Monarchs are an archetype that are nearly as old as Yu-Gi-Oh itself. This deck focuses on tribute summoning powerful monsters with 2400 or 2800 attack and using their powerful on-summon effects to completely shut down your opponent. There have been many powerful Monarch cards released in Yu-Gi-Oh’s history, but which are the best ones for your deck? This list breaks down the best Monarch cards in the game, as well as the spells and traps necessary to make your Monarch deck the best it can be.
15. Kuraz the Light Monarch
Kuraz is the monarch that provides your deck with that all important draw power. When this card is summoned you can target two cards on the field and destroy them – the owner of these cards then draws 1 card for each card destroyed by this effect. This is great for two reasons – firstly, popping your own cards to get additional cards will give you a huge edge in card advantage over your opponent, allowing you to access your more powerful monarchs even faster. Secondly, modern monarch decks have a whole bunch of continuous spells and traps. If you’re not careful you can end up clogging up all your spell and trap zones – Kuraz is the perfect antidote to this, allowing you to clear some room, and draw some cards while you’re at it.
14. Mithra the Thunder Vassal
If you’re playing a tribute summon deck then you’ll need monsters to actually tribute, and Mithra the Thunder Vassal does just that. All of the Vassal cards provide cards for you to tribute, however Mithra is by far one of the best this deck has to offer. You can special summon Mithra to your field by giving your opponent a defense position token – don’t worry, it’s only got 1000 defense points anyway, so it’ll be easy to beat with your more powerful monarchs. If you then tribute summon using Mithra then you’ll gain an additional tribute summon, allowing to tribute summon into the strongest monsters in your deck, the Mega Monarchs.
13. Mobius the Frost Monarch
When old school Yu-Gi-Oh players think of Monarchs, it’s this guy who comes to mind. Mobius is one of the oldest monarchs in the game – and it has definitely stood the test of time. On summon this guy can pop up to two spells or traps on the field, giving this deck an incredibly easy way to clear your opponent’s backrow. This will deal with cards like Bottomless Trap Hole that would otherwise get in the way of you summoning your more powerful Monarchs, and as such is a fantastic inclusion for any monarch deck.
12. Caius the Mega Monarch
The Mega Monarchs are an upgrade to the original Monarchs and have a more powerful version of their original counterpart’s effect. While the old Caius lets you banish a monster on the field, Caius the Mega Monarch lets you banish any card on the field, not just monsters. Furthermore, if it was a Dark monster you happened to banish, you can then banish every single copy of it from your opponent’s hand, deck, and graveyard. As if this wasn’t strong enough, there’s more: If this card was tribute summoned using a Dark monster, then you can target 2 cards instead of just one, making Caius one of the best pieces of generic removal this deck has to offer.
11. Tenacity of the Monarchs
One of the reasons Monarchs became a meta defining (and destroying) deck was the release of powerful Monarch-themed spells and traps, such as Tenacity of the Monarchs. This card allows you to add any Monarch spell or trap card from your deck to your hand, at the ludicrously low cost of revealing one Monarch from your hand. The last wave of Monarch support provided a spell or trap card for virtually any situation – there are traps that provide you with tribute fodder, traps that are unstoppable floodgates, and even a field spell that shuts your opponent out of their entire extra deck. Tenacity of the Monarchs is an amazing way of searching out these spells and traps whenever you need them, making the deck terrifyingly consistent.
10. Raiza the Mega Monarch
It’s no surprise that the retrain of Raiza the Storm Monarch is so powerful – in fact, this card still sees frequent meta-game play in non-Monarch decks such as Floowundereeze. If this card is tribute summoned using a Wind monster, you can target 2 cards on the field or in either graveyard, and place one on the top of the deck and return the other to the hand. This is great for stacking your opponent’s deck with bad cards – how many times have you set up a fantastic board, only for your opponent to break it with a top deck Raigeki? With Raiza you can ensure your opponent’s next draw is useless, while also bouncing one of their powerful monsters back to hand. This effect is great for dealing with Extra deck monsters who’ll return to the Extra deck and will have to be summoned for the same cost all over again.
9. Eidos the Underworld Squire
Eidos has two fantastic effects that enable your tribute summons. Firstly, when this card is normal or special summoned you gain an additional tribute summon this turn, in addition to your normal summon. This provides you with the material you need to tribute summon your monarchs, as well as the additional tribute summon to do it all in one turn, before your opponent can get rid of your tribute fodder. Secondly this guy can banish itself from the graveyard to special summon a monster with 800 attack and 1000 defense (i.e. the Vassal cards) from your graveyard, giving you even more material tribute summon with. With Eidos the Underworld Squire at your disposal, your Monarchs will be able to hit the field many times over.
8. Edea the Heavenly Squire
Special summoning from the deck is a seriously powerful effect in Yu-Gi-Oh. Many of the cards that enable it are limited if not banned, due to the sheer advantage it can give you over your opponent. Edea the Heavenly Squire on normal or special summon special summons you another Vassal monster straight from the deck, except itself. This effect does lock you out of the Extra deck, but for Monarch decks that’s no issue. The best card to grab off of this effect is the other squire, Eidos, who grants you an additional tribute summon this turn. This immediately provides you with two materials to tribute summon with, meaning you can access your Mega Monarchs instantly. Furthermore, Edea the Heavenly Squire can bring back your banished Monarch spells and traps. Powerful cards such as Pantheism of the Monarchs banish themselves from the graveyard for additional effects, and Edea is one of the best ways of getting these cards back.
