Greetings and salutations to all!! Welcome once again to my den!!!  Glaring yellow eyes and all.

 

Today we continue with what I talked about in my first article.  Last time it was simply explaining how my Horus deck is broken down.  Today we will delve into how it does against 3 in particular decks that are quite popular in today’s meta. And, I’m willing to bet many of you can guess which 3.

 

But first, for a refresher, here’s my deck once again!

 

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

 

I played this at the Columbus Ohio Regional on February 4^th.  We had 259 players which I believe is the biggest turn out of any Columbus regional (not counting SJC’s).  We played 9 rounds of swiss, and in the end I had a 6-3 record.  24^th place, and also had the highest tie breakers of all the 6-3’s.  If I could’ve won one more round, I just might’ve top 8’ed.  Not bad at all.

 

During those 9 rounds, I played several different decks. 

 

A Tomato Control deck.  I won.

A 5^th Gadget Deck: I won

An Apprentice Engine Monarch deck: I won

Another monarch deck: I won

A Tomato/Swap deck w/ Darkworld: I lost

A Chimera OTK deck: I won

A Shrink Deck: I lost

Another monarch deck: I got annihilated….badly

A fiend deck w/ Snipe Hunter and DDV: I won

 

If you want a more detailed report on how these matches went, check out my report on the message board: http://www.pojo.biz/board/showthread.php?t=392674

 

While all the decks I placed were well built, and well played, the three deck types I want to look at are: Chimeratech OTK (namely Team Rampages build, due to the huge amount of netdeckers), 5^th Gadget, and Monarchs, all of which I faced at least once at the regional.

 

Horus Vs. Monarchs

 

Quite possibly the HARDEST matches I had to play against all day.  As you can see, I managed to beat two of them.  Their consistency and power is obvious.  They even have a variety of builds that work.  If they managed to get their Monarchs going, there usually wasn’t much I could do.  If they, however, left me with a smaller monster to hit because they wanted to push for some extra damage, I might have a chance.  My deck needs more support to survive than monarchs.  They just need tribute fodder (Cyber Dragon or Treeborn) and a few monarchs, and maybe one backrow card (though that could interfere with Treeborn).  My deck needs Tribute fodder, Lv6, Decree, plus monster removal and monster protection like My Body as a Shield, in order to thrive effectively.  I usually try to hold off bringing out Horus against a monarch deck because I want to try and make them use up some of their better cards, Zaborgs and Exileds mainly.  Now, of course, if I get a clear opportunity for a big strike with Horus, then of course I’ll take it, but I try to be cautious.  It usually turns out even better if my opponent never sees Horus the first round, as my opponent won’t know what to side.  If they do see Horus the first game, they might be inclined to remove spells and traps in favor of more Zaborgs, and other forms of destruction like Snipe Hunter, which is obviously bad for me.

 

Monarchs is also the reason for the side deck:

 

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

 

As you might notice, with the exception of Torrential Tribute, my side deck is a counter fairy deck.  Solemns, Divine Wrath, and Forced Back ALL combat Monarchs, and Bountifuls help maintain advantage.  The other counter traps are there for more protection from other cards.  If I do decide to side, there will usually be a specific group of cards that I side out. that really won’t flow with Counter Fairy.  Royal Decree namely, Bountifuls go in place of Hydros, and my bodies aren’t needed either.  This side deck can also be used against many other decks too.

 

Monarchs are hard to play against, and even harder to beat.  But if this deck moves fast enough, it can take monarchs down.  But if Monarches get going before Horus does, outside of a miracle Brain Control draw, there isn’t much it can do.

