The Dragons

Part I - The Dragons!!

Red Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon /Dark /10*/ 2800/2400/ Effect
This card can be Special Summoned by removing from play 1 Dragon-Type monster you control. Once per turn, during your Main Phase, you can Special Summon 1 Dragon-Type monster except "Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon" from your hand or your Graveyard to your field.

The backbone of Dragon decks. This card is what propelled dragons into the tournament scene. Its not self interactive, however, that shouldn't by any means prevent you from running it in 3 copies. This card is the reason dragons are where they are today and has incredible synergy with many of both Disaster and Hopeless decks other cards.

Dark Horus /Dark /8*/ 3000/1800/Effect
Once per turn, when a Spell Card is activated during your opponent's Main Phase, you can Special Summon 1 Level 4 DARK monster from your Graveyard.

A level 8 Dark Dragon. Instantly it fits the bill for Allure of Darkness and Trade-In making it an extremely powerful draw engine. Its also a viable target for Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon and capable of being dumped via Future Fusion. Its Dark status means it can aid in the summoning of both Dark Armed Dragon and The Dark Creator. You won't often get its effect off, however, if you do it nets you a free Phantom of Chaos, Dark Grepher or Armageddon Knight. This card fits perfectly into Dark Hopeless Dragon variants.

Blue-Eyes White Dragon /Light/8*/ 3000/2500/ Normal

The Blue-Eyes White Dragon fuels the most consistent Hopeless draw engine in the game at this present state in time. Clocking in at 3000ATK its easily a match for Dark Horus and although its not a Dark for Allure it comes with its own Tutor in the form of White Stone of Legend making it a superior Trade-In target. Combined with the basic skeleton of a Hopeless Deck its LIGHT attribute means cards like Chaos Sorcerer can fit in even better. It took 7 long years but finally the Engine of Destruction has returned to reign holy terror upon all non believers. Yes. We are a cult. We are Legion.

Red-Eyes Wyvern /Wind/4*/ 1800/1600/ Effect
During your End Phase, if you did not Normal Summon or Set a monster that turn, you can remove from play this card from your Graveyard to Special Summon 1 "Red-Eyes" monster from your Graveyard, except "Red-Eyes B. Chick".

A decent card. Red-Eyes Wyvern gives easy access to the dragons boss monster; Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon. Once considered a staple Red-Eyes Wyvern is still run in most variants, however, due to its specificity has been dwindling in play of late. Still a useful card in Disaster decks and other dragon variants.

Dark Armed Dragon /Dark/7*/ 2800/1000/ Effect
This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card cannot be Special Summoned except by having exactly 3 DARK monsters in your Graveyard. You can remove from play 1 DARK monster from your Graveyard to destroy 1 card on the field.

Dark Armed Dragon dominated the metagame from the day he was released till the day Konami ripped apart the Tele-DAD deck and is still a solid force to contend with. DARK type for Allure of Darkness and sadly only 1 level short of Trade-In the corrupted Armed Dragon is an incredibly easy dragon to splash into your deck. Should you be playing either the Dark or Nohr variant you want to be maining as many copies of this card as you can, which is at present; 1. Any other deck running enough Darks should seriously consider this as well.

Koa’ki Meiru Drago /Wind/4*/ 1900/1600/ Effect
During each of your End Phases, destroy this card unless you send 1 "Iron Core of Koa'ki Meiru" from your hand to the Graveyard or reveal 1 Dragon-Type monster in your hand. LIGHT and DARK monsters cannot be Special Summoned.

With the predominance of Infernitys, Lightsworn and Blackwings in tournaments these days Koa'ki Meiru Drago is just as valuable as ever. A staple in 3's in Disaster Dragon and easily a solid choice for any other deck that can support it Koa'ki Meiru Drago sports a solid 1900ATK and its effect locks out every power play the top decks make. Heres a basic list of the things it stops:

• Judgment Dragon
• Wulf, Lightsworn Beast
• Lumina, Lightsworn Summoner (Effect)
• Magical Android
• Ally of Justice Catastor
• Dark Armed Dragon
• Dark End Dragon
• Gorz the Emissary of Darkness
• Tragoedia
• Blackwing - Vayu, the Emblem of Honour (Effect)
• Blackwing Armour Master
• Blackwing Armed Wing
• Blackwing - Shura the Blue Flame (Effect)
• Mystic Tomato (Effect)
• Infernity Necromancer (Effect)
• Infernity Launcher (Summon)
• Infernity Archfiend (Special Summon Effect)
• Infernity Mirage (Effect)
• Cyber Dragon

In a Disaster Dragon deck the trick to utilizing Koa'ki Meiru is to flip it on and off the field like a switch in order to lock out your opponents summons but allow you your own. Provided you think before you act Koa'ki Meiru in no way impedes your own decks special summoning.

