My Top 10 Favourite Raidraptor Cards

Raidraptors are cool. So cool in fact that if I were to remake my Top 10 Favourite Yu-Gi-Oh! Archetypes list, I'd probably put Raidraptors as my new Number 1 in place of Ancient Gears.

The Raidraptor archetype is a powerful archetype of Winged Beast monsters (which never made sense to me. They're CLEARLY Machines, so why are they classed as "Winged Beasts"?) that rely heavily on swarming tactics, powerful Rank-Up-Magic Spells that get them into their higher Ranked XYZ evolutions and for having devastating effects that can shut down your opponent in the blink of an eye. They also have reliable backrow that can help in their swarming tactics or in negating an opponent's plays if necessary.

The archetype is most famously used by Shay Obsidian in the Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V anime, and while I hated that series, I really liked Shay and watching him duel was what convinced me to build and play my own Raidraptor deck. The designs of the raptors all look so awesome and upon researching them and looking up all the insane combinations you can pull off with them, I knew I had to get those cards for myself.

And that's what this list is all about. These are the Raidraptor cards I love playing the most whenever I duel with this archetype and these are the cards that make me love the archetype in general. So without further ado, let's rise up and soar through the skies on wings of courage and bear our talons ready for the revolution! These are my Top 10 Favourite Raidraptor cards...

Number 10: Raidraptor - Strangle Lanius

This card has a bit of a weird name when you think about it. Raidraptor - Strangle Lanius? What kind of name is that? Looking at this thing, I'm not sure if it'll be able to "strangle" anybody. It doesn't even have hands! XD

Weird name aside, this card is essential for any Raidraptor deck. Not only does it have decent attack points for a Level 4 monster, but it's great for setting up your board for Raidraptor XYZ Summons. You see, its effect allows it to be Special Summoned from the hand if you control a DARK attribute monster. Raidraptors are DARK attribute monsters, so already that's a plus. And if that wasn't handy enough, Strangle Lanius even has an ability where if you control an XYZ monster with a DARK XYZ monster as material, you can target a Level 4 or lower Raidraptor monster in your Graveyard and Special Summon it, albeit with its effects negated. This can be useful in setting up even more XYZ monsters to summon or even just giving yourself more monsters to attack with. Those are same damn nifty effects and it's why this card is so vital for a Raidraptor deck.

The design is great too. Keeping in with the bird-mech theme, it also looks somewhat Star Wars-ish in its design too. Maybe it's the wing design as to why I think that? I don't know, but it kind of looks like something the droid army in those films might've used to fight the Jedi with. In any case, Strangle Lanius has that look in where you wouldn't want that thing to be pointing its guns at you.

With its great design and awesome effects, Raidraptor - Strangle Lanius is an awesome card to have in the deck and easily one of my favourites for how useful it is.

Number 9: Raidraptor - Brave Strix

The first of many, many, MANY XYZ monsters the archetype has to offer, and you better believe plenty of them will make this list!

Anyhow, Brave Strix is a Rank 5 XYZ monster, and an incredibly useful one at that. While it might seem odd to have this in the deck considering most Raidraptor monsters are either Level 3 or 4 and this requires two Level 5 monsters to XYZ summon, the archetype has Rank-Up Magic spells and the effect of Mimicry Lanius to overcome that. Anyway, Brave Strix is incredibly useful because of its effects. While 2000ATK and 2500DEF are fine enough stats to attack or defend with, the effects are where this card really shines. If you XYZ Summon using this card as material, the Raidraptor monster that has it as material gains attack points equal to its rank x 100. That's a neat way to give your monsters more attack points if you need them. But then it gets REALLY juicy! You can detach 1 material from Brave Strix and set a Raidraptor Spell or Trap directly from your deck, or you can detach 1 material from this card if it has a Winged-Beast monster as material and add a Rank-Up-Magic Spell to your hand. With these effects, you can either set up backrow to disrupt your opponent's plays or use a Rank-Up-Magic Spell you've added to your hand to get even more powerful monsters on the field. That's pretty busted! With this play alone, you can Rank-Up-XYZ Summon by using a Rank-Up-Magic Spell on this card and get a stronger Raidraptor monster while also giving it extra attack points! That alone shows why this card is an absolute necessity to have in a Raidraptor deck.

