Vendread

"Vendread", known as "Vendead" (ヴェンデット Vendetto) in the OCG, is an archetype of DARK Zombie monsters. It is one of two formerly TCG-exclusive archetypes debuted in Code of the Duelist, the other being "F.A.".

Appearance
The "Vendread" monsters resemble mutated creatures and zombies, common from several horror series, in particular the Resident Evil franchise, as well as a few possible nods to the Spawn franchise and The Thing.

Etymology
"Vendread" is a portmanteau of the words 'Vengeance' and 'Dread'.

Playing style
The "Vendread" archetype focuses on Ritual Summoning. So far, all non-Ritual monsters in the archetype come with two effects, each of which can only be used once per turn: the first effect revolves around the Special Summon of the monster from your GY when a certain condition is met, but comes at the cost of the monster being banished when it leaves the field. The second effect grants a "Vendread" Ritual Monster that was Ritual Summoned using the "Vendread" non-Ritual monster on the field a Quick Effect that enables considerable field advantage. "Vendread Reorigin" is a rather unorthodox Trap Card which enables not only slowing down the opponent's momentum by means other than destroying a card, but also gives the player a way to generate more tribute fodder.

Their first and currently only Ritual Spell Card, "Revendread Origin", is easily one of the most practical Ritual Spell Cards seen in recent times. It is one of only four Ritual Spell Cards which can Ritual Summon the target monster out of the GY, which makes discarding the archetype's Ritual Monsters to activate effects a viable strategy, and enables the spell to act as a recovery option for the archetype's Ritual Monsters after they leave the field. In addition, the Ritual Spell allows the player to tribute monsters whose total Levels may exceed the Level of the Ritual Monster that is to be Ritual Summoned, and enables banishing any Zombie monsters from the GY should one lack the needed monsters on the field or hand. This in turn opens a lot of possible combinations with the "Shiranui" archetype, as well as "Zombie World". Given that "Revendread Origin" has a protection effect that specifically lists and applies to only "Revendread Slayer", this card can be searched by "Pre-Preparation of Rites" which gives the deck the speed which every Ritual Summon deck needs, something that sets it apart from every other archetype-generic Ritual Spell Card that came before it.

"Vendread Reunion", although a Trap Card, acts as another Ritual card, allowing for the summoning of banished Vendread Monsters before immediately tributing them in order to Ritual Summon. This not only recycles banished Vendread Monsters but allows the Ritual Monster to gain additional effects.

Due to the sheer number of generic Zombie support released through the years, "Vendread" have access to a plethora of useful support cards to make up for the small number of their own cards, in particular the likes of "Book of Life", "Gozuki" and "Shutendoji" which tremendously benefit the archetype in terms of resource management and recycling tribute fodder for their next Ritual Summon.