Ancient Warriors

"Ancient Warriors", named "Warring Flower" (戦 (せん) 華 (か) Senka) in Japanese, is an archetype of WATER, WIND and FIRE Beast-Warrior monsters first introduced in the OCG in Ignition Assault. In the OCG, every "Ancient Warrior" monster is named after heroes in the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" historical novel, while the "Ancient Warriors Saga" Spell/Trap Cards are named after pivotal events in the novel.

Etymology

Each of the monsters in this archetype is named after a character from the classic Chinese Novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The theme's name itself seems to be reference to 戦 (せん) 火 (か) senka (the fires/horrors of war) and 中 (ちゅう) 華 (か) chūka (the Japanese spelling of a poetic name for China meaning "The Central Flower"), resulting in something similar to "Warring Flower".

In addition, the attributes reference the story. Monsters with WATER attributes were from the Wu Kingdom, where the kingdom was best known to be surrounded by rivers and lakes. Monsters with WIND attributes were from the Shu Kingdom. Monsters with FIRE attributes were from the Wei Kingdom. During the Battle of the Red Cliff, Shu strategist Zhuge Liang was infamous for "borrowing the wind" and winning the war.

Members

Attribute	Monster	Origin	Courtesy name	Beast reference
WATER	Graceful Zhou Gong	Zhou Yu	Gongjin	Swan
	Masterful Sun Mou	Sun Quan	Zhongmou	Turtle and snake
	Eccentric Lu Jing	Lu Su	Zijing	Snake
WIND	Valiant Zhang De	Zhang Fei	Yide	Tiger
	Loyal Guan Yun	Guan Yu	Yunchang	White tiger
	Virtuous Liu Xuan	Liu Bei	Xuande	Dragon
	Strategist - Zhuge Kong	Zhuge Liang	Kongming	Dragon
FIRE	Chief - Cao De	Cao Cao	Mengde	Phoenix
	Herald - Zhang Yuan	Zhang Liao	Wenyuan	Demon
	Schemer - Jia Wen	Jia Xu	Wenhe	Bird

Support

Playing style

The archetype focus on summoning more than 1 "Ancient Warrior" as some monsters can only activate their effect if another "Ancient Warrior" activates their effect. The Continuous Spell, "Ancient Warriors Saga - Sun-Liu Alliance" also encourage playing "Ancient Warriors" of multiple attributes.