Prime Material Dragon /Light/6*/ 2400/2000/ Effect
Any effect that would inflict damage to a player instead increases their Life Points by the same amount. When a card's effect to destroy a monster(s) on the field is activated, you can send 1 card from your hand to the Graveyard to negate its activation and destroy the card.

Here is a basic list of cards Prime Material can negate that are commonly played:

• Celestia, Lightsworn Angel
• Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter
• Judgment Dragon
• Mirror Force
• Lightning Vortex
• Bottomless Trap Hole
• Torrential Tribute
• Dark Armed Dragon
• Icarus Attack

An incredible protection tool that adds an element of control to Hopeless builds and multiplies the control of Disaster decks. Locking out any form of Burn whilst its on the field Prime Material Dragon's true strength shines in its ability to negate any effect that would destroy one of your monsters with a simple discard. Gyzarus? Lightning Vortex? Bottomless Trap Hole? The list goes on. This card is pretty much standard in most builds now as a single copy and should be considered to be fairly "staple" when constructing a dragon based deck.

The White Stone of Legend /Light/1*/ 300/250/ Tuner
When this card is sent to the Graveyard, add 1 "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" from your Deck to your hand.

This card makes the SOL Dragon engine as well as gives it its name: Stone Of Legend. A LIGHT 1 star tuner monster may seem underwhelming at first but it is searchable via Masked Dragon, Dragon and dumpable via Future Fusion and it is when it hits the Graveyard that its effect kicks in. As soon as you ditch this card to the Graveyard by whatever means it instantly adds 1 Blue-Eyes White Dragon from your deck to your hand. The effect is mandatory which means it can't miss the timing, however, it also means should you lack the Blue-Eyes in your deck then your opponent is able to examine your deck at their leisure. Capable of fueling the Blue-Eyes engine and creating +3's off of Future Fusion this card is a staple in any deck running Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Being LIGHT and Level 1 it both fuels Chaos Sorcerer and makes for easy synchroing of Level 7 Synchros, also giving access to Arcanite Magician. At less than 1,000ATK its also a Cards of Consonance target.

Masked Dragon /Fire/3*/1400/1100/ Effect
When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard, you can Special Summon 1 Dragon-Type monster with 1500 or less ATK to your side of the field from your Deck. Then shuffle your Deck.

Easily one of the best recruiters in the game and the Dragon decks only reliable recruiter. Masked Dragon maintains field presence whilst thinning the deck and searching out useful combo pieces. This card truly shines in Disaster Dragon builds where it can grant access to Totem Dragon for tributes, Exploder Dragon for monster removal, Dread and Debris Dragons for tuning, among other cards such as Twin-Headed Behemoth, White Stone of Legend and Divine Dragon Ragnarok. This card is incredibly versatile. Clocking in at 1400ATK it can easily run over card such as Gale and Lumina and can be used to force early Kalut and Honest plays from your opponent whilst losing you no card presence at all much like Colossal Fighter.