The design is awesome too with its blue colour scheme and how it looks like this huge mechanical owl. It's like if Clockwerk from the Sly Cooper games was made into a Yu-Gi-Oh! monster. The giant wings are my favourite part of the design as giant wings always look awesome on a creature.

Awesomely designed, incredibly useful and with great effects that can benefit your Raidraptor monsters, this is a monster that braves whatever challenge it's up against in any duel you play...

Number 8: Raidraptor - Vanishing Lanius

This was one of Shay's most commonly used cards in the anime, and it's a must-have in ANY Raidraptor deck.

Vanishing Lanius might seem unimpressive with its meagre 1300ATK points, and design wise it's not the best looking Raidraptor monster out there. But its effects are another story. It has a once per turn effect in where during your Main Phase, if this card was Normal or Special Summoned this turn, you can Special Summon one Level 4 or lower Raidraptor monster from your hand. The best thing about this is that it's not a hard once per turn effect either, so it gains floating effects that can help in summoning more Raidraptor monsters too. For example, if you have two or three copies of Vanishing Lanius in hand, you could pretty much summon them all at once and if you have any other Raidraptors in hand, you could summon that one as well. Vanishing Lanius's effect is extremely handy for setting your board up for XYZ Summons and since some of the Rank 4 monsters they have need two or three Level 4 Winged Beast monsters, that's all you'll need to get them out. Shay in particular would use Vanishing Lanius as a means to set up an XYZ Summon for Raidraptor - Rise Falcon, the most notable example being when he took down Dipper, Julia and Kit all in a single blow. That was pretty epic, not gonna lie. :D

Vanishing Lanius is a great card for this archetype to exploit. Its effects make for easy swarming and setting up XYZ Summons and that's exactly what's needed to play this archetype to the best of its abilities. Your opponent's chances of winning instantly vanish when this bird hits the field...

Number 7: Raider's Knight

This is an...interesting card for the archetype. I mean you take one look at this and you'd think "Hang on, this looks like it belongs in the Phantom Knights archetype! How is this a Raidraptor card"? Simple: it's always treated as a Phantom Knights AND a Raidraptor card! Talk about versatile.

Raider's Knight is a great card, and not only because it can work beautifully in two archetypes at once. Raider's Knight is a Rank 4 monster, so it's easy to XYZ Summon thanks to the Raidraptor archetype having many Level 4 monsters to set up its summoning conditions. Then, you can detach 1 material from this card and Special Summon 1 The Phantom Knights, XYZ Dragon or Raidraptor monster from your Extra Deck that is 1 Rank higher or lower than this card. It does come with a downside unfortunately, that you have to destroy the monster you summoned during your opponent's next End Phase, but that's easy to overcome. If you say XYZ Summoned a Rank 5 monster and had a Rank-Up-Magic Spell in hand, you could use that spell to Rank-Up your Rank 5 monster and thus this card's side effect no longer applies. This card is very handy in getting Brave Strix on the field and using its effects I mentioned earlier to summon an even stronger monster, and if you're using it in a Phantom Knights deck, it's great for getting out any Rank 5 Dark XYZ Dragons too. Imagine being so useful that two archetypes can use you effectively!

The design is fantastic too. It has that classic Phantom Knights look with the ghostly looking knight riding a horse, but it also has a few mechanical features on it, such as the exhaust fumes on the horse's neck that resemble something we'd usually see on the Raidraptor monsters. While the design mostly screams "The Phantom Knights", that extra detail does at least homage the fact it can simultaneously be used for the Raidraptors too, so that's clever.

Raider's Knight is a great card for its versatility and how it can Rank-Up your monsters for free essentially and save your Rank-Up Magic Spells for an even stronger monsters afterwards. This is one dark knight you wouldn't want to face in battle...

Number 6: Raidraptor - Revolution Falcon - Air Raid

One of Shay's most iconic monsters is the Raidraptor - Revolution Falcon. While that's a cool card, I personally prefer this one, which is essentially the upgraded version of Revolution Falcon.

