EARTH
7Ancient Gear Hydra
Archetype:
Ancient Gear
ATK:
2700
DEF:
1700
View:
3914
At the end of the Damage Step, when this card that was Tribute Summoned by Tributing an "Ancient Gear" monster battles an opponent's monster, but the opponent's monster was not destroyed by the battle: You can banish that opponent's monster. If this card was Tribute Summoned by Tributing a "Gadget" monster, it can attack all monsters your opponent controls, once each. If an "Ancient Gear" monster you control attacks, your opponent's Spell/Trap Cards and monster effects cannot be activated until the end of the Damage Step.
Ancient Gear Hydra — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 51 ± 8 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 50 · Deck: 52 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Boss / End-board · Secondary: Removal
Why it scores here
The card converts a battle into a board result: a damage-step banish of a surviving opponent monster, a Gadget-tribute mode that attacks every opponent monster once, and a damage-step lock on opponent Spell/Trap and monster effects while an Ancient Gear attacks. Its 2700 ATK earns no points by itself. The score is held down by the conditional tribute requirement, the lack of any recorded combo boards, and the absence of card-advantage or refuel text, while the 41-deck home in the Ancient Gear package supports accessibility and deck fit.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 55 | A Level 7 tribute summon needs a specific Ancient Gear or Gadget tribute, but 41 decks run it, 19 of them Ancient Gears, with 90%+ co-occurrence with Ancient Gear Golem and Geartown (observed). |
| Combo & Conversion | 45 | Text shows a battle-banish and an all-monster attack in the Gadget case, but combo data has 0 appearances, so conversion is text-only inference. |
| Resource Economy | 25 | No searches, draws, refuel, or GY recursion in the text; the tribute summon is a net card cost (verified text, inference on cost). |
| Effect & Interaction | 55 | The damage-step lock on opponent Spell/Trap and monster effects during an Ancient Gear attack is a real but timing-bound protection and banish, not a standalone disruption (verified text). |
| Material Utility | 35 | Level 7 EARTH Machine is a usable body, but no material or Xyz/Synchro usage appears in the evidence (inference). |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 40 | A single body with battle-dependent effects and no recursion or multi-zone reach; it dies to any pre-battle removal (inference from text). |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 60 | Runs at 1.17 copies average, with 36 of 41 decks at one copy and no garnet or lock restriction in the text (observed plus verified text). |
Calculation
Weight profile: 0.7 Boss/End-board + 0.3 Removal/Negation. Intrinsic ≈ 50, Deck ≈ 52, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: none. Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck
Strengths
- Converts a won battle into a banish of the surviving opponent monster
- Gadget-tribute mode lets it attack every opponent monster once
- Damage-step lock shields an attacking Ancient Gear from Spell/Trap and monster effects
- Consistently run at one copy within a dense Ancient Gear shell
Weaknesses
- Conditional on tributing a specific Ancient Gear or Gadget monster
- No recorded combo boards, so the board conversion is unproven
- No card advantage or refuel
- Effects only work in battle and within the Damage Step window
Counters / choke points
- Removing or stopping the Ancient Gear shell before the battle, since the banish and lock both require a battle (inference from timing)
Best use
Boss / End-board finisher in the Ancient Gear package. Decks: Ancient Gears, Geartown, Ancient Gear Golem shells. Suggested copies: 1.
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: Text: conditional banish on battle when tributed for an Ancient Gear; Text: Gadget tribute grants an attack on all opponent monsters once each; Text: damage-step lock on opponent Spell/Trap and monster effects during Ancient Gear attacks; Format legality TCG, OCG, MasterDuel, DuelLinks
- Observed: 41 decks run it, 36 at one copy, avg 1.17 copies; Top partners: Geartown 95.1%, Ancient Gear Frame and Ancient Gear Golem 92.7%; 82.9% of decks in gameplay type 7
- Inferred: Battle-dependent effects make it a late-board finisher, not an early starter; Tribute requirement reduces accessibility compared with a searchable body; Deck fit is strong within the Ancient Gear home
- Data gaps: no combos supplied, so combo conversion is text-only inference no banlist token, so 3 copies (unlimited) is assumed no usage statistics (StatisticsCard), so archetype inclusion is inferred from the deck sample only no combo evidence for the tribute-summon route or the Gadget mode