We all know Monarch decks work.
Every turn, they generate (hopefully) a 2400 attack beater with their effect already haven gone off, removing at least one card from the field.
Functioning very basically, they use very minimal cards every turn.
They can draw upon many forms of cards for speed, as shown in the past.
Then why aren't they winning?
There are two big problems with Monarch decks.
The first one is the lack of speed. While they can draw upon several cards for speed, Monarch decks require setup, so to speak. Something needs to be fed to a monarch to summon it, and unfortunately, its not easy to get this out THEN summon a monarch right from turn 1, something needs to be on the field or graveyard in some cases to work well.
The two big "Setup" cards are, as you know, Treeborn Frog and Dandylion, but those need to be in the graveyard to activate. The next two are Spirit Reaper and Mashmallon, due to their Indestructible by battle effect. Those need to be on the field to let you turtle a bit first too.
Also in this class are Gravekeeper's Spies. Again, they are flip effects, and thus are not able to be sprung from the hand.
The exceptions of Monarch fodder to work are cards such as Jester Confit, The Tricky, and Flute of Summoning Kuriboh. Big problem with them is that they are only one time use, unlike Treeborn Frog and other cards. Thus, in the long run, you will be running a loss in advantage, which will catch up to you fast.
How decks that use this win is by pushing very hard, very fast. Summoning an additional Monarch from nowhere gives you the ability to rush your opponent, as nobody devotes too many cards to the field on turn 1. Decks like these TEND to win more often within 5 turns, and less in the longer run.
The second problem with Monarch Deck's is their predictability.
Monarch decks tend to lack many hidden tricks, with their agenda most of the time being just "summon monarch whack for 2400, spam removal". Thus, players, once they know the enemy is running a monarch deck, and has a treeborn frog in the graveyard(as an example), they can expect monarchs flying at them next turn, and thus play and set/hold cards as appropriate.
This is the part where the Kuriboh Jester and Tricky Monarchs tend to fail, despite their edge over the other variants in the first aspect.
The one decktype that succeeds here is the Quick Synchron Monarch deck, but that REALLY fails at the first part, running a very bad mid and end game, as you can use upwards four to five cards, at low two to three cards a turn.
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Once I tried Volcanic Monarch and it works better than I have expected. A slow deck that can afford hand loss can spam in 3 RaiBreak that wreck your opponent
ReplyDeleteand so I personally run 3 Royal Oppression in my Monarch deck
You bring up some very good points. From about May until August I ran a Monarch deck at my locals since I didn't have many other deck choices. It was fun and won me a few tournaments (E Tele and DAD always fun for a laugh), but against decks like BW and GB it almost always lost unless my opponent got a horrible opening hand and I got a broken hand.
ReplyDeleteThe deck may be slow and not winning as much, but it's still a solid deck that works. It's fairly inexpensive to build too, and since it's a fairly simple deck, it's great for newer players who want to take a step up from their Starter Deck. You can get all of the Monarchs (Gold Caius and Raiza, rest common) in Gold Series 2, and maybe even pull DAD for the deck. You can also get GK Spies and Servants in Retro Pack 2 as well. Toss in the usual staples and you've got a solid deck for any new or budget player.
Speed is always a concern / problem for a Monarch deck
ReplyDeleteSadly, even with Teleport, Destiny Hero Engines etc and whatnot, Monarchs will be much slower than the reigning Decks. They only work when Tribute Summoned (which is also what helped make them more balanced) except for Kreis/"Kuraz", but he also can't attack the turn he's Normal or Special Summoned in exchange.
Things like DAD can be Special Summoned, blow stuff up easily, and still attack for virtually nothing. And with higher use of Solemn Judgment, Divine Wrath, Pulling the Rug, etc, Monarchs are much more susceptable to being negated than before.
There really isn't anything that can really speed them up to the point of keeping up with such Decktypes. (And there shouldn't be. They were fine the way they were. Not too good, not too bad)
as for other alternatives - well as Rauzes stated, unfortunately, there isn't much else. The simplicity of them, while good, is also what sort of limits them in what sort of things you can do with them. At least effective things. (Which also makes them more balanced overall.)
the primary problem with Monarchs these days is being "too slow" for the meta, which is all about getting everything you can at light speed and winning with virtual OTKs within several turns. Needing to be Tribute Summoned, especially with the rarity of it done these days, doesn't help either and also various effects (general or Deck-specific) that can pretty much take care of such things anyway.
I suppose one could still try them out but they wouldn't really net as much as they used to.
but once again speed is a big issue in the game right now given big, easy Special Summons people can just pull out (Synchros, DAD, etc) and probably also having an effect(s) that'd do just as well or better than the Monarchs.
Of course, each individual Monarch can help support various Decktypes, but all together...not as effective as it used to be (the balance is why a lot of people liked that format the best; Monarchs could win, but they were also more than capable of being defeated).
however as for anti-meta monarchs - Monarchs aren't really too "anti-meta". The only aspects of the Deck in question would be Royal Oppression and/or Raiou. Both of which aren't things that are difficult to get rid of. And with the imminent release of the Core-Chimail/"Koa'Ki Meiru" stuff, other Decktypes will have easier anti-meta methods at their disposal.
so sadly Monarchs - good choice to use but too overpowered, over played in terms of speed mainly by other decks - L-Sworn, BW, Zombies and even glads... their time has gone sadly... like many other decks ands they are slowly shifting towards tier 2 deck playability..