Monarch

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

Description
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.

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. As a player becomes the monarch, the current monarch (if any) ceases being the monarch.
 * 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.
 * 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. 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."
 * 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.
 * If the monarch leaves the game during another player's turn, that player becomes the monarch. If the monarch leaves the game during their turn, the next player in turn order becomes the monarch.
 * If combat damage dealt to the monarch causes that player to lose the game, the triggered ability that causes the controller of the attacking creature to become the monarch doesn't resolve. In most cases, the controller of the attacking creature will still become the monarch as it is likely their turn.