Hello to all.  My name is Lonely Wolf, but most call me Wolfy, or just Wolf. Welcome to my den.  Come on in.  You might notice some glowing yellow eyes in the darkness.  Don’t worry, those are just my wolf buddies.  They probably won’t hurt you, unless they get hungry, which could be anytime now.  So, anyway, while you’re here, you’ll be learning about a variety of decks, strategies, and other bits of useful information concerning the game of Yu-gi-oh! Hopefully you will come out alive with some more yu-gi-oh! know-how.

 

For my very first article I’ll be reviewing my absolute favorite monster of all time, and the deck I used it in during the recent February 4, 2007 Columbus, Ohio Regional.

 

So, before we go any further, here is the deck.

 

Horus Lockdown Version Who knows, I’ve played different versions of it for over 2 years

 

Monsters: 20

1x Horus the Black Flame Dragon Lv8

3x Horus the Black Flame Dragon Lv6

1x Horus the Black Flame Dragon Lv4

3x Cyber Dragon

3x Hydrogeddon

2x Pitch-Black Warwolf

1x Magician of Faith

1x Breaker the Magical Warrior

1x Sangan

2x Exiled Force

1x Spirit Repear

1x Twin Headed Behemoth

 

Spells: 17

2x Brain Control

2x Rush Recklessly

1x Pot of Avarice

1x Graceful Charity

1x Mystical Space Typhoon

1x Heavy Storm

2x Enemy Controller

1x Swords of Revealing Light

1x Nobleman of Crossout

2x My Body as a Shield

1x Book of Moon

1x Premature Burial

1x Scapegoat

 

Traps: 4

2x Royal Decree

1x Ring of Destruction

1x Mirror Force

 

Side board:

 

3x Bountiful Artemis

3x Solemn Judgment

2x Divine Wrath

1x Mask of Darkness

1x Trap Jammer

2x Forced Back

1x Torrential Tribute

2x Negate Attack

 

In this article I’ll be reviewing this deck in detail, and, in a later article, comparing it to some of the current top and/or popular decks of the meta.  But before we begin, here is a bit of Egyptian history and myth.  Despite what Upper Deck and Konami called it, Horus is actually an Egyptian Falcon God, not a Dragon.  He was the younger god of the sun, with Ra being the older one.  This means that Horus is a relative of the Egyptian God Cards that we all know, love, but can’t play.  Anyway, on with the review.

 

The whole idea behind this deck is to control what the opponent can do.  Almost all decks do this to certain extents, but this one goes to a particular extreme.  If you can manage to get out Horus Lv8 spells become worthless to the opponent, on average that is going to take out anywhere from 25%-50%.  That is HUGE.  Combine that with either Royal Decree and/or Pitch-Black Warwolf negating traps and you have a deadly combination making anything other than a monster draw virtually useless.  They can set all the back row cards they want, unless they set a monster, I know I can attack without any worry whatsoever.

 

So, now I’m going to go through this deck card by card.  Explaining why it’s there, and why it works.

 

The Breakdown:

 

Monsters:

 

Horus Lv8: Ok, yea, I know.  It’s a nomi monster.  This is the only card in the entire deck that is always guaranteed to be a dead draw.  Only running one of these harms, but helps that deck almost equally at the same time.  It hurts the deck because by only running one of this deck’s feature monster means once it’s dead, it’s dead (unless you Pot of Avarice) and if it gets Removed from the Game, than it’s REALLY dead.  So, running two would help with getting more than one out in a game, if the first got killed.  But, by running 2 or more, you have a higher risk of drawing these dead cards.  I know this through countless builds and many MANY game loses!!!  That aside, once this card hits the field, it’s obviously REALLY good.  3000 attack, and negate any spell card (Except Spiritualism, and who plays that?) for absolutely nothing, even in the damage step.  You just say “Activate Horus lv8’s effect to negate XXX” and it’s negated, simple.

