Have you ever wanted to Tribute Summon but were too afraid not to because of the commitment into the resources and Summon Limit? Well, using the power of one of my favorite cores to play in Trinity Format, I have got just the solution for you! Presenting: Shaddoll Monarch aka "Dollnarch"
Pros:
- Shaddolls: Even without committing to a Fusion package, the Shaddolls in this deck are capable of cycling through the deck, serving as tribute fodder, establishing loops, getting around disruption, and being disruption and/or removal in the right circumstances. Due to their accessibility being so high, they also make the deck able to brick on big guys and eventually convert into them no problem just because of all of the ways to them!
- Copiuous Revival: The deck lives and dies by having tribute fodder and what better way to do that than to summon during the opponent's turn? Since everything tends to just be floaters or setting up for intricate combo lines, you're on basically all of the good revival, then all the playable revival afterwards. The GY is your best friend here, but you don't exactly want to mill to get there, you just want to reuse some of the playmakers from before.
- Extra Deck: While Domain and Erupt are banned alongside other floodgates like Majesty's Fiend and Vanity's Fiend, the deck will use the Extra Deck quite a bit as it's super resourceful, always there, and allows you to catch the opponent by surprise in a number of ways. The Crossrose package given for basically free courtesy of the Baobaboon package, Sheridan thanks to any normal Monarch + a steal, or just 2 Monarchs, and lastly, Omega to endlessly make use of Pantheism, Edea, and Eidos to the point where you probably will run out of targets for each of the former at some point.
Cons:
- Monarchs: The major downside of the Monarchs is obviously the fact that due to their level, they can clog up the hand and brick pretty often. Fortunately, we are on Ultimate Offering and Escalation to try and get around that, alongside playing all that's required to get us the win; however, a Monarch can and should be expected to sit in the hand for a while. Most situations regarding them, especially in the case of Ehther, should be concerning how to navigate the gamestate to best make use of them in a way that spins the game in your favor, rather than just deciding to discard them for something like a Shaddoll Beast or Knightmare play. They are the powerhouses of the deck. This is the consequence of playing them. You knew what you were getting into.
- Restrictions for Days: Keep track of the restrictions you'll find yourself under. The good effects of the Vassals will all lock you from the Extra Deck, just having Return up on field will prevent ED usage as well (though Kuraz can get us out of that pickle), and Glow-Up Bloom will prevent any special summons for the rest of the turn except for that of Zombie Monsters, which we're not really on here. Sequencing will matter a lot, so be careful and manage the restrictions appropriately. You will be rewarded for your approach.
Now with that out of the way, let's get into some of the demo setups you'll be wanting to aim for.
OPENERS
The hand quality and/or number of extenders in the hand will always make the permuations of the gamestates more or less challenging to emulate; though, this much was obvious. That being said, in the 1st turns of the duel, you ideally want to get your engines rolling. This can be enabled by the following:
- Enabling Return: You'll mostly just be grabbing Ehther here, but if you already have Ehther access, the next best target would be either Caius or Raiza. You don't want to commit to them unless you have to with the main reason being the chance of getting Tenacity. Your entire deck tutors itself, especially with the help of Ehther, so Return should mostly be used strategically more than it should be used to snowball and fill your hand with a bunch of bricks. Unless you have Mithra or Offering up, you aren't getting that many summons in the turn anyway. If Return ever gets in your way, you'll just clear it with Kuraz. Just make sure to order your chain link such that the search from Return always is later in the chain. You'll grab a Monarch and get the free draw.
- Shaddoor is Open: You'll start by sending Wendi and summoning Falco. The reason we go for Falco over Beast or Hog here is because during the opponent's turn, they're going to have to out the Falco anyway. If they don't, we start our next turn with two monsters in a deck that Tribute Summons, one of which is a tuner and tuners are scary. If they attack into the Falco, you get back the Wendi, then use the Wendi to get either Beast or Hog depending on your need. Usually I go for Hog just so I get Reshhaddoll Incarnation in rotation. You won't be looping it like you would in a Fusion Shaddol strategy, but it's a searchable Reborn that can also double as a reset for certain setups or making a Flip Effect happen at Fast Speed. This will mostly show its head with Dragon and Squamata, but drawing four cards with Beast isn't anything to scoff at either.
- The Classic: This one is purely based on the Monarch you've been given in the opening hand, but the typical Edea into Eidos opener is a fine play to use. We've got two Edea in the deck anyway just to make use of that line more often in addition to the resets from the banish effect. If you have any Edea how Monarchs work, you'll need to make sure you plan when to Tribute her and use Eidos' GY effect accordingly. It could be potentially game losing.
