Forum:Dragons Lockdown Deck Advice

Hey everyone, before I begin, I must say that I am just getting back into the game after a while and this is the updated version of my old deck. I underwent 5 major revisions of this deck, so I have considered a lot of cards and debated/play tested to make sure which cards work and which don’t. However, I am just getting back into this so I haven’t considered any of the new cards such as those found in the new structure decks. However, I am still in the process of improving it, and I am quite unfamiliar with many of the new cards that have been recently released (especially the XYZ type cards) so I really do need some advice on what cards I should use/exclude/think about etc. I have play tested this deck quite a bit and honestly I am winning more than I am losing. However, when it comes to facing XYZ decks it’s either a hit or a miss, as of course this deck is quite outdated so I know it could be improved. First, I will attempt to explain what the main strategy/theme of my deck is and then I will try to describe what kind of improvements I'm looking for.

First of all this is first and foremost a dragons deck. I am highly hesitant to add other types unless it improves the deck significantly. For example, I use Shiba because it doesn’t get destroyed by battle. It gets me out of troubling situations when I need to draw a few more cards or helps me to do an easy tribute.

Secondly, I would consider this to be a decent lockdown deck, as I use Horus to negate spells, Royal Decree for traps, 2 Golems to prevent attacks and King Dragun for negating monster effects. I would like to block out monster effects outright, but the only monster I know that does this is Destiny Hero – Plasma. Of course, that monster doesn’t work very well for obvious reasons.

Now the strategy for this deck is broad, as I had designed it to be as versatile as possible without compromising the dragon/lockdown theme. The first best thing to get into play is future fusion selecting FD as the fusion monster. The 5 cards selected can change depending on the hand and field, but ideally you would want to remove the White Stones, Red Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon, Red Eyes Wyvern (both red eyes are a must), Horus LV 6 and if the situation calls for it then either a Golem Dragon or Divine Dragon Ragnarok. From there getting Red Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon on the field is a breeze and preferably, you would want to get Horus first to be able to negate spells. If you are lucky to have Royal Decree then at this point, it is almost a game winning situation because now you can safely get the high-level monsters into play such as FD and Blue Eyes Ultimate and it is very difficult for the opponent to retaliate without the aid of spells/traps. This is the basic flow of this deck and often it is the winning situation.

My first attempt at making this deck was to base it around King Dragun as his effect is quite an effective lockdown on its own, but unfortunately, in play tests the opponent would easily knock it down due to the low attack. This is why I only have one of each fusion materials as I only use it if the situation calls for it. It is however quite effective to use King Dragun in conjunction with the Golem lockdown. As the masked dragons can be sacrificed to get Golem on the field or if they are in the hand, King Draguns Effects helps to bring them out faster. There are of course more strategies than this but hopefully this gives you some prospective of how this deck is to be used.

Some quick comments on what kind of improvements I’m looking for:

• I want to bring about future fusion and royal decree faster into the field. This is why I have 2 copies of Gold Sarcophagus and Different Dimension Capsule each. I feel as though there are better ways to do this so I need some help here.

• I tried alternatives to Royal Decree such as Jinzo, but royal works far better in my opinion. However, since it has been a while for me, are there other better methods of negating traps that will work with my deck?

• I also want to find other way of getting the 2 Red Eyes in the graveyard, as they are the ones that speed up the flow of the deck and often lead me to win the game, so what must I do to bring these into play faster?

• Should I eliminate King Dragun outright? I don’t use it as often as I would like to but I still feel as though it work well with the deck. What are your views?

• Maybe this deck is too broad? Should I remove some cards to narrow down, yet speed up a specific strategy?

• I would like to keep the deck at 45 cards, is it a problem if I go over or should I try to reduce it to 40?

• Any other cards you feel I should add/remove?

I know it is a long post but I really want to improve this deck as best I can, it is whole-heartedly my deck, and I have yet to see someone else using the same strategies as I do.

Anyway thanks for reading, and thank you even more to those that decide to help.