Ancient Gear

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Ancient Gear
"Golem", multiple "Knights", two "Soldiers" and one "Tank" in the artwork of "Ancient Gear Catapult".
"Golem", multiple "Knights", two "Soldiers" and one "Tank" in the artwork of "Ancient Gear Catapult".
Japanese
  • アンティーク・ギア
  • Antīku Gia (romanized)
  • Antique Gear (translated)
Simplified Chinese
  • 古代机械齿轮
  • Gǔdài Jīxiè Chǐlún (pinyin)
  • Ancient Mechanical Gear (translated)
French
  • Rouages Ancients
German
  • Antike/r/s Antrieb
  • Antiker Antrieb (formerly)
    „Antik“ und „Antrieb“ (formerly)
Italian
  • Ingranaggio Antico
Korean
  • 앤틱 기어
  • Aentik Gieo (romanized)
  • Antique Gear (translated)
Portuguese
  • Mecanismo Antigo
  • Engrenagem Ancião
    (formerly)
Spanish
  • Mecanismo Antiguo
Sets
TCG
OCG
Simplified Chinese
Anime appearances
Lists

"Ancient Gear", known as "Antique Gear" (アンティーク・ギア Antīku Gia) in the OCG, is an archetype of mostly EARTH Machine monsters (with the exception of "Chaos Ancient Gear Giant" being DARK monster) used by Vellian Crowler in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, Rudolph Heitmann in Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's and Duel Academy students' personnel, such as Yuri, Dennis McField, Jean Michel Roget and the Obelisk Force members, in Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V. It also has a sub-archetype: "Ancient Gear Golem".

Design[edit]

Linework of "Soldier", "Golem" and "Beast"

The humanoid "Ancient Gears" bear a striking similarity to Ancient Greek soldiers, and so their creation may be linked to the Antikythera mechanism.

True to their name, all "Ancient Gear" monsters resemble armored robots of varying designs with their bodies featuring unions of cogwheels and gears, joining several parts of their bodies together. The backgrounds of most of the Main Deck monsters features gears.

Their name "Ancient Gear" is likely a reference to the old age of the mechanism that governs their functioning, which normally would require an external force to move them but interestingly enough they seem to be self-sufficient. This implies that contrary to their apparent antiquity, that they may be far more advanced than they look.

When they are used as Fusion Material by Duel Academy members in Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V, their Summon Chant mentions that they carry "ancient spirits" or other similar terms. This seems to imply that the "Ancient Gear" monsters may be old machines possessed by spirits, which could explain their functioning despite their old workings. This could also be the reason behind their glowing eyes.

Playing style[edit]

"Ancient Gear" is an aggressive OTK deck with an emphasis on Tribute Summoning and Fusion Summoning. In terms of shared effects, "Ancient Gear" monsters typically prevent the opponent from activating cards or effects in the Battle Phase. Other shared monster effects include multiple attacks, inflicting piercing damage. Some "Ancient Gear" Spells feature effects that trigger when they are destroyed, which is enabled by other "Ancient Gear" card effects that destroy the player's own Spells for advantage.

In terms of Summoning, "Ancient Gear" high-Level Main Deck monsters typically focus on Tribute Summoning, as they typically cannot be Special Summoned, and typically gain additional effects if the monster is Tribute Summoned using specific tributes. Specifically, "Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Chimera" and "Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragon" gain effects if they're Tribute Summoned using specific "Gadget" monsters, while "Ancient Gear Reactor Dragon" and "Ancient Gear Hydra" gain effects if they're Tribute Summoned using "Ancient Gear" or "Gadget" monsters in general. This connection with the "Gadget" archetype is further strengthened by "Ancient Gear Gadget", who belongs to both archetypes, and can change its name to that of any other "Gadget" monster.

The Deck's main searchers are "Ancient Gear Wyvern", who searches on Normal Summon, and "Ancient Gear Ballista", who only searches monsters, but is an accessible Link 2 Extra Deck monster. The Deck contains two other important, but conditional monster searchers: "Ancient Gear Catapult", who Summons an "Ancient Gear" from Deck (ignoring its Summoning conditions) by destroying a face-up card while the player controls no monsters, and "Geartown", who Summons an "Ancient Gear" from Deck when destroyed. "Ancient Gear Frame" is a secondary S/T searcher with narrow search range, but it can still be used to search out the Deck's key archetypal Fusion Spell, "Ancient Gear Fusion".

The Deck's main win condition is the Fusion Monster "Chaos Ancient Gear Giant", which requires 4 "Ancient Gear" monsters as Fusion Materials, featuring 4500 ATK, piercing, and multi-attack, able to rapidly close out games if summoned. Other Fusion Monster options include "Ancient Gear Howitzer", a 2-material defensive Fusion with effect immunity, burn damage, and floating effects, and "Ancient Gear Megaton Golem", a 3-material Fusion with conditional multi-attack, and can float into "Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem" (an older 3-material Fusion with piercing and a floating effect, that "Megaton Golem" has largely superseded).

To summon "Chaos Ancient Gear Giant", the Deck aims to search out the necessary resources for Fusion Summon, i.e. 4 "Ancient Gear" monsters + a card with a Fusion effect, or Summoning an "Ancient Gear Golem" and using "Ancient Gear Fusion", which allows using in-Deck Fusion Materials when the player controls "Golem". To support the former, "Ancient Gear Hunting Hound" provides is a searchable "Ancient Gear" monster with a Fusion effect.

Miscellaneous "Ancient Gear" support effects include Tribute support like "Geartown" and "Ancient Gear Castle", GY recovery with "Ancient Gear Fortress", "Ancient Gear Reborn", and "Ancient Gear Workshop", and protection through "Ancient Gear Fortress".

Externally, the Deck synergizes with the "Metalfoes" archetype, which provide face-up Pendulum Cards to be destroyed by "Catapult", and can destroy "Geartown" to Summon from Deck. Moreover since they can enable Pendulum Summons they can greatly facilitate the Tribute Summon of "Reactor Dragon" or "Hydra" and if "Gold and Silver Gadget" are Special Summoned this way, they can be destroyed so the player can search both "Metalfoes" cards and "Ancient Gear Gadget". However, the use of "Wyvern" prevents the use of "Metalfoes" cards.

Being an EARTH Machine Deck, "Ancient Gear" can also be combined with "Machina", "Infinitrack", and/or Trains monsters for more combo opportunities.

Weaknesses[edit]

Cards like "Acid Rain", "Magnetic Mosquito", and "System Down" have the potential to disrupt an "Ancient Gear" Deck. Although these cards can be hard to counter, "Imperial Iron Wall", "Starlight Road", "The Huge Revolution is Over" and other Spell/Trap negation cards can prevent them activating.

Finally, being Machine Monsters, they can be used as Fusion Materials for an opponent's "Chimeratech Fortress Dragon".

Recommended cards[edit]

Ancient Gear