Thursday, 22 September 2016

Card Discussion: Antique Gear Chaos Giant

GET YOUR GAME ON~!

The recent nostalgic throwback to the GX era had the game introduce plenty of Ancient/Antique Gear support, either ready to debut in RATE or Structure Deck R: Machine Re-Volt. And the most recent news of them all, is a boss monster of the archtype.

First off, the restriction that this card carries is indeed reassuring. "This card cannot be Special Summoned, except by Fusion Summon." This way, a 4500ATK monster that is unaffected by spells and traps can't be summoned upon the demise of Cyber Dragon Nova and 4000ATK remains to be the power ceiling for monsters summon-able by Nova. It also ensures that cards like Cyber Stein and Summoner of Illusions can't summon it out and thus, the proper fusion summoning process must be performed.

Lastly, this effect eliminates any worries and troubles that it might be revived from the graveyard via the plenty graveyard-revival options available. Take that, Monster Reborn!

Let's analyse the card further. But what should really capture your eye is its DARK ATRRIBUTE, which is different from the mainstream EARTH that many Antique Gear monsters possesses. Being a DARK machine, many players should know what this means...

For the newer players, this card is Overload Fusion

(1) While this card is in a Monster Zone, it is unaffected by the
effects of Spell & Trap Cards, and your opponent cannot activate
Monster Effects during the Battle Phase.

This is the scary part of this card's effect. It is a boss monster that can't be affected by the effects Spell and Trap cards upon a successful summon. And straying away from the norm of Antique Gear monsters sealing off the opponent's spell and traps during the battle phase, Antique Gear Chaos Giant renders monster effects useless instead. This would prove to be useful in today's meta where it is largely focused on monster effects. Number S39: Utopia the Lightning can't have his way now. Previously, this Number monster has been the universal answer to many threats that are within its power ceiling of 5000ATK, and it even has an inert protection ability against responsive threats to attack declaration. But being unable monster effects during the battle phase, Utopia the Lightning is stuck at being a 2500ATK beatstick when in battle against Antique Gear Chaos Giant.

Antique Gear Chaos Giant's effect is also different from the other Antique Gear in the sense that, instead of nullifying effects during its attacking process, in other words the owner's battle phase, it prevents monster effects during Battle Phases entirely.

The invulnerability to spell and trap effect swings both ways, so the user of this card also can't target it for De-Fusion or Limiter Removal. It is worth noting that it can still be affected by the cost of spell + traps.

(2) This card can attack
all monsters your opponent controls, once each, and if it attacks a
Defense Position monster, inflict piercing battle damage.

Piercing damage on top of multiple attacks grant Antique Gear Chaos Giant OTK potentials even when it is on its own. Personally I think this effect puts Antique Gear Chaos Giant in a zone where it has a suitable and powerful effect of augment itself, yet not being too broken at the same time.

So how to stop it?

For every seemingly unbeatable monster, there exists the method of preventing it from even appearing in the first place. Solemn Warning and Solemn Judgement exists as methods to hamper the fusion summon of Antique Gear Chaos Giant. That or the newly released Dimensional Barrier, declaring fusion in response to a fusion spell works as well.

Solemn Strike won't do much to this card. The fusion summoning process being one that starts from a spell card's activation, Strike can't negate the summon. Neither of Antique Gear Chaos Giant's effects seem to start off a chain, and even if so, it itself is unaffected by Spell & Trap cards.

Of course all of these points to before the card is even summoned, but what if you are a turn too late, and it is already on the field?

With Antique Gear Chaos Giant being unaffected by Spell and Traps and all, unless you have the help of an Effect Veiler, you are better off throwing out your spell and trap removal options out of the window and focus on a new game plan involving your monsters. But not monsters that are useful during the Battle Phase, such as Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon.

Getting rid of Antique Gear Chaos Giant is actually a very do-able task. It is not as unbeatable as it seems. Many would have noticed by now that it only prevents monster effects during the Battle Phase. So Dark Rebellion Dragon can fill in the shoes of Number S39: Utopia the Lightning and defeat Antique Gear Chaos Giant in battle. Even Archfiend Eccentrick can do the job.

But all these can only be done during your turn. In the face of Antique Gear Chaos Giant, summoned during your opponent's turn, you have to first, worry about its OTK potential. Thankfully, due to its second effect, it can only perform multiple attacks on monsters, and not direct attacks. By itself, if you have only one monster or none, you are likely to avoid an obliteration by this machine boss monster.

Kirin remains as annoying as ever, reminding everyone of its need to remain limited. Being a Compulsory Evacuation Device on legs, it can answer Antique Gear Chaos Giant in ways Evacuation Device can't, since Kirin is a monster. On top of that its effect can be activated at any point of time the user pleases, so the timing before the opponent enters the Battle Phase would be the optimal window of opportunity. Antique Gear users will be happy to know that during the reign of Academia... I mean the machine troops, Kirin will be joining our many friends in the Limited section of the Forbidden and Limited list.

Blue-Eyes decks can fall back on Effect Veiler and activate it during the Main Phase, then surprise the opponent with a spell/trap removal during the ensuing Battle Phase, effectively getting rid of Antique Gear Chaos Giant with only a handful of cards. No battle, no damage.

It is unaffected by spell and traps, but that doesn't mean that your monsters aren't. So in a mirror match facing this colossal machine giant, Limiter Removal would be sufficient to grant you victory in battle.

Skyscraper to defeat Antique Gear Chaos Giant. Anyone?

For LIGHT decks, you have Honest at your disposal, and DARK spellcaster decks can employ the assistance of Apprentice Illusion Magician for a crucial 2000ATK boost, ensuring that our 'ultimate wizard in terms of attack and defense' - Dark Magician - can tie it in battle.

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HAH! That is what you think!

Or did you get so carried away that you forgot that Antique Gear Chaos Giant prevents monster effects during the battle phase? You wanna look at the copy of Honest in your hand with a different look now? Like this image below?

So the answer still remains in boosting one's monster's ATK stat with the help of spell and traps. That or monster effects, BEFORE the Battle Phase.

Tl;dr version: Antique Gear Chaos Giant remains vulnerable to monster effects outside of Battle Phases, and with the assistance of other non-monster-related ATK boosting effects, can still be bested by battle.

At 4500ATK, Antique Gear Chaos Giant is the highest ATK monster in the entire Antique Gear archetype and the highest in attack among the machine fusion monsters. Like every card in the game, there will remain to be an answer to it. No doubt a 4500 'untouchable' monster will add more variety to the OCG, but I believe that it is an interesting addition to the game. Having a boss monster with impressive effects might also attract players to try out Antique Gear as a deck.

Personally, I look forward to challenging another fusion-orientated deck with my Metalfoes.

6 comments:

Unfortunately Ancient Gear hasn't been able to make a dent in the metagame. Its combos are too reliant on Catapult to start working. It is definitely not anywhere above Tier 3 since its debut, and I doubt this will change in January since it will have to face competition from the True Kings and Pendulum Magicians