 

Horus Lv6: Obviously, yea can’t get out lv8 and without this guy.  And while it isn’t as powerful it still has a lot going for it.  2300 is almost to monarch range, and makes destroying pretty much any non-monarch or non-repear monster in battle to get out lv8 easy.. He also has an immunity to spells, which means that it can attack through Swords of Revealing Light, Messenger of Peace, not be switch by Level Limit Area B, it can’t be smashing grounded, or Enemy Controllered, Creature Swapped, Brain Controlled, Soul Exchanged.  The list could go on and on.  It also is great with Premature Burial, as once it’s on the field, Premature can’t destroy it if Premature is destroyed.

 

Horus Lv4: 1600 attack, can’t be brain controlled, or Creature Swapped.  Not great, but not bad either.  If it attacks a defense position monster, more than likely it can destroy it for a level up. 

 

Twin Headed Behemoth: This decks “Treeborn Frog.”  I can’t run the real thing because of Royal Decree, so Behemoth is one of the next best things as it makes for an easy Lv6 tribute.  Plus, with 1500 attack, it can hold it’s own. 

 

Pitch-Black Warwolf: This lil buddy of mine was just reviewed recently for the card of the day.  A smaller, limited effect Jinzo/Royal Decree.  Works great in this deck for obvious reasons, and plus, it’s a wolf!!!!   It belongs in my deck!!! : )

 

Hydrogeddon: This card is here to build up field presence before Horus comes out, or to clear the field of threats before I risk attacking with Horus.  I’d much rather have my Hydrogeddon’s attack blocked by a DDWL, than lose my Horus to a DDWL, in most circumstances.  Hydrogeddon also works real well with Decree and Pitch-Black

 

Magician of Faith, Breaker, Sangan, Repear, Cyber Dragon, and Exiled Force: The reasons these are in the deck should be pretty much self explanatory.

 

Spells:

 

Brain Control:  One thing I’ve always noticed is that I always seem to draw Lv6 when I’m already facing down a Monarch on my opponents side of the field.  By packing two of these, I can take the monarch and tribute for lv6.  And Lv6’s immunity to spells guarantees that my opponent can’t follow suit the next turn for some revenge.

 

Rush Recklessly: Since Shrink is so hard to come by, Rush Recklessly is the next best thing.  It can do well with just about every monster in my deck other than Lv6 and Reaper (though I suppose  Magician of Faith doesn’t get much out of it either)  I can chain it to an attack to a Cyber Dragon on my Hyrdo, Lv4, or Twin Headed.  Giving me an incredible field position, plus, possibly, another Hyrdo, or Lv6.  Rush can also kill an opponent’s Repear.  Or it can make an opponent’s Hydro or counter-less breaker fall prey to a “harmless” Sangan.

 

Pot of Avarice:  The reason for this is pretty obvious.  As it lets me re-use my good creatures, namely lv8, which as I mentioned before is a nomi, and running more than one is dangerous.  It’s also obviously a very bad opening hand draw, so be wary.

 

Swords of Revealing Light: Here for stall, and to flip up my opponent’s creatures so I know what I’m having my Horus run into.

 

Enemy Controller: If you look at my trap count, you see 4.  Two of them don’t even cause any destruction.  So, I gotta defend myself don’t I?  I can use this on my Goat to take their monarch to tribute for lv6.  I can use it on their Goat to push for damage.  Or, I can put their high defense/low attack or high attack/low defense monsters in the weaker position so they are easy to kill.  Plus, it’s chainable, so it can make a Mobius not as deadly, at least for the moment.

 

My Body as a Shield: Ok, yea, this card has a heavy cost to it.  1500 life is not something you want to give away.   You have to make sure you are saving something worthwhile when you run this.  Whether that be a Horus Lv8 from an Exile or a face down Magician of Faith from a Nobleman of Crossout.    It’ll work against Mirror Force, Ring of Destruction, Torrential, Zaborg, and many more.    It proves to be especially effective when Lv8 and Decree are on the field.  If they opponent just Special Summoned Cyber Dragon and tributed it for Zaborg, or used priority with an Exiled Force, you can my body that, and all of a sudden, they can’t play traps, spells, and their summon for the turn was wasted meaning they just gave you an open door to their life points more than likely.

