EARTH
4The Man with the Mark
Archetype:
Temple of the Kings
ATK:
1000
DEF:
1000
View:
510
If this card is Normal or Special Summoned: You can take 1 "Temple of the Kings", or 1 Spell/Trap that mentions it, from your Deck and either add it to your hand or send it to the GY. You can only use this effect of "The Man with the Mark" once per turn. While you control "Temple of the Kings", this card and "Apophis" monsters you control cannot be destroyed by battle or card effects. "Temple of the Kings" you control cannot be destroyed by card effects.
The Man with the Mark — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 58 ± 8 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 56 · Deck: 59 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Searcher/Tutor · Secondary: Material body
Why it scores here
The card's value comes from its once-per-turn on-summon search or send-to-GY of a Temple of the Kings card or Spell/Trap, which turns a single summon into one card of advantage and a route into the archetype engine. Its 1000 ATK and Level 4 body are not what earned points, and its 1000 DEF gives it no credit either. Points come from the 400 of 400 sampled decks that run it at an average of 2.12 copies, its high co-occurrence with the Temple and Apophis cores, and a conditional protection clause that helps only while Temple of the Kings is controlled.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 60 | Present in all 400 sampled decks (observed), but it needs to be Normal or Special Summoned and has no recorded starter or searched appearances, so it is not a reliable opening-hand card (inferred). |
| Combo & Conversion | 40 | No recorded combo boards, so conversion is text-only: one search or GY send per summon feeding the Temple and Apophis engine (inferred). |
| Resource Economy | 62 | One +1 card per summon via the search or GY send, limited to once per turn, with no recorded net-advantage data (verified text, inferred value). |
| Effect & Interaction | 22 | No negation or removal; its only defensive text is conditional indestructibility for itself and Apophis monsters while Temple is controlled, and that does not stop effects that negate it (verified text). |
| Material Utility | 55 | A Level 4 Earth Spellcaster body is a usable generic material, but no as_material data exists and the text does not state what it becomes when negated (inferred). |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 55 | Its protection clauses survive battle and card-effect destruction only while Temple of the Kings is controlled, and it is still vulnerable to negation of its trigger (verified text, inferred impact). |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 70 | Cheap to run at 1 to 3 copies with no garnet or lock, and the average 2.12 copies in the sample show flexible copy counts (observed). |
Calculation
Weight profile: 0.7 Searcher/Tutor + 0.3 Material body. Intrinsic ≈ 56, Deck ≈ 59, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: none. Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck
Strengths
- Once-per-turn on-summon search or GY send of a Temple of the Kings card or a Spell/Trap that mentions it, giving card advantage on each summon
- Appears in all 400 sampled decks at an average of 2.12 copies, so it is a live and consistently played card
- Strong deck co-occurrence with Treasures of the Kings (80.5%) and the Apophis cards (about 80% each)
- Cheap to include with no garnet or lock restriction
Weaknesses
- Needs to be summoned itself, and there is no recorded self-search route
- Effect is text-bound to Temple of the Kings, which limits use outside that engine
- No opponent interaction beyond conditional self-protection
- Protection only applies while Temple of the Kings is controlled
Counters / choke points
- Negation of its on-summon trigger removes the search and the protection text
- Hand traps or responses to the summon interrupt the search before it resolves (inferred)
Best use
Searcher/Tutor (on-summon body). Decks: Temple of the Kings, Apophis, Odion, Phantom Knights.
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: The effect text: once-per-turn on-summon search or GY send of a Temple of the Kings card or a Spell/Trap that mentions it; The conditional battle and effect protection while Temple of the Kings is controlled; 400 of 400 sampled decks run it, at 1 copy in 155, 2 in 44, and 3 in 201
- Observed: Archetype spread: Temple of the Kings 19%, Odion 16.8%, Apophis 15.2%, across 40 distinct archetypes; Top partner Treasures of the Kings in 80.5% of decks; Usage statistics show 100% inclusion in several archetypes, with typical copies of 1 to 3
- Inferred: The search is worth about one card of advantage per summon, limited by how often it can be summoned; Its value as material is clean but not measured; Hand traps would interrupt the trigger
- Data gaps: No combos supplied, so combo conversion and as_material/as_starter rates are text-only inference No guides supplied No banlist token, so 3 copies (unlimited) is assumed No rulings on how the Temple-only search and protection interact with negation Usage statistics cover 11 archetypes only