Ancient Warriors
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 "Valiant Zhang De", "Virtuous Liu Xuan", and "Loyal Guan Yun" in the artwork of "Ancient Warriors Saga - Three Visits" | |||||||||
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"Ancient Warriors", known as "Warring Flower" (
Etymology[edit]
The theme's Japanese name is a portmanteau of
A direct Sino-Korean conversion of
Design[edit]
The "Ancient Warriors" archetype is based on figures from the Three Kingdoms period of China, in particular their dramatized portrayals in the classic Chinese novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Each "Ancient Warriors" monster is a counterpart to a figure from the Three Kingdoms period.
Visually, "Ancient Warriors" monsters are human warriors wearing clothes or armor that based on certain beasts, which explains their Beast-Warrior typing. The artworks of all "Ancient Warriors" monsters depicts animal feathers or fur scattered in the air, which are distinct for every Attributes: white feathers for the WATER "Ancient Warriors", red and fiery feathers for the FIRE "Ancient Warriors", and the WIND "Ancient Warriors" might show certain beast fur instead.
Members[edit]
Each "Ancient Warriors" monster's name features their historical counterpart's surname and one character from their courtesy name. Additionally, the Japanese names of the three "emperor" monsters—"Sun Mou", "Liu Xuan", and "Cao De"—also use the unused character from their courtesy names as their title.
| Attribute | Historical faction | Ancient Warrior | Origin | Courtesy name | Beast reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 WATER
|
Eastern Wu | Graceful Zhou Gong | Zhou Yu | Gongjin | Swan |
| Masterful Sun Mou | Sun Quan | Zhongmou | Turtle and snake | ||
| Eccentric Lu Jing | Lu Su | Zijing | Sturgeon | ||
 WIND
|
Shu Han | Valiant Zhang De | Zhang Fei | Yide | White Tiger |
| Loyal Guan Yun | Guan Yu | Yunchang | |||
| Virtuous Liu Xuan | Liu Bei | Xuande | Dragon | ||
| Ingenious Zhuge Kong | Zhuge Liang | Kongming | |||
| Double Dragon Lords | |||||
 FIRE
|
Cao Wei | Ambitious Cao De | Cao Cao | Mengde | Phoenix |
| Fearsome Zhang Yuan | Zhang Liao | Wenyuan | Demon | ||
| Deceptive Jia Wen | Jia Xu | Wenhe | Bird | ||
 DARK
|
Independent | Savage Don Ying | Dong Zhuo | Zhongying | Boar |
| Rebellious Lu Feng | Lü Bu | Fengxian | Demon |
Additionally, most "Ancient Warriors" monsters can be categorized by their historical basis and card effects into three monster design categories, with each of these categories having their own pattern of effects.
- "Leaders" are counterparts to the emperors and warlords of the Three Kingdoms period.
- "Warriors" are counterparts to the military generals of the Three Kingdoms period.
- "Tacticians" are counterparts to the strategists and statesmen of the Three Kingdoms period.
| Attribute | Leaders | Warriors | Tacticians |
|---|---|---|---|
| WATER
|
Masterful Sun Mou | - | Graceful Zhou Gong |
| Eccentric Lu Jing | |||
| WIND
|
Virtuous Liu Xuan | Valiant Zhang De | Ingenious Zhuge Kong |
| Loyal Guan Yun | |||
| FIRE
|
Ambitious Cao De | Fearsome Zhang Yuan | Deceptive Jia Wen |
| DARK
|
Savage Don Ying | Rebellious Lu Feng | - |
Support[edit]
"Ancient Warriors" Spell/Trap Cards are based on iconic events from either the historical period or the Romance of the Three Kingdoms dramatization.
| Card | Origin |
|---|---|
| Defense of Changban | Battle of Changban |
| Sun-Liu Alliance | Alliance between Sun Quan and Liu Bei against their common foe, Cao Cao |
| Borrowing of Arrows | The Borrowing of Arrows in the Battle of the Red Cliffs |
| Three Visits | Three visits to the thatched cottage |
| East-by-South Winds | Zhuge Liang summons an eastern wind |
| Chivalrous Path | Guan Yu spares Cao Cao at Huarong Trail |
| Deception and Betrayal | Lü Bu confronts Dong Zhuo, his adoptive father, with Cao Cao's forged imperial decree that summoned 18 princes to attack Dong Zhuo |
Playing style[edit]
The "Ancient Warriors" have an overall playing style that focuses on swarming and beatdown. Many "Ancient Warriors" monsters have the ability to Special Summon themselves, remove the opponent's cards, gain additional advantageous effects if other "Ancient Warriors" monsters are present, and/or have effects that trigger only in response to actions taken by other "Ancient Warriors" monsters.
