Phantom Knights Deck #772944 — Yu-Gi-Oh! OCG

Deck — Deck Power Evaluation

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

• Primary strategy: Midrange
• Secondary strategies: Stun
• Format: ocg

Legality

Main 57 / Extra 15 / Side 0 — status under the rules at evaluation time: Illegal. 2 violation(s).

Identity & game plan

• Win condition: Phantom Knights Xyz and Link boards (Break Sword, Malevolent Scythe, Raider's Knight, Rusty Bardiche) built through Rank-Up-Magic Launch / Requiem, with Dark Requiem Xyz Dragon (3000 ATK) and Super Starslayer TY-PHON as the high-ATK closers; Orcust and World Legacy link/Xyz boards (Galatea, Girsu, World Crown) as a secondary engine
• Turn 1 (going first): Open a Phantom Knights monster with a hand trap (Ash Blossom, Ghost Belle, Infinite Impermanence) held up, then search and extend into a Rank-Up-Magic or Xyz line
• Turn 2 (going second): Use the hand-trap density (12 cards; ~0.78 chance of at least one in a 6-card hand) to break the opponent's first summon, then rebuild through the Phantom Knights searchers
• Recovery: Searchers (10 text-level searchers; Silent Boots, Decayed Cloak, Ancient Cloak) and Phantom Knights recursion from GY/banishment restore a board after interruption
• After siding: Not evaluable: the deck has 0 side cards, so no post-side plan exists in the list

Why it scores here

The deck is scored as a system, not as an average of its card scores, and its legality is the first limit: Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring and Dominus Impulse are each run 3 times against a Semi-Limited limit of 2, so the list is Illegal and the result is a theoretical, structural-only read capped at 30. Structurally, the Phantom Knights core is well supported (P of at least one core card in a 5-card hand about 0.92, Inferred), and the deck has 12 hand traps plus 23 negation-text and 33 removal-text cards, which give it real interaction density and a strong going-second hand-trap plan. The engine is less coherent than its name suggests: exact-name archetype purity is only 34.7% (25 of 72 monsters and spells), with 47 off-archetype copies spread across Dominus, Forbidden, Orcust, Mekk-Knight and other sub-archetypes, which pulls down brick management and main-deck efficiency. No combo boards, tournament link, guides, or win-rate data exist, so conversion, floor and median output are text-only inference, and the deck has no side deck, so adaptability is at its lowest. Popularity of the archetype did not earn points; the score reflects consistency, interaction and going-second strength on the system.

Dimension scores

How the score was computed

Strategy profile: Midrange primary, Stun secondary disclosed; the Midrange profile is applied without re-weighting. Structural ≈ 54, Going First ≈ 58, Going Second ≈ 62, Meta = provisional, Tournament Reliability ≈ 48. Modifiers: banlist exposure (-4); no side deck (-3). Final formula: No reliable metagame: 0.80*Structural + 0.20*TournamentReliability = 0.80*54 + 0.20*48 = 52.8; plus modifiers (-7) = 45.8; capped at 30 because the list is Illegal (theoretical/structural-only)

Probability & combo summary

• Opening a starter: P(≥1) ≈ 0.92 · 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

• Large, coherent Phantom Knights core (22 core cards, about 0.92 chance of at least one in a 5-card hand)
• Dense hand-trap and negation package (12 hand traps, 23 negation-text cards) with a strong going-second plan
• Real recursion and searcher density (10 searcher-text cards, GY/banish recovery)
• Boss monsters with 2900 to 3000 ATK for closing

Weaknesses

• Illegal list: two cards run over their Semi-Limited copy limit
• Low exact-name purity (34.7%) with 47 off-archetype copies across several sub-archetypes
• No side deck, so no post-side plan
• No combo or tournament evidence, so conversion and meta fit cannot be verified

Critical choke points

• Phantom Knights monster on the field as the enabler for most Xyz and Link lines
• Limited cards (Foolish Burial, Droll & Lock Bird, Reinforcement, Solemn Judgment, S:P Little Knight) used as single copies, so each is a one-of choke point

Recommended changes

Evidence & confidence

• Verified: Illegal status: Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring and Dominus Impulse each run 3 copies against a Semi-Limited limit of 2; Main 57 and Extra 15 are within OCG size rules; Side 0; Exact-name archetype purity 34.7% (25 of 72); Usage stats: 11 of 22 archetype core cards present
• Inferred: Core engine P(at least one in 5) ≈ 0.92 from the hypergeometric table; Hand-trap P(at least one in 6) ≈ 0.78 going second; Midrange primary strategy from hand-trap, negation and Xyz/Link composition; Interaction density rated strong from negation and removal text
• Provisional: Meta Power (no dated metagame sample); Matchup and format fit (D13), with no tournament link
• 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 side deck supplied — post-side plan cannot be evaluated no win-rate telemetry exists in YGOVN — going-first/second, matchup, brick/starter rates are Inferred Meta Power is Provisional unless a dated metagame sample is supplied List is Illegal; this is a theoretical/structural-only score