[Written] Machine King.dek : new tools for a classic monster

[LordCaelistis]

[spoiler=Notes]These cards are either retrains from classic monsters which are stated to serve the Machine King,
or new cards designed to enhance and / or protect the Machine King himself.
I went for Machine swarming mechanics, which includes using the opponent's field to maximise Machine King's effect.
Probably could still use some bonus speed. Will also include more monsters, especially high-level ones.

 

 

[spoiler=Monster Cards]Mechanicalbreaker
DARK / ✪✪✪✪
Machine / Effect

When this card is Summoned : target an opponent's monster; place a Target Counter on the targeted monster.
If there is a monster on your opponent's field with a Target Counter : your opponent's monsters, except monsters with a Target Counter, cannot affect this card with their effects.
When this card destroys an opponent's monster : draw 1 card. If it is a Machine monster, you can reveal it to draw another card.

[1850/1000]

Retrained version of a classic beatstick, designed to pop off a specific monster on your opponent's field while increasing your drawing speed.
Should be solid and reliable enough to enhance both a Machine King deck, or other Machine decks.
______________________

Robotic General
FIRE / ✪✪✪✪
Machine / Effect

When this card attacks : you can Special Summon a Level 4 or less Machine monster from your Hand.
When a Machine monster declares an attack : your opponent cannot activate Spell or Trap cards.

[1600/1800]

Raising up the Machine King's attack can be easy enough, ensuring he doesn't get slaughtered by a Mirror Force or the like is somewhat more complicated.
Robotic General aims to be a cheap protection against Spells and Traps, while strengthening your field (and thus increasing your Machine King's attack).
______________________

Cyber Supersoldier
DARK / ✪✪✪✪
Machine / Effect

If a Level 5 or more Machine monster you control is targeted by a card effect or attack : this monster can become the target instead.
This monster is unaffected by opponent's card effects activated in the same column.
Once per turn, if you control another non-Token Machine monster : you can destroy an opponent's card if it is in the same column.

[1500/1700]

Retrained version of Cyber Soldier, which is an obscure Level 5 monster with subpar attack and defense.
He's now far cheaper and simpler to summon, and can protect any high-level Machine monster from your opponent's shenaningans.
I tried to make him fit into the VRAINS era with a column-affecting effect, which can remove nasty threats from the field. Lack of targeting makes it more reliable.

 

[spoiler=Spells and Traps]Rerouting Power
Equip Spell

Equip only to a "Machine King" monster.
During your Main Phase, you can activate this effect : every Machine monster you control except the equipped monster cannot activate its effect or attack until your End Phase.
Then, during your Battle Phase, the equipped monster gains 1 additionnal attack for each other Machine monster you control.

Turns a Perfect Machine King into a real juggernaut, able to punch out your opponent's whole field.
That said, there should probably be a condition to limit the damage output, as this card could easily OTK.
______________________

Machine King's Troops
Continuous Spell

During your Main Phase, you can activate one of the following effects :
(1) Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower Machine monster from your Hand or Deck, in Defense Position, to either side of the field.
(2) Special Summon 2 Machine Troops Tokens (Machine-Type/EARTH/Level 2/ATK 1000/DEF 1000). You can only Special Summon Machine monsters.


First effect is simple : search for the monster you need, and bring him on the field. For example, you can search a Robotic General to protect your Machine King against Spells and Traps in battle. If your field is already full, you can start filling the opponent's field instead.
Otherwise, you can summon two Machine Tokens to power up your Machine King swiftly.
______________________

Crowning the Machine King
Normal Spell

Target 1 Level 5 or higher "Machine King" monster in your Hand or Deck : Tribute Summon it, using Machine monsters from either side of the field.
This Summon cannot be negated, and the summoned monster is unaffected by your opponent's Spell and Trap cards until the end of the turn.

