In the words of doctor Nick, "Hi, everybody!" Anyways...

I'm a first time tip giver(er) so if this is applauded or even "dissed," as long as ppl are reading them i'll keep writing more.

Rant Time {you don't have to read this [really, you don't (it is unnecessary <check selling on that last word "to be honest i have no idea if this makes sense">)]}

    One of the most satisfying things in yugioh is the act of destroying your opponents cards. However even more satisfying is knowing that even if your opponent had a hand of full of awesome cards, he would be unable to stop you. In other words: ULTIMATE POWER!!! The simplest ways to do this are through OTK's, which have been frowned upon by Upper Deck as shown by the banning of cards such as Magical Scientist, Yata Garasu and Butterfky Dagger- Elma. I am not saying i disagree with these bannings but if we could find different locks that are cappable of thriving in today's metagame, even if not eons ahead of the competition, we could stress the boundaries of what is playable and unplayable. In a dream world every theme deck would be at tournament level. In the first round of your local tournament you might face a spellcaster deck in the first round, a chaos deck in the second round and then in the third a Sacred Phoenix/Harpy Lady hybrid. However almost all cards are deemed "unplayable" by the mass yugioh playing populus, leaving a handful of "broken" cards to select from. I put broken in quote marks because broken cards are cards that work exceedinly well in nearly all decks. In what deck would Raigeki be a hinderence? Offhand, i cannot think of any (if you can, good for you but that is no the point) which leads me to believe that Raigeki is broken. Now i know you must all be yelling at me because there are many cards that fit into this category, most of which are in your decks at this moment, but i did not say that all of these cards should be banned. By my definition, many broken cards are only 1:1's and generate no card advantage and these are not huge deals to be allowed. Cards like Smashing Ground are good, but they are not insanely good. However cards like Mirror Force, that can generate +1's and even higher, are the epitimy of broken. Most of these cards SHOULD be banned and many of the ones that are not currently banned have good reasons as to why they are not. Let's start off with Heavy Storm. This card can be used to gain card advantage very easilly. Just play it when your opponent has two more M/T cards then you do. You gain at least a +1. In my mind there are two main reasons why this card is not broken. (yes i know i sound like a hypocritte, saying it is broken one second and its not the next) The first reason ,and the lesser one, is that there are few M/T destructino cards that are worth playing. We have Heavy Storm, MST, Dust Tornado, Breaker and Mobius. Without it we would have 1 less. Actually i think that's ok so forget that last point. However the more importnat reason is that it forces players to play more conservatively. Knowing that your MST and your Sakuretsu Armor could both be destroyed at once, most players only have 1 or two set M/T cards at a time. This puts a mental hadicap on them, restricting them from playing all of their cards. This also makes players think more before they set a card, wondering whether or not, at times, soley Heavy Storm could be in their opponents hands. Another card that has the same effect on the metagame is Mirror Force. Knowing that all their monster cards could die in a single blow will make them think their moves out more carefully. This ranting is starting to lose focus (lol starting) so without furthur ado, my Dragon/Lv deck, featuring the grandaddy of locks (ok father, yata's the grandaddy) Horus the Black Flame Dragon.

Total: 40

Monsters: 22

Horus Lv. 4     x3

Horus Lv. 6     x3

Horus Lv. 8     x2

Armed Dragon Lv. 3 x2

Armed Dragon Lv. 5 x2

Jinzo                x1

Treeborn Frog x1

Masked Dragon x3

Troop Dragon x3

Spirit Reaper  x2

Spells: 13

Snatch Steal    x1

Mystical Space Typhoon x1

Graceful Charity x1

Heavy Storm   x1

Premature Burial x1

Scapegoat       x1

Swords of Revealing Light x1

Level Up!       x2

Smashing Ground  x2

Traps: 6

Call of The Haunted x1

Mirror Force   x1

Torrential Tribute x1

Sakuretsu Armor x2

Royal Decree  x1

Now to explain my choices...

Monsters:

    Obviously im going to include the Horus monsters but why did i choose the 3:3:2 lineup? A thing many people neglect is that Horus lv. 6 can be tribute summoned. The more chance to get lv 6 out, the more to get out his higher level counterpart. However seeing all the high level monsters already in the deck, it seems like you are setting yourself up for defeat. This is true. Occasionally with this deck you will get bad draws filled with high level monsters. However more than most of the time you will get low level duplicating monsters to tribute. There is a reason that Treeborn Frog was creatde. Utilizing treeborn frog 2 or more times in a single duel makes it so easy to get out those Hours'es. Coupled with the low number of M/T's if you draw Treeborn Frog, your opponent will have a MUCH harder time of winning the duel. Troop Dragon is in there for the same purpose: tribute fodder. He also fits the dragon theme which allows for him to be summoned via Masked Dragon and the use of Stamping Destruction. Masked Dragon is also here for tribute fodder but more importantly because of his excellent combo with Armed Dragon Lv. 3. Speaking of the Armed Dragon familly, why did i only use the 2:2 lineup? The best feature of Armed Dragon is his combo with Masked Dragon. Without that he is just not as a good of a monster is Horus. Sur his attack is higher, but his effect isn't as good. The lv 7's effect will moslt likely come up only with scaegoat. Once your opponent sees him they will set their monsters so the effect won't do anything more thsan the level 5. However for those Spirit Reapers, Aremed Dragon does wonders. Even for other monsters yourr opponent may have, because you can tribute your Horus'es and Jinzo as the cost. Then insert Premie or Call. Basic but effective combo. Speakling of Reaper, he provides eccelent stall. If it doees come down to top decking for a low level monster he helps a lot, maybe buying you a few turns to draw one. Or you can use his other effect to gain card advantage, he is a truly amazing card. Jinzo becomes saintly when Horus lv 8 is out. No spells OR traps? that's just cruel. In most decks i'd go with Mobius but without as much spell destruction coming jinzo could survive longer.

Spells:

    Basic staples in here. Snatch steal gains some extra use as tribute fodder (brain control might even work here...) as does Premie if you dont already have a powerhouse in your graveyard. Graceful helps dump monsters a little bitr more. The only other cards that need explaining are the Level Up!'s and Stamping Destrucitons. Obviously the Level Up!'s can be an amazing way  to strengthen your monsters and Stamping Destruction makes up for the lack of Breaker and Dust Tornado. With all the monsters and the Royal Decree, those cards become less practiacal. The Spells are pretty Straightforward so i won't say much else.

Traps:

    I decided to throw in the Royal Decree to try to get that lock working more often, so the trap count is low. (with the low trap count it also makes it easier to kepp a small # of cards in the deck) WIth it in there i put in the basic Mirror Force, Torrential and Call but i decided it needed some defense with the low attack 4 stars so i put it a Sakuretsu Armor also.

Overview:

This deck definately has some synergy, making basic staples become even more effective, but the amount of high level monsters is risky and may lead to bad top decking.

If you want to make any suggestions or even hate mail (idc that much) plz feel free to do so at jtduelist@aol.com

If i get enough feedback i'll right more articles.

Until next time!

-JT