Monarch Control Deck

A Monarch Control Deck revolves around using the following Monarch cards: The focus of a Monarch Control deck is to utilize the effects of the Monarch cards (Zaborg, Mobius, Thestalos, Granmarg, Raiza, and Caius) to gain card advantage over the opponent. These decks use many strategies to ensure that the opponent is losing more cards than they are. Some of these strategies include: reviving tribute material (Treeborn Frog), utilizing Recruiter monsters and gaining control of the opponent's monsters for use as tribute material (via Brain Control or Soul Exchange). You can combine Monarchs with Reshef the Dark Being because you can in one turn Ritual Summon him and discard Spell Card to take control of your opponent`s monster. This effect is more effective, because you can take face-down monster
 * Granmarg the Rock Monarch
 * Mobius the Frost Monarch
 * Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch
 * Zaborg the Thunder Monarch
 * Raiza the Storm Monarch
 * Caius the Shadow Monarch
 * Kuraz the Light Monarch

While a very powerful deck types ever since their release, Monarch decks (due to high amounts of problems from Chaos Decks) have not truly made a game changing impact until September 2006, when "Chaos Sorcerer" was banned from competitive play. However, Monarch Control successfully dominated the North American metagame for the duration of the format but is now less popular since Raiza was Limited in the new banlist, leaving the Monarchs weaker and incapable to compete with Dark Armed Dragon, Gladiator Beasts and Lightsworns decks.

Monster Cards

 * Mobius the Frost Monarch
 * Granmarg the Rock Monarch
 * Kuraz the Light Monarch
 * Raiza the Storm Monarch
 * Caius the Shadow Monarch
 * Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch
 * Zaborg the Thunder Monarch
 * Jinzo
 * The Tricky
 * Cyber Dragon
 * Evil Hero Infernal Prodigy
 * Giant Germ
 * Gravekeeper's Spy
 * Mystic Tomato
 * Spell Striker
 * Sangan
 * Nimble Momonga
 * Treeborn Frog
 * Marshmallon
 * Spirit Reaper
 * Exiled Force
 * Breaker the Magical Warrior

Spell Cards

 * Monster Reborn
 * Heavy Storm
 * Mystical Space Typhoon
 * Enemy Controller
 * Brain Control
 * Lightning Vortex
 * Smashing Ground
 * Soul Exchange
 * Double Summon
 * Swords of Revealing Light
 * Book of Moon

Trap Cards

 * Bottomless Trap Hole
 * Ultimate Offering
 * Mirror Force
 * Torrential Tribute
 * Solemn Judgment

An alternative to a Monarch Control Deck is an Apprentice Monarch Deck, which uses cards like Apprentice Magician, Crystal Seer and Old Vindictive Magician to gain the upper hand in a duel. Old Vindictive Magician lets you destroy your opponent's monsters and Crystal Seer gives you extra cards, giving you more strategies to play with. Apprentice Magician summons those monsters in the damage step when your opponent can't do much about it. These little monsters are also very good tribute materials for Monarchs.

Another alternative that is becoming popular is the Macro Monarch Deck. It is the most efficient Monarch type deck, and most effective against the current meta.

Monster Cards

 * Caius the Shadow Monarch
 * Kuraz the Light Monarch
 * Mobius the Frost Monarch
 * Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch
 * Raiza the Storm Monarch
 * Cyber Dragon
 * D.D. Survivor
 * D.D. Scout Plane
 * D.D. Warrior Lady
 * Snipe Hunter
 * Exiled Force
 * Breaker the Magical Warrior
 * Marshmallon
 * Spirit Reaper
 * Cyber Valley

Spell Cards

 * Dimensional Fissure
 * Lightning Vortex
 * Allure of Darkness
 * Reinforcement of the Army
 * Mystical Space Typhoon
 * Heavy Storm
 * Soul Exchange
 * Brain Control
 * Swords of Revealing Light

Trap Cards

 * Macro Cosmos
 * Bottomless Trap Hole
 * Torrential Tribute
 * Mirror Force
 * Crush Card Virus
 * Solemn Judgment
 * Dark Bribe

There also exists a cross between Volcanics and Monarchs called Volcanic Monarchs. Volcanic Monarchs achieves hand advantage while destroying opponents' cards. To achieve this goal, a Volcanic Monarch player would use Volcanic Shells with Blaze Accelerator to destroy monsters on the field. Volcanic Rocket is used to search out Blaze Accelerator, while Pot of Avarice and Royal Firestorm Guards are used to recycle Volcanic Shells. Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch is used to maintain hand advantage over your opponent. This deck was very popular for a short amount of time, but has fallen by the wayside ever since.

Since The Duelist Genesis came out, there has been a new Monarch deck called Psychic Monarchs. The new Psychic monsters play a role. Cards like Krebons and Psychic Commander stall with their effects. A new card called Emergency Teleport will aid in this deck. It will surprise your opponent and aid tributing for a Monarch.

There are other types of deck variations, but the most popular is listed above. These others include Crystal Beasts, Zombies, and others lesser known. Crystal Beasts and Zombies usually make it easy to Special Summon monsters to the field, which therefore means it can be used as tribute fodder for Monarch.