September 2008

 

Looking Under The Bed - Gravekeepers

 

Hey all, and welcome to another edition of "Looking Under the Bed." Last time we spoke about Trick Burn and its interesting mechanics (and cards), and this time I'd like to speak to you about a deck that's incredibly fun to run (took me to 1st place at a local tourney), incredibly hard to play against and even harder to sidedeck against. I'm speaking, of course, about Gravekeepers, and their amazing ability to shut down just about anything. Which is what we're going to focus on here today. The point of the Gravekeepers deck is simple; overload the field with boosted-ATK monsters that share a theme, have synergy, and flow well, while denying access to the Graveyard and destroying all hope of recursion for your opponent while you slaughter them whole. Oh, and being able to use your Graveyard while your opponent cannot is always fun too.
 
There are many Gravekeeper builds out there. Some are more traditional, while some (including mine) are a bit more unorthodox in nature. A lot of people who play Gravekeepers ignore the fact that they are, in fact, Spellcasters, and therefore have the same resources that any other Spellcaster deck would enjoy. This includes some cards that are normally left for hardcore Spellcasters and Dark Magician builds, but can be perfectly reasonable in this here build. So without further ado, I present to you my very own Gravekeepers build:
 

Monsters (20):

 

2x Gravekeeper’s Assailant

3x Gravekeeper’s Guard

3x Gravekeeper’s Spy

3x Gravekeeper’s Spear Soldier

2x Gravekeeper’s Chief

3x Mystic Tomato

1x Gravekeeper’s Commandant

1x Breaker the Magical Warrior

1x Don Zaloog

1x Spirit Reaper

 
Now, the cool thing about this monster lineup is that it's traditional and yet not at the same time. Gravekeepers are known for their amazing synergy, able to pull themselves up and keep swinging (even moreso with Necrovalley on the field). Gravekeeper's Assailant acts as your very own Enemy Controller, allowing you to reposition your opponent's monsters and throw them to your friends, while Guard puts them back in the hand and Spy fetches. The great thing about this deck is the amount of recruiting power at your fingertips: three copies of both Gravekeeper's Spy and Mystic Tomato will ensure that you'll almost always have a Gravekeeper on the field, and Gravekeeper's Chief ensures that you can bring them back and Special Summon them whenever you'd like. It's a simple monster build, but according to Occam's Razor, simple explanations are the best. You don't need superflouous monsters when the core build here should suffice.
 

Spell (12):

 

3x Necrovalley

1x Terraforming

2x Magical Dimension

1x Smashing Ground

1x Mystical Space Typhoon

1x Book of Moon

3x Shrink

 
This is where it gets really interesting. You have your three copies of Necrovalley, adding a fourth with a lone copy of Terraforming (and a fifth with Gravekeeper's Commandant), while Magical Dimension helps to cycle your monsters and keep some fresh ones on the table. It's a good choice in this agressive build because, during battle, you can switch Gravekeepers out of the fight and replace them with new ones (due to Magical Dimension's Quick-Play status). Smashing Ground, Mystical Space Typhoon and Book of Moon (the lone copy) are staples, able to deal with multiple threats, but the biggest surprise of them all (well, one of two anyway) is the three copies of Shrink. Shrink has been skirted by the hardcore players of today, labeled as too inconsistent and not worthy of the slots it takes up. However, they are completely wrong. Gravekeepers are small and out-of-the-way, so they need some oomph to make them noticable. Shrink brings them up to the level of the mightiest (by bringing the mightiest down to their level, if that makes sense) and lets them compete against Monarchs, Gladiator Beasts, Lightsworn and more (Lightsworn in particular gets crushed). It's Quick-Play status makes it all the more ideal to spring surprise attacks on your opponents and gain the upper hand through subterfuge and espionage as opposed to outright aggression.
 

Traps (8):

 

2x Rite of Spirit

2x Solemn Judgment

1x Torrential Tribute

1x Mirror Force

2x Magic Drain

 
The Trap lineup is also fairly simple. Gravekeepers are reliant exclusively on Necrovalley for support and maintenance, so its important that you protect it at all costs anytime it is on the field. This is where Magic Drain and Solemn Judgment come in, because they're your biggest negator cards. Your Gravekeepers can handle any big monsters, as can your Spell lineup, but you're dead in the water without Necrovalley. It's cruicial that you keep it on the field.
 
Gravekeepers like to be in control. Therefore, you need to keep them in control as long as possible. Make sure that you control the tempo of the game, and this is done by keeping a steady flow of monsters and getting Necrovalley out as soon as possible. Once Necrovalley hits the field, you're going to be sitting pretty because all of your Gravekeepers are going to be a lot harder to kill. Use your monsters wisely - you have multiples of all of them, sure, but once they're gone they're going to be harder to get back as it gets later and later in the game. Rite of Spirit and Gravekeeper's Chief are important cards, but not as important as keeping the monsters in your hand and on the field.
 
-Anteaus