JAELOVE's Smooth Journey
By JAELOVE
Article 19: Constructing the Machine Deck
The poll results are in; this week we’re going to be constructing one of the most popular deck types in existence, the Machines. This will be the first constructed deck article attempting to utilize my new, cohesive system FORCE; I hope to enliven everyone’s, including my own, understanding of the game.
Machine decks have existed since the dawn of Pharaoh’s Servant in some form or another; Limiter Removal paired with the strongest machines of the time (Jinzo, Mechanical Chaser, and Cannon Soldier) made the deck a rather handy archetype until the release of Labyrinth of Nightmare (which effectively negated Chaser’s dominance).
Recently, with more machine deck support released in the newer sets, they are beginning to rise again; this article will not focus on the XYZ variant, but will rather focus on what I feel is the machines’ most effective mode: Pure Beatdown.
PURPOSE OF THE MACHINE DECK:
Typical beatdown is a systematic, brutal show of force intended to reduce the opponent’s life points to zero. The Machine deck can be viewed as the ultimate evolution of the beatdown deck, combining dizzying attack strengths, heaps of burn damage, and suicidal recklessness. Combine your Limiter Removals with the already powerful 1800+ machines and often it will be a quick game. The Machine deck needs a good ratio of Monsters to defense because Cannon Soldiers and Limiter Removals can lead to dangerously empty fields. A solid defense and resource replenishment are vital.
STRENGTHS:
Imagine attacking a Mechanical Chaser with your Mobius… bam! It should be an easy kill right? But wait, you forgot to take care of that face-down Spell/Trap card and in the damage step, your devious opponent springs upon a Limiter Removal on you. Bam! Mobius goes down with 1300 damage; you’re shell-shocked, and in a minute you forget to set your Waboku!
As you end your turn, your opponent plays a Scapegoat. How odd… it’s only a defensive spell, why would he bring it out! Bam! It hits you like a ton of bricks. Normal summon Cannon Soldier and you take 2000 damage from the goat tokens. And just when you think you might make it out alive, your opponent busts out two more Limiters, pumping a FOUR STAR MONSTER to an astronomical 5600 attack; you lose, good game.
Clearly, the Machine deck has perhaps the best killing capacity of any deck in existence!
WEAKNESSES:
All the fancy Limiter Removaling and such comes with a caveat, so beware. Machine decks will burn through resources quickly, so you have to make sure the field is clear when you suicide your Machines. If you build a monster up to 4000+ attack, only to have a Waboku or Scapegoat rubbed in your face, you’ll have wasted three or more resources needlessly. Wasting resources equals death.
THEY’RE JUST YOUR LOVE MACHINES:
For my new set of articles, each monster will be written the same as before, but after their name there will be a series of letters. For example, Chaos Emperor Dragon would look like this.
Chaos Emperor Dragon- Envoy of the End- Dragon/Dark/Effect/3000/2500
This card can only be Special Summoned by removing 1 LIGHT and 1 DARK monster in your Graveyard from play. Pay 1000 of your Life Points to send all cards in both players' hands and on the field to the Graveyard. Inflict 300 points of damage to your opponent's Life Points for each card that is sent to the Graveyard by this effect.
+ Provides Field Control, On-Field Removal, On-Field Presence, Counter-Defense, Enemy-Disruption, Energy.
-- Weakens Resource Replenishment.
In this case, we see that Chaos Emperor Dragon will lead to increased field control (3000 attack will do that for you!), on-field removal (through his high attack and burn factor), on-field presence (3000 is very hard to kill), defense (again, the best defense is a good offense), disruption (the burn), and energy (the burn). It’s not hard to see why it’s one of the greatest cards ever created, whether it’s through FORCE or A BAD system.
Every card I introduce will be in that format, so the first notable machine we’ll introduce is the classic, the original, the inimitable Jinzo.
Jinzo- Machine/Dark/Effect/6/2400/1500
As long as this card remains face-up on the field, all Trap Cards cannot be activated. The effects of all face-up Trap Cards are also negated.
