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Pojo's Yu-Gi-Oh Card of the Day
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Gravekeeper's Vassal
Common
Spellcaster / Effect Monster
The Battle Damage this card inflicts to your
opponent’s Life Points is treated as the Effect
Damage of this card.
Type
- Dark / 3 / 700 / 500
Card Number
- PGD-063
Ratings
are based on a 1 to 5 scale
1 being
the worst. 3 ... average. 5 is the highest rating
Date Reviewed - 10.05.04 |
|
Coin Flip |
Tue 10.05.04 - Gravekeeper's Vassal
The Gravekeeper counter to Waboku and stall decks.
Stats/Cost: The stats are lackluster, but that is the point.
This thing, even with Necrovalley out, fits under Messenger of Peace,
Gravity Bind, and Level Limit - Area B. It's easy to summon, which is
another plus.
Effect: Well, I think I about summed it up at the top. It
gets past Waboku and other cards that save you from battle damage.
It's basically effect damage as opposed to battle damage. That
simple.
Combos: Dark Room of Nightmare. That's about it, unfortunately.
Post-Ban: It gains a lot of playability here - Waboku, Spirit
Barrier, and the three Bind cards can't touch dis.
Ratings:
1.4/5 in any deck both formats
Gravekeeper's deck: 2.3/5 Traditional, 2.6/5 Championship.
As always, my e-mail is Cakepie (at) Gmail.com. I'd love to hear your feedback! |
|
ExMinion OfDarkness |
Tuesday:
Gravekeeper's Vassal
This card is basically just the "filler" for the
Gravekeeper clan. Konami decided they wanted one
more Gravekeeper for people to have a choice from --
not that many smart players choose it.
700/500 is dismal, and only goes up to 1200/1000
after Necrovalley. Damage from this card is treated
as Effect damage. Okay, so a direct attack from him
would get through Waboku. That's good for
Traditional, since a lot of players who like
chainable traps will run 3 of those. However,
Advanced opens up all those possibilities of
Hallowed Life Barrier (which will see some play with
increased hand size) and Barrel Behind the Door (to
stop all of those stupid Burn decks!) Gravekeeper's
Vassal CAN NOT be counted with Barrel Behind the
Door.
Honestly, there's not much more to say about this
card. He gets under Gravity Bind and Messenger of
Peace, but who is playing those in a Gravekeeper
deck, which relies on Necrovalley for power boosts
and the swarming ability of the GKs as a whole?
1/5 in both formats. |
|
Tranorix |
Gravekeeper's Vassal
I try to give cards honest chances. I try to see
their potential. Gravekeeper's Vassal, along with
Gravekeeper's Watcher, has virtually none. It has
pitiful stats of 700/500, making it searchable by
Tomato and Spy but extraordinarily weak. Why you
would search for this in the first place is beyond
me.
Then we get to the effect. There has been a bit of
confusion about it, so I'll clarify: His damage DOES
NOT count as Battle Damage. It counts as Effect
Damage (though you can't use Barrel Behind the Door
against it). Basically...your opponent can't stop
damage from a direct attack from Gravekeeper's
Vassal with Waboku. I guess that...might be useful,
right? Waboku is played quite a bit.
But that brings into question why your opponent
would bother to use Waboku on Gravekeeper's Vassal
at all, with his pathetic ATK of 700 (boosted to a
still-mediocre 1200 with Necrovalley). The obvious
solution is to put a good equip card or two on
Gravekeeper's Vassal. But...WHY? Why bother using a
monster so weak just to circumvent Waboku, a card
that doesn't hurt you at all anyway?
There is absolutely no reason to run Gravekeeper's
Vassal.
Traditional – CCCC: 1/5
Traditional – Gravekeeper Deck: 1.5/5 (only because
it's a Gravekeeper)
Advanced – Gravekeeper Deck: 1.5/5 (only because
it's a Gravekeeper) |
|
Snapper |
Gravekeeper’s Vassal is a peculiar monster that
manages to slip past a few
annoying Traps let’s see why.
Stats: ATK=700. DEF=500. That’s not very impressive.
But of course, you can
get it with Witch, Sangan, and Tomato. It’s DARK,
giving it all the uses
DARK monsters have. And like all Gravekeepers, it’s
a Spellcaster.
Spellcasters as we all know, do not have a great
deal of cards that benefit
them as a Type. Most Spellcaster support goes to the
Dark Magician, which
does no good for Gravekeeper’s Vassal. Stats – Bad.
Effect: The effect is all that Gravekeeper’s Vassal
really has going for it.
All Battle Damage it does is treated as Effect
Damage. This lets it get
around Waboku and Magic Cylinder to name a few,
which only stop/negate
Battle Damage. These bonuses somewhat make-up for
the terrible stats it has
been given, making it an adequate monster. Effect –
Average.
Combos: There aren’t a lot of in depth combos for
Gravekeeper’s Vassal.
Giving it an Equip Spell Card would help it out
greatly. Having Dark Room of
Nightmare on the Field would also help by giving
your opponent a little
extra damage.
Usability: Just like yesterday’s card, Gravekeeper's
Vassal fits in a
Gravekeeper Deck with ease. Also like yesterday’s
card, the question arises;
would you really want to use this card? I think the
answer to this question
really depends on the variant of Gravekeeper Deck.
