DARK
3Spirit Reaper
ATK:
300
DEF:
200
View:
4897
Cannot be destroyed by battle. After resolving a card effect that targets this face-up card, destroy this card. When this card inflicts battle damage to your opponent by a direct attack: Discard 1 random card from their hand.
Spirit Reaper — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 58 ± 7 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 58.9 · Deck: 57.3 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Floodgate/Control · Secondary: Material body, Utility
Why it scores here
Spirit Reaper earns its score as a cheap, generic defensive utility body rather than as a power card: it is trivially splashable (91 distinct archetypes, 1.32 average copies, most often a single copy), it cannot be destroyed by battle, and it converts a direct attack into a random discard from the opponent's hand. Its 300 ATK / 200 DEF earn it nothing here, and combos_evidence records 0 appearances, so it builds no board and is not a starter or payoff piece. Its defensive value is real but conditional: any card effect that targets the face-up card destroys it, making its 'protection' a 1-for-1 trade rather than true resilience, and the discard only happens once the opponent's field is bare. The 400-deck sample and Gravekeeper's 100% inclusion confirm that it is consistently played and accessible, not that it is intrinsically strong.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 68 | A Level-3 DARK Zombie with no archetype lock that is simply Normal Summoned, with its most common partner Sangan (74.8% co-deck) acting as a generic fetch route (observed). |
| Combo & Conversion | 20 | combos_evidence shows 0 total appearances and no as_starter/as_material/as_payoff credit, so it converts a Normal Summon into nothing but a body (observed). |
| Resource Economy | 52 | Each successful direct attack discards 1 random card from the opponent's hand at no cost to the controller, a repeatable but board-state-dependent +1 (verified). |
| Effect & Interaction | 42 | Its only disruption is a random discard gated behind a successful direct attack, plus battle immunity that merely forces the opponent to spend a targeting effect on it (verified). |
| Material Utility | 58 | A clean generic Level-3 DARK Zombie body usable as material with no summoning condition, though it self-destructs if targeted and provides nothing once blanked (inferred). |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 50 | Battle immunity is solid, but the text states it is destroyed after resolving any card effect that targets this face-up card, so one targeted removal answers it while trading 1-for-1 (verified). |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 78 | Near-free slot: no archetype restriction, no garnet, no locks, and 91 distinct archetypes run it at an average of 1.32 copies with 317 of 400 decks using exactly one (observed). |
Calculation
Weight profile: 0.7 Floodgate/Control + 0.3 Material body. Intrinsic ≈ 58.9, Deck ≈ 57.3, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: none. Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck
Strengths
- Cannot be destroyed by battle, so it blanks battle-based removal and forces the opponent to spend a card effect on it
- Free recurring hand disruption: a direct attack discards 1 random card from the opponent's hand at no cost
- Fully generic Level-3 DARK Zombie with no archetype lock, splashed across 91 distinct archetypes
- Extremely cheap deck cost (average 1.32 copies, no garnet, no restrictions) and a clean generic material body
Weaknesses
- Destroyed after resolving any card effect that targets this face-up card, so a single targeted removal answers it
- 300 ATK / 200 DEF means it wins no battles and only chips 300 damage on a direct attack
- The discard requires a successful direct attack, i.e. an empty opponent board, so it is often inert while a wall is needed
- No combo evidence whatsoever (0 appearances) — it starts nothing and ends nothing
- Slow by modern standards; a defensive stall piece rather than a proactive threat
Counters / choke points
- Any card effect that targets it: the text destroys it after that effect resolves (Book of Moon-style flips, Snatch Steal-style steals, targeted destruction)
- Non-targeting removal or negation that bypasses the targeting clause
- Keeping at least one monster on board denies the direct attack and the discard trigger
- Effect negation or an empty opponent hand blanks the disruption entirely
Best use
Defensive stall wall and hand-disruption utility. Decks: Gravekeeper's, Black Luster Soldier, Monarch, Generic Duel Links-era control/stall shells. Suggested copies: 1.
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: Card text: 'Cannot be destroyed by battle.'; Card text: 'After resolving a card effect that targets this face-up card, destroy this card.'; Card text: 'When this card inflicts battle damage to your opponent by a direct attack: Discard 1 random card from their hand.'; Level 3 DARK Zombie, 300 ATK / 200 DEF, no archetype listed, formats TCG/OCG/MasterDuel/DuelLinks
- Observed: 400 of the attached decks run it in the main deck, average 1.32 copies (max 3; 317 decks use exactly 1); Spread across 91 distinct archetypes, led by Black Luster Soldier (11.2%) and Monarch (8.2%); Top partners are Mystical Space Typhoon (79%), Sangan (74.8%) and Torrential Tribute (70%); usage_statistics: Gravekeeper's 100% inclusion at 1 typical copy; combos_evidence: 0 appearances across all recorded combos
- Inferred: Accessibility comes from being a plain Normal Summon with no archetype requirement, not from an in-archetype search route; Battle immunity plus the targeting self-destruct clause makes targeted removal a 1-for-1 trade; As material it is a clean generic Level-3 DARK Zombie body that still converts when its effect is blanked; The discard is only live when the opponent controls no monsters and can be attacked directly
- Data gaps: no combos supplied — combo conversion is text-only inference no guides supplied no banlist token — assumed 3 copies (unlimited) no dated metagame sample, so meta_power is null and the final score is provisional archetype field is null, so no archetype-based search/dump route could be confirmed