Railroading Spirit - Set Idea

[ToaCody]

This is a card set I started a few years ago, based around my oldest passion, that I only just got back into working on late 2013.

 

Set revolves around two Archetypes:
"Steamer", based around steam locomotives, comprise the primary assault force and central focus of the set.
"Train", based around additional rolling stock, railroading figures, and complete trains, intended as support

 

Constructive criticism that helps improve these cards is sincerely appreciated. (Turns out I have difficulty thinking in terms of synergy or overarching mechanics, but am good at building upon given ideas.) However, I feel the following breakdown of the deck I used in a DP tournament based around these cards would make for a good focus:

 

While having nothing to do with Anna's Rank 10 fest, these Trains combo off of Synchros and Xyz to specialize in brute force aboard the field. Recursion and burn damage is another theme of part of the Deck, with the recursion working against effect destruction and banishing.

 

Underlined effects mark cards I can particularly use feedback with in revising/replacing their effects. Any suggestions are fine.

 

Notes:

• If there is ever any discrepancy between a card image and the text beneath it, the latter is always considered to be the "official" version.
• I am aware of just how extensive this set really is. I have no plans on adding any more cards, and instead am focused on trying to save as many of them as possible by making them usable in some way.
• In regards to the use of real images, this comes from them being the only good ones I can find and my want for my cards to have any image rather than no image. If more TCG appropriate art was found, I would use it in a heartbeat.
• The last time I officially played YGO was early GX and I'm afraid I haven't lost nor will I likely ever lose that mindset.

[spoiler=Monsters]

This card is treated as a Level 1 Monster while in the Graveyard.

The first time this card would be destroyed by battle or by card effect, it is not. While this card is face-up on your side of the field, your hand size limit becomes 8.

The first time this card would be destroyed by battle or by card effect, it is not. Once per turn, you can reveal the top card of your Deck: If the card is a Monster, inflict damage to your opponent equal to half of its DEF.

When this card is Normal Summoned, you can discard 1 card: Special Summon 1 Level 4 or below "Train" monster from your hand or Deck; you cannot Special Summon monsters for the rest of the turn, except from the Extra Deck. You may negate the effects of one card that would decrease the ATK of monster(s) you control; this effect of "Shay Steamer" can only be activated once per turn during either player's turn.

 

You can Special Summon this card from your hand when you Summon another "Steamer" monster to your side of the field. When a Machine-Type "Train" monster you control attacks or is attacked: During the Damage Step, increase that monster's ATK by 900; this effect of "Tank Steamer" can only be activated once per turn during either player's turn.

 

This card cannot be Normal Summoned/Set. This card cannot be Special Summoned except by the effect of "The Lost Spike". While this card is face-up on the field, all "Steamer" and "Train" monsters on the field cannot be destroyed by Monster, Spell, or Trap Effects.


This Monster cannot be destroyed by a "Steamer" or "Train" monster (Damage Calculations are applied normally). You can re-Summon this card on your opponent's side of the field (this effect may only be used once). If this card is Summoned in this way: This card cannot be used in a Tribute or have its position changed; any Life Point increase the controller would receive is instead given to the owner.


When this card is equipped with a Union Monster: Increase this card's ATK and DEF by an amount equal to the Union Monster's Level x 100. When a Union Monster equipped to this card is destroyed: Shuffle it back into your Deck; increase your Life Points by 500.

 

This card may be Special Summoned from your hand or Graveyard by discarding "Tank Steamer" from your hand. This card may attack a second time if your opponent still has a Monster on their side of the field.

 

This card may be Special Summoned from your hand or Graveyard by discarding "Ancient Steamer" from your hand. If this card attacks a Defense Position monster, inflict piercing battle damage to your opponent.

 

This card can be Special Summoned from your hand or Graveyard by sending 1 "Snow Plow" on your side of the field to the Graveyard. This monster may only attack when there is at least 1 "Steamer" monster on your side of the field. When a Trap Card is activated in response to this card attacking: Negate its activation and destroy it; inflict 500 damage to your opponent. This effect of "Rotary Train Plow" can only be used once per turn.


This card can only be used to Synchro Summon a Machine-type Monster. When this card is Normal Summoned, you can discard 1 card: Special Summon 1 "Freight Train Car" or "Passenger Train Coach" from your hand or Deck in face-up Defense Position; you cannot conduct your Battle Phase this turn. When there is a Machine-Type monster on your side of the field, you can increase this card's Level by 1.

 

When this card leaves the field, add 1 "Train Conductor" to your hand from your Deck or Graveyard. When this card is used as Synchro Material for the Synchro Summoning of a Machine-Type monster: Increase that monster's ATK and DEF by 400.


Once per turn during either player's turn, you can negate an attack made by or against 1 "Steamer" or "Train" monster you control. When you Summon this card, you can activate 1 of these effects:
● Activate 1 "Roundhouse" card from your hand or Deck.
● Return 1 "Roundhouse" card from your Graveyard to your hand.


