While the five "civilizations" (factions) had the more traditional 5 elements you find in Eastern philosophies (fire, water, nature, light, and darkness), the color-codes were all along the exact same lines as Magic; so for instance fire had direct damage and "fast" creatures, water had card draw and unblockable abilities, nature had ramping and boosting creatures, light had defensive creatures and tapping effects, darkness had death effects and return-from-graveyard effects, among other things you'd expect from Magic. Instead of having a dedicated "land" card, any card could be placed upside-down (not facedown) into your mana pool to act as a land of its color -- incidentally, there were no cards that did special things while they were in the mana pool when I played, and they were only just beginning to experiment with dual-colored cards when I stopped.

Instead of a life counter, at the start of the game each player placed five cards face-down from their deck as their "shields," which were added to your hand when your opponent "broke" them with an attack. An attack of any strength (I think; I can't remember how 0 strength interacted with shields) would "break" a shield, and a 6th attack directly at the opponent would win you the game. Most particularly large creatures had a keyword ability that let them break 2 shields with an attack, but I can't remember a trample-like ability. It wasn't until a few sets in that they started introducing "shield trigger" spells, which you could activate for free if it was the shield broken by an attack (i.e. if you already had a "shield trigger" card in-hand when a shield was broken, you were not allowed to activate it from your hand).

Tapping creatures followed most of the same rules that M:tG uses, but you were only allowed to attack either tapped creatures or the opponent directly, and only creatures with the "blocker" keyword were allowed to block an attack. This meant sometimes a cold war would develop as whoever had their large creature attack first made them vulnerable to a boosted attack, but it also meant that you never had to hold back an attack just because they had 1 big dude, because chances were they couldn't block the attack with the big dude.

One thing I missed from Duel Masters was how it basically streamlined the Magic system. Your mana base was directly tied to your playable deck, which meant that with a 40-card deck you could even run a few copies of an off-color card in order to get some strong effect that wasn't in your faction's wheelhouse, because you could play the first copy as a mana and use that to power the other copies. There was also never that 15 squirrels issue because 1 blocker meant 1 blocked attacker, though only having some creatures available to block made it feel dumbed-down at times. There was also very little tribal at the time, which appeals to me nowadays, though they were just introducing their version of Slivers when I quit: Q monsters, which could be of any type in any color, and I believe they still support that in the modern incarnation (Japanese only; Duel Masters was made by Wizards for Japan, in an attempt to get them to play Magic, which failed, and then Duel Masters was re-brought back to the West, which also failed. Twice.)

First, the Ruler!

So, Machina here (Machina 1, as it was his first appearance) is somewhat unique in that he is a totally colorless ("No Attribute") ruler. He doesn't have any colored will costs on his card and doesn't himself has an attribute. In their first appearance along with him, the Machine tribe shared this trait. Technically, though, Machina isn't written to need Machines, they just happen to be the cards that work with him.

On his front side, he has Judgment, and a single ability. That ability, however, is a doozie: Tutoring for any colorless Addition (Artifact/Enchantment) or Resonator (Creature), provided you invest the will. This means that any unused Will you generate can be spent before recovery to fetch just about anything you could want out of your deck. It can't fetch our Chants (spells) but they aren't cheap by default so wouldn't get tutored anyway.

The J-Ruler side, and especially his triggered ability when you judge him, is the big thing with Machina. First, his other abilities are pretty alright; he can survive on his anemic stats for a J-Ruler with his second ability to sac a creature to prevent self damage, and giving the team indestructible for a turn is very potentially game winning.

But that first ability... When you Judge Machina, you are paying for not only his kinda resilient 800/800 body, but three no-attribute Resonators or Additions from your hand. They're probably going to be Resonators, but what kind of Resonator? What do you get to drop for free with Machina?

4x 2x

Oh dear. Marybell and Remote Control Golem are the cards I most want to cheat out with Machina. They're both fairly difficult to play on their own (5 is a lot and Machines aren't as easy to spam as Artifacts in M:tG. Think "Affinity for Golems"), but Marybell is the equivalent of a 6/6 trample who can absorb the P/T and keywords of other creatures to concentrate damage, while Remote Control Golem is Force of Will's Darksteel Colossus with Affinity. Not exactly, but you get the idea. These are huge creatures. I run them at the numbers I do because Marybell is better on her own, and can even help me recover from bad times, while Golem is win-more unless cheated out with Machina. Marybell also has some dedicated support that helps her out...

