Spell
NormalStarry Knight Balefire
Archetype:
Starry Knight
View:
3884
Add 1 "Starry Knight" monster, or 1 Level 7 LIGHT Dragon monster, from your Deck to your hand, then, if you control no monsters and your opponent controls a DARK monster, you can Special Summon 1 Level 7 LIGHT Dragon monster from your hand. You can only activate 1 "Starry Knight Balefire" per turn.
Starry Knight Balefire — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 56 ± 6 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 51 · Deck: 59 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Searcher/Tutor · Secondary: Starter, Combo enabler
Why it scores here
Balefire is a once-per-turn Spell whose main effect is a one-card search for a Starry Knight monster or a Level 7 LIGHT Dragon, with a conditional Special Summon from hand. Its score comes from reliable access to its own archetype: it runs 3 copies in 159 of 176 decks and is a near-universal Starry Knight staple. It converts into a body rather than a board, and it has no interaction, material value, or observed combo role, so the score stays in the mid-50s. High usage numbers do not earn points beyond what the search access supports.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 72 | A single-card search from the deck, live in hand, with 3 copies in 159 of 176 decks and 100% inclusion in the Starry Knight gameplay-7 archetype (observed; search route is verified from text). |
| Combo & Conversion | 45 | No recorded combo boards, so conversion is text-only: it fetches a body and may summon an L7 LIGHT Dragon only with an empty field and an opposing DARK monster (inferred). |
| Resource Economy | 50 | A 1-for-1 search that is card-neutral on its own, with no recursion or repeated advantage in the text (verified). |
| Effect & Interaction | 5 | No negation, removal, or disruption in the text (verified). |
| Material Utility | 5 | A Spell with no material value (verified). |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 35 | A Spell that is lost to a single negation, limited to one activation per turn, with redundancy only from copies (verified text; inferred impact). |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 70 | Three copies in a dedicated archetype with no garnet or lock; the cost is spent within a single archetype (observed in 159 of 176 decks). |
Calculation
Weight profile: 0.7 Searcher + 0.3 Starter (Starter/Combo enabler secondary). Intrinsic ≈ 51, Deck ≈ 59, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: none. Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck
Strengths
- Reliable one-card search for its own archetype, live from the opening hand
- Near-universal inclusion in Starry Knight decks at 3 copies
- Clean, low-cost deckbuilding within the archetype
- Conditional Special Summon adds a body when the board state fits
Weaknesses
- No recorded combo evidence, so combo conversion is text-only
- Negatable as a Spell, losing the search
- No interaction or material value
- Once-per-turn limit and a narrow summon condition (no monsters you control, opponent controls a DARK monster)
- Generic utility is low: the card is effectively a Starry Knight piece
Counters / choke points
- Spell negation (inferred from Spell type)
- Hand disruption before activation (inferred)
Best use
Searcher for the Starry Knight engine, with a conditional L7 LIGHT Dragon Special Summon. Decks: Starry Knight (archetype 1069), Starry Knight (archetype 860), Starry Knight (archetype 1044). Suggested copies: 3.
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: Text: searches a Starry Knight monster or a Level 7 LIGHT Dragon from Deck to hand; Text: conditional Special Summon of a Level 7 LIGHT Dragon from hand (no monsters you control, opponent controls a DARK monster); Text: once per turn restriction; 3 copies in 159 of 176 decks (avg 2.88)
- Observed: Inclusion in 176 decks, 153 of them in the three Starry Knight archetypes; Usage statistics: 100% inclusion, typical copies 3, in Starry Knight archetype 860, gameplay 7; Top partners include Starry Night, Starry Dragon at 97.7% and Starry Knight Arrival at 96%
- Inferred: Negation of the Spell would cost the search and summon; Conditional summon is hard to reach outside a DARK-opponent board; Low generic utility; the card is effectively a Starry Knight piece
- Data gaps: No combos supplied: combo conversion is text-only inference No guides supplied No banlist token: assumed 3 copies (unlimited) Average starter count when present is unavailable, so DeckResilience is estimated Usage statistics cover one archetype only