Introduction to Railway

Utility and Extenders

There are several Extra Deck cards that aren't officially part of the Railway archetype, but synergize incredibly well with what we want to do.

• Loading... is a useful Link 1 to get on-field cards like Recycler or Babeldecker into the GY. It can also send another Machine to bring back either of the two as well, which is an integral part of some combos. If you're on Recycler, Clockwork Knight is mandatory.

• Loading... is a utility Link Monster that can reduce an opponent’s monster’s ATK to 0, provided it’s pointing at Liebe or some such. This allows Liebe to better connect all 6000 of its ATK to the opponent very easily resulting in an OTK. Underclock is a Cyberse monster, so it can't be summoned after using Blue Traveler's GY effect. Underclock is a great way to turn the Diagram Token from Loading... into a lethal attack target. Just remember to summon the token in Attack Position.

• Loading... can provide a big train like Liebe with piercing, dealing damage equal to the difference between Liebe’s ATK and its attack target’s DEF. Quite useful if your opponent has turtled up with multiple monsters in Defense Mode.

• Loading... is an alternative to Underclock Taker. Unlike Underclock, it’s a Machine, so you can summon it under Blue Traveler's lock, Similar to Underclock, it can reduce ATK points, just keep in mind it needs a Spell/Trap card you control to destroy (here comes Loading... off the top ropes!). If you're running Loading... , Ballista can search it out on summon, which will trigger Box to let you search out an EARTH Machine with 500 ATK or DEF, like Babeldecker or Convex Knight.

• Loading... is a neat card can negate an opponent's monster. To do so, it requires you to have another card on the field to negate its effects. Your best options are another monster that you've already used and plan to use as material or an already used Revolving Switchyard. If you use Urgent Schedule or Blue Traveler, you can summon 2 monsters to the zones its arrows point to in order to get a search off.

• Loading... is a cool tech option when you absolutely need to destroy something. Afterwards, you get a free reborn on a non-WATER Machine monster with 1600 or less ATK, like Recycler or Babel. This opens up a few different combo lines, like Urgent Schedule → Blue + Recycler → Link off for Robo → Robo pop a card and bring back Recycler → Recycler shenanigans. Some decks will run it while others may not, but it's worth mentioning. If you happen to banish it somehow, you can search out some of our other monsters like Blue Traveler.

• Loading... is a tech card used in lists that are on multiple Level 4s, like Box and Pegasus. Not all lists will run it. This gives you a way to utilize leftover material to get to some of your more powerful Extra Deck monsters. Gamer can send Gustav Max to change its name so that you can summon Rocket on top of it or it could send Loading... so that Gamer can link itself off for Loading... and so on. There are several powerful cards out there like Rocket or Loading... that can be summoned by ranking up off a specific name, so if you choose to use Gamer, you've got several options to explore.

• Loading... is an incredible card that finds its home in any Level 10 deck. It's a generic Rank 10 omni-negate that also pops cards, almost hand-crafted for the Trains archetype. It's a fantastic option for going first and is doubly devastating if you're on Derricrane. Just remember that it isn't a Machine, so Blue Traveler can potentially lock you out of it.

• Loading... is a honorary train that can pop a card and burn for 1000. It's a neat option to have, although not every deck will run it. Gangaridai’s card text is worded oddly and has often caused some confusion: "Cannot attack the turn you activate this effect" is referring to Gangaridai itself, not the player. If you use Gangaridai’s effect, it's Gangaridai that cannot attack, you can still attack with other cards like Liebe.

• Loading... is a great card for any deck that runs Xyz monsters. It’s a great Plan B if the OTK doesn’t work out. The issue is, nowadays even a Zeus isn't enough to keep an opponent off recovery. If you fail to OTK, a Zeus probably isn't going to save you on the crackback when your opponent triggers all their GY effects, so several decks have opted to drop it.

Board breakers and other such staples are incredibly important to the blind-second game plan. To connect your big trains to the opponent’s face, you’re going to need to deal with all the obnoxious floodgates and negates your opponent has set up. These cards will help you massively. The amount of copies you run typically changes from list to list, and can change drastically depending on what hand traps you run. Tenpai, for example, will run tons of hand traps and only a few board breakers, while other lists may run more board breakers and less hand traps. Typically, a blind-second list will have somewhere between 5-10 board breakers.

