Dragon Mech archetype expanded (written only...at this point)

[Rongaulius]

The Vermillion Dragon Mech is a decent, generic Level 9 Synchro.  I was unaware until fairly recently that it actually has a Water counterpart, which is the Navy Dragon Mech.  Where Vermillion can banish a Tuner from your GY to pop 1 opponent's card per turn, Navy can target an opponent's cards up to the number of Tuners in your GY and negate their effects until the end of the turn.  Navy has a potentially devastating effect, but at Spell Speed 1 it winds up being virtually useless. Unfortunately we've never gotten any more support for the Dragon Mechs, so a while back I sat down and cooked up an archetype to go along with them.

One thing I tried hard to do with this archetype was make sure there was still a reason to run the original Vermillion and Navy Dragon mechs.  If you're going to make support for an archetype that leaves you without a reason to run the original cards you're making support for, you might as well just make an entirely new archetype.

This deck has a few mechanics that are extremely rare in modern Yugioh, though there's in-game precedent for all of the mechanics in this archetype. To start with, I wanted to take the concept of giant dragon mecha and extrapolate it.  What would you need to have in order for your giant mecha to function?  You'd need maintenance crews, bases, etc...basically what you see in Gundam or other similar media.

Starting with the support crews:

Dragon Mech Refitter – Machine/Effect, EARTH, 4*, ATK 1500, DEF 1500. If you Synchro Summon a “Dragon Mech” monster, you can treat this card as a Tuner, also you can treat its Level as 3 or 5. If this card is sent to the GY for the Synchro Summon of a “Dragon Mech” Synchro Monster: You can send 1 Tuner from your Deck to the GY, but if it is not a “Dragon Mech” monster, for the rest of this turn you cannot activate the effects of cards with the same name as that sent monster. You can only use this effect of “Dragon Mech Refitter” once per turn.

Dragon Mech Scout – Machine/Effect, EARTH, 4*, ATK 1500, DEF 1500. If you Synchro Summon a “Dragon Mech” monster, you can treat this card as a Tuner, also you can treat its Level as 3 or 5. If you control a “Dragon Mech” monster, or if you have only “Dragon Mech” monsters in your GY (min. 1): You can Special Summon this card (from your hand).

Dragon Mech Mechanic – Machine/Tuner/Effect, EARTH, 4*, ATK 1500, DEF 1500. Cannot be used as Material for any monster’s Summon, except for the Summon of a “Dragon Mech” Monster. This effect cannot be negated. If this card is Normal Summoned, you can activate 1 “Dragon Mech Firebase Zero” from your Deck, and if you do, you cannot Summon monsters for the rest of this Duel, except “Dragon Mech” monsters.

Dragon Mech Armorer – Machine/Tuner/Effect, EARTH, 4*, ATK 1500, DEF 1500. Cannot be used as Material for any monster’s Summon, except for the Summon of a “Dragon Mech” Monster. This effect cannot be negated. A Synchro Monster that was Summoned using this card as Synchro Material gains 500 ATK, also it gains this effect:
“If you would banish a Tuner from your GY to activate this card’s Effect: You can banish 1 card from your opponent’s GY instead.”
You can only use this effect of “Dragon Mech Armorer” once per turn.

Dragon Mech Hyper Reactor – Machine/Tuner/Effect, 5*, FIRE, ATK 1500, DEF 1500. Cannot be used as Material for any monster’s Summon, except for the Summon of a “Dragon Mech” Monster. This effect cannot be negated. You can reveal this card and 1 other “Dragon Mech” monster in your hand; Special Summon 1 Level 9 “Dragon Mech” Synchro Monster from your Extra Deck, with a different name from monsters you control, then discard the revealed monsters (this is treated as a Synchro Summon). A monster Summoned by this effect can activate its effects as Quick Effects while you control only “Dragon Mech” cards. 

Most of the current crew monsters are decent to mid, but the Hyper Reactor is an absolute powerhouse.  Maybe too much so, though its potential is limited by its own inherent summon restriction as well as the power level of the Synchro targets for its effect.  Hyper notably does not have a hard OPT clause, which means you can use its effect as many times as you want during your turn.  That potential unlimited spamming ability SHOULD be countered by the fact that you have to discard 2 cards after using its effect, and the fact that you're restricted from summoning duplicates.  Now, if that were to turn the deck into a Rank-9 spam deck...fortunately VFD is banned.

Moving on to where it starts to get interesting: The Spells. In keeping with the theme of giant mecha, I wanted to make the spells work a bit differently from other spells.

