The Machine deck is one of my all-time favourites. They have everything: speed, surprise factor, Cannon Soldier, um . . . Actually, that’s about it. Machine decks are incredibly fast, unpredictable, and difficult to take down in the hands of a skilled player. Their main challenge is resiliency—with no 1900 ATK monsters in their ranks, you have to be creative when draws don’t go your way. That said, Machine decks are super speedy and routinely give you a turn 4 (or earlier) victory on a reliable basis.
So when I received a Machine deck in my inbox, it was irresistible. Curt from Kettering, Ohio sent it in. Here’s what he had to say:
Ahoy-hoy,
My name is Curt from Kettering, Ohio. I've wanted to build a Machine deck for a while now, and have finally finished it. The deck, when everything falls right, is extremely fast and deadly. Yet if it is slow, I lose before I get a chance to attack for some real damage. In my opinion, the Machines need some high ATK monsters with nice effects. I have been waiting for Machine King to come out, and now that he has, I'm not sure I want him in my deck.
Let me know what you think.
-Curt, Kettering OH
Curt’s decklist is as follows:
Curt’s Machine Deck
40 cards
Monsters: 18
1 Jinzo
3 Mechanicalchaser
3 X-Head Cannon
3 Cannon Soldier
3 Gradius
3 Gradius' Option
1 Magical Scientist
1 Fiber Jar
Spells: 18
3 Limiter Removal
1 Raigeki
1 Dark Hole
1 Monster Reborn
1 Premature Burial
1 Change of Heart
1 Snatch Steal
1 Pot of Greed
1 Graceful Charity
1 Harpie's Feather Duster
1 Giant Trunade ( I love to combo this with Premature Burial)
1 Heavy Storm
3 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Card Destruction
Traps: 4
1 Imperial Order
1 Mirror Force
1 Call of the Haunted
1 Waboku
As Curt discovered, the big downfall of the Machine deck is that it can stall during the proverbial takeoff. You need to optimize your deck for two things, the first of which is making sure that it “goes off” as early as possible. This means you want it to be relatively tight, you want a healthy number of Machine monsters, and you want all available searching and thinning options. The second priority for optimizing the deck is resilience—good defensive options that are as high utility as possible, and ideally, useful on offense as well.
Curt kept the deck very tight size-wise, but some of the searching that should be there is missing. In addition, Curt’s build really doesn’t do much to compensate for the fact that Machine decks are prone to weak openings. I often go so far as to run Battle Footballer in my deck strictly because it provides an excellent opening play and makes a half-decent candidate for Limiter Removal. However, I won’t suggest anything so drastic here. There are some other solid measures we can take to bulk up the deck’s resiliency, but first we need to make some cuts to give ourselves room.
The Gradius and Gradius' Option are the first to go—there is a wealth of monster cards that we need to support the deck’s theme, and the Gradius set is just too conditional for a synergy-dependant deck. Dropping them all frees up six card slots, giving us a lot of room to work.
Next up, I’m removing Giant Trunade and Premature Burial. Though Machine decks really need a clear path, Giant Trunade is overkill when you’re already running Harpie's Feather Duster, Mystical Space Typhoon, and Heavy Storm. The combo with Premature Burial is, again, a conditional combo that’s difficult to pull off. With Call of the Haunted and Monster Reborn, Premature Burial isn’t really needed.
Lastly, I’m going to remove Waboku. The deck needs defense, but Waboku is too defensive, especially considering the other options available. It’s a solid card in the right place, but this isn’t it. We want our defensive cards to be capable of providing offence too, and Waboku can not do that in a Machine deck.
Now for the additions. The deck needs Witch of the Black Forest and Sangan—most decks do. Sangan lets you get to Cannon Soldier when you need it, insures your hand presence, and clogs up the field. It also gives access to the all-important Fiber Jar. Witch of the Black Forest gives access to . . . well, just about everything else.
We’ll also add another option for Sangan: Cyber Jar. I’m not a huge fan of Cyber Jar in many decks, but its massive draw power is incredible for Machine decks. Running five extra cards through your hand gives you a great chance of drawing into a Limiter Removal, and its ability to quickly fill your field can mean game. Two to three monsters coming out of nowhere are usually a duel-ender for this kind of deck. It’s possible that Cyber Jar fits in this deck better than it does in any other.
Reflect Bounder is a must-play in any Machine deck. Not only is it a Machine with a decent attack, but its effect makes it an excellent opener and adds to the deck’s ability to maintain board presence. It can also be a game-ender with two Limiter Removals face down, which happens more often than you’d think. Beyond that, Reflect Bounder is a Light monster, so alongside the three X-Head Cannons, you’ve got a decent number of Lights in the deck. We’re going to abuse that in a moment, so keep it in mind.
Tribe-Infecting Virus is another key card for the deck. It’s not a Machine, but it’s great for clearing the road for your clockwork hordes when it comes time for a Limiter Removal–enhanced attack. In addition, when you’re not seeing the cards you need to get things moving, Tribe-Infecting Virus really helps you hold out against an opponent. It’s the best method of turning the cards you don’t need at the moment into effects that you do need. I’m not a big fan of the card, but I wouldn’t build a Machine deck without it.
