Forum:Deck Guide/Machina

Machina Guide

by Gadjiltron

Intro

The Machina archetype is an old archetype, dating back to their debut in 2006 from Premium Pack 9. Unfortunately, it was a small and difficult archetype, and went underlooked until Structure Deck 18: Machiners Command rebooted it with several new and potent cards.

Mechanics

The archetype was initially based on the summoning of its ace monster, Machina Force. This was a feat that proved to be very difficult, since it involved maintaining bringing out four monsters to the field, with little to no means of reliably searching and protecting them. Machina Force even came with a drawback to even attacking with it.

The Structure Deck decided to change things around by introducing a different ace monster, Machina Fortress, which is much easier to summon and proved to be a force to be reckoned with.

Analysis

Strengths

• Tenacity - The two things that probably greatly powered the archetype is Gearframe and Fortress, with the former being able to search the latter, and the latter capable of Special Summoning from hand or Graveyard.

Weaknesses

• Lack of speed - Pure Machina has some difficulty getting anywhere since they'd end up painstakingly Normal Summoning the required parts piece by piece. While Soldier and Gearframe can alleviate the problem slightly, this is still a stumbling block while they're not around.
• Banishing - The archetype struggles when faced with cards that banish. It becomes doubly painful when a Fortress takes a Karma Cut to the face, and all its copies which the player most likely has intentionally tossed into the Graveyard gets banished with it.

The Basics

Now, let's review the members of the archetype. Like all lesser-developed archetypes, they're mostly monsters and don't have many unique S/Ts to their name.

• Machina Soldier - He stands at decent stats of 1600/1500. When Normal Summoned, if you have nothing else on the field, he can provide a weak swarm by Special Summoning a Machina monster from your hand, regardless of Level. Yes, you can actually use him to Special Summon Fortress since it has no Summon restrictions.
• Machina Sniper - One of the strongest of the base Machina monsters. At 1800/800, it's a good beatstick, and its effect prevents Machina monsters (except copies of itself) from being attacked. Too bad about its wording, since you can't fully lock your opponent from attacking with 2 Snipers out.
• Machina Defender - At 1200/1800, it's definitely not designed to attack. It has a Flip effect, allowing you to add Commander Covington to your hand from your Deck. Usage of this is not generally advised if you're not running Covington or attempting to summon Machina Force.
• Commander Covington - With puny stats of 1000/600, he can't do a lot of fighting. However, he is necessary to summon Machina Force since only he has the ability to send Soldier, Sniper, and Defender to the Graveyard to bring it out. Makes you wonder why they don't just print that as Force's summon condition. Run him only when you're playing Machina Force as your ace monster.
• Machina Force - The original ace monster of the archetype. At 4600/4100, this thing's capable of one-shotting the opponent when Limiter'd. However, its effect is quite ridiculous - just attacking with it needs a 1000 LP payment, and its second ability to "split up" into Soldier, Sniper, and Defender is never used. Its high level and ability to be searched by Gearframe does make it good discard fodder for Fortress though.
• Machina Gearframe - A new member introduced in the Structure Deck. Gearframe is awesome, as it has decent stats on its own with 1800 ATK, is a Union, which allows it to protect other Machines, and when Normal Summoned, he can search for any Machina monster from your Deck aside from itself. 9 out of 10 times, you're using it to get Fortress. Max it out.
• Machina Peacekeeper - A new member introduced in the Structure Deck. He's a Union, allowing you to protect your own Machines, and when destroyed on the field, you can search your Deck for a Union monster and add it to your hand. Chances are, you'd be using him to find Gearframe, since Gearframe can't search itself.
• Machina Fortress - The new ace monster from the Structure Deck. Unlike Machina Force, Fortress has no Summon restrictions, and can even Special Summon itself from the field or Graveyard by discarding Machines with levels totalling 8 or more. The wording means you can even use the same Fortress as part of the discard requirement. Out on the field, it has other effects that make it a pain to deal with. If destroyed in battle, it destroys a card on the field; if targeted by a Monster Effect, you get to see your opponent's hand and pick and discard one card from it. Regardless of which kind of Machina Deck you're playing, it's good to run at least 2.
• Machina Cannon - Another monster from a separate Premium Pack. It has 0 base ATK, but this will increase by 800 for each Machine you discard from your hand to Special Summon it by its own effect. You'd need 3 Machines to even get it to a respectable 2400 ATK, but in a pinch it's a good wall with a static 2200 DEF, since you'll only need to toss out a minimum of one Machine to summon it. It's also level 8 and a less of a dead draw than Force, making it a good substitute for it.
• Machina Armored Unit - A Continuous Spell from the Structure Deck. Once per turn, when a Machine you control is destroyed in battle and sent to the Graveyard, you can Special Summon a Machine of the same Attribute but with less ATK from your Deck. Defender's a prime target for this since it has low ATK and you can Summon it in Defense Position, but a Machina Deck usually doesn't have the space for it.

Variants

Pure Machina

There are two ways to go with a pure Machina build. Either try to summon Machina Force, or stick with bringing out Machina Fortress. The latter option seems to be one which is much easier to play.