Allows you to easily bring out your ace monsters (such as Perfect Machine King). Is even better while the opponent controls Machine monsters for obvious reasons.
Protects the summoned monster to be more reliable.
_______________________

Council of the Machine King
Normal Spell

Special Summon as many Machine Councilor Tokens (Machine-Type/EARTH/Level 2/ATK 500/DEF 500) as possible on your side of the field ; then, pay 500 LP for every Token summoned.
If a "Machine King" monster you control is targeted by an attack or an effect : you can make that attack or effect target a Machine Councilor Token instead. Then, destroy the targeted Machine Councilor Token.
These Tokens can only be tributed or used as materials to summon Machine monsters.

In exchange for some LPs, you can easily swarm your own field to strenghten your Machine King.
As a bonus, these Tokens protect your Machine King against targeting effects.
_______________________

Global Robotization
Normal Trap

All monsters currently face-up on the field become Machine monsters.
When an opponent's Machine monster declares an attack or activates its effect : you can banish this card from your GY; negate the attack or the effect's activation.

When unable to swarm your own field, just turn your opponent's field into Machines.
Also a GY trap to hamper the opponent.

[Dova]

There's nothing spectacular here, aside from Crowning the Machine King, specifically for the Machine King. However, said card does tie in nicely with Robotization, especially as the latter doesn't target, and provides its own means of protection. Again, Crowning is a beautiful piece of work which I congratulate you for, but I start to see problems when I get to Troops and Council. In this new Link era of YGO, Tokens are extremely valuable, and the two free Tokens granted by Troops, no matter the state of your field, could lead to a buff in generic Link spam. The easy-fix there is to limit you to Summoning Machine monsters for the rest of the turn. Even without that, the free Machine Summon from your Deck immediately nets you either a Gadget, an Ancient Gear, or even one of the ABC materials! That's very dangerous, as the Link monsters inevitably Summoned from the Tokens could net you a double ABC Buster Dragon. Weow. I really have no suggestions there, as the Machine pool is wide and varied at the moment. This isn't even talking about Council's +4 in terms of free Tokens. Anywho, Rerouting Power is fine. A memey card, but not particularly weak.

 

Your monster line-up...is alright, I guess? There's nothing there to particularly help the Machine King over other Machine decks, although I must say these are very faithful retrains. I love the design effort you've put into your monsters and cards in terms of making flavourful and interesting cards to work with. Only problem in this section, other than lack of direct support, or really basic support of any kind, is Cyber indeed having a little too much power in his nuke. I would suggest destroy 1 card in the same column, without targeting, and even then only if you control another Machine. Might even still be a bit too much, but his lack of an archetype might be enough.

 

As I said before, great ideas, decent implementation, but a bad metagame to introduce them to. My main suggestion would be to adjust for the VRAINS era, and perhaps throw in some more direct Machine King support. Anywho, nice work!

 

[LordCaelistis]

Thanks for the feedback and kind words, Dova.

 

First of all, I'd like to admit that I know next to nothing about the VRAINS meta. I have not been able to play with Links and experiment with them.

That said, I should have understood Tokens can cheese the hell out of Links. I've put several summoning clauses to focus on Machine monsters, as you advised, and I will look into improving those fixes. One way to fix the problem could be restricting summons to EARTH Machines monsters, as the Machine Kings are all EARTH.

 

I plan on adding several new Machine Kings, to make Crowning of the Machine King more useful, and the deck less stiff. There should be 2 or 3 Machine King low-leveled helpers along the way, not necessarily belonging to the Machine King series. 

I wanted to evoke the vanilla Yu-Gi-Oh feel, with random monsters cobbled up together to form a coherent and flavorful deck. I apparently succeeded, something in which I find no small pride.

 

I'm gonna look into the VRAINS meta to improve my cards, and create new Main Deck monsters. Perhaps a Machine King Link for fun, but I'd like to make a functional, main deck only Machine King deck. I'm globally satisfied with my spells and traps for now. New Machine King bosses are on the way.

 

(Fun fact : Rerouting Power was the starting point of this project. I like memey plays.)