Forum:Deck Guide/Machina

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

 * Speed: Now, this depends on what style you play. Trying to go for Machina Force is very tedious, but Machina Fortress can be easily brought out as early as the very first turn.
 * Power: The Machina archetype has its share of beatsticks and walls, and even has the ability to pull off an unexpected OTK!
 * Consistency: The presence of Machina/Gadget hybrids in the meta has shown how tenacious the Deck can be. Pure Machina, on the other hand, tends to run into slight consistency issues.
 * Risk: A flaw in Machina lies in its inability to deal with banishment. If the ace monster gets snagged by something like Bottomless, you're screwed.
 * Meta Ranking: Pure Machina will never go anywhere in the meta. But Machina Gadget hybrids have shown to be able to hold their ground in their time.

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 Defende 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.

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.

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
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.

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.
 * 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 Disgma 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.

Also be wary of the following...
 * Ally of Justice Catastor - This is an utter pain in the rear because all your monsters are likely to be non-DARK. Because of this, Catastor can easily shoot down all your monsters without effort, regardless of their ATK.
 * Chimeratech Fortress Dragon - This is a weakness not just to the Machina archetype, but all Machines in general. As the opponent can use material from either side of the field to summon Fortress Dragon, they can easily clean out your entire attack force while bringing out an immense beatstick just by summoning a Cyber Dragon. It's quite funny to use during Machina mirror matches, though.