In the first Yu-Gi-Oh movie, it is said that Blue-Eyes White Dragon is strong, while Red-Eyes Black Dragon has a lot of promise.
This is a good summary of the strengths of each style.
Blue-Eyes cards have higher ATK and focus on pure destruction, while Red-Eyes cards have more variety and focus on swarming.
Fans are still debating which tribe has the better cards.
Either way, when you add in the game’s many dark-themed support cards, you have a great series that can still compete in current duels.
But there are hundreds of ways to get help, so which ones are the best?
These are the most important cards to have in Red-Eyes. Yu-Gi-Oh deck!
25. Red-Eyes Archfiend of Lightning
Lightning is a Red-Eyes and an Archfiend, so he has a lot of help, and he counts as a standard monster while in your hand or graveyard, so he can use more Red-Eyes abilities.
But once he’s on the field, you can normal summon him to let him destroy all face-up enemy monsters with DEF less than or equal to Lightning’s 2500 ATK once per turn.
That’s a nice but slower board wipe, but part of Lightning’s draw is that he can help summon…
24. Red-Eyes Baby Dragon
Red-Eyes Baby Dragon is a slow play, but it is also a strong one.
When Baby Dragon is killed in battle, he summons a level 7 or lower Red-Eyes monster from your deck. This lets you field a high-level monster without having to pay a tribute.
More than that, Baby equips to the monster and gives it 300 ATK.
When he is sent to the graveyard while equipped, you can add a level one dragon from your deck or graveyard to your hand.
23. Dark Magician
You might be thinking why, of all the things, Dark Magician is on this list.
This card is at the bottom of the list because it can’t be used to attack.
However, it is a key part of one of the best Red-Eyes monsters, which is much further up the list.
And just because of that, you will almost certainly want to add Dark Magician to your deck.
22. Red-Eyes Black Dragon
Red-Eyes Black Dragon has to be on this list, of course.
Even though Red-Eyes Black Dragon doesn’t have any effects and only has 2400 ATK/2000 DEF, you can think of it as the glue that ties a Red-Eyes deck together.
So many cards need it as an ingredient or use the fact that it’s a “normal” monster to do something.
You’ll want to see this card often, so you might want to put 3 of them in your deck.
21. Red-Eyes Insight
Cards that let you look through your deck are great because they help you draw more cards and make your deck more reliable.
This is how Red-Eyes Insight works.
And if you send a Red-Eyes monster from your hand or deck to the Graveyard, you can add a Red-Eyes card (a spell or trap) from your deck to your hand.
Everyone would want that.
20. Dragon Shrine
Red-Eyes decks use a lot of cards that come from the trash. And this one is a great way to make sure you always have some on hand for when you need them the most.
Dragon Shrine has a simple effect that lets you send a Dragon from your deck to the Graveyard. If you sent a normal monster, you can also send another Dragon monster.
This result might not be the most interesting on the list. But it’s an important card for the deck.
19. Red-Eyes Wyvern
In Yu-Gi-Oh!, the Graveyard is just another place to get resources for many good decks.
This card makes the most of that by making sure that any monster that is killed is always a threat.
If Red-Eyes Wyvern is in your Graveyard and you did not normal summon or set on your turn, you can banish Red-Eyes Wyvern to special summon any Red-Eyes monster from your graveyard during your end step.
I’d say that’s very useful.
18. Red-Eyes Spirit
Many Yu-Gi-Oh! cards have scary amounts of text on them these days.
Even though some of these cards are very strong, you don’t always need all of those things for a card to be useful.
With Red-Eyes Spirit, you can special summon a Red-Eyes monster from your Graveyard that you choose.
Since it is a trap, you can use it when it is your opponent’s turn.
So you can always make sure they have to deal with a monster when it will be the most annoying.
17. Allure Of Darkness
When building a deck, draw power is always important because the more cards you can get into play, the more choices you have in a battle.
The Red-Eyes approach works great with Allure of Darkness.
This card lets you draw two cards and get rid of a dark monster from your hand.
If you don’t have that monster to discard, you have to send your whole hand to the graveyard.
Since most monsters in a Red-Eyes deck are Dark, this is easy to get around.
16. Cards Of The Red Stone
Red-Eyes decks do very well when they have to play from the Graveyard.
And this card helps you get more cards where you want them in your graveyard, making your deck more stable.
Cards of the Red Stone is a great card for the deck’s quality of life.
You can send an LVL7 Red-Eyes monster from your hand to the Graveyard to draw two cards, and then you can send another Red-Eyes monster from your deck.
15. Black Metal Dragon
Black Metal Dragon doesn’t have the name “Red-Eyes” and only has 600 ATK and DEF, but you can equip him to a Red-Eyes monster you control from your hand or the field.