Once per turn, you can equip this card to 1 "Steamer" card on your side of the field as an Equip Card, OR unequip it and Special Summon it in face-up Attack Position. When equipped to a monster by this card's effect, that equipped monster gains 400 ATK and DEF. When the equipped monster destroys a monster, draw one card. (A monster can only be equipped with 1 Union monster at a time. If the equipped monster would be destroyed, destroy this card instead.)


Once per turn, you can equip this card to 1 "Steamer" card on your side of the field as an Equip Card, OR unequip it and Special Summon it in face-up Attack Position. When equipped to a monster by this card's effect, that equipped monster gains 400 ATK and DEF. When the equipped monster inflicts Battle Damage, increase your Life Points by the damage inflicted. (A monster can only be equipped with 1 Union monster at a time. If the equipped monster would be destroyed, destroy this card instead.)


You can Ritual Summon this card with "Train Wreck". Whenever a Monster leaves the field, place 2 "Scrap Counters" on this card. Remove any number of Counters from this card to Special Summon 1 "Steamer" or Machine-Type "Train" card from the Graveyard whose Level matches the number of Counters removed.


"Breakdown Train" + 1 "Steamer" monster
Can only be Special Summoned by returning the above cards in your Graveyard to the bottom of your Deck. Whenever a Monster leaves the field, place 2 "Scrap Counters" on this card. Remove any number of Counters from this card to Special Summon 1 "Steamer" or Machine-Type "Train" card from the Graveyard whose Level matches the number of Counters removed. When this card would be removed from the field, you can remove 3 "Scrap Counters" from it instead.


1 "Steamer" card + "Passenger Train Coach" + "Freight Train Car"
Can only be Special Summoned by returning the above cards in your Graveyard to the bottom of your Deck (This Special Summon counts as a Fusion Summon). While this card is in face-up Attack Position, it cannot be destroyed in battle; when this card is attacked, inflict damage to your opponent equal to half of the Battle Damage taken.

 

1 Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner Machine-Type monsters
If this card attacks or is attacked, during damage calculation (in either player's turn): The opposing Monster loses ATK equal to its Level x 100 or Rank x 200 during the damage calculation only.


If this card attacks a monster with less ATK, during the damage calculation: This card gains 500 ATK during the damage calculation only. When this card battles a Defense position monster, that card is switched to Attack Position.

 

More than 1 Union monster may be equipped to this card at a time (but not multiples of the same card).During your Standby Phase, you may take one appropriate Union monster from your Deck or Graveyard and equip it to this card.

 

1 tuner + 1 or more non-tuner Machine-Type monsters
When this card is targeted for a card effect: Negate that effect. This effect can only be used once while this card is on the field.

 

1 tuner + 1 or more non-tuner Machine-Type monsters
When this card is Special Summoned: Shuffle 3 "Steamer" and/or "Train" monsters from your Graveyard into the Deck; draw 1 card. Whenever you add cards to your hand due to a card effect: Increase your Life Points by 300 for each card added. You can only summon "20th Century Steamer" once per turn.

 

1 Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner Machine-Type monsters
Whenever a Monster is Summoned, place 2 "Rider Counter" on this card. Remove any number of Counters from this card to activate 1 of these effects:
● Increase your Life Points by an amount equal to the number of removed Counters x 500.
● Draw 1 card for ever 2 Counters removed.

 

1 Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner Machine-Type monsters
When this card is Synchro Summoned: Special Summon 1 "Steamer" card from your hand or Deck in face-up Defense Position. You can only activate this effect of "Merci Train" once per turn. You cannot conduct your Battle Phase the turn this effect is activated. Once per turn, you can discard 1 card from your hand: return 3 Spell/Trap cards from your Graveyard to your Deck; draw 1 card.

 

1 Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner Machine-Type monsters
When this card destroys a monster, your opponent must reveal any Monster cards in their hand whose Levels match that of the destroyed monster: Select one of the revealed cards for your opponent to discard; increase your Life Points by 400 for each of the card's Levels.

 

2 Level 5 Monsters
Once per turn, you may detach 1 Xyz Material from this card: Destroy 1 monster card on the field; inflict 600 damage to your opponent. If this card has no Xyz Materials: You may Tribute this card; Special Summon 1 "Steamer" or "Train" monster from your Deck or Banish Zone.

 

2 Level 4 Monsters
Once per turn, you can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card: Special Summon 1 Level 5 or below "Steamer" monster from your Deck; increase your Life Points by an amount equal to the summoned monster's Level x 300. When this card is destroyed: Special Summon 1 "Steamer" card from your Graveyard besides this card. The effects of "Redemption Steamer" can only be activated once per turn. You cannot summon cards from the Extra Deck for the rest of the turn after this card's effect is activated.
[/spoiler]

 

 

[spoiler=Spells]

Increase the ATK and DEF of all "Steamer" and "Train" monsters by 400 points. During your Standby Phase, you may Special Summon 1 "Rail Token" (Machine-Type/Earth/LEVEL 3/ATK 1000/DEF 1500) on your side of the field in Defense Position. Tribute 1 "Rail Token" to Special Summon 1 Level 4 or below "Steamer" or "Train" monster from your hand.