Here is a list of cards Masked Dragon can search for:

• Armed Dragon LV3
• Baby Dragon
• Blackland Fire Dragon
• Darkblaze Dragon
• Debris Dragon
• Decoy Dragon
• Delta Flyer
• Different Dimension Dragon
• Divine Dragon - Excelion
• Divine Dragon Ragnarok
• Dragonic Guard
• Dragunity - Acuris
• Dragunity - Black-Spear
• Dragunity - Brandistock
• Dragunity - Corsesca
• Dragunity - Javelin
• Dragunity - Partisan
• Dragunity - Phalanx
• Dread Dragon
• Dweller in the Depths
• Element Dragon
• Exploder Dragon
• Fairy Dragon
• Flamvell Dragnov
• Flamvell Guard
• Golem Dragon
• Gray Wing
• Hardened Armed Dragon
• Harpie's Pet Baby Dragon
• Koumori Dragon
• Lancer Dragonute
• Lesser Dragon
• Lizard Soldier
• Magna Drago
• Majestic Dragon
• Masked Dragon
• One-Eyed Shield Dragon
• Petit Dragon
• Pitch-Dark Dragon
• Red-Eyes B. Chick
• Stardust Xiaolong
• The Dragon Dwelling in the Cave
• The White Stone of Legend
• Totem Dragon
• Trigon
• Troop Dragon
• Twin-Headed Behemoth
• Wicked Dragon with the Ersatz Head
• Winged Dragon, Guardian of the Fortress #1
• Yamatano Dragon Scroll

Exploder Dragon /Earth/3*/1000/0/ Effect
When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard, destroy the monster that destroyed it. While this card is attacking, any Battle Damage either player takes from a battle involving this card becomes 0.

Reliable monster removal in a rather old school wrapper. Exploder Dragon reminds me of back when Exiled Force used to see play. Recruitable via Masked Dragon the Exploder allows for you to easily remove monsters that are causing difficulty on the field or simply make a 1 for 1 trade and force your opponent into a simplified game state.

Dragon Ice /Water/5*/1800/2200/ Effect
When your opponent Special Summon a monster, you can discard 1 card to Special Summon this card from your hand or Graveyard. There can only be 1 face-up "Dragon Ice" monster on the field.

Dragon Ice is an interesting tech choice that opens up defensive options in Hopeless and Disaster builds. Seeing as it can be discarded for its own effect its optimal usage is in summoning itself from the hand, however, self recursion is always nice. It also doubles as a discard outlet for your bigger dragons. Given its WATER attribute it also combines with Dread Dragon to make Gungnir.

Debris Dragon /Wind/4*/1000/2000/ Tuner
When this card is Normal Summoned, you can Special Summon 1 monster with 500 or less ATK from your Graveyard in Attack Position. That monster's effect(s) is negated. This card cannot be used as a Synchro Material Monster, except for the Synchro Summon of a Dragon-Type Synchro Monster. The other Synchro Material Monster(s) cannot be Level 4.

Debris Dragon is a level 4 tuner monster that can only summon Dragon Synchro monsters. At less than 1,000ATK its a Cards of Consonance target. Being unable to tune with level 4 monsters its immediate usage is tied to summoning level 7's such as Exploder Dragonwing, Black Rose Dragon, Gungnir, Dragon of the Ice Barrier and Ancient Fairy Dragon. Its ability to revive another monster upon summon was once seen as unabusable in Dragon decks, however, it does present a nice combo with Totem Dragon allowing for easy access to an instant Iron Chain Dragon. In recent formats it has also combined with teched Snowman Eaters in Disaster Dragon as well as Dandylion in SOL Debris. Debris Dragon is also searchable via Masked Dragon and has 2000DEF to act as a solid wall against Shura's and unpumped Laquari's. Because its effect activates on Normal Summon it also combos powerfully with Genesis Dragon.

White Night Dragon /Water/8*/3000/2500/ Effect

Negate the activation of any Spell or Trap Card that targets this card, and destroy that card. When a face-up monster you control is selected as an attack target, you can send 1 Spell or Trap Card you control to the Graveyard to change the target to this card.

Released as a Secret Rare in Ancient Prophecy White Night Dragon often serves as Disaster Dragon’s beat stick. Capable of negating numerous cards in the Metagame and also packing an attack redirection effect White Night is capable of catching opponents off guard and aiding you in dominating the field with ease. Here is a basic list of cards White Night can negate that are commonly played:

• Dimensional Prison
• Phoenix Wing Wind Blast
• Mind Control
• Brain Control
• Icarus Attack
• Book of Moon

Totem Dragon /Earth/2*/400/200/ Effect
This card can be treated as 2 Tributes for the Tribute Summon of a Dragon-Type monster. If this card is in your Graveyard during your Standby Phase and you control no monsters, you can Special Summon this card in Attack Position. You cannot activate this effect if there are any monsters in your Graveyard that are not Dragon-Type. If this card is Special Summoned with this effect, remove it from play when it is removed from the field.