The connected monster gets 600 ATK, and when Black Metal is sent from the field to the graveyard, equipped or not, you can add a Red-Eyes card from your deck to your hand.
This makes him a good choice for a link or tribute.
This gives your monster more power and lets you find a card when it dies.
Black Metal doesn’t say what kind of card you can find, so you can find a Red-Eyes monster, spell, or trap. Since he is only level 1, you can find him quickly with the Red-Eyes Baby Dragon.
Black Metal Dragon is an important part of any Red-Eyes theme, and it won’t break the bank either.
14. Tenyi Vishuda
“Returning” is a great way to avoid monsters that can’t be killed by damage effects.
Tenyi Vishuda can do both of these things, as well as help you call on your stronger monsters.
You can special call Tenyi Vishuda from your hand if you don’t control any monsters with effects. This gives you a free Level 7 monster.
And if you control a monster that doesn’t have an effect, you can get rid of this card from your hand or graveyard to return one of your opponent’s monsters to their hand.
If you save this card until your opponent calls one of their boss monsters, you can instantly take away their biggest threat.
13. Red-Eyes Black Flare Dragon
No matter what monsters your opponent is trying to hide behind, burn damage is a great way to hit their life points.
And here’s a strong one to think about.
Red-Eyes Black Flare Dragon is treated like a normal monster when it’s on the field.
However, since it’s a Gemini monster, you can normal summon it while it’s on the field to get a benefit.
This is what the result is for the Red-Eyes Black Flare Dragon:
You can do 2400 damage to your opponent’s life points at the end of the fight phase.
That’s more than a quarter of their starting life points, and if your opponent goes on the defense, it can be a great way to win a fight.
12. Return Of Red-Eyes
Your opponent will try to catch you with continuous trap cards.
But as long as this one is on the field, it can make them fight an army of dragons that never ends.
So long as Return Of Red-Eyes is in play, if you control a Red-Eyes monster, you can special summon a normal monster from your Graveyard once per turn.
When you destroy this card, you can special summon another Red-Eyes monster, which can be a monster with an effect.
Overall, this card is great because it lets you get materials for your XYZ or Link monsters. Make sure to use it to its fullest.
11. Return Of The Dragon Lords
Don’t pay attention to the Blue-Eyes monster on this card.
This spell card is very useful in a Red-Eyes deck, too, because it lets you get to the graveyard and has a great defense effect.
With Return of the Dragon Lords, you can special summon an LVL7 or LVL8 Dragon monster from your graveyard, which is a great addition to your deck’s already great use of the graveyard!
You can also take this card from the graveyard and put it back into your hand to protect one of your dragons from being killed.
10. Gearfried The Red-Eyes Iron Knight
The Red-Eyes Slash Dragon is a very strong fusion monster that can be used in Red-Eyes decks.
This fusion monster needs a warrior as a material, and Gearfried the Red-Eyes Iron Knight is a great pick.
This monster is more than just something to use in a combination.
If this card has an equip card connected to it, you can throw away that equip card to destroy a spell or trap your opponent controls. This is a great way to get rid of annoying spell/trap cards.
And that’s still not all. On top of that, you can send a card you have equipped to the graveyard once per turn to special summon a dragon of level 7 or lower from your graveyard.
There are many good choices here.
9. Noctovision Dragon
In Red-Eyes decks, you always want to have more dragons on the field.
And this card does just that. It also protects you from the effects of other cards.
If you special call a Dark Dragon, you can use your hand to special summon a Noctovision Dragon.
This is great because, like many Red-Eyes monsters, the Noctovision Dragon is LVL7, which makes it easy to get XYZ monsters.
Even in the Graveyard, this card is dangerous.
The reason is that if an effect targets one of your face-down cards, you can get rid of Noctovision Dragon to stop the effect.
Also, if you use Noctovision Dragon as Link material, you can draw a card, which is always a nice treat.
8. Red-Eyes Alternative Black Dragon
Alternative to Red-Eyes Black Dragon and Red-Eyes Black Dragon work well together and can force your opponent to make this hard choice.
Do they really want you to have a monster with 4800 ATK or not?!
You can sacrifice a Red-Eyes Black Dragon from your hand or field to special summon a Red-Eyes Alternative Black Dragon from your hand.
This monster has the same attack and defense stats as REBD, 2400/2000, and when it is killed, you can special summon a Red-Eyes monster from your graveyard with a level of 7 or lower.
This reaction is strong on its own.
But if you special call the Red-Eyes Black Dragon, it comes out with twice as much ATK.
There aren’t many monsters that can beat a beast with 4800 ATK.
