DARK
3Red-Eyes Baby Dragon
ATK:
1200
DEF:
700
View:
5083
When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the GY: You can Special Summon 1 Level 7 or lower "Red-Eyes" monster from your Deck, and if you do, equip this card from the GY to it. It gains 300 ATK. If this card is sent to the GY while equipped to a monster: You can add 1 Level 1 Dragon monster from your Deck or GY to your hand.
Red-Eyes Baby Dragon — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 60 ± 5 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 58.6 · Deck: 61 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Combo enabler · Secondary: Material body, Recovery/Recursion
Why it scores here
Red-Eyes Baby Dragon scores as a serviceable combo enabler in Red-Eyes decks, offering consistent searchability and value generation through its destruction and equip mechanics. The card reliably converts battle destruction into deck thinning and Level 1 Dragon searches, making it a solid role-player in its primary archetype. However, its effectiveness depends heavily on battle interactions and lacks any disruption effects, limiting its ceiling. The card's broad presence across 38 archetypes confirms accessibility but highlights its archetype-specific rather than generic utility.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 70 | Red-Eyes Insight appears in 88.8% of decks running this card, confirming reliable searchability in the primary archetype. (verified) |
| Combo & Conversion | 55 | The card generates one extra body and board thinning via Red-Eyes summon when destroyed by battle, but does not build a full line on its own; this is moderate value-generation. (inferred) |
| Resource Economy | 58 | The Level 1 Dragon search effect provides net card advantage over time, with the equip bonus adding board development, yielding roughly +0.5 advantage per activation cycle. (inferred) |
| Effect & Interaction | 0 | The card provides no negation, disruption, or removal; it is purely a value engine with no opponent interaction. (verified) |
| Material Utility | 62 | As a Level 3 Dragon with 1200 ATK/700 DEF, it functions as serviceable material for Synchro, Fusion, Overlay, and Link summons, and its equip effect provides +300 ATK utility in Red-Eyes. (verified) |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 45 | The card's primary destruction-by-battle trigger is vulnerable to being sidestepped or negated; if the opponent does not attack into it, the first effect may never fire. (inferred) |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 68 | In Red-Eyes decks (50.3% of instances), the card is searchable and non-locking, making it a clean fit; it averages 1.78 copies per deck with no brick risk in its home archetype. (observed) |
Calculation
Weight profile: Combo enabler primary role. Intrinsic ≈ 58.6, Deck ≈ 61, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: none. Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck
Strengths
- Highly searchable in Red-Eyes decks via Red-Eyes Insight (88.8% co-deck rate)
- Generates net card advantage through Level 1 Dragon search and Red-Eyes summoning
- Flexible material body that works across 38 distinct archetypes
- Equip effect provides ATK boost to Red-Eyes monsters, enabling boss monster synergies
- No self-locking restrictions or garnet risks in its primary home
Weaknesses
- Lacks any disruption, negation, or removal capabilities
- Destruction-by-battle requirement makes the primary effect conditional and unreliable
- Cannot generate full boards on its own; requires supporting Red-Eyes infrastructure
- If the first effect is negated, becomes just a mediocre 1200 ATK body
- Less integrated into non-Red-Eyes homes despite broad archetype presence
Counters / choke points
- Effect negation (Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring, Droll & Lock Bird) prevents the search effect
- Battle prevention (defensive effects, removal before damage) prevents the destruction trigger
- Effect neutralization (Skill Drain, Gravedigger Ghoul) disables both destruction and search lines
- Removal without battle (board wipes, targeted removal) bypasses the destruction condition
Best use
Combo enabler and material body. Decks: Red-Eyes, Dark Magician, Odd-Eyes. Suggested copies: 2.
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: Card effect text: Destruction-by-battle Red-Eyes summon + Level 1 Dragon search; Card appears in 374 decks across 38 distinct archetypes; Unlimited in all formats (TCG, OCG, MasterDuel, DuelLinks); Level 3 Dragon, DARK attribute, 1200 ATK / 700 DEF
- Observed: Red-Eyes is primary archetype home (128 of 374 decks = 34.2%); Red-Eyes Insight co-appears in 88.8% of decks running this card; Average 1.78 copies per deck (range 1–3); Card is main-deck only (0 side-deck instances)
- Inferred: Destruction-by-battle trigger is conditional and not always reliable against defensive boards; Card provides net positive card advantage through Level 1 Dragon search over time; Card functions as searchable enabler in Red-Eyes via Insight and Fusion support; Card's equip effect synergizes with Red-Eyes boss monsters for ATK development
- Data gaps: No combos supplied — combo conversion is text-only inference, not measured against real boards No banlist token — assumed unlimited in all formats (standard Yu-Gi-Oh assumption) No usage statistics (StatisticsCard) — archetype inclusion percentages inferred from 374-deck sample only No guide depth — only 1 guide mention with limited meta context on the card's role No top-card ranking — card is not tracked in format Top Cards (suggests lower-tier meta presence)