7. Erebus the Underworld Monarch
There’s a reason this guy is the cover card for the Monarch structure deck – Erebus the Underworld Monarch does so much for this deck and helped transform it into the meta-busting threat we know and love today. By sending two Monarch spells/traps from the hand or deck to the graveyard, you can shuffle away one card your opponent controls, in their hand, graveyard, or side of the field into the deck. This is actually a great way of getting Monarch spell/traps into rotation. There are a bunch of cards that can help you retrieve these cards, or you can simply use the graveyard effects of these spells and traps instead. In fact, Erebus itself has its own graveyard effect – by discarding a Monarch spell/trap you can return one Monarch from your graveyard to your hand, allowing you to use those powerful on-summon Monarch effects all over again.
6. The Monarchs Erupt
Every good deck needs a floodgate. And this is by far one of the best Yu-Gi-Oh has to offer. This continuous trap card negates the effect of every single monster that isn’t tribute summoned. For Monarchs, whose monsters are practically all tribute summoned, this isn’t an issue. Modern decks that barely tribute summon at all, however? They’re going to have a hard time playing the game at all, let alone winning. The only downside is that while you control no tribute summoned monsters, this card pops itself during the end phase. This means if you lose control of your Monarchs, this floodgate stops working. But if you’re in a position where you’ve got a steady stream of Monarchs hitting the field, this won’t be a problem.
5. Zaborg the Mega Monarch
The Extra deck is easily the most powerful toolbox a duelist can have. It’s where you keep your most powerful monsters, and what 99% of decks in modern Yu-Gi-Oh rely on to play at all. So what happens when it just disappears? On summon Zaborg the Mega Monarch can pop a monster, just like the original Zaborg. The twist here is that if said monster was a Light type, you can force both players to send cards from the extra deck to the graveyard, up to the level of the destroyed monster. There’s nothing saying that Zaborg the Mega Monarch can’t target itself, meaning this guy becomes a 1-card removal for 8 cards in your opponent’s extra deck. What’s more, if you tribute summon Zaborg using a Light-type monster as tribute you can actually choose the monsters your opponent sends. This ensures you removal every single problem card your opponent has in their Extra deck, and from then on out, the game is as good as yours.
4. Ether the Heavenly Monarch
This Monarch is so powerful that it spent literal years on the ban list, and it’s easy to see why. Firstly, on tribute summon, Ether can send Monarch spells/traps from the hand or deck to the graveyard as cost to special summon a 2400-attack Monarch straight from the deck. While this won’t trigger their on-summon effects, this is still an additional 2400 points of attack on your side of the board, and at the very least it’s more tribute fodder for your other Monarchs. However, the real power of this card lies in its second effect – you can banish 1 Monarch spell/trap from your graveyard to quick-effect tribute summon this card during your opponent’s turn, giving you two extra Monarchs on your opponent’s turn!
3. Stormforth of the Monarchs
One problem that all tribute-summon decks face is that sometimes you just don’t have monsters on the field to tribute. Stormforth of the Monarchs solves exactly that, as well as acting as some handy monster removal. This quick-play spell allows you tribute 1 monster your opponent controls for your tribute summons this turn. The crazy thing about this card is that it’s non-targeting, meaning that cards that are usually indestructible can be removed in a flash with this amazing spell card. In a deck that tribute summons multiple times in a single turn, this card is simply a must have.
2. Pantheism of the Monarchs
Pantheism of the Monarchs is another card that fell victim to the ban list, and one that I thought would never see the light of day again. This card is one of the best search-spells in Yu-Gi-Oh. Firstly you can send a Monarch spell/trap from your hand to the graveyard to draw 2 cards. Monarch decks really don’t mind having spells and traps in the graveyard, meaning this card is practically a better Pot of Greed, which I didn’t think was possible. When this card is in the graveyard, you can then banish it to reveal 3 Monarch spells and/or traps from your deck, after which your opponent randomly picks one for you to add to hand. You can even pick the same 3 cards if you like, making Pantheism of the Monarchs a guaranteed search for any Monarch spell/trap you like.
1. Domain of the True Monarchs
This field spell truly makes the deck an unstoppable powerhouse. While you are the only player who controls a tribute summoned monster, your opponent is completely shut off from their extra deck. In modern Yu-Gi-Oh tribute summoning is incredibly rare (unless you’re playing exactly Monarchs), making this field spell an incredibly oppressive floodgate to contend with. It doesn’t stop there – not only does this field spell make your Monarch’s stronger in battle by 800 attack points, but it also allows you to reduce the level of your Mega Monarchs in hand by two, meaning you’ll only need 1 tribute to summon your strongest monsters. This field spell does so much for the deck in so many ways – and it is easily worthy of a spot in any Monarch strategy.
