Chapter 42. Key Spell/Trap Support! Fusion-Focused Ancient Gear All-Out Assault!
Dr. Crowler swallowed hard.
His eyes kept darting back and forth over those monster cards again and again.
The more he looked, the more his heart pounded.
These Ancient Gears had already surpassed his understanding!
They even felt a little unfamiliar to him.
…
In the 5D's world.
After skimming the basic in-archetype monsters, Yusei Fudo actually became interested in this theme.
It fundamentally relies on Fusion.
But these cards didn't seem to involve that many Fusion-related pieces.
Not like HERO, where plenty of monsters can search "Polymerization" to play with.
Or "Mask Change," which pairs with Masked HERO transformations.
"Ancient Gears have some interesting low-Level monsters."
"They all provide the possibility to Summon while ignoring conditions."
"So, in itself—"
"This theme doesn't have to rely only on a Fusion line."
"If I'm not mistaken, our Duel Academy over here also has this theme, right?"
Jack Atlas squinted at the Riding Duel display.
Hearing this, Yusei Fudo nodded thoughtfully.
That's right.
Because the Ancient Gear Deck had already become one of Duel Academy's legacy themes.
Even across parallel worlds with different worldviews, Ancient Gear Decks would exist.
In Yusei Fudo's memory, he seemed to have faced an Ancient Gear Duelist before?
…
In the ZEXAL world.
For themes that aren't Xyz-oriented and don't run many Xyz cards, Yuma Tsukumo and his friends wouldn't usually care much.
But when they caught sight of those very few Xyz cards, Yuma Tsukumo froze!
Those Xyz cards?
They looked like…?
No, wait…?
They looked like Number cards!
Among them, one card—Number 41!
"Astral! Look!"
"That's a Number card!"
"Another Number just showed up!"
At those words, Astral immediately looked at that so-called Number 41.
It really was a Number card!
It was "Number 41: Bagooska the Terribly Tired Tapir"!
"Another Number?"
"Very good, very good, that clinches it."
"Yuma, that world absolutely has information on all the Numbers!"
"It's just that, like over here, they practically have every single one."
"..."
Although Astral could hardly believe the conclusion he'd reached, the facts were right in front of him.
He had no choice but to admit it.
That world possessed all the Number cards!
…
Inside the short video.
Ancient Gear Is Faith: "Of course, these monsters aren't the focus."
Ancient Gear Is Faith: "In fact, for the in-archetype lines, a single Wyvern is enough."
Ancient Gear Is Faith: "The real focus is the Ancient Gear Spell/Trap lineup."
"As for why?"
"Let's look at a few Spells and we'll know."
"Once we're done, I think you'll understand exactly what I mean."
"Let's start with this one."
"The most crucial must-run 3-of for Ancient Gears—'Ancient Gear Advance'!"
"Why do I say that? Because its first effect lets you add 1 'Ancient Gear' Spell/Trap from your Deck to your hand, except 'Ancient Gear Advance.'"
"Like Wyvern, it carries a powerful search effect!"
"And its second effect!"
"Once per turn, you can Tribute 1 monster; draw 1 card, and for the rest of this turn, apply the following effect."
"When you would Normal Summon 'Ancient Gear Golem,' or a Level 5 or higher monster that mentions it, you can do so without Tributing."
"Just those two effects already pack a ton of value, right?"
Indeed!
Setting aside the same self-restriction as Wyvern, this card brings a huge power boost.
Normal Summoning high-Level in-archetype bosses without Tributes once again proves a key point.
The ace monsters are absurdly easy to Summon!
Ancient Gear Is Faith: "Next is the in-archetype Spell 'Ancient Gear Catapult'!"
"Its first effect, while you control no monsters, lets you destroy 1 face-up card you control, then Special Summon 1 'Ancient Gear' monster from your Deck, ignoring its Summoning conditions."
"Push to Summon an ace, or pull Wyvern to keep searching!"
"The second effect lets you banish this card from your Graveyard to target 1 face-up card you control; destroy it, then Special Summon 1 'Ancient Gear Token' (Machine/EARTH/Level 1/ATK 0/DEF 0) to your field."
"At this point you'll notice both of this key card's effects involve destroying your own cards, right?"
"Has anyone wondered why?"
Right?
Why is that?
This question left Duelists from the six Duel Worlds stumped.
They really hadn't noticed.
On these Ancient Gear Spells, most of the effects consumed your own resources.
If it were destroying an opponent's card, that would be easy to understand.
But why destroy your own?
Why specifically target your own cards for destruction?
Could it be that this enables some kind of combo?
While they were still puzzled, Ancient Gear Is Faith immediately brought up the combo pieces!
First card—the Field Spell "Geartown"!
It reduces the number of Tributes required for in-archetype Tribute Summons by 1.
And when it's destroyed, you can Special Summon 1 "Ancient Gear" monster from your hand, Deck, or Graveyard.
Second card—the Continuous Spell "Ancient Gear Fortress"!
Aside from other effects, it also has an effect that, when destroyed, lets you Special Summon an Ancient Gear monster from your hand or Graveyard!
After seeing these two support cards, the GX world's Duelists were finally pushed to the brink.
So that's how it is!
No wonder!
Destroying your own cards—this seemingly negative effect—wasn't strange at all!
It turns out it's to trigger these cards' Special Summon effects, keeping the in-archetype monsters coming!
Since when did the Ancient Gear ace become so easy to Summon?
It's really like summoning for free!
First, monsters that help you ignore conditions.
