What comes to mind when you think of a deck that can make really high numbers in battle?
Gren Maju?
Blue-Eyes?
Well, if you chose either of those, you did great.
But that also means you haven’t seen an Ancient Gear deck in action.
Ancient Gear makes it easy to summon strong monsters, and it also has ways to keep them safe.
It’s a lot of fun to play with beatdown decks, and Ancient Gear is no different.
So, if that made you curious about some related card options, let’s get to the list.
What Are the Ancient Gear Monsters?
The Ancient Gear archetype is made up of earth-based machine-type monsters. It dates all the way back to the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX era, when Dr. Crowler used it in the anime.
You might think that monsters from a series that has been around for so long wouldn’t be useful in modern dueling, but the Ancient Gear monsters are still a surprising threat thanks to a steady stream of great support cards and an amazing base set.
Machine monsters already have a few type-dependent tricks up their sleeves, like the Power Bond and Limiter Removal spells that can double their ATK.
However, the Ancient Gear archetype has even more powerful effects that can help you win duels in just a few turns.
There are many different units and supports to choose from.
Which ones are the best?
17. Ancient Gear Reborn
Ancient Gear Reborn is one of the best graveyard revivals in the game, especially since it can be used more than once. However, you can only use it when you don’t control any monsters.
If you don’t control any monsters, you can bring a creature from your graveyard back to life once per turn, and it gets 200 ATK!
Not only does the special-summoned unit get a small power boost, but it isn’t linked to Reborn.
This means that even if your opponent destroys this continuous trap, any revived units will still be on the field, unlike the “Call of the Haunted” or “Oasis of Dragon Souls” traps.
Lastly, keep in mind that traps can be set off on both players’ turns. This means that you can easily get back into the game after a field wipe, no matter whose turn it is.
16. Geartown
Even though Geartown is an old field spell, it still works very well. It lets both players summon Ancient Gear monsters with a tribute for one less sacrifice than normal, making it much easier to play your aces.
Also, when it is destroyed and sent to the graveyard, you can special summon any Ancient Gear from your hand, deck, or field!
Keep in mind that some of the members can’t be special called and can’t be used with this effect. However, you can still pull a lot of great monsters from your deck and put them in your hand.
And remember that the ability works whether you or your opponent destroyed Geartown, so feel free to use cards like Malevolent Catastrophe or Ancient Gear Catapult to destroy it yourself.
15. Ancient Gear Golem
If you’ve seen any Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, you know everything there is to know about this monster.
Funny thing is, GX started airing more than 10 years ago, but this card is still great.
Ancient Gear Golem is a Level 8 monster with 3000 ATK and 3000 DEF. It is a strong monster, and it can also be used to make bigger monsters in your deck.
It does pierce damage to monsters in Defense Position, and your opponent can’t use Spells or Traps until the Damage Step is over.
Note that you can’t Special Summon this monster, but don’t worry, there are ways to get around that…
14. Ancient Gear Golem – Ultimate Pound
If you’d rather have a more offensive Ancient Gear Golem, you can use this card instead and still have a strong base for all your “Ancient Gear” Boss monsters to build on.
Ancient Gear Golem – Ultimate Pound is LVL8 and has 3000 ATK and 3000 DEF.
This monster also does piercing damage, and if it kills a monster in fight, you can throw away a Machine Monster to attack again. You can also do this twice, which is a lot of damage.
If this card is destroyed, you can add a “Ancient Gear” monster from your Graveyard to your hand and draw a “Polymerization” card for your Fusion plays.
This monster gives up the security that ‘Ancient Gear Golem’ has in exchange for power. And that’s all you need sometimes.
13. Ancient Gear Box
You won’t want this card in your first hand. But it can be a great way to get more monsters on the field.
Ancient Gear Box is an LVL4 item with 500 ATK and 2000 DEF. It has a special effect, though:
If it ends up in your hand without you drawing it, you can add an EARTH Machine-Type monster with 500 ATK or 500 DEF to your hand.
You can come up with creative goals for this. But the Infinitrack monster further down this list is a great pick.
12. Gear Town
The Ancient Gear Field Spell doesn’t increase ATK or DEF (and let’s be honest, they don’t need it!) It doesn’t help you, either.
But it makes it much easier to call for help.
When Gear Town is on the field, it takes one less Ancient Gear monster to Tribute Summon them when Gear Town is there.
So it only takes one monster to Tribute most monsters.
On its own, this is great.
But if this card is killed, you can call up any ‘Ancient Gear’ monster from your hand, deck, or graveyard.
Don’t forget that you can also destroy your own Field Spell if you want to.
11. Ancient Gear Fusion
Most Fusion cards that are specific to an archetype do what Polymerization does, but better.
This is also true of the Ancient Gear form.
Ancient Gear Fusion lets you use monsters from your hand or the field to Fusion summon an Ancient Gear monster.
But if you use a “Ancient Gear Golem” or “Ancient Gear Golem – Ultimate Pound,” you can also use monsters from your deck as materials.
Some of the boss monsters in Ancient Gear are so strong that they can win a game on their own, and this card makes it almost too easy to call those monsters.
10. Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem
The Ancient Gear Golem is a great monster.
But Fusion is a much better version!
Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem is called “Ultimate” because it takes “Ancient Gear Golem” and 2 “Ancient Gear” monsters to summon it. It has a total of 4400 ATK/3400 DEF and does cutting damage.
And if this card strikes, your opponent can’t use spells or traps until the end of the Damage Step. So you can attack as recklessly as you want.
