The monarch: how it works, and how it differs from the initiative

The monarch showed up in Conspiracy: Take the Crown in 2016 and quickly became a Commander favourite. It’s a card advantage engine that sits in the middle of the table and asks everyone to attack the person holding it.

How the monarch works

The rules for the monarch are in section 725 of the Comprehensive Rules. They come down to four points:

1. There’s no monarch until a card makes one. Cards say “you become the monarch.”
2. The monarch draws a card at the beginning of their end step. Every turn, as long as they hold it.
3. Combat damage steals it. Whenever a creature deals combat damage to the monarch, its controller becomes the monarch.
4. Only one player can be the monarch. When someone new becomes the monarch, the old monarch stops being it.

Both abilities belong to the game, not to a card. Killing Palace Jailer doesn’t take the crown away. Once a game has a monarch, it has one until the end.

Stealing the monarch

One point of combat damage from any creature is enough. A 1/1 token that gets through is as good as a dragon. That’s why monarch games turn into lots of small attacks, and why the monarch player usually keeps blockers back.

Things that don’t steal the monarch:

• Noncombat damage, like burn spells or ping abilities.
• Damage to the monarch’s planeswalkers or creatures.
• Making the monarch lose life without dealing damage.

When the monarch leaves the game

If the monarch loses or concedes, the crown doesn’t vanish. Rule 725.4 hands it to the player whose turn it is. If the monarch is the one taking their turn, it goes to the next player in turn order instead.

That means knocking out the monarch on your own turn makes you the monarch.

Cards that make a monarch

• Palace Jailer. Makes you the monarch and exiles a creature until an opponent becomes the monarch, so the crown leaving you also gives the creature back.
• Queen Marchesa. Makes you the monarch when it enters. If an opponent is the monarch at the beginning of your upkeep, it makes a 1/1 Assassin with deathtouch and haste to go take it back.
• The Court cycle from Commander Legends, like Court of Grace and Court of Cunning. Each makes you the monarch when it enters and gives you a bigger bonus every upkeep while you’re still the monarch.

The monarch vs the initiative

The initiative (Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate, 2022) works almost the same way, which makes it easy to mix up. Rule 726 covers it.

The biggest difference is timing. You venture the moment you take the initiative, so stealing it pays off right away. A new monarch has to survive the rest of the turn cycle until their own end step to draw anything.

Undercity is a dungeon you walk through one room at a time, choosing a branch at each step. Every path is five rooms long: it starts at the Secret Entrance, which fetches a basic land, and ends at the Throne of the Dead Three, which puts a creature from the top ten cards of your library onto the battlefield. Hold the initiative for a few turns and you get deep into it.

Keeping track at the table

The monarch is a title, not a card, so people forget who has it, especially after a messy combat. The usual fix is a coin or a spare token in front of the monarch.

Lotus has Monarch and Initiative in the menu. Turn one on and a marker shows up in the middle of the table; drag it to whoever holds it. The marker moves with every steal, so after a three-player combat everyone can see who’s drawing at end of turn.

Tracking the other designations too? Our guide to commander damage covers the other number most Commander games come down to.