 

Horus Vs. Chimeratech OTK

 

Well, thanks to Team Rampage surprising everyone by Top8’ing 3 chimeratech otk decks at SJC Orlando, I saw several of these decks at the regional, and I played one.  I’ve never liked OTK’s.   To me, I see them just as the easy way out.  This game is about monsters trading blows until in an epic climax somebody wins.  Well……ok, maybe not that dramatic, but you know what I mean.  OTK’s are simply interested in winning every match quick, in one turn, so that they can be one step closer to winning the prize.  Other decks, even other cookie cutter decks, like Monarchs, usually have some degree of fun involved in playing them between you AND your opponent.  I personally don’t see that in OTK’s.  The OTK player might be laughing as he draws his combo and destroys his opponent, but I guarantee their opponent is not laughing, and certainly not having fun, especially when the two players are not team mates or friends.  Anyway, here’s the Chimera OTK Team Rampage played.

 

Monsters: 17

3 Cyber Dragon

3 Cyber Phoenix

3 Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive

3 UFO Turtle

1 Spell Canceller

1 Jinzo

1 Breaker the Magical Warrior

1 Magician of Faith

1 Morphing Jar

 

Spells: 17

3 Enemy Controller

3 Overload Fusion

2 Dimension Fusion

2 Giant Trunade

1 Swords of Revealing Light

1 Limiter Removal

1 Premature Burial

1 Card Destruction

1 Heavy Storm

1 Graceful Charity

1 Future Fusion

 

Traps: 6

3 Jar of Greed

2 Reckless Greed

1 Mirror Force

 

Fusion Deck: 2

2 Chimeratech Overdragon

 

Side Deck: 15

1 Gravity Bind

1 Torrential Tribute

1 Ring of Destruction

3 Snipe Hunter

3 Waboku

3 Royal Decree

3 Des Wombat

 

Yep, if ya can’t tell, this deck is made to just fly through the deck until you draw into the combo cards.  Then you bring out a HUGE chimera, play dimension fusion, and attack for game.  There is no real way to stop the combo once it starts, unless you have Waboku to delay it, or a few Solemn Judgments and a Mirror Force/Torrential to go with it, or if you have a face-down Spirit Repear.  I played a deck that was similar, if not identical to this deck at the regional.  I beat the deck with ease simply because I got out lv8 before the deck could really get started.  If you put the side deck aside for the moment, take a look at the deck.  What can deal with a Horus Lv 8?  Mirror Force.  No Exiled, no Zaborg, no Snipe Hunter.  Mirror Force.  That’s it.  But if a Horus deck is working like it should, then a Decree will be out with Horus.  This chimera deck also doesn’t play any sort of monster destruction in monster form, and all spells would be negated by Horus.  So, this means that if you can beat out their combo with a Horus lv8, there is nothing they can do, except hope to draw Breaker to destroy Decree, but then that means that they likely have Mirror Force.  In that situation, you can just sit there until the opponent decks out, or until you draw another trap negator.  After all, there is nothing their deck can do, unless you decide to attack.

 

To beat these decks, you simply have to keep pushing for damage while hoping your opponent doesn’t draw the combo.  You have to play aggressively, if you play defensively, you’ll lose, almost guaranteed for just about any deck, unless you play with A LOT of defense (Repear, Solemns, Waboku, Threatening Roar).  But even then, you need to be able to follow it up the following turn with offense.  Or, you can play Horus and watch as Lv8 cripples the Chimera OTK deck.  Just prepare for them to side round 2/3, as I almost guarantee that they will!!

 

Horus Vs. 5^th Gadget

 

As I’m sure you all know, the Gadgets were finally released several weeks ago.  The 5^th Gadget deck consists of 45 cards, on averager , including a bunch of Gadgets, Smashings, Fissures, Hammer Shots, Sakuretsu, and Widespreads, sometimes Enemy Controller and Solemn Judgment.  Some builds might also contain Snipe Hunter and Chiron the Mage.  Plus, all the usual staples, from Breaker to Graceful Charity to Ring of Destruction.  Just keep playing Gadgets, and monster destruction until you win, basically.  Pretty straightforward, but how does it do against Horus?

