Card Article 1: Rest in Peace

“Rest in peace for we shall keep your grave safe…”

I decided do a second article after my first little tutorial. As the title suggests, this article is going to focus on the Gravekeepers. I will be doing a 3-part series on the Gravekeepers. The first will be a card article (a brief overview of the Gravekeeper cards), while the other 2 will focus on the different variants of Gravekeeper decks in more detail.

When Gravekeepers were first introduced into the world of Yugioh, it drew great interest like any new cards would. However, what happened to it now? It only proved to be a passing fad and is now more of a forgotten story. This is because after the initial release, no further Gravekeeper support is released so it becomes “old” rather quickly. Gravekeeper decks are also not easily mastered and played to their potential. Field card dependent decks don’t work too well back then when 3 Cyclones (Mystical Space Typhoon) were still running rampant. When people don’t find success in it, they move on to other decks. I did not try Gravekeeper decks due to these reasons as well until Chaos cookie-cutters took to the scene and I decided to find a way to counter them. It is one of those decks that also took me a long time of play-testing until I was satisfied with the results.

Gravekeepers are known for their swarming abilities and it became the only variant people tend to play and/or believe exists. Before the 9/1 ban, you can swarm your opponent but end up getting crushed by a Black Hole (Dark Hole), Tidal Wave (Torrential Tribute) or Holy Barrier (Mirror Force). I also observed that many Monster lineups only consists of Gravekeepers and nothing else. A Gravekeeper deck does not need to be 100% Gravekeepers nor do a Demon (Fiend) deck has to be 100% Demons (Fiends). Insufficient protection for Necrovalley also means that they are easily crippled. These are the main problems I see most people face. Now, on with the cards!

Gravekeeper Infiltrator
Dark/Spellcaster/3/1200/2000
Reverse: Special Summon 1 Monster with [Gravekeeper] in its name from your deck with an attack strength of 1500 or less.

Remarks: This is the core engine of the Gravekeeper deck. It enables you to search for any Gravekeeper with the exception of Gravekeeper Leader. Good defense and can hold the ground on its own. A must for every Gravekeeper deck. Beware of Apostle of Genocide (Nobleman of Crossout) though.

Gravekeeper Chanter
Dark/Spellcaster/3/800/800
When this card is Summoned, Reverse Summoned or Special Summoned, do 500 damage to your opponent.

Remarks: Guaranteed 500 damage when summoned. Only useful in the burn variant. Combo with Last Will and fire it off the Cannon Holder.

Gravekeeper Guard
Dark/Spellcaster/4/1000/1900
Reverse: Return 1 of your opponent's Monsters on the Field to his or her hand.

Remarks: A very useful card which has a “bounce” effect. Returning opponent’s Monsters to their hand can act as a temporary “Monster removal” and open up opponent’s defenses. Good defense strength and combos well with Imperial Sacrifice (Royal Tribute) and Dimensional Designator (D.D. Designator). Again, beware of Apostle of Genocide (Nobleman of Crossout).

Gravekeeper Spearman
Dark/Spellcaster/4/1500/1000
If this Monster attacks a Monster in defense mode with a defense strength lower than this card's attack strength, do Battle Damage to your opponent equal to the difference.

Remarks: True offensive power of the Gravekeepers. Trample effect is always useful.

Gravekeeper Follower
Dark/Spellcaster/3/700/500
Battle Damage done to your opponent by this card is treated as though the damage came from the effect of this card.

Remarks: The most useless of all Gravekeepers. It is only good against opponents using Emissary of Harmony (Waboku) which I do not recommend using at all. It can attack under Gravity Bind/Level Limit Area B though. Refrain from using it.

Gravekeeper Observer
Dark/Spellcaster/4/1000/1000
When your opponent activates a card with an effect that discards cards from his or her own hand, you may put this card into your Graveyard from your hand to negate that activation and effect, and destroy that card.

Remarks: A card that you would like to keep in your hand. Negates stuff like Thunder Break (Raigeki Break), Hand Obliteration (Card Destruction), THE Tricky, Heavenly Punishment/Judgement of Sky etc. Situational and not very useful.

Gravekeeper Leader
Dark/Spellcaster/5/1900/1200
You can only have 1 of this card on the Field at a time. While this card is on the Field, your Graveyard is not affected by [The Sleeping Valley of the Pharaoh - Necrovalley]. If this card was Sacrifice Summoned, Special Summon 1 Monster from your Graveyard with [Gravekeeper] in its name.

Remarks: The lord of Gravekeepers has the highest attack among them, 2400 when Necrovalley is active, capable of matching the likes of Android Pyscho Shocker (Jinzo). When he is around, you can still use cards like Early Burial (Premature Burial) and Cry of the Living Dead (Call of the Haunted). The almost free cost of sacrifice summoning this guy makes it useful for swarming as well. Take note that you can only have one on the field at any time.

Gravekeeper Cannon Holder
Dark/Spellcaster/4/1400/1200
Sacrifice 1 of your Monsters on the Field with [Gravekeeper] in its name to do 700 damage to your opponent. However, a [Gravekeeper Gunner] cannot be sacrificed in this way.

Remarks: The “Cannon Soldier” of the Gravekeepers. The core of a burn variant.

Gravekeeper Assassin
Dark/Spellcaster/4/1500/150
A [The Sleeping Valley of the Pharaoh - Necