In Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s, we were introduced fairly early on to the latest special group of cards in the Signer Dragons. Where the main series had the 3 Egyptian god cards, and GX has the Sacred Beasts, 5D’s introduces us to the Signer Dragons: 5 Synchro Summon monsters that were Dragon-Type and capable of summoning the Crimson Dragon. Together, they were responsible for helping to seal off the Earthbound Immortals trapped within the Nazca Lines.
For this list, we’re looking at all the anime Signer Dragons, plus several from the manga to round the list out, and ranking them according to their power and overall usefulness in the game of Yu-Gi-Oh!
11 BLACKFEATHER DARKRAGE DRAGON
There are much better ways for a player to load their graveyard up than using this. The manga version of Black-Winged Dragon, it lets a player send up to five cards from the top of their deck to the graveyard whenever they take damage, and the card gains 400ATK for each monster sent.
While today’s monster focused decks would likely make this card pretty huge since it starts out at 2800 ATK, that’s a lot of work just to get a giant beatstick. Most likely it was this card which got destroyed first, meaning the player gets nothing at all.
10 LIFE STREAM DRAGON
The “upgraded” version of Power Tool Dragon is actually a Signer monster. It’s also somehow worse than Power Tool,which has grown quite decent over the years in certain decks. But Life Stream when synchro summoned can make the player’s life points 4000.
It’s optional, which means usually you’ll be gaining life. It stops effect damage entirely, and can protect itself from destruction by banishing an Equip Spell from the grave. Pretty much this is only good because it can stop effect damage, and even that is sketchy.
9 RED DRAGON ARCHFIEND
Who doesn’t love a 3000 ATK monster that’s easily summoned from the Extra deck? At one point, Red Dragon had an effect, but at this stage in the game it’s basically a vanilla monster. If it attacks and destroys a Defense Position monster, it can destroy all Defense Position monsters the opponent controls.
Thing is, no one actually puts things in defense anymore because the game has “evolved” and defense mode means instant losses in most cases. The card’s second effect is unfortunately more likely to activate these days: Destroy all other monsters you control that didn’t declare an attack this turn. If you forget to attack or the opponent has a boss too powerful on the field? Everything blows up.
8 BLACK-WINGED DRAGON
Crow honestly shouldn’t have been a Signer and it’s ridiculous that a bunch of birds got a dragon for a supposed boss monster, but nonetheless. Black-Winged Dragon allows a player to ignore burn damage by placing Black Feather Counters on this monster.
Then once per turn, all the counters could be removed to target another face-up monster the opponent has, and make it lose 700 ATK for each Black Feather Counter and inflict damage equal to the ATK lost by the effect. This card is great against burn-focused decks, but since that’s rarely ever a thing, this card almost never sees any use.
7 BLACK ROSE MOONLIGHT DRAGON
The manga version of Akiza’s Black Rose Dragon. It’s effect allows it to target one special summoned monster the opponent controls and bounce it to the hand if either Moonlight Rose is special summoned, or if a level 5 or higher monster is special summoned to the opponent’s side of the field.
This card is vastly worse than the original version. It targets, which means the really pesky cards someone would want removed ignore this. It also has to have a specific condition satisfied, and it’s only become weaker as monsters that don’t have “Levels” become a thing.
6 ANCIENT PIXIE DRAGON
There was a time when the manga version of this card was legit. It gave players a free card just for successfully placing a Field Spell, effectively replacing the field spell used with a new card.
It can also target a monster in face-up Attack Position and destroy it, getting over the many monsters which can get over it’s 2100 ATK. But for one thing, it requires a field spell to be face up to use this effect, otherwise nothing happens. Second, it’s more targeting removal, which is effective in some cases but not all.
5 STARDUST DRAGON
Stardust single-handedly reshaped the meta around itself when it was released. The ace monster of Yusei of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s, Stardust possessed a quick effect (meaning it could be used on the opponent’s turn) that could negate the activation of any card that destroys a card on the field by sending itself to the graveyard.
Then, during the End Phase it could special summon itself back from the grave. This reduced the usefulness of Mirror Force and ushered in the era of Dimensional Prison, as Sakuretsu Armor completely died to this card.
4 STARDUST SPARK DRAGON
The manga version of Stardust Dragon,the card released several years after the 5D’s era had come to an end. Like Stardust, it dodged destruction and had a quick effect. But unlike Stardust Dragon, Spark forces the player to target a single face-up card they control, and once during that turn that card can’t be destroyed by battle or card effect.
Spark trades the ability to bring itself back and outright negate the opponent’s cards to protect specifically important cards on the player’s field.
3 BLACK ROSE DRAGON
This dragon has been a staple in Synchro decks for years, even now for the most part. Black Rose Dragon had a very simple effect: when it’s synchro summoned, the player can destroy all the cards on the field. It was a very simple way to clear everything if the opponent put too many cards out and overextended.
If the player chooses not to use it’s effect, Black Rose is also able to banish a Plant monster from the grave, then change defense position monster the opponent has to attack, and change its attack to 0. This ability is basically useless, and most people probably forget it was even usable in the first place.
2 ANCIENT FAIRY DRAGON
Only one card on this entire list is banned, both in the TCG and the OCG. Ancient Fairy Dragon was pretty innocent back in the day, but then people realized it could special summon any level 4 or lower from their hand.
It also allows its owner to destroy as many field spells on the field as possible, then gain 1000 LP and add a field spell from their deck to their hand. The shenanigans possible later on thanks to the importance placed on field spells for a while got this card forbidden in both versions of the game.
1 HOT RED DRAGON ARCHFIEND
The original Red Dragon Archfiend destroyed a bunch of Defense Position monsters, only if one of them is run over by battle. With Hot Red Dragon Archfiend, the player can simply activate the effect to destroy all Attack Position monsters during their Main Phase 1.
It’s a little more balanced though, as none of the other monsters a player controls can attack that turn. Having said that, it’s easily the most effective boss of all the Signer Dragons with it's ability to destroy an entire board of monsters.