If there’s one thing Konami loves besides Warriors and Dragon-Type monsters, it’s big machines. It makes sense — there was a time where this game appealed to children after all. As a result, we’ve seen numerous Machine Type archetypes – usually Earth – spring up here and there and do well in a competitive sense.
And the very first deck of that kind was Machina, which was able to become a threat because of its ability to easily summon its boss monster which had tons of effects which made it difficult to remove off the field. With the archetype getting a second structure deck this April, this list will look at some of the best parts of Machina now...and in the future.
10 MACHINA DEFENSE REGION
Defense Region is a continuous spell that protects level six or lower Machine monsters from being targeted by attacks or card effects as long as the player controls level 7 or higher Machine monsters.
That part is merely decent, as most of the better Machine cards in a Machina deck are going to have much higher levels. The better reason to keep this card around is whenever a Machine monster is destroyed, Defense Region grabs a Machine monster in the graveyard and adds it back to the hand.
9 MACHINA GEARFRAME
Gearframe was as straight-forward as possible. It’s a level 4 monster with an 1800 ATK body, which is large enough to get over most smaller normal summonable monsters.
When it hits the field, the player can add a Machina monster from the deck to the hand, which means it can search out cards like Fortress—or any boss monster—whenever it was necessary. It’s also a Union monster, so it can protect other cards from destruction.
8 MACHINA METALCRUNCH
As if Machina Gearframe needed an upgrade somehow. Metalcrunch is a level 9 monster with 2800 ATK...but it can normal summon itself if the player controls no monsters. Doing that makes it go down to only 1800 ATK, but then the player can reveal three Earth Machines from the deck to let the opponent pick one at random to add to the player’s hand.
The thing to notice here is while Metalcrunch says three Earth Machines, it doesn’t say they have to be different—smart players will, of course, pick a monster they have three copies of, forcing their opponent to add the one card they need to their hand.
7 MACHINA POSSESSTORAGE
This card’s a little weird, as it's one of the few monsters in the deck that isn’t an EARTH monster. If it’s summoned at all, it can special summon another Machina monster from the grave.
Interestingly enough, Possesstorage can also return an opponent’s backrow card to the hand by returning a Machina monster on the field. This effect can be used to briefly get rid of annoying field spells or even continuous spells or traps on the field, or it can stop the rare battle trap.
6 MACHINA IRRADIATOR
As if Fortress wasn’t enough of a cheat, Irradiator special summons itself by discarding any other Machina monster. It’s got some pretty odd stats, but its special ability is to destroy a Machine monster on field to special summon a Machina monster with the same or a lower level as the Machine monster.
This ability goes into some pretty awesome combos, most of which involve summoning Machina Citadel to the field to leave the player with a pretty terrifying board that the opponent has to have an answer to fast.
5 MACHINA AIR RAIDER
Another Machina monster that can special summon itself from discarding a Machina monster. Air Raider has basically identical stats as Irradiator—with slightly more defense and slightly less attack. Its effect is nearly identical as well, as Air Raider can target a Machine monster, destroy it, and then bring out a Machina monster from the deck with the same or lower level.
If Radiator was decent, this card is amazing. It pulls things directly out of the deck, and can actually work in tandem with Radiator to create a near-infinite number of monsters coming for the player.
4 MACHINA MEGAFORM
Weirdly, Machina have probably the highest level Lonefire Blossom-esque monster. Megaform can tribute itself to summon a Machina monster from the hand or deck, which offers some additional versatility Blossom doesn’t and works in case the card the player needs is already in their hand.
Interestingly, Megaform can summon itself from the graveyard via banishing Machina Fortress from the graveyard, which means all those discard costs from before provide a useful way to bring out Megaform while summoning other big monsters.
3 MACHINA FORTRESS
The main deck boss that started it all in terms of being incredibly powerful yet easily summoned. Fortress can discard Machine monsters with levels equaling at least eight to special summon itself. If it’s destroyed in battle, it gets to pop another card on the field, taking something else with it.
If it’s targeted by an effect monster, it lets the player look at the opponent’s hand and discard a card. The neat thing about Fortress besides being a level 7 monster with a huge body that can special summon itself—is that Fortress can special summon itself by discarding itself and another card.
2 MACHINA REFORMATION
A versatile spell that allows the player to search out Machina cards. The player can discard a card to add two Machina monsters to their hand, which of course puts monsters like Megaform or Fortress in the grave for a Megaform play. Or they can discard a Machina card to add two different Machina cards to their hand, meaning the support cards aren’t far from hand either.
This card sets up the grave, thins out the deck, and gets the player’s hand together without needless restrictions. It’s a bad top deck, but that’s a small knock against an otherwise amazing card.
1 MACHINA CITADEL
Citadel can destroy a Machine monster the player has to destroy monsters on the opponent’s field with equal or less ATK. It’s also a 3000 ATK beater that special summons itself from the graveyard if the player has a face up Earth Machine-Type monster destroyed.
So yes, this basically triggers off both Irradiator and Air Raider, can be tossed into the graveyard via Machina Reformation or Machina Fortress and can destroy monsters on field at any moment by destroying other Machina monsters. The destruction, by the way, is a quick effect, so the opponent could even lose their board during their own turn.