EARTH
4Hardened Armed Dragon
ATK:
1500
DEF:
800
View:
3197
(This card is not treated as an "Armed Dragon" card.) You can Special Summon this card (from your hand) by sending 1 Level 8 or higher monster from your hand to the Graveyard. If you Tribute this card for the Tribute Summon of a Level 7 or higher monster, that monster cannot be destroyed by card effects.
Hardened Armed Dragon — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 50 ± 6 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 51 · Deck: 50 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Extender · Secondary: Material body
Why it scores here
The card's 1500 ATK and Level 4 body earn nothing directly. Its value comes from a hand-only Special Summon that costs sending a Level 8+ monster from hand to the Graveyard, a generic Level 4 Dragon body that works as material, and a tribute clause that makes a summoned Level 7+ monster immune to card effect destruction. Deck data shows it is run as a single-copy staple in 52 sampled decks with Monster Reborn as the most common partner, which confirms accessibility but is not a power signal (guardrail 3). No combo or guide evidence exists, so combo conversion rests on text alone and is scored low.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 50 | Needs this card plus a Level 8+ monster in hand, so it is not reliably live; it appears in 52 of 52 sampled decks, mostly at 1 copy (deck data, observed). |
| Combo & Conversion | 30 | The text yields one 1500-ATK body and a tribute protection clause with no board expansion; combo data is empty (inferred from text). |
| Resource Economy | 40 | The summon sends one hand card to the Graveyard as cost and returns one body, so it is roughly even with no refuel or draw (inferred from text). |
| Effect & Interaction | 20 | No negation or removal; the tribute clause only protects the monster it summons from effect destruction (verified from text). |
| Material Utility | 55 | A Level 4 Dragon with no Tuner or special type is a clean generic material and stays usable as a body when its effect is negated (inferred from text). |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 40 | A single body whose only useful effect is hand-based, so a negate on the summon removes its function; it spans 16 archetypes but is a one-spot card (deck data, observed; inferred from text). |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 70 | Single-copy staple with no garnet or lock and no self-restriction, though the Level 8+ hand requirement adds a small dependency (verified from text; deck data, observed). |
Calculation
Weight profile: 0.7 Extender + 0.3 Material body. Intrinsic ≈ 51, Deck ≈ 50, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: none. Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck
Strengths
- Hand-only Special Summon that adds a body to the board for one card of cost
- Clean generic Level 4 material body with no Tuner or restrictive type
- Tribute clause protects a summoned Level 7+ monster from card-effect destruction
- Single-copy staple spread across 16 archetypes
Weaknesses
- Needs a Level 8+ monster in hand, which is not guaranteed
- No negation or removal of its own
- Effect is blanked by any negate on the summon
- Low combo evidence: no recorded boards to confirm practical conversion
Counters / choke points
- Negate effects that stop the hand Special Summon
- Board-wide effect removal or banish, which the tribute protection does not stop
Best use
Level 4 hand-summoned body and Level 7+ tribute protection. Decks: Egyptian God, Exodia. Suggested copies: 1.
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: Hand Special Summon costs sending a Level 8+ monster from hand to GY; Tribute clause makes a summoned Level 7+ monster immune to card-effect destruction; Level 4, 1500 ATK, EARTH Dragon, no Tuner
- Observed: Appears in 52 of 52 sampled decks, 47 at 1 copy and 5 at 3 copies; Top partner Monster Reborn in 84.6% of decks; 16 distinct archetypes; Egyptian God 32.7%, Exodia 19.2%
- Inferred: Level 8+ fodder in hand is a practical but not guaranteed requirement; Staple inclusion reflects generic use, not intrinsic power
- Data gaps: no combos supplied: combo conversion is text-only inference no guides supplied no banlist token: assumed 3 copies (unlimited) no usage statistics (StatisticsCard): inclusion inferred from the 52-deck sample only Level 8+ monsters in hand that enable the summon are not quantified