Dragon Mech Orbital Launcher – Quick-Play Spell. Add 1 “Dragon Mech Orbital” card from your Deck, GY, or that is banished face-up or face-down to your hand, except “Dragon Mech Orbital Launcher”, and if you do, reveal it and keep it revealed. That card is treated as though it were revealed by its own effect. You can only activate “Dragon Mech Orbital Launcher” once per turn.

Dragon Mech Firebase Zero – Continuous Spell. When this card is activated, you can take 1 “Dragon Mech” monster from your Deck and either add it to your hand or send it to the GY. “Dragon Mech” Synchro monsters you control gain ATK/DEF equal to their Level/Rank x100, also they are unaffected by Monster and Spell Card effects that do not target them.  You can only activate "Dragon Mech Firebase Zero" up to twice per turn.

Dragon Mech Orbital Satellite – Continuous Spell. You can reveal this card in your hand, and if you do, keep it revealed. You can only use the following effect of “Dragon Mech Orbital Satellite” once per turn. While this card is revealed in your hand, if you Normal or Special Summon a “Dragon Mech” monster: You can Special Summon 1 “Dragon Mecha Shield Token” (Machine/EARTH/Level 4/ATK 1500/DEF 1500). A “Dragon Mech” Synchro Monster that was Synchro Summoned using that Token as a Synchro Material cannot be destroyed by an opponent’s card effects, also your opponent cannot Tribute that card or use it as Fusion, Link, Synchro, or Xyz Material.

Dragon Mech Orbital Cannon – Continuous Spell. When this card is activated, add it to your hand and keep it revealed. While this card is revealed in your hand, if an opponent’s card is destroyed by a “Dragon Mech” card you control: You can destroy 1 card your opponent controls, then you can inflict 800 damage to your opponent. You can only use this effect of “Dragon Mech Orbital Cannon” up to thrice per turn.

Dragon Mech Orbital Command Center – Field Spell. If this card is activated, add it to your hand and keep it revealed. You can only use the following effects of “Dragon Mech Orbital Command Center” while this card is revealed in your hand.
If a “Dragon Mech” monster(s) leaves the field from an opponent’s card effect, you can Special Summon 1 “Dragon Mech” monster from your hand, Deck, or GY.
If a face-up “Dragon Mech” monster you control has its effects negated by an opponent’s card: You can shuffle that card you control into the Deck, then you can Special Summon 1 monster with the same original name as that card from your hand, Deck, or GY.
You can only use each effect of “Dragon Mech Orbital Command Center” up to twice per turn.

The premise of the Orbital cards is that they're operating from space, which is why they are used while revealed in the hand.  Which makes them a bit harder for your opponent to interact with via standard Spell/Trap removal; they can still be negated and/or destroyed by non-targeting effects, or by effects that simply respond to an activation.  The Orbital cards also don't do a ton on their own, so they're definitely cards you'd want to search out rather than see in your opening hand.  

Lastly, we have a few more Extra Deck monsters to round out the attributes:

Dragon Mech Skyfortress – Machine/Synchro/Effect, 9*, WIND, ATK 2900, DEF 3000. 1 Tuner + 1+ non-Tuner monster(s). You can banish 1 Tuner from your GY; return 1 card from your opponent’s field to the hand OR place 1 card from your opponent’s GY on the top or bottom of the Deck (your choice). You can only use this effect of “Dragon Mech Skyfortress” once per turn.

Dragon Mech Mobile Bastion – Machine/Synchro/Effect, 9*, EARTH, ATK 0, DEF 3200. 1 Tuner + 1+ non-Tuner monster(s). Once per turn, you can move this card to one of your empty Monster Zones. You can banish 1 Tuner from your GY; negate the effects of 1 opponent’s monster with ATK or DEF equal to or less than this card’s DEF, then, if that monster was in the same column as this card, you can banish it face-down. You can only use this effect of “Dragon Mech Mobile Bastion” once per turn.

Ultimate Dragon Mecha Imperion – Machine/Fusion/Effect, 12* LIGHT, ATK 4000, DEF 2500. 2+ “Dragon Mech” Synchro monsters. Must first be Special Summoned by Tributing Fusion Materials you control. If this card is Special Summoned, you can equip any number of “Dragon Mech” Synchro Monsters with different names from your GY to this card as Equip Spell Cards. This card gains the effects of all “Dragon Mech” Synchro Monsters equipped to it, also it can activate those effects as Quick Effects. If this card would be destroyed or banished by an opponent’s card, you can destroy 1 Equip Spell you control, instead. You can only control 1 “Ultimate Dragon Mecha Imperion”.

Skyfortress and Mobile Bastion complete the elemental attributes, and Imperion is the final boss the deck can field.  

More probably to come.  I came up with this deck quite some time ago, but just recently pulled it out of mothballs and started considering some new support.