General description:
I have been waiting eagerly for the TCG release of the latest and totally awesome monarch, the Dark Caius! Finally, he makes his grand arrival, and he's here to prove that those who thought that 'monarchs are dead' are seriously wrong!
Strategies and game play:
With Raiza being limited to 1, monarchs have incurred a huge downfall! However, Caius has arrived at the right time to breathe life again into monarch builds! In todays metagame, currently dominated by ‘DAD’ and his friends, hitting a Dark monster for Caius effect is not a big deal! While this can disrupt an opponent's ‘DAD Return’ (the ideal scenario here is to get DAD removed), it can also give them some boost! Getting monsters removed from play, which is no longer a safe area of the game, more precisely, the most dangerous area of the game, can help them in their fundamental combo, i.e., massive swarm with Dimension Fusion/Return From The Different Dimension! So we can expect this card not only to find its place in Monarch builds, but also in the mighty ‘DAD Return’ and many other decks! What’s even better is that this amazing card can hit ANY and really ANY card on the field, which can disrupt a lot of decks, mainly combo-based ones! Having said that, we can expect this card to be a terribly broken one!
Uses:
Obviously, remove ANY card on the field; be it monsters (if it’s a Dark, inflict 1000 pts damage to your opponent), spell or trap cards!
Combos with other cards:
1. Caius+DD survivor/DD scout plane: Combo is clear; remove your DD’s, deal 1000 pts damage to your opponent, and next turn, get Survivor/Scout plane back to you!
2. Caius+Allure of Darkness: Caius makes a great target for ‘Allure of darkness’!
3. Caius+D.D.R: Remove a Dark monster from your side of the field for Caius effect, and use Different Dimension Reincarnation (another broken card) to get back that monster to you! A great target is DMoC!
4. Caius+Fires of Doomsday: Another, clear combo!
5. Caius+DDV: Caius work is over,i.e., already dealt 3400 damage to your opponent? Why not now tribute it for Deck Devastation Virus, and destroy your opponent’s monsters?
Ways to counteract it:
Really, should I tackle this part? It’s the same as all the other monarchs! Anyways, there’s ‘Pulling the rug’, ‘Forced Back’, ‘Skill Drain’, ‘Divine Wrath’, 'By order of the emperor', etc…
Strengths/Pros:
1. Can get rid of any card on the field!
2. If a Dark monster is hit, deal 1000 pts damage to your opponent!
Weaknesses/Cons:
1. Effect is mandatory! But Caius is always there to be removed (to deal 1000 damage) and you can get him back effortlessly with D.D.R! So it’s not really a flaw!
Variations:
It’s only available in SD14: The Dark emperor as an Ultra Rare!
Artwork and aesthetics:
The art is nice, and I imagine Caius preparing a ‘dark sphere’ to banish a card to a ‘different dimension’!
Overall rating:
Alright, observably I give Caius a 10/10! If you don’t know why, then read the whole review!