Cards that appear in this variant include...

• Gaia Power - The Machina monsters are all EARTH. This will give them a significant power boost so that they can hold their own in battle.
• Messenger of Peace and Swords of Revealing Light - Good for holding the line when you're trying to assemble Force for whatever reason.
• Solidarity - If you're running nothing but Machine monsters, this would be better than Gaia Power since it grants a greater ATK boost without compensating DEF.
• Iron Call - If you control a Machine, you get to Special Summon a LV4 or lower Machine from your Graveyard for the turn. You lose its effects, so you can only use it on either Soldier, Sniper, or Defender. Covington won't be able to Summon Force if he is targeted by this card.

An example Deck is as follows. This Deck attempts to be able to either summon Force or Fortress depending on one's preference.

Machina Gadget

See also: Gadget Guide

The Machina Gadget is a hybrid that brought the archetype to the tournaments' attention. It uses the Gadgets' ability to consistently replenish hand advantage to ensure that there are enough machines to constantly summon Machina Fortress. One-for-one removal cards which are often seen in Gadget Decks also provide a great pressure strategy for the Deck.

Cards that appear in this hybrid include...

• Green Gadget, Red Gadget, and Yellow Gadget - The annoying trio which keep searching each other out when Normal or Special Summoned. They are used to ensure that there's always a supply of monsters in the hand.
• Ancient Gear Gadjiltron Dragon - It's LV8, which means that it can be a one-time discard to resummon Fortress. At other times, it can also be Normal Summoned with additional effects by Tributing the Gadgets. Most builds that use this also run Geartown to summon AGGD from anywhere.
• Fissure, Smashing Ground, and Dimensional Prison - These are used for removing monsters that are too strong for the Gadgets to handle.
• Solidarity - Certain builds make use of this to make Gadgets a bunch of 2X00 ATK beatsticks. Fortress also gets buffed to a fearsome 3300 ATK.
• Gearspring Spirit - In a pure Machine build with Solidarity, Gearspring Spirit finds itself home here. It's LV8 for an instant Fortress Summon, and can reduce any opposing monster's ATK to 0 to let anything run over that.
• Tinplate Goldfish - For Xyz-based Decks. Goldfish can Special Summon any LV4 or lower Machine from the hand on Normal Summon, paving the way for an almost instant Rank 4 Xyz.

An example Deck is as follows:

Karakuri Machina

See also: Karakuri Guide

Another hybrid incorporates the Karakuri archetype. Here, Karakuri monsters make up a majority of the Deck, with Machina Fortress and Gearframe supporting it. Besides Karakuri cards in this hybrid, other cards that appear here include:

• Ally Genex Birdman - A LV3 Tuner that Special Summons itself by bouncing any monster on the field. Its main use is to bounce Gearframe so that you can reuse its search effect. It also blends with the numerous LV4 monsters to make Burei.
• Naturia Beast and Naturia Barkion - Since a majority of the Deck is EARTH, including the Tuners, Karakuri variants should be able to form these Synchros without breaking a sweat.

An example Deck is as follows:

Other Tips

Try out some of these cards which can mesh well with the Machina archetype.

• Scrap Recycler - Most of the Machinas are LV4 EARTH Machines, which fit right in with Recycler's ability to recycle them. Recycler also mills a Machine on Summon, and you'd normally want to do so to Fortress such that it doesn't become a dead draw.
• Cyber Phoenix - If you run pure Machines with Solidarity, Cyber Phoenix turns into a 2000 ATK beatstick with protection from targeting S/Ts for all your Machines.
• Meklord Army of Granel - It's a one-turn Gale effect, but normally you'd want that effect to be able to surmount the big beatstick standing in your way. It's also a LV4 EARTH Machine, allowing Scrap Recycler to cycle it back.
• Phantom of Chaos - For those who wish to summon Machina Force. Phantom of Chaos can duplicate the name of any of the base Machina monsters. Alternatively, if you have Force, Soldier, Sniper, and Defender all in the Graveyard, Phantom of Chaos can duplicate Force before splitting up into the base monsters, easily setting up for the actual summoning of Machina Force, provided you have spares.
• Rank 4 Xyz Monsters - For the Gadget Decks. Gadgets combined with Ultimate Offering result in a nearly-endless stream of Gadgets. As you can quickly summon 3 LV4 monsters at one shot, you can easily Xyz Summon powerhouses like Vylon Disigma in one turn.
• Machine Assembly Line - It gives a small boost of 200 ATK to all your Machines, but it's usually played for its ability to Special Summon a Machine from your Graveyard after collecting Junk Counters on it.
• Geargiganto X - In an archetype with mostly LV4 monsters, Geargiganto X is pretty useful support. It can detach Xyz Material to add a LV4 or lower Machine from Grave or Deck to your hand, allowing recycling of or searching of any Machine you'll need. Machina Force Decks can use this to dig up the parts they're missing, while Machina Gadget Decks can recycle Gadgets with it.