Red Dragon Archfiend (archetype)

"Red Dragon Archfiend", known as "Red Daemon" (レッド・デーモン Reddo Dēmon) in Japan, is an archetype used by Jack Atlas in the Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's anime and manga, Fake Jack Atlas, and an alternate dimension Jack Atlas in the Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V anime series.

The archetype is a sub-archetype of the "Archfiend" archetype, and primarily consists of Jack Atlas' Signer Dragon, "Red Dragon Archfiend", and Duel Dragon, "Hot Red Dragon Archfiend", and their upgraded forms in the anime and manga, respectively.

This archetype is the rival to the "Stardust" archetype, used by Jack Atlas' rival, Yusei Fudo.

Playing style
Compared to the more passive "Stardust Dragon", which specializes in negating card effects and over all defense, the archetype has a more smash mouth strategy, revolving around destruction, Special Summoning Tuner monsters and a dominating field presence. The archetype has tremendous synergy with the "Resonator" archetype, making for a very effective Synchro engine.

Skilled players can very quickly Summon "Red Dragon Archfiend" and use it as a bridge to the more powerful monsters. Because of its aggressive style, it meshes very well with cards like "Dark Highlander" (for Special Summon locking) "Black Rose Dragon" and its counterpart, "Black Rose Moonlight Dragon" all while reaping the benefits of Synchro Summoning. This provides a lot of raw muscle for overpowering the opponent and ample opportunity to force them into a corner early on. From there, cards like "Red Nova Dragon" come into play - not only does it gain 500 ATK for each Tuner monster in the player's Graveyard (it will gain at least 1000 ATK just from Synchro Summoning it), but it has the ability to banish itself to negate an opposing monster's attack and return at the end of the next turn, slowing down the opponent's offensive.

Weaknesses
The archetype has rather lackluster personal defense, requiring the staple toolbox of Traps and Spells to stay alive in a crisis. One who plays the archetype has to be wary of Decks that outpace it.

The Deck can be rather easily defeated by anti-Synchro or anti-Dragon archetypes. This makes it especially vulnerable to the "Meklord" and "Buster Blader" archetypes. Cards like "Raigeki", "Mind Control", and "Clear Wing Synchro Dragon" quickly prove invaluable. With "Vanity's Emptiness" a staple in the metagame, cards like "Mystical Space Typhoon" and "Galaxy Cyclone" should be considered mandatory to the Deck's survival in the endgame.

While Special Summoning is very easy with this archetype, it can still be outpaced by committed Pendulum Decks. At that point, it becomes something of a war of attrition with both sides scrambling to Special Summon as often as possible.