Forum:Deck Guide/Hopeless Dragon/1

Updated Hopeless Dragon Guide

By BF2

Hopeless Dragon, also known as Disaster Dragon, is a powerful beatdown deck which relies almost entirely on the effects of "Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon" in order to secure victory. The current deck relies on Synchro Summoning a with the help of "REDMD". It has a lot of search power through the use of "Dragon Ravine" and with the release of "Darkflare Dragon" and "Lightpulsar Dragon" it will be better than ever.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Easy Access to Powerful Monsters: The deck can easily pull out an "REDMD" or another powerful monster every turn or so.

Graveyard Access: Any Dragon-Type monster in your Graveyard can be brought back (unless it has a condition preventing it).

Cheap Synchro Summons: With "REDMD", Synchro Summoning costs little.

Cons

Inconsistent: Without "REDMD" the deck can fall apart.

Graveyard Reliant: While the deck can do things without a Graveyard, being reliant on it means that a "Dimensional Fissure" can be extremely bad for the deck.

Mechanics

A Disaster Dragon deck focuses on using the effect of "REDMD" to bring back Dragon-Type monsters every turn. The primary search engine is "Dragon Ravine", which sends Dragon-Type monsters to your Graveyard. These monsters can be used in a Synchro Summon, especially to Synchro Summon a Dragon-Type monster such as "Black Rose Dragon" or "Scrap Dragon", or for beatdown purposes. "Koa'ki Meiru Drago" is one of the key components, preventing the Special Summon of any LIGHT or DARK monster while having high enough ATK (1900) to withstand most low-level threats. "Light and Darkness Dragon" or "Yamata Dragon" can be tribute summoned via the effect of "Totem Dragon", allowing you to gain massive amounts of card advantage. "Lightpulsar Dragon" is going to be one of the most important parts of the deck, allowing you to bring back a high Level Dragon-Type monster from your Graveyard when it leaves the field. "Darkflare Dragon" has an effect similar to "Dark Grepher's" but with the added benefit of a "D.D. Crow" effect.

Main Cards

Monsters

• Alexandrite Dragon: "Alexandrite Dragon" is a Level 4 Normal Monster with 2000 ATK. It's a LIGHT monster for Rabbit-based Chaos Dragons. It's also a nice beatstick to replace "Axe Dragonute".
• Axe Dragonute: "Axe Dragonute" is a Level 4 monster with 2000 ATK. After attacking, it is changed to Defense Position. It's not nearly as good as "Alexandrite Dragon" or "Verz Zahhak".
• Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning: Too good not to use if possible.
• Blue-Eyes White Dragon: "Blue-Eyes" is an iconic card that can be used in variants using "Cards of Consonance" and "The White Stone of Legend".
• Darkflare Dragon: "Darkflare Dragon" is a Level 5 DARK monster with 2400 ATK. You can Special Summon it by Banishing a LIGHT and DARK monster from your Graveyard, but it doesn't have any summoning requirements. In addition to that, it lets you discard a Dragon-Type monster to send another Dragon-Type monster from your Deck to your Graveyard and Banish a card in either player's Graveyard. Every deck should use at least one once this card comes out.
• Dark Horus: "Dark Horus" is a Level 8 DARK monster with 3000 ATK. When your opponent activates a Normal Spell Card you can Special Summon one Level 4 or lower DARK monster from your Graveyard. It can be useful in builds using lots of high Level monsters but is never the best option.
• Dark Simorgh: "Dark Simorgh" is a not a Dragon-Type monster - it is a Level 7 Winged Beast-Type monster with 2700 ATK. You can Special Summon it from your hand by Banishing a DARK and WIND monster in your Graveyard or from your Graveyard by Banishing a DARK and WIND monster from your hand. In addition to that, it prevents your opponent from setting cards. It's quite powerful in decks that can access it but it does interfere with "Totem Dragon".
• Debris Dragon: "Debris Dragon" is a Level 4 Tuner monster with 1000 ATK and 2000 DEF. It can only be used to Synchro Summon a Dragon-Type monster and can't be used with a Level 4 monster, but when it's Normal Summoned you can Special Summon a monster with 500 or less ATK from your Graveyard. In decks using "Poki Draco", this card becomes much more useful.
• Delta Flyer: "Delta Flyer" is a Level 3 Tuner monster with 1500 ATK. Once per turn, you can increase the Level of one other monster you control by one, making it a versatile Tuner monster for the deck.
• Dodger Dragon: "Dodger Dragon" is a Level 4 monster with 1900 ATK. Counter Trap Cards cannot be activated in response to its summon and they can't be activated for the rest of the turn that it's summoned, making it a perfect card to protect the Special Summoning of "REDMD".
• Dragunity Arma Leyvaten: "Dragunity Arma Leyvaten" is a Level 8 monster with 2600 ATK. When it's Special Summoned, you can equip one Dragon-Type monster from your Graveyard to it. When it's destroyed by a card effect, that monster is Special Summoned. It can loop with "Light and Darkness Dragon" (although not effectively, as it's more likely to get Banished or destroyed by battle) but still has a lot of utility in high level Disaster variants.
• Exploder Dragon: "Exploder Dragon" is a Level 3 monster with 1000 ATK. While it attacks, neither player can take battle damage, and when it's destroyed by battle it destroys the monster that destroys it. It's very useful in conjunction with REDMD.
• Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon: "Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon" is a Level 8 monster with 3000 ATK. You can tribute two monsters with 2000 or more ATK to Special Summon it but it has no summoning requirements, allowing you to Special Summon it with REDMD. In addition to that, when it battles a monster, you can Banish both monsters until the end of the Battle Phase.
• Genesis Dragon: "Genesis Dragon" is a Level 6 monster with 2200 ATK. Once per turn, it lets you discard a Dragon-Type monster to return one Dragon-Type monster from your Graveyard to your hand.
• Koa'ki Meiru Drago: "Koa'ki Meiru Drago" is a Level 4 monster with 1900 ATK. While it's on the field, LIGHT and DARK monsters cannot be Special Summoned. This card is extremely powerful in Disaster Dragon decks, stopping "Agents", "Dark Worlds", and numerous individual cards from being Special Summoned.
• Light and Darkness Dragon: "Light and Darkness Dragon: is a Level 8 monster with 2800 ATK. It has the ability to negate a Monster effect, Spell card, or Trap card when it is activated, at the cost of 500 ATK and DEF. This card provides an easy way to help control the pace of the duel, but gets weaker as the duel goes on, but it useful, because it can cause the opponent to use up cards in an attempt to make "Light and Darkness" weak enough to destroy in battle.
• Lightpulsar Dragon: "Lightpulsar Dragon" is a key element in Chaos Dragons. This dragon is easy to summon, and when "Lightpulsar Dragon" is sent from the field to the graveyard, he let's you summon back a Level 5 or higher DARK Dragon-type monster in the graveyard. Usually "Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon" is brought back, which can summon back Lightpulsar Dragon", leading to a small loop that is hard to overcome.
• Magical Merchant: "Magical Merchant" is useful when trying to mill off large amounts of cards to the graveyard, but usually only "Chaos Dragon" would use him, but he is slightly outclassed by the Lightsworn cards.
• Masked Dragon: Mainly used for toolboxing into other more useful Dragon-Types, or for defensive purposes.
• Prime Material Dragon: Another useful Dragon to summon with "Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon", but aside from that, it doesn't serve much use, unless used as a side card for Burn strategies.
• Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon: "Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon" is a key card in any deck oriented around Dragon-types. He's easy to summon and allows for the quick summon of strong, high-level Dragon-types from the hand or graveyard. As of September 2012, he will be limited.
• Red-Eyes Wyvern: "Red-Eyes Wyvern" was once one of the best ways to quickly summon "Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon" from the graveyard quickly, but it was replaced with "Lightpulsar Dragon" in Chaos Dragon decks, however, it can still work in a normal Dragon deck, and it's solid 1800 ATK is still fairly high for a Level 4 monster.
• Totem Dragon: "Totem Dragon" can work as a way to create a tribute monster for "Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon", however, the card needs to be used a deck consisting of only Dragon-Type monsters, and is only truthfully useful as a way to tribute summon "Light and Darkness Dragon". It normally isn't used in Disaster Dragon.
• Evilswarm Zahhak: "Evilswarm Zahhak" is a interesting card choice, that can work as a Dragon-Type tech card that helps to deal with Synchro Monsters and other Level 5 or higher monsters that Special Summon themselves or were special summoned by an effect. It's high attack also makes it a good card choice in general, as well as serving a niche role.
• White Night Dragon: "White Night Dragon" is another Dragon that can be summoned with "Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon", and aside from the fact that it can redirect attacks toward itself, it isn't the best card in the world, it's 3000 ATK is great, but other cards like Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon and Dark Horus have 3000 ATK and have more useful effects.
• White Stone of Legend: This card is useful in a Deep-Draw Dragon deck, or as a Level Dragon-type tuner. However, it's only really great in a Disaster Dragon deck revolving around Blue-Eyes White Dragon.
• Yamata Dragon: This card has a devastating effect, and makes it somewhat worthwhile to use "Totem Dragon", however being a Spirit monster makes it less useful, and really shouldn't be used in a Dragon Deck.

Fusion Monsters:

• Five-Headed Dragon: This card is usually the main target of Future Fusion, however, it isn't truthfully needed in a Dragon deck, and as of September 2012, this card can only be summoned by using Dragon's Mirror, as "Future Fusion" will be banned.

Spells

• Allure of Darkness: A useful card to help draw, and should always be used in a DARK heavy deck, and many Dragons are Dark monsters.
• A Wingbeat of Giant Dragon: A sub-par support card for Dragon's that is outclassed by Heavy Storm.
• Cards of Consonance: A card used in deck based around Blue-Eyes White Dragon, as a way to discard White Stone of Legend, offering a search and drawing 2 cards.
• Dragon Ravine: Another card that is meant for an Archetype use, but is used in Disaster Dragon and some Chaos Dragon builds to help mill Dragon-types into the graveyard.
• Dragon's Mirror: A Fusion card for Dragon-type monster to summon Five-Headed Dragon, Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, or even Dragon Master Knight.
• Future Fusion: The main card that was used to thin the deck and summon Five Headed Dragon, as of September 2012, this card will be banned.
• Trade-In: This card serves as a way to discard a Level 8 Dragon-type and draw 2 cards, it's mostly used in Deep-Draw Dragon, but can be used in any deck with a high Level 8 count.

Traps

• Burst Breath: A card that can help clear the field, but it outclassed by cards such as Mirror Force and Dark Hole.
• Proof of Powerlessness: This card is useful for disrupting the opponent's plays, by making use of Dragon-type monsters high levels.