|
Doomkaiser Dragon
Card# CSOC-EN043
Doomkaiser Dragon's effect isn't just for Zombie World duelists: remember that its effect can swipe copies of Plaguespreader Zombie, too!
Click here for more
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
|
| |
Today, I'm going to look at one of the most interesting decks from a deck building perspective: a Gravekeeper deck. With some of the best effects in the game for non-tribute monsters, the Gravekeeper's monsters can win games very quickly and really disrupt the strategy of other decks. Of all the "tribal Beatdown" decks, the Gravekeeper deck probably has the most little tricks and surprises. It's not easy to play, but it can really be worth doing so.
 The deck was sent in by Kevin, from Panama. Here's what he had to say:
Hi, my name is Kevin, and I live in Panama. Can you fix my deck? I use a Gravekeeper's deck. Would Guardian Sphinx help me more than the Penguin Soldier? Is it better to use Curse of Royal than Judgment of Anubis to protect my Necrovalley?
Thank you.
—Kevin Alan Rojas Delgado, Panama
Thanks for sending it in, Kevin! I'll see what I can do for you. Here's the deck list Kevin submitted:
Kevin's Gravekeeper Deck
43 cards
Monsters
2 Gravekeeper's Chief
1 Cyber Jar
3 Gravekeeper's Assailant
1 Gravekeeper's Guard
3 Gravekeeper's Spear Soldier
3 Gravekeeper's Spy
2 Gravekeeper's Watcher
1 Penguin Soldier
Spells
1 Dark Hole
1 Change of Heart
2 Graceful Charity
1 Harpie's Feather Duster
1 Heavy Storm
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
3 Necrovalley
1 Nobleman of Crossout
1 Pot of Greed
1 Raigeki
2 Royal Tribute
1 Snatch Steal
1 Terraforming
1 United We Stand
Traps
2 Magic Jammer
1 Mirror Force
2 Rite of Spirit
1 Negate Attack
2 Judgment of Anubis
1 Solemn Judgment
Well, it's got all the pieces of a solid Gravekeeper deck, but the problem here (other than the fact that Graceful Charity is limited to one—no biggie, we'll fix that) is that some of the support cards demanded of the higher-echelon decks of this type aren't present. Other than that, there's not alot to fix. I'm going to tweak and rebalance the quantity of some cards that are already here, and add a cool new card from Ancient Sanctuary, and that'll be it!
 Starting with freeing up some space, I'm going to drop the two Gravekeeper's Chiefs to one. I'm going to be adding in a Witch of the Black Forest, and some cards to make Witch of the Black Forest easier to get at, so really, when you need or want a Gravekeeper's Chief, you'll still be able to get to it relatively easily. In the mean time, the deck starts off a bit raggedly at points since it really needs Necrovalley to work well, so the second Gravekeeper's Chief hits the road.
Next up, I'm going to remove Cyber Jar. There are a lot of reasons for this decision. It's a bad draw in the early game when you don't yet have Necrovalley on the field, so if your opponent flips it up on his or her turn, your Gravekeepers are probably going to get wailed on. In addition, those five cards your opponent takes due to Cyber Jar's effect could easily be spell and trap removal, which could then be used to destroy your Necrovalleys. It's a great card, but it's too much of a loose cannon in this deck.
The pair of Gravekeeper's Watchers is going to be lifted as well. They're mostly side deck material, but if you really want to side deck Control, you're probably better off running three Electric Snakes instead of Gravekeeper's Watcher. Though a lot of the Gravekeeper's monsters are awesome, this unfortunately isn't one of them.
I'm going to lift Penguin Soldier as well. If you'd prefer to keep him or Guardian Sphinx, I'd say it depends on what you'd like to accomplish. Guardian Sphinx could be quite good, providing defense that the deck lacks and a great mode of clearing the way for attack. Personally though, I'd go with neither.
One Graceful Charity has to be removed, just because it's illegal to run more than one. That's fine, the wiggle-room helps anyways.
 The two Royal Tributes are gone. Royal Tribute would be quite useful if it didn't require Necrovalley to be on the field, but since it does require Necrovalley to be active, it means it can only really be used reliably in the mid and late game. What that means is that most players will only have one or maybe two monsters in their hands anyways—not a lot of point in subjecting the opponent and yourself to discarding them, especially when one of the key strengths of a Gravekeeper deck is its ability to have a handful of monster cards that give it a variety of options.
