Chaos Dragon
A Chaos Dragon deck utilizes the Graveyard with a combination of Chaos monsters for their powerful effects with Effect Monsters with Send 1 Card to Graveyard or Milling effects to fuel them. The earliest builds focused on getting out "Chaos Sorcerer", and "Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning": much later the "Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon", "Lightpulsar Dragon" Monsters that give this Deck its name. You can use "Lightsworn" monsters "Raiden" and "Lyla" with "Solar Recharge", "Charge of the Light Brigade" and "Reasoning" as a mill engine. "Card Trooper" was originally used to mill 1 to 3, but has lost favor to the utility of "Kuribandit" and "Mathematician", which offer better control on what to send to the Graveyard.
"Lightpulsar Dragon" is the main beater being able to revive itself easily, while "Darkflare Dragon" speeds up "Lightpulsar" and setups summoning both "Dark Armed Dragon" and "Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning". Once a reasonable amount of cards have been milled it is recommended to stop focusing on milling or risk running out of cards to draw too fast and lose automatically.
"Galaxy Cyclone", "Breakthrough Skill", and "Skill Prisoner" are some of the few Spell/Trap cards that can be played from the hand, or milled, and then used next turn again by banishing them.
This Deck relies heavily on Special Summoning powerful monsters with devastating effects in order to overpower and OTK the opponent. It can also create Level 8 Synchro Monsters consistently due to the synergy of "White Dragon Wyverburster", "Black Dragon Collapserpent" (which replace themselves with the other when sent from the field to the Graveyard, but not when detached as Xyz Materials), and "Raiden, Hand of the Lightsworn".
"Lightpulsar Dragon", "Caius the Shadow Monarch", and "Chaos Sorcerer" also open up Rank 6 plays after their effects are used. With "Constellar Ptolemy M7" being able to return monsters from the Graveyard to the hand, milling "Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning", or other powerful monsters is no longer at risk of being milled and unusable.
Milling the Deck early to mid game sets up the Graveyard in order to banish LIGHT and DARK monsters to Special Summon the Chaos monsters. "Darkflare Dragon", "Card Trooper", "Raiden, Hand of the Lightsworn", "Charge of the Light Brigade", and "Solar Recharge" are used for this strategy. Using "Tour Guide From the Underworld" to Summon "Dante, Traveler of the Burning Abyss" was also used, but the limiting of "Tour Guide" in April 2015 has made this option unreliable.
Dragons Collide Structure Deck contains many of the cards used in this Deck, thus making it easier to build. Many of the cards required that are not found in Dragons Collide have been reprinted, thus making this deck an affordable but formidable option for duelists.
History[edit]
This archetype's origins go all the way back to 2004’s Invasion of Chaos and the introduction of the original three Chaos Monsters. Immediately, it was clear that these were some of the most powerful monsters. "Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the End", "Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning", and "Chaos Sorcerer" brought forth powerful effects and attack power all for the simple Summoning condition of banishing 1 LIGHT and 1 DARK monster from the Graveyard.
The idea and theme of Chaos and the battle of LIGHT vs. DARK was introduced, which led to one of the most consistent card themes in the history of Yu-Gi-Oh! that still shapes the game today.
February and May 2008 saw the release of Phantom Darkness and Light of Destruction respectively. These two sets would further the theme of the struggle between light and darkness, reinforce the notion of Chaos in DARK and LIGHT summoning conditions, and introduce some of the most powerful monsters to date in "Dark Armed Dragon" and "Judgment Dragon". Both cards would shape the meta drastically as Tele-DAD would wreck havoc and "Dark Armed Dragon" would reach a staggering $250 price point. Lightsworns had several cards appear on the Limited list as well as both Dark Armed and Judgment Dragon. The end of 2008 saw the release of one of the most powerful Dragon specific cards in "Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon".
