One of the first things that many fans of the Yu-Gi-Oh! or Yu-Gi-Oh! GX series do when they first discover that the TCG actually exists is to try to build the same deck as one of their favorite characters. I can’t even count the number of kids I’ve seen show up with Dark Magician or Elemental Hero decks and expect to be instantly amazing. Life, however, is almost never that kind to anyone, and 99% of these ventures are doomed to failure. However, this usually isn’t as much a fault of deck design as it is lack of play experience. Sure, I’ve definitely seen a lot of really bad character-based decks, but I’ve also seen a lot of really good ones. Whether or not they perform well in events is determined by which character the deck is based around and the skill of the pilot.

In terms of deck quality, GX has been an absolute godsend for people who enjoy building character decks. Most of the main character duelists in the show have a very large number of their cards released, and a few of them are actually really good. For one, Aster Phoenix’s Destiny Hero cards are quite powerful and have a great support spell that can even work outside of their intended deck (Clock Tower Prison). You may have also heard about a new Aster Phoenix Duelist Pack—scheduled to be released soon—that will bring even more of his best cards to life. Similarly, Zane Truesdale’s Cyber Dragon monsters have been a constant presence in competitive play since their release back in Cybernetic Revolution, and over time, more and more support has been given to the deck type. Even Syrus’ Vehicroid monsters have become a credible threat thanks to recent sets, which brings me to an interesting thought. If there were a format in which players had to play a character deck of some sort from either of the TV series, what deck would everyone immediately flock to?

My money would be on Vehicroids, due to the fact that they have everything a player could want in his or her favor (with the sole exception of Cyber Dragon). In general, the best way to play a Vehicroid deck is with plenty of reactive traps. Supercharge, Sakuretsu Armor, and Widespread Ruin are all great ways to discourage your opponent from attacking, allowing you to beat him or her down with Steamroid, Drillroid, Submarineroid, and others. Players more inclined to combo decks would be more likely to play with Cyber Dragon and Power Bond, and people interested in toolbox strategies would go after the Elemental Heroes. You’ll notice, however, that there’s one major series of monsters missing from my little metagame picture. It happens to be the one that I think would give you the best chance against the rest of the field: the incredible Ancient Gear monsters, as run by the delightful madman, Dr. Velian Crowler.

The thing about the Ancient Gears that makes them such valuable assets is that they guard themselves. For the most part, when you attack with an Ancient Gear monster you know for sure that the attack is going to hit home. The new Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Chimera is an exception to this, but in general, all the monsters you’re going to be attacking with protect themselves while doing so. I’m a huge fan of having large monsters on the field that stay on the field, so when I sat down to decide what kind of character deck I would make, the choice was simple. Before I show it to you, however, I should explain the rules I followed in constructing the deck:

1. At least 20 cards must be used by the chosen character at some point in the show.
2. Your deck cannot contain key cards exclusive to other characters. That means no Cyber Dragon cards in any deck that isn’t based around Zane!
3. Catch-all cards like Mirror Force, Graceful Charity, and Heavy Storm are allowed in any deck despite the fact that not all characters use them. They still count as a card for your character if you’re playing them in the appropriate deck.

(* indicates cards used by Dr. Crowler in the show.)

