I don’t think I can stress enough how important the new field spell search monsters from Force of the Breaker are. They quite literally create new, viable decks just by existing—as I demonstrated last week with the Meltiel/Sanctuary build of counter Fairy. Unfortunately, no matter how hard I try to disbelieve it, Zeradias, Herald of Heaven—while number one in my book—was not the most acclaimed of the field spell searchers by the general public. The recipient of that particular honor is somewhat unclear, but we have it narrowed down to two of the six searchers: Harpie Queen and Gravekeeper’s Commandant. Harpie fans would argue that their field spell searcher is superior, since she does more than just search out a field card. It’s true: Harpie Queen also counts as Harpie Lady, and she does so in such a way that you’re still allowed to have three actual Harpie Lady cards in your deck alongside the Queen.

On the other hand, Gravekeeper supporters would be quick to note that their deck was already pretty good and even managed to capture a Shonen Jump Championship Top 8 spot a while back. Furthermore, they would remind the Harpie fans that Gravekeeper’s Spy is a lot more versatile than Birdface, most Gravekeeper monsters can be pumped into the range at which they could be tributed for Deck Devastation Virus thanks to Necrovalley, and finally, Necrovalley wreaks a whole lot of havoc on currently popular decks, especially the Destiny Hero powered Monarch builds.

Normally, I wouldn’t take a side in a debate that I think is intrinsically wrong (Zeradias forever!), but in this case, I’m afraid I’m going to have to side with the Gravekeeper fans. With Jessy Samek’s victory at SJC Philadelphia, players everywhere are pulling their Diamond Dude Turbo decks apart and using its key components (along with a huge helping of Raiza the Storm Monarch) to create and upgrade new Monarch builds during the weeks leading up to Nationals. While the new Destiny Hero cards make Monarch decks even more effective and easier to use, including them also introduces a number of flaws into the Monarch deck that can then be exploited. For example, looking at Lazaro Bellido’s Monarch deck from Philly, I count a total of seven cards that become useless when Banisher of the Radiance or Dimensional Fissure is on the field. Scroll down to Jessy’s deck, and that number jumps to ten, a quarter of the deck. Furthermore, Jessy’s deck sacrifices one of the most consistent generators of tribute material—Gravekeeper’s Spy—to include more cards that can be easily beaten by D.D. Crow, in addition to Banisher and Dimensional Fissure. Decks are becoming more and more graveyard-oriented as Card Trooper use increases, and combined with the release of Gravekeeper’s Commandant, now is looking like the perfect time to punish this shift in the metagame with a little help from Necrovalley.

“Angelina Jolie Hates This Deck”

Monsters: 20

3 Cyber Dragon

3 Gravekeeper’s Commandant

3 Gravekeeper’s Spy

3 Gravekeeper’s Assailant

3 Gravekeeper’s Spear Soldier

2 Gravekeeper’s Guard

2 Exiled Force 

1 Sangan

Spells: 11

3 Necrovalley

1 Heavy Storm

1 Mystical Space Typhoon

1 Snatch Steal

1 Nobleman of Crossout

1 Book of Moon

2 Royal Tribute

1 Confiscation

Traps: 9

3 Rite of Spirit

2 Trap Dustshoot

1 Mind Crush

1 Mirror Force

1 Torrential Tribute

1 Ring of Destruction

My goal here was to come up with the most disruptive deck I could imagine. Gravekeepers are aggressive, so the best way to support that is to create as many opportunities to rid the opponent of monsters as possible. The most obvious evidence of this is the increased use of Trap Dustshoot, which seems to get better and better as I continue to play with it. Nothing disrupts an opponent like stealing his or her optimal turn 1 or turn 2 play, and Trap Dustshoot has been the master of doing exactly that since it made its way out of the side deck and into the main deck at Philly. Monsters on the field will have difficulty staying there as well—not because of a huge number of removal spells and traps, but thanks to the efforts of Exiled Force and Gravekeeper’s Assailant. Regarding the latter, having access to a constant source of Enemy Controller’s first effect is amazing, especially when that source is easily searchable from the deck and able to be special summoned from the graveyard (despite the limiting effects of Necrovalley).