 

Scapegoat, Graceful, Mystical Space Typhoon, Premature Burial, Nobleman of Crossout, and Book of Moon: All great cards that I don’t think I need to explain why they are here.

 

Traps:

 

Royal Decree:  This trap (and it’s cousin, Pitch-Black Warwolf) is the other half of the deck’s main purpose.  To limit what your opponent can play.  It negates other traps, simple as that.  It works great with Horus and Hydrogeddon.

 

Ring of Destruction and Mirror Force: Even with two Decrees, these two cards are too powerful to pass up. 

 

So, what missed the cut?

 

Monsters:

Zaborg the Thunder Monarch:  Once this deck gets rolling, the biggest threat is a face down creature. Opposing monarchs are another problem a Zaborg could deal with.  I just simply could not find room for it. (Plus, I currently don’t own any).

 

D.D. Warrior Lady and D.D. Assailant: These were really close to making the cut as they could really help handle monarchs, but I decided against them in favor of Pitch-Blacks/Hydrogeddons with Rush Recklessly.  I could have easily made this a more toolbox related deck, but with certain decks floating around I decided against the toolbox lineup.

 

Apprentice Engine (Apprentice Magician/Old Vindictive Magician): The reasoning behind not running these was similar to my reason for DDWL and DDA.  There are certain decks that required me to change the build of my current Horus deck.  About a month ago, my Horus deck was running the Apprentice Engine.  I think in a different format, it would work nicely.  The apprentice engine really help deal with Monarchs, and they make great tribute fodder for my Horus.

 

Spells:

 

Smashing Ground/Fissure: Mainly for dealing with Monarchs, or face-up recruiters, but again there was just no room.

 

That’s about it, however, in the next set there is one card that could really help this deck.  It didn’t really “miss the cut” since we don’t have it yet, but I’ll include it anyway.

 

STON-JP046

 Card Trader

 Magic - Continuous

 You can add a card from your hand and shuffle it into your deck during your Standby Phase, then draw a card from your deck. This effect can only be activated once per turn.

 

As I’m sure you’ve noticed, I’ve referenced Lv8 to be a dead draw. So, with this nifty lil spell, you can shuffle it back into your deck and draw a different card (hopefully).  Another key aspect about this deck is that once Lv8 and Pitch-Black and/or Decree are out on the field, the number of dead draws increases. 

 

You really don’t need Mystical Space Typhoon, Heavy Storm, Scapegoat, Mirror Force (if Decree is out), Ring (if decree is out), and Brain Control isn’t so good because, unless they have a Reaper, more than likely you won’t have a monster to Brain.  Card Trader would let you draw a new card that might help you deal with your face down threat.

It is continuous though, and doesn’t activate til the Stand By Phase, so will be waiting a turn before you even get a chance to use it, making this card very weak to s/t removal.

 

Traps:

 

Torrential Tribute: The only trap that didn’t make the cut that could have.  I have just never really liked it all that much.  Plus, you really have to watch out what traps you run in this deck, and I’ve just never had a good feeling about this one.

 

All the other traps, such as Sakuretsu Armor or Widespread Ruin, simply don’t have a powerful enough effect to warrant running it alongside Royal Decree.

 

So, there you have it.  My Horus Lockdown deck.   Shutdown half the opponent’s deck, then push for a win.  I hope you have enjoyed my first article.

 

I realize that we still have the side board to look over, but that was made for a specific purpose: to combat against one deck in particular. But, my hands are tired of typing. So, we will save how this deck does against other decks in today’s meta in my next article!  And you’ll also learn how it did at the regional too!!!

 

Until next time readers!

 

From the den,

 

Wolfy

 

P.S.  I could really use ideas for articles.  I only have a small handful of ideas at the moment.  If ya got one for me or you want to tell me what you thought of this article, send me a Private Message on Pojo’s Message Board, or you can e-mail me at lonely_wolf93@yahoo.com.