Monarchs, after all this time, have not lost their popularity. While the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG has never been as diverse as it is now, Monarch control still remains a solid deck to fall back on in case you aren’t sure what to expect at a major tournament. While burn has picked up tremendously, and combo decks such as Demise OTK and Diamond Dude Turbo have sprung forth, there is nothing wrong with playing Brain Control on a monster and then tributing it off for Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch. This play has existed for ages, and it’s still a solid move in today’s format.

Now, with the release of Force of the Breaker, a new Monarch has joined that line-up of great, efficient monsters. Raiza the Storm Monarch is the long-awaited Wind-type, “when tribute summoned” monster, and his effect is certainly impressive. Matt Peddle broke down Raiza’s effect and basics quite well a few weeks ago before Force of the Breaker was released. Now that Raiza the Storm Monarch is out, you have the chance to see the new Monarch’s powerful effect in action.

By now, many players should know why Monarchs are good monsters. A player can easily wipe away an opponent’s previous turn’s work with the Monarchs’ effects. When combined with cards like Treeborn Frog and Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive, or with cards to steal the opponent’s monsters like Brain Control or Soul Exchange, the Monarchs’ benefits become even more significant. Some Monarchs, like Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch, have an immediate and practically guaranteed impact on your opponent’s position. Others, like Mobius the Frost Monarch, open the way for an even bigger shift in the duel, with the risk of lower utility.

The other advantage to the Monarchs is their huge size. Their 2400 ATK is nothing to sneeze at, as it’s enough to trample over most monsters in the Advanced format. This means that while the Monarchs can be used as a way of shifting the duel into your favor for the long game, they can also be used to make huge tempo swings. Zaborg the Thunder Monarch works best when his effect clears the way for you to attack directly for 2400 points of damage, while also taking away the work that the opponent put into summoning the monster Zaborg destroyed.

Raiza the Storm Monarch is, in many cases, a better version of Zaborg. Zaborg the Thunder Monarch has been primarily used as a tempo card, as he cleared away face-down monsters to attack directly, putting pressure on the opponent to use monster removal on his or her next turn or risk losing. Raiza does the exact same thing essentially, as the Storm Monarch spins any card on the field to the top of its owner’s deck. Not only does he put you ahead of your opponent in options like the other Monarchs, but he also serves the same purpose as Zaborg, clearing away a monster on the opponent’s field.

However, what often makes Raiza the Storm Monarch better than Zaborg is the fact that Raiza doesn’t actually destroy what he targets, but instead spins it to the top of the opponent’s deck. The main purpose of running Zaborg the Thunder Monarch has been not only to undo the opponent’s previous turn’s work filling up his or her monster zone, but also to attack directly for 2400. Raiza the Storm Monarch does essentially the same thing. The bonus, however, is that there are many cards the opponent will want to draw after you drop a Monarch like this and attack directly. Raiza doesn’t accommodate this hope, and ensures that the opponent’s next draw won’t actually help him or her.

An example of this would be if your opponent has a set Treeborn Frog or Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive. Neither card is good unless the opponent does what is necessary to trigger its effect. Treeborn Frog wants to be put into the graveyard, and Dekoichi wants to be flipped. Raiza the Storm Monarch dramatically slows these game plans down, forcing the opponent to wait another turn for free tribute fodder or a new card. More importantly, Raiza’s effect also makes sure that the opponent is drawing nothing more than a reactive card during his or her next turn. Plays like this are extremely brutal if the opponent is out of removal, since it means Raiza will remain on the field safe for another turn.

In fact, it’s because of this powerful effect that Raiza the Storm Monarch is one of the best cards to tribute summon in the mid-game. After the first few turns of a duel, there’s a good chance that both players have used up most of their removal in order to stave off major attacks. This is especially common in the Monarch mirror matches, where the game is all about conservation of Brain Control cards, explosive Monarchs, and careful use of other aggressive tools, in order to create a turn in which a player can outright win if the opponent shows signs of weakness. However, when I say “conservation of key cards,” I actually mean that the Monarch player typically hasn’t drawn everything he needs to win in one fast turn, and the removal suite that the Monarch control deck typically packs is used primarily to delay the game until the critical turn where it wins.

Because of the way the Monarch matchups play out, Raiza the Storm Monarch is a gem both for and against the typical Monarch control deck. Against a Monarch deck, Raiza’s effect dramatically slows down an opposing Monarch player’s game plan of waiting for exactly the right time to win the game. Summoning Raiza and making the opponent essentially lose a draw phase forces the Monarch player to act with what he or she has currently drawn. If that opponent doesn’t have enough cards to win the game that turn, you can easily turn your opponent’s own forced game plan against him or her with the cards you have available. Due to this, the very nature of the Monarch mirror match will change once Raiza the Storm Monarch makes his way into these decks.

In a way, Raiza the Storm Monarch is a lot like Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch against many decks. Like Thestalos, Raiza’s effect will almost always resolve successfully, meaning that you will rarely ever have to spin one of your own cards if you were to tribute summon him. Also like Thestalos, Raiza does a great job of messing with the opponent’s position in such a way that he can dramatically impact and slow down the opponent’s plan of action in the coming turns. Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch has always been awesome to summon against an opposing Monarch player because he has a good chance of ripping away a card that the opponent needed to set up the winning turn. Raiza acts in a similar fashion, but also forces the opposing Monarch player to act prematurely due to the huge tempo loss the opponent will suffer by having a monster (or even a set trap card that can’t be chained) removed from the field and put back on top of his or her deck.

The most powerful synergy with Raiza the Storm Monarch, by far, is hand destruction. Specifically, I’m referring to Confiscation and Mind Crush. Raiza’s effect is powerful, but it isn’t as good if your opponent has an immediate answer to it such as a Smashing Ground. Hand destruction works so well with Raiza because it ensures that the opponent doesn’t have an answer to your Monarch, and Raiza’s effect makes sure he or she won’t draw an answer either! These cards will work very well together in an aggressive strategy, and other methods of hand destruction, such as Don Zaloog, can work incredibly well in a deck running two or three copies of Raiza the Storm Monarch. While your little monsters work on depleting the opponent’s cards, Raiza the Storm Monarch can come down just when the opponent thinks he or she will be able to fend off the smaller attacks. In these scenarios, Raiza can deal ridiculous amounts of damage, not only with his effect spinning a monster and leading to a direct attack, but also over the next few turns, since the opponent shouldn’t have anything left to deal with your new Monarch . . . at least until he has crashed into something that belongs to the opponent (whether it’s a monster or life points) twice!

Expect to see a lot of Raiza the Storm Monarch if Monarch decks continue to remain popular. He is arguably the best Monarch to see print, competing with powerhouses like Mobius the Frost Monarch. Raiza is also quite possibly one of the best tribute monsters ever printed, since his effect can be so back-breaking.