Monarch



The Monarchs are a series of the seven Monster Cards with "Monarch" in their card names, each of which possess a different Attribute reflective of the element they control, with the exception of Zaborg the Thunder Monarch and Kuraz the Light Monarch, which are the only two Monarchs with the same attribute, which is Light.

These cards may be a reference to the seven kings of Ancient Rome.

The Monarchs have their own Structure Deck in the OCG, Advent of the Emperor.

Each has a unique ability that activates upon their Tribute Summoning, dealing with the removal of cards. Another similarity that these cards share is that they all have 2400 ATK and 1000 DEF and are Level 6, with the exception of "Zaborg", who is Level 5.

These "Monarchs" except "Raiza", "Kuraz" and "Caius" are used by 4 members of Sarina's assassins The Light Brigade.

Play Style
Monarch decks tend to be very aggressive and powerful, because Monarchs destroy the opponent's assets just by hitting the field, and they are strong enough in ATK to be able to press their advantage and destroy nearly any lower-level monster the opponent may happen to use in response. Monarchs have no real weaknesses other than their insatiable need to generate tribute fodder for more Monarchs to be Summoned and that they cannot use their effects when Special Summoned (except for Kuraz).

Tribute Fodder:

 * Tokens: Many tokens have restrictions on how they can be used, but some sources, like "Dandylion", "Fiend's Sanctuary", "Goka, the Pyre of Malice" and "Stray Lambs", have few limitations on their tokens.
 * Special Summon From Hand: Some monsters Special Summon themselves from the hand, and that saves the Normal Summon for a Monarch.  The better ones include "Cyber Dragon", "Evil Hero Infernal Prodigy", "Gilasaurus", "Jester Confit", "Level Warrior", "Spell Striker" "The Tricky" and "Vice Dragon".
 * Trap Monsters: These provide both Tribute Fodder and defence against the opponent's tactics, but they are easily destroyed.
 * D.D. Survivor and D.D. Scout Plane: When these cards are removed from play, they automatically return themselves to the field.  Use "Banisher of the Radiance", "Dimensional Fissure" or "Macro Cosmos" to keep them coming back.
 * Treeborn Frog: So long as you control no Spell or Trap cards, this card will come back every turn.  This drawback reduces the card's effectiveness in some builds, but it provides some defence in case of a cleared field.
 * Level Eater: By reducing the level of a high-level Monster, this card revives itself from the Graveyard; each Monarch, save "Zaborg the Thunder Monarch", can spawn up to two.
 * Destiny Hero - Malicious: Its effect lets you remove one copy in the Graveyard from play to Special Summon another from your Deck. This card is particularly effective for its deck-thinning function.
 * Spirit Reaper' and Marshmallon: These cards cannot be destroyed in battle, making them good walls to use until you get the Monarch you need. Several other monsters have similar abilities, so options are plenty to suit different deck styles.
 * Soul Exchange and Brain Control: These cards gain extra advantage by allowing opponent's monsters to be Tributed for Monarchs.
 * Chain Summoning, Double Summon and Ultimate Offering: These cards allow multiple Normal Summons to occur in a single turn, very good for getting out Tribute Fodder and multiple Monarchs.
 * Instant Fusion: At a cost of a few lifepoints, this card can bring out a low level fusion monster for Tribute fodder.

Counter Strategies:
Monarchs can be difficult to overcome due to the fact that they destroy cards simply by appearing, but there are still some good strategies against them. These include:


 * Divine Wrath, Forced Back, Solemn Judgment, Pulling the Rug,Mind Over Matter or Pollinosis: These cards negate the Monarchs' Summon, and thereby their effects, and remove them from the field, essentially wasting the Monarch user's efforts.
 * Mask of Restrict, Fog King or Zombie World: These cards prevent Tribute Summons, effectively, and prevent Monarchs from hitting the field and activating their effects.
 * By Order of the Emperor, Destiny Hero - Plasma and Skill Drain: These cards negate on-field effects, so Monarchs become only beat-sticks.
 * Intercept: Lets you take control of a Monarch right when it gets summoned, a nasty surprise for most Monarch users.
 * Blast Held by a Tribute: Even more destructive than a "Mirror Force" since it also inflicts damage, but not as reliable as other methods of getting the better of Monarchs, since there is a chance that they will destroy this card before they attack.
 * Prime Material Dragon, Stardust Dragon and Destruction Jammer: Counteract effects that destroy cards.  Note that they won't be able to stop Raiza, Thestalos or Caius, since they don't destroy cards.
 * Turbo Warrior: His effect makes him immune to Zaborg, Raiza, Caius, and Kuraz's effects, and has just enough attack power to be able to destroy any of them in battle.

