Welcome to a new format. Although the Forbidden list technically has not changed, you’ll be hard-pressed to find someone who won’t tell you it’s a whole new ball game as of January 17th. That fateful Wednesday marked the arrival of the Green, Red, and Yellow Gadget trio. With them comes something the North American metagame has always feared: a level 4 monster that becomes a floater as soon as it hits the field.

So far, the only monster we’ve really had to fear from this perspective was Sangan, which will almost never be destroyed without replacing itself with another monster in your hand. This means the opponent won’t want to destroy it with a one-time effect like Smashing Ground’s or Sakuretsu Armor’s. Breaker the Magical Warrior has a similar effect, though it’s not guaranteed unless it destroys a spell or trap that can’t be chained or used if sent to the graveyard.

However, the big question on everyone’s mind is: can Monarchs remain dominant now? On the surface, all signs point to the removal of Monarchs from the Top 8 scene. Surely Ryan Spicer’s famous build, which has been tearing up tournaments since his second-place finish at Shonen Jump Championship Austin, will be ousted from competitive play. With Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive taking a back seat to the Gadgets as the floater you want to protect, Spicer’s build seems much too slow. In addition, the Monarch cards and combos all center around ensuring the destruction of opposing monsters almost every turn. That kind of commitment is senseless when the opponent can simply replace all of his or her monsters anyway.

Heavy Monarch builds might not necessarily be done for, though. If a Monarch engine can get Treeborn Frog into the graveyard quickly enough, the opposing Gadgets can be “ignored” as the Monarchs target the hand and spell or trap zone while attacking the Gadgets after their effects have been used. Of course the Gadget deck is going to be ready for this. Multiple copies of Bottomless Trap Hole and Solemn Judgment not only aid the deck in protecting its Gadgets but almost completely shut down the effectiveness of Monarchs. Factor in the Monarch players’ need to stay defenseless, in order to keep Treeborn Frog coming back, and the Gadget player will have the duel under wraps in a matter of turns.

Thus, the Monarch player is going to have to disrupt the spell and trap zone. That brings me to this week’s championship deck:

Edgar Flores

Monsters: 21

2 Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch

2 Zaborg the Thunder Monarch

2 Chaos Sorcerer

3 Cyber Dragon

1 D. D. Warrior Lady

1 Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive

1 Breaker the Magical Warrior

1 Sangan

1 Tsukuyomi

1 Night Assailant

1 Skelengel

3 Spirit Reaper

2 Magician of Faith

Spells: 16

2 Smashing Ground

2 Enemy Controller

2 Nobleman of Crossout

1 Brain Control

1 Soul Exchange

1 Snatch Steal

1 Scapegoat

1 Metamorphosis

1 Graceful Charity

1 Book of Moon

1 Mystical Space Typhoon

1 Confiscation

1 Heavy Storm

Traps: 5

3 Royal Decree

1 Mirror Force

1 Torrential Tribute

The deck is obviously geared for a different format and a different metagame. Its four-Monarch engine is completely unsupported by Treeborn Frog in order to include the valuable Royal Decree. This is an interesting spin-off of the Monarch build. Flores’s deck doesn’t capitalize on the free tribute that is Treeborn Frog. Instead, he aims to tribute other monsters (ideally floaters) for his Monarchs and negate the opposing defensive card aimed at them. In doing so, Flores generates the same positive trades afforded by Frog while keeping the pressure on with his 2400 ATK beatstick.

Two copies each of Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch and Zaborg the Thunder Monarch are the monsters the deck wants to ultimately play. The goal is to tribute monsters that can get you a card before being offered. Flip effect monsters do this quite well if they aren’t destroyed, which takes advantage of a conservative opponent’s habits. Magician of Faith, Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, Skelengel, and Night Assailant make perfect tribute fodder after their effects have been used. Staying on the field to wreak havoc on the opponent’s life points is optimal, but without defense, not likely.

Spirit Reaper is a deadly card in this deck. With three copies of Royal Decree and two copies of Smashing Ground, it’s not unusual to see Spirit Reaper hit the opponent’s life points uncontested. That can often rob the opponent of two cards: the in-hand card and the one that was negated by Royal Decree . . . while Flores still has both of his cards around and able to continue hurting his opponent. Spirit Reaper then becomes excellent tribute fodder for either Monarch. When Flores’s hands are less optimal, Spirit Reaper acts as a quick means to stall for a turn and set up a tribute.

Chaos Sorcerer’s power is very similar. His floater status is achieved instantly and his ability to be special summoned means he can get his effect off and be tributed away on the same turn. The only drawback is that he requires a Light and Dark monster in your graveyard, something that’s not very hard to achieve at all. Combined with Royal Decree, Flores would find the game simplified very quickly, with him coming out on top through trap negation and huge monsters.

The spell line-up is in place to prevent Flores from being overrun by opposing Zaborg and Chaos Sorcerer cards, as well as being geared to take down Spirit Reapers that he can’t really defend against. Smashing Ground and Enemy Controller help the monster destruction aspect. Enemy Controller is especially useful, since it allows Flores to protect his flip effect monsters for tribute next turn.

Metamorphosis was a key card for this deck. A high number of tribute monsters with no Treeborn Frog can lead to weak hands with unplayable Monarchs. Getting these monsters into play is as easy as having as many special summons as high-level monsters. Cyber Dragon and Chaos Sorcerer fit the bill perfectly, but extra special summons are never frowned upon. There are a high number of five-star monsters in Flores’s build, so Dark Balter the Terrible or Reaper on the Nightmare aren’t out of reach.

Flores’s deck was obviously geared to take down the expected slow-paced Chaos decks. Rogue decks such as Flores’s tend to be very strong against other rogue builds like Burn or Stall. This leaves room for the side deck to shore up any inconsistencies or change the deck’s focus entirely. Sure enough, Flores was able to turn his deck into a non-Decree Monarch deck or a Chaos/Return deck for games 2 and 3. This meant his deck remained unpredictable, even to opponents who had seen him play before.

Royal Decree is sure to see an increase in play once again as defense-heavy Gadget builds are introduced to the game. Monarchs will struggle to stay alive in a format where instant floaters are abundant. Combining the two in a fashion similar to Flores’s deck could prove very effective. A lot of gameplay changes have been made since Shonen Jump Championship Chicago though, so the deck will have to be modified and tested to beat the format the same way Flores’s build was. With the ability to run over the opponent with Royal Decree and keep constant pressure using the Monarchs, don’t count the Monarch deck out just yet.