Furthermore, blind-second staples are constantly evolving. When Pot of Sloth released, it instantly found a home as a power 3-of in most blind-second lists. As the meta shifts and we get new cards, you may end up reconsidering what board breakers to run. There are tons of them out there! Powerful stuff like Loading... , Loading... , and Loading... . It would take too long to cover them all, so the following are some of the more generic choices you should consider:

• Loading... is a great Spell/Trap remover and can also be used as a conditional Loading... . If you choose to destroy your opponent’s monsters, a cool combo you can do is chain Urgent Schedule, since at the time of activation, your opponent controls more monsters than you do. Keep in mind that you need to control either no or only Set cards to activate Lightning Storm.

• Loading... is a crazy powerful card. Not only does it wipe your opponent's board like a Loading... , but it can also steal something out of their GY to use for your own purposes. I've stolen Loading... , Loading... , and Loading... before. Baronne, in particular is a Level 10 that can be used for your Xyz plays after you used up its pop and negate. The steal is also optional in case you want to keep a specific field. As with Lightning Storm, you can chain Urgent Schedule to Illusion Gate. Just remember that since Illusion Gate can summon something from the GY, cards like Loading... can stop it.

• Loading... and Loading... are classic Spell/Trap board breakers.

• Loading... is an amazing going-second staple that lets you craft a custom hand to deal with an opponent's board, and can help you unbrick if you happen to have drawn multiple starters or a garnet. At worst, it can be a Draw 1 that replaces itself. There's not much else to say about it, run 3.

• Loading... is a cool non-targeting negate that turns an opponent's monster into an immovable object. Keep in mind that this means it will stick around through board breaks and attacks, often preventing you from getting a direct attack through. That said, this negative could actually be a positive as Liebe can attack multiple times, letting you pile on the damage, and it lets you use Urgent Schedule after a board wipe.

• Loading... is the go-to mass effect negation. Loading... is unfortunately not usable since it stops your opponent from taking damage. Keep in mind that the best use of Droplet is chaining it to cards you’ve already played, like Loading... or Loading... , etc. to avoid wasting as many resources as possible. Since it’s a Quick-Play Spell, you can even use it in the Draw Phase to interrupt something nasty, like an incoming Quick Effect Synchro Summon. Keep in mind that it stops responses based on what you send - you're typically safe on Monsters and Spells, but since we don't run many Traps, your opponent can chain Loading... or something, which will free them up to use their monster effects.

• Loading... is a great card to have handy in a Trap-heavy meta. It functionally shuts off their whole backrow for one turn, which is all you need. It's usage will wax and wane based on the meta, and many lists may not run it.

Subspace Battle Engine

The Subspace Battle Engine is a fantastic piece of tech that gets you free bodies and spot removal. Choose the two copies of Jizukiru first and Carnot last. Few things can beat Jizukiru's 3300 ATK, and after the second one, most opponents will have given up and will send something useless to them, likely with less than 3000 ATK. There are several things to note with Subspace Battle:

• Cards added by Subspace Battle can't activate their effects, but Jizukiru and Carnot have inherent Special Summons, similar to Loading... , which aren't effects that need to be activated. You will still be able to summon them.

• Since their effects can't be activated, sending Carnot to the GY by detaching it or linking it off won't cause it to shuffle itself back into the Deck, letting you use it for other stuff like Loading... .

• If you already have Carnot or a Jizukiru in hand, Ruinforce is a great pick to add since pretty much nothing will have more than 4600 ATK, and Ruinforce also primarily uses an inherent Special Summon. You'll just need to discard it somehow.

• You can use these cards as fodder for Pot of Sloth to shuffle them back into the Deck if you don't need them or you've drawn them and Subspace Battle and want to make Subspace Battle live again.

• Subspace Battle will deal 1500 damage to your opponent if it is fully successful, which may matter when swinging for lethal.

• Sometimes your opponent will be stupid, not read the card, and choose Ash Blossom or other cards they think they can use. Happens more often than you'd expect.

• Subspace Battle can be used under Loading... . The interaction is hilarious: you add the cards to hand, and then because Droll prevents cards from being added to hand, they go straight to the GY. This is a great way to get Ruinforce and Carnot into your GY.

There are surprisingly a whole lot of interactions to keep in mind with this engine, it's very powerful.

Shaddoll Engine

The Shaddoll Engine has gotten some spicy upgrades since we last saw it. In the past, you'd run 2 Shaddoll monsters and Loading... to summon a Level 10 EARTH Machine to use for Xyz plays, but now we have something far more powerful and generic.

