LIGHT
7Palladium Oracle Mahad
Archetype:
Dark Magician
ATK:
2500
DEF:
2100
View:
11741
When you draw this card: You can reveal this card; Special Summon it from your hand. If this card battles a DARK monster, its ATK is doubled during the Damage Step only. If this card is destroyed by battle or card effect: You can Special Summon 1 "Dark Magician" from your hand, Deck, or Graveyard.
Palladium Oracle Mahad — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 73 ± 4 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 72 · Deck: 74 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Combo enabler · Secondary: Recovery/Recursion, Material body
Why it scores here
Palladium Oracle Mahad is a consistent enabler in Dark Magician decks that draws and summons itself to fuel combo lines, then provides recursion for the archetype's core on destruction. It appears in every tracked combo for Dark Magician (5/5 examples) with an exceptional average power index of 94.4, confirming its role as an engine piece rather than a flashy finisher. While it contributes no direct opponent interaction, its accessibility (always live when drawn), clean material value (Level 7 Spellcaster with no locks), and synergy across 35+ archetypes position it as a reliable, efficient inclusion. The score reflects its strong deck fit and combo presence over its modest effect profile, which lacks negation, removal, or multi-turn resilience.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 85 | The draw-trigger auto-summon mechanism is live on every draw, and it appears in 400/400 matched decks with 99.5% co-occurrence with Dark Magician. (verified) |
| Combo & Conversion | 70 | It appears in 5/5 Dark Magician combo examples with an average power index of 94.4, confirming strong synergy with high-power boards, though its exact role within those combos is not detailed. (observed) |
| Resource Economy | 75 | The destruction trigger searches Dark Magician, the archetype's core, providing resource refuel on death while the auto-summon offers a body without activation cost in the DM shell. (verified) |
| Effect & Interaction | 25 | The card provides no negation, removal, or disruption—only conditional ATK doubling against DARK monsters during the damage step, a negligible opponent-interaction effect. (verified) |
| Material Utility | 72 | As a Level 7 LIGHT Spellcaster with no self-locks, it is clean generic material for Dark Magician fusions and other synergy plays, retaining value even when its effect is negated. (inferred) |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 65 | The draw-summon and destruction-search are one-time effects with no multi-turn loops or recovery; while the body itself is solid, the card depends on being drawn and destroyed to generate value. (inferred) |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 78 | It shows minimal deck cost, with most decks running 1 copy, no identified garnet risk, and splashability across 35 distinct archetypes from Dark Magician to Kuriboh and Red-Eyes. (observed) |
Calculation
Weight profile: 0.7 Combo enabler + 0.3 Recovery/Recursion. Intrinsic ≈ 72, Deck ≈ 74, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: none. Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck
Strengths
- Automatic self-summon when drawn removes deck friction and guarantees access on any draw
- 100% appearance in tracked Dark Magician combos with exceptional 94.4 average power index confirms strong synergy
- Destruction-trigger Dark Magician search provides archetype-specific recursion and resource refuel
- Clean Level 7 Spellcaster material with no locks or self-restrictions
- Splashes cleanly across 35 distinct archetypes with minimal deck cost (mostly 1-of)
Weaknesses
- No opponent interaction: lacks negation, removal, disruption, or hand trap capability
- One-time effects only: draw-summon and destruction-search cannot be reactivated or looped
- Effect negation removes both the auto-summon and the search, leaving only a body
- ATK doubling is situational, only applying during damage step against DARK monsters
- Dependent on destruction or draw to generate value; if blocked, becomes dead weight
Counters / choke points
- Hand traps that negate activation (Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring, effect negation)
- Field negation that blanks the effects (Skill Drain, Apoqliphort Towers)
- Removal that exiles or bounces before destruction can trigger (D.D. Crow, Lava Golem)
Best use
Draw-to-summon engine piece and Dark Magician recursion source in combo-heavy Dark Magician builds. Decks: Dark Magician, Magician Girls, Red-Eyes, Kuriboh. Suggested copies: 1.
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: Card text: draw-trigger auto-summon, ATK doubling vs DARK during Damage Step, destruction-trigger Dark Magician search; Appears in all 400 matched decks (100%); 99.5% co-occurrence with Dark Magician core (46986414); Level 7 LIGHT Spellcaster, 2500 ATK / 2100 DEF, no self-locks or restrictions
- Observed: Appears in 5/5 Dark Magician combo examples (100% appearance rate); Average power index 94.4 in tracked combos (well above 50); Runs across 35 distinct archetypes from Dark Magician to Kuriboh, Red-Eyes, Relinquished; Average 1.06 copies per deck (386 decks run 1, 4 run 2, 10 run 3); 84% usage in gameplay type 7 (DM-centric control decks)
- Inferred: Serves as combo enabler because the draw-and-summon removes deck friction and enables DM synergy lines; Acts as recovery engine through Dark Magician search on destruction, refueling the archetype's core; Functions as clean generic material (Level 7 Spellcaster) for Dark Magician fusions and other synergy plays; High combo power index (94.4) despite absence of detailed role attribution suggests meaningful contribution to board strength
- Data gaps: combo role is empty for all 5 combo examples: cannot directly measure whether card is starter, material, or payoff, only that it appears in the board No StatisticsCard data: archetype inclusion percentages inferred from 400-deck sample only, not historical statistics Banlist status not provided: assumed 3 copies (unlimited) Small combo sample (5 total): limited power-index confidence, though consistency (all 100 or 94.4) is reassuring