 

Along with just my general love of Horus, Gadgets were my main reason for running this falcon. Horus just simply tears the deck apart due to this decks love of 1 for 1 spell and trap cards. Even if I don’t get out Lv8, but have lv 6 out, that makes 6-12, on average, spell cards in their deck worthless (unless I have another monster).  No Smashing, No Fissure, no Enemy Controller.  If I manage to get out lv 8, then that’s roughly 15-20 cards that are worthless.  On the opposite end of things, if I get out Decree/Pitch Black, then that’s another 10 or so card that they won’t be able to use. Obviously, only one of these by themselves isn’t that bad for Gadgets, as they should be able to escape it.  Put these two together and watch as 25-30 cards become dead draws.  That is huge.  That’s more than 50% of the average Gadget deck.  So, what in a Gadget deck has the potential to pull them out my lock.  Well, Exiled Force, as always is a problem, but hopefully I’ll have My Body for that.  Solemn Judgment can help, but that’s only if it can knock out Lv6’s summoning, or Royal Decree/Pitch Black. Remember that Solemn Judgment can NOT be used against Horus Lv8’s summoning because you have to use it against the card that is summoning Lv8, which is impossible.  Another card is Chiron the Mage/Breaker the Magical Warrior to destroy Royal Decree.  But probably the BIGGEST pain is Snipe Hunter without a doubt.   It can take out Horus, Pitch-Black, Decree, anything I have on the field for the cost of any discard. Gadgets don’t mind losing an extra card or two, especially when they are staring down a Horus/Decree lock.  My Body can’t be used because Snipe isn’t guaranteed to destroy something.  But at least I have a 1/3 chance of having lv8 survive.  And if he does happen to need a few extra cards due to unlucky dice rolling, then all the better for me.  I’ve had a Snipe Hunter fail 5 times in the same turn to destroy Lv8 before…..as you might imagine my opponent lost soon after.  I haven’t seen him run Snipe Hunter since. 

 

So, let’s add it up.  Breaker/Chiron/Solemn Judgment.  At most that’s 7 cards.  15% of the deck, solemn doesn’t help once cards are already face-up on the field.  And Breaker and Chiron on knock out Decree, which can be replaced. And remember, considering Ring of Destruction was already used up, the Horus player can usually wait for another trap negator to come up if he has Horus lv6 or 8 on the field.

 

Now, as for dealing with Horus itself, the Gadget deck has 2 Exile Forces and 2-3 Snipe Hunters.  5 cards at most.  11% percent of the deck.  11% of drawing an answer to Horus.  That isn’t very good.  And to add to it, 2 of them can be My Body as a Shield’ed, and the other 2-3 have a possibility of failing. 

 

Keep in mind that there could be other cards in a Gadget deck that could break out of this lock, but this list is based on what I see MOST often.  I also excluded cards from the calculation such as MST and Heavy Storm as I am assuming worst case scenario with Lv8 and Decree out.  Obviously if it is just Lv6 and Decree, a Gadget deck’s outs increase by a few.

 

But, seriously, look at those percentages.  A total of 26% of drawing a possible answer, and not a single one of those cards are guaranteed to pull a Gadget deck out of a Horus/Decree lock.  If you knock out Decree, usually the Horus player can wait for another.  Exiled might be My Body’ed, and Snipe could fail.  Horus is the obvious favorite.

 

So, there you have it.  How Horus does against other popular decks of the format.  I’ve been playing Horus for over 2 years now.  Despite what people say about it, it usually does me pretty well.  The yu-gi-oh! public may never consider it Tier 1, but I think I’ve shown it can compete with Tier 1 decks.  And I applaud anyone who takes a walk on the wild side and plays Horus too!

 

Lastly, I would like to thank to the reader’s who have already sent me ideas for articles.  Keep them coming!  Send them to me by e-mail at lonely_wolf93@yahoo.com or send me a PM on Pojo’s Message board.  I obviously won’t be able to write about all of them, but some of them I can certainly try to use over the next couple of months.   Thanks again!!

 

From the Den,

 

Wolfy