Playing Loading... will let you send Genius, Ruinforce, and Blue Traveler. Genius will negate a monster, Ruinforce in the GY is free value, and Blue Traveler in the GY is hardly something that needs explaining at this point. If you already have Blue Traveler in the GY, you can always send something else like Babeldecker to give Blue Traveler something nice to summon. Since Genius is an EARTH Machine, it can be used with Blue Traveler or with Urgent Schedule in a pinch! Although Genius isn't really something you want to summon with Blue Traveler and Urgent Schedule, the option's there if you want it.

Lastly, Meshachrer can add either a "Shaddoll" or a "Void" card from your Deck to your hand. Loading... is a "Void" card. Meshachrer therefore reads "Once per turn: You can pay 800 LP: Draw 1 card." It's not even a big deal to draw Into the Void, you just play it and draw a card to replace it. We're looking to OTK anyway, so we don't care about the End Phase discard. Just be careful of Droll. If you have something more valuable you want to add, like Urgent off of Exceptional, consider using it first. We run just 1 Into the Void so we don't see it as often off of Loading... and to lower the chances of getting nuked by Droll. For these reasons, some decks will not bother to run Into the Void at all as it can open you up to too devastating a Droll. It's up to you. If you don't run Into the Void, it can still be valuable to use Meshachrer's effect anyway for discard/Sloth/Ballista fodder or to bait interaction. Remember that this is a blind-second engine. You're probably not going to be using Shaddoll Fusion in Earth-Machine lists when going first.

Kaiju Slumber Engine

The Kaiju Slumber Engine is an old engine that was used before Blazing Dominion's support wave. It provided a board breaker, a free Level 10, the minor recovery effect of Loading... , and spot removal. Jizukiru in particular synergized well with Loading... . There was also some interesting nuance to the engine - if your opponent already controlled a Kaiju, and you have two Jizukiru in hand, summoning one of them and using it for a Rank 10 or a Link monster enabled you to summon the other since you no longer controlled a Kaiju. It is worth noting that there’s some slight anti-synergy: Slumber summons a Kaiju for you and your opponent, which means Urgent Schedule is turned off, and you couldn't chain Urgent Schedule like with Loading... or Loading... since what you summoned would also be destroyed. While Jizukiru is a Machine, which meant it worked with Bullet Train’s recovery effect, it’s still a LIGHT monster. If you had Bullet Train in hand, you’d need to do something with Jizukiru first, like linking it off or making an Xyz monster. In short, there was a lot of awkward play-making, though the engine was still powerful enough to warrant serious play. Although the original engine was 3x Jizukiru and 1x Gameciel, a single copy of Kumongous was sometimes run to keep Slumber live if you happened to banish or draw all of your Jizukiru or Gameciel. With all our new support and new more powerful engines, the Kaiju Slumber Engine fell to the wayside.

Megafleet Engine

Another old engine that saw small amounts of play during Master Rule 4 since there was almost always a monster in the Extra Monster Zone. You’d use Cyber Dragon to fuse into Megafleet for a Level 10 Machine. Nowadays, it doesn’t see any play since many decks don't need to use the EMZ, and we just have better options.

Trains has many other older cards that no longer see any play. They’re either too hard to get out, cost too many resources, have been power-crept, or are irrelevant to the OTK game plan. Among these, Ruffian Railcar is a good budget option, originally serving as the best Urgent Schedule target, and Signal Red is sometimes used in low rarity formats to end the Battle Phase.

Basic OTK

The most basic line, and the one you'll usually be shooting for.

1. Summon Gustav Max → Burn for 2000.
2. Rank up Gustav Max into Liebe → Use Liebe's effect to go to 6000 ATK.
3. Swing for game.

How you get there will vary based on what you have available and what utility you decide to use. The board can be clear for a direct attack, Ballista and Underclock can reduce the ATK of an opponent's monster to 0, Pentestag can offer piercing, and so on.

Normal Summon Scrap Recycler

We can get to a Rank 10 Xyz by Normal Summoning Scrap Recycler.

1. Normal Summon Recycler → Send Blue Traveler to the GY with Recycler's effect.
2. Link off Recycler for Clockwork Knight.
3. Activate Blue Traveler's effect in the GY to bring back itself and Recycler.
4. Activate Recycler's effect to send Carnot to the GY.
5. Summon Carnot from the GY with its own inherent Special Summon.
6. Link off Recycler and Clockwork Knight for a utility Link-2, like Ballista or whatever you need. If you're on Ancient Gear Box, Ballista and search it out for more extension.
7. Do the standard OTK line by overlaying Blue Traveler and Carnot for Gustav Max → Liebe.