The "Ancient Warriors" monsters have a diverse range of effects, including card destruction, searching, effect negation, ATK change, protection, etc., and almost all "Ancient Warriors" monsters have multiple effects. "Ancient Warriors" monsters in each of its three main Attributes also each share an effect activation requirement for one of their effects:
| Attribute | Effect requirement |
|---|---|
| WIND[a]
|
If your opponent controls more monsters than you do |
| FIRE
|
If a card(s) your opponent controls is destroyed by battle or card effect |
| WATER
|
If your other "Ancient Warriors" monster's effect is activated (except during the Damage Step) |
Ancient Warrior monsters also share some common effect patterns depending on their monster category (see #Members).
- "Leaders" generally feature searching effects and self-protection effects, the latter while they're alongside another "Ancient Warriors".
- "Warriors" are all Level 6+ monsters with summon-from-hand effects, and generally provide removal effects and apply protection to others. "Cao De" uniquely seems to be a Leader-Warrior hybrid, having both self-protection and summon-from-hand effects.
- "Tacticians" are all Level 4 monsters with high DEF and low ATK (excluding "Zhou Gong"), and provide supportive effects involving sending a friendly Continuous Spell/Trap to the GY.
In general, the deck is played as a Main Deck-based beatdown, utilizing its many summon-from-hand effects and searching effects to quickly swarm the board with board-controlling "Leader" and "Warrior" boss monsters. As such, their critical cards are their monster searchers, the in-archetypal ones being "Masterful Sun Mou", "Virtuous Liu Xuan", "Double Dragon Lords", and "Three Visits".
Their Spell/Trap cards, all of which are Continuous, favor the presence of "Ancient Warrior" monsters ("Three Visits", which searches an "Ancient Warriors" monster, and "Sun-Liu Alliance", which negates the activated effects of your opponent's monsters) or are battle-related, focusing on either battle protection ("Defense of Changbang" and "Chivalrous Path") or ATK manipulation ("Borrowing of Arrows" and "Sun-Liu Alliance") and card destruction ("East-by-South Winds"). The Spells all have effects that activate when they are sent from the Spell & Trap Zone to the GY (with the exception of "Sun-Liu Alliance") while the Traps have effects that they activate in the GY by banishing themselves.
A large number of "Ancient Warriors" monsters require sending a card from the hand or the field to the GY to activate their effect or Special Summon themselves; therefore, the archetypal Spell/Trap cards are prime targets for fulfilling this cost, since they have effects triggered upon being sent to the GY or GY effects.
Weaknesses[edit]
- The Deck is extremely reliant on its Normal Summon, specially that of "Liu Xuan" or "Sun Mou", which are the main starters of the deck
- It also heavily relies on "Three Visits" as it's its main way of searching and generating field presence aside from "Liu Xuan" or "Sun Mou"
- While they all have Special Summoning conditions, the high presence of High-Level monsters can cause bricks, specially since their Summoning conditions rely on the field presence of other Ancient Warriors monsters, which aggravates the first problem, because if your Normal Summoned monster is destroyed, you won't likely be able to follow-up your strategy.
- "Ingenious Zhuge Kong" can be a brick as well as he's better off Special Summoned via a search.
- While being a Go-2nd Deck, the "Underdog" mechanics of the WIND monsters makes them incompatible with commonly ran Go-2nd cards such as "Evenly Matched", "Lightning Storm" or "The Winged Dragon of Ra - Sphere Mode", as they wipe the opponent's field presence on which the former rely on.
- Similarly, the Deck lacks strong "first turn" options, having at most "Rebellious Lu Feng" or "Double Dragon Lords" as its "first turn" plays.
- The Deck has a hard time dealing with monsters that can't be neither targeted nor destroyed (such as a "Mekk-Knight Crusadia Avramax" summoned with "I:P Masquerena"), as such, the use of "Kaijus" is strongly advised.
Notes[edit]
- ↑ With the exception of "Ingenious Zhuge Kong" and "Double Dragon Lords"
