FIRE
1Watch Dog
ATK:
0
DEF:
0
View:
2372
During your Main Phase 2, if this card was Normal Summoned this turn: You can send 1 Spell Card from your hand to the Graveyard; Set 1 Continuous Spell Card directly from your Deck. You can only use this effect of "Watch Dog" once per turn. You cannot Special Summon during the turn you activate this effect.
Watch Dog — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 39 ± 6 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 44.6 · Deck: 40.8 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Searcher/Tutor · Secondary: Material body
Why it scores here
Watch Dog is a slow, conditional tutor: it must be Normal Summoned, only functions in Main Phase 2, costs a Spell Card from hand, and locks out all Special Summons for the turn it activates. Its payoff — Setting one Continuous Spell directly from the Deck — can fetch stall/burn pieces such as Chain Energy or Level Limit - Area B, so it converts into a modest, situational advantage rather than a winning board. Only 4 of the sampled decks run it (1 copy each) and it appears in 0 recorded combos, so its observed impact is thin. Its 0 ATK / 0 DEF earned no points; the score is driven by conditional accessibility, the self-lock, and a card-neutral trade.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 45 | Archetype-less and not searchable within any theme; requires a Normal Summon plus a Spell in hand during Main Phase 2, appearing in only 4 decks and 0 recorded combos (observed). |
| Combo & Conversion | 33 | Fetches exactly one Continuous Spell and appears as starter/searched/material/payoff in 0 combos, so it builds nothing on its own (observed). |
| Resource Economy | 45 | Sends 1 Spell from hand to Set 1 Continuous Spell from Deck, a roughly card-neutral trade whose real value is the loaded floodgate/burn piece (inferred). |
| Effect & Interaction | 28 | The card itself has no direct interaction with the opponent; any disruption is only indirect, through the Continuous Spell it Sets (verified). |
| Material Utility | 40 | It is a generic Level 1 FIRE Pyro body usable as Link/Synchro material when its effect is not activated, but the effect's Special Summon lock conflicts with using it as material that same turn (inferred). |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 25 | The combined Normal-Summon-this-turn, Main-Phase-2-only and Spell-in-hand conditions make it dead in most spots, and a single negate stops it (inferred). |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 45 | It runs as a 1-of with no archetype lock, but demands a Continuous-Spell package and a Spell discard to do anything (observed). |
Calculation
Weight profile: 0.7 Searcher/Tutor + 0.3 Material body. Intrinsic ≈ 44.6, Deck ≈ 40.8, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: Self-locking restriction (-3). Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck
Strengths
- Archetype-less, generic Level 1 that can be splashed into any stall or burn shell.
- Tutors any Continuous Spell straight from the Deck, giving access to floodgate/burn pieces like Chain Energy, Level Limit - Area B, Dimensional Fissure and Cauldron of the Old Man.
- Roughly card-neutral: it replaces the discarded Spell with a card Set from the Deck.
- Legal in TCG, OCG and Master Duel with no archetype restriction.
Weaknesses
- Must be Normal Summoned this turn and can only activate during Main Phase 2.
- Requires sending a Spell Card from hand, so it is dead without a Spell in hand.
- Locks out ALL Special Summons for the turn the effect resolves.
- 0 ATK / 0 DEF with no protection and no value on summon.
- Only 4 sampled decks and 0 recorded combos — observed impact is very thin.
Counters / choke points
- Effect negation or destroying it before Main Phase 2.
- Hand disruption that strips the required Spell Card.
- Backrow removal (e.g. Mystical Space Typhoon, Twin Twisters) answers the Continuous Spell it Sets.
- Decks that never Special Summon ignore the self-lock but still blank the tutor's tempo.
Best use
Continuous Spell tutor for stall/burn. Decks: Volcanic / Chain Burn stall, Stall Floodgate. Suggested copies: 1.
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: "During your Main Phase 2, if this card was Normal Summoned this turn: You can send 1 Spell Card from your hand to the Graveyard; Set 1 Continuous Spell Card directly from your Deck."; "You can only use this effect of 'Watch Dog' once per turn."; "You cannot Special Summon during the turn you activate this effect."; Level 1 FIRE Pyro, 0 ATK / 0 DEF, no archetype, legal in TCG, OCG and Master Duel.
- Observed: 4 sampled decks run it, all in the main deck, 1 copy each.; Archetypes: Volcanic (2 decks, 50%), Exchange of the Spirit (1), Timelord (1).; Appears in 0 recorded combos (0% starter/search/material/payoff/end-board).; Top partners include Michion the Timelord, Lava Golem, Marshmallon, Cardcar D, Chain Energy, Level Limit - Area B, Dimensional Fissure.
- Inferred: It functions as a stall/burn floodgate tutor, loading Continuous Spells such as Chain Energy or Level Limit - Area B.; The card is roughly card-neutral, trading a hand Spell for a card Set from the Deck.; The Special Summon lock conflicts with using its Level 1 body as Link/Synchro material in the same turn.; The Main-Phase-2, Normal-Summon and Spell-in-hand requirements make it dead in many hands.
- Data gaps: no combos supplied — combo conversion is text-only inference no guides supplied no banlist token — assumed 3 copies (unlimited) no usage statistics (StatisticsCard) — archetype inclusion % inferred from a 4-deck sample only sample size is very small (4 decks), so archetype distribution is unstable