You don't need to go into Gustav Max with this. You can go into any of the Machine Xyz like Loading... to continue extending, Loading... to pop a card, and so on. You can also use Clockwork Knight's effect at any time to bring back something from the GY, like another Scrap Recycler, Babeldecker, and so on. Carnot also requires your opponent to have used a monster effect from their hand or GY at some point during the Duel. Remember that after using Blue Traveler's GY effect, you're locked into Machines for the turn.

Urgent and Exceptional Schedule with Recycler

Urgent and Exceptional Schedule can kick-start the Recycler line.

1. Activate Urgent/Exceptional Schedule. If using Exceptional to search out Urgent Schedule, summon the Diagram Token in Attack Position.
2. Summon Blue Traveler and Recycler.
3. Link off Recycler for Clockwork Knight.
4. Activate Clockwork Knight's effect targeting Recycler in GY → Tribute Blue Traveler to bring back Recycler.
5. Activate Recycler's effect to bin whatever you need.

From here, link off Recycler and Clockwork Knight for something useful and refer to the Step 3 in the Normal Summon Scrap Recycler line.

Urgent and Exceptional Schedule with Pegasus

If you're running Pegasus, you have a compact OTK line available. Note that using Urgent Schedule requires your opponent to control a monster.

1. Activate Urgent/Exceptional Schedule. If using Exceptional to search out Urgent Schedule, summon the Diagram Token in Attack Position.
2. Summon Blue Traveler and Pegasus.
3. Link off Blue Traveler and Pegasus for Underclock Taker or Pentestag or whatever Link-2 you need to get your OTK.
4. Activate Blue Traveler's effect in the GY → Special Summon Blue Traveler and Pegasus.
5. Activate Pegasus' effect to change its Level to 10. This will lock you into only attacking with Xyz monsters.
6. Do the standard OTK line of Gustav Max → Liebe. Use your Link monster for utility, like reducing the Diagram Token's ATK to 0 with Underclock to fully connect Liebe's 6000 ATK.

When Pegasus is summoned from the GY by Blue's effect, it'll also be able to use its on-summon effect to reborn an EARTH Machine. This may prove useful to you for further extension.

Blue Traveler in Hand

If you happened to draw Blue Traveler, you can use it to go into several different lines. Remember that Babeldecker relies on your opponent having used a card or effect during your turn.

1. Activate Blue Traveler's effect in hand, discarding it to search out Switchyard.
2. Activate Switchyard, discarding a card to search out Babeldecker.
3. Normal Summon Babeldecker → Activate Babeldecker's effect to Xyz Summon Flying Launcher.
4. Activate Flying Launcher's effect to search out whatever you need. You can search out Scrap Recycler to start the Normal Summon Scrap Recycler line, as Flying Launcher will give you an additional Normal Summon.

Afterwards, you can even detach Babeldecker from Flying Launcher, popping Switchyard, to get Babeldecker in the GY to be able to revive both it and Blue Traveler and continue extending. If Flying Launcher is negated and destroyed, its Xyz Material will go to the GY with it, letting you do this anyway. Note that you don't need to go into Flying Launcher. You can always just go directly into Gustav Max → Liebe for an OTK swing, or Gustav Rocket for a negate to insulate your plays.

If you'd like a more graphic representation of some of these lines, MDM features a combo database. A link to the Railway section can be found here.

While there are a few standard combo lines to go into, for the most part, the situation is fluid. You have a lot of versatility and flexibility to make plays. Adapt to your opponent's board! Maybe send Ruinforce or Babeldecker off of Recycler for later use. You've been Droll'd? Use Loading... to bin Carnot and Ruinforce to continue extending. You've added Kaiju from Subspace Battle? You now have a free body to get out onto the board. You need to get something out of the GY? Go into Anger Knuckle and have it tribute itself to bring back a Level 10 Machine. You need a search? Summon Loading... and summon 2 monsters to the zones its arrows point to.

As you can no doubt see, there is still a lot of extension and utility left on the table, don't feel like you need to concretely stick to some combo and then scoop it up if things don't work out. Use your tools to help achieve victory!