Self recursion and two tributes? Totem Dragon screams abuse. This card is searchable via Masked Dragon and has amazing synergy with both Light and Darkness Dragon and Yamata Dragon, two high level Dragons that cannot be Special Summoned by Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon. It can also act as two tributes for the afore mentioned Darkness Metal and White Night while also serving as Synchro fodder and a simple tribute for a Prime Material Dragon or Genesis Dragon. This card is epic.

Yamata Dragon /Fire/7*/2600/3100/ Spirit
This card cannot be Special Summoned. This card returns to the owner's hand during the End Phase of the turn that this card is Normal Summoned, Flip Summoned or flipped face-up. When this card inflicts Battle Damage to your opponent's Life Points, draw cards from your Deck until you have 5 cards in your hand.

Yamata Dragon is a spirit monster that has never seen much play outside of casual dragon and spirit decks, however, a Disaster build pioneered by the Disaster Dragon creator “Dragonalchemist - Richard Clarke” featuring Yamata Dragon as its central trick has inspired a surge in the spirits play. Yamata holds an untoppable DEF of 3100 and can easily be set for its effect. Requiring 2 tributes and unable to be special summoned it almost seems as if Totem Dragon was made for this card. In a deck designed to simplify the game state this card truly shines. Clearing an opponents back row by shelling out your entire hand hardly matter once you drop Yamata Dragon. After scoring an attack it replenishes your hand in a manner similar to Morphing Jar – allowing you to draw until you have 5 cards. After being summoned it returns to the owners hand, however, this prevents it from destruction on the opponents turn, when big monsters are most vulnerable and allows you to reveal it for the cost of Koa’ki Meiru Drago should you have that in play, preventing your opponent from gaining any knowledge about your new hand.

Light and Darkness Dragon /Light/8*/2800/2400/ Effect
This card cannot be Special Summoned. While this card is face-up on the field, its Attribute is also treated as DARK. When a Spell or Trap Card is activated, or the effect of an Effect Monster is activated, that activation is negated and this card loses 500 ATK and DEF. When this card is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard, select 1 monster in your Graveyard. Then destroy all cards you control, and Special Summon that monster.

Light and Darkness Dragon is one of the best two-tribute monsters in the game, debatably the best though Dark Magician of Chaos gives it a good run for its money.

The Dragon rose to popularity in the Perfect Circle Monarch variants near the end of the Monarch "Era" where his ability to bring back Disc Commander and save peoples asses from the newly released Crush Card Virus came in handy. In addition to his revival ability the Dragon also has an extremely powerful negation one which allowed it play in random stun variants as well. It was splashed into Strike Ninja and now with the release of Totem Dragon has been run in many dragon builds.

With the release of Genesis Dragon and Totem Dragon my favourite Bi-Polar Dragon has a seen a resurgence in play. It fits perfectly into Disaster Dragon builds and allows for more control and tempo swings whilst also granting a Special Summon upon death. Special Summoning a Genesis can allow you to reclaim your Light and Darkness Dragon next turn, a Koa’ki will prevent Lights and Darks from being summoned, a Totem Dragon can set you up for another two-tribute monster next turn and a Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon can set you up for an uber swarm.

Magna Drago /Fire/2*/ 1400/600/ Tuner
Each time this card inflicts Battle Damage to your opponent, it gains 200 ATK.

Its recruitable via Masked Dragon, level 2 and one of the older Dragon tuners. Unrestricted in the type of monster that it synchros for Magna is the typical outlet for Disaster into plays for Brionac and Goyo when paired with a level 4 monster. Coupled with a Masked Dragon it can make a Catastor and Android and this card also boosts and ATK increasing effect provided it does some battle damage. Unfortunately outshone by Dread Dragon the archaic Magna Drago has seen a dip in play of late.

Genesis Dragon /Light/6*/2200/1800/ Effect
Once per turn, you can send 1 Dragon-Type Monster from your hand to the Graveyard to add 1 Dragon-Type Monster from your Graveyard to your hand. When this card is sent from the field to the Graveyard, you can return all Dragon-Type Monsters from your Graveyard to your Deck.

