Phantom Knights Deck #480486 — Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG

Deck — Deck Power Evaluation

Final Contextual Deck Power: 30/100 (±10 · Confidence: Low)

• Primary strategy: Midrange
• Secondary strategies: Toolbox, Graveyard-centric
• Format: tcg

Legality

Main 40 / Extra 13 / Side 0 — status under the rules at evaluation time: Illegal. 1 violation(s).

Identity & game plan

• Win condition: Xyz and Link beatdown through Phantom Knights recursion (Break Sword, Rusty Bardiche, Dark Requiem), with Dark Rebellion and Draco as secondary boss threats; Forbidden Droplet and Ash Blossom protect a board that is built from GY-recursion Phantom Knights
• Turn 1 (going first): Open Tour Guide or Kagemucha plus a Phantom Knights searcher (Silent Boots, Ancient Cloak) to reach a Level 3 Normal Summon chain into a Link or Xyz boss (Inferred; no combo records)
• Turn 2 (going second): Hold Ash Blossom, Droll & Lock Bird and Fog Blade to answer the opponent's first board, then rebuild through GY banish effects (Inferred; no combo records)
• Recovery: Recover from GY via Torn Scales, Silent Boots and Ancient Cloak searches or Special Summons, which depend on Phantom Knights names being present (Inferred)
• After siding: Not evaluable: Side Deck size is 0, so there is no post-side plan in the list supplied

Why it scores here

The deck is scored as an illegal list, so the final number is a structural cap rather than a normal contextual score. Its only 3-copy engine pieces (Tour Guide, Kagemucha, Torn Scales, Silent Boots, Emergency Teleport, Tsuchinoko) give a 33.8% chance of at least one in a 5-card opening hand, and 13 of its 23 distinct Main Deck cards run as singletons, which hurts starter access and brick management. The list is 35.8% exact-name Phantom Knights, with 34 off-archetype copies across Danger!, Burning Abyss, Forbidden, Knightmare and Utopia, so the engine coherence is weak. Interaction is the strongest part: 22 removal-text and 11 negation-text cards, plus Ash Blossom and Droll & Lock Bird as hand traps, support the disruption plan on the system. No combo records, tournament share or win-rate data exist, so the floor, median and ceiling are text-only inferences. The deck is not scored by averaging card scores, and archetype popularity did not earn points.

Dimension scores

How the score was computed

Strategy profile: Midrange primary, Toolbox secondary (Midrange weights used; no separate blend computed). Structural ≈ 47, Going First ≈ 45, Going Second ≈ 50, Meta = provisional, Tournament Reliability ≈ 35. Modifiers: Banlist exposure (-4); Illegal-deck cap (-10). Final formula: Illegal list: formula 0.80*Structural(47) + 0.20*TournamentReliability(35) + modifier(-4) = 40.6, then capped at 30 per the illegal-deck rule (theoretical/structural only). Meta Power provisional.

Probability & combo summary

• Opening a starter: P(≥1) ≈ 0.34 · key two-card combo ≈ — · full-brick estimate ≈ — (all Inferred)
• Combo output: best PowerIndex —, median —, board-per-starter —
• Turn order: 0 going-first lines vs 0 going-second lines

Strengths

• Layered interaction: 22 removal-text and 11 negation-text cards, plus hand traps Ash Blossom and Droll & Lock Bird
• Strong Extra Deck boss options: Break Sword, Rusty Bardiche, Dark Requiem Xyz Dragon and Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon
• Phantom Knights recursion gives some GY-based resilience

Weaknesses

• Illegal list: Called by the Grave is Forbidden and runs in the Main Deck
• Weak engine coherence: only 35.8% exact-name Phantom Knights, with 34 off-archetype copies
• Thin starter access: no multi-copy engine card beyond 3-copy Level 3 monsters, and 13 singleton Main Deck slots

Critical choke points

• Called by the Grave must be removed before the list is legal, which changes the tech count
• Level 3 Normal Summon chain depends on several singleton and 3-copy monsters being present

Recommended changes

Evidence & confidence

• Verified: Main Deck size is 40 and Extra Deck is 13, within TCG size rules; Called by the Grave is Forbidden with 0 legal copies and is run at 1; Allure of Darkness, Droll & Lock Bird and Reinforcement of the Army are Limited and run at their legal maximum of 1 each; Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring is Semi-Limited with 2 legal copies and 2 run; Archetype purity 35.8% (19 exact-name Phantom Knights copies); Hypergeometric probabilities for 1-, 2- and 3-copy cards
• Inferred: Starter reliability and brick rate from hypergeometric odds and copy histogram; Interaction density from removal and negation text roles; Going-first and going-second plans from card text; Dimension scores D1 through D14
• Provisional: Meta power (no dated metagame sample); Format fit and matchup coverage (no tournament link)
• Data gaps: Illegal list: the Forbidden card changes the legal shape of the deck No combos supplied, so combo floor, median and ceiling are text-only inference No tournament link: archetype meta-share and per-pilot match record absent No win-rate telemetry: going-first, going-second, matchup, brick and OTK rates unknown Meta Power is provisional without a dated metagame sample No side deck supplied, so post-side plan is not evaluable