Wednesday 2 November 2016

Deck Profile: Zoodiac Monarchs

Zodiac Beasts, Zodiac Beasts everywhere....

Monarchs in October OCG 2016


Results:
  1. BYE
  2. ABC XX
  3. Kozmo OXO
  4. ABC OO
  5. ABC OO
  6. Lawnmowing Infernoids OXO
  7. Zodiac Beast OO
  8. Blue Eyes O
  9. Zodiac Beast OO
  10. Zodiac Beast Metalfoes OXO




Source :
https://twitter.com/2go0422/status/792683196299096065


Achieving an impressive result of 9-1, @2go0422 brought an old deck back with a few new friends. Relying on the Zodiac Beast engine to have a stronger starting field and the capacity to lead to explosive plays, the Speedroid engine is utilised to its maximum extent, an improvement from the previous Speedroid Monarch deck builds that merely used the engine to clear threats with Rank3s like The Phantom Knights of Break Sword and Grandpulse.

An Artifact engine is also included, and Artifact Scythe has been gaining popularity as a meta option, seeing how reliant Zodiac Beast decks are on the Extra Deck. Like Dimensional Boundary, Scythe is impossible to stop upon successful resolution, making it a formidable hurdle to overcome.

Perhaps the most interesting card which left many newer players puzzled about its identity is Bitelon. Released as a Common card in Power of the Duelist pack, Bitelon's stats allows it to receive support from the Monarch series, with cards such as Return of the Monarchs and Ether the Heavenly Monarch enlisting stats requirements which Bitelon fulfill.

Bitelon's part in the deck is to push for further damage, with its simple yet crucial monster effect of being capable of performing trample/piercing damage. This was something missing from the Monarch arsenal of monsters that bear the 2400/1000 stat combination and Bitelon emerges to fill the void and meet the demand for such an offensive strategy. With Zodiac Beasts being a common sight, once the xyz materials are depleted, Zodiac Beasts xyz monsters will be left with 0DEF, vulnerable to withstand a costly 2400 upon Bitelon's attack. The same situation can occur with the help of Dimensional Boundary (present in the Side Deck) declaring Xyz, rendering the Zodiac Beasts xyz incapable of tapping into their xyz materials for ATK & DEF boost, and hence exist on the field as a 0/0 monster.

Bitelon is also searchable via King of Feral Imps which is included in the Extra Deck, and with no strict summoning criteria, King of Feral Imps can be summoned using two Zodiac Beast Marmorats.

Manticore of Darkness is another interesting card, and while it may not share Monarch monster stats, both unfortunately and fortunately depending on your point of view, it is capable, with the infinite loop, of punishing the opponent with a deck out if they drop a Maxx "C" prematurely, greedy for some additional draws.

Hate the Zodiac Beasts archetype all you want, but I am in favor of the 'dead' decks being creatively revived despite being affected by the banlist.

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