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GeneralZorpa on Yugioh
Monarch Redux
 March 26, 2010

Egad! It's the Return of the Nose of Dr. Verlucci!
 
Gotta love Far Side references by the way. One thing that people immediately got excited about when teh new banlist was announced was the return of the Monarch Deck. For nearly two years, the Monarch deck was a feared beast of domination. The only deck that was able to break that cycle came along in the form of the Machine deck sporting Overload Fusion and Chimeratech Overdragon, and even then sometimes the Monarch Deck would win.
 
What made the deck so succssful was the fact that it was able to turn an otherwise useless card (Treeborn Frog, Destiny Hero Malicious) into advantage attached to a 2400 beatstick that would attack and either trade with a removal card or beat for 2400 or beat down an opponent's monster.
 
This was the whole reason that Gravekeeper's Spy and Mystic Tomato were so dominant, tehy could help you prevent damage from an attacking monster and then leave another dude for you to tribute for your counter-attack. Monarchs were also very versatile, making you able to handle almost any situation with Raiza, Mobius or Thestalos.
 
The one deck that monarchs could NOT handle however, was the DAD Return deck that was something like 10 times as consistent. Since then, there have always been a very dominant deck that they were just too slow to handle. Now, however, there is a definite advantage to a player that can hit for major damage without a major combo.
 
I give you an amazing Monarch deck that actually is quite ingenious if I do say so myself. It is a throw back to the Troop-Dupe-Scoop days when a Monarch deck could be entirely explosive, and was arguably the best format that I have ever played in.
 
Throwback
 
Monsters-26
 
3x Caius the Shadow Monarch
3x Raiza the Storm Monarch
3x The Tricky
2x Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch
2x Zaborg the Thunder Monarch
2x Cyber Dragon
1x Emissary of Darkness, Gorz
 
3x Level Eater
2x Treeborn Frog
2x Krebons
1x Sangan
1x Blackwing-Gale the Whirlwind
1x Plaguspreader Zombie
 
Spells-7
 
3x Soul Exchange
1x Emergency Teleport
1x Brain Control
1x Heavy Storm
1x Mystical Space Typhoon
 
Traps-7
 
3x Phoenix Wing Wind Blast
2x Bottomless Trap Hole
1x Mirror Force
1x Torrential Tribute
 
Every Time I Try To Get Out, They Pull Me Back In
 
The first thing that you will notice about this deck is its INSANELY high Tribute Monster count. 10 Monarchs, Dual Cyber Dragons, Gorz and a Trio of Tricky make the deck almost entirely Tribute monsters.
 
This is actually made possible by the inclusion of Treeborn Frog. The card is amazing at being able to be tributed at all the right times. He gets to the field for free and then begins to generate advantage with a Tribute Summon.
 
The Tricky is the main discard dude in the deck. He can discard Treeborn, Level Eater or Plaguespreader in order to get to the field. But he is best with Level Eater. You discard Level Eater to Special Summon Tricky, then Special Summon Level Eater and Tribute for a Monarch and then swing away for 4400 damage!
 
Also discarding that same lineup of monsters we have the amazingly awesome Phoenix Wing Wind Blast. This card not only removed threats, with the inclusion of Raiza the Storm Monarch is actually able to keep a draw lock on your opponents deck. This may seem trivial, but the benefits of such a lock cannot be emphasized enough.
 
One of the great players once said a Monarch deck could not have more than 9 Monarchs in order to be successful. The deck would just draw too many of the big bruisers and be unable to function. I say NAY! That was a format without two Treeborn Frogs or Level Eater or The Tricky. With this deck, I can drop a Monarch every turn and feel good about it.
 
I have actually tested this deck against it's arch-nemesis, the Gladiator Beast deck, and the results were surprising. Most of the time if the Glad deck did not draw War Chariot, it was unable to cope with so many big monsters at once. So the goal of the deck became to basically exhaust War Chariots and remove from play Equeste.
 
Because of the limits on my decks financially, I was unable to include many cards that would be great in the deck or side deck, so I included a list of them here so that I could hear back from these of you that actually could play these cards. Also on this list are cards that I feel do not make the maindeck cut.
 
-Mobius the Frost Monarch
-Starlight Road
-Gravekeeper's Spy
-Dandylion
-Foolish Burial
-Granmarg the Rock Monarch
-Light And Darkness Dragon
-Raigeki Break
-Call of the Haunted
-Solemn Judgment
-Giant Trunade
 
I have only playtested the deck out against a Gladiator deck, my only other fully functional deck, but I imagine it would be great at other mathcups as well. Blackwings especially will feel the beating that the deck can give out. They cannot really stop the deck from doing what it does, and all of the removal means that their key cards arethat much less effective.
 
Lightsworn would fare a little better, but without Honest it is hard for the deck to get over the massive ATK of a Monarch without help. Here the spin cards (Raiza, PWWB) are less effective because of the mill mechanic, and can actually be traded out in the side deck for Raigeki Break (Maybe even another Thestalos).
 
Infernities will also have a relatively hard time with the deck, as it is able to capitalize very well on the fact that your opponent's field is full, and as they are ALWAYS topdecking, they will not always draw an answer to what you are able to put on the table. They could also choos the wrong Synchro to bring out, as Raiza and Caiuse are Stardust Dragon's worst enemies.
 
All in all this WILL be a successful deck in the coming months, so get ready to side-deck Pulling the Rug, it's gonna be a bumpy ride!
 
That;s the end of this article, as always you can contact me at raptor1k@hotmail.com if you have any questions, need advice or have an idea that I can steal and take the credit for.
 
Thanks for Reading!
GZ