EARTH
4Iron Knight
Archetype:
Golden Castle of Stromberg
ATK:
1700
DEF:
700
View:
3824
Loses 1000 ATK while you control "Iron Hans". If this card on the field is destroyed by battle or sent to the GY by a card effect: You can add 1 "Iron Hans" from your Deck to your hand, or, if "Golden Castle of Stromberg" is in a Field Zone, you can add 1 Warrior monster from your Deck to your hand, instead. You can only use this effect of "Iron Knight" once per turn.
Iron Knight — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 53 ± 6 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 51 · Deck: 55 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Searcher/Tutor · Secondary: Material body
Why it scores here
Iron Knight's value is a conditional, once-per-turn search that fires only when it is destroyed by battle or sent to the GY by an effect, so it converts a lost body into one Iron Hans (or a Warrior when Golden Castle of Stromberg is in the Field Zone). It is a one-for-one retrieval of a Stromberg piece, not a board-maker, and its 1700 ATK earns nothing. Its 32-of-32 deck presence confirms it is a reliable Stromberg core card, but that frequency is not counted as power.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 65 | It is in all 32 sampled decks, mostly as a 1-copy Level 4 body in the Stromberg home, but the search needs it destroyed first, so it is rarely a live opening-hand card (verified deck count; the destruction condition is verified from text). |
| Combo & Conversion | 40 | The text converts one destroyed body into one Iron Hans or Warrior, with no observed board building since combos_evidence is empty (verified text; combo output inferred). |
| Resource Economy | 60 | The GY-trigger search gives a card back for the card lost, a card-neutral refuel that is repeatable across turns but capped to once per turn (verified text). |
| Effect & Interaction | 5 | It has no negation, removal or hand-trap reach, so it gives the opponent nothing to respect (verified text). |
| Material Utility | 45 | A plain Level 4 Warrior EARTH non-Tuner is a clean generic material; its search trigger still works when the effect is negated only through a destruction route that is blanked (inferred from text). |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 40 | One negate on the trigger ends the search, and the two search routes both need Stromberg pieces, so it is fragile outside that home (inferred from text and partner evidence). |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 55 | It is a low-copy slot (1 to 2 copies in most decks) with no garnet lock, but its ATK-loss clause and search both depend on Iron Hans and the Stromberg core, which is a mild restriction (verified deck stats; restriction inferred). |
Calculation
Weight profile: 0.7 Searcher/Tutor + 0.3 Material body. Intrinsic ≈ 51, Deck ≈ 55, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: Stromberg dependency (-2). Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck
Strengths
- Converts a destroyed body into a Stromberg search (Iron Hans, or a Warrior with Golden Castle in the Field Zone)
- Low copy cost, 1 to 2 copies in most decks
- Clean Level 4 Warrior material
Weaknesses
- Search only fires on destruction, so it is not a reliable opening-hand starter
- Once per turn
- One negate on the trigger ends the search
- Its 1700 ATK is irrelevant to its power
Counters / choke points
- Negation of the trigger effect
- Keeping it on the field so it is never destroyed or sent to the GY
Best use
Searcher/Tutor (destruction-triggered), with Material body as a secondary use. Decks: Stromberg. Suggested copies: 1.
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: Destruction-triggered once-per-turn search to Iron Hans, or a Warrior with Golden Castle of Stromberg in the Field Zone; ATK loss while Iron Hans is controlled; Present in 32 of 32 sampled decks, 1 to 2 copies typical; Partner rates: Glife 100%, Golden Castle 100%, Iron Hans 96.9%
- Observed: Stromberg is the dominant home at 56.2% of decks; Gameplay mix is mainly type 3 (62.5%) with type 7 (31.2%)
- Inferred: Searcher role is real because the search clause is the card's main output; Low copy cost and mild Stromberg restriction; Negation of the trigger ends the search
- Data gaps: no combos supplied, so combo conversion is text-only inference no guides supplied no banlist token; assumed 3 copies (unlimited) no usage statistics (StatisticsCard), so archetype inclusion is from the deck sample only