Monarch (Spell/Trap archetype)

"Monarchs" redirects here. For the series, see "Monarch (series)".

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"Monarch" (帝 (てい) 王 (おう) Teiō) is an archetype of Spell and Trap Card that support Tribute Summoned monsters like the "Monarch" series. It was first introduced in Cosmo Blazer; after Shadow Specters introduced the "Mega Monarchs", these cards' artwork show how the "Monarchs" transformed into the "Mega Monarchs".

Due to its Japanese name, "Emperor of the Land and Sea" falls into this archetype. Despite having "Monarch" in their English names, the monsters in the "Monarch" series are not a part of this archetype due to their Japanese names. However, because TCG and OCG support for this archetype only works on Spell and Trap Cards in the Deck, neither of these cases currently has an impact on gameplay.

Each has a unique effect that activates on the condition that prevents monsters from being Special Summoned from the Extra Deck or requires that there be no cards in the Extra Deck, although "Escalation of the Monarchs", "Strike of the Monarchs" and "Tenacity of the Monarchs" do not require these conditions to trigger their effects.