Monarch Control
Monarch Control is a deck that quickly special summons monsters to the field and tribute those monsters to summon a Monarch monster and activate their effects to gain more field advantage. Some good tributes are Spell Striker Samsara Kaiser, Marshmallon and many more. Each Monarch has unique effects to gain field advantage when tribute summon, this will be the key of winning with this deck. Gorz the Emissary of Darkness is a great addition to this deck because this can be tributed for Monarchs and when your field is empty, you can special summon this. Light and Darkness Dragon is also a great addition because it will protect the Monarchs from getting destroyed and when this card is destroyed, you can special summon a monster from your graveyard to be tributed for a Monarch.

Macro Monarch
This deck relies on reusing the effects of D.D. Survivor and D.D. Scout Plane with the help of Macro Cosmos and/or Dimensional Fissure, which will allow the said monsters to keep coming back each End Phase, allowing you to Tribute Summon a Monarch each turn. Other cards that are commonly used in this deck are Cyber Valley, some of the other D.D. Monsters, like D.D. Warrior Lady, Soul Absorption, which can give its controller massive life point gain each turn, and Gravekeeper's Servant, which can make a lock for all of your opponent's Monsters, preventing them from attacking for as long as they cannot send a card from their deck to their Graveyard.

Apprentice Monarch
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" destroys 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 monsters are also very good tribute materials for Monarchs.

There are many options to support the Monarchs; it really just depends on what works for those playing Monarch decks. However, the "Treeborn Frog" method seems to work the best, since you waste less resources to summon the Monarchs.

Perfect Circle Monarch
This deck uses the Destiny Hero engine to get an advantage in their game, but with the banning of Destiny Hero - Disk Commander, it has become less effective. These are graveyard based decks that can easily bring out a level 8 Synchro Monster or draw cards.

See also:Perfect Circle

Psychic Monarch
Since release of "The Duelist Genesis" booster, there has been a new Monarch deck called Psychic Monarchs. Cards like "Krebons" and "Psychic Commander" stall with their effects, then you can tribute them for a Monarch or use them for a Synchro Summon. "Emergency Teleport" helps search both monsters.

However, with the March 2009 banlist and "Emergency Teleport's" limiting, this deck has become less effective.

Monster Cards

 * Caius the Shadow Monarch
 * Zaborg the Thunder Monarch
 * Mobius the Frost Monarch
 * Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch
 * Raiza the Storm Monarch
 * Granmarg the Rock Monarch
 * Dark Armed Dragon
 * Dandylion
 * Treeborn Frog
 * Sangan
 * Mystic Tomato
 * Plaguespreader Zombie
 * Krebons
 * Psychic Commander
 * Breaker the Magical Warrior
 * Kuraz the Light Monarch

Spell Cards

 * Allure of Darkness
 * Emergency Teleport
 * Mind Control
 * Brain Control
 * Soul Exchange
 * Book of Moon
 * Swords of Revealing Light

Trap Cards

 * Trap Dustshoot

Psycho-Plant Monarch
PsychoPlant Monarchs focuses on the cards like Seed of Deception and Emergency Teleport to generate Monarch tribute fodder. Cards like Dark Verger can help generate extra fodder for the next turn or even be used to Synchro Summon. This is based off of the Psychic Monarchs but since Emergency Teleport is now limited Seed of Deception serves as your extra E-tele. Miracle Fertilizer can help you bring out more tribute fodder or just an all out beatstick if you prefer it. Graceful Revival can help revive more tribute fodder that was already used with Seed of Deception. This deck creates amazing advantage with quick and easy to summon Monarch beatsticks. Good thing about this Monarch deck can play plant defense cards like Wall of Thorns can even be your second or third Mirror Force. This deck does tend to use cards that have similar effects to add utilty to this Monarch deck.

Monster Cards

 * Krebons
 * Psychic Commander
 * Cyber Dragon
 * Marauding Captain
 * Mystic Tomato
 * Sangan

Spell Cards

 * Brain Control
 * Reinforcement of the Army

Trap Cards

 * Solemn Judgment

Gadget Monarch
This deck relies on using Gadgets to continuously add new Gadgets to the hand to serve as tribute fodder, along with obvious tribute fodder monsters such as Treeborn Frog. One of the key cards of the deck is Ultimate Offering. Ultimate Offering allows the constant summon of Gadgets to add more Gadgets to the hand, while then tributing them for Monarchs. Due to the removal effect of most Monarchs, this deck has a high OTK rate.

Monsters

 * Any Monarchs
 * Treeborn Frog
 * Red Gadget
 * Yellow Gadget
 * Green Gadget

Spells

 * One for One
 * Foolish Burial
 * Brain Control

Traps

 * Ultimate Offering
 * Reckless Greed