Phantom Knights Deck #765435 — Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel

Deck — Deck Power Evaluation

Final Contextual Deck Power: 61/100 (±6 · Confidence: Medium)

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

Legality

Main 40 / Extra 15 / Side 0 — status: Legal.

Identity & game plan

• Win condition: Xyz/Link boss from the Extra Deck (Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon, Four Heavenly Dragons, Break Sword, Malevolent Scythe, Ophion) built by recursing Phantom Knights monsters from the GY; Hand-trap backed negation of the opponent's Special Summons and monster effects, then a Rank-Up-Magic follow-up
• Turn 1 (going first): Open a Phantom Knights starter (Silent Boots / Decayed Cloak / Doomed Soleret), search or summon a second Knight, and fire a GY-recursion or Xyz line; hold Ash Blossom or Impermanence for the opponent's first answer
• Turn 2 (going second): Use hand traps (Ash Blossom, Droll & Lock Bird, Maxx "C", Infinite Impermanence) to break the opponent's first board, then rebuild a Knight boss from the GY
• Recovery: Banished Knights and GY-revival effects (Rank-Up-Magic Requiem, Break Sword's destroyed-trigger, Ragged Gloves) re-deploy monsters after a board wipe
• After siding: Not applicable: the list runs 0 side cards in Master Duel, so there is no post-side adjustment

Why it scores here

The deck reliably opens a Phantom Knights starter: the archetype core is 28 copies, and the hypergeometric estimate for at least one core card in a 5-card opening hand is about 0.999, while searcher text gives an estimated 0.69 chance of a searcher in the opening hand (Inferred). Its interaction package (8 hand traps, 11 negation-text cards) and recursion engine let it survive one or two disruptions and keep a Xyz boss live. Scoring is capped by the absence of recorded boards, so the combo ceiling and median are text-based reads, not observed output. Popularity and archetype usage did not earn points; the score comes from consistency, recovery and interaction as a system, not from averaging card scores. The four Dominus cards have no Dominus monster in the list, which lowers brick resistance, and the empty side deck leaves no adaptation plan.

Dimension scores

How the score was computed

Strategy profile: Midrange. Structural ≈ 62, Going First ≈ 64, Going Second ≈ 66, Meta = provisional, Tournament Reliability ≈ 60. Modifiers: Dependence on Xyz/Rank-Up lineage (-1). Final formula: 0.80*Structural + 0.20*TournamentReliability (Meta provisional); Structural 62.2, TR 60, modifiers -1 => 60.8 -> 61

Probability & combo summary

• Opening a starter: P(≥1) ≈ 1 · 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

• Archetype core is dense (28 copies) so a starter is almost always in opening hand
• Eight hand traps plus Droll & Lock Bird cover both turns
• Multiple GY-revival loops let a Knight boss come back after a board wipe
• Extra Deck offers several 2000-3000 ATK Xyz bosses

Weaknesses

• Four Dominus cards have no Dominus monster in the list and are likely dead
• No side deck, so no matchup adaptation
• Top-end bosses need a long material chain

Critical choke points

• Opening without a Knight starter (about 0.1% in hand 5, but second-Knight requirement remains)
• Losing the first negation to a hand trap in the opponent's turn with no GY Knight to revive

Recommended changes

Evidence & confidence

• Verified: Legal in Master Duel: 40 main, 15 extra, 0 side; Limited/Semi-Limited copy counts are within limits (Foolish Burial, Maxx C, Reinforcement at 1; Droll & Lock Bird at 2); Archetype core count 28 and usage stats (core present 56%)
• Inferred: Opening-hand probabilities (0.9988 core, 0.694 searcher, 0.764 hand trap); Interaction density from negation text; Combo ceiling and floor from card text
• Provisional: Meta Power and matchup fit (no dated sample); Side-deck adaptability (no side cards)
• 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 for going-first/second, matchup, or brick rate Meta Power is Provisional unless a dated metagame sample is supplied Deck title is null