Disaster Dragon

Gameplay
Disaster Dragon is an Aggro Control deck that plays disruption strategies mixed with lockdown and high aggression to gain and maintain control of the board. It carries a lot of momentum and explosive power as the deck can consistently drop two or more monsters per turn without losing advantage and often times they will be big monsters. This is done through the use of the deck's backbone card, Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon. Weighing in at 2800 ATK, this card is one of the most powerful dragons in the deck, outclassed only by a potential White Night Dragon, or Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon. Red-Eyes' effect allows for the constant recursion of monsters from the graveyard as well as the ability to bypass the Normal Summoning limit and the requirements for Tributes that many decks suffer from. As a result, Disaster Dragon decks are packing some of the most destructive, highest ATK monsters in the present Metagame because they can bypass the tribute mechanic required to summon them.

Through the usage of cards such as Koa'ki Meiru Drago, Exploder Dragon and Light and Darkness Dragon the deck is capable of shutting down and eliminating a majority of plays made by the current popular decks. The deck plays like a toolbox, with Masked Dragon working to recruit the dragons you need for tributes, Synchro Monsters, monster removal, etc and cards like Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon and Genesis Dragon allowing you to reuse, manipulate, or trade dragons around. Cards such as Foolish Burial, Dragon Ravine and Future Fusion allow you to dump dragons into your graveyard faster while also aiding in the deck's inherent synergy, but some dragons such as Yamata Dragon or Light and Darkness Dragon cannot be Special Summoned, thus they are unable to bypass their two-tribute requirement via Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon as most dragons would. Instead, the deck utilizes Totem Dragon, a self-recurring dragon that can act as two tributes in order to Tribute Summon a Dragon-type monster. Being a Dragon itself, Totem Dragon is a viable target to search with Masked Dragon or to dump with Future Fusion. It can also be easily revived by Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon.

The idea with Koa'ki Meiru Drago is to play it after REDMD is on the field, after you complete your own field setup, so that it won't interfering with your own monsters, while putting constant pressure on your opponent by blocking their Special Summon (most meta nowadays are dominated by LIGHTs and DARKs, anyway).

One of the most common analogies for Koa'ki Meiru Drago's usage compares it to a switch, courtesy of a feature match involving Richard Clarke, the deck's creator, where he flipped Koa'ki Meiru Drago on and off the field, allowing himself all the Special Summons and locking his opponent out of any.

Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV8's ability allows it to negate and destroy the activation of any Spell Card(s). This not only restricts the amount of options your opponent has, but can shut down many popular deck types (especially Legendary Six Samurai and Dragunities, as both of them are the most Spell-reliant decks). Even though this deck utilizing the Graveyard, cards like Horus LV Dragon series, Prime Material Dragon, Stardust Dragon, Mirage Dragon, etc. that prevent your opponent from destroying your monsters (and more in the case of Horus LV Dragon and Mirage Dragon) are helpful. Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon is also helpful to get rid opponent's monster that have more ATK than your dragons as you can easily summon this dragon using Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon. It also helps when trying to get rid of your opponent's Gachi Gachi Gantetsu, Number 39: Utopia, Wind-Up Zenmaines, and numerous other troublesome monsters.

Future Fusion (by selecting Five-Headed Dragon) not only allows you to summon a very strong monster in 2 turns, but also enables you to instantly dump 5 dragons automatically into the Graveyard. Therefore, dumping key cards like Red-Eyes Wyvern, REDMD, Exploder Dragon, Totem Dragon, and Genesis Dragon (along with a tuner) will give you a massive advantage, and (providing you didn't Normal Summon or Set anything) can get REDMD on the field if necessary, via Red-Eyes Wyvern. Used with Genesis Dragon, you have the ability to address almost any situation.

With the release of Dodger Dragon in Extreme Victory (TCG Exclusive), Disaster Dragon deck can be even more consistent than before, as it can protect all of your Dragons from the now-commonly-used Counter Trap Cards such as Solemn Warning, Seven Tools of the Bandit, and Solemn Judgment. It can also used as Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon's Summon fodder, and has reasonably high ATK too.

Order of Chaos also gives many Disaster Dragon variants a welcome addition in Divine Dragon Apocalypse, which allows you to add a Dragon from your Graveyard to your hand at the cost of discarding a card. With 1000 ATK, it's an easy Masked Dragon target. However as a DARK monster, it may have some clash if Koa'ki Meiru Drago is on the field. Nevertheless, it easily outclasses and can be used to replace Genesis Dragon due to having a non-specified cost.