 

This card is used to Ritual Summon "Breakdown Train". You must also Tribute monsters from your hand or field whose total Levels equal 8 or more. The monster Summoned by this card effect has 2 "Scrap Counter" placed on it for each Tributed monster.


Pay 600 Life points: Return up to 3 Machine-Type cards from your Graveyard to your Deck (the Deck is then shuffled); draw 1 card.


All "Steamer" and Machine-Type "Train" monsters may attack directly this turn. The Battle Damage inflicted by a monster that attacks this way is halved.

 

When "Redemption Steamer" is face-up on the field, you may Special Summon 1 "Damnation Train" on your side of the field and attach 2 monsters from your opponent's Graveyard as Xyz Material. (This Special Summon counts as an Xyz Summon.) You may activate this card by banishing it from your Graveyard. The effect of "Soul Junction" may only be used once a turn.

 

Synchro Summon 1 "Steamer" or "Train" monster using monsters from your Graveyard as Synchro Materials (those cards are returned to the bottom of the Deck). You cannot Special Summon other monsters the turn this card is activated.

 

Tribute 2 "Steamer" monsters. Special Summon 1 "Western Steamer" from your hand, Deck or Graveyard.


Discard 1 card from your hand; Special Summon as many "Rolling-Stock Tokens" (Machine-Type/EARTH/Level 1/ATK 0/DEF 1600) as possible in Defense Position.

 

Target 1 Monster card on the field; increase the Level of the target monster by up to 2 until the end of the turn.


Target 1 "Steamer" monster on your field; increase its ATK by an amount equal to the ATK of another "Steamer" card on your side of the field. This increase lasts until the End Phase of the turn. If used during your turn, only the target monster may attack.


This card may only be equipped to a "Steamer" monster. Increase the ATK of a monster equipped with this card by 500 points. When a monster equipped with this card destroys a monster, that card is instead sent to the top of the owner's deck.


This card may only be equipped to a "Steamer" monster. Increase the ATK of a monster equipped with this card by 800 points. When a monster equipped with this card destroys a monster, that card is instead sent to the bottom of the owner's deck.


Once per turn, you can select and activate 1 of these effects:
● Banish 1 "Steamer" or "Train" monster from your Deck or Graveyard.
● Special Summon 1 banished "Steamer" or "Train" monster.


Once per turn, you may pay 500 Life Points: Add any number of cards to your deck from your hand and shuffle it; draw as many cards as were returned by this card effect.
[/spoiler]

 

 

[spoiler=Traps]

Tribute 1 "Steamer" or "Train" monster you control, then target 1 monster your opponent controls; return it to the Extra Deck, then your opponent Special Summons 1 monster used as a material for that card's Summon with the lowest ATK (your choice, if tied).

 

Target 1 "Steamer" or "Train" monster in your Graveyard; Special Summon it.


Activate when your opponent declares an attack against 1 "Steamer" or Machine-Type "Train" monster on your side of the field. Flip a coin and designate 1 adjacent Monster space as the attack target as determined by the result (Heads:Left, Tails:Right): If there is no card in the chosen space, the attacking Monster is switched to Defense Position; your opponent must send a number of cards from their Deck to the Graveyard equal to the attacking Monster's Level.


Increase your Life Points by 600 for every Monster on the field; inflict damage to your opponent equal to half of the amount of Life Points gained by this card effect.


Activate when your opponent declares an attack. Send 1 "Steamer" monster from your hand or Deck to your Graveyard: Negate the attack and destroy all monsters your opponent controls whose ATK is equal to or less than the monster's ATK; inflict 600 damage to your opponent for every monster destroyed by this card effect.


Activate this card when your opponent destroys a Machine-Type monster you control in battle. End your opponent's Battle Phase and inflict damage to your opponent equal to the attacking monster's ATK; that monster may not attack for the remaining time it is on the field.
[/spoiler]

[Dreko]

trains really

[spoderman]

A lot of these cards have missing effects, you may want to fix that. They don't look to powerful though. Roids could take all of them down in one turn.

[ToaCody]

trains really

 

To each their own.

[Toffee.]

trains really

There's nothing wrong with making an archetype about trains.
Hell, Anna's deck is nothing but that.

[ToaCody]

There's nothing wrong with making an archetype about trains.
Hell, Anna's deck is nothing but that.

True enough, though those cards are of stylized trains and the like; this set is intended to draw inspiration from real aspects of railroading (mostly).

[ToaCody]

Well I narrowed down the Effect for "Western Steamer", now I just need something for "Train Conductor".