From the above lines, it's clear to see that the openings usually won't overlap that often outside of permutations granted by Ehther when she descends from the hand. It's for this reason that the deck will take some getting used to at first. Not every hand will play nicely into a starter you're familiar with.
MIDGAME AND BEYOND
Since you'll be drawing cards, cycling through the deck, and searching just about every name in the dictionary, the midgame gamestates will mostly come down to your discretion. Be mindful of the things that you are in total control of. If your opener gave you Ehther or Return, there's next to no excuse to not be in a winning position.
- Ehther the Heavenly Monarch: She has a lot of lines, so I can't really get into all of them here. Just remember, you can summon a second copy of her from your deck on your own turn to have for the opponent's turn to do this again but for a disruption Monarch like Kuraz or Seleglare. Ehther can also be used to grab your setup for next turn if the opponent can't keep up with your pressure.
- Vampire Grimson: Alternative target for Glow-Up Bloom. Not a Monarch in stats, but can be a very annoying Monster to deal with. It protects your entire board so long as you're willing to pay for its services. The ability to also just reap Monsters from the opponent's GY is quite useful too since there's a bit of recursion in Trinity decks (like this one) and you'll always take a free piece of tribute fodder. Just be mindful of the summon limit... and your remaining LP.
- Glacial Beast Polar Penguin: This card is a great target for Edea if you need it and if you revive it, can put up a very funny disruption. Ť̷̤̪̟h̷̨̩͐́̽i̶̲̝̥̋̾͐s̶̄͘ͅ ̷̟́̔c̶͕̤̭͊̾a̷͔̠͚̚ŗ̶͐̉̏ḋ̴̜ ̴̘̆̇̽w̷̩͔̝̑͐͝ĩ̴̲̀l̵̹̄ļ̸̧̣̆ ̴̪͈́͋́w̴̰̽̕ï̶̝͉̅n̸͇͆̑ ̸͈͚͆͝ğ̶̮̓̕a̸̙͕͑̕̕m̴̘̣̈́͠ͅě̶͇͚s̷͕͌̾̈́ ̵̠͇̈́͊̆o̵̬͉͝ñ̵̰̆ ̵̦̠̰̏ī̷̺̥̑͜ť̶̨͓̉̏s̶̢̻̮̽ ̸̦͚̾͝o̴̢̱̾́w̸̺̮͒n̴̥̋̆.̸͔̟̈́ ̷̜͑Ạ̵̡̧̓̋̾ĺ̵̪̺ḽ̵͕̣͌̉ ̴̗̓͗h̶͚̻͒à̷̛͇̖̞̑ỉ̴̺̀͝l̵̼̥͐ ̵̛̜̘́͋t̶̖̑́h̶̖̭̠͝ḙ̶̍̾̊ ̶̨̰̂G̶̖͛̈́l̴̙͓͒̀ä̴̦̝̦́͛͠c̷̥͚̊̌ĩ̸̳̤͂͠a̸̘̟̓l̵̢̗̩̊́̌ ̸̢̥͑G̵̼̝̀̃̕o̸̬̾d̷͚̖̲͝.̸͓̰͑
- Dingirsu, the Orcust of the Evening Star: Rare summon. Mostly just used for excess Ehther when she's exhausted her usefulness and Erebus if you'd rather not have him in GY. The protection effect is absolutely insane and the on-summon send often makes players panic because there's not very much you can do about it due to no target needing to be declared on activation. Use this to close out games or insulate plays.
- PSY-Framelord Omega: Shaddoll Falco is a tuner. People usually don't like to attack the Falco because it's bad news bears. Use this to your advantage and convert it into budget Redoer to snowball your advantage and refresh GY effects.
- Crossrose Dragon: Baobaboon + Any Monster makes it live. You'll just sit on it during the opponent's turn. Fire it as necessary and tag into the appropriate Rose Synchro. Be extremely mindful of Ruddy affecting both GYs as it could butcher your follow-up.
Due to the general complexity that the GY and hand tend to afford you when not even taking into account your Continuous Spells and Traps, the deck is not very beginner friendly. It does lend itself well to immutability, especially when substituting the Shaddoll or Baobaboon portions for other strategies. That said, here's a handful of ideas just to throw your way should you aim to adjust this baseline into something more focused elsewhere:
Floowandereeze & Empen, Floowandereeze and the Unexplored Winds, Destiny HERO core, Familiar-Possessed/Charmer core, S-Force, Vampire core, Witchcrafter core, Graydle core
Thanks for reading, and I hope this has convinced you to give the deck a try! It's a lot of fun to pilot, theorycraft, innovate, and watch replays on. If you can put in the time to try and navigate those hand states, you'll be rewarded nicely during the games. Now, arise from your rank of Vassal and join me as a Monarch!
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