Heavy Storm needs to be removed. With Rite of Spirit in the deck, you don't need to fear things like Mirror Force as much as other decks do, and the fact that Heavy Storm kills your Necrovalley makes it a very, very poor choice to run in a Gravekeeper deck. If you really need the extra mass-removal of spells and traps the next-best option is probably side decking two Giant Trunades.
Nobleman of Crossout unfortunately has to be removed for use in the side deck, strictly due to space issues. When I went over my fix of the deck, I had to cut something, and unfortunately Nobleman of Crossout was the easiest thing to drop from the lineup. With Gravekeeper's Spear Soldier in the deck, face-down monsters won't be much of a concern from a damage perspective. However, a few effects could still hurt you, such as D. D. Warrior Lady and Cyber Jar, so proceed with caution. Luckily, Fiber Jar is almost a non-factor, since Necrovalley negates it. If not for that fact, Nobleman of Crossout would be sorely missed in this deck.
I'm going to drop United We Stand for the same reason. I love the idea of United We Stand on a Spear Soldier, but the deck is fat and it can't afford to be. Again, this is one for the side deck, to be rotated in during games in which you feel it's a lower risk than usual to play this card over another.
I really don't like most of the options for protecting Necrovalley. Ideally you'll only need two or three turns with Necrovalley out on the field anyways, and usually the best defense against spell and trap removal is distraction—using Rite of Spirit and other cards to draw out Mystical Space Typhoons and Harpie's Feather Dusters. In addition, one can always just replace a Necrovalley that gets destroyed as quickly as possible. More Terraformings are going to take some of the slots freed up by removing two Magic Jammers, two Judgment of Anubis, and one Solemn Judgment. I honestly think Solemn Judgment is the only card I'd consider keeping. Test out a pair, and see how they work. They won't be necessary in alot of metagames, but they might be in some, so it's worth giving the deck a shot with and without Solemn Judgment.
Last up, I'm taking out Negate Attack. Unlike its more viable cousin, Waboku, Negate Attack isn't chainable. Not only does that make it of little use in most decks, it's especially bad here, where the chainable quality of Waboku would be a welcome tool in distracting the opponent from destroying Necrovalley. I'd side deck two Waboku, but I'd just relegate Negate Attack to the trade binder.
 Now for the additions! Some obvious support monsters are lacking from the mix. Witch of the Black Forest and Sangan are both cards that need to be in virtually any deck. Witch of the Black Forest is an absolute staple for any deck that uses monsters, while Sangan is almost as good. In addition, Mystic Tomato is going to let you pull itself, Witch of the Black Forest, Sangan, Gravekeeper's Assailant, Gravekeeper's Guard, Gravekeeper's Spear Soldier, and Gravekeeper's Spy. You might only rarely ever want to special summon Gravekeeper's Spy or Gravekeeper's Guard, but they're options, and having more options is never a bad thing. Mystic Tomato is, in short, going to allow you to special summon any monster card from your deck, at will, other than the Gravekeeper's Chief. It's also going to protect your board presence, and uhh . . . it's kind of ugly in a child-scaring sort of way . . . I guess that's a positive. Anyways, it's a must for a Gravekeeper deck, so I'm adding in three.
Next up, I'm going to add two more Terraformings to the deck, putting you at three total. Three Terraformings are a staple in any good Gravekeeper deck because of the speed they add to the deck. With three Necrovalleys and three Terraformings, getting that first Necrovalley into play usually isn't too difficult, and that's the one that counts the most.
The deck needs a Monster Reborn. It's possible it was just left off the list by mistake, but we need to add it in. Monster Reborn is a great card, totally uncosted, and it not only gives you access to your previously-used options (which in this deck are very significant and important), it can also be really useful for nabbing a big beat stick monster that your opponent discarded or lost from the field. I'm hard-pressed to think of a deck where I wouldn't want Monster Reborn.
I'm going to add one more Mystical Space Typhoon. This helps fill the void left by the Heavy Storm that had to be removed. The deck's still a bit light on spell and trap removal, but as I was saying earlier, because it's so resilient it doesn't have quite the same amount of emphasis on spell and trap removal as other attack-based decks frequently do. You can get away with just a single Harpie's Feather Duster and two Mystical Space Typhoon.
