High-Speed Riders is bringing a bunch of old and new Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s cards, including those used by the king himself! Jack Atlas’s Red Dragon Archfiend has many powerful forms, and five of the best ones are present here in HSPR – including two brand new ones!

The original Red Dragon Archfiend was one of the very first Synchro Monsters introduced in The Duelist Genesis. Even today it has some of the highest ATK around, and its destructive effect is still very powerful. Really, “destroy all your opponent’s Defense Position monsters” is never a bad thing to have on hand! As a generic Synchro Monster with a great Type and Attribute, Red Dragon Archfiend can find a home in many Extra Decks. Just remember that Red Dragon Archfiend demands that you go on the offensive – it’ll destroy of your monsters that didn’t attack, during the End Phase.

Red Nova Dragon was the first Synchro Monster to require two Tuners – pair them with Red Dragon Archfiend to unleash this powerful monster! Red Nova Dragon can’t be destroyed by your opponent’s card effects, and its mighty 3500 ATK goes up by 500 for each Tuner in your Graveyard. Counting the Tuners you used to Summon it, Red Nova Dragon will usually have at least 4500 ATK! Finally, if your opponent declares any attack while you have Red Nova Dragon, you can banish Red Nova to negate that attack. Red Nova will come right back in the End Phase!

Packing the same stats as the original, Hot Red Dragon Archfiend has an effect to compliment that of the first Red Dragon. Rather than destroying Defense Position monsters, Hot Red Dragon Archfiend wipes out all other Attack Position monsters instead! Hot Red Dragon may destroy your own monsters, so put them in Defense Position to save them. Only Hot Red Dragon Archfiend can attack the turn you use its effect, so you don’t lose anything by putting your other monsters in Defense Position.

And now, here they are, the two new Red Dragons of High-Speed Riders: Hot Red Dragon Archfiend Abyss and Hot Red Dragon Archfiend Bane! Both of these new Hot Reds are a combination of one Tuner and one DARK Dragon-type Synchro Monster. You can use the regular Red Dragon Archfiend or Hot Red Dragon Archfiend to Summon these new monsters, or you can also use any other DARK Dragon Synchro.

The Level 9 Hot Red Dragon Archfiend Abyss has the ability to, once on either player’s turn, negate any of your opponent’s face-up cards. This works like the effect of Contrast HERO Chaos, so you can use it against an activated Normal Spell/Trap as well. That will help it to trigger its second ability: if it inflicts battle damage, you can Special Summon a Tuner from your Graveyard in Defense Position! Use those new Tuners for more Synchro Summons, while you negate the cards your opponent would use to stop you! You can even use Abyss’s effect to get a Tuner and upgrade Abyss into our next monster!

Finally, the Level 10 Hot Red Dragon Archfiend Bane has two effects to make all your best Red Dragon Archfiend combos possible. First, you can Tribute a monster to Summon any “Red Dragon Archfiend” monster from your Graveyard! That includes all variations – as long as they have “Red Dragon Archfiend” in their name. This effect alone makes Bane a way to deal massive amounts of damage, and it makes it easier to play cards like Scarlet Security.

Bane’s second effect is like a bigger version of Abyss’: When Bane deals battle damage, you can Special Summon, in Defense Position, two Tuner monsters that share a Level! One comes from the Graveyard, and the other from the Deck. Pair this effect with Bane’s first effect, and you’ve got a ton of options!

You could use one of the Tuners to pay the Tribute for Bane’s first effect, then combine the other Tuner with your new monster to make Abyss or another Bane. Or, use a different monster for Bane to revive Red Dragon Archfiend, then combine it with both of your new Tuners for Red Nova Dragon!

All of these forms of Jack’s beloved Red Dragon Archfiend can be found in High-Speed Riders­, along with many more of his cards. Thanks to the new Hot Red Dragons, a Red Dragon Archfiend strategy has never been more viable! You’ll be able to pick them up, and much more, when HSPR hits on Friday!