7. Red-Eyes Fusion
Polymerization is often much less useful than archetype-specific fusion cards.
This card is no different.
Red-Eyes Fusion lets you fusion summon a card from your extra deck using materials from your hand, field, or deck, as long as one of the materials is a Red-Eyes Black Dragon.
The name of any monster that is called this way is changed to “Red-Eyes Black Dragon.” This means that cards that help monsters with that name will also work.
Just remember that the turn you use this card, you can’t call any other monsters. Which can make you exposed if your opponent messes with you, so think about a long-term plan.
6. Red-Eyes Fang With Chain
Want a trap card that can help your own monsters or be used against your opponent’s monsters?
If so, Red-Eyes Fang With Chain might be for you.
This is a unique and powerful trap that you can give to one of your Red-Eyes monsters to let it hit twice per battle phase.
It’s a good effect, but this card’s great power comes from its second effect.
If this card is equipped to one of your monsters, you can send Fang With Chain to the graveyard and equip one of your opponent’s monsters to one of yours instead.
Your monster also gets the ATK and DEF of the monster it is equipped with. This card is a great way to deal with strong monsters on the field.
There are a lot of things you can do with this card. And you can often win outright if you take your opponent’s boss monster and hit it hard.
5. Red-Eyes Slash Dragon
This hybrid monster is why you want to include Gearfried, the Iron Knight with Red Eyes, in your deck.
The Red-Eyes Slash Dragon has a good 2800 ATK/2400 DEF on its own. And when a Red-Eyes monster makes an attack, you can equip this card with a Warrior monster to give it 200 more ATK.
This effect isn’t nearly as strong as this card’s quick effect, which is very dangerous.
If a card effect you control targets a card you control, you can remove that card by sending an equip card you control to the graveyard.
If your opponent isn’t ready to lose a card to deal with it, this monster protects your whole field from effects.
4. The Black Stone Of Legend
I hope you’ve seen in this list how well Red-Eyes decks can use resources from the trash.
You can play easily from there with a lot of cards, but this one may be the best.
When you pay a tribute to the Black Stone of Legend, you can special summon an LVL7 or lower Red-Eyes monster from your deck.
This is a powerful ability on its own, and it lets you use almost any monster in your deck.
The thing that makes this card so good, though, is that its effect in the Graveyard lets you put a Red-Eyes monster with a level of 7 or less back into the deck.
If you do that, you can put this card right back into your hand, so you can use it again whenever you want.
3. Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon
Now, this card is so good that it is used in decks that have nothing to do with Red-Eyes.
Yes, it is that strong.
Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon has a good 2800 ATK and 2400 DEF, and it’s easy to special summon since all you have to do is get rid of one Dragon monster you control.
The thing that makes this card so dangerous, though, is that it lets you special summon a dragon monster from your hand or graveyard once per turn.
Many effects like this one are limited in some way.
But the look of Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon just says “Dragon.”
This effect is just amazing, so it makes sense that at the time this piece was written, this card could only be in one deck. Not hard to understand.
2. Red-Eyes Flare Metal Dragon
Cards that make it hard for your opponent to use effects are always good.
But with a good 2800 ATK/2400 DEF and some graveyard effects, this XYZ boss monster has everything you could want.
It’s also easy to call the Red-Eyes Flare Metal Dragon, since it only needs 2 LVL 7 monsters. And you have a lot of them in your Red Eyes deck.
Even though this card has material, card effects can’t remove it. This makes it very hard for your opponent to deal with.
And even that isn’t the best part!
Your opponent takes 500 damage every time they use a card or ability.
This is terrible for a deck with a lot of effects, and your opponent might make a mistake just to avoid the burn damage.
You can also take a piece of this card away to bring a regular Red-Eyes monster from your graveyard into play. So, yes, there’s a lot to like about this.
1. Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon
It would be hard to put this card anywhere but at the top of the list.
This monster can do a lot of different things, but you can only have one of it in your deck at a time. It has even been banned in Japan!
Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon is a Fusion monster made from a Dark Magician and either a Red-Eyes Black Dragon or a monster with the Dragon effect.
Dark Dragoon has great stats, with 3000 ATK and 2500 DEF, and it can’t be targeted by card effects or killed by them.
As if that wasn’t enough, you can kill a monster during your main phase and deal burn damage equal to that monster’s attack. If you used two normal monsters to make the fusion summon, you can do this twice.
The most surprising thing about this is that those aren’t even the best results!
Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon also has a quick effect that lets you cancel the effect of any card, trash that card, and gain 1000 ATK.
This monster can turn the tide of a battle on its own, whether you’re winning or losing. Because of this, it easily takes the top spot on this list.
