DARK
7Evil HERO Vicious Claws
Archetype:
Evil HERO
ATK:
2500
DEF:
2500
View:
3353
You can target 1 "HERO" monster on the field; Special Summon this card from your hand in Defense Position, and if you do, that monster gains 300 ATK. You can only use this effect of "Evil HERO Vicious Claws" once per turn. If a monster(s) you control is destroyed by battle or card effect, while this card is in your GY: You can Special Summon this card, then if you have a monster that mentions "Dark Fusion" in your GY, you can destroy 1 card on the field. You can only use this effect of "Evil HERO Vicious Claws" once per Duel.
Evil HERO Vicious Claws — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 57 ± 8 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 56 · Deck: 58 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Starter / Combo enabler · Secondary: Recovery/Recursion
Why it scores here
Vicious Claws is a free hand-summon body that gives a HERO monster +300 ATK, then recurs once per Duel from the GY, so its score comes from that repeatable body and recursion rather than its 2500 ATK/DEF. The 2500 stats earned no points, and the GY destroy is conditional on a Dark Fusion-mentioning monster in the GY, so it is capped. Without combo evidence the combo-conversion score is text-only inference and is kept moderate. Deck breadth across 31 archetypes supports the score, but the 400-of-400 deck inclusion is selection-biased and was not used to raise it.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 60 | Hand-summonable at no cost, but it needs a HERO monster on the field to target and has no searcher or starter role data in the evidence (verified text, inferred route). |
| Combo & Conversion | 45 | Text shows one 2500 body plus +300 ATK on a HERO, with no recorded combo boards to confirm a larger conversion (inferred from text; no combo data). |
| Resource Economy | 55 | Recurs itself from the GY once per Duel at no card cost, and the GY destroy is card-neutral; no netCardAdvantage data (verified text, inferred value). |
| Effect & Interaction | 40 | Its only disruption is the GY-conditional destroy of one field card, once per Duel, so interaction is soft (verified text). |
| Material Utility | 50 | A Level 7 DARK Fiend body is a plausible material, but there is no material role data and the text does not mention material use (inferred). |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 50 | The GY recursion is multi-zone and survives a single negate, but the hand effect is exposed to hand-effect interaction (inferred from text; partner Ash Blossom in 80% of sampled decks is observed). |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 70 | Used as 1 copy in most decks (370 of 400, avg 1.1), with no garnet or lock text (verified deck stat). |
Calculation
Weight profile: 0.7 Starter/Combo enabler + 0.3 Recovery/Recursion. Intrinsic ≈ 56, Deck ≈ 58, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: none. Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck
Strengths
- Free hand-summon body that buffs a HERO monster
- Once-per-Duel GY recursion adds a second body
- Single-copy, clean deck slot with 31 archetype homes
Weaknesses
- Requires a HERO monster on the field for the hand effect
- GY destroy requires a Dark Fusion-mentioning monster in the GY
- Once-per-Duel limit on the GY effect caps repeatable value
Counters / choke points
- Hand-effect negation or hand-trap response to the hand summon (interaction exposure inferred from partner data)
- Board removal of the HERO target before the +300 ATK resolves
Best use
Starter / HERO-target body. Decks: Heroic, Evil HERO, Elemental HERO. Suggested copies: 1.
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: Hand Special Summon in Defense Position, targeting 1 HERO monster on field, grants +300 ATK to that monster (card text); Hand effect is once per turn; GY effect is once per Duel (card text); GY Special Summon triggers when a monster you control is destroyed by battle or effect; destroys 1 field card only if a Dark Fusion-mentioning monster is in the GY (card text); ATK/DEF 2500/2500, Level 7, DARK Fiend (card data); Runs in 400 of 400 sampled decks, 1 copy in 370, avg 1.1 (deck data); Evil HERO inclusion 100%, typical 1 copy (usage statistics)
- Observed: Top partners co-occur in 92% of the card-containing sample (Sinister Necrom, Adusted Gold); 31 distinct archetypes in the sample; gameplay type 7 holds 78% of decks
- Inferred: Hand summon at DEF is a body/tempo play rather than a board-breaker; Level 7 DARK Fiend is a plausible material body (no material role data); Hand-effect interaction exposure is likely given the Ash Blossom partner pattern
- Data gaps: no combos supplied; combo conversion is text-only inference no guides supplied no banlist token; assumed 3 copies (unlimited) deck data is selected on card presence (400 of 400 decks run it), so deck inclusion % is not an independent signal no average starter count when present; DeckResilience is partly inferred usage statistics has only one archetype row (Evil HERO, gameplay 6)