+ Provides Field Control, Removal (Spell/Trap), Counter-Disruption
-- Weakens On-Field Presence, Counter-Defense and Enemy Disruption.
Jinzo is increasingly becoming a double-edged sword. What’s interesting is that Jinzo is even more needed in a typical Machine deck than others because his ability to negate traps can ultimately save the day. Unfortunately, gone are the days when you could assume a clear shot with Jinzo on the field; rampant use of Enemy Controllers, Scapegoats, and Book of Moons prevents that. In a Machine deck, it’s crucial to get rid of your opponent’s defenses before going for the jugular with Limiter Removals; nothing’s worse than to lose your own monsters and resources without doing any damage whatsoever.
He can be relied upon to provide immediate field control with his 2400 attack, and you’ll generally be safe against disruptive tactics (except Quickplays) with him on the field; just be aware that your own defense will suffer as a result of the trap negation.
Cannon Soldier- Machine/Dark/Effect/4/1400/1300
Offer 1 Monster on your side of the field as a tribute to inflict 500 points of direct damage to your opponent's life points. Monster used for a tribute summoned or that are offered as tributes due to other cards' effects are excluded.
+ Provides Energy
In conjunction with Scapegoats (which are needed to protect yourself anyways), Cannon Soldier can do heaps of damage. You can also Change of Heart and Snatch Steal your opponent’s monsters to sacrifice them with his effect. While the 1400 attack is rather weak, it jumps up to a beefy 2800 attack with Limiter Removal on.
Blowback Dragon- Machine/Dark/Effect/6/2300/1200
Toss a coin 3 times. If at least 2 of the results are Heads, select 1 card on your opponent's side of the field and destroy it. This effect can only be used once per turn during your Main Phase.
+ Provides Field Control, Flip Effect Management, On-Field Removal, Removal of Spell/Traps, Counter-Disruption, and Enemy Disruption, all to varying lengths.
-- All Tribute/Special Summon monsters weaken On-Field Presence.
Blowback Dragon is the Swiss-Army Knife; he has a 50% chance of destroying any one card on the field, which is actually a fantastic effect considering he boasts a solid 2300 attack in his own right. Often, Blowback in conjunction with Jinzo will seal the deal for your opponent; take note that, according to these FORCE rankings, he’d be the godliest card of all time, but that doesn’t take into account the random nature of the coin toss.
Mechanical Chaser- Machine/Dark/Normal/4/1850/800
X-Head Cannon- Machine/Light/Normal/4/1800/1500
+ Provides Field Control
You’re going to pick the Cannons as replacements if you don’t have enough dough for the Chasers; in essence, the X-Head Cannon allows the creation of Machine Chaos, simply because he’s a light machine. Either way, 1800 and 1850 are not too bad, but they form one of the greatest weaknesses of the Machine deck; if your opponent is running fiends, he’ll overrun you with 1900’s. Beasts will overrun you with 2000 attack Gorillas; Zombies and Warriors will use superior searchability. Basically, these two cards are the weak point of the Machine deck, due to their almost but not quite great attack.
Reflect Bounder- Machine/Light/Normal/1700/1000
When this face-up Attack Position card is attacked by a monster on your opponent's side of the field, before damage calculation is resolved in the Damage Step, this card inflicts damage to your opponent's Life Points equal to the ATK of line attacking monster. Then, after damage calculation is resolved, this card is destroyed.
+ Provides Field Control, Enemy Disruption, Energy
- Weakens On-Field Presence
You should be noticing a pattern here with the great machines; they all end up dying! Cannon Soldiers are intended to sacrifice, Reflect will fall down with one shot, and Limiter Removal will wipe out those Machines that do choose to attack. Keep in mind that Reflect Bounder is a great card in the mid to late game, and should not be ignored.
Fusilier Dragon the Dual-Mode Beast- Machine/Dark/Effect/2800/2000
This card can be Normal Summoned or Set without Tribute. In that case, the original ATK/DEF of this card become halved.
