Sorry for not doing many Cotd review or articles lately, for those who care that is haha . I have been busy with school and such. But since I have some free time right now, I decided to show you a concept that is really strong with the new banlist, and was made solely because of one card that was released out of the Crimson Crisis expansion set. I have yet to see this concept anywhere else, so I suppose I am the creator.

      The deck I want to discuss today is my Monarch build. Everyone posting on the forums and people that I chat with are hyping Lightsworn and Gladiator Beasts to the extreme. Obviously they are solid decks, but the new ban list gave us an opportunity to use quite a few other decks outside of those and win with them. Monarchs have been solid for years, and are one of the other playable decks not being talked about thanks to the new ban list. Sure the Destiny Hero engine got crippled with the new list, but I wouldn’t have messed with Perfect Circle Monarchs even if Malicious and Destiny Draw stayed at 3 per deck. Disk Commander being banned goofed the deck up, and that was one of it’s true powers. Disk destroyed the concept, so I put it to rest for now. You shouldn’t give up on Monarchs because of what happened to the Destiny Hero engine, I surely didn’t. I went back to the original theory of Monarchs with the Gravekeeper and Apprentice engine. Both engines are very solid, and they serve a big role in what I’m trying to do with my build. Let’s take a look at my build!

Monsters: Twenty
2 Caius the Shadow Monarch
2 Raiza the Storm Monarch
1 Dark Armed Dragon
3 Gravekeeper's Spy
1 Gravekeeper's Guard
2 Psychic Commander
2 Apprentice Magician
1 Old Vindictive Magician
1 Crystal Seer
1 Krebons
2 Mask of Darkness
1 Breaker the Magical Warrior
1 Sangan

Spells: Ten
3 Book of Moon
2 Allure of Darkness
1 Brain Control
1 Monster Reborn
1 Heavy Storm
1 Emergency Teleport
1 Mystical Space Typhoon

Traps: Twelve
3 Reckless Greed
3 Solemn Judgment
2 Bottomless Trap Hole
2 Threatening Roar
1 Crush Card Virus
1 Torrential Tribute

      The first thing that you will see is the low amount of Monarchs that I am using. There is a reason for that of course. I tossed a few cards in here to bring out one of the sickest monsters I have seen and the main focus in my deck, the new synchro monster from Crimson Crisis, Arcanite Magician. I pretty much see him as a Zaborg/Mobius on steroids! I can drop him with ease thanks to Gravekeeper’s Spy and Psychic Commander. Drop him to pop two cards on the board is pretty nifty eh? How could you not like that? Here is the part that people may not get because they didn’t read Arcanite’s text carefully. He can steal a spell counter from anywhere on your board to pop a card. You can also re-add counters to him, so that is why I am using the Apprentice engine. Besides it being powerful already, it serves a new purpose, it’s part of the fuel for my deck. Summon Apprentice to give Arcanite another counter is pretty good I heard. I can also summon Breaker then steal his counter to pop anything, instead of just a spell or trap. You can always go old school and have a used Breaker on the board then summon Apprentice in case you didn’t get to Arcanite yet, or he went to the grave yard.

      Outside of my main combo, the rest of my lineup is pretty basic. I can practically drop any Synchro based off what I am using. The rest of my choices are key in Monarchs and all are beneficial in some way. If you don’t like some certain choices you can always flip this to my original build last format. You can flip my monster lineup around to focus on using Rose, Warrior Of Revenge, if you like level eight synchro monsters more.

      I can’t really elaborate on my Spell/Trap choices, they are pretty basic as you can see. Book of moon up to three per deck is a big boost to Monarchs, and is key in here. I cannot tell you how many times a Spy or Mask will flip in a duel for me, it’s sick. I have no need to use Soul Exchange in here due to the low amount of Monarchs that I am using. My Spy Engine and all my Psychics that I am using will allow me to create and keep my Board going, and give me my tribute fodder when I need it.

      What is cool is what all is in my side deck. I am using 3 Royal Oppressions and 3 Legendary Jujitsu masters in the side boards, these allow me to help take down Gladiator Beasts, Lightsworn, and other decks with ease. The rest of my side looks like: 3 Dust Tornado, 2 Mind Crush, 1 Trap Dustshoot, and 3 Light Imprisoning Mirrors. I feel the side’s contents should be perfect to beat everything that is thrown at you. I am basing my theory off of what people are posting on forums and such. Maybe something will emerge once America gets some Organized Play.

      You can fix the side to your liking and/or what you play against at the events you go to. I have been using Trap Eaters in testing, but there isn’t much out there that he would be useful against. He is a tuner, so he has some combos in here. This deck’s speed is really slow, but once you get to mid game, there is no way that you should lose. If you have any suggestions for this concept, please hit me up on the forums. I would love to master this concept. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it, and see you next time!