Let's meet the other members of the mechanical army, in reverse CMC order

3x

The little sibling of Remote Control Golem, Remote Control Beast's affinity-style ability actually does matter; it's often free, especially after a Machina flip slams three extra Machines on the table. The body is nothing to write home about on its own, but just having the guy jump out as an extra is very worthwhile. See: Frogmite

4x

Power Supply Team is evil. I know it doesn't look it at first, but it is. In Magic terms it's something like a 2/2 for 3 that can sacrifice itself to untap target creature. But remember: In Force of Will, attacks are just sort of something you mix in with normal Main Phase actions, and if you recover a creature, it can attack again. So if I have a Remote Control Golem and a Power Supply Team, I might as well have two Remote Control Golems and change (change because the team does not need to be recovered to sacrifice itself, so I can use it too to sneak damage or force a blocker out of the way). It gets even more disgusting with Marybell, letting you concentrate your creatures and then use "them all" again.

4x

In the lore, before she was a big robot, Marybell was a little girl with a flawed mechanical heart that the then-human Machina took in as his apprentice/adoptive daughter. Her body gave out before an improved life-support system could be perfected, but her soul was preserved, and became the animating principle behind Marybell. In game, at least in this incarnation, she's a two-drop with nothing-special stats, but some very powerful abilities. If she dies, you can go tutor for either of her then-printed Marybell incarnations (We've seen Insane Self-Aware Machine and will get to the other later) and she can exile from the grave for to play or activate that Marybell. All in all, she's charged with making sure Marybell shows up, ideally in force, and can be used heavily.

3x 3x 3x

They're cheap, they're easily tutored with Machina, and they can provide useful keywords to Marybell, especially Target Attack (later renamed Precision) which lets her surgically remove a problem creature. The soldiers, with their ability to pump up and perform suicide surgery themselves, aren't too shabby. But it's not creatures all the way down! Let's look at some of the other options.

2x

The addition option, Leginus. It also provides another way to swap abilities around besides Marybell, which can easily be worth it for Target Attack, and is an Anthem that pumps all my creatures. However, there's some dissynergy with the idea of having more Leginus, since its anthem effect benefits going wide, hence why I only run it at two. Of note, Leginus is a Machine, essentially meaning its a Tribal card for the Remote Controls

4x

Look at cute little Mariabella go! Look at her providing a version of Thoughtcast that can go to 0 cost... and usually does if I've flipped Machina, since he'll have spat 3 Machines onto the field and I'd had 4 prior turns to get the other two to stick (which a Leginus is especially good for; I'll often tutor Leginus with Machina on 2 and play it on 3 with a 1-drop).

4x

Ah, Regalia... Regalia were, in their original form, one of FoW's biggest balance mistakes, in part because they all cost 0. That's a story for another time, but Marybell is one of the most tame of the lot. She makes Machina tougher and can animate to become a 1k/1k, which is not shabby at all but does cost 5. Mostly, she runs interference against other Regalia and animates if I happen to have a dead Marybell to spend. She is great in multiples, though, because the damage prevention stacks.

4x

Finally, here it is: the kill card. March of the Machine Lord has a slightly different affinity than the other Affinity card, in that it's not strictly tribal, but tomato tomahtoe in this deck with the exception of Leginus. Typically, it will be free on Machina's flip turn (I have done bad if it is not) and it gives the whole team +3/+3 and Haste. This card is why Machina is so deadly: If I flup him, odds are you don't get a turn to react before Marybell, Remote Control Golem, and all the rest are coming for your face. And that is probably going to be a LOT of dudes between plays, the Judgment, possible Marybell Regalia activations, Beasts off the draw with Mariabella's work... you get the idea. The entire deck gets vomited onto the field, buffed, hasted, and sent in for the kill. Remember! Players start with 4k life. Between Power Supply Team and the psycho big creatures lethal was already a reasonable threat, with March it should be swift and fairly certain.

For the Stone deck, there's nothing worth writing about. Though there's now a nonbasic option worth having, I just use 10 basic stones and call it a day, it really doesn't matter.