[121092]

Wow! Very very nice!  I like how nicely everything is tied together with the 'scrap' tokens and everything.  You even added some union monsters.  Haven't seen that in a while ^^

 

10/10

[mokimoki]

Woah i actualy dueled this deck(you) the were tough and balanced nice work on this tho some pic could of been better but still cool :D

[ToaCody]

Extensive overhaul of the set after getting some feedback from A Background Character.

[Masaaki71484]

Way too many Vanilla's seriously as a stall deck you should be creating plays while your cards are on the field plus should have a mechanic that ties them together mine is Swarming and Punishing Defensive types of builds yours is increasing your life points and destroying monster but your deck is too slow to effectively to either of those effects. You exploit either life gaining or destroying monster preferably Life Gain since that is not so depended on your opponent. Also Flavor wise I don't get the Life Pointing the Destroying yes but not the Life Points...I need a backstory to fuel this effect because from the card alone I can't tell. Listen you need to totally go back to the drawboard with each cards and connect the dots with other cards and see the combos with these cards, the current cardpool and see what you get and how easy it is to pull off your combos because it seems like you need 4 plus cards to do simple combos and thats..very very bad. Roids have fusions and Mecha Phantom Beast have XYZ so why not convert this set into  a Sychro Support Deck that gains life to create like bombardnment to burn your opponent from a distance while still keeping card advantage.

[ToaCody]

Beginning to alter some of my cards. Chief among my needs are ideas for effects that can be given to some of my Monsters.

[ToaCody]

Bump

[I Hate Snatch Steal]

Since my browser isn't letting me paste text (and thus card lore suggestions) into this reply box, I'm sending the promised review in attachment from.

 

fixed

 

As promised, my suggestion for damnation train:
(1900/1800)
2 Level 4 Monsters
This card is also treated as a Fiend-Type. This card's effects can only be applied/resolved if it was summoned using a "Steamer" or "Train" monster as any of its Materials or by the effect of "Soul Junction". Once per turn: you can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card, then target 1 card on the field; Destroy that target. Also, this card gains 1000 ATK until the End Phase. If this card has no Xyz Materials: you can tribute this card; Special Summon 1 "Steamer" or "Train" monster from your Deck or Banish Zone.

While we are at it, soul Junction currently has no restriction on effectively playing it twice in 1 turn. Once from your hand and once from your graveyard. I'd suggest adding something like 'You can only activate "Soul Junction" once per turn.' at the end.

[G.B. Sparticus]

inb4iliketrainsjokereference

[AGATHODAIMON BANGTAIL COW]

I felt like giving this a look again, and there's a few things I'd like to point out:

 

