Erebus the Underworld Monarch – #RA04-EN019
You can Tribute Summon this card by Tributing 1 Tribute Summoned monster. If this card is Tribute Summoned: You can send 2 “Monarch” Spells/Traps with different names from your hand and/or Deck to the GY, and if you do, shuffle 1 card from your opponent’s hand (at random), GY, or their field into the Deck. Once per turn, during the Main Phase, if this card is in your GY (Quick Effect): You can discard 1 “Monarch” Spell/Trap, then target 1 monster in your GY with 2400 or more ATK and 1000 DEF; add it to your hand.
Date Reviewed: November 6th, 2025
Rating: 4.08
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is awful. 3 is average. 5 is excellent.
Reviews Below:
King of
Lullaby
Hello Pojo Fans,
Erebus the Underworld Monarch is a great Throwback Thursday choice as we’ve already referenced the OG Monarchs and in the case of Erebus, he’s one of the best Monarchs from either generation.
One of the big Level 8 Monarchs sporting 2800/1000 stats, Erebus can be Tribute Summoned the old fashioned way, but if you’ve got a Tribute Summoned monster you can use just that monster and not another one, which in my book is a +1. You can also summon him by using The First Monarch after discarding a card to declare DARK to match Erebus’s Attribute.
Double Foolish Burial Goods effect when Tribute Summoned for Monarch Spell/Traps is double the fun, especially with the added ability to bounce an opponent’s card from their hand, field, or grave back into the Deck. We already know from earlier this week that there are a few Spell/Trap the Monarch have that love being banished from the grave and this is the fastest way to get to them within the archetype. The Prime, and Pantheism are the two best targets even if you want to use Pantheism in the hand first. The Prime Monarch on the field can be combined with this effect to bounce the cards you send with Erebus back to the Deck to get you a free draw.
With Erebus’s Tribute Summon effect, you’ll always go from the Deck to thin out the Deck and increase the odds of drawing something outside the archetype or something in the archetype that you really want, because Erebus has an ability to discard a Monarch Spell/Trap attached to him as well. Warrior Returning Alive for Monarchs mostly (but also Majesty’s Fiend), Erebus in the grave is also a threat with this effect. You can get it back and repeat its Tribute Summon, or get something more applicable for your current gamestate. If in the grave at the time, Ehther the Heavenly Monarch might be the best choice, carrying the same ability as Erebus to be summoned using one Tribute Summoned monster, sending the same amount of Monarch Spell/Trap to the grave off the Tribute Summon, except Ehther will Special Summon anything from the Deck with 2400+ ATK/1000DEF (Monarchs mostly, but also again, Majesty’s Fiend). Good effect, and it being a Quick Effect during the Main Phase allows for some interaction with the opponent’s turn, with even more potential if combined with Escalation of the Monarchs.
Erebus offers high ATK, speed to get to Monarch Spell/Trap abilities in the grave, and a spot removal ability all off being tributed, and you can use one of your Tribute Summoned monsters to accomplish this. He’s able to get himself back from the grave to your hand, or get you something else to Tribute Summon that may be better. The spot removal was already present in the archetype, but with the added ATK added onto Erebus, it puts him in a boss-level territory to hold the field with Domain on the board.
Advanced- 4/5
Art- 4/5
Until Next Time,
KingofLullaby
Crunch$G
Throwback Thursday this week brings us to one of the classic boss monsters to the modernized Monarch strategies, being one of the strongest forms of removal in the game: Erebus the Underworld Monarch.