Future Fusion also carries synergy with Genesis Dragon. Allowing you to discard dragons from your hand to the grave and retrieve others in a form of reverse tutoring. Genesis Dragon also carries synergy with Yamata Dragon and Light and Darkness Dragon. Both dragons cannot be Special Summoned from the grave, but with Genesis they can be re-summoned again and again. An infinite loop exists with Light and Darkness Dragon and Genesis Dragon in which you tribute Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon and Genesis Dragon for Light and Darkness Dragon. When LaDD dies you bring back Red-Eyes and use its effect to revive Genesis, who returns the Light and Darkness Dragon to your hand. Then, you can sacrifice them both to summon it again and spam LaDD. It's fairly unstable for obvious reasons but the ability to infinitely reuse a monster as powerful as Light and Darkness Dragon is definitely an option the deck has at its disposal.

All in all, Disaster Dragon is a control oriented deck that utilizes a full deck of dragons. As it doesn't rely on any combos to go off, it's by far the most consistent dragon deck and is one of the favored choices online. Future Fusion is the power house dumper of the deck, and, although it's not needed, it kicks the deck into high gear instantly by giving you five dragons of your choice in the grave which is right where you want them. Masked Dragon acts as a recruiter-toolbox engine. Yamata Dragon and Light and Darkness Dragon can rack up a large advantage and disrupt/lock down the field, respectively. Prime Material Dragon covers your dragons from your opponent's destructive attempts. Koa'ki Meiru Drago stops the opponent from Special Summoning powerful Light or Dark-attribute monsters and also acts as another control measure (in most cases). Genesis Dragon allows you to recycle lost dragons, trading in dead ones.

The deck does not pilot itself and requires forethought and careful consideration of options. Every choice made with what you dump, search, and revive can tilt the scales in either player's favour. It plays aggressively, as almost every monster in the deck has higher ATK than opposing monsters. It can utilize this in its favour and play a momentum game. By locking down the opponent's options while you continue to amass your own it is quite easy to take complete control of a duel in a matter of turns.

Variations
Disaster Dragon in addition to its control is capable of assuming many different forms to suit the tastes of a player, often utilizing different tech cards that either accent the deck or alter part of its play style while still retaining its control ability. The most famous and well known version of Disaster is often referred to as Standard which is a well rounded and consistent deck while also serving as the basis for the many different forms the deck can take. It's very balanced in terms of swarming, disrupting, and negating.

Variations includes:

Light and Darkness Disaster
Focusing on lockdown by summoning Light and Darkness Dragon via the Totem Dragon recruitment, as well as recycling him by the effect of Genesis Dragon and Divine Dragon Apocalypse which can create an infinite loop of recycle unless chained by opponent's effect.

Frozen Ray
The only variant that can summon Gungnir, Dragon of the Ice Barrier since it's iconic card is Blizzard Dragon, a perfect attack lockdown and Morphtronic killer. You can also utilize Frost and Flame Dragon since you can easily remove Blizzard Dragon / Dragon Ice and Masked Dragon / Dread Dragon from Graveyard.

Spirit Well
Utilizes Yamata Dragon which acts as a gateway for advantage through battle with the reward of drawing up to 5 cards when Yamata successfully deals Battle Damage. This variant requires Totem Dragon as a consistent tribute fodder for Yamata Dragon.

Catastrophe Dragon
Runs Gandora the Dragon of Destruction to decimate an opponent's field and follow up with summoning Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon. Although not necessary, Totem Dragon and Divine Dragon Apocalypse can help you to recycle Gandora to wipe the field more often.

Egg Turbo
Or commonly referred as "THE SOL", focuses on immeasurable deck speed via drawing power. This is done by utilizing The White Stone of Legend and Blue-Eyes White Dragon with some spell cards such as Cards of Consonance, Trade-In , Advance Draw, and Dragon Ravine. The new Structure Deck: Dragons Collide further increase this variant's power, and will doubly form a new type of Dragon Deck rather than standing as one of Disaster's variant.

Horus Control
Focuses on Spell lockdown via Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV8. Although normally hard to summon, Disaster Dragon can outrun this problem by special summoning LV 6 Horus by the effect of Red Eyes, and further protect it from destruction with cards such as Prime Material Dragon or Mirage Dragon until it reach it's final form. The three mentioned cards above will sure make a perfect lockdown for the opponent. Level Up! will surely helps in this variant.

Assault and Disaster
Utilizes Stardust Dragon/Assault Mode for additional control by recruiting great tuners such as Delta Flyer and Dread Dragon. Delta Flyer are searchable by Masked Dragon, and combined with any LV 4 monsters, it can easily tune for Stardust Dragon, while Dread Dragon can buy more time and also act as a searcher for required materials.

Pandemic Dragons
Incorporates Deck Devastation Virus and Eradicator Epidemic Virus to effectively stop the opponent from Synchro Summoning since most Tuner Monster's are below 1500 ATK, and Eradicator Epidemic Virus serves to shut down either Trap or Spell usage depending on what deck it's up against or user choice.

Many more variations exist and others will come as new cards are released with future sets and Disaster Dragon enthusiasts look for ways to improve the concept.

