DARK
4Masked HERO Dusk Crow
Archetype:
HERO
ATK:
1200
DEF:
1000
View:
2988
If this card is in your hand: You can banish 1 "HERO" monster from your GY; Special Summon this card. If this card is Normal or Special Summoned: You can add 1 "Masked HERO" monster from your Deck or GY to your hand, except "Masked HERO Dusk Crow". You can only use each effect of "Masked HERO Dusk Crow" once per turn.
Masked HERO Dusk Crow — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 61 ± 6 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 60 · Deck: 61 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Starter / Combo enabler · Secondary: Searcher/Tutor
Why it scores here
Masked HERO Dusk Crow scores on access and conversion, not on its 1200 ATK. Its hand effect Special Summons it by banishing a HERO from the GY, and its Normal/Special Summon effect searches a Masked HERO, so it reliably turns a HERO-heavy hand into a live starter plus a follow-up card. It has no interaction, and its combo-conversion score is only moderate because the observed boards average a power index of 35.1 with no boss or end-board pieces. Its HERO-only GY cost limits it to HERO-supported decks, which is the main deckbuilding restriction.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 78 | Hand-activated Special Summon and a Summon-triggered search, present in 400 of 400 sampled decks at about 1.08 copies per deck (verified deck stats; hand-live status is inferred from text). |
| Combo & Conversion | 55 | Present in 16 of 16 recorded boards with average power index 35.1 and 1.19 starters per board, but the role counts for starter, searched and payoff are all zero, so the conversion read is weak (observed; the role tagging gap is noted in data_gaps). |
| Resource Economy | 60 | One search gives +1 card, and the hand Special Summon costs a GY HERO rather than a card in hand; boards show netCardAdvantage 0 (verified text; observed board stat). |
| Effect & Interaction | 10 | No negation, removal or hand-trap effect in the text (verified). |
| Material Utility | 45 | A Level 4 DARK Warrior body that still counts as a Level 4 DARK monster when its effects are negated; Xyz use is inferred from level and attribute, not from a combo record (inferred). |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 55 | Two once-per-turn effects that work from hand, deck and GY across turns, but no counter-protection is listed and Ash Blossom appears as a top partner, implying it is exposed to hand traps (verified text; observed partner stat; interaction risk inferred). |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 60 | Single-copy usage at 1 typical copy, no garnet or lock in the text, but the GY-HERO cost narrows it to HERO-supported lists (verified text; usage_statistics; restriction inferred). |
Calculation
Weight profile: 0.7 Starter / Combo enabler + 0.3 Searcher/Tutor. Intrinsic ≈ 60, Deck ≈ 61, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: HERO-only GY cost restriction (-2). Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck
Strengths
- Live from hand: Special Summons itself by banishing a HERO from the GY
- Summon-triggered search adds a Masked HERO to hand, a card-advantage effect
- Present in all 400 sampled decks, across 29 archetypes
- Generic Level 4 DARK body that keeps its material value when negated
Weaknesses
- No interaction or negation of its own
- Requires a HERO in the GY to use its hand effect
- Heroic-heavy: about 75% of sampled decks come from the two Heroic archetypes
- Combo role tagging shows zero starter, searched and payoff counts
Counters / choke points
- Hand traps such as Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring (partner frequency suggests the opponent commonly holds them; not a verified counter list)
- Negation of the summon or search effect once it is on the field
- Lack of HERO in GY, which shuts off the hand Special Summon
Best use
Starter and searcher for HERO and Masked HERO lines. Decks: Heroic, Destiny HERO, Vision HERO, Neo-Spacian, Evil HERO. Suggested copies: 1.
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: Hand Special Summon costs a GY HERO and the Summon-triggered search targets Masked HERO, both once per turn (card text); Present in 400 of 400 sampled decks at 1.08 average copies (decks_evidence); Typical copies 1 across the HERO archetypes in usage_statistics, with 100% inclusion in Neo-Spacian, Destiny HERO and Evil HERO and 76.9% in Heroic 820
- Observed: Appears in 16 of 16 recorded combos with average power index 35.1 and 1.19 starters per board; Board summaries show netCardAdvantage 0 and no boss or end-board pieces in the examples; Top partners include Mask Change (96%) and Masked HERO Dark Law (94.8%)
- Inferred: Live from hand when a HERO is in the GY, so accessibility is high; Searched card keeps the line going, which makes this a Starter/Searcher role; Level 4 DARK body still converts as material when its effects are negated; Ash Blossom appearing as a partner suggests hand-trap exposure
- Data gaps: no guides supplied no banlist token; assumed 3 copies (unlimited) combos_evidence role counts (starter, searched, material, payoff, end-board) are all zero despite 16 appearances, so role tagging is unreliable no counters list or rulings supplied; hand-trap exposure is inferred from partner data Masked HERO search-target count is not in the evidence