |
| Combo & Conversion | 40 | The coin-based wipe averages about 1.5 kills with no recorded boards to confirm the conversion; score rests on text (inferred). |
| Resource Economy | 55 | Up to three destructions trade one-for-many on heads, the GY search adds a card, and a draw comes only on three heads (verified). |
| Effect & Interaction | 55 | Once-per-turn Battle Phase quick effect destroys face-up monsters up to the heads count, which is strong but coin-dependent and restricted by timing (verified). |
| Material Utility | 45 | A Level 8 DARK Machine body can serve as material, but no material-usage evidence is supplied, so this is inference only (inferred). |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 40 | The effect is a single Battle Phase use per turn with coin variance and no redundancy, so one negate or a bad toss can end it (inferred). |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 60 | One card at 1-3 copies (average 1.75) with no garnet or lock, but it needs DARK Machine support to be reliable (observed). |
Calculation
Weight profile: 0.7 Board breaker + 0.3 Searcher/Tutor. Intrinsic ≈ 53, Deck ≈ 56, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: none. Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck
Strengths
- Repeatable once-per-turn board wipe that scales with coin results
- Hand Special Summon after a DARK Machine is destroyed, so it can come back as a recovery body
- GY effect adds a coin-tossing monster from Deck, giving a search route
- Played across 219 decks and 45 archetypes, with strong partner overlap
Weaknesses
- Coin toss variance: expected wipe is around one or two monsters, and three heads is needed for the draw
- Battle Phase-only use with a no-attack restriction on the turn it is used
- Hand summon needs a DARK Machine destroyed first
- No recorded combo boards to confirm how it converts in practice
Counters / choke points
- Negation of the effect on activation
- Monsters that remove or bypass the Battle Phase timing window
- Interruptions to the coin toss, such as negating the activation
Best use
Board breaker with a GY search for a coin-tossing monster. Decks: Arcana Force, Orcust, Machines, Desperado. Suggested copies: 2.
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: Hand Special Summon when a face-up DARK Machine you control is destroyed by battle or card effect; Once per turn Battle Phase quick effect: toss a coin 3 times and destroy up to the number of heads, drawing 1 on 3 heads; The card cannot attack the turn the effect is activated; GY effect adds a Level 7 or lower coin-tossing monster from Deck to hand; Appears in 219 recent decks across 45 archetypes; 1.75 average copies
- Observed: Partners with Called by the Grave (52.5%), Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring (46.6%) and Maxx C (43.8%); Typical copies in usage statistics: 1 in Machines, 2 in Arcana Force; Gameplay mix: 70% gameplay type 7, 19% type 3, 11% type 4
- Inferred: Expected wipe of about 1-2 monsters given coin variance; Level 8 DARK Machine body is a usable material; Score drag from the DARK Machine dependency on the hand summon
- Data gaps: no combos supplied; combo conversion is text-only inference no banlist token; assumed 3 copies (unlimited) no starter, searcher or material counts from combo evidence no Level 7 coin-tossing monster list supplied to confirm the GY search route no meta or top-card ranking signal (not top card)