WATER
4Duke Archfiend
Archetype:
Archfiend
ATK:
0
DEF:
2000
View:
462
Gains ATK equal to its Level x 200. You can only use each of the following effects of "Duke Archfiend" once per turn. You can target 1 face-up monster you control that has a Level; send 1 "Archfiend" monster from your Deck to the GY, except "Duke Archfiend", and if you do, increase that monster's Level by the Level of the sent monster. When your Ritual Monster is destroyed by battle while this card is in your GY: You can Special Summon this card.
Duke Archfiend — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 49 ± 6 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 47 · Deck: 51 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Starter / Combo enabler · Secondary: Extender
Why it scores here
Duke Archfiend is a live, widely played Archfiend starter that is easy to reach, and it converts into value mainly by raising the Level of a face-up monster by sending another Archfiend from the Deck to the GY. Its recorded boards are small (average power index 3.5, best example 8), so the card does not reliably produce a large board on its own. Its 0 base ATK and 2000 DEF earn nothing; the score comes from access, a modest Level-raise payoff, and a GY revival that only fires in a narrow Ritual-battle spot.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 70 | Present in 156 of the recent decks with 100% co-occurrence with Highness Archfiend, and it is a starter in 2 of 4 recorded boards (observed); the Archfiend search routes themselves are not tabled (inferred). |
| Combo & Conversion | 35 | The combo examples are weak, with power indices of 8, 3 and 2 and no boss or end-board pieces (observed). |
| Resource Economy | 25 | The Deck-to-GY send is a -1 with only a Level gain in return, and netCardAdvantage is 0 in every example (observed). |
| Effect & Interaction | 5 | The text has no negation, removal or hand-trap effect (verified). |
| Material Utility | 40 | A Level 4 WATER Fiend is a usable material body, but it never appears as material in the recorded boards (verified text, observed 0 percent material role). |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 40 | Two once-per-turn effects give some multi-turn use, but the GY revival needs a Ritual Monster destroyed by battle (verified text). |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 50 | Costs no garnets and needs a 1 to 3 copy slot in an Archfiend shell, with restriction from the Archfiend-only send target (verified text, observed copies). |
Calculation
Weight profile: 0.7 Starter / Combo enabler + 0.3 Extender. Intrinsic ≈ 47, Deck ≈ 51, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: none. Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck
Strengths
- Live in a large Archfiend presence (156 recent decks, 27 archetypes)
- Its Level-raise effect can turn a Level 4 body into a higher-Level material or target
- Low deck-building cost, with 1 to 3 copies commonly run
Weaknesses
- Recorded boards are small (average power index 3.5), so it does not convert into a big board alone
- Almost no interaction or resilience against negation
- Its Archfiend-only send target restricts the deck
Counters / choke points
- Generic negation or floodgates during the once-per-turn Level-raise window (inferred)
Best use
Level-raise starter in Archfiend lines. Decks: Archfiend, Regenesis, Fiendsmith.
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: Level 4 WATER Fiend, DEF 2000, base ATK 0 with ATK gained equal to Level x 200 (card text); Once-per-turn Deck-to-GY Archfiend send with Level increase (card text); GY Special Summon when a Ritual Monster is destroyed by battle (card text); Present in 156 recent decks with 27 distinct archetypes (deck data)
- Observed: Starter in 2 of 4 recorded boards and in end hand in 2 (combo data); Average power index 3.5 across its boards (combo data); Average copies 1.48 per deck (deck data); Co-occurs with Highness Archfiend in 100 percent of decks (deck data)
- Inferred: Archfiend searchers likely make it accessible, though none are tabled in the evidence; Its GY revival is a narrow spot, so it adds little resilience
- Data gaps: no banlist token, assumed 3 copies (unlimited) no usage statistics (StatisticsCard), so archetype inclusion % is inferred from the deck sample only only 4 recorded combo boards, a thin sample no rulings or Archfiend search routes tabled in the evidence