If you are using a Burn
Styled or Equip Heavy Gravekeeper Deck, this card
might work for you, but I
don’t find it to be the best choice in your average
Gravekeeper Deck.
Try out Gravekeeper's Vassal casually to see if it
works for you. You never
know what a under-used common could do.
Advanced Format: 2/5. You may see this card in
Advanced. With less S/T
destruction, Equips could be more common, which
benefit this monster.
Traditional Format: 1/5. You’ll have a much more
difficult time doing a lot
of damage with this card in Traditional.
Art: 1.5/5. He looks like he could be Dr.
Frankenstein’s assistant Igor. |
|
Otaku |
Stats : Gravekeeper’s Vassal is Level 3 Dark/Spell
Caster. As a Level 3 Monster, it is able to slip
under Gravity Bind and Level Limit-Area B. That
actually might be important to using this. Dark
means at least it can serve as Chaos Food, and
Spellcasters do have support, though no where near
as much as Warriors. Sadly, its ATK is a mere 700
and its DEF is an even punier 500. At least since it
is a Gravekeeper, it receives a +500/500 bonus to
its ATK/DEF if Necrovalley is on the field. Also,
it’s very searchable; both Sangan and Witch of the
Black Forest can grab it from the deck, and Mystic
Tomato and Gravekeeper’s Spy can grab it from your
deck and Special Summon it to the field. Maybe the
effect can save it?
Effect(s) : Hmmm… the effect itself isn’t too bad.
It’s not going to win you the game on its own, but
it can be nice to mess with your opponent. The
battle damage inflicted by this card to your
opponent’s Life Points, it counts as effect damage.
This can really mess with an opponent, since some
cards won’t protect like they normally word, and
other cards can be triggered.
Uses and Combinations : I love Waboku. Such a useful
card. Surprisingly, there are still several duelists
(and of course many new players) who don’t think
it’s that good. They demand tangible card, field, or
Life Point advantage. Those are wonderful things to
gain, but sometimes Waboku’s main selling point is
buying that one extra turn of life you needed for
yourself… and likely a Monster. I know when I use
Gravekeeper’s, a Waboku can mean the difference
between keeping control, and losing it: they take
out my Necrovalley, and all my Monster’s become
weak. So I Waboku to keep them alive (if the
opponent has a Tribe Infecting Virus or something,
they’d have been dead even with Necrovalley on the
field) until next turn, when I probably have another
Necrovalley ready. So what does that have to do with
Gravekeeper’s Vassal? Waboku won’t stop the overflow
damage from it. Neither would Kuriboh. This is one
of the few cards that is almost impossible to block
the damage of. Sure, they could have something like
Barrel Behind the Door down… oh wait, it was ruled
that doesn’t work. Oh well, they need something that
can chain to a Dust Tornado like Waboku can. And is
there something that can block “effect” damage
straight from hand like Kuriboh?
Sadly, the lost stats of this monster mean that even
with Necrovalley, it would only be “safe” to use for
the finishing blow. Of course, since it sneaks under
Gravity Bind and Level Limit-Area B, decks using
that might want to consider it. And added
bonus-cards like Dark Room of Nightmare can tack on
some more damage, are not unheard of in burn decks.
Ratings
Traditional : 1.05/5-Well, it’s a Gravekeeper, and
every now and then, it could be nice. Not, last I
knew, a “1” was the lowest we could give, so it’s
getting a teeny, tiny bonus.
Advanced : 1.25/5-I think it miiiiiiiiiight barely
be useful in certain decks, or side decks anyway. If
you just can’t get that last blow to count.
Limited : 1.05/5-Only take it if it’s combined with
Starter decks (Waboku) or if you already have a
bunch of other Gravekeepers and you just need one
more.
Summary
Like yesterday’s card, we have a really specialized
effect. Both might have been useful, if only they
were a bit beefier. If this was a 1700 ATK monster,
Gravekeeper’s could use the extra brute force… or
even if it were another 1500 ATK monster. |
|
JAELOVE |
Tuesday: Gravekeeper’s Vassal
Rated For: ????
It’s almost a shame; Pojo.com receives two
brand-new, shiny reviewers to break in and this is
what they’re faced with: a week of unplayable,
downright unbearable garbage. But onward we press,
together intrepidly, to view Tuesday’s card,
Gravekeeper’s Vassal.
Yes
yes, I’ll be the first to admit I don’t have a
single clue what this card can do. Perhaps there is
some sort of combo I am unaware of, or some sort of
effect damage trigger card that stacks damage upon
each other, but I must say I have no idea how to
effectively use this card.
Not
to sound brash, but I know a lot about deck-building
and Yu-Gi-Oh! in general. I’m quite sure I’m not
missing some game-breaking combo involving a 700
attack card, so here goes.
Advantage F/H:
The only thing advantageous about using a 700 attack
card with a worthless effect is (insert witty line
here, I have none). 0
Best Draw for the
Situation: You don’t ever want to draw this
card, period. 0
Attributes/Effect:
700 attack, worthless effect, no discernible
combos… 0
Dependability: A
combo involving this card would have to be so
far-fetched and far-flung, it would be off the
map. 0
The Bottom Line:
Two cards rated 0’s in a row! Remember, a zero means
the card is unplayable in any deck in any format.
A BAD Score: 0.
Cards it functions
well with: Whatever cards that stack damage upon
effect damage. |
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