Erebus is a Level 8 DARK Zombie with 2800 ATK and 1000 DEF. Strong ATK, plus being a DARK is great, and Zombie is interesting even if you’ll never use this with the generic Zombie support. You can Tribute Summon this with a Tribute Summoned monster, making this a little easier to summon on top of the option to reveal this off of Domain to lower its Level by 2. Upon being Tribute Summoned, you can send 2 Monarch Spells/Traps with differrent names from your hand and/or Deck to the graveyard to shuffle a card from the opponent’s hand (at random) or on their field back into the Deck. The setup of the graveyard with cards like Pantheism and Prime is great, as is the non-targeting and non-destruction removal. It’s live on turn one, letting you rip at the opponent’s hand if so, and going second or beyond you can use it to remove threats as well as long as they are affected by card effects. Putting the card back in the Deck also makes it harder to get back over if it destroyed or banished the card. Finally, once per turn in the Main Phase while this is in the graveyard, you got a Quick Effect option to discard a Monarch Spell/Trap to target a monster with 2400 or more ATK and 1000 DEF in your graveyard to add it back to your hand, getting back any of your Monarchs, likely either this or Ehther, or grabbing back a Majesty’s Field to put back onto the field to prevent the opponent from playing the game. Erebus remains insane to this very day, being easy to Tribute Summon via its own effect or support in the Monarch Deck, as well as offering powerful removal and graveyard setup while being able to recover your Monarchs. A staple in the Deck still.
As for Genesys, it’s a bit harder to summon if you aren’t dedicating your points to Domain, but that’s still a likely option Deck would be considering in the format.
Advanced Rating: 4.25/5
Genesys Rating: 4/5
Art: 5/5 Who can overtake the king’s throne?
Mighty
Vee
Throwback Thursday brings us the (still) official boss monster of Monarch as a deck, or at least the closest it has to one other than the floodgates, Erebus the Underworld Monarch. It’s a level 8 DARK Zombie monster, which is usually a pretty good thing but running it in Zombie decks usually isn’t a good idea. Crucially, Erebus should take 2 Tributes, but you won’t have to worry about having 2 for obvious reasons. Erebus shares the typical Mega Monarch stat spread, with 2800 attack and 1000 defense, so all of the Mega Monarch searchers will get to it, particularly tomorrow’s card, and some combo lines will involve revealing it with The Monarchs Revolt– more on that later!
Erebus has a surprisingly modern set of effects, and only the last one is once per turn. Like all Mega Monarchs, Erebus will only take 1 Tribute if you’re Tributing a Tribute Summoned monster, so it’s particularly useful if its level is dropped by Domain of the True Monarchs (we’ll talk about this more tomorrow). Erebus’s second effect triggers on Tribute Summon, letting you send 2 Monarch Spells or Traps from among your Deck and hand to shuffle a card from your opponent’s field or Graveyard, or randomly from their hand, into the deck. Hand rips are surprisingly in vogue these days; even with Evilswarm Ouroboros being banned in the recent banlist, Merlantean and the recently-revealed X-Saber support all focus on hand ripping, and Monarch is no exception! Theoretically, when combined with Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch, you can get some nasty rips going, though obviously you’re going to be limited by how many times you can Tribute Summon. You’ll want to rip a card from your opponent by summoning Erebus on turn 1, then if possible, get Erebus into the Graveyard to enable it as a disruption during your opponent’s turn. How? That brings us to Erebus’s final effect, a soft once per turn Quick Effect usable during the Main Phase if Erebus is in the Graveyard, letting you discard a Monarch Spell or Trap and recycle a monster with 2400 or more attack and 1000 defense back to your hand. Naturally, this includes Erebus itself, which is why many lists opt to play 2 copies for a sort of mini-loop, though obviously you won’t always have backrow on hand. This effect has a lot more utility than it looks; you can use it to get Erebus back in your hand during your opponent’s turn and summon it using The Monarchs Stormforth, getting you a non-targeting shuffle or a hand rip if you so choose. You can also use this as a combo piece– some combo lines want to reveal 2 Tessera the Primal Squires and 1 Erebus, effectively guaranteeing you get Tessera’s Graveyard effect while still getting an Erebus in rotation, either in your hand or in the Graveyard to recycle later. Unfortunately, Erebus is less of a modern card than it appears; it’s still very bricky despite wanting to be run at 2, and of course you’ll bleed hand advantage yourself very quickly if you recycle too much. Still, it has aged quite well for a boss monster and we’ll probably be sticking with it for the foreseeable future.
+Versatile Trigger effect that can hand rip, break boards, or disrupt with The Monarchs Stormforth
+Recycling effect offers great utility
-Bricky card that wants to be run at 2
-Can be awkward to weave into combos
Advanced: 4/5
Genesys: 3.75/5
Art: 4/5 It’s a great pose, but holy cow check out that furry chair!
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