Ancient Gear

The Ancient Gears, known as Antique Gears in the Japanese version, are a series of Machine-Type monsters that overwhelm the opponent while preventing them from activating Spell or Trap Cards when they attack. They were released in The Lost Millennium, Shadow of Infinity, and Structure Deck 10: Machine Re-Volt (in the form of the Gadjiltron sub-Archetype), with further support in Light of Destruction and The Duelist Genesis.

Trap Cards and Quick-Play Spell Cards which activate during the Battle and Damage Steps tend to be some of the most common cards used by players, and the Ancient Gear Archetype focuses upon preventing your opponent from using them.

Strategy
Ancient Gears have gained popularity with the release of "Geartown", which simplifies summoning high-level Ancient Gear monsters. Therefore, combining the Archetype with Machina can create a competitive playing deck.

Due to the amount of cards that deal specifically with summoning from the deck such as "Spell Gear" and "Machine Duplication", most Ancient Gear monsters require tributes to summon. "Reload" or "Magical Mallet" might be worthy choices for this deck. "Pot of Avarice" and "Ancient Gear Workshop" are also recommended as some of the more powerful Ancient Gears such as "Ancient Gear Golem" cannot be special summoned from the graveyard.

"Ancient Gear Drill" can be used to search out some quick-play spells like "My Body as a Shield", "Shrink", and "Limiter Removal". These cards work well with "Ancient Gear Drill" as they can be activated outside your own turn.

You can also use "Cost Down", "Star Blast", "Mausoleum of the Emperor" or even their own support cards, like "Ancient Gear Castle" and "Geartown" to make normal summoning the level 5 or higher Ancient Gear monsters easier. Cards such as "Ancient Gear Engineer" have a low ATK for their Level, therefore support cards such as "Gaia Power" are recommended.

Since all of the Ancient Gear monsters are Machine-Type, the Spell Cards "Limiter Removal" and "Solidarity" can be necessary.

Weaknesses

 * It is important to note that "Ancient Gear" monsters are not immune to Trap Cards (aside from "Ancient Gear Engineer"). If your opponent has a set "Mirror Force", for example, attacking with an "Ancient Gear" monster will allow your opponent to destroy all of your Attack Position monsters.


 * Cards like "Acid Rain", "Magnetic Mosquito", and "System Down" has the potential to shut down an Ancient Gear Deck completely. Furthermore, these cards are especially hard to counter. However, "Ancient Gear Beast" can negate Flip Effect Monsters such as "Magnetic Mosquito".

Trivia

 * In Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, the Ancient Gear set is used exclusively by Vellian Crowler. They later reappear in Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, used by Duel Academy vice-principal Rudolph Heitmann.


 * The four original Ancient Gear Monsters: Beast, Engineer, Golem, and Soldier all have ATK equal to their DEF.


 * The Ancient Gears' concept of having limited Spell and Trap immunity is similar to the Duelist Kingdom Arc of the second season anime, where Machine-Type monsters were immune to magical attacks.


 * Ancient Gears are one of the few significant Archetypes to have had all but one of their support cards and members released in the actual card game (Elemental Heroes, for one, have many support cards that exist only in the anime). In addition, nearly all of them are released in the Structure Deck 10: Machine Re-Volt.