Most monsters in the game don’t hit as hard as this one does. Even if it gets killed, you can still bring it back from your Graveyard.
9. Ancient Gear Ballista
Ancient Gear decks have access to a great Link monster that acts as a searcher and can also destroy your own Spells and Traps.
Ancient Gear Ballista is a Link-2 monster with 1500 ATK. When it is Link Summoned, you can add any “Ancient Gear” monster or “Gear Town” from your Deck to your hand.
Searchers are good all the time. But the second result of this card is even better:
You can destroy a Spell or Trap you control to make an opponent’s monster have 0 ATK and DEF until the end of the turn.
This makes it easy for you to crush them.
And don’t forget that if you destroy your Gear Town, you can call any Ancient Gear monster by special summoning.
8. Infinitrack Anchor Drill
This isn’t an Ancient Gear monster, but it fits the deck so well and gives you a lot more choices for your Extra Deck.
There are a few Infinitrack monsters that can fit in an Ancient Gear deck. But maybe this is the best.
The Infinitrack Anchor Drill is an LVL4 monster with 1800 ATK and 500 DEF.
When you summon it, you can special summon an EARTH machine monster (basically any Ancient Gear) from your hand in defense position.
This monster can also change the levels of other monsters. This makes it easy to bring out some XYZ monsters that are way too strong.
7. Ancient Gear Hunting Hound
Who wants to wait for their Fusion monsters to get Polymerization?
Nobody.
And this deck has a great monster that will take care of it for you.
Ancient Gear Hunting Hound is a great LVL 3 with 1000 ATK and 1000 DEF.
You can do 600 damage to your opponent’s Life Points when you normal summon it.
The best part of this card, though, is that it lets you Fusion Summon an Ancient Gear monster from your hand or field once per turn.
Any Fusion-heavy deck would be great with a Fusion effect that can be used more than once, and this one is no different.
6. Ancient Gear Reactor Dragon
If you can’t get around the Ancient Gear Golem’s limits on how it can be summoned, this is a great card that is easier to use and is just as strong.
Ancient Gear Reactor Dragon is a Level 9 card with 3000 ATK and 3000 DEF. It gets piercing damage if a “Ancient Gear” was sacrificed to bring it into play.
Plus, if a ‘Gadget’ was used to call this card, it can attack twice.
So you have a few choices for extra effects, and you’ll definitely want to attack, since your opponent can’t use effects until the end of the Damage Step and you can destroy a Spell or Trap if you destroy a monster.
5. Ancient Gear Fortress
In an Ancient Gear deck, it can be hard to bring out boss monsters.
So getting rid of them early can be very bad.
Ancient Gear Fortress is a Continuous Spell that protects all of your Ancient Gear monsters on the turn they are called from card effects.
Plus, your opponent can’t stop the effects of your Ancient Gear or do anything in answer to them.
This gives you space to clear the field.
As if that wasn’t enough, you can special summon an Ancient Gear monster from your hand or Graveyard when this card is killed.
Amazing, Ancient Gear Fortress. Especially since most decks have some kind of cost for abilities like this.
4. Ancient Gear Catapult
This spell card helps the deck in a great way. And if you were wondering how to get around the rules for Ancient Gear Golems, this is how you do it.
If you don’t control any monsters, Ancient Gear Catapult lets you destroy a face-up card you control to special summon a “Ancient Gear” monster without meeting any other conditions.
This is a great effect, especially since there are so many scary ‘Ancient Gear’ monsters to choose from.
You can also send this card to the Graveyard to Special Summon an LVL1 Machine EARTH Token.
This can give you more materials for Summoning when you need them the most.
3. Ancient Gear Wyvern
This monster almost seems out of place on this list of strong people.
But it’s a very important card, and without it the deck is almost useless.
Ancient Gear Wyvern is a Level 4 card with 1700 ATK and 1200 DEF. It is the deck’s main search card.
When this card is brought into play, you can add any Ancient Gear card from the deck to your hand.
This card can help you get to your boss monsters or protect your field, so you’ll almost certainly want 3 of them in your deck.
2. Ancient Gear Howitzer
This great Fusion monster gives you another way to get around limits on summoning, and it also does a lot of burn damage.
Ancient Gear Howitzer is an easy-to-call LVL8 with 1000 ATK/1800 DEF and 1800 DEF. During the main phase, this monster does an extra 1000 burn damage. This burn effect can happen once per turn.
Now I know that those numbers for an LVL8 are terrible.
You want this card to be thrown away, though.
When it is, you can use a special summon to bring a “Ancient Gear” monster from your deck, regardless of any other conditions.
When this is on the field, your opponent has to choose between taking 1000 damage each turn or getting a monster with 3000 ATK. You can’t make a mistake with that.
1. Chaos Ancient Gear Giant
This Boss monster is really cool.
And if you get it to the Battle Phase, you generally win the duel.
Chaos Ancient Gear Giant needs 4 “Ancient Gear” monsters (Ancient Gear Fusion!) and has 4500 ATK and 3000 DEF.
This monster is also immune to Spells and Traps, which means that your opponent’s monsters can’t use their effects during the fight phase.
All of these things would be enough to put this monster on the list, but it can also attack each of your opponent’s monsters once.
It also does cutting damage to monsters that are in defense position.
The Chaos Ancient Gear Giant is way too powerful. And it’s not too hard to get out with the help of this deck.
When this card comes into play, you have a good chance of winning, so make it your top goal.