• Cab Front Steamer is pretty darned hard to get rid of. 3k ATK lets it beat most monsters by battle, and it's not really probable that Decks can get a monster to have enough ATK to defeat 3k.There's pretty much just other monsters with 3k ATK who would have to ram into this. If a Deck doesn't run anything that has 3k ATK, their only cards that could get rid of this is Book of Moon or an anti-effect card to lower its protection. The only other card would be #101 since it doesn't remove its target from the field. Unlike Beelze, there really aren't enough cards in the game to justify its huge protection, IMO. The card preceding it, Big-Boy Steamer, is a lot more acceptable because it is realistic to believe that a Deck would have a monster that can climb over 2500 ATK.
• Shay Steamer can technically Special Summon a Gadget from your Deck, use that Gadget to search, and then you can Xyz Summon Gear Gigant X to search Tin Goldfish, ensuring you can make another Rank 4 Xyz next turn (or this one if you play Double Summon, which I don't remember whether Gearigas like or not). This wouldn't really be an issue if you Summoned that Gadget from the hand, though Machines already have a Level 4 Marauding Captain (the Tin Goldfish). The issue is that this monster is a Level 4 Tour Guide. Given Level 3 and 4 Tuners exist that can be Special Summoned by this, this becomes a lot more than just a Level 4 version of Tour Guide; you can Special Summon BRD, Hot RDA, and plenty of useful Synchro Monsters, just off the Normal Summon of this card and using its effect to Special Summon something from the Deck. This needs either bigger limitations on either what it can Summon or what you can do after pulling off the effect. Since there are just so many useful Level 4 Machines, Machines are really one of the worst Types to give an upgraded Tour Guide to.
• Speaking of Normal Summoning BRD or Hot RDA (which is still considerably less cool to say than Jew RDA), you could just Normal Summon Train Hobo, Special Summon one of the two targets from your Deck, and then decide on any Level 7 or 8 Synchro to go into (also the Level gain isn't OPT and you could technically raise Hobo to Level 12 if you want for some weird reason). As before, you should really limit what you can do with playing this card. From what I've seen, you usually don't use this card close to its full potential, and its full potential is too good.
• I feel like Freight Train Car's draw effect should really be cut down to one. If you feel like it'd be bad then, you could increase the stat boost you gain from the card, since the draw-when-kills and the protection it offers is still really good.
• You know, if you make Breakdown Train Level 8, it becomes a lot easier to Summon with Advanced Ritual Art. Just mill two Ancient Steamers, or better Level 4 Normal Monsters really, and bam. Speaking of Breakdown Train, I don't really like how it basically doesn't exist, as you'd pretty much want to instantly bring out Crane Steamer for the better stats and protection.
• Garratt Steamer, without any special ways of equipping Unions to it, requires far too much effort to be worth the effort. Plus, there's only two Unions here, and Passenger Train Coach is pretty weak.
• Scotsman Steamer has an absurdly high ATK for a Level 8 Synchro, and then it gains even more. To top it off, your opponent can't target this at all. This leaves only like four commonplace cards that can defeat this, and they're Dark Hole, TT, and two Mirror Forces.
• Likewise, 20th Century Train's ATK is pretty darned high for a monster of its caliber. The mini-Avarice that nets you two cards instead of one is suspicious enough, and I would recommend changing the Summoning requirements so that only this archetype could Summon this, rather than any Machine Deck in general. Draw 2 on a 2400 body should be good enough.
• I feel like Tram Train shouldn't really be discarding more than one card per battle destruction. You could have it look at your opponent's hand and discard one monster with the same Level, and in return, you could magnify the Life Point gain you get from this. 400 will hardly ever make a difference.
• Even though Damnation Train was bumped to a Rank 5, 2900 and freely destroying any card makes Adreus cry. 2900 is pretty much Rank 7-8 material, and then this gains ever more by using its effect. I could say drop the stats so that it would fit into the Rank 4 or 5 category better, but both of those Ranks already have plentiful card-removal abilities. It's better to find something different for this card to do.
• Redemption Steamer also has too much ATK for its Rank. Gem-Knight Pearl, another Rank 4, does absolutely nothing, and only has 2600 ATK. This has 2800 and an effect tailored to building up your field so well that it wouldn't be uncommon to use the monster this card Summons to Summon another Redemption Steamer. Special Summoning effects put onto an Xyz Monster have potential to spiral out of control, depending on how easy it becomes for you to Xyz Summon another copy of the card in question.
• Level Crossing is irksome in that it only exists for your Deck to go for game by ignoring your opponent's frontrow lineup. Outside of attempting to win the game, this card doesn't really do anything useful at all. If you can kill your opponent's monsters, it usually is a good idea to do so.
• Given how powerful Damnation and Redemption Trains are, Soul Junction is crazy. You get to freely Summon monsters from your Deck, pop your opponent's cards, and swing with two incredibly beefy monsters from this one card. It's also a temporary D.D. Crow since you could have Damnation Train frustrate Graveyard setup for your opponent.
• Double Header is pretty much Gift of the Martyr, which sucks immensely. Making it a quick-play increases its applicability and makes it a lot like a safer Limiter Removal, but the damage outcome potential is crazy.
• Snow Plow is completely inferior to Cow Catcher. Cow Catcher's effect shuts off your opponent from being able to draw something new and potentially useful during their Draw Phase by spinning their monsters back to the top, and then has a marginally higher ATK boost than it. Snow Plow could really boost by like 800 or so.
• Retrofit has scarcely any advantage to being ran over IMT, but nevertheless it is an advantage. This Deck doesn't seem like the kind that would really benefit from IMT, so I don't really see this being as useful as the space these cards take up could be.
• I don't really like how Buffalo Safari is, in essence, a Mirror Force with a Foolish Burial on top of it. Should the Deck ever find good use in the Foolish Burial effect, then suddenly you have a looooot of Mirror Forces. Plus, these can't be chained to by Lance and inflict minor burns.
• Standard Gauges essentially undoes the foresight Konami had in giving Xyz Monsters Ranks instead of Levels. Namely, using Xyz Monsters as Xyz Materials.

 

I've often seen you say that you really don't know how to adequately construct a Deck with your cards. If I continue to have as much interest as I do for the next few days, I could probably try to create something on DP myself and see how it works out. EDIT: I just realized that you had already shared them with me, so I guess I could just do that myself.

 

EDIT2: Ok, made a Deck. I probably only used half of the cards given, and I've noticed a lack of decent Steamers, which made Buffalo Safari a little difficult to use. Still have yet to test it.

[Toothless the Night Fury]

EDIT2: Ok, made a Deck. I probably only used half of the cards given, and I've noticed a lack of decent Steamers, which made Buffalo Safari a little difficult to use. Still have yet to test it.

