Monarchs have been at the top of the heap for a long time. In September 2006, three members of Team Superfriends each brought a unique Monarch deck to the Shonen Jump Championship in Boston. Of these three (Kyle Duncan, Lazaro Bellido, and myself), only Lazaro managed to see Top 8 glory. Although he was defeated in the first round of the Top 8 by a Cyber-Stein in the hands of Ramon Almanzar, Lazaro’s deck was quickly recognized by many players to be the top build in an extremely strong pack.

Sure enough, the next Shonen Jump saw the Spicer build. Using Lazaro’s Monarchs as a template, Ryan Spicer made some minor adjustments and found even more success than Lazaro had. The popularity of the deck grew even further, and the SJC in Seattle featured three players running a Spicer-esque build, with Kyle Lopez taking top honors. Anaheim gave birth to another Monarch champion. Finally the rampage ended in San Jose, as the release of Chain Strike combined with a new Cyber-Stein OTK deck finally put a cap on the Monarchs. Although they were still a dominant force, and always a deck to be reckoned with, the release of Elemental Hero Stratos and the Gadgets effectively killed off all remaining hopes of Spicer Monarchs making the Top 8 of a Shonen Jump Championship. The theory behind the deck was countered entirely, and the window of opportunity for Spicer Monarchs to shut down things liked flipped Dekoichis vanished.

Monarchs continued to make Top 8 appearances, but always built to counter the metagame and just get by against every other matchup. However, Lazaro Bellido has done it again. With the help of Dale Bellido, the two created a Monarch deck that shuts down almost every matchup, and with the help of a well-built side deck, has almost no bad matchups at all.

Monsters: 23

3 Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch

2 Cyber Dragon

3 Gravekeeper’s Spy

2 Mystic Tomato

2 Card Trooper

2 Mobius the Frost Monarch

2 Legendary Jujitsu Master

2 Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive

1 Treeborn Frog

1 Sangan

2 Zaborg the Thunder Monarch

1 Spirit Reaper

Spells: 10

2 Brain Control

1 Snatch Steal

1 Pot of Avarice

1 Heavy Storm

1 Premature Burial

1 Book of Moon

1 Mystical Space Typhoon

1 Smashing Ground

1 Soul Exchange

Traps: 7

3 Sakuretsu Armor

1 Ring of Destruction

1 Mirror Force

1 Torrential Tribute

1 Bottomless Trap Hole

The brilliance behind Spicer Monarchs was the versatility of the monsters, and the guessing game they forced on your opponent. If you know that your opponent is playing Apprentice Magician and Mystic Tomato, you’re not going to want to attack into face-down monsters, lest he or she search out the perfect tribute bait. If your opponent is playing Old Vindictive Magician and Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, you will definitely want to get at these monsters before they are flipped and used as tribute for a Monarch. This kind of problem could be fixed with Exiled Force, especially when re-used with Premature Burial or Call of the Haunted, but if Treeborn Frog enters into the equation, losing monsters from your side of the field is a bad idea. Also, Lazaro has Card Trooper to set and fool opponents into wasting cards.

The monster line-up is fully geared to act on this philosophy throughout the entire match. Coming in to replace the Apprentice Magician engine is Gravekeeper’s Spy and Legendary Jujitsu Master. Gravekeeper’s Spy takes the place of Old Vindictive Magician quite nicely. Although she doesn’t destroy a monster, she effectively accomplishes the same task as Old Vindictive Magician (increasing your field presence over the opponent), while boasting higher statistics and being effective if your opponent has no monsters on the field.

Legendary Jujitsu Master, on the other hand, takes the place of Apprentice Magician. Like Spicer Monarchs, Lazaro can force his opponents to believe that all face-down monsters must be attacked. Using cards like Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive and Card Trooper early, Lazaro can intimidate his opponents into believing his monsters are best dealt with quickly. Then it’s only a matter of time before one of Lazaro’s opponents sends a D. D. Assailant straight into Legendary Jujitsu Master, who kindly shows him the way to the top of the deck.

These two monster changes make the deck playable in today’s format. Gadgets and Card Troopers simply took advantage of the Apprentice Engine. Using Old Vindictive Magician isn’t as important anymore, because there are fewer optimal targets and an increased chance of hitting a face-down card like Card Trooper or Treeborn Frog. Legendary Jujitsu Master and Gravekeeper’s Spy get in the way of these and prevent you from wasting monster removal on cards that just aren’t optimal targets in the long run.

Of course, the very presence of these monsters is even more intimidating than that of the Apprentice Engine. As such, monsters like Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive and Card Trooper are more likely to remain un-attacked while face down on the field, allowing Lazaro to either flip them for some unforeseen aggression, or prod his opponents into wasting monster removal cards like Exiled Force or Torrential Tribute. As you can see, Lazaro can set the trap up either way. This not only provides a range of options to deal with opposing power cards, it also limits the likelihood of drawing a bad hand, since whichever monster Lazaro happens to draw first will inevitably increase the effectiveness of his other monsters.

Of course, turtling up won’t win you duels all by itself. You need to couple this strategy with the ability to explode, either through massive damage or great swings in resources. Once again, Lazaro is able to take the best of both worlds. Monarchs have the ability to generate big swings, especially when coupled with Brain Control or Soul Exchange. Since each Monarch also weighs in at 2400 ATK, they have the ability to drop an opponent’s life points drastically in one turn. Once again, both of these strategies meet up to form the same goal.

Applying lots of life point pressure (usually with the aid of Heavy Storm, Brain Control, and/or Mobius the Frost Monarch), Lazaro can force his opponents to trade monster removal with his Monarchs or Dekoichis. Doing so allows him to gain constant ground when it comes to card presence. It’s only a matter of time before the opponent runs out of answers to Lazaro’s seemingly infinite number of press cards. This is the reason for playing monsters like Mystic Tomato, Card Trooper, and Spirit Reaper. They can take the role of defender and play-maker at the start of the duel, then near the end, they can provide pressure while Lazaro is winning and defense while Lazaro is trying to mount a comeback.

Of course, this strategy works backwards as well. Lazaro can forgo trying to make the opponent worry about his or her life points and simply work on taking out his or her options. Monarchs do an excellent job of this as well, and the monster removal and Monarch support cards work wonders at forcing simplification, magnifying the effects of Lazaro’s Monarchs. At this point, the opponent begins to worry about his or her own life points, since he or she is down in cards and staring down massive 2400 ATK monsters. The opponent will feel obligated to use his or her own monster removal, causing more simplification and amplifying the effects of Lazaro’s Monarchs even further. Once again, the press-or-defend monsters come out of their shells and start chipping away at the opponent’s life points.

Most of the spell and trap lineup is consistent with the Spicer Monarch deck. Defense aids in protecting Dekoichi, allowing Lazaro to go for life point pressure as early as his second turn. Monarch support in Soul Exchange allows Lazaro to maintain consistency and rob his opponent of multiple cards in one turn. Brain Control can accomplish the same goal. It’s limited to face-up monsters and costs Lazaro some life points, but retaining the battle phase allows Lazaro to either pick off another monster his opponent controls, or get in a direct shot before using the stolen monster as a tribute.

Book of Moon is a new card for the deck, here to support Gravekeeper’s Spy and Card Trooper. Using the Book with Gravekeeper’s Spy can add to Lazaro’s field presence while preventing his opponent from activating a card like Brain Control or Ring of Destruction. The effect is even stronger with Card Trooper. Lazaro’s opponents will likely want to take control of Card Trooper through Snatch Steal or Brain Control, hoping to tribute it themselves (or at least prevent its draw effect from activating). Book of Moon stops that plan dead in its tracks. At the very least, it can be used on a Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive to draw another card from the deck, or to protect a monster from removal cards like Smashing Ground or Sakuretsu Armor.

Lazaro’s first Monarch build set the stage for many months. The perfect synergy and dominating potential of that deck is mirrored in this build as well. I expect this deck to dominate the metagame the same way Spicer Monarchs did before it.