Ameen Bahar, a member of both Team Crew!! and Team Revolution, has perhaps the most experience with Gravekeepers out of any North American duelist. A familiar face who’s attended something like ten Shonen Jump Championships in his time, he’s repeatedly come back to Gravekeepers across a number of different formats. For experimental builds and overall experience, he’s rivaled by only a handful of duelists. Chris Moosman is the only one who comes to mind, and while Moosman’s skill is undeniable, he doesn’t have Bahar’s experience in high-pressure Shonen Jump environments.

Deck Devastation Virus is what makes this deck really cool. Once Necrovalley hits the field, Gravekeeper’s Spear Soldier and Gravekeeper’s Assailant each get bumped up to 2000 ATK, meaning that they can be tributed for the Virus’s cost. The Virus’s effect then robs the opponent of all the small monsters that can stand in the way of your horde.

As for big monsters, well, that’s what Widespread Ruin is for. Notice the lack of Sakuretsu Armor? This is one of the format transitions I was hoping for, but I didn’t think I’d really see it happening.

The primary advantage to Sakuretsu Armor over Widespread Ruin is that you choose what gets hit with the Armor, in contrast to Ruin, which decides on its own which monster it will destroy. This means that it will often miss Mystic Swordsman LV2 and Spirit Reaper. In fact, the existence of those two monsters is virtually the only thing that has made Sakuretsu the obvious pick over Widespread for the past six months.

However, the fact that Sakuretsu Armor targets is also its downfall in this comparison. A number of chainable cards can render Sakuretsu Armor a non-factor: just remove that one monster from play or turn it face down, and the opponent just wasted their Sakuretsu. Book of Moon, Compulsory Evacuation Device, Interdimensional Matter Transporter, Beast Soul Swap, and many other cards can create a situation in which Sakuretsu is activated to no effect. Widespread Ruin, however, can still destroy a monster when faced with virtually any of these chainable answers, provided that the opponent still has a face up monster on the field when Widespread looks to resolve.

Spirit Reaper is seeing less play, and with Nobleman of Crossout threatening flip effect monsters, Mystic Swordsman LV2 has lost a lot of steam. Neither of these cards are being run as often as they used to be, and that means that Sakuretsu Armor has less of an advantage when compared to Widespread. Meanwhile, the impetuses to run Widespread (especially Compulsory Evacuation Device) are increasing in visibility at Shonen Jump Championships. The scales are tilting in Widespread Ruin’s favor.

At the same time, Bahar’s deck, in particular, can deal with monster that are below 2000 ATK. He’s got eight monsters that hit the 2000+ range with ease, and Rite of Spirit can special summon six of them back to the field. He doesn’t care about blocking attacks from small monsters, either. He desperately wants to hit those big monsters that his Viruses and monsters can’t clear out themselves, so Widespread Ruin is an easy pick over Sakuretsu Armor.

The splash of Soul Control is actually a popular pick here today—we’re seeing a lot of random Brain Control and Monarchs in Beatdown decks—and that’s exactly what Bahar’s got going on here. It makes a ton of sense for him. Again, it’s giving him a way of overcoming the large monsters that his Gravekeeper’s can’t naturally destroy on their own, and it’s a great equalizer when he can’t manage to get out, or at least keep out, Necrovalley. Expect to see more splashing of the card set as this format goes on – more face up monsters means higher utility for Brain Control, and Monarchs certainly aren’t going anywhere.

With a great record thus far, Bahar might finally be ready to make his breakout showing here today. Keep an eye on him as we update the standings each round. Gravekeepers may finally be tier one!