EARTH
5Ancient Gear Dragon
Archetype:
Ancient Gear
ATK:
500
DEF:
2500
View:
2978
Cannot be Special Summoned. If you control no monsters, or all monsters you control are EARTH Machine monsters, you can Normal Summon this card without Tributing. When your opponent activates a Spell/Trap Card or effect (Quick Effect): You can send to the GY, 1 Machine monster from your hand or face-up field, or 1 "Ancient Gear Golem" from your Deck; negate that effect. You can only use this effect of "Ancient Gear Dragon" once per turn.
Ancient Gear Dragon — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 55 ± 8 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 54 · Deck: 55 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Removal / Negation · Secondary: Material body
Why it scores here
Ancient Gear Dragon scores as a field-based Spell/Trap negator: one Quick Effect per turn that negates a Spell/Trap activation, paid by sending a Machine or an Ancient Gear Golem. Its body is a Level 5 EARTH Machine, so it stays useful as material even when its effect is negated. The 500 ATK and 2500 DEF earn no points, and the Normal-Summon-only restriction and the conditional no-tribute clause keep it from scoring higher. Deck evidence (400 decks, 92% in the main gameplay type, 93.8% co-occurrence with the Ancient Gear core) confirms it is a real, live piece, but that is archetype-driven inclusion rather than proof of intrinsic strength.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 52 | Normal Summon only with a conditional no-tribute clause and no searcher in the evidence; live in 400 decks, but no combo starter data (observed + inferred) |
| Combo & Conversion | 40 | Text gives one negate and a body, with no recorded combos; conversion is text-only (inferred) |
| Resource Economy | 45 | The negate costs a Machine or a Golem from hand, field or Deck, so the exchange is roughly even with no card advantage (inferred) |
| Effect & Interaction | 60 | Negates Spell/Trap activations once per turn, a bounded but real interaction that is blocked by monster-based removal (verified text + inferred) |
| Material Utility | 55 | Level 5 EARTH Machine body fits Machine-level material requirements and survives effect negation (verified text + inferred) |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 40 | Field-based effect that dies to monster removal or monster-effect negation; no redundancy shown in the evidence (inferred) |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 50 | Costs a Normal Summon and a Golem-level dependency, and the mostly 1-copy usage is clean to run (observed usage statistics + inferred) |
Calculation
Weight profile: 0.7 Removal/Negation + 0.3 Material body. Intrinsic ≈ 54, Deck ≈ 55, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: none. Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck (decks present, combos absent, meta unknown)
Strengths
- Negates Spell/Trap activations with a Quick Effect, a real but bounded interaction
- Level 5 EARTH Machine body keeps material value even when its effect is negated
- Live in 400 recent decks across 29 archetypes, with 100% inclusion in its Ancient Gears usage stat
Weaknesses
- 500 ATK / 2500 DEF body gives no board or attack pressure
- Normal-Summon-only with a conditional no-tribute clause limits how it reaches the field
- Negation is limited to Spell/Trap activations and once per turn
- No recorded combo evidence, so its conversion is text-only
Counters / choke points
- Monster-effect negation or monster-based removal on the field (inferred from text)
- Opponent Spell/Trap activations that go unnegated, since the once-per-turn limit leaves later Spell/Trap activations open (inferred)
Best use
Field negator for Spell/Trap activations and a Level 5 Machine material body. Decks: Ancient Gears. Suggested copies: 1.
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: Text: Cannot be Special Summoned; no-tribute Normal Summon clause; Quick Effect negating Spell/Trap activation; send a Machine or Ancient Gear Golem as cost; once per turn; Level 5, EARTH, Machine, 500 ATK / 2500 DEF
- Observed: Present in 400 decks, 92.2% in gameplay type 7, 39.8% Ancient Gears archetype; Top partners co-occur in ~93% of decks; usage statistics: 100% inclusion in Ancient Gears (gameplay 3), typical 1 copy; No combo appearances recorded
- Inferred: Activation from the field, since the text gives no hand-activation clause; Cost exchange is roughly even, so no net card advantage; Vulnerable to monster removal and monster-effect negation
- Data gaps: no combos supplied, so combo conversion is text-only inference no banlist token, assumed 3 copies (unlimited) no rulings or activation-location clause in the description, so the field-activation reading is inferred