The Duke of Demise – #MZTM-EN033
2 Fiend and/or Zombie monsters
Once per turn, during your Standby Phase, pay 500 LP or destroy this card. Cannot be destroyed by battle. You can only use each of the following effects of “The Duke of Demise” once per turn. During your Main Phase, you can: Immediately after this effect resolves, Normal Summon 1 monster. You can banish this card from your GY, then target 1 Level 4 or higher Fiend or Zombie monster in your GY; add it to your hand.
Date Reviewed: May 27th, 2025
Rating: 3.50
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,
Looking at a Bakura card that could see some play in the meta: The Earl of Demise.
Needing two Fiend or Zombie monsters is readily available in a Fiendsmith meta, and Eldlich isn’t always too far away from coming back to being a viable deck…maybe even Infernity as well. However, this is for sure a Super Poly target for other players to get rid of the opponents Fiend monsters before a Fiendsmith Fusion can hit the board.
It being a weak wall at the cost of 500LP at each of your Standby Phases isn’t too big of a deal, and if it could continue to come back at the cost of like 1000LP if properly summoned the first time, then it could’ve been even better. Granting you another Normal Summon during your turn is very powerful for decks that need that Normal Summon to get their combo(s) going, or got their combo stopped. The potential ramafications in a mirror match of Fiendsmith players using Super Poly against one another make this the optimal target to get a Fiendsmith monster to the field next turn to start the combo again. For others using Super Poly and this against Fiendsmith, Super Poly becomes a game-swinging move to use their Fiends to summon the Earl and get another Normal Summon in addition to their primary Normal Summon.
Banish to add back a Level 4 or higher Fiend or Zombie is of great use to Fiendsmith to add back Lacrima or Engraver, or any of their Fusion Monsters to get back into the Extra Deck. Eldlich the same, and really, any Fiend or Zombie archetype: Fabled, D/D/D, Infernoid, Infernity, or Dark World. You can even get this to the grave to use this ability alone and it is worth it. Because Fiendsmith rule the format despite some hits on the ban list it will remain a big factor concerning that strategy though.
A weapon potential for Fiendsmith, but a counter-measure for the rest of the meta alongside Super Poly, The Earl of Demise is a solid choice for Side Decks using Super Poly already. For any Fiend or Zombie player, it is a pretty good monster to get another body on board through its first effect, can be an okay wall despite no destruction effect protection, and, can add something big back if all else fails. Great all-around card.
Advanced- 3.5/5
Art- 3.5/5
Until Next Time,
KingofLullaby
Crunch$G
Next up we get a classic Fusion from the Duel Monsters anime that was stuck behind the show for years, and now it releases with the rise of the Fiend-typing: The Duke of Demise.
The Duke of Demise is a Level 6 DARK Fiend Fusion with 2000 ATK and 1700 DEF. Fine-ish stats for a Level 6 monster, DARK is always great, and Fiend is strong right now with Fiendsmith running about. The Fusion Materials are any 2 Fiend and/or Zombie monsters, because this card would never see play if it was still The Earl of Demise and Headless Knight. You must pay 500 LP during each of your Standby Phases, otherwise this card is destroyed, but you’ll likely use it for combos instead of keeping it around, but it cannot be destroyed by battle if you do keep it. The remaining effects are each a HOPT, first giving you an additional Normal Summon during your Main Phase, which is really good for making plays by gettting more monsters onto the field, especially those with effects that help summon even more monsters. The other effect lets you banish this card from the graveyard to target a Level 4 or higher Fiend or Zombie in your graveyard to add it to your hand, so it can recover Fiendsmith Engraver if you do run this with Fiendsmith, and there’s a ton of good Fiends and Zombies this could grab back. The Duke of Demise was upgraded fairly strongly from the anime counterpart, having much more generic materials and effects to help you extend your plays and grab back resources. Fiendsmith can easily summon this with Fiendsmith’s Sequence, and under Zombie World this becomes a Super Polymerization target for you that’ll help you play again on your turn, plus it can be summoned with Ghost Fusion to make the plays on your turn and banish a Zombie in your Deck for the material. It has a place in some strategies using Fiendsmith, as well as the good classic Zombie pile in general, plus the future potential is there with materials this generic.
Advanced Rating: 4/5
Art: 4/5 Could’ve been an actual Zombie, tbh.
Mighty
Vee
The only reason I remember this card being revealed is a very funny conversation with a friend of mine! The Earl of Demise gets a retrain as The Duke of Demise, this time a level 6 DARK Fiend Fusion monster as it makes its card game debut after appearing in the anime during the DM era. Incidentally, it’ll take any 2 Fiend or Zombie monsters (or a combination thereof), which means it is ripe for the Fiendsmith engine or that one weird Zombie Fusion package they never touched on again. Duke keeps the frankly lame 2000 attack stat, but at least it gets a boost of 1000 defense for a grand total of…1700! Hooray, I guess?
Duke’s first 2 effects are lifted straight from the anime, giving it battle protection and forcing you to pay 500 Life Points during your Standby Phase or it’ll destroy itself. These effects are only there for lore flavor considering Duke is unlikely to stay around and even if it did, its poor stats make it a terrible beater anyway. The real meat of Duke is its other 2 effects, both of them hard once per turn. The first of them can be activated any time during your Main Phase, letting you immediately Normal Summon any monster. This combos decently with the myriad of Zombie cards that only trigger on Normal Summon, like Samurai Skull and Necroface, but it’s still alright as a general extender, especially if you can field a level 4 LIGHT monster (Lacrima the Crimson Tears, anyone?) and go into Chaos Angel. Duke’s final effect will let you banish it from your Graveyard to recycle any level 4 or higher Zombie or Fiend from your Graveyard back to your hand. Helpful, but specific uses don’t really come to mind; Fiendsmith is already monstrously efficient at recycling and generally Zombie decks prefer to keep their combo pieces in the Graveyard. Duke caused a bit of a stir when it was announced since it became painfully obvious it was a push for the Fiendsmith engine, though in practice it hasn’t changed much; it’s vastly inferior to both Necroquip Princess and Aerial Eater as a combo piece, and of course Fiendsmith’s Lacrima in regions where it’s legal. If anything, Duke is a funny Super Polymerization target against Fiendsmith itself since you’ll be able to get rid of Fiendsmith’s Desirae and Fiendsmith’s Sequence in one fell swoop! Is it worth running Super Polymerization and Duke though? Ehhh…
+Easily accessible through the Fiendsmith engine and has decent extending effects
+Super Polymerization target against some Fiendsmith lines
-Extending effects aren’t very high-impact
-Low stats make it useless as a beater
Advanced: 3/5
Art: 3.25/5 The original art scared me as a kid, so I’m glad that as a Duke, he’s a lot more expressive and jovial.
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