INTRO
RDA. Resonators. Whatever you want to call them.
Surprisingly, this rogue deck actually has quite some power even in the current state of yugioh. I don't really care why you specifically chose this deck but by Ra's will I will make sure you love it. I'm not too big on words so I'll cut to the chase.
T/N: The current decklist follows the 70/30 rule of 70% engine 30% non-engine. If you want to exchange some handtraps, please do, but stick to this rule - only 30% maximum should be non-engine!
ESSENCE OF THE DECK
The deck's essence revolves around big fxckin' beatsticks with nuke effects. It's the most high testosterone deck you could possibly play (besides ojama). Let's go over our key players:
Red Supernova Dragon : The biggest lad of the deck. Ideally you want to bring this guy ASAP since he has an effect that banishes EVERY SINGLE CARD your opponent controls, and is a quick effect, upon an opponent's monster's effect activation or attack. It also has stupid ATK, with minimum 5500 on summon (due to requiring 3 tuners, and 3*500 atk bonus = 1500; 4k +1,5k = 5,5k - if you can't comprehend this much I suggest retaking primary education)
Tyrant Red Dragon Archfiend : The reason I run this guy is because he does not need a DARK Dragon non-tuner to be synchro summoned, and is an easy board nuke (destroying every card rather than banishing though, and on both sides of the field). So yes, if you run out of options and both players are bricking, you can, in fact, normal summon Ash Blossom to bring out this guy if you really have to.
Hot Red Dragon Archfiend Bane : Often seen with his little brother, Hot RDA Abyss. This guy is really just a glorified beatstick, but it has a nice effect to tribute any one monster on your side of the field to bring out an "RDA" monster from the grave. If you summon him by using Abyss and a lvl 1 tuner, if you have another random monster on the field, you can use his effect to bring out Abyss. Speaking of;
Hot Red Dragon Archfiend Abyss : A hard once-per-turn omni-negate. Really damn useful, often used by non-RDA decks simply because it's so awesome. But make no mistake, if you run this card without a resonator engine I will personally launch a boulder through your window and beat you over the head with a lead pipe.
Void Ogre Dragon : Another negate, but specifically for backrow. Just make sure your hand is empty when you have him on the field, so his effect is online.
Scarlight Red Dragon Archfiend : Another board nuke WITH BURN. "Destroy every special summoned monster on the field with ATK equal to or less than 3000, and deal 500 burn for each". If your opponent happens to be low on life points (maybe they summoned Ra or are just a reckless player) you can use this guy and potentially even some of your own monsters to active Scarlight's effect and deal some harsh burn. If the opponent has Baronne, and if you've managed to already bait out Baronne's effect, this card will absolutely assrape Baronne. Speaking of;
Baronne de Fleur : Generic omni-negate with a bonus destruction effect. Really easy to bring out btw, just be sure not to get locked into DARK Dragons from one of the other cards if you do try to summon him.
Bystial Dis Pater : Another generic negate with useful banish-retrieval effects. Also a DARK Dragon, very handy.
Scarred Dragon Archfiend : Another nuke... if used in a synchro summon. When it goes to the grave by card effect, it also summons bland RDA, which can be used to go into all other sorts of cards including generic Red Nova.
Unfortunately, Hot Red Dragon Archfiend King Calamity is banned in the TCG, but if you are using this for Master Duel, he is still online there. Do swap him in if you can, and get rid of Red Nova if you do.
Now let's take a look at how we bring out our key players with some sample combos.
COMBOS
All combos revolve around Red Rising Dragon in this deck. This card is the chokepoint of the deck, but good Lord is it handy. All starting synchro summons should go into this level 6 synchro.
Some examples: Crimson Resonator (lvl2) + any lvl 4 non tuner = Red Rising. Soul Resonator (lvl3) + Bone Archfiend (lvl 4 BUT has effect to change level) = Red Rising.
When making Red Rising, it is important to have crimson resonator in the graveyard by some metric. if using the Soul Resonator + Bone boy combo, send crimson to the grave with bone boy and lower one of the cards' levels to get a total of 6.
Once RRD is on the field, use its effect to bring crimson back from the grave, and then activate crimson's effect to special 2 other resonators from the deck, ideally either 2 level 2s (Vision Resonators) or 1 level 1 (Chain or Synkron) and 1 level 3 (Soul). With that set-up, that's an instant Red Supernova. Once Supernova is on the field you are more or less set, I would go fish for a Red Zone at this point (using Vision Resonator's effect or Crimson Gaia), since it has a banish-retrieval effect that can bring back Supernova as soon as it uses its effect.
The above combo is the go-to. Obviously, if the times call for it, you can go into different monsters, you can even use soul + bone to go into a level 8 instead of a 6 if need be. I'm not going to go over every other possiblity, but if you are keen on undertaking RDA and learning it to gobsmack META and Anti-META players alike, please consider joining this discord (discord.gg/nVBWTxXs5g) and ask any questions you would like. Alternatively, you can leave any questions in the comments and I will try my best to answer them. If you are found running RDA with Bystials or some baloney like that, we will forcefully explode your scrotum.
This has been brought to you by the Dodo Dojo school of RDA.
Last Update: 19th March 2024 after 3 years of not touching this decklist