With the arrival of Structure Deck: Dragunity Legion, it is possible to combine this deck with a bit of Dragunities (most notably Dragunity Arma Leyvaten for Leyvaten Rider build). Beside Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon and Red-Eyes Wyvern, Totem Dragon and Genesis Dragon can be used as an additional auxiliary monster, since this deck also runs Light and Darkness Dragon. Most importantly Dragunity Legion's release allows the deck to run Dragon Ravine to quickly get specific dragons to the graveyard faster such as Totem Dragon in order to set up mid to late game plays; all at the cost of discarding a potential in hand Red-Eyes Wyvern or Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon to the graveyard where they benefit regardless. This greatly benefits the deck, as they now have alternative for the Limited Future Fusion, and gives the deck more consistency, regardless of deck format.

Also the newly released Lightpulsar Dragon, Darkflare Dragon, and Eclipse Wyvern will surely support new variations to born in this deck, although some believe that they will form a new kind of Dragon Deck rather than just variant.

Monsters

 * Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon (key card of this deck, regardless of variant)
 * Red-Eyes Wyvern (Helps Recycle Red Eyes in sticky situation)
 * Delta Flyer (main tuner for Standard build)
 * Totem Dragon (main Tribute fodder, especially in Egg Turbo variant)
 * Exploder Dragon
 * Masked Dragon (main recruiter, especially in Standard variant)
 * Dodger Dragon
 * Koa'ki Meiru Drago (the lockdown powerhouse in this deck, regardless of variant)
 * Prime Material Dragon
 * Vice Dragon / Dragon Ice / Phantom Dragon
 * Genesis Dragon
 * Prime Material Dragon
 * Light and Darkness Dragon (for Light/Disaster and Egg Turbo variant)
 * White Night Dragon

Spells

 * Book of Moon (more than just staple, can flip Koaki Meiru so that you can summon REDM)
 * Future Fusion
 * Dragon Ravine
 * Burial from a Different Dimension
 * Trade-In (for Egg Turbo variant)
 * Cards of Consonance (for Egg Turbo variant)

Traps

 * Burst Breath
 * Deck Devastation Virus (for Pandemic Dragons variant)
 * Eradicator Epidemic Virus (for Pandemic Dragons variant)
 * Solemn Judgment
 * Solemn Warning
 * Champion's Vigilance (for Egg Turbo variant)

Extra Deck

 * Orient Dragon
 * Exploder Dragonwing
 * Iron Chain Dragon
 * Red Dragon Archfiend
 * Ancient Fairy Dragon
 * Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
 * Scrap Dragon
 * Trident Dragion
 * Kachi Kochi Dragon
 * Thunder-End Dragon (Only for Egg Turbo variant)
 * Five-Headed Dragon (use with Future Fusion)
 * Mist Wurm (Non-Dragon)
 * Ally of Justice Catastor (Non-Dragon)
 * Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier (Non-Dragon)
 * Leviair the Sea Dragon (Non-Dragon)

Side Deck

 * Blue-Eyes White Dragon (for Blue-Eyes variant)
 * The White Stone of Legend (use with Blue-Eyes White Dragon)
 * Tyrant Dragon
 * Yamata Dragon
 * Divine Dragon Apocalypse
 * Magna Drago
 * Debris Dragon
 * Decoy Dragon
 * Mystical Space Typhoon
 * Dragon's Rage
 * Torrential Tribute

Weaknesses
Disaster Dragon, while being a very versatile deck, does have quite a few vulnerabilities such as high reliability on the Graveyard. Red-Eyes Wyvern, Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon, Light and Darkness Dragon, Masked Dragon, Totem Dragon, Dragunity Arma Leyvaten and Prime Material Dragon all require use of the Graveyard to take advantage of their effects leaving them extremely vulnerable to a Macro or Chaos deck. Disaster Dragon decks are also extremely weak against decks with more brute force than themselves, such as Machina Gadget, Malefics, or also any deck that can outspeed this deck completely, such as Synchrocentric and Dino Rabbit (due to Evolzar Laggia and Evolzar Dolkka). This deck's obvious reliance on the Future Fusion and Five-Headed Dragon combo makes it vulnerable against much faster-paced decks if you can't get Future Fusion out early. Pot of Duality and Gold Sarcophagus are very useful for getting Future Fusion faster, and in case you can't draw Future Fusion early, you can use Dragon Ravine. Bottomless Trap Hole can also be annoying, since it can easily bainsh Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon as soon as it is Summoned (usually at End Phase, via Red-Eyes Wyvern's effect). Cards such as My Body as a Shield or Forbidden Lance can be used to handle such threats (those cannot be used against Solemn Warning, though).

Another weakness of Disaster Dragon decks is that due to so many variants exist, players often confused at which variant should be played at certain times, although veteran players can overcome this problem. It is also hard for this deck to recovering from misplays, making it not so user-friendly. Despite all the flaws, Disaster Dragon is special, because this deck can freely change variants between Duels, depending on the situation, making it quite adaptive against any of your opponent's moves.