Revolution Falcon - Air Raid is a pretty powerful card. While it has a troublesome summoning condition of needing 3 Level 6 Winged Beast monsters, you can take care of that with Rank-Up Magic Spells. However, you also have another way of summoning it. You can XYZ Summon this card by discarding a Rank-Up-Magic Spell and using a Rank 5 or lower monster as material. If you have a Rank-Up-Magic Spell with a Graveyard effect, that's a handy move to make. and when you XYZ Summon it? Oh, ho, ho, your opponent's in trouble! You see, wen it's XYZ Summoned, you can target a monster your opponent controls, destroy it and then if it was face-up at the time, you can inflict damage to their Life Points equal to the destroyed monster's attack points. That's one way to wreck their board! If you set a Rank-Up-Magic Spell and activate it on your opponent's next turn in order to summon this card, that can really ruin their day. And if that wasn't enough, if Revolution Falcon - Air Raid gets destroyed and sent to the Graveyard, you can Special Summon the original Revolution Falcon and attach this card to it as XYZ material. It's like you're punishing your opponent for getting rid of this card, especially as Revolution Falcon has its own effects that can be pretty devastating to use.

Design wise, it's basically the same as the original Revolution Falcon, but the artwork depicts it as dropping its bombs down on the enemy below, which is no doubt a reference to the anime and how it would attack by doing so. As is, the design is still awesome with its black and silver colours, large wingspan and how it looks like it could level cities with its powerful arsenal. Just imagine an army of these things flying overhead...

Revolution Falcon was great, but Revolution Falcon - Air Raid is even better with its easier summoning conditions, devastating effects and how it punishes the opponent for getting rid of it by bringing out the original Revolution Falcon to take its place and wreck their game. This is an air raid you definitely have to take shelter from...

Number 5: Raidraptor - Satellite Cannon Falcon

I'm sure many Yu-Gi-Oh! fans remember this machine, especially with how it effortlessly tore down Dennis McField's Chaos Ancient Gear Giant.

Raidraptor - Satellite Cannon Falcon is a destructive beast that few duellists would ever want to face. First of all, it has 3000ATK points and that's always something to shudder in fear at. But then you get its effects, and oh boy are they something! If you XYZ summon this card by using a Raidraptor monster as material (which of course you will, nobody would play this card outside of a Raidraptor deck), you can destroy all Spells and Traps your opponent controls. That's already pretty devastating. But it gets even worse for your opponent for they CANNOT activate cards of effects in response to this! And to top it all off, it has a Quick Effect in where you can detach one material from this card and then target a face-up monster your opponent controls. That monster will lose 800 attack points for every Raidraptor monster in your Graveyard, and considering your Graveyard will likely be full of Raidraptors after detaching them to use their effects, you'll be putting that to good use. After all, that's how Shay defeated Dennis's Chaos Ancient Gear Giant in the anime, by using his Satellite Cannon Falcon's effect to drop its attack down to zero. It was a big overkill moment, but a very epic one, and that's a large part of the reason why I love this card.

The design is also great too. The white, red and gold colour scheme give it a majestic, powerful appearance that also makes it look as if it's the leader of the flock. If there was ever an army of Raidraptor machines, this could easily pose as the vessel that belongs to the leader of the squad. Not the whole army of course, that would be the next card on this list, but easily the leader of a squad. It looks suitably armed with heavy artillery, which we'd expected considering its effects, and like it could blast away an enemy fleet in one fell swoop. It just looks so cool!

Cool design, awesome effects, epic showing in the anime, Raidraptor - Satellite Cannon Falcon had no problems earning a spot on this list. In fact, you could say it saw its inclusion here from orbit...

Number 4: Raidraptor - Rising Rebellion Falcon

The strongest monster in its archetype, this is a Raidraptor monster that will have any duellist quaking in their boots.

If Satellite Cannon Falcon looks like the leader of a squadron, then Raidraptor - Rising Rebellion Falcon looks like the leader of the entire ARMY. Its very design just screams "final boss" with how it looks like this giant mechanical beast that dwarfs everything around it and its majestic blue and gold colour scheme is certainly fit for a leader. While I feel it's a bit overdesigned, I still love the colours and the large wings on this beast as it gives Rising Rebellion Falcon a suitably powerful and threatening appearance. It looks as if this thing could just end the war by appearing! Also, with it being the strongest card in the archetype, it's fitting how design wise, it kinda resembles Ultimate Falcon a little, and we'll talk about THAT one later... ;)

