Branded Deck #751176 — Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links

Deck — Deck Power Evaluation

Final Contextual Deck Power: 63/100 (±7 · Confidence: Medium)

• Primary strategy: Midrange
• Secondary strategies: Blind-Second / OTK, Control
• Format: duel-links

Legality

Main 30 / Extra 9 / Side 0 — status: Legal.

Identity & game plan

• Win condition: Grind out with Mirrorjade the Iceblade Dragon (quick banish) plus Quaeritis ATK-zeroing, Masquerade LP tax, and Branded Retribution/Branded Beast backrow, using Super Poly and Kaiju to swing stalled boards.; Going-second blowout via Radian Kaiju, limited Super Polymerization into Starving Venom/Khaos Starsource, and Alba-Lenatus multi-attack
• Turn 1 (going first): Resolve Branded Fusion (or Kitt search line) into Lubellion/Albion, climb to Mirrorjade, set Branded Retribution or Branded Beast, hold Droll/Mercourier.
• Turn 2 (going second): Kaiju the key body, Super Poly two DARK bodies into Starving Venom, Fallen of Albaz fuse with an opponent monster, then Mirrorjade banish to close.
• Recovery: Branded Regained draws on banish, Despian Tragedy recycles Branded S/T, Branded Banishment and Ad Libitum of Despia revive, Branded Beast recovers Continuous Spells/Traps.
• After siding: Duel Links is best-of-one with no Side Deck here; adaptation is baked into the main-deck Radian/Droll/Super Poly tech slots.

Why it scores here

This Branded list wins on the system, not on card-by-card averaging: its real power is a deep Fusion grind engine (Mirrorjade, Quaeritis, Masquerade) backed by unusually strong recursion (Branded Regained, Despian Tragedy, Branded Banishment, Ad Libitum, Branded Beast) and layered backrow interaction. The going-second package is a deliberate meta call — three Radian Kaiju, limited Super Polymerization into Starving Venom, and Droll & Lock Bird — which raises its breaker profile but costs going-first consistency because those slots are weak on an empty board. The main consistency fault is that the true turn-one starters are thin: only one Branded Fusion, one Springans Kitt, and no Aluber the Jester of Despia or Branded Opening, so opening a genuine Branded Fusion line sits near 31% even though the broader archetype-core group is almost always present. With no recorded boards, no tournament sample, and no win-rate telemetry, the ceiling is inferred from text (Mirrorjade banish, Quaeritis ATK-zero, Retribution/Mercourier negates, Super Poly blowouts) rather than measured; its archetype popularity and guide reputation earned it no direct points. The score therefore reflects a strong grind/interaction system dragged down by starter scarcity, 17 one-ofs, and three going-first Kaiju bricks.

Dimension scores

How the score was computed

Strategy profile: Secondary profile noted for identity; final weights follow the Midrange profile (a 70/30 blend changes the structural score by <1 point). Structural ≈ 64, Going First ≈ 67, Going Second ≈ 64, Meta = provisional, Tournament Reliability ≈ 59. Modifiers: Going-second anti-meta package (1); Single Branded Fusion choke point (-1). Final formula: 0.80*Structural + 0.20*TournamentReliability (Meta provisional)

Probability & combo summary

• Opening a starter: P(≥1) ≈ 0.31 · key two-card combo ≈ 0.05 · full-brick estimate ≈ 0.18 (all Inferred)
• Combo output: best PowerIndex —, median —, board-per-starter —
• Turn order: 0 going-first lines vs 0 going-second lines

Strengths

• Elite grind and recursion: Branded Regained, Despian Tragedy, Branded Banishment, Ad Libitum and Branded Beast rebuild resources across turns.
• Layered interaction: Mirrorjade banish, Quaeritis ATK-zero, Masquerade LP tax, Mercourier negate, Branded Retribution counter trap, plus Super Poly.
• Bystial engine (Saronir, Druiswurm, Magnamhut, Lubellion) supplies recurring bodies and graveyard hate that doubles as fusion material.
• Real going-second breaker suite: three Radian Kaiju, limited Super Poly, Starving Venom/Khaos Starsource, and Alba-Lenatus.
• Droll & Lock Bird is well-positioned against search-heavy Duel Links decks.

