By superforms

Alright, here it is. My original build from 10 days ago was the same thing but with a third Breaker the Magical Warrior and third Ancient Gear Fortress over the last two tech slots. I ultimately went with Magic Drain there because you lose to spells more than you lose to anything else, and it’s a great disruption card against Koa’ki and certain cards in the mirror (which were by far the two most common match-ups I saw). Vampires and Buster were free with Unending Nightmare, Spellbooks were very difficult, and Heroes were easy if you didn’t lose turn 2. Obviously some semblance of technical play comes up in the mirror, but overall it seems to be decided at the deck-building screen. I also found myself getting a lot more value out of Ancient Gear Wyvern the more I played, searching it off Geartown occasionally (like in this replay, where I was using Wild Tornado) to set up a stronger board.

• In Game Replay (Will Try to Open the App)

Breaker is a great card in this deck and I think it’s incorrect to play without it. Galaxy Cyclone and Planet Pathfinder are both bad, as is Double Cyclone outside the mirror. Middle Age Mechs also feels like the correct skill; having access to normal summoning Ancient Gear Reactor Dragon is very strong and I missed it when I was testing Sealed Tombs (which is the only other skill I would consider).

Koa’ki Meiru

Decent match up. With 3 Ancient Gear Fortress and 3 Ancient Gear Wyvern to search it Ancient Gear Reactor Dragon is protected against Koa’ki Meiru Maximus’ effect. However I see Koa’ki Meiru Ice going up in usage as they can potentially pop Fortress with Maximus then pop Reactor with ice. However to do this cannot they cannot summon Koa’ki Meiru Sandman on the same turn to negate any backrow you may have e.g. Canadia. The Ties that Bind will also become more popular as they allow Maximus to beat over Reactors in Balance builds, but struggle when playing against the Middle Age Mech versions.

Buster Blader

Good matchup. Unending pops DNA surgery disrupting Buster Bladers fusion combo but they can always go into Dark Paladin and Ancient Gears have no inherent way to get over it it’s higher attack without use of Beatdown.

Karakuri

Strong matchup. With no inherent way to beat over Reactors 3000 defense and attack Karakuri must rely on drawing into Offerings to the Doomed or Enemy Controller, but we can consistently disrupt their drawing with Karakuri Anatomy using Unending Nightmare making this a strong opponent for Karakuri.

Vampire

Unfortunately I didn’t face a single Vampire player. Vampire Vamp will be an issue but Unending Nightmare can pop the field spell and Domain so I see it being a decent matchup.

Masked Heroes

Potentially a strong matchup. Reactor Dragon disregards backrow and Masked HERO Anki cannot beat over Reactor Dragon without the use of Beatdown.

Control

Potentially a very strong matchup. Not enough testing yet.

Spellbooks

Poor matchup. Spellbooks have an inherent out to Ancient Gears with Spellbook of Fate banishing Geartown and Ancient Gear Fortress before they can be destroyed. We also have very few monsters and cannot always swarm the board to overpower Spellbook of Fate’s once per turn limitation. However Spellbook have fallen in popularity (although they may return during the KC cup) and are not worth building your Ancient Gear deck to counter.