LIGHTProxy Dragon
ATK:
1400
LINK-2
View:
4817
Link Arrow:
Left
Right
2 monsters If a card(s) you control would be destroyed by battle or card effect, you can destroy 1 of your monsters this card points to, instead.
Proxy Dragon — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 58 ± 6 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 59 · Deck: 58 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Material body · Secondary: Utility
Why it scores here
Proxy Dragon earns its score as a broadly splashable Link-2 platform whose Left/Right arrows cleanly extend Extra Deck access from any two monsters — a near-zero deckbuilding cost that explains its presence across 104 distinct archetypes. The protection effect offers situational resilience against destruction but does not generate card advantage and requires monsters already occupying the pointed zones to function. Its wide adoption reflects versatility and low slot cost rather than intrinsic strength, and it is consistently outclassed in the same Extra Deck slot by I:P Masquerena and other modern Link-2 options. ATK played no role in this score.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 60 | Any 2 monsters summon it from the Extra Deck with no archetype requirement, making it reliably live in virtually any strategy (verified from card text). |
| Combo & Conversion | 38 | Left/Right arrows enable adjacent Extra Deck zone access, facilitating further summons, but zero combo records exist to quantify actual board contribution (inferred from text; no combo data). |
| Resource Economy | 38 | The protection effect redirects destruction rather than generating card advantage, and consuming a pointed monster as a substitute is a net wash at best (inferred from card text). |
| Effect & Interaction | 28 | The destruction-substitution is soft and non-negating, provides no hand-trap reach or removal, and requires a monster in the correct pointed zone to activate (verified from card text). |
| Material Utility | 62 | LIGHT Cyberse Link-2 with Left/Right arrows — among the most useful arrow placements for Extra Deck expansion — and compatible with attribute-based Cyberse synergies (verified from card text; observed across 273 decks). |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 52 | Observed across 104 distinct archetypes confirming broad flexibility; the in-engine protection effect adds limited resilience dependent on board configuration (observed from deck data). |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 72 | Run at 1 copy in 233 of 273 decks, requires no archetype investment, and occupies a single Extra Deck slot with near-zero commitment cost (observed from deck distribution data). |
Calculation
Weight profile: 0.6 Material body + 0.4 Utility. Intrinsic ≈ 59, Deck ≈ 58, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: none. Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck
Strengths
- Generic Link-2 condition (any 2 monsters) makes it accessible in virtually any strategy
- Left and Right link arrows are optimally positioned for enabling Extra Deck zone expansion
- Protection effect provides conditional resilience against destruction without activating negation
- Splashable across 104+ archetypes at a 1-copy slot cost
Weaknesses
- No combo records — actual board contribution cannot be quantified
- Outclassed in the same Extra Deck slot by I:P Masquerena and other modern Link-2s
- Protection effect requires a monster already in a pointed zone, limiting early-game reliability
- Generates no card advantage on its own
Counters / choke points
- Removing or preventing monsters in pointed zones disables the protection effect entirely
- Banishing-based removal bypasses the destruction-substitution
- Floodgates that prevent Extra Deck summons stop it from reaching the field
Best use
Generic Link-2 platform providing Left/Right arrows and optional destruction protection. Decks: Shinobird, ABC, Shaddoll, Horus, generic Extra Deck combo strategies. Suggested copies: 1.
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: Link-2 requiring any 2 monsters (card text); LIGHT Cyberse with Left/Right link arrows (card text); Optional destruction-substitution effect targeting a pointed monster (card text); Legal in TCG, OCG, MasterDuel, and DuelLinks (formats field)
- Observed: Appears in 273 decks across 104 distinct archetypes (deck data); Most commonly run at 1 copy — 233 of 273 decks (deck distribution data); Top partners include I:P Masquerena, Knightmare Unicorn, and Knightmare Phoenix (deck co-occurrence data); Shinobird guide lists it as an optional extra deck choice alongside I:P Masquerena and Knightmare Phoenix (guides evidence)
- Inferred: Left/Right arrows enable Extra Deck zone expansion and further Link summons (rules inference from card text); Protection effect is most useful mid-to-late combo when pointed zones are already populated; Broad adoption across 104 archetypes reflects versatility and low cost rather than unique power
- Data gaps: No combos supplied — combo conversion is text-only inference No banlist token — assumed 3 copies (unlimited) No usage statistics (StatisticsCard) — archetype inclusion % inferred from deck sample only No format-specific breakdown to assess whether value differs meaningfully across TCG, OCG, Master Duel, and Duel Links