The "Lightsworn" archetype in Light of Destruction revolved around milling, which sends cards from the Deck to the Graveyard. This random milling allowed the player to fill the Graveyard with monsters rather quickly to fulfill the summoning condition of "Judgment Dragon" while triggering monster effects along the way. "Card Trooper" was already a great part of this strategy and "Lightsworns" reinforced it tremendously. This mechanic would become important to the future of Chaos and its new incarnation.
In March 2009, "Chaos Sorcerer" became Limited to 1 after 2 ½ years on the Forbidden list. Chaos Sorcerer would flip flop from Limited, Semi-Limited, and Unlimited for the next few years. In September 2011, "Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning" became limited to 1 after 6 years of being Forbidden. After spending some time in Forbidden, "Chaos Sorcerer" is now Limited to 1.
The Dragons Collide Structure Deck hit the scene as one of the best Structure Decks to date. This structure deck introduced two new Chaos monsters in the forms of "Darkflare Dragon" and "Lightpulsar Dragon". Both had the original Chaos Summoning condition and their own unique effects. "Darkflare" can banish a card in either player's Graveyard by sending a Dragon-Type monster from the hand and another one from the Deck to the Graveyard. "Lightpulsar" can be Summoned from the Graveyard by sending a LIGHT and DARK monster from the hand to the Graveyard. It also Special Summons a Level 5 or higher DARK Dragon from the Graveyard when it is sent from the field to the Graveyard. Its synergy with "Darkflare", and more importantly, "Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon", made these Dragons an excellent addition to the Disaster Dragon Deck.
The third unique card was "Eclipse Wyvern". It banishes a LIGHT or DARK Dragon from the Deck when it is sent to the Graveyard by any means. When "Wyvern" is banished, the banished card can be added to the hand. Its synergy with "Darkflare Dragon" and milling created a viable engine for this new deck.
"Black Dragon Collapserpent" and "White Dragon Wyverburster" continued the theme of light and dark while working together. Each monster required the player to banish 1 of the opposite Attribute in order to special summon them. Each monster also searched a copy of each other when they were sent to the Graveyard, giving Chaos Dragon a bit of consistency and field presence without losing advantage. Their effects do not miss timing, so Tributing or Synchro Summoning allows the second Dragon to be searched These dragons would become essential to Chaos Dragons and the form it has taken today. They are among the last "Chaos" support the Deck has gotten to date. This would require the Deck to look elsewhere for support and strength.
Deck[edit]
Standard Chaos Dragon[edit]
Weakness[edit]
Chaos Dragons relies on a high speed play style in both filling the graveyard and special summoning monsters, making them susceptible to Macro decks. Also, the deck shares a weakness with most of the meta decks: Anti-Special Summon cards such as "Archlord Kristya", "Evilswarm Ophion", and Vanity's Emptiness can easily cripple this deck. "Necrovalley" can prevent banishing or access to Graveyards, making any attempts to Summon Chaos monsters near impossible. "Imperial Iron Wall" can also prevent the effects of most Chaos monsters, including "Eclipse Wyvern" and "Darkflare Dragon". Cards like "Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror" and "Light-Imprisoning Mirror" prevents the Trigger effects of light and dark monsters such as "Lightpulsar Dragon", "Night Assailant" and "Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter". Vanity's Emptiness and Skill Drain can heavily distrupt and stop this deck although, as of April 2015, these two cards are now limited to 1.
Despite having originated from the same Dragon deck type origins; the Disaster Dragon deck can, ironically, also stop this deck dead in its tracks, due to it having access to "Koa'ki Meiru Drago" (which can torpedo the summoning of any Chaos monsters). It is also able to utilize a wider array of Side Deck options such as "Electric Virus", "Chaos Trap Hole", "Rivalry of Warlords" (which ensure that any non-Dragon Chaos monsters cannot interfere) and "Light and Darkness Dragon," making it harder for Chaos Dragons to contend. Despite this, several different side deck combinations can be used to contend with its counters.