Looks aren't everything of course, how about its stats and effects? It has 4000 attack points, so that's already something in its favour as no other Raidraptor monster is that powerful. Its effects are also something that could potentially end a duel in your favour. First of all, it's unaffected by other card's effects. Notice how it just says "other card's effects", meaning it's not specific about what cards its unaffected by, just that it's unaffected by other card's effects in general. This basically means you have a monster that is impossible to get off the field as no card effect works on it except its own. No monster effect and destroy or banish it, and no Spell or Trap and remove it or weaken it. All you can do is PRAY you have a monster with more attack points that can get over it. This card also has other devastating effects. When it's XYZ summoned, you can essentially nuke your opponent's board, and since it's unaffected by other card's effects, your opponent can't stop it. That's pretty wild! If it has three or more Raidraptor XYZ monsters with different names as material, you can inflict damage to your opponent equal to the combined original attack of the destroyed monsters. So if you play your cards right, you could end the duel right there! The downside is that this card is pretty tricky to summon in the first place, so you may not get to use that effect much. The best way to summon it is use Rise Rank-Up-Magic Raidraptor's Force on a few Raidraptor monsters and make sure the total ranks match up to 13. If you have three materials or more attached to this card, you can detach three of those materials and then give it the effects of a Raidraptor XYZ monster in your Graveyard until the end of the turn, which could be handy if you have a Raidraptor with a destructive effect in your Graveyard.

Raidraptor - Rising Rebellion Falcon is a must-have for any Raidraptor deck. Its effects are devastating, its attack stats are powerful and in spite of its tricky summoning conditions, it could potentially end a duel in your favour. The rebellion will truly rise to the occasion and take down its ill-fated foes when this beast hits the field...

Number 3: Raidraptor - Rise Falcon

Can't make a list like this without including Shay's signature card, eh?

For those who watched Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V, this was our first impression of the Raidraptor archetype and what it could do. And needless to say, it set quite a strong impression! Raidraptor - Rise Falcon is a Rank 4 monster that has a paltry 100 attack points, which may seem pathetic at first, but its effects prove otherwise. For starters, it can detach one of its materials and then target a Special Summoned monster your opponent controls. This gives it attack equal to that monster, and when you consider it already has 100 attack points, it quite literally gets one-up over your opponent. Also, it can attack all Special Summoned monsters your opponent controls once each, and considering how this game relies so heavily on Special Summoning these days, you can VERY easily exploit this. Say for example someone has a bunch of Blue-Eyes monsters on the field and you summon this card. You could have it copy the attack points of the strongest monster on the field and then destroy them all at once. To make things even better, you can use its effect again if its still alive in time for your next turn, so its attack points could potentially grow to ludicrously high levels! While it may not have the flashiest effects ever, sometimes in a duel just being able to bludgeon the opponent to death is all you need, and this card can manage it provided the opponent doesn't have any effects to stop its attack. This archetype has good backrow to protect your monsters at least, so it's possible for this card to go unimpeded.

As for the design, it's as classic as Raidraptor designs get. Again, this was one of our first examples of the archetype, and it's quite a striking one at that. The silver, blue and teal deco looks eye-catching and makes it look slick and powerful on the field, the large wings make it look as if it's quite a sturdy flier and the ludicrously large legs give it a threatening appearance. It looks as if it could flatten a building with a single kick! If those talons came my way, I'd crap my pants!

The anime gave this card a cool showing, and it's why it's one of my favourite Raidraptor cards in spite of it being pretty weak compared to most of the other monsters on the list. Its effects may not be the best ever, but it's still one awesome card that I'm happy to have in my position. Any player who plays this card soars on wings of courage with their talons ready for the rebellion...

Number 2: Raidraptor - Ultimate Falcon

I LOVE this thing!

