Article # 49 - Red-Ruthless Aggression

The theme of today’s article.. Red Eyes Black Dragon. With the latest Japanese set releases, there’s now quite a bit more support for Red Eyes Black Dragon than there had been in the past, and it’s quite a bit more usable now. So let’s begin today’s article with a look at Double Ghoston.

Double Ghoston

Dark/Zombie - Level 4 - 1700/1650

Effect: If you Tribute Summon a Dark-type Monster, you can treat this Monster as 2 Monsters Sacrificed for the Tribute Summon.

Double Ghoston has now been released in English in Ancient Sanctuary. I’m reviewing it because it can help support Red Eyes, and because it has yet to be reviewed here on Pojo‘s. It was a Rare in the Japanese 309 set.

Double Ghoston’s a Dark/Zombie, so it’s obviously a good card for both of those types of Decks; Dark and Zombie. It can also fit well into any Deck that uses any Dark-type Monsters of Level 7 or more, as is obvious by its Effect.

Its Effect is simple; just like that of Kaiser Seahorse. If you Tribute Double Ghoston to Summon a Dark-type Monster, it counts as 2 Monsters sacrificed. That means only one Tribute for cards like Dark Magician of Chaos, Invader of Darkness, and Red Eyes Black Dragon, of course. Could prove to be pretty useful for you as it won’t be as hard to get out those high-level Monsters you may be using.

Not only does it come in handy with your high-level Dark Monsters, but it also has pretty solid stats. It unfortunately can’t be Searched by the main search Monsters, but it has a nice, solid ATK and DEF strength. 1700 ATK will be able to stand its own against your opponent’s Monsters, and can end up doing a hefty amount of damage to your opponent in many cases. a DEF of 1650 can also be capable of putting up a nice stall for you if you may need it, although there are quite a few Monsters frequently used that could easily get by such a defense.

Overall, Double Ghoston can be a fun card to play, and pretty effective in the necessary Decks. I give Double Ghoston an overall rating of 6.7/10. The next card of today’s article is the Dark Dragon Hatchling.

Dark Dragon Hatchling

Dark/Dragon - Level 1 - 800/800

Effect: If this card is face-up on the Field, you may put this card in the Graveyard to Special Summon a {Red Eyes Black Dragon} from your Hand.

Dark Dragon hatchling was a Common from the Japanese SOD set. It will be released in English in the set after Ancient Sanctuary.

Dark Dragon Hatchling.. Probably not a card you’d want to include in anything other than Red Eyes Black Dragon Decks. With stats of 800/800, it isn’t too strong, but it can be searched out by Witch, Sangan, and the Tomato, and it won‘t be needed on the Field for too long at all, anyway.

Its Effect is very useful in REBD Decks. If it’s face-up on the Field, you can simply send it away to the Graveyard and Special Summon a REBD from your hand. It’s unfortunate that it can’t be from your Deck, but oh, well, an easy Special Summon like that’s good enough. It’s like a nice exchange; an 800-ATK Monster for a 2400-ATK Monster just like that. You could just go right ahead and Summon the Dragon Hatchling, then immediately send it away to Special Summon that REBD from your Hand. It’s quick to be used, and that’s very beneficial with such a weak Monster.

It could be somewhat beneficial to have Lord of Dragons out on the Field along with the Hatchling for some extra protection, but it probably wouldn’t matter too much considering how weak the Hatchling is. Almost anything your opponent will have would be able to destroy the Hatchling, so it’s best to use it as quickly as possible and get it out of there, with REBD taking its place on the Field.

Again, without running Red Eyes Black Dragon, this is certainly not a card you’ll be wanting to include in your Deck. There’s not much else you can say about such a Monster, so I guess I’ll just get to its rating. I give Dark Dragon Hatchling an overall rating of 3/10. 7.7 in REBD Decks.

Moving on, we take a look at Dark Mega Flare..

Dark Mega Flare

Normal Magic

Effect: Choose one face-up {Red Eyes Black Dragon} on your side of the Field. Do damage to your opponent equal to the base ATK strength of the {Red Eyes Black Dragon}. During the activated turn, the chosen {Red Eyes Black Dragon} cannot attack.

Dark mega Flare is a Super/Ultimate Rare in the Japanese SOD set. It too will be released in English in the set after Ancient Sanctuary.

Dark Mega Flare.. Now how’s that for REBD support? Blue Eyes White Dragon got Burst Stream of Destruction. Dark Magician got Dark Magic Attack. Now Red Eyes Black Dragon has Dark Mega Flare. Marvelous.

