Orcust Cymbal Skeleton

Orcust Cymbal Skeleton — Power Evaluation

Final Score: 70 ± 5 · Confidence: Medium

• Intrinsic: 65 · Deck: 70 · Meta: provisional
• Primary role: Recovery/Recursion · Secondary: Extender, Material body

Why it scores here

Orcust Cymbal Skeleton is a recursion engine that revives spent Orcust monsters from the GY, enabling the archetype's recursive gameplay pattern. It runs consistently at 1-3 copies across 51 distinct archetypes and appears in 100% of recorded Orcust combos with maximum power indices. However, the effect requires GY setup, applies a restrictive lock on non-DARK summons, and runs at only 47-100% inclusion rates across Orcust variants (not 100%), indicating it is reliably useful but not universally essential—and its 1200 ATK/1500 DEF body provides no power multiplier.

Axis scores

Calculation

Weight profile: 0.7 Recovery/Recursion + 0.3 Extender (blended due to dual-role nature). Intrinsic ≈ 65, Deck ≈ 70, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: Splashability bonus (2). Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck

Strengths

• Reliable recursion engine for Orcust's GY-heavy gameplan, enabling turn extension and board rebuilds.
• Consistent across multiple Orcust variants and splashable into allied archetypes (51 distinct homes observed).
• Flexible copy count (1-3) without garnet risk; searchable by archetype support.
• Solid Level 3 DARK body; usable as Rank 4/8 XYZ material and Synchro tuner.
• GY activation is relatively safe from interactive negation (already in graveyard).

Weaknesses

• Requires prior GY setup (discard/mill); not live in opening hand as a starter.
• Imposes restrictive lock: cannot Special Summon non-DARK monsters for the remainder of the turn, limiting deck composition and flexibility.
• One-time-per-turn use limits recursive potential in extended combos.
• Does not provide disruption, negation, or offensive interaction with the opponent.
• 1200 ATK is below-average for a beatstick; material value is modest rather than exceptional.
• Not universally included even in home archetype (47-100% across Orcust variants), suggesting it is conditional rather than mandatory.

Counters / choke points

• Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring (negates search effects that may have put this card in GY in the first place).
• Deck-level banish effects (remove cards from GY before this card can recur them).
• Non-DARK-focused deck archetypes that cannot leverage the DARK-only lock.
• Grave-hate cards that disable or empty the graveyard before recursion value is extracted.

Best use

Graveyard recursion engine and turn extension facilitator; secondary material for Rank 4/8 XYZ synergy.. Decks: Orcust, Orcust Mitsurugi, World Legacy Orcust, Scrap Orcust.

Evidence & gaps

• Verified: Card text: GY-banish recursion effect with DARK-only summon lock and HOPT.; Appears in 400/400 sampled decks (100%), averaging 1.65 copies.; DARK Machine, Level 3, 1200 ATK / 1500 DEF.; Archetype member: Orcust.; Appears in 3 combos, all Mitsurugi variant, all power index 100.; Top partner cards are all core Orcust monsters (Harp Horror, Galatea, Dingirsu, Girsu).
• Observed: 100% appearance in recorded Orcust combos (3/3 combos sampled).; Runs at 1x in 224 decks, 2x in 91 decks, 3x in 85 decks (distribution from decks_evidence).; 47-100% inclusion across 9 tracked historical Orcust/World Legacy archetypes, typical 1-2 copies (from usage_statistics).; Splashable across 51 distinct archetypes in sample (from decks_evidence distinct_archetypes count).; Co-appears with Orcust core support in 95.8-100% of sampled decks (from top_partners co-deck rates).
• Inferred: Primary role is GY recursion/recovery: effect explicitly revives spent Orcust monsters from GY.; Secondary role is extender: recurs key board pieces to continue turn sequence.; Accessibility constraint exists: requires prior GY setup (discard, mill, or Orcust-specific send effect).; The DARK-only lock is a self-imposed penalty in DARK-heavy Orcust but may restrict splice into non-DARK strategies.; Material utility as Level 3 DARK is moderate: valid for Rank 4/8 XYZ lines, Synchro tuning, but not a top-tier material body.; The card is part of Orcust's recursive engine but not universally mandatory (indicated by 47% min inclusion in some Orcust variants).
• Data gaps: Combo role data incomplete: card appears in 100% of combos but all role_in_combo arrays are empty; actual structural function in these combos is unclear. No banlist/legal status token provided; assumed 3 copies (unlimited) across all formats. No ruling-complexity flag; card text appears straightforward but timing interactions with other GY effects unknown. Top Card context absent: card is not flagged as a top-card in any format, limiting metagame pressure assessment.