+ Provides Field Control
Get this bad boy from Rise of Destiny up and running with certain cards that combo well (i.e Book of Moon) and you’ll have a 2800 attack powerhouse running amok in the house.
On to the spells and traps!
LUBRICATION FOR YOUR MACHINE NATION:
We’re going to need to add a Spell/Trap line-up that will address the numerous shortcomings of the Machine arsenal. Specifically, the disturbing lack of On-Field Presence, meaning monsters to stick around, will have to be address through the Spell/Trap zone.
-- The Machine deck needs to thin down and draw consistently, so of course we’ll begin with Painful Choice and Pot of Greed.
-- Next, we’ll have to add reliable forms of tribute fodder for Jinzo, Blowback, and Fusilier (and other tributes perhaps), so throw in Change of Heart and Snatch Steal.
-- 3 Limiter Removals is necessary as well, but perhaps some other cards to help them stay on the field are in order. We’ll add two Book of Moons.
-- We’ll need a clear field to attack with Limiter Removals, so add a Heavy Storm, a Mystical Space Typhoon, and Two Nobleman of Crossout (which work with BoM too.)
-- Recursion is always nice, comboing with Painful Choice, so add Premature Burial.
-- To address the horrible lack of field-presence, and to give Cannon Soldier food, we’ll add two Scapegoat. This leaves 16 spells.
-- For the trap side, we’ll try to go relatively thin. Call of the Haunted combos with Jinzo, so it should definitely go into the deck.
-- More monster removal will never hurt, so Ring of Destruction and Torrential Tribute are in, along with a Compulsory Evacuation Device.
-- For added burn damage, throw in a Ceasefire and a Magic Cylinder. This makes 6.
FORCE PRESENTS THE (NEAR) FINISHED DECK:
And for those who want to construct their own decks, here’s a legend
F- Field Control f- Flip-Effect Management
O- On-field Disruption o- On-field Presence
R- Removal (Spell/Trap) r- Resource Replenishment
C- Counter-Defense c- Counter-Disruption
E- Enemy Disruption e- Energy
Basically, I’m writing down the deck and what elements each of the cards promote; this way, you’ll be able to see exactly where the strengths and weaknesses of the deck lie. Check out my 18th article, FORCE, if you’re confused :P.
1. Jinzo +F R c/-o C E
1. Blowback Dragon +F f O R c E /-o
2. Fusilier Dragon +F
2. Cannon Soldier +e
3. Mechanical Chaser +F
3. X-Cannon Head +F
1. Pot of Greed +r
1. Painful Choice +r
1. Change of Heart +f c E e/-r
1. Snatch Steal +F O o E/-e
3. Limiter Removal +F O e/-o r C
2. Book of Moon +F R C c E/-r
1. Heavy Storm +R c E
1. Mystical Space Typhoon +R c E
2. Nobleman of Crossout +F f O E
1. Premature Burial +F o/-e
2. Scapegoat +o C e/-r
1. Call of the Haunted +F o
1. Ring of Destruction +FOCE
1. Torrential Tribute +ODE
1. Compulsory Evacuation Device +OE/-r
1. Ceasefire +fcEe/-r
1. Magic Cylinder +Ee/-r
We’ve tried to offset the weak On-Field Presence of this deck by using cards such as Scapegoat, Book of Moon, and Compulsory Evacuation Device to defend. The deck is very strong in Energy and Field Control elements, meaning you’ll probably be able to do lots of life point damage to the opponent. Unfortunately, it burns through resources quickly, so you’ll probably want a Morphing Jar in there somewhere.
This deck looks pretty solid; it’s up to you to include whatever six cards you want for your metagame. I would suggest something along the lines of 1 Morphing Jar, 1 Magician of Faith, 1 Black Luster Soldier, 1 Tribe-Infecting Virus, 1 Breaker, and 1 Sinister Serpent.
As always, e-mail me at JAELOVE@gmail.com and send me your machine deck so I can fix it on these very pages of pojo.com! Hope you liked this one.