Genesis Dragon is an incredible card that only serves to further increase the versatility of Dragon decks. Acting as both a discard and recharge outlet Genesis allows players to recycle monsters such as Light and Darkness Dragon, Yamata Dragon and LV monsters while discarding cards they’d rather have in the Graveyard such as Totem Dragon and Red-Eyes Wyvern. It also allows for reverse toolboxing through Future Fusion. Ditch Yamata or Light and Darkness for Five-Headed and keep it in the Graveyard until you need it, then simply drop down a Genesis and grab it back. Genesis can also allow you to ditch a dead in hand monster for later use and can even grab back the might Dark Armed Dragon and Judgement Dragon. Upon death Genesis allows the player to shuffle all dragons in their Graveyard into their deck, this can prove especially useful for decks running Troop Dragon or Level based decks revolving around Horus or Armed Dragon. However, where Genesis Dragon trully shines is in draw based decks utilizing the SOL engine. Capable of trading off The White Stone of Legend and Blue-Eyes it can ensure your draw cards are never dead. It also combos with Delta Flyer and Debris Dragon allowing for sudden Trident Dragion OTKs.

Flamvell Guard /Fire/1*/ 100/2000/ Tuner

A level 1 Dragon tuner, Flamvell Guard sports an impressive 2000DEF and is searchable via Masked Dragon. At less than 1000ATK its a Cards of Consonance target. Sadly as far as level 1 Dragon tuners go this card is outclassed by White Stone of Legend and for 2000DEF Debris beats it there, and for a Fire Dragon we already have Magna and Dread. Still it’s an extra wall and tuner for those of you who want one and its art is pretty snazzy.

Dread Dragon /Fire/2*/ 1100/400/ Tuner
When this card is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard, you can add 1 Level 3 or lower Dragon-Type monster from your Deck to your hand.

Its recruitable via Masked Dragon, level 2 and one of the most versatile Dragon tuners. Unrestricted in the type of monster that it synchros for akin to Dread Dragon whilst also being able to double as a recruiter of sorts. Dread Dragon renders Magna Drago virtually useless as its a superior level 2 tuner and has more use outside of tuning. The fact that it can also recruit to the hand makes Dread Dragon very useful in Cards on Consonance builds, even if it in itself has 100 too many ATK points to fuel the draw card.

Here is a list of Dragons that Dread can search:

• Armed Dragon LV3
• Baby Dragon
• Decoy Dragon
• Delta Flyer
• Dragunity Acuris
• Dragunity Brandistock
• Dragunity Corsesca
• Dragunity Darkspear
• Dragunity Javelin
• Dragunity Partisan
• Dragunity Phalanx
• Dragunity Pilum
• Dread Dragon
• Dweller in the Depths
• Exploder Dragon
• Flamvell Dragnov
• Flamvell Guard
• Gray Wing
• Hunter Dragon
• Lizard Soldier
• Magna Drago
• Majestic Dragon
• Masked Dragon
• One-Eyed Shield Dragon
• Petit Dragon
• Pitch-Dark Dragon
• Red-Eyes B. Chick
• Stardust Xiaolong
• The White Stone of Legend
• Totem Dragon
• Trigon
• Troop Dragon
• Twin-Headed Behemoth
• Wicked Dragon with the Ersatz Head
• Yamatano Dragon Scroll

To be added:

Axe Dragonute

Blizzard Dragon

Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the End

Chthonian Emperor Dragon

Delta Flyer

Dragunity Aklys

Dragunity Arms Laevatein

Dragunity Arms Misteil

Dragunity Phalanx

Frost and Flame Dragon

Gandora the Dragon of Destruction

Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV4

Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV6

Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV8

Infernal Dragon

Koa'ki Meiru Maximus

Lancer Dragonute

Lancer Lindwurm

Malefic Blue-Eyes White Dragon

Malefic Rainbow Dragon

Malefic Red-Eyes Black Dragon

Malefic Stardust Dragon

Malefic Truth Dragon

Mirage Dragon

Spear Dragon

Strong Wind Dragon

Tiger Dragon

Vice Dragon