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.

Play Style
"No Surprises" is the basic philosophy of Ancient Gears. Trap Cards and Quick-Play Spell Cards that activate during the Battle and Damage Steps tend to be the most common and most troublesome cards used by players, and this Archetype is all about preventing your opponent from using them, making them potent even against some of the more flexible Decks. Some of the Ancient Gears (notably Soldier and Engineer) have a low ATK for their Level, so the basic strategy is to use the many support cards available (and possibly Gaia Power, since "Ancient Gears" are EARTH based) to boost their ATK. The player would either then try to generate enough Tribute Fodder or enough counters for Ancient Gear Castle to summon the trump card of the set, "Ancient Gear Golem", or gather enough material monsters to Fusion Summon Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem, the strongest Ancient Gear Monster. Most of the basic strategies are of a beatdown nature, but it can vary.

It is important to note that Ancient Gears are not immune to Trap Cards (aside from Engineer, who can't be targeted by traps). If your opponent has a "Mirror Force" ready, for example, attacking with a non-Ancient Gear (or an Ancient Gear monster that does not have the standard effect) will allow your opponent to wipe out all your monsters in Attack Position, including the Ancient Gears.

Due to the amount of cards that deal specifically with summoning from the deck (Spell Gear and Machine Duplication), also the fact that most Ancient Gear monsters require tributes to summon, Reload and Magical Mallet might be worthy choices for this deck. Terraforming will also come in handy to retrieve Geartown early on. Without Geartown, you will need an alternate source of tribute fodder, as the more usable Ancient Gears requires at least one tribute, while the lesser of them tend to have a survivability issue. Pot of Avarice and Ancient Gear Workshop will also help out as most of the more powerful Ancient Gears cannot be special summoned from the graveyard.

Strategy
Ancient Gears have gained much strength with the release of "Geartown", which makes summoning high-level gears much easier.

Another simpler OTK is to use "Limiter Removal" to double the ATK of all of your face-up monsters. You can also use "Pot of Avarice" to save you from a deck out. In addition, to retrieve cards removed from play, simply use "Burial from a Different Dimension" or "Miracle Dig".

Either by using them on the field or from your hand, in conjunction with "Polymerization", "Power Bond" and/or "Limiter Removal", it is possible to quickly achieve an OTK.

Ancient Gear Drill can be used to search out some quick play spells like My Body as a Shield and Shrink. These cards work well with Ancient Gear Drill because they can be activated during your opponents turn so you don't have to wait until your next turn to activate them.

Cards that allow you to get out stronger monsters without tribute like Cost Down or Star Blast.

Monsters

 * The Earth - Hex-Sealed Fusion
 * Cyber Valley
 * Cyber Phoenix
 * Cyber Dragon
 * Morphing Jar

Spells

 * Giant Trunade
 * Power Bond
 * Geartown
 * My Body as a Shield
 * Limiter Removal
 * Terraforming
 * Brain Control
 * Book of Moon
 * Trade In

Traps

 * Rainbow Life (Protects Life Points from Power Bond)

Extra Deck

 * Chimeratech Overdragon
 * Chimeratech Fortress Dragon

Trivia

 * In Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, the Ancient Gear set is used exclusively by Vellian Crowler, with the exception of Dimitri, who only copied Dr. Crowler's strategy against Syrus. They also reappear in Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, used by a vice-principal at Duel Academy, Rudolph Heitmann.


 * The original five "Ancient Gears": Cannon, Soldier, Engineer, Beast and Golem, 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.