FIRE
Number 59: Crooked Cook
ATK:
2300
DEF:
200
View:
8460
2 Level 4 monsters While you control no other cards on the field, this card is unaffected by other cards' effects. Once per turn, during either player's turn: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card; destroy as many other cards you control as possible, then this card gains 300 ATK until the end of this turn for each monster destroyed by this effect and sent to the Graveyard.
Number 59: Crooked Cook — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 44 ± 5 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 46 · Deck: 42 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Material body · Secondary: Utility
Why it scores here
Number 59: Crooked Cook is a generic Rank 4 XYZ with straightforward accessibility—any two Level 4 monsters summon it—but its effects are severely limited in power. The card's primary mechanic destroys your own board for temporary ATK gain (a resource sink with no refund), while its unaffected clause only activates when your field is empty, making it unusable mid-game. Across 400 decks spanning 102 archetypes, the card averages just 1.21 copies and shows zero measured combo impacts, confirming it serves as an optional fallback rather than a structural piece.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 65 | Rank 4 XYZ materials are trivially accessible in modern Yu-Gi-Oh!, confirmed by the card's spread across 102 distinct archetypes in the deck sample (observed). |
| Combo & Conversion | 20 | No combo evidence provided (0 total combos, 0 appearances); card text indicates pure resource consumption for ATK gain, not board building or extension (inferred). |
| Resource Economy | 15 | Effect detaches Xyz Material and destroys your own cards for non-refundable ATK gain—a strictly negative trade in card advantage (inferred). |
| Effect & Interaction | 5 | Unaffected clause is unusable mid-game (requires empty field), and destruction effect only targets your own cards, providing zero opponent disruption (verified). |
| Material Utility | 40 | 2300 ATK Rank 4 body is usable as overlay material but below the power level of competing Rank 4 XYZs like AA-ZEUS or Bagooska (inferred). |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 35 | Despite either-player timing, the card lacks built-in protection (unaffected clause unusable) and recovery, providing minimal real resilience (inferred). |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 55 | Splashes cleanly at 1 copy with zero brick risk across 102 homes, but the average 1.21 copies per deck indicates the slot is typically better filled by stronger Rank 4 options (observed). |
Calculation
Weight profile: Primary role Material body (no single dominant role emerged; default applied). Intrinsic ≈ 46, Deck ≈ 42, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: none. Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck (decks present, combos absent)
Strengths
- Trivial Rank 4 XYZ summoning (any two Level 4 monsters)
- Generic splash potential across 102 archetypes with no brick risk
- Flexible timing: effect activates on either player's turn
- Clean one-copy inclusion for decks with open Rank 4 slots
Weaknesses
- Self-destructive primary effect: sacrifices your own board for temporary ATK with no card refund
- Unaffected protection clause requires empty field—impossible to activate mid-game
- Zero opponent interaction: no removal, negation, or disruption capacity
- Weak structural role: 1.21 copies per 400-deck sample indicates fallback status, not core piece
- No measured combo value: zero appearances across the combo corpus despite 400-deck inclusion
Counters / choke points
- Superior Rank 4 XYZ options (Divine Arsenal AA-ZEUS, Number 41: Bagooska, Number 38: Hope Harbinger) are preferred in most deck strategies
- Decks prioritizing board presence and field control will avoid a self-destruction mechanic
- Generic meta staples (Ash Blossom, Maxx C, Infinite Impermanence) consume sideboard slots more efficiently
Best use
Optional Rank 4 XYZ fallback tech / flexible one-of slot filler. Decks: Ryzeal (9.8%), Utopia (9.5%), Shark (6.5%), Kaiju (4.2%), 102 total archetypes. Suggested copies: 1.
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: Card appears in 400 recent decks at 1.21 copies average, spanning 102 distinct archetypes (deck_evidence); Card text requires 2 Level 4 monsters; destroys your own cards in exchange for ATK gain (description); Unaffected clause activates only when you control no other field cards; destruction targets only your own monsters (description)
- Observed: Zero combo appearances despite 400-deck inclusion in sample (combos_evidence: 0 total combos, 0 appearances); High generic spread (102 archetypes) with low per-home commitment (1.21 avg copies) suggests fallback role (deck_evidence); Listed as optional Techs section in one guide, positioned alongside 20 other tech options (guides_evidence); Top partners are format-wide meta staples (Ash, Imperm, Called by, Maxx C), not synergistic supports (deck_evidence.top_partners)
- Inferred: Rank 4 XYZ summoning is mechanically trivial; accessibility gains no power premium (any two Level 4s summon it); Self-destruction of own board for ATK gain is a niche utility, not a combo engine or extension tool (from card text + zero combos); Unaffected protection is situational to the point of uselessness (mid-game field is never empty); Card serves as a fallback Rank 4 option when primary choices (AA-ZEUS, Bagooska, Hope Harbinger) are not applicable
- Data gaps: No combos supplied — combo conversion and board-building impact is text-only inference, not measured from real play sequences No banlist information — assumed legal and unlimited (3 copies) in all formats (TCG, OCG, MasterDuel) Actual play pattern unclear: no timing data indicates whether card is summoned proactively or used reactively mid-turn Usage statistics available for only one archetype (Trap Monster, 100% inclusion, 1 copy)—sample representativeness unknown No competitive ranking provided (is_top_card: false)—no high-level tournament performance data