Red Dragon Archfiend – #SDCK-EN045
1 Tuner + 1+ non-Tuner monsters
After damage calculation, if this card attacked an opponent’s Defense Position monster: Destroy all Defense Position monsters your opponent controls. Once per turn, during your End Phase: Destroy all other monsters you control that did not declare an attack this turn. This card must be face-up on the field to activate and to resolve this effect.
Date Reviewed: November 2nd, 2023
Rating: 2.92
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is awful. 3 is average. 5 is excellent.
Reviews Below:
King of
Lullaby
Hello Pojo Fans,
Red Dragon Archfiend is our Throwback Thursday choice this week and is a throwback to the original of the archetype.
RDA is generic and was incredible when it came out even though it was alongside Stardust Dragon who had negation and Special Summon ability. With the ability to destroy all Defense Position monsters the opponent controls it made RDA a terrific option after beginning the turn with Book of Eclipse to flip everything down. With that card seeing more play it makes RDA not that bad of a choice if you can Synchro Summon. Despite Link Monsters existing now you can still clear the field with RDA and use other monsters to take out the Link Monsters. Considering the bad effect of RDA destroying any monster that doesn’t attack on your side, it’d be wise to use every monster you’ve got to attack.
Now with more monsters gaining you advantage by going to the graveyard it isn’t that much of a detriment if you lose a monster or two. There is a great deal of support behind this monster now, though the best support has to be having monsters like the Resonator archetype making it easy to reliably summon this monster, as well as Extra Deck monsters like Hot Red Dragon Archfiend Bane.
Red Dragon Archfiend had to play second fiddle to Stardust Dragon because it couldn’t negate. It was the Blue-Eyes of its generation. Support has come though and now the archetype is showing its power 15 years since its first release. Better late than never.
Advanced-3/5 Art-4/5
Until Next Time
KingofLullaby
Crunch$G
Throwback Thursday this week is the obvious choice, the heart and soul of Jack Atlas and his Deck: Red Dragon Archfiend.
RDA is a Level 8 DARK Dragon Synchro with 3000 ATK and 2000 DEF. Great stats for a Level 8 Synchro, and a great combination of DARK and Dragon here. Materials are any Tuner and any non-Tuner(s), meaning it is generic. After damage calculation where this battles a Defense Position monster, you can destroy all Defense Position monsters the opponent controls, which punishes the opponent for playing defensive and works with Crimson Gaia from yesterday to ensure you wipe the opponent’s board in a single attack. Once per turn, during the End Phase, you must destroy all other monsters you control that did not declare an attack this turn, and this must be face-up on the field to activate and to resolve this effect. Soul Resonator can at least defend you from this if not all your monsters attacked and you still got this on the field, especially relevant for Turn 1, but you might likely Synchro this away into a bigger Dragon. RDA does age better with the new cards, but now we got a way to ensure you don’t even have to Synchro Summon this properly. A fine card that the Structure Deck added new life to.
Advanced Rating: 3.5/5
Art: 5/5 The Signer Dragons are usually pretty sick in design.
Mighty
Vee
What else could Throwback Thursday be, than the king’s ace monster itself? This week brings us Red Dragon Archfiend, a level 8 DARK Dragon Synchro monster and the signature card of Jack Atlas from Yugioh 5Ds. As it has generic materials of a Tuner and any number of non-Tuners, making it is trivial in any Synchro deck that can make level 8, and if you really wanted to you can make it with the P.U.N.K., Superheavy Samurai, and Psi-Reflector engines. Red Dragon Archfiend also boasts a solid stat spread of 3000 attack and a slightly underwhelming 2000 defense, but if you summon it in Defense position, Jack would be sorely disappointed.
Red Dragon Archfiend first effect triggers if it destroys an opponent’s Defense position monster by battle, letting you destroy all of your opponent’s Defense position monsters as well. A brutish effect for a brutish monster, it’s meant to be an aggressive effect that punishes defensive play, and indeed that’s what it accomplished at the time. Combined with Crimson Gaia, it’s still okay for boardbreaking, though on its own the effect unfortunately doesn’t amount to very much due to being contingent on the Battle Phase and being more vulnerable than Evenly Matched. Red Dragon Archfiend’s other effect is the drawback for an effect that would’ve otherwise been considered powerful at the time, destroying all of your other monsters during the End Phase if they didn’t attack that turn if it’s still face-up. As you might guess, making Red Dragon Archfiend on turn 1 a very bad idea, especially since the deck’s bosses have a distinct lack of protection. You could save them with Soul Resonator, but wouldn’t you want to save it for your opponent? Red Dragon Archfiend is largely outclassed by tomorrow’s card as a Red Dragon Archfiend name, mostly because it doesn’t blow up your own board, but fortunately, you’ll still play at least one copy because of how tomorrow’s card works. Outside of Red Dragon Archfiend decks, it’s an easy pass for stronger Level 8 Synchros like Draco Berserker of the Tenyi or even its evolutions, Scarlight Red Dragon Archfiend and Hot Red Dragon Archfiend.
Advanced: 2.25/5
Art: 4/5 ABSOLUTE POWERFORCE
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