 

I'll help ya test it. ;P Just posting here as a reminder to post later on this deck. He asked me to do so a while back, and I've been putting it off. :P

[ToaCody]

I felt like giving this a look again, and there's a few things I'd like to point out:

• Cab Front Steamer is pretty darned hard to get rid of. 3k ATK lets it beat most monsters by battle, and it's not really probable that Decks can get a monster to have enough ATK to defeat 3k.There's pretty much just other monsters with 3k ATK who would have to ram into this. If a Deck doesn't run anything that has 3k ATK, their only cards that could get rid of this is Book of Moon or an anti-effect card to lower its protection. The only other card would be #101 since it doesn't remove its target from the field. Unlike Beelze, there really aren't enough cards in the game to justify its huge protection, IMO. The card preceding it, Big-Boy Steamer, is a lot more acceptable because it is realistic to believe that a Deck would have a monster that can climb over 2500 ATK.
• Shay Steamer can technically Special Summon a Gadget from your Deck, use that Gadget to search, and then you can Xyz Summon Gear Gigant X to search Tin Goldfish, ensuring you can make another Rank 4 Xyz next turn (or this one if you play Double Summon, which I don't remember whether Gearigas like or not). This wouldn't really be an issue if you Summoned that Gadget from the hand, though Machines already have a Level 4 Marauding Captain (the Tin Goldfish). The issue is that this monster is a Level 4 Tour Guide. Given Level 3 and 4 Tuners exist that can be Special Summoned by this, this becomes a lot more than just a Level 4 version of Tour Guide; you can Special Summon BRD, Hot RDA, and plenty of useful Synchro Monsters, just off the Normal Summon of this card and using its effect to Special Summon something from the Deck. This needs either bigger limitations on either what it can Summon or what you can do after pulling off the effect. Since there are just so many useful Level 4 Machines, Machines are really one of the worst Types to give an upgraded Tour Guide to.
• Speaking of Normal Summoning BRD or Hot RDA (which is still considerably less cool to say than Jew RDA), you could just Normal Summon Train Hobo, Special Summon one of the two targets from your Deck, and then decide on any Level 7 or 8 Synchro to go into (also the Level gain isn't OPT and you could technically raise Hobo to Level 12 if you want for some weird reason). As before, you should really limit what you can do with playing this card. From what I've seen, you usually don't use this card close to its full potential, and its full potential is too good.
• I feel like Freight Train Car's draw effect should really be cut down to one. If you feel like it'd be bad then, you could increase the stat boost you gain from the card, since the draw-when-kills and the protection it offers is still really good.
• You know, if you make Breakdown Train Level 8, it becomes a lot easier to Summon with Advanced Ritual Art. Just mill two Ancient Steamers, or better Level 4 Normal Monsters really, and bam. Speaking of Breakdown Train, I don't really like how it basically doesn't exist, as you'd pretty much want to instantly bring out Crane Steamer for the better stats and protection.
• Garratt Steamer, without any special ways of equipping Unions to it, requires far too much effort to be worth the effort. Plus, there's only two Unions here, and Passenger Train Coach is pretty weak.
• Scotsman Steamer has an absurdly high ATK for a Level 8 Synchro, and then it gains even more. To top it off, your opponent can't target this at all. This leaves only like four commonplace cards that can defeat this, and they're Dark Hole, TT, and two Mirror Forces.
• Likewise, 20th Century Train's ATK is pretty darned high for a monster of its caliber. The mini-Avarice that nets you two cards instead of one is suspicious enough, and I would recommend changing the Summoning requirements so that only this archetype could Summon this, rather than any Machine Deck in general. Draw 2 on a 2400 body should be good enough.
• I feel like Tram Train shouldn't really be discarding more than one card per battle destruction. You could have it look at your opponent's hand and discard one monster with the same Level, and in return, you could magnify the Life Point gain you get from this. 400 will hardly ever make a difference.
• Even though Damnation Train was bumped to a Rank 5, 2900 and freely destroying any card makes Adreus cry. 2900 is pretty much Rank 7-8 material, and then this gains ever more by using its effect. I could say drop the stats so that it would fit into the Rank 4 or 5 category better, but both of those Ranks already have plentiful card-removal abilities. It's better to find something different for this card to do.
• Redemption Steamer also has too much ATK for its Rank. Gem-Knight Pearl, another Rank 4, does absolutely nothing, and only has 2600 ATK. This has 2800 and an effect tailored to building up your field so well that it wouldn't be uncommon to use the monster this card Summons to Summon another Redemption Steamer. Special Summoning effects put onto an Xyz Monster have potential to spiral out of control, depending on how easy it becomes for you to Xyz Summon another copy of the card in question.
• Level Crossing is irksome in that it only exists for your Deck to go for game by ignoring your opponent's frontrow lineup. Outside of attempting to win the game, this card doesn't really do anything useful at all. If you can kill your opponent's monsters, it usually is a good idea to do so.
• Given how powerful Damnation and Redemption Trains are, Soul Junction is crazy. You get to freely Summon monsters from your Deck, pop your opponent's cards, and swing with two incredibly beefy monsters from this one card. It's also a temporary D.D. Crow since you could have Damnation Train frustrate Graveyard setup for your opponent.
• Double Header is pretty much Gift of the Martyr, which sucks immensely. Making it a quick-play increases its applicability and makes it a lot like a safer Limiter Removal, but the damage outcome potential is crazy.
• Snow Plow is completely inferior to Cow Catcher. Cow Catcher's effect shuts off your opponent from being able to draw something new and potentially useful during their Draw Phase by spinning their monsters back to the top, and then has a marginally higher ATK boost than it. Snow Plow could really boost by like 800 or so.
• Retrofit has scarcely any advantage to being ran over IMT, but nevertheless it is an advantage. This Deck doesn't seem like the kind that would really benefit from IMT, so I don't really see this being as useful as the space these cards take up could be.
• I don't really like how Buffalo Safari is, in essence, a Mirror Force with a Foolish Burial on top of it. Should the Deck ever find good use in the Foolish Burial effect, then suddenly you have a looooot of Mirror Forces. Plus, these can't be chained to by Lance and inflict minor burns.
• Standard Gauges essentially undoes the foresight Konami had in giving Xyz Monsters Ranks instead of Levels. Namely, using Xyz Monsters as Xyz Materials.

