Dracotail Deck #730677 — Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel

Dracotail — Deck Power Evaluation

Final Contextual Deck Power: 58/100 (±5 · Confidence: Medium)

• Primary strategy: Combo
• Secondary strategies: Control, Midrange
• Format: master-duel

Legality

Main 42 / Extra 15 / Side 0 — status: Legal.

Identity & game plan

• Win condition: Fusion Summon multiple boss monsters with layered negation and interaction, grind resource advantage through Dracotail spell/trap recursion; Hand-trap disruption into going-second board-breaker via draw engines and removal
• Turn 1 (going first): Activate Ketu Dracotail or Natural Summon core to search, chain Fusion summons, set Dracotail Spell/Trap for turn-2 response
• Turn 2 (going second): Hand-trap disruption (Ash, Droll, Ghost Belle, Maxx C), then use Super Polymerization or The Fallen & The Virtuous to remove threats and grind via Mulcharmy draws
• Recovery: Recycle Dracotail from GY via Phryxul, recover spell/traps via Flame/Horn/Sting draw-and-place effects, return threats via Arthalion bounces from GY
• After siding: None (0-card side deck; no adaptability for games 2–3)

Why it scores here

This Dracotail deck opens with exceptional consistency (99.65% core starter, 88/100 D1), reliably deploying multiple Fusion summons turn-1 and setting Dracotail recursion spell/traps that generate card advantage and interaction through the game. Its grind game is strong via resource loops (Flame/Horn/Sting cycle, Phryxul resurrection) and adaptive hand traps (seven copies covering different disruption angles), enabling solid going-second play despite moderate board-breaking capacity. However, the 0-card side deck eliminates any post-side adaptation in best-of-3 format, and the going-second game relies more on hand advantage and attrition than offensive pressure—making the deck better suited to game-1-only or single-game environments. The 42-card main deck is a deliberate consistency choice that works well here, but the non-standard size and missing high-usage flex cards (notably Predaplant Verte) cap the structural score. Popularity or meta-share did not earn points; this evaluation scores the deck's system design, not its archetype frequency.

Dimension scores

How the score was computed

Strategy profile: Combo. Structural ≈ 70, Going First ≈ 77, Going Second ≈ 62, Meta = provisional, Tournament Reliability ≈ 62. Modifiers: Zero-card side deck (-6); Non-standard 42-card main (vs 40-card baseline) (-2); Missing Verte Anaconda (91% archetype inclusion) (-2). Final formula: 0.80·Structural(70) + 0.20·TournamentReliability(62) − 10 modifiers = 58 (Meta provisional, no dated metagame sample)

Probability & combo summary

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

Strengths

• Exceptional core starter consistency (99.65% P(≥1 in hand 5)); triple-redundant entry points (Faimena, Ketu, Mululu)
• Strong resource grind via Dracotail spell/trap cycling (Flame, Horn, Sting: place on bottom, draw) and Phryxul resurrection
• Well-stocked Extra Deck (15/15 filled with boss monsters covering removal, lock, search, recursion)
• Balanced hand-trap suite (seven copies, diverse negation targets) for going-second resilience
• Built-in layered interaction (Fusion bosses + set traps + spell/trap recursion) enables multi-turn attrition game

Weaknesses

• Zero-card side deck: no adaptability for best-of-3 games 2–3; deck is game-1-only
• Going-second game relies on hand traps + grind, not board-breaking offense; low D8 (62) and D9 (58) scores indicate moderate T2 power
• 42-card main deck (non-standard) trades slight consistency for redundancy; +2 deck size vs 40-card baseline
• Missing high-usage flex cards (Predaplant Verte 91%, Ecclesia Synchro 100%); Verte would unlock additional Fusion stack lines
• Single-choke-point risk: all lines route through Fusion; complete Fusion negation/lock shuts down most recovery paths

Critical choke points

• Fusion enablers: if all Fusion outlets (Ketu search, Faimena, Mululu, Branded Fusion, Rahu, Super Poly) are negated simultaneously, deck struggles to adapt
• Extra Deck depletion: sending multiple Fusion materials to GY in quick succession can empty the Extra Deck mid-turn, stranding starters
• Tuner shortage on turn-2: only three Tuners in main deck (Ash ×3); if all three discarded/used for Fusion, Ecclesia Synchro line unavailable (though 1 copy is run, not 3)

Recommended changes

Evidence & confidence

• Verified: Legality: Legal (42 main, 15 extra, 0 side; no violations; all restricted cards within copy limits); Card text: all 38 distinct main-deck cards and 14 distinct Extra-Deck cards resolved with full text; Archetype composition: 20 Dracotail exact-name cards, 27-card core group, 35.1% purity; Extra Deck inventory: 13 Fusion, 1 Synchro, 1 Link; 15/15 slots filled; Usage statistics: core cards present 60% (15/25 listed core); deck is non-standard (missing Verte, Ecclesia Synchro reported as missing but present)
• Observed: Opening-hand probabilities: P(≥1 starter in hand 5) = 0.9965 (archetype core 27 copies); Searcher availability: 9 copies, P(≥1 in hand 5) = 0.721; Hand-trap density: 7 copies (16.7% of 42-card main), P(≥1 in hand 6 going-second) = 0.6906; Copy histogram: 13 singletons, 4 doubletons, 7 tripletons (redundancy-focused build)
• Inferred: Consistency estimate: 42-card deck size increases starter redundancy but marginally reduces single-card hit rates; Brick rate (D2): ~3.5% full brick (proxy), managed by high starter density and flexible Fusion outlets; Combo ceiling (D3): multiple Fusion summons + set Dracotail spell/trap per turn; inferred from card text (no board data); Combo floor (D4): Ketu baseline produces search + Fusion + set; median likely 2–3 interactions per turn; Interruption resilience (D5): four independent Fusion starters plus recursion; limited if Fusion completely shut down; Resource loops (D6): Dracotail spell/trap cycling (place-on-bottom + draw) plus Phryxul bounce sustain advantage; Going-second power (D8): hand traps + Mulcharmy draw are primary T2 tools; lacks dedicated board-breaker like Verte; Pilotability (D14): moderate complexity; sequencing and GY management require archetype knowledge
• Provisional: Meta Power: no dated metagame sample provided; archetype meta-share unknown; hand-trap density (7 copies) suggests meta-aware tuning but unverified; Matchup coverage (D13): no tournament link, no per-archetype performance data; format fit is speculative
• Data gaps: No combo boards examined (scored combos = 0): combo floor, median, ceiling, and board-per-starter are text-only inferences No tournament data: archetype meta-share, per-pilot match record (going-first win %, going-second win %), metagame context absent No win-rate telemetry: YGOVN does not track going-first/second win rates, matchup records, brick rates, or OTK frequencies No post-side plan: 0-card side deck means no game-2/3 tuning data; post-side strategy unknown Meta Power is Provisional: dated metagame sample required to anchor matchup coverage and format fit scores