WATER
4Gishki Shadow
Archetype:
Gishki
ATK:
1200
DEF:
1000
View:
3682
If you Ritual Summon exactly 1 WATER Ritual Monster with a card effect that requires use of monsters, this card can be used as the entire requirement. You can discard this card; add 1 "Gishki" Ritual Spell Card from your Deck to your hand.
Gishki Shadow — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 63 ± 6 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 59.3 · Deck: 64.8 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Searcher/Tutor · Secondary: Material body
Why it scores here
Gishki Shadow reliably converts a hand card into a Gishki Ritual Spell, which is the card's main value: it is a discard-to-search that is card-neutral but gives access to the Ritual line. Its Level 4 WATER body can also stand in as the whole requirement for a WATER Ritual Summon, which gives it a material role. The 1200 ATK and 1000 DEF earn nothing, and the lack of combo data means the conversion score rests on text plus deck presence. Deck presence (400/400 decks, 2.78 average copies, 31 archetypes) is used to confirm accessibility and cross-home portability, not to inflate power.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 82 | Present in all 400 sampled decks at an average of 2.78 copies, with a Gishki hand-search that is live from hand (verified deck stats; the search is inferred as live from hand because it costs a hand discard). |
| Combo & Conversion | 40 | Text-only: the card enables a WATER Ritual Summon and fetches a Ritual Spell, but no recorded boards exist to show how far it converts (inferred; no combos supplied). |
| Resource Economy | 55 | Discard-to-search is card-neutral (one card leaves hand, one enters from deck), so it is a fair exchange rather than a card gain (verified from text). |
| Effect & Interaction | 10 | The card has no negation, removal, or hand-trap effect against the opponent (verified from text). |
| Material Utility | 40 | A Level 4 WATER body that can serve as a Ritual requirement; the material fit is narrower than a generic Tuner or Level body (verified from text; inferred from role). |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 40 | The search is a hand effect that can be answered by hand traps, and the body is limited to one zone at a time (inferred from text and the typical interaction profile). |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 80 | Not a garnet or lock, is run at 3 copies in most lists, and is used across many archetypes without restriction (observed in deck stats). |
Calculation
Weight profile: 0.7 Searcher/Tutor + 0.3 Material body. Intrinsic ≈ 59.3, Deck ≈ 64.8, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: none. Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck
Strengths
- Appears in every sampled deck at high copy counts, so it is reliably accessible.
- Searches a Gishki Ritual Spell from the deck, which connects it to the Ritual line.
- Easy to run: no garnet or lock restriction, and it fits many archetypes.
Weaknesses
- Card-neutral search, so it creates no card advantage on its own.
- No opponent interaction: it cannot negate, remove, or hand-trap.
- Hand-based effect that is exposed to hand traps and discard-based interference.
Counters / choke points
- Hand traps that respond to hand-activated effects.
- Hand disruption that removes the card before its discard search is used.
Best use
Hand-search that fetches a Gishki Ritual Spell and serves as a WATER Ritual requirement. Decks: Gishki (archetype 918, Yu-Gi-Oh TCG), Gishki (archetype 1470), Spright, Icejade. Suggested copies: 3.
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: Present in 400 of 400 sampled decks, averaging 2.78 copies (deck data).; Effect: can be the whole requirement for a WATER Ritual Summon, and can be discarded to add a Gishki Ritual Spell from the Deck (card text).; Usage statistics show 100% inclusion in both Gishki archetypes (usage statistics).
- Observed: Spans 31 distinct archetypes and is most often run in Gishki (49.8%) and Gishki Gameplay 7 (83.5%) decks.; Strongest deck partners are Gishki Vision (98.8%), Evigishki Neremanas (98%), and Gishki Abyss (97.2%).
- Inferred: The hand-search is live from hand because its cost is a hand discard, so it is exposed to hand traps.; Material fit is narrower than a generic Tuner or Level body, based on the Ritual-requirement text.; Its searcher role is a secondary Material-body blend because the body is used as a Ritual requirement.
- Data gaps: no combos supplied; combo conversion is text-only inference no guides supplied no banlist token; assumed 3 copies (unlimited)