Raidraptor - Ultimate Falcon is a great option for a final boss monster if you haven't got Rising Rebellion Falcon. While it's not quite as strong, it's still a fearsome beast to have in play. 3500 attack points is nothing to sneeze at after all. Plus, it has its own effects that are pretty devastating in their own right. For starters, like Rising Rebellion Falcon, it is unaffected by other card's effects, so once again you have a monster where the only way you'll be able to get rid of it is to hope you can summon a monster strong enough to defeat it. But that's not all! You can detach 1 material from this card and if you do, for the rest of this turn, all monsters your opponent controls lose 1000 attack points and they cannot activate cards or effects. That's pretty crazy and could easily ruin your opponent's game! It makes Ultimate Falcon a pretty handy monster to summon if your opponent has a particularly strong monster you have to deal with. If it has a Raidraptor monster as material, it also gains an additional effect in where one per turn during the End Phase, it can make your opponent's monsters lose 1000 attack points and if they control no face-up monsters, it inflicts 1000 damage to their Life Points. This in turn makes Ultimate Falcon a fantastic card to use if you're going first as you can essentially hurt your opponent before it's even their turn. That's pretty handy, wouldn't you agree? ;) Rising Rebellion Falcon may have more powerful effects, but I prefer this card due to it being easier to summon and its effects are easier to pull off too as you don't need a specific number of materials to use them.

Design wise, it's easily the best looking of the Raidraptors and has one of the best card arts of the entire archetype. The blue and gold colour scheme looks GORGEOUS and really gives Ultimate Falcon this kind of regal appearance, like it belongs to royalty or something. It also looks like a well-armed machine that could take down armies all by itself. If Rising Rebellion Falcon belongs to the leader of the army, this would easily belong to the second-in-command of that same army, no doubt about it. Also, is it just me, or does it kinda look a little like Solaris from Sonic the Hedgehog 20006 with its design? You guys see it too, right?

Still, Ultimate Falcon is one of the best cards for this archetype and one of my favourites for many reasons. It looks incredible, its powerful, it has useful effects and is a handy back-up if you can't get Rising Rebellion Falcon out on the field. It's truly the ultimate card to have in your deck...

And my Number 1 Favourite Raidraptor Card is... Raidraptor - Arsenal Falcon

I'm not entirely sure why, but whenever I think of my favourite Raidraptor monsters, Arsenal Falcon often comes up. I can't really say why it's my favourite of the bunch, it just is. But I'll at least try and say why it's my favourite.

The name itself is pretty awesome, as is a lot of the Raidraptor names out there. I mean just say "Raidraptor - Arsenal Falcon" out loud, doesn't it just sound powerful? The design also makes it look powerful too. It looks like this mighty eagle (or should I say falcon) that could carpet bomb your forces before you've even had time to register the fact its heading towards you. The brown, green and silver colour scheme also looks great on it too, making it look quite eye-catching and it stands out from other Raidraptor monsters as they mostly have blue, silver or gold on them.

Stats wise and effects wise, it's got some good ones to help you duel your way to victory. First of all, 2500 attack points is decent, if a bit standard, but even 2500 attack points can go a long way. Second of all, you can detach a material from this card and Special Summon a Level 4 Winged Beast monster from your Deck, which can help in setting up further XYZ summons or even just giving you more monsters to attack with. Also, it can attack up to as many times as it wants per Battle Phase depending on the number of Raidraptor monsters it has as material, so it could do a lot of damage if it has a sizable number of materials at its disposal. But then comes the absolute best part: if this card is sent to the Graveyard while it has a Raidraptor monster as material, you can Special Summon a Raidraptor XYZ monster from your Extra Deck except Arsenal Falcon and then attach Arsenal Falcon to that monster as material. You may notice that it's NOT specific on what monsters you can summon, only that you can't summon another Arsenal Falcon. This means you can use this card as a quick and easy shortcut to getting your boss monsters on the field, namely Ultimate Falcon or Rising Rebellion Falcon. I often find a useful tactic to be to have this thing attack a stronger monster so it destroys itself and then use its effect to get Rising Rebellion Falcon on the field and come in for the kill. It's amazing how busted this effect can be if used right!

And I think all of that is why I consider Arsenal Falcon as my favourite Raidraptor card. Its design is awesome, its effects are awesome, it's useful for setting up XYZ summons or getting your strongest monsters on the field and as a Rank 7 XYZ monster, it's very unique amongst other Raidraptor monsters. This is a card I'm always happy to have in my arsenal. Raidraptor - Arsenal Falcon, my Number 1 Favourite Raidraptor Card...

And that's all I have for this Top 10 list. I hope you enjoyed it and I invite you all to share your thoughts down below. What Raidraptor cards are YOUR favourites? Do tell me.

Next week, the Robot Wars essays return with the career of Firestorm. See you then media fans!

All images belong to the Yu-Gi-Oh! wiki.