April 2007
Horus vs. Armed Dragon - Cameron

Hey everyone,

I'm back, and sick of people wondering which is better: Horus or Armed Dragon. In reality, both are equally good. They were released in the same set and are equally powerful tools for 2 completely different strategies. If you're an aggro player, you'll prefer Armed Dragons and will probably be able to build a better Armed Dragon build than a Horus build.

The opposite is true if you're a control player, Armed Dragons won't appeal to you as much because they have no built-in protection. Horus does, and to a control player the only thing better than self-protection is protection that stretches out to the rest of the field. Horus's effect doesn't just make him harder to destroy, but harder for your opponent to fight back against anything.

Here's an example of each deck, just to show you what a good Armed Dragon Deck can do for an aggressive player, and what a Horus Deck can do for a control player:

Armed Dragon Deck
40 Cards

Monsters x21
Armed Dragon LV3 x2
Armed Dragon LV5 x3
Armed Dragon LV7
Armed Dragon LV10
Exploder Dragon x2
Fusilier Dragon, the Dual-Mode Beast x3
Masked Dragon x3
Mirage Dragon x2
Spear Dragon x3
Twin-Headed Behemoth

Fusion Monsters
Cyber End Dragon
Dark Balter the Terrible
Five-Headed Dragon x2
King Dragun x2

Magic Cards x12
Dragon's Mirror
Future Fusion
Heavy Storm
Metamorphosis x2
Mystical Space Typhoon
Pot of Avarice
Premature Burial
Snatch Steal
Stamping Destruction x3

Trap Cards x7
Call of the Haunted
Light of Intervention x3
Mirror Force
Ring of Destruction
Torrential Tribute

This deck makes use of Light of Intervention to keep all monsters face-up so the Armed Dragons can work properly, it also has access to Five-Headed Dragon should the need arise. Fusilier Dragon must have been made for the Armed Dragons. One mistake players continuousely make is putting high-level monsters in Armed Dragon Decks to discard and take down big monsters. LV7 and LV10 (optional, I just put it in for fun) are already dead draws as it is, and the 3 LV5s are also just as useless if you have nothing to tribute. Fusilier Dragon has 2800 ATK in your hand, but can double as a 1400/1000 blocker if you're top-decking or just lost your field to a Mirror Force. Also, Metamorphosis can be used with LV5 to bust out Balter for Monster Effect and Spell negation, and can be used with a Fusilier Dragon for King Dragun to Special Summon a LV5 or other Dragon to swarm the field under the protection of the King. Also, Armed Dragon LV10 can become Cyber End Dragon for a surprize finisher.

Now on to the Horus Deck:

Horus Deck
40 Cards

Monsters x19
Exploder Dragon x2
Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV4 x3
Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV6 x3
Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV8 x2
Masked Dragon x3
Mystic Swordsman LV2 x3
Mystic Swordsman LV4 x2
Twin-Headed Behemoth

Fusion Monsters
Five-Headed Dragon x3

Magic Cards x18
Confiscation
Dragon's Mirror x2
Future Fusion
Heavy Storm
Level Modulation
My Body as a Shield x3
Mystical Space Typhoon
Pot of Avarice
Rush Recklessly x3
Shrink x3
Snatch Steal

Trap Cards x3
Royal Decree x3

This deck is for the other end of the spectrum, a control player would just love to lock down all of the opponent's Magic and Trap Cards, then further deny him/her of their set Apprentice/Old-Vindictive Magicians with the Mystic Swordsmans. This deck also has access to Five-Headed Dragon, and although this is called a control build there is a paradox regarding these Dragons. Aggro players are usually the ones to use Decree with Rush/Shrink, however it fits better here because the Horus Dragons level up by killing monsters in battle, the Armed Dragons do better without Royal Decree because LV3 needs a little protection if not brought out by Masked Dragon.

Those differences aside, Horus is definitely the soul of any control-based Dragon-user. The same goes for an aggressive Dragon-user, Armed Dragons will be their friend for life. Up until Soul of the Duelist was released, Dragon-users like me had to be aggressive. I'm a control player, so the release of Horus is something I thank Konami/Upperdeck for. Have fun with these two archetypes, and remember that neither one is better. It' just your playstyle that determines which one you like better.

Send your questions, comments, etc. to cjrwaud@cogeco.ca. Please no hate mail, I'm really a nice guy once you get to know me.