With the Shonen Jump Championship in Washington, D.C. rapidly approaching, players everywhere are testing frantically to find the best deck for the inaugural tournament of the format. When we get changes to the Advanced format list (like the most recent) that don’t completely oust any of the previous archetypes, duelists have to make changes to their current builds and see how they fare against builds from other players.

Similar to the beginnings of previous formats, experienced players will take a look at successful builds from times when different cards were available to them. The biggest news of this format to competitive players was the rebirth of the Apprentice Magician engine. With Magician of Faith back, Crystal Seer becoming legal at the start of the format, and Old Vindictive Magician gaining playability with the Limitation of Card Trooper, Apprentice Magician can search out three strong targets. Although Nobleman of Crossout has been Semi-Limited, Apprentice-based Monarchs are likely to make a strong showing in Washington.

Like many, I’ve been looking at decklists that I could use as a template for this format. Last time we had Apprentice Magician available to us with Magician of Faith to search it out, Cyber-Stein was still legal. Decks then were aggressive, using Brain Control to both punch through damage and generate a way to pay for tribute monsters like Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch.

With Ring of Destruction now Forbidden and Brain Control Limited, the aggressive potential of these Monarch builds will obviously diminish. This is why I’ve decided to feature a Monarch deck from that era that can be easily adjusted to the current format. Let’s take a look at what Kyle Lopez played when he took SJC Seattle:

Monsters: 23

3 Zaborg the Thunder Monarch

3 Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch

3 Cyber Dragon

2 Apprentice Magician

2 Old Vindictive Magician

2 Mystic Tomato

2 Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive

1 Sangan

1 Spirit Reaper

1 Magician of Faith

1 Night Assailant

1 Treeborn Frog

1 Breaker the Magical Warrior

Spells: 9

2 Brain Control

1 Enemy Controller

1 Pot of Avarice

1 Heavy Storm

1 Mystical Space Typhoon

1 Graceful Charity

1 Nobleman of Crossout

1 Soul Exchange

Traps: 8

3 Sakuretsu Armor

2 Bottomless Trap Hole

1 Mirror Force

1 Torrential Tribute

1 Ring of Destruction

This deck is essentially the final form of Lazaro Bellido’s Monarch build that placed in the Top 8 of SJC Boston in 2006. Creature Swap has been dropped and the build has clearly been tweaked for consistency. It only loses three cards with the new Forbidden list. Ring of Destruction and Graceful Charity are no longer legal, but they do nothing to support or detract from its central theme—they were just strong cards that were thrown into almost everything, so this version won’t suffer if nobody can play them anymore.

The loss of the second Brain Control hurts a bit more. We’ve seen for quite some time how powerful Brain Control can be when combined with a Monarch, applying damage as well as forcing the opponent to lose multiple cards on the exchange. The drop from three copies to one will force the deck to play in a completely different style. No longer can Monarchs easily sweep a game away from an opponent with Brain Control and Snatch Steal. Players will have to destroy monsters before being allowed to attack directly.

This is where the Apprentice Magician engine really shines. As long as Apprentice Magician is being played, players have no idea whether or not to attack face-down monsters, attempt to destroy them with cards like Zaborg the Thunder Monarch or Old Vindictive Magician, or leave them alone for the turn. Attacking an Apprentice Magician or Mystic Tomato is usually a bad thing, as it allows opponents to sacrifice a flip effect or Sangan for a tribute on the next turn. But if you leave them to flip either Old Vindictive Magician or Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, you’ll either be staring down a Monarch or an attacking Dekoichi.

For these reasons, the deck plays two copies each of Apprentice Magician, Old Vindictive Magician, and Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive. Each one is capable of advancing the current situation and setting up a Monarch play. Combined with the defensive power of the deck, these flip effects remain a threat as long as they’re on the field. The damage from Dekoichi can add up exceptionally fast, putting the opponent uncomfortably low before he or she is able to take control of the field.

While two copies of Nobleman of Crossout and Raiza the Storm Monarch help to combat Apprentice-based decks, these decks will be using the exact same cards. They’ll also be ready for Crossout and will shift which monsters get set first to avoid having the best ones “crossed out.” Also, since the deck is going to have to make some changes based on the available card pool, you can expect that they’ll add some tech to combat Crossout and Raiza.

Night Assailant is a monster that I expect will see a lot of play in this format, as long as players continue to use flip-effect monsters. Although it can no longer be abused with Graceful Charity, Snipe Hunter is still a great card and would love to discard Night Assailant to get back either a monster for next turn or another card to discard for its own effect. Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch is going to be everywhere as well, so having Night Assailant in your hand can give you a game-winning edge against other Monarch decks.

The number of Soul Exchange cards in this deck will increase to either two or three with the Limitation of Brain Control. Soul Exchange is a very versatile method of finding tribute bait for Monarchs, but it gives up the damage aspect to achieve that. This means that Monarch mirror matches will be less about one-turn knockouts and more about timing power cards and strong plays to achieve maximum infrastructure damage. As a result, the defensive cards in the deck are likely to take a hit.

Three copies of Sakuretsu Armor and a pair of Bottomless Trap Hole cards were ideal to combat attackers, protect cards like flipped Dekoichis and Sangan, and clear a path for direct attacks from these monsters. While this type of strategy could see success in the next format, the elimination of Brain Control as an out for late-game damage means that early-game attacks are less beneficial. Will duelists find success with heavy defensive lineups? Or will less conventional counter-traps make an appearance?

Monarchs have found success in almost every format since Soul Control first made its debut in 2005. There’s no reason to think that this format will be much different, but will a build like this one be the successful deck?

—Matt Peddle