Dark Mega Flare’s Effect is pretty simple, yet effective, but only in REBD Decks, of course. Just get a REBD out onto the Field and Dark Mega Flare will be ready to inflict some mass damage onto your opponent. Simply choose your REBD, and activate Dark Mega Flare. You’ll then be dealing a quick and easy 2400 direct burn damage to your opponent’s LP. Not too shabby. The only drawback, which really isn’t too much of a drawback for such an amount of damage, is that your chosen REBD will not be able to attack during that turn, and if it already has attacked during the turn, then you cannot use Dark Mega Flare with it.

Now, with how Dark Mega Flare is worded, is seems as though only the chosen REBD will not be able to attack for the turn. So if you have 2 REBD on the Field, you can choose one to do 2400 damage to your opponent’s LP (note that it can be used even if your opponent has Monsters on their side of the Field, in case you were wondering), and your other REBD will still be able to attack. But if that is not the case, and Dark Mega Flare prevents all of your REBD from attacking during the activated turn (like Burst Stream does with BEWD), then I will post about it in a news article after it has been confirmed.

Overall, Dark Mega Flare can be a very fun and effective card to use in REBD Decks. I give it an overall rating of 5/10, 8 in REBD Decks. For the fourth and final featured card of today’s article, we have the Meteor Black Dragon.

Meteor Black Dragon

Fire/Dragon - Level 8 - 3500/2000

Fusion Monster: Red Eyes Black Dragon + Meteor Dragon

Meteor Black Dragon was a Super/Parallel Rare from the Japanese Premium Pack 3 promo pack. There’s no telling when it might be released in English.

Meteor Black Dragon.. The fifth most powerful (in terms of ATK strength) Fusion Monster in the game, behind F-G-D & Dragon Master Knight, Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon (all 3 of which were reviewed in my 14th article), and Master of Oz (a new Fusion Monster from the Japanese SOD set - Big Koala + Des Kangaroo - Earth/Animal - Level 9 - 4200/3700).

It’s a Fusion of Red Eyes Black Dragon and Meteor Dragon. Meteor Dragon was also a Super/Parallel Rare from the Japanese Premium Pack 3. It’s a Level 6 Earth/Dragon with stats of 1800/2000. You may recognize both Meteor Dragon and Meteor Black Dragon from some of the Yu-Gi-Oh! video games currently out. So in a REBD Deck, it shouldn’t be too hard to Fusion Summon, what with all the REBD’s and Fusion substitute Monsters you could use.

3500 ATK’s nothing to laugh at. It can get by just about anything your opponent could throw at you and then some. It doesn’t have the greatest DEF strength, but who cares about that when you’ve got a Monster with 3500 ATK? There are also a couple of other ways to easily get Meteor Black Dragon out onto the Field. You could use Devil Franken, which was reviewed in my 45th article, or you could use Holy Beast - Selket and Royal Shrine, which were both reviewed in my 9th article.

Powerful, and pretty easy to use. Overall, Meteor Black Dragon’s a very strong attacker, but that’s about all it has going for it. I give Meteor Black Dragon an overall rating of 6/10. (And now that I go back and look at my Ferocious Fusions article, BEUD’s rating was a typo, as it should have been a 7, but oh well)

And of course, to end today’s article, here’s another Deck example for you all. This time, as if it weren’t ever-so-obvious, it’s a Red Eyes Black Dragon Deck - in accordance to the Banned list.

Monsters: 16

3x Red Eyes Black Dragon

2x Double Ghoston

2x Dark Dragon Hatchling

2x Versago the Destroyer

1x Lord of Dragons

1x Spirit Reaper / Kycoo / a 2nd Lord of Dragons

1x Tribe-Infecting Virus

1x Magical Warrior - Breaker

1x Black Forest Witch

1x Sangan

1x Sinister Serpent

Magic Cards: 19

3x Cyclone (MST)

3x Dark Mega Flare

2x Polymerization

1x Pot of Greed

1x Angel’s Gift

1x Mirage of Nightmares

1x Monster Reborn

1x Premature Burial

1x Dark Hole

1x Heavy Storm

1x Foolish Burial / Reload

1x Snatch Steal

1x Nobleman of Crossout

1x Dragon Calling Flute

Trap Cards: 6

2x Waboku

1x Call of the Haunted

1x Ring of Destruction

1x Mirror Force

1x Sixth Sense

Fusion Deck: 4

3x Meteor Black Dragon

1x Black Skull Dragon

Total: 41 + 4 Fusion

The Deck could take a while to get used to and figure out how it works to your best liking, but once you do, it’d be a very fun Deck to play, and likely pretty effective.

That’s all for Article # 49 - Red-Ruthless Aggression. You can e-mail me with any questions and/or comments at dm7fgd32@hotmail.com

My next article’s gonna be a big one.. Big #50 coming up next, so stay tuned. Until next time..

~ DM7