Lastly, I agree with Curt that Machine King isn’t worth playing. Jinzo is far better, given its effect and the low trap count of the deck. If we’re going to add a second monster above level 4, there’s one that clearly stands out in my mind: Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the End. Most of the monsters in the deck are Dark or Light attribute, and since the deck does exceptionally well with a variety of thinning (which we’ll be adding), the Dragon fits in wonderfully despite not being a Machine. Considering the deck tends to go for the throat in a single turn, its “blow up the world” effect is right at home in this kind of strategic menagerie.
Which, of course, segues nicely into the thinning. A key thing to understand about Machine decks is that a Limiter Removal can mean game over at almost any time. As such, Painful Choice is exceedingly useful to the deck. It thins, and it lets you grab three Limiter Removals, Chaos Emperor Dragon, and Raigeki and see if the opponent is kind enough to toss you one of the Limiters (he or she usually will). The deck frequently gets itself into situations where one key card out of a variety of possible selections will end the game, and so long as there are five of those cards, Painful Choice means victory.
Along similar lines, a Machine deck is one of the few that needs Mirage of Nightmare. Though I’d regard it as a flavor card or a personal choice in most decks, it’s exceedingly important in a Machine deck, since Limiter Removal can be used in the standby phase before Mirage of Nightmare discards it. I’m also going to be adding in one more spell that can be used in a similar way: Book of Moon (I’m adding two). Book of Moon is the defensive card to play in a Machine deck. When you’re at a disadvantage, it prevents an attack. When you’re at an advantage, it lets your Reflect Bounder or X-Head Cannon steam roll a Berserk Gorilla or Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer. Lastly, when you over-extend with a Limiter Removal or two but find you didn’t quite manage to take the game, Book of Moon can turn one of your Machines face down so that it won’t be destroyed as a result of Limiter’s effect. Handy.
Lastly, I’m adding one trap card: Ring of Destruction. Considering a direct attack with a Mechanical Chaser and two Limiters means 7400 damage, Ring of Destruction often ensures early-game wins. When you need defense, Ring of Destruction functions as monster removal. When you need offense, it closes the gap between your opponent’s current life point total and 0 and clears the way for a big attack. It’s a near-staple in most decks, but here it’s indisputably worthy of inclusion, regardless of metagame or personal taste. It’s a lynchpin card that helps Machine players capitalize on their potential for disgustingly ambitious over-extensions on turns 2 through 4.
So, the changes look like this:
-3 Gradius
-3 Gradius' Option
-1 Giant Trunade
-1 Premature Burial
-1 Waboku
+1 Cyber Jar
+1 Witch of the Black Forest
+1 Sangan
+1 Reflect Bounder
+1 Tribe-Infecting Virus
+1 Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the End
+1 Painful Choice
+1 Mirage of Nightmare
+2 Book of Moon
+1 Ring of Destruction
Which means the final build is as follows:
Curt's Machine Deck—Jason's Fix
42 cards
Monsters: 18
1 Jinzo
1 Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the End
3 Mechanicalchaser
3 X-Head Cannon
3 Cannon Soldier
1 Magical Scientist
1 Fiber Jar
1 Cyber Jar
1 Witch of the Black Forest
1 Sangan
1 Reflect Bounder
1 Tribe-Infecting Virus
Spells: 20
3 Limiter Removal
1 Raigeki
1 Dark Hole
1 Monster Reborn
1 Change of Heart
1 Snatch Steal
1 Pot of Greed
1 Graceful Charity
1 Harpie's Feather Duster
1 Heavy Storm
3 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Card Destruction
1 Painful Choice
1 Mirage of Nightmare
2 Book of Moon
Traps: 4
1 Imperial Order
1 Mirror Force
1 Call of the Haunted
1 Ring of Destruction
There are a few things to consider when testing the deck, one of the most important being Magical Scientist. I personally adore Magical Scientist in Machine decks. Not only does it have all its usual utility from Ryu Senshi, Dark Balter the Terrible, and Thousand-Eyes Restrict, but you also get to use Metal Dragon as an attacker against your opponents’ attack-position monsters. That means you can abuse Limiter Removal even more than normal. In addition, because the deck is already running two copies of Book of Moon, you can easily exploit even more synergy with Scientist. Just special summon a Fusion monster with his effect, and once it’s Book of Mooned, it won’t be sent back to the Fusion deck at the end of the turn. Next turn you can flip the monster over, and voila—a free Balter (or whatever suits your fancy). Test the deck as it is, but then test it with Magical Scientist. I’d also suggest trying Sinister Serpent, though it’s of less potential impact.
The deck is still at its highest potential weakness on turn 1, so make sure you have some insurance if possible; Book of Moon, Limiter Removal, Ring of Destruction, a face-up Reflect Bounder, face-down Cyber Jar, or face-down Fiber Jar are all viable plays of varying risk. If you think you can psyche an opponent into not attacking or destroying your face-down monster, play Cyber Jar as your opening play—it usually locks the game for turn 2. Fiber Jar is one of the most important cards in the deck—so long as you have it and some serious nerve, you can expend your entire hand to perform a big over-extension and then recover fully. Even if you don’t use it to cover for your over-extensions, you can often use it to make one possible—seeing it flip means you might have a clear shot at your opponent, and with this deck, one shot is often all you’ll need.
Thanks for sending this in, Curt! Your deck was great, and now that we’ve given it a bit of a touch up, it’s even better. Side deck hard against Chaos, and you should be able to take on most anything that comes your way.
-Jason Grabher-Meyer
Have a deck to submit? Want to say hi? Get in touch with me via email at Jason@metagame.com.