I've often seen you say that you really don't know how to adequately construct a Deck with your cards. If I continue to have as much interest as I do for the next few days, I could probably try to create something on DP myself and see how it works out. EDIT: I just realized that you had already shared them with me, so I guess I could just do that myself.

EDIT2: Ok, made a Deck. I probably only used half of the cards given, and I've noticed a lack of decent Steamers, which made Buffalo Safari a little difficult to use. Still have yet to test it.

This is exactly what I have been looking for the whole time!

 

Much of the "quirkiness" of some of the cards you mentioned stems from my original method of creating these cards. A big part of why I need help with formulating good decks is that I've never had do build them with strategy in mind. Back when I actually dueled regularly, my friends and I just threw our favorite cards together and tried to play with them, and that translated into how I started making my cards: I worked out their basis and effects individually and just hoped they would mesh. Since I have made all the cards I am going to for the foreseeable future (with the possible exception of several Pendulums down the line), I am focusing on trying to make all of them viable in some form or another since I have already invested a fair amount into them.

 

In terms of the Monsters you mentioned, most of the effects are working concepts or suggestions I got from others (Shay's is a placeholder I seriously just taped on this morning). As I've mentioned, I'm good at (eventually) building upon ideas when I have a basis and direction, but when you're stuck with just your own mind, it can take a while before you can get either. A prime example would be Western Steamer and Train Conductor: while their effects may seem relatively straight forward, it actually took me about a month of racking my brain before I even came up with part of them to build upon. Really I'm stuck with what I have until I can find more inspiration or feedback. I'm also not meta savvy: I stopped following Yu-Gi-Oh! about 5 years ago and only just got back into it a few months ago, just before I started this thread. 

 

Side note: I have been trying to work out what the Limits for my cards should be and have been trying to hold myself to them on DP. For example, I have been running that all of the Extra Deck monsters are Limited.

[AGATHODAIMON BANGTAIL COW]

Test one goes as followed: I draw Crowded Platform, which essentially sealed the game for me. Searching Tank Steamers (I started with 2 Shays) to get Rank 4s out, and the potential to search Train Hobo at any time I wanted while also walling myself off from damage like crazy. I played poorly with this card, and it still did wonders. :/

 

Redemption Steamer's SS effect has no Level cap, which lets me play things like Cab Front Steamer off of a R4. :/

[ToaCody]

bump

[- Minimania -]

What about subways, or metrolinks?

or even rollercoasters???(lol jk about that one)

[ToaCody]

What about subways, or metrolinks?

or even rollercoasters???(lol jk about that one)

If you are referring to how many subways and metro-links got their starts as steam-driven trains, the focus on this set was on larger-scale railroading.

 

Anyway, I'm not planning on adding any more cards to this set since it already has a fair few, except maybe several Pendulums down the line with which I will definitely need help.

[ToaCody]

Bump

[Darj]

First, I want to mention that I don't like how you use IRL pics as artworks for the cards. That makes the cards look unrealistic since official YGO cards don't use photos nor IRL images in their artworks. Granted, in this section cards like that are allowed, but since you added them to DP, I suppose you are interested in making the cards to look as legit as possible, and these artworks don't help.

Second, the archetype has way too many cards. Really, usually 10 cards or less are enough to build an effective archetype, and here you got roughly 50 cards, and I doubt you will be using all of them in a deck; and if you do, chances are that you shouldn't because there are cards you will want to run at 3. Hell, you even made a Ritual, what's up with that?

 

Now, the problem cards:

Shay Steamer

ABC already explained this one: a TGU for Rank4s and Synchros. Also, at least TGU negates the effect of the Summoned monster, but this one doesn't, which lead to more degenerate combos, such as Summoning...

 

Train Hobo

Oh, look, another TGU for the archetype, who can also make a Synchro or a Rank4, as if 1 wasn't enough. Also its effect will work when Summoned by Shay Steamer, so you know to where this leads to. Speaking of Hobo...

