It’s been an odd year or two since we’ve seen any support for one of Yu-Gi-Oh’s oldest archetypes. But in a Trading Card Game (TCG) where even the ancient cards of the game’s first outing can still be used, it’s not surprising to see Konami revisit -and sometimes retrain- classic cards and mechanics.
The Roster Expanded
Starting off we have two new additions to the Monarch’s monster roster. Eidos the Underworld Monarch and Tessera the Prime Squire.
Eidos comes in with the standard Monarch statline for attack and defense but his ability is anything but. Should Eidos be summoned -in any way at that- he can function as a bridge to any one of your many in-archetype cards.
Coupled with Eidos’ search function is his ability to support any of the Mega Monarchs should you choose to run them. Being able to declare any monster on the field to change their attribute is not the most powerful of effects but it can lend itself to sly plays.
To cap off Eidos’ support package is his ability to be special summoned from the graveyard. This is surprisingly easy to achieve, as you just need to tribute summon a monster with 2400 or more attack and with 1000 defense. Considering this is basically almost if not all the main Monarch monster cards, this shouldn't be any trouble at all.
But no lord is ever without a squire, and further supporting these sovereigns is Tessera the Prime Squire. This monster comes in as probably one of the best in-archetype starter cards you could open a game with.
By just revealing one of the many possible Monarch spell/trap cards from your hand, you special summon this paige. It gets better than that, as immediately after Tessera is special summoned, its effect allows itself to be used as tribute right away.
This quick tribute summoning ability will allow players to make use of one of the Monarchs’ most domineering staple cards like The Monarchs Stormforth or Domain of the True Monarchs.
For the former, being able to use your opponent’s monsters as a resource is one of the more devastating capabilities a Yu-Gi-Oh! card can have when breaking established boards. Cards like Lava Golem, The Winged Dragon of Ra - Sphere Mode, or one of the many Kaiju cards were used competitively due to their ability to bypass a lot of implemented defenses.
As for the latter, nothing shut downs a modern deck today like being completely cut off from any extra deck plays. It’s simple but effective. A little mirror to reflect the Monarchs’ older style of play.
Teserra continues to ply even more value as once it’s sent to the graveyard, you can special summon a monster with 800 attack and 1000 defense from the deck.
This can lead to a lot of in-house targets as other Squire cards or even the Vassal cards can come into play. Special summoning straight from the deck is always one of the better targets to special summon from.
Plans within plans
Finally, the Monarch cards round out their new support -and add a little bit of in-universe lore- with a duo of spell cards and a new continuous trap card.
Scheme of the Monarchs can function as in-archetype Foolish Burial, setting up the graveyard with combo extenders like Eidos. Alternatively, if you wish to fly under the radar of staple hand traps like Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring, you could send The Prime Monarch trap card to get a body on the field if another Monarch spell/trap card is already waiting to be used.
Rebellion of the Monarch follows suit as an admittedly costly masterful stroke in both gameplay and storytelling. Showcasing the Monarchs’ plan to overthrow the First Monarch, this card acts as the archetype’s faux Painful Choice, a card that is currently on the Forbidden List.
Discarding 1 card from hand as a cost, the opponent will have to decide on which 1 of 3 viable monster cards will be added to the controlling player’s hand while the rest get sent to the graveyard. Of course, having the keyword “add” puts this card under the crosshairs of hand traps immediately.
Even should this rebellion fail, Rebellion of the Monarch can still function as fodder for any of the in-archetype graveyard effects. Or if none are available, be able to summon a vassal or paige monster by banishing itself from the graveyard.
Lastly, the Culmination of the Monarchs is a continuous trap card that allows its controlling player to imitate the effect of any of the original Monarch monster cards once a chain every time the opponent special summons a monster.
The original Monarch monster effects were actually quite powerful for their time. Being condensed to a trap form is a pretty smart modernization on Konami’s part. However, the trap card does come with a couple of caveats.
First, it would need its controlling player to already have a tribute summoned monster on the board. Second, for each effect used -and each effect can only be used once a turn- the controlling player would need to specifically banish 1 Monarch spell/trap card from the graveyard.
The Culmination of the Monarchs trap card wears its name proudly but it can be quite costly. Set-up alone can take precious time and resources as a player would need to feed the graveyard with the appropriate fodder first before it can be activated.
That said, as a probable catch-up mechanic or a flexible play to confuse the opponent, there is merit to its capabilities. There’s a reason why the Monarchs were so strong back in the day and it wasn’t because of their physical capabilities.
The Monarchs have been a solid presence in Yu-Gi-Oh’s history. Like all archetypes, there are still some diehard supporters. But time will tell if the Monarchs can truly return to their splendor against the turbid waters of modern Yu-Gi-Oh! or if they should sit back in the annals of history.
For those interested in reading the translations of the cards and their effects, you can find it here.