Then, Spells that destroy your own cards to trigger triple Special Summons.
After spacing out, Dr. Crowler immediately got excited.
This was exactly the Ancient Gear he wanted!
He had always had a headache over those many high-Level powerhouses being hard to Summon.
Now that he'd seen the monster and Spell information, he relaxed—truly relaxed.
Ancient Gears already had a bright future ahead!
"Hahaha! Chancellor Sheppard! Did you see that?"
"I told you Ancient Gears aren't simple!"
"After all, it's the face deck of us professors!"
"It has to be strong!"
Dr. Crowler planted his fists on his hips, head held high, almost giddy with pride.
It was as if all those earlier deck breakdowns had been tossed out the window.
Clearly, HERO, Dark Magician, Blue-Eyes White Dragon, and Eldlich are all decks that don't lose to Ancient Gears.
"A-hem! Dr. Crowler."
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves."
"Let's finish the Fusion monsters first."
Chancellor Sheppard wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.
Dr. Crowler's reaction was a bit beyond his expectations.
But on second thought, it was normal.
When your signature deck gets stronger in a higher world, who wouldn't be excited?
…
In the main world, the short video kept playing.
Sei Yuki had been watching Dr. Crowler's reactions from the GX Duel World the whole time.
After reading the bullet comments, Sei Yuki was amused.
Just as expected, Dr. Crowler would go wild after watching.
As for everyone else's reactions and discussions, Sei Yuki saw them all.
"Phew, interesting, interesting."
"Being able to see the bullet comments is so satisfying."
"I can glean all their mutterings."
"Some are roasting, some are flaming."
"Looks like this Ancient Gear short is getting a decent response."
"Next up is the Extra Deck segment."
Sei Yuki narrowed his eyes.
He tapped the video, and playback resumed.
The video blogger's voice came through quickly.
Ancient Gear Is Faith: "By now, I believe everyone has a basic grasp of the Ancient Gear Deck."
Ancient Gear Is Faith: "That makes the next explanations much easier."
Ancient Gear Is Faith: "I said before, to start your lines, you basically rely on a single Wyvern, right?"
Ancient Gear Is Faith: "So here's the question—these monsters and these Spell/Traps all serve one purpose, which is to help us Fusion Summon."
"To bring out Ancient Gear's strongest Fusion ace, and then help us finish the opponent."
"Okay, so what do we make going first, and what do we make going second?"
"Within the in-archetype toolbox, there's actually not that much fuss."
"Because Ancient Gears are inherently a going-second OTK Deck."
"As such, the Fusion monsters are mostly aggressive, attack-hungry cards."
"For example, this one—'Chaos Ancient Gear Giant'!"
[Card Name: Chaos Ancient Gear Giant (Level 10)]
[Attribute: DARK]
[Type: Machine]
[ATK/DEF: 4500/3000]
Forty-five hundred ATK?
Duelists across the six Duel Worlds jolted when they saw that stat line!
Looking at the Fusion requirement—4 "Ancient Gear" monsters—was not easy.
But the effects were downright terrifying!
Effect 1!
As long as this card is in the Monster Zone, it is unaffected by Spell/Trap effects, and your opponent cannot activate monster effects during the Battle Phase.
In short, it resists Spell/Traps and locks monster effects in the Battle Phase!
Effect 2!
This card can attack all monsters your opponent controls, once each, and if it attacks a Defense Position monster, it inflicts piercing battle damage equal to the difference between its ATK and that monster's DEF.
Attack hunger maxed out!
And it carries piercing!
Combine both, and it's an absolutely lethal attacker!
Ancient Gear Is Faith: "One of the Fusion powerhouses for OTKs—we'll cover post-Summon lines later, no worries."
Ancient Gear Is Faith: "Now let's look at another hard-pushing card—'Ancient Gear Megaton Golem'!"
[Card Name: Ancient Gear Megaton Golem (Level 9)]
[Attribute: EARTH]
[Type: Machine]
[ATK/DEF: 3300/3300]
There's more?
Another card for all-out OTK aggression?
Startled again, the six Duel Worlds' Duelists turned their eyes to this Ancient Gear whose ATK was lower than the previous one.
Effect 1 prevents Spell/Trap activations in battle—no surprises there.
It's a unique inherited hallmark of the theme.
Effect 2 states that if its Fusion Materials included "Ancient Gear Golem" and/or "Ancient Gear Golem – Ultimate Pound," totaling 2 or more, then during each Battle Phase it can attack up to that many times.
That is no small attack appetite.
Effect 3 says that if it leaves the field because of an opponent's effect, you can Special Summon 1 "Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem" from your Extra Deck, ignoring its Summoning conditions.
Hold up.
What kind of wild death-trigger is that?
"Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem"?
Isn't that the 4400-ATK Fusion ace with Spell/Trap lock in battle, piercing, and a death-trigger to pull "Ancient Gear Golem"?
You can play it like this too?
…
In the GX world, Jaden Yuki was dumbfounded.
Is this an endless nesting-doll routine?
"Ancient Gear Megaton Golem" leaves, nesting into "Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem."
"Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem" leaves, nesting into "Ancient Gear Golem."
Once you get a single battle destruction going, it's unstoppable!
The key is that all these cards shut off Spell/Traps during battle, and their ATK never dips below 3000.
Isn't that nasty?
Since when did Dr. Crowler's deck start going down this nesting-doll path?
After watching, the other students all shivered.
The Ancient Gears that once embodied a teacher's dignity already scared the students enough.
Now, with this kind of power-up, they were even more afraid.
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