 

Freight/Passenger Train Coach

My only complain on these is that their DEF is way too high for a Level4 monster without a negative effect. The highest we got from Konami is Gear Golem the Moving Fortress with 2200 DEF and a weak effect, but these Train Coaches not only have a higher DEF, but also decent effects as Unions that boost "Steamer" cards. So yeah, giving them a high DEF just "because you can" is not exactly fair.

 

Big-Boy/Cab Front Steamers

Beaters that laugh at effect removal AND the latter can potentially inflict burn damage. Not cool at all.

 

Fusion Monsters

These aren't cool either: They are monsters that can come up to the field for free whenever you set their materials up in their grave. Even if they didn't have any effects and 0/0 stats, they would have been too good as they can be used as fodder for a Tribute/Synchro/etc. Summon. Making cards like this are not good for the game.

 

Steam Up

Basically a Miracle Fusion for Train/Steamer Synchros that recycles the materials instead of banishing them, and then this card recycles itself so in theory you don't need to worry from running multiples of this. This doesn't look fair.

 

Restoration Project

Not exactly broken like the rest of the cards, but could be abused by simply returning 1 Machine-Type to get the card draw.

 

Soul Junction

ABC already explained this one, too.

 

Crowded Platform

So , discard 1 card to Summon up to 5 1900-DEF walls that can later turn into any Level4 or lower Train/Steamer. Yeah, this is broken in my opinion.

 

 

That's all for now. Too lazy to review all of them, but from what I can see, most of the remaining cards are either too impractical, or are actually fine.

[ToaCody]

First, I want to mention that I don't like how you use IRL pics as artworks for the cards. That makes the cards look unrealistic since official YGO cards don't use photos nor IRL images in their artworks. Granted, in this section cards like that are allowed, but since you added them to DP, I suppose you are interested in making the cards to look as legit as possible, and these artworks don't help.

Second, the archetype has way too many cards. Really, usually 10 cards or less are enough to build an effective archetype, and here you got roughly 50 cards, and I doubt you will be using all of them in a deck; and if you do, chances are that you shouldn't because there are cards you will want to run at 3. Hell, you even made a Ritual, what's up with that?

 

Now, the problem cards:

Shay Steamer

ABC already explained this one: a TGU for Rank4s and Synchros. Also, at least TGU negates the effect of the Summoned monster, but this one doesn't, which lead to more degenerate combos, such as Summoning...

 

Train Hobo

Oh, look, another TGU for the archetype, who can also make a Synchro or a Rank4, as if 1 wasn't enough. Also its effect will work when Summoned by Shay Steamer, so you know to where this leads to. Speaking of Hobo...

 

Freight/Passenger Train Coach

My only complain on these is that their DEF is way too high for a Level4 monster without a negative effect. The highest we got from Konami is Gear Golem the Moving Fortress with 2200 DEF and a weak effect, but these Train Coaches not only have a higher DEF, but also decent effects as Unions that boost "Steamer" cards. So yeah, giving them a high DEF just "because you can" is not exactly fair.

 

Big-Boy/Cab Front Steamers

Beaters that laugh at effect removal AND the latter can potentially inflict burn damage. Not cool at all.

 

Fusion Monsters

These aren't cool either: They are monsters that can come up to the field for free whenever you set their materials up in their grave. Even if they didn't have any effects and 0/0 stats, they would have been too good as they can be used as fodder for a Tribute/Synchro/etc. Summon. Making cards like this are not good for the game.

 

Steam Up

Basically a Miracle Fusion for Train/Steamer Synchros that recycles the materials instead of banishing them, and then this card recycles itself so in theory you don't need to worry from running multiples of this. This doesn't look fair.

 

Restoration Project

Not exactly broken like the rest of the cards, but could be abused by simply returning 1 Machine-Type to get the card draw.

 

Soul Junction

ABC already explained this one, too.

 

Crowded Platform

So , discard 1 card to Summon up to 5 1900-DEF walls that can later turn into any Level4 or lower Train/Steamer. Yeah, this is broken in my opinion.

 

 

That's all for now. Too lazy to review all of them, but from what I can see, most of the remaining cards are either too impractical, or are actually fine.

Message received. I'll take this into consideration.

 

In regards to card pics, if you can find anime-style art that can be used for my cards I'll use it. The issue is that when trying to search for images I could only find real stuff, which I went with because I'd rather have those images on the cards than nothing at all. (And it would seem my cards weren't the only ones in the tournament to follow this trend.)

 

In regards to the size and "varied" composition, the reasoning for that is two fold. First, while I followed YGO up until early 5Ds before stopping for a while, I only actually played until mid-GX, and all I and my friends ever did was throw together decks of cards we liked. Second, I have a habit of running with things when I get into them, in this case when I came up with my first few cards in a row I just kept cranking out more. I eventually realized the folly in both habits and reigned them in, but there's still a lot of work to be done.