The real trick that Gravekeepers have access to, however, is a spell that most players pass up as being too debilitating to both players for use in competitive play. Fortunately, cards with interesting symmetries are exactly the kind of cards I tend to seek out, and that makes Royal Tribute a definite inclusion in this deck. Royal Tribute can only be activated while you have Necrovalley on the field, and it forces both players to discard every monster in their hands. It’s probably the most brutal thing you can do to an opponent, and thanks to all the Gravekeeper special summon tricks and the fact that you can play out your monsters before you activate the card, there’s no excuse for not playing Royal Tribute.

The cornerstone of the deck is, of course, Necrovalley. Without it, you just have a bunch of smallish monsters that don’t do much, and your opponent has full access to all his or her cards in the graveyard. That means that you need to put Necrovalley on the field as quickly as you possibly can and keep it there. I’ve considered the merits of various ratios of Gravekeeper’s Commandant to Necrovalley, and the only one that seems to really keep this ideal in mind is to play three of each. Unlike last week’s deck (which only really needs one Sanctuary throughout the course of the game), Gravekeeper decks generally have no tricks to keep their spell on the field, making three Necrovalley cards a must. From there, it’s a short hop to realize that Commandant is useful regardless of whether or not you have a Necrovalley, so there really isn’t any reason to go with fewer than three. Pitch him if you don’t have Necrovalley, play him as a 2100 ATK monster if you do. The fact that the searchers are always useful makes their inclusion as a three-of almost definite in every deck you’d play them in.

Cyber Dragon is a mainstay of any deck that wants to swarm the field, and this one is no exception. In addition to Cyber Dragon, your main attackers will be Gravekeeper’s Spear Soldier and Gravekeeper’s Assailant. The piercing damage provided by the Spear Soldier is really amazing right now, since many players are relying on puny monsters like Destiny Hero - Malicious, Destiny Hero - Disk Commander, Destiny Hero - Fear Monger, and Treeborn Frog to keep up their defenses while they try to draw into Monarchs. Spear Soldier allows you to punish these defenders by crashing straight through them for damage. I’ve seen a lot of people keep their last few thousand life points safe behind Disk Commander just because the opponent didn’t want to see him revived to net the controller two cards.

Extra cards have no meaning if you have already lost the game, however, so feel free to punch through that Disk Commander, especially if doing so will either win you the game or set you up to win the game. Heck, let the opponent draw the cards and then blast the opponent’s hand with Trap Dustshoot to steal whatever Monarch he or she wants to play. Gravekeeper’s Assailant and Gravekeeper’s Guard are great answers to the Monarchs once they start hitting the field, since Assailant can switch Monarchs to their weaker defense position to either defeat them in battle by himself, or to set up for Spear Soldier to crash through them. The Guard flat-out bounces anything, which is excellent when you’re dealing with Treeborn Frog or Sangan. Gravekeepers force the opponent to play your game rather than letting the opponent complete his or her strategy without interference, and the deck does it with a speed rivaled only by combo decks, Samurai, and Crystal Beasts.

The inclusion of Royal Tribute allows you a lot of leeway in all of the most important matchups in the current metagame. Dumping all of a Crystal Beast player’s monsters into the graveyard forces that player to rely on his or her spell support (which won’t work while Necrovalley is active) and topdecking into extra copies of Crystal Beast Sapphire Pegasus (which won’t be able to pull any Crystal Beasts from the graveyard should something important like Crystal Beast Ruby Carbuncle be sent there). Royal Tribute also dismantles Monarchs, especially when a player gets a hand that looks like “four Monarchs, Malicious, and Destiny Draw,” which happens a lot more than I’d expect it to. Finally, Royal Tribute throws Demise players into disarray, since they lose any copies of Demise along with all of their searchers when Royal Tribute is played. Necrovalley also stops Doom Dozer from being summoned should your opponent be unable to summon Demise due to your initial meddling. Gravekeepers have an answer for essentially everything, and a proper side deck will only make them stronger. If you’ve never tried a Gravekeeper deck out, now is the time, and until next time, play hard, play fair, and most importantly, have fun!

Jerome McHale

jcmchale@andrew.cmu.edu

NEXT WEEK: I appease the Harpie Queen fans.