Weaknesses

• Only one Branded Fusion and no Aluber the Jester of Despia or Branded Opening; a true turn-one Branded Fusion line appears in roughly 31% of five-card hands.
• Three Radian Kaiju are essentially dead going first, raising brick risk and lowering opening-hand quality.
• Seventeen distinct one-ofs make the deck clumpy and high-variance; it deviates from the 100% core build.
• Branded Fusion's hard once-per-turn is a single choke point — one negate can strand the turn.
• No Side Deck (Duel Links best-of-one) limits post-game adaptation.
• Missing Predaplant Dragostapelia and other commonly-100% core cards.
• High pilot complexity; sequencing errors are costly.

Critical choke points

• Resolving Branded Fusion — its only copy is the cleanest turn-one engine access.
• Mirrorjade the Iceblade Dragon reaching the field and surviving to use its quick banish.
• Graveyard setup for Bystials; without a LIGHT/DARK in a GY, Saronir/Druiswurm/Magnamhut cannot Special Summon themselves.
• No in-engine out to a resolved floodgate that stops Fusion Summoning.

Recommended changes

Evidence & confidence

• Verified: Legality: 30/30 Main, 9/9 Extra, 0 Side; Super Polymerization 1/1 Limited, Druiswurm 1/2 Semi-Limited, Magnamhut 1/2 Semi-Limited.; Card text for Mirrorjade, Quaeritis, Masquerade, Branded Fusion, Branded Regained, Branded Banishment, Branded Beast, Branded Retribution, Mercourier and Bystials.; Duel Links size rules: Main 20-30, Extra 0-9, Side 0-9.; Extra Deck contains 9 Fusion monsters, including Mirrorjade, Albion the Branded Dragon, Lubellion, Granguignol, Masquerade, Quaeritis, Starving Venom, Khaos Starsource and Alba-Lenatus.
• Observed: Usage statistics: Branded core inclusion rates (Branded Fusion 100%, Branded in Red 100%, Retribution 100%, Saronir 100%, Kitt 100%, etc.).; Guide snippets describe Branded as a top-tier, decision-heavy deck with narrow deck space.; This list omits Aluber the Jester of Despia (88.9% inclusion) and Branded Opening (77.8% inclusion) per the usage sample.
• Inferred: P(true starter in opening 5) ≈ 0.31 based on Branded Fusion ×1 + Springans Kitt ×1.; Full-brick estimate ≈ 0.18 driven by three Radian Kaiju and seventeen one-ofs.; Interaction quality derived from card text of Mirrorjade, Quaeritis, Masquerade, Mercourier, Retribution and Beast.; Grind score derived from Regained, Tragedy, Banishment, Ad Libitum and Beast text.; Going-second score derived from Radian, Super Poly, Starving Venom and Alba-Lenatus text.
• Provisional: Meta Power is provisional — no dated metagame sample supplied.; Matchup coverage is provisional — no per-pilot match record or archetype meta-share attached.; Tournament Reliability is provisional because no win-rate or game-level telemetry exists in YGOVN.
• Data gaps: No combos supplied — combo floor/median/ceiling is text-only inference. No tournament link — archetype meta-share and per-pilot match record absent. No win-rate telemetry exists in YGOVN (going-first/second, matchup, game-level, brick/starter/OTK rates) — those signals are Inferred or Unknown. Meta Power is Provisional unless a dated metagame sample is supplied. Usage statistics mark Alba-Lenatus, Albion the Branded Dragon, Mirrorjade, Granguignol and Lubellion as 'not in this deck' even though the resolved card list includes them — extra-deck completeness in the usage sample conflicts with the resolved list.