LIGHT
1Steel-Stringed Sacrifice
ATK:
800
DEF:
1000
View:
1292
If this card is in your hand or GY: You can reveal 1 Level 5 or higher monster in your hand, then activate 1 of these effects (but you can only use each effect of "Steel-Stringed Sacrifice" once per turn); during the End Phase of this turn, lose 1000 LP if you did not Normal Summon the revealed monster, or a monster with the same original name, after activating this effect. ● Special Summon this card from your hand. ● Add this card from your GY to your hand. ● Banish this card from your GY, and if you do, add 1 Level 5 or higher monster from your GY to your hand.
Steel-Stringed Sacrifice — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 55 ± 6 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 55.2 · Deck: 54.3 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Recovery/Recursion
Why it scores here
The 800 ATK and 1000 DEF body earns nothing. The score comes from the card's recursion: it returns itself from the GY, or banishes itself from the GY to add a Level 5 or higher monster from the GY to hand, and it can Special Summon itself from hand when a Level 5 or higher monster is revealed there. The mandatory 1000 LP loss in the End Phase, unless the revealed monster is Normal Summoned, and the complete lack of interaction hold the score down. No combo boards were recorded, so the conversion rating rests on text inference alone.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 60 | Live from both hand and GY by text, and included in all 80 sampled decks, but with no combo data to confirm how often it is reached as a starter (observed). |
| Combo & Conversion | 42 | Text shows a Level 1 body that Special Summons itself from hand and recovers a Level 5 or higher monster from the GY, but no recorded boards confirm a board-building conversion (inferred). |
| Resource Economy | 62 | The GY banish effect adds one Level 5 or higher monster from the GY for a net +1 card in hand, and the self-return effect is card-neutral; the LP loss is a cost, not an advantage (verified). |
| Effect & Interaction | 8 | No negation, removal, or hand-trap text, so the card offers no opponent interaction (verified). |
| Material Utility | 40 | A Level 1 LIGHT Warrior that can plausibly serve as Level 1 material, but the text is silent on material and no combo evidence shows it as material, so the score is held at an awkward 40 (inferred). |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 68 | Two live zones (hand and GY) and three effects each limited once per turn allow recurring access across turns, but each individual effect can only be used once per turn (verified). |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 55 | Not a garnet and typically run at about 1.5 copies, but the mandatory LP-loss clause and the Level 5 or higher dependence restrict the lines it can sit in (verified). |
Calculation
Weight profile: Recovery/Recursion only; no secondary role, so no blend. Intrinsic ≈ 55.2, Deck ≈ 54.3, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: Self-locking restriction: LP-loss clause (-2). Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck
Strengths
- Live from both hand and GY
- Recovers a Level 5 or higher monster from the GY while returning itself
- Included in all 80 sampled decks across 15 archetype homes
- 100% inclusion in D.D., Man-Eater Bug and Call of the Haunted usage stats (portability signal only)
Weaknesses
- No opponent interaction
- 1000 LP loss clause if the revealed monster is not Normal Summoned
- Depends on a Level 5 or higher monster in hand or GY
- No combo evidence to confirm conversion
Counters / choke points
- No counter-card evidence supplied; generic graveyard or hand interaction is inferred, not verified
Best use
Recovery/Recursion. Decks: Monarch, D.D., Man-Eater Bug, Call of the Haunted. Suggested copies: 2.
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: Effect text: hand and GY activation, Level 5 or higher reveal, GY banish-to-add, once-per-turn limit per effect, End Phase 1000 LP loss clause; Average 1.55 copies per deck across the sample
- Observed: Present in 80 of 80 sampled decks; 48 (60%) in Monarch archetype 622, across 15 distinct archetypes; Usage statistics: D.D., Man-Eater Bug and Call of the Haunted at 100% inclusion with typical 3 copies; Monarch at 57% inclusion with typical 1 copy; Gameplay mix: 67.5% gameplay type 7, 28.8% gameplay type 4
- Inferred: Primary role Recovery/Recursion from the GY banish-to-add and GY add-to-hand effects; Hand Special Summon is a body route, not confirmed by combo data; Level 1 material fit is generic but unconfirmed
- Data gaps: No combo boards supplied: conversion and starter rate are text-only inference No guides supplied No banlist token; legal copies assumed 3 (unlimited) in TCG and OCG legal copies is empty for both formats No ruling data for the End Phase LP-loss timing No Synchro or Xyz material data to confirm the Level 1 material route deck data is restricted to decks containing this card, so the 100% main-deck figure is a sample property, not a population rate