Monarch

Monarch
Mechanic
Introduced	Conspiracy: Take the Crown
Last used	Conspiracy: Take the Crown
Text	At the beginning of your end step, draw a card. Whenever a creature deals combat damage to you, its controller becomes the monarch.
Statistics	15 cards 20% 13.3% 20% 13.3% 13.3% 6.7% 6.7% 6.7%
Scryfall Search
fulloracle:"you become the monarch"

Monarch is a player's designation that was introduced for multiplayer games in Conspiracy: Take the Crown.

Description

The Monarch marker

Only one player at a time can be the monarch. The monarch has the following ability: "At the beginning of the monarch's end step, draw a card." In addition, several cards in Conspiracy: Take the Crown get better or have an additional ability if you're the monarch.

A special marker was included in booster packs of Conspiracy: Take the Crown that can be used to indicate which player is the Monarch. This can be placed on the battlefield or in the command zone, but is not a token (because it doesn't represent a permanent) or emblem but rather a status.

Monarch was inspired by the "Edge" mechanic, a similar mechanic from Vampire: the Eternal Struggle (another trading card game created by Richard Garfield and at one point published by Wizards of the Coast). A similar mechanic had also been considered for Ixalan.

Becoming the Monarch

At the start of the game, no player is the monarch. The monarch status only enters the game through a card's ability that causes a player to become the monarch.

Once a player is the monarch, they remain the monarch until another player's creature deals combat damage to them, at which point that creature's controller becomes the new monarch.

If the monarch leaves the game, the turn player becomes the new monarch. If the turn player was the monarch, the next player in turn order becomes the new monarch.

Rules

From the glossary of the Comprehensive Rules (June 7, 2024—Modern Horizons 3)

Monarch

A designation a player can have. Some effects instruct a player to become the monarch. The monarch draws a card at the beginning of their end step. Dealing combat damage to the monarch steals the title from that player. See rule 722, “The Monarch.”

From the Comprehensive Rules (June 7, 2024—Modern Horizons 3)

• 722. The Monarch
  • 722.1. The monarch is a designation a player can have. There is no monarch in a game until an effect instructs a player to become the monarch.
  • 722.2. There are two inherent triggered abilities associated with being the monarch. These triggered abilities have no source and are controlled by the player who was the monarch at the time the abilities triggered. This is an exception to rule 113.8. The full texts of these abilities are “At the beginning of the monarch’s end step, that player draws a card” and “Whenever a creature deals combat damage to the monarch, its controller becomes the monarch.”
  • 722.3. Only one player can be the monarch at a time. As a player becomes the monarch, the current monarch ceases to be the monarch.
  • 722.4. If the monarch leaves the game, the active player becomes the monarch at the same time as that player leaves the game. If the active player is leaving the game or if there is no active player, the next player in turn order becomes the monarch. If no player still in the game can become the monarch, the game continues with no monarch.
  • 722.5. If the result of a continuous effect generated by a static ability is determined based on who is currently the monarch, but there is no monarch in the game as that effect begins to apply, that effect does nothing until a player becomes the monarch. See rule 613, “Continuous Effects.”

Rulings

• The game starts with no monarch. Once an effect makes one player the monarch, the game will have exactly one monarch from that point forward.
• Abilities that trigger whenever you "become the monarch" trigger only if you aren't already the monarch. For example, if you are already the monarch as Custodi Lich enters the battlefield, its last ability won't trigger.
• If the triggered ability that causes the monarch to draw a card goes on the stack, and a different player becomes the monarch before that ability resolves, the first player will still draw the card.

Monarch interaction cards

• Garrulous Sycophant
• Throne Warden