DARK
4Red-Eyes Retro Dragon
Archetype:
Red-Eyes
ATK:
1700
DEF:
1600
View:
4632
If a Level 7 or lower "Red-Eyes" monster(s) you control is destroyed by your opponent's attack or card effect and sent to your GY, while this card is in your hand: You can Special Summon this card in Defense Position, and if you do, Special Summon as many of those destroyed monsters as possible in the same position they were in when destroyed. You can Tribute this card; you can Normal Summon 1 "Red-Eyes" monster during your Main Phase this turn in addition to your Normal Summon/Set. (You can only gain this effect once per turn.)
Red-Eyes Retro Dragon — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 65 ± 5 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 64 · Deck: 67 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Extender · Secondary: Combo enabler, Recovery/Recursion, Material body
Why it scores here
Red-Eyes Retro Dragon is a mid-tier extender and recovery tool, not a primary engine. Its hand-based recovery effect rebuilds the board after opponent destruction of lower-level Red-Eyes monsters, providing situational resilience rather than explosive tempo. The tribute effect grants an extra Normal Summon—a useful but conditional tempo tool that is break-even in resource cost. Across 328 decks heavily concentrated in Red-Eyes variants (55%+), the card is featured in Red-Eyes guides as a core card, confirming strong archetype fit; however, the absence of combo data prevents verification of whether the tribute effect drives complex lines or serves as fringe utility.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 75 | 328 decks run it with 95% co-occurring alongside Red-Eyes Fusion and 88.7% alongside Red-Eyes Black Dragon, indicating strong searchability within Red-Eyes; hand-based recovery effect is live when a Red-Eyes destruction trigger occurs. (verified) |
| Combo & Conversion | 58 | The tribute effect enables one extra Normal Summon per turn (a tempo tool, not a full board combo), and the recovery effect returns destroyed monsters without generating new resources; no combo data provided to verify conversion depth or board impact. (inferred) |
| Resource Economy | 68 | Recovery effect returns multiple destroyed Red-Eyes monsters to field without cost (strong utility when destruction occurs); tribute effect is break-even (trade card for summon); synergizes with Red-Eyes GY recursion engines. (inferred) |
| Effect & Interaction | 20 | The card provides zero negation, removal, or hard opponent interaction—it is purely defensive (recovery) and tempo-focused (extra summon), unable to disrupt opponent plays. (verified) |
| Material Utility | 65 | Level-4 Dragon with 1700 ATK is usable as fusion/synchro material and within Dragon-based engines; destroyed copies can be recovered and converted to material in follow-up plays, though the tribute effect itself sacrifices the card. (verified) |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 60 | Hand-based recovery is inherently resilient to negation; however, the recovery effect only triggers on Red-Eyes destruction (archetype-dependent), and the tribute effect requires an available Normal Summon, making both situational. (inferred) |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 72 | Runs at 1–3 copies with roughly even distribution (125 decks at 1x, 102 at 2x, 101 at 3x), indicating multiple copies are acceptable without garnet concerns; highly synergistic within Red-Eyes but archetype-specific. (observed) |
Calculation
Weight profile: 0.7 Extender + 0.3 Combo enabler (dual-effect card blended). Intrinsic ≈ 64, Deck ≈ 67, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: Archetype specificity penalty (-1). Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck
Strengths
- Strong hand-based recovery for Red-Eyes destructions, rebuilding board after opponent pressure without cost
- Synergizes well with Red-Eyes recursion engines and Fusion support (95% deck co-occurrence with Red-Eyes Fusion)
- Acceptable at 1–3 copies without garnet/brick concerns; redundancy is valued
- Once-per-turn tribute effect enables extra Normal Summons for deck-thinning tempo
Weaknesses
- No opponent interaction or disruption; purely self-benefit oriented with zero negation/removal
- Recovery effect is highly situational, triggering only when Red-Eyes monsters are destroyed
- Tribute effect is break-even resource exchange (trade card for summon), not a net card advantage
- Archetype-dependent; weak outside Red-Eyes and dragon-focused decks despite 30 archetype appearances
- No combo data provided; depth and reliability of tribute-based combo lines unverified
Counters / choke points
- Effects that prevent destruction (Prohibition-type cards) neutralize recovery value
- Negation on-field activation blocks the tribute-based extra Normal Summon
- Fast combo decks that out-tempo the recovery mechanism before it resolves
Best use
Extender and recovery grind tool; secondary combo enabler via tribute effect. Decks: Red-Eyes (primary home), Dark Magician (occasional secondary, 8.8% of sample), Odd-Eyes (occasional secondary, 8.5% of sample).
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: Card text clear and present (two distinct effects: recovery and tribute-based summon enabler); 328 decks run the card; 95% co-occur with Red-Eyes Fusion (strong synergy confirmed); Featured in Red-Eyes guide as Core Card (archetype centrality verified); Red-Eyes archetype membership confirmed in card properties
- Observed: 55.5% of deck sample is Red-Eyes variants (162 Red-Eyes decks, archetype concentration confirmed); Avg 1.93 copies per deck with roughly even distribution across 1/2/3 (redundancy acceptable); Appears in 30 distinct archetypes (broad cross-archetype presence observed); Gameplay type 7 (61.9% of decks) suggests control/grind-focused builds align with recovery value; StatisticsCard shows 100% inclusion in Harpie and Red-Eyes (small samples, potential outliers)
- Inferred: Recovery effect rebuilds board after destruction without cost (inferring resource economy from text); Hand-based activation is resilient to negation (inherent property of hand-phase triggers); Tribute effect is secondary role due to once-per-turn clause and card sacrifice cost (inferring from text weight and structure); Dragon/Level-4 body provides material utility (standard assessment from type and level)
- Data gaps: No combo evidence supplied (combo conversion is text-only inference; board impact unverified) No banlist token provided (assumed unlimited at 3 copies legal) No top-card rankings (metagame presence unconfirmed) StatisticsCard shows 100% inclusion in Harpie/Red-Eyes; archetype sample sizes unknown (may not be representative) Card appears in 30 archetypes but concentrated 55%+ in Red-Eyes; role quality in other archetypes unclear