Gravekeeper decks seem to be enjoying a resurgence in popularity, and several duelists chose to play them at the Shonen Jump Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG Championship tournament at Gen Con So Cal. Especially with the reduction in Spell and Trap removal in the Advanced Format, decks reliant upon field spell cards can do quite well, and a well-made, well-played Gravekeeper deck can be hard to beat. Kirk Leonhardt came to the event armed with just such a deck, updating the original archetype with a few cards and strategies from from post-Pharaonic Guardian sets. Let’s take a look at his deck.
Monsters
1 Gravekeeper’s Chief
3 Gravekeeper’s Assailant
3 Gravekeeper’s Spear Soldier
3 Gravekeeper’s Spy
1 Cyber Jar
1 Sinister Serpent
1 Jinzo
1 Mobius the Frost Monarch
1 Breaker the Magical Warrior
1 Tribe-Infecting Virus
1 Tsukuyomi
1 Magical Scientist
Spells
3 Necrovalley
1 Pot of Greed
1 Terraforming
1 Mirage of Nightmare
1 Painful Choice
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Giant Trunade
1 Emergency Provision
1 Swords of Revealing Light
1 Snatch Steal
1 Change of Heart
1 Royal Tribute
1 Book of Moon
1 Enemy Controller
Traps
3 Rite of Spirit
1 Judgment of Anubis
1 Ring of Destruction
1 Raigeki Break
1 Curse of Anubis
1 Zero Gravity
There’s the usual complement of Gravekeepers here; Gravekeeper’s Chief, Gravekeeper’s Assailant, Gravekeepers Spear Soldier and and Gravekeeper’s Spy. This deck is all about field control. These monsters all work together to gain a strong field presence, and then start wreaking havoc on the opponent’s side with position changes and attacking through DEF points. Cyber Jar clears the opponent’s field and bring out more monsters, Sinister Serpent and Jinzo are in the deck because they’re so useful, and there are also a few of the cards and strategies made popular in more recent metagames. Mobius the Frost Monarch and Breaker the Magical Warrior will help clear the opponent’s spell and trap zone, and Tribe-Infecting Virus gets rid of pesky warrior swarms, or large, hard to deal with monsters. Tsukuyomi can be a big help with field control, especially when backed up with monsters that can attack through DEF points. Kirk included the Swiss Army knife of Yu-Gi-Oh!, Magical Scientist and his appropriate hordes of fusion monsters, and it’s a rare deck these days that does not.
Spell-wise, Necrovalley is naturally present. It’s surprising to see only one Terraforming in this type of deck, but since the focus is removed from a pure Gravekeeper archetype, he needed to make room somewhere. Mirage of Nightmare is a bold choice and not a card to be played by the inexperienced, but it will provide fast deck cycling to get what’s needed. Giant Trunade will get it off the field, and not waste the single Mystical Space Typhoon or risk destroying the valuable Necrovalley, while also clearing out trouble in the opponent’s spell and trap zone. Royal Decree won’t hurt a Gravekeeper deck much, as long as the Gravekeeper’s Chief and Rite of Spirit are there to bring back monsters from the Graveyard, and the loss of Monster Reborn in the Advanced format hurts the opponent. Commonly-seen play staples like Snatch Steal, Book of Moon and Enemy Controller give a bit more flexibility during the game.
The deck doesn’t rely much on traps, apart from Rite of Spirit to bring Gravekeeper monsters back from the grave. Ring of Destruction and Raigeki Break are field control cards that work well, and Curse of Anubis and Zero Gravity will scramble the positions of the opponent’s monsters while grating on the opponent’s nerves. Judgement of Anubis takes care of monster, spell, and trap removal all with one card.
Side Deck
1 Gravekeeper’s Chief
1 Spirit Reaper
1 Mask of Darkness
1 Emergency Provisions
1 Giant Trunade
1 Metamorphosis
1 Scapegoat
1 Barrel Behind the Door
1 Ceasefire
1 Compulsory Evacuation Device
1 Curse of Royal
1 Divine Wrath
1 Hallowed Life Barrier
1 Ordeal of a Traveler
Kirk’s side deck is mainly designed to tech against other decks, mainly Direct Damage decks, rather than enhance the synergies within the deck itself.
Fusion Deck
2 Roaring Ocean Snake
1 Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon
1 The Last Warrior from Another Planet
1 Fusionist
1 Flame Ghost
2 Dragoness the Wicked Knight
1 Darkfire Dragon
2 Karbonala Warrior
2 Gilitia the D. Knight
2 Ojama King
3 Dark Blade the Dragon Knight
2 Dark Flare Knight
2 Ryu Senshi
2 Dark Balter
2 Fiend Skull Dragon
1 Reaper on the Nightmare
2 Thousand-Eyes Restrict
There are plenty of the usual Fusion monsters with the most widely-used effects. Fusion decks built to accompany Magical Scientists share many monsters in common, with the most popular being Ryu Senshi, Dark Balter the Terrible, and Thousand-Eyes Restrict. With enough life points to spend, you can Magical Scientist your way out of a lot of sticky situations.
There were a lot of Gravekeeper decks out on the tournament tables, and time will tell how Kirk’s variation fared against the competition. Field control can carry a lot of duels, and the inclusion of some post-Gravekeeper strategies could make it more effective against the tournament metagame, despite a weakening of the classic Gravekeeper synergies.