Montage Dragon

Montage Dragon — Power Evaluation

Final Score: 41 ± 5 · Confidence: Medium

• Intrinsic: 40 · Deck: 41 · Meta: provisional
• Primary role: Material body · Secondary: Boss/End-board

Why it scores here

Montage Dragon is a Level 8 Dragon body useful primarily as material for Xyz or Synchro summons. Its self-contained effect—requiring 3 hand monsters to summon—is too resource-intensive to drive combos (zero recorded combo appearances), and the card provides no disruption or recursion. It succeeds narrowly in dragon-centric decks (17 archetypes, 48 total decks) where Trade-In and other discard outlets make the hand-mill cost manageable, but it does not enable winning lines by itself.

Axis scores

Calculation

Weight profile: 0.7×Material body + 0.3×Boss/End-board. Intrinsic ≈ 40, Deck ≈ 41, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: none. Final formula: 0.40×Intrinsic + 0.60×Deck

Strengths

• Level 8 Dragon body is clean material for Xyz (Rank 8 plays) and potential Synchro summons
• Consistent inclusion across 17 archetypes and 48 decks shows broad (if niche) applicability in dragon-heavy strategies
• Fits well with Trade-In (83.3% co-deck) and other dragon discard outlets as a intended high-cost payoff

Weaknesses

• Zero recorded combo appearances; does not enable any combo lines or deck extension
• Severe resource cost (3 hand monsters) makes it a dead card unless deck composition allows it
• 0 DEF makes it immediately vulnerable to removal despite variable ATK gain
• No recursion, no recovery, no multi-zone utility; single-purpose body with no flexibility
• Provides zero opponent interaction—pure beatstick with no disruption, negation, or control value

Counters / choke points

• Any removal (Raigeki, Evenly Matched, etc.) kills it immediately due to 0 DEF
• Hand traps (Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring) can interrupt the summoning attempt if chained at the right time
• Decks light on monsters in hand cannot reliably summon it, especially early game

Best use

Late-game Xyz material or discard outlet payoff in high-monster-count hands. Decks: Blue-Eyes, Dragonmaid, Galaxy-Eyes, Branded, Bystial. Suggested copies: 1.

Evidence & gaps

• Verified: Cannot be normally summoned; must be special summoned from hand by sending 3 other monsters to GY (card text); ATK becomes Σ(original levels of sent monsters) × 300 (card text); Present in 48 decks across 17 distinct archetypes (deck evidence); Trade-In is top partner at 83.3% co-deck rate (observed); Average 1.42 copies per deck; 38 decks run 1, 10 run 3 (observed); Zero combo appearances across recorded combo boards (verified absence)
• Observed: Appears consistently in Blue-Eyes, Dragonmaid, Galaxy-Eyes, Branded, and Bystial archetypes (deck statistics); Blue-Eyes White Dragon co-appears in 81.2% of decks running Montage Dragon (deck evidence); Dragon Shrine co-appears in 68.8% of decks, indicating GY synergy (deck evidence); 35.4% of decks running it are going-first strategies; 33.3% beatdown; 31.2% control (gameplay type distribution)
• Inferred: Level 8 Dragon body serves as clean Xyz Rank-8 material once on field (card typing + material utility axis); 0 DEF combined with variable ATK makes it immediately vulnerable to removal (card stats + resilience inference); 3-monster hand cost creates moderate brick risk unless deck naturally maintains monster-heavy hands (cost structure + deckbuilding axis); Lack of combo synergy and zero recorded appearances suggest primary role is material body, not combo enabler (absence of combo evidence)
• Data gaps: No combos supplied—combo conversion assessed from text only (pure -3 card cost for 1 body); the zero combo appearances confirm lack of synergy No guides supplied—no human context on role or optimal lines available No banlist token—assumed 3 copies legal (unlimited) No usage statistics (StatisticsCard)—archetype inclusion percentages inferred from 48-deck sample only, not from historical larger sample No top-card ranking—card is not a meta staple, limiting metagame power assessment