Monarch: deck recipe [August 2020]

“Monarch” monsters are Level 5 or higher monsters with various effects that usually activate upon being Tribute Summoned.

Erebus has a very powerful removal effect that does not target, does not destroy, and shuffles the opponent's card into the deck. These factors make the removal hard to counter while bypassing most floating effects. Also, returning your opponent's card to the deck prevents them from recycling it. Being able to remove a card from your opponent's hand lets Erebus reduce your opponent's resources even on the first turn, and returning a card from their graveyard to the deck lets you get rid of graveyard effects like Shiranui Spectralsword.

Erebus' graveyard effect allows you to recover Monarchs from your graveyard while also letting you put Frost Blast or The Prime Monarch in the graveyard for their graveyard effects. This graveyard recovery is what allows Erebus work well with the Lightsworn mill engine, because a milled Erebus can just recover himself or any Monarch in your graveyard.

Erebus sending 2 Monarch Spell/Trap cards from your deck to the graveyard upon summoning helps thin your deck and ready graveyard effects like Frost Blast and The Prime Monarch.

If there's one thing Lightsworns are known for it's milling. Raiden is unique among Lightsworn monsters because of his ability to mill during the Main Phase. This is quicker than other Lightsworns that only mill during the End Phase, letting you get your graveyard effects ready sooner. Plaguespreader Zombie, Frost Blast, and Prime Monarch are examples of graveyard effects you can make use of during your Main Phase.

Lumina has the standard Lightsworn effect of milling your deck during the End Phase to help with graveyard setup. You can use her to revive a Raiden in your graveyard and use both monsters to make an easy level-7 Synchro. The discard cost for her effect lets you load monsters that can get stuck in your hand, like Bacon Saver, into the graveyard.

With enough graveyard setup you can combo Lumina into making Crystron Quariongandrax.

1. Summon Lumina and use her effect to revive Raiden.
2. If Plaguespreader Zombie is in the graveyard revive it with its own effect; If Plaguespreader Zombie is not yet in your graveyard, use Raiden's milling to hopefully get it there.
3. With Lumina, Raiden, and Plaguespreader Zombie make Quariongandrax. With Quariongandrax' mass banishing, you're almost certainly be in a winning position. Even if not, Quariongandrax' floating effect can let you revive one of the monster you banished.

Charge of the Light Brigade and Solar Recharge are both used to cycle your resources and mill your deck. Using these cards provide a quicker mill engine than just relying on Lightsworn monsters to mill during the End Phase. Like Lumina's effect cost, Solar Recharge can get a card stuck in your hand into the graveyard where it can activate its effect. Lastly, these cards do not have any restrictions on how many times they can be used per turn, so drawing multiples can be quite advantageous.

With Charge of the Light Brigade, you want to search Raiden early game for graveyard setup. If you already have enough graveyard setup and Raiden in your graveyard, you would want a copy of Lumina to ready your Synchro play.

Plaguespreader Zombie can be used for many purposes in this deck, and its low cost revival effect contributes to its versatility. Plaguespreader Zombie will usually be put in your graveyard with the Lightsworn mill engine, where you are free to revive it anytime. Revive Plaguespreader Zombie as a synchro material to make Quariongandrax when combined with Lumina and Raiden, make any level-7 Synchro when paired with Zaborg, or make Vermillion Mech Dragon when synchro climbing with a level-7 Synchro. Plaguespreader Zombie's easy self revival also makes it good as tribute fodder for Tribute Summoning Monarchs.

Since Plaguespreader Zombie can be used much more efficiently when in the graveyard, you usually don't want to keep him in your hand. Therefore it is best to use him as discard cost and load him into your graveyard.

Kiteroid and Bacon Saver are mostly used to stop OTKs. Kiteroid can be used from your hand and graveyard, making him not as bricky as drawing Bacon Saver. A single Kiteroid can let you stop up to 2 lethal attacks, letting you live through most enemy boards. Bacon Saver can only be used from your graveyard but aside from stopping direct attacks can also stop your opponent from attacking your monsters.
Both these monsters have graveyard effects so milling them with Lightsworns is a good way to prepare them.

Simple yet effective, Tribute Summon Monarchs to activate their removal effects and get a good beater onboard. The problem is getting tribute fodder on the field can be slow and costly. For this, Monarch support such as The First Monarch and The Prime Monarch have effects that put them on the field as monsters you can use for your Monarch's tribute summon.

Frost Blast is a costless removal effect you can use when you control a Monarch. Destroying a set card will usually mean getting rid of an opponent's set Spell/Trap, specifically battle traps and backrow that cannot be chained to Frost Blast's activation. But can sometimes let you destroy a set monster when your opponent is on the defensive, letting you push more damage.

Having your monster already on the field before using your backrow removal, leaves the monster susceptible to cards like Raigeki Break and Karma Cut. This is why Frost Blast's graveyard effect is arguably better than its first effect, and why we want to mill it with the Lightsworn Engine.

The First Monarch summons itself as a monster to use for your Tribute Summons. Always choose the DARK attribute because only Erebus will benefit from it being treated as 2 tributes. Aside from summoning Erebus you can disregard The First Monarch's attribute changing effect, unless you want to use it as a way to discard and ready a graveyard effect. The First Monarch does not really do anything while in the graveyard, so feel free to use it as cost for The Prime Monarch or Frost Blast.

The Lightsworn mill engine works well to fuel The Prime Monarch and also get it in the graveyard. You only really need one The Prime Monarch in your graveyard at any given time, so use the rest as effect cost for a Prime Monarch's draw effect, Prime Monarch's Special Summoning, or Frost Blast.

Returning Monarch Spell/Traps to your deck can help slow down your deck out. And returning The First Monarch or Restoration of the Monarchs to the deck gives you more chances to summon your Monarchs, especially Erebus.

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