The last spell I want to introduce into the deck is a new one from Ancient Sanctuary. Called Enemy Controller, it has two effects, and you choose one of the two. First, it can change the battle position of one face-up monster on your opponent's side of the field. Second, you can tribute one of your monsters to take control of one of your opponent's face-up monsters of your choice until the end of the turn. I think that this card can do a lot in a Gravekeeper deck. Its first effect can turn a high-ATK monster to defense position so that it can be neatly pounded by a Gravekeeper's Spear Soldier without necessitating the use of the effect of a Gravekeeper's Assailant. The second effect is really nice, and provides a great way for your Gravekeeper's monsters to deal with really big tribute monsters, or monsters that have been pumped up a great deal with equip spells. Anyone who's played a Gravekeeper deck can vouch for the fact that often it's just one big thug on the opposite side of the field that ruins an otherwise-perfect game. Enemy Controller turns that disabling big monster into an ally, if only for a while.
 Lastly, the traps could use some retooling. One more Rite of Spirit would fit very well, so I'm going to add one of those. That's an easy fix to make. However, the deck is lacking Imperial Order, Call of the Haunted, and Ring of Destruction, all of which I think are great cards for this deck (even though Call of the Haunted can potentially be negated by Necrovalley). These might be a bit tricky to find, but they're all very powerful cards, and they're certainly not in the league of cost alongside Chaos Emperor Dragon - Envoy of the End. Since Ring of Destruction has been reprinted, it shouldn't be that hard to find, and a lot of players bought a lot of Pharaoh's Servant, so Imperial Order is often easy to get as well. Call of the Haunted is an ultra rare, so it might set you back, but with some creative trading, you can probably get one with minimal cost and a bit of effort.
Those are all the changes to the deck, so here's the final tally on subtractions and additions:
-1 Gravekeeper's Chief
-1 Cyber Jar
-2 Gravekeeper's Watcher
-1 Penguin Soldier
-1 Graceful Charity
-2 Royal Tribute
-1 Heavy Storm
-1 United We Stand (Side Deck)
-1 Nobleman of Crossout (Side Deck)
-2 Magic Jammer
-1 Negate Attack
-2 Judgment of Anubis (Side Deck)
-1 Solemn Judgment (Side Deck)
+3 Mystic Tomato
+1 Witch of the Black Forest
+1 Sangan
+2 Terraforming
+1 Monster Reborn
+1 Mystical Space Typhoon
+2 Enemy Controller
+1 Rite of Spirit
+1 Imperial Order
+1 Call of the Haunted
+1 Ring of Destruction
And here is the fixed build of Kevin's deck:
Kevin's Gravekeeper Deck, Jason's Fix
41 cards
Monsters
1 Gravekeeper's Chief
3 Gravekeeper's Assailant
1 Gravekeeper's Guard
3 Gravekeeper's Spear Soldier
3 Gravekeeper's Spy
3 Mystic Tomato
1 Witch of the Black Forest
1 Sangan
Spells
1 Dark Hole
1 Change of Heart
1 Monster Reborn
1 Graceful Charity
1 Harpie's Feather Duster
1 Pot of Greed
1 Raigeki
1 Snatch Steal
2 Mystical Space Typhoon
3 Necrovalley
3 Terraforming
2 Enemy Controller
Traps
1 Mirror Force
3 Rite of Spirit
1 Imperial Order
1 Call of the Haunted
1 Ring of Destruction
 The deck should run far, far better now. In the submitted version, the deck had the key cards it needed: the Gravekeeper's monsters and Necrovalley. However, the support monsters, spells, and traps needed to aid and protect the central strategy were lacking. You've now got a slightly brighter view in the opening turn, due to the three Mystic Tomatoes, Witch of the Black Forest, and Sangan, and you'll be able to thin the deck and get to the cards you need to win much faster than before. In its new, fixed form, the deck is what a Gravekeeper's deck should be: a precision tool that uses its wide array of effects to put itself at an advantage and control the game.
For the side deck, I'd just suggest the cards noted above in the changes list: United We Stand, Nobleman of Crossout, Magic Jammer, Judgment of Anubis, and Solemn Judgment. Torrential Tribute might not be the best choice for side decking against Chaos, since a Gravekeeper deck aims to swarm the opponent and even with Rite of Spirit Torrential Tribute would probably cripple the deck's building offence. Luckily, you don't need to side deck against Chaos much at all—Necrovalley negates the ability to special summon Chaos monsters to begin with, since monsters cannot be removed from graveyards. Very nice.
That's it for me! Hopefully the fix helps you out, Kevin. Thanks again for sending in your deck!
As a reminder, players with deck ideas they would like to see featured in this column can email their requests to jasonatmetagame@yahoo.com. Please include your first name, city and state of residence, decklist in the format used above, and a few sentences about your deck and the challenges and successes you've had with it.
|
| |
| Top of Page |
|
|
| |
|