Monsters: 22

2 Ancient Gear Golem*

3 Ancient Gear Beast*

2 Ancient Gear Engineer*

3 Ancient Gear Soldier*

2 Legendary Jujitsu Master

3 Giant Rat

1 Injection Fairy Lily

3 Nimble Momonga

1 Breaker the Magical Warrior

1 Sangan

1 Treeborn Frog

Spells: 9

1 Graceful Charity

1 Heavy Storm*

1 Confiscation*

1 Limiter Removal*

1 Mystical Space Typhoon

1 Pot of Avarice

3 Ancient Gear Castle*

Traps: 9

1 Mirror Force

1 Ring of Destruction

3 Widespread Ruin

2 Statue of the Wicked*

2 Damage Condenser*

Total Cards: 40        Total Show Cards:  20

The only notable change between this deck and the version that I’d been using until a few days ago is that this version contains a pair of the incredibly useful Ancient Gear Engineer cards instead of the not-so-solid Ancient Gear Cannon. After all, suppressing traps during battle for a turn is good, but suppressing traps and spells and destroying them during an attack while their controller is helpless is much better. In fact, I have a strong feeling that the Gear Engineer is going to see a lot of play in side decks very soon, with possible main deck appearances in decks that also run Last Will. For more on why Ancient Gear Engineer is really quite excellent, make sure to check out this week’s School of Duel after you’re finished here.

I originally built this deck back in late July/early August as a fun little diversion from my general builds that could beat Chaos variants, but my local players laughed at the idea of even trying to build a character deck, so my Crowler deck spent the rest of the summer in my bag. It stayed there until October when I accidentally pulled it out for a practice match thinking that it was my usual tournament deck (another unfortunate side effect of not sleeping the night before a tournament). Despite the initial shock I received as I drew my opening hand (“Wait a minute, those aren’t counter traps!”), I managed to pull through and win the match—against the Lazaro/Spicer Monarch deck, the very same deck that has defined the tournament metagame since September. If that isn’t an eye-opening revelation of the powers of the Ancient Gear monsters, I don’t know what is.

Most Machine decks are based on hitting your opponent hard and fast. While this deck can certainly deliver in terms of hitting hard, hitting fast is distinctly more difficult when you’re playing with such a high number of tribute monsters. To alleviate this concern and increase the consistency with which I can play my high level monsters, I’ve taken a number of precautionary measures. Like nearly every deck that seeks to play a large number of tribute monsters, I’ve got a set of Nimble Momonga cards. Not only do the squirrels help to maintain field presence for tributes, they can also help recoup some life points if need be. This, in turn, allows me to attack more often with Injection Fairy Lily. In general, Nimble Momonga is the preferred first turn set, but if you continue to have trouble drawing them, there are some other alternatives. Giant Rat is the standard recruiter for decks of this nature, and its ability to bring Ancient Gear Engineer directly to the field makes it even better. The Rat can also get you to a Momonga if need be so you can try to set up for a tribute next turn. Both of these cards can also be fetched from your deck if necessary by Damage Condenser.

While very costly, Damage Condenser can fairly easily get any monster you can special summon out of your deck. Need to bring out your Ancient Gear Beast next turn? Go ahead, fetch Treeborn Frog and let the insanity begin. Want to really punish your opponent for daring to poke you with something tiny like an Apprentice Magician or Old Vindictive Magician? Go fetch Injection Fairy Lily. I’ll bet he or she will really enjoy the prospect of getting hit for around 3000 damage on your next turn. Really. Damage Condenser can even fetch out an Ancient Gear Engineer, and if you follow it up by dropping an Ancient Gear Castle, on the next turn your Engineer will have a nice ATK boost to help it surpass cards like Breaker the Magical Warrior in both ATK and repeatability of effect. I’m already imagining situations where someone attacks for 1600 and I use Damage Condenser, pitching Treeborn Frog and fetching Ancient Gear Engineer. Then on my turn, Frog comes back, I drop a Gear Castle, and I tribute Frog for Ancient Gear Beast. That’s good stuff. It introduces a new level of beatings labeled “quantum” that your opponent feels from deep within the nuclei of the very atoms that compose his or her face.

Hopefully we’ve learned that just because a deck is based on a strategy from the TV show doesn’t mean that it can’t be competitive with the rest of the field. Ancient Gears in particular are excellent cards for combating recent trends, and I would certainly recommend giving this deck a shot, especially if you happen to be a fan of everyone’s favorite aficionado of purple lipstick. Until next time, play hard, play fair, and most importantly, have fun!

Jerome McHale

jcmchale@andrew.cmu.edu

NEXT WEEK: Satellites: not just for observing distant stellar phenomena.