WATER
5Dream Shark
Archetype:
Shark
ATK:
0
DEF:
2600
View:
3752
The first time this card would be destroyed by battle each turn, it is not destroyed. You can only use each of the following effects of "Dream Shark" once per turn. If you control no monsters, or if all monsters you control are WATER: You can Special Summon this card from your hand. When a card or effect that would inflict damage to you is activated, while this card is in your GY (except during the Damage Step): You can Special Summon this card, and if you do, make that effect damage to you 0. If Summoned this way, it loses 1000 DEF, also banish it when it leaves the field.
Dream Shark — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 54 ± 6 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 52.4 · Deck: 54.2 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Utility · Secondary: Recovery/Recursion
Why it scores here
Dream Shark converts its access into survival rather than board presence: a once-per-turn battle-destruction protection, a conditional hand Special Summon (only when you control no monsters or only WATER monsters), and a GY Special Summon that zeroes effect damage to you. None of these generate advantage or build a board, and no combo evidence exists to show otherwise, so combo conversion stays low. Its 400/400 deck presence and 56% Shark inclusion confirm it is consistently played, but that frequency is treated as a generic staple signal and does not raise the score. The score sits in the middle because the card is cheap and resilient across hand, field and GY, while its narrow interaction and lack of observed payoff hold it back.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 55 | The hand Special Summon is conditional on the WATER-only or no-monster board, and the card appears in 400/400 decks, so it is usually live in Shark-style builds (observed deck stats, partly inferred conditions) (observed). |
| Combo & Conversion | 25 | The combo corpus has zero boards containing the card, so there is no observed conversion; the text only shows a protective body with no board-building clause (inferred). |
| Resource Economy | 35 | The GY revive after damage negation restores the card rather than gaining advantage, and there is no searching or draw clause (verified from text). |
| Effect & Interaction | 35 | Damage negation applies only to effect damage while in the GY, and battle protection only covers its own destruction, so it is narrow soft interaction (verified from text). |
| Material Utility | 45 | A Level 5 WATER Fish is a plausible material body, but no as_material appearances were recorded, so this is an inference from level and attribute only (inferred). |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 65 | It works from hand, field and GY and protects itself once per turn in battle, giving multi-zone and multi-turn value (verified from text). |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 75 | The card runs at a typical 1 to 3 copies with no garnet or lock clause and is widely run in 46 archetypes, so it is cheap to include (observed deck stats). |
Calculation
Weight profile: 0.7 Utility + 0.3 Recovery/Recursion. Intrinsic ≈ 52.4, Deck ≈ 54.2, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: none. Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck
Strengths
- Protects itself from battle destruction once per turn
- Recurs from the GY to negate effect damage
- Cheap and easy to include in 46 archetypes
Weaknesses
- No observed board-building or combo role
- Hand summon depends on the board being empty or WATER-only
- Negation applies only to effect damage, not to all interaction
Counters / choke points
- Effects that remove it from the GY or banish it before it can respond
- Non-damage interaction such as negations or removal of the card on the field
Best use
Utility body with battle protection and GY damage-negation recursion. Decks: Shark (archetype 842), Shark (archetype 1818), Icejade (archetype 805), Umi (archetype 806). Suggested copies: 3.
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: Battle-destruction protection once per turn is stated in the card text; Hand Special Summon is conditional on no monsters or only WATER monsters; GY Special Summon negates effect damage to you when it is activated during the GY window
- Observed: Present in 400 of 400 recent decks across 46 archetypes; Average 1.46 copies per deck, with 3 typical in Shark (56.25% inclusion); Zero combo boards contain the card
- Inferred: Level 5 WATER Fish is a plausible material body; The card's hand summon is usually live in WATER-heavy Shark builds
- Data gaps: no combos supplied, so combo conversion is text-only inference no guides supplied no banlist token, so 3 copies (unlimited) was assumed no rulings available for the battle-destruction timing and damage-step exception