Yu-Gi-Oh!: The 10 Best Machine Decks

Machine Type Yu-Gi-Oh! Monsters are among some of the most popular in the game. There have been plenty of fan-favorite Archetypes over the years, and while not on the level of Spellcasters or Dragons, are still one of the most played Types.

With how long Yu-Gi-Oh! has been around, there have been plenty of Machine decks over the years, ranging from staple rogue decks to meta decks that dominated during their respective eras. Machine Monsters have plenty of cards that focus on any kind of summoning mechanic, and there are plenty out there that you can play depending on your preferred playstyle.

10 Ancient Gear

The Ancient Gear Archetype was a menace during their reign in Duel Links, and while the TCG doesn't mirror this power, it is still a solid Machine Type deck to bring into duels. Ancient Gear Monsters' main gimmick is being able to attack and prevent your opponent from activating cards while doing so.

Ancient Gears have the core for a solid deck, including generic searchers and ways to Special Summon powerful Monsters from the deck. They're a fan-favorite deck, and a ton of fun to play. Ancient Gear has a ton of support cards, and will likely see new support down the road as well to boost them even further.

9 Crystron

Crystron is more than just Crystron Halqifibrax and is one of the most interesting Synchro Archetypes out there. Crystrons are built around Synchro Summoning on the opponent's turn to disrupt them and stop their plays in their tracks.

Crystron was given a large boost in the modern game after the 2020 Rule revisions, allowing their Synchros to be placed anywhere instead of just in the Extra Monster Zone. As an added bonus, one of the best Link Monsters ever released, Crystron Halqifibrax is a part of the Archetype. Definitely not a bad claim to have!

8 Deskbots

Deskbots are a series of Monsters based around pumping each other's Attack up to deal devastating amounts of damage for one-turn kills. They even have access to Pendulum Monsters, allowing Deskbots to swarm the field while popping backrow to ensure your plays don't get interrupted.

Deskbots are a go-to Machine Type deck if you like Battle Phase shenanigans, and can catch unexpected opponents off-guard. There's a lot of combo trees Deskbots can take, making them incredibly versatile compared to other Machine decks. Since Deskbots can swarm the field easily, allowing them to go into Synchro and Link Monsters to dominate the board state.

7 Qliphort

Qliphort was the premiere Pendulum Archetype at release, becoming one of the most dominating decks at its peak. While the changing to Pendulum Monsters have hindered it, Qliphort can still be a menace with how much searching and recursion it has access to.

Apoqliphort Towers is such a powerful card, a "Towers" is a term inspired by it to describe a Monster that is unaffected by card effects. Qliphorts have a ton of consistency, and as more powerful Link Monsters come into play, the deck gets more shades of its glory.

6 Trains

Trains are an Archetype focused on bringing out powerful Rank Ten Xyz Monsters. Since they require high-level Monsters to function, they seem like they are prone to bricking with Tribute Summons.

Luckily, Trains have a ton of ways to cheat out Level Ten Monsters onto the field to go into their fantastic Boss Monsters. Not only that, they support just about every Earth-Machine Monster, as they act as generic support for the Attribute and Type pairing. Trains can deal devasting amounts of both Battle and Burn damage, making them a menage to your opponent's Life Points.

5 ABC

ABC is a Machine Type deck that is built around Contact Fusing to go into their main Boss Monster, ABC Buster Dragon. ABC Buster Dragon is such a good card it spent time on the banlist, able to banish a card on the opponent's field as a Quick Effect. If ABC Buster Dragon is ever in danger, it can react by going back into the three Monsters used to summon it.

ABC has gotten a lot of fantastic support over the years, giving it quite a bit of consistency. Thanks to how easy it is to protect its Boss Monster, once an ABC board gets established, it's incredibly hard to deal with.

4 Cyber Dragon

yugioh cyber dragon and cyber dragon infinity

A fan-favorite Archetype, Cyber Dragon has been iconic since the earliest days of Yu-Gi-Oh!, often attributed to ending Goat format. Since then, Cyber Dragon has become a fantastic rouge Archetype, sometimes dipping into a full meta deck. Cyber Dragons can be played as either a one-turn kill deck, or a control deck thanks to their recent support.

Cyber Dragon Infinity is one of the best Boss Monsters, and Xyz Monsters ever released, acting as both an omni-negate and a way to absorb the opponent's problem Monsters. Cyber Dragons are cheap to build, and a fantastic Machine deck to make.

3 Orcust

Orcust were a staple of the 2019 meta, and remain one of the best Machine decks ever released. Orcust's power comes from just how good they can recur their Monsters. Both their main Link and Xyz Monsters can recycle their cards from the Graveyard or that are Banished while further pushing their board state.

Orcust have plenty of ways to get rid of Monsters without targeting or destroying, the best kind of removal in the game. Orcust are a very splashable engine as well, allowing for other Archetypes to be played with them.

2 Sky Striker

Sky Striker's two Main deck Monsters are Warriors, but the Archetype itself is primarily Machine, with all their Link Monsters that Type. Sky Striker is all about going into their Link Monsters and using their powerful Spell cards to decimate your opponent's field.

Sky Strikers have been meta-relevant ever since their release, and despite multiple banning and limitations on their cards, still manage to hang with some of the best decks in the game. They are one of the best Control decks in Yu-Gi-Oh!, and since there are so few Main deck Monsters, they can run a plethora of interactions to make sure the opponent's plays will be stopped.

1 Drytron

Upon their release, Drytron instantly became the deck to beat. Dyrtron is an Archetype of Machine Monsters built around Ritual Summoning, being able to get around the usual Ritual Summoning mechanics. Just like Nekroz, when a deck can avoid the major downsides of Ritual Summoning, they are bound to be broken.

Drytron has huge combo potential, as plenty of cards can be searched out to ensure you always have the right cards needed for any situation. They get an even larger boost from the generic Ritual support in the game, making Drytron a beast of a deck to try and beat.

Source: www.thegamer.com