A while back, I wrote an article on the history of Machine decks. At the end of it, I said that they probably weren't going to come back due to the heavy amount of
Scapegoat abuse in the environment. It turns out that I was wrong. The release of the new Ancient Gear monsters in
The Lost Millennium is like Christmas come early for Machine deck players. This week, I'm going to take a look at the new cards in the Machine arsenal and talk about how they could affect you in the coming months.
The Basic Combat Model
Level 4
Earth
Machine
1300 ATK
1300 DEF
Effect: If this card attacks, your opponent cannot activate any spell or trap cards until the end of the damage step.
This card is a basic foot soldier for the new Machine deck. It's a level 4 Earth monster with 1300 ATK, so it's easy to get out onto the field. It's not quite large enough to get hit by
Bottomless Trap Hole, though that card's not-so-bottomless brother can do the Soldier in. It can be special summoned by
Giant Rat when the Beast is destroyed in battle. Like all Machines,
Ancient Gear Soldier can be powered-up by
Limiter Removal, which would make the Soldier big enough to take out nearly any commonly played monster with the exception of
Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning.
What I like about this card and the Ancient Gear monsters in general are their nasty effects. Preventing an opponent from using spells and traps during an attack is a huge benefit—it's one of the main reasons why
Jinzo is so frequently played. The Ancient Gear monsters aren't as damaging to traps as
Jinzo is, but the ability to stop quick-play spells such as
Scapegoat during battle is a pretty good tradeoff. Your opponent will either have to reveal his or her plans early or give up the ability to use them during an attack. That's a strategic advantage, and we all know how good it is to have a strategic advantage.
Balter vs. Mecha-Balter!
Level 6
Earth
Machine
2000 ATK
2000 DEF
Effect: This card cannot be special summoned. The effects of your opponent's effect monster that this monster destroys as a result of battle are negated. If this card attacks, your opponent cannot activate any spell or trap cards until the end of the damage step.
It's no secret that
Dark Balter the Terrible is a good card. In fact, there are entire decks based on getting that monster and others like it out, so it must be good.
Ancient Gear Beast has the same monster-negation effect as our Fusion friend along with its decent 2000 ATK strength. That's one cool Machine. On top of that,
Ancient Gear Beast has
Ancient Gear Soldier's spell- and trap-blocking effect. Of course, there is a catch. The card requires a tribute to be normal summoned, and it can't be special summoned. That means if you want to get this card out, you'll have to tribute a monster. Still, with so much power in one package, I'll gladly normal summon it.
Ancient Gear Beast is another Machine with the Earth attribute, so you can easily fit it into both Earth and Machine decks. In this environment, however, a combination of the two themes might be in order. With
Gaia Power on the field,
Ancient Gear Soldier becomes an 1800 ATK, level four monster, and
Ancient Gear Beast becomes strong enough to take out an opposing
Jinzo. Teaming these cards up with other quality Earth attribute monsters is a good recipe for mayhem, so I'll use that combination in the sample deck at the end of this article.
Giant Robots are Cool
Level 8
Earth
Machine
3000 ATK
3000 DEF
Effect: This card cannot be special summoned. When this card attacks with an ATK that is higher than the DEF of a defense-position monster, inflict the difference as battle damage to your opponent's life points. If this card attacks, your opponent cannot activate any spell or trap cards until the end of the damage step.
Now
that's a giant robot! This card is massive, and it's the perfect way to finish off an opponent—especially if that opponent has been hiding behind sheep tokens all game. The Gear Golem can hold off any and all playable monsters when it's in defense position, and it can at the very least trade with them when it's in attack mode. Heck, it could even take out
Blue-Eyes White Dragon if the situation called for it.
Ancient Gear Golem has a “trample” effect just like
Spear Dragon and
Airknight Parshath. That means the Machine is guaranteed to do damage when it battles against an attack-position monster with less than 3000 ATK or a defense-position monster with less than 3000 DEF. Why is this guaranteed? Because your opponent can't activate any spells or traps when the card attacks. Imagine smashing a sheep token with
Ancient Gear Golem after activating a copy or two of
Limiter Removal—you could be throwing 12,000 ATK of big, mechanical fist straight at your opponent's life points. Unfortunately, you can't special summon this Machine either, but at least you can still get it out for one tribute if you use
The Trojan Horse.
The Ancient Mechanical Beatdown Deck
Let's take a look at what an Earth/Machine deck using these new monsters would look like.
Monsters: 18
Spells: 17
Traps: 5
The Sneak Preview was just a short while ago, so this deck obviously hasn't been tested as much as the other decks that I've shown you. If you decide to try this one out, I'd love to hear what you have to say about it. In fact, any comments at all are more than welcome. Until next time, play hard, play fair, and most importantly, have fun!
Next Week: A face-down card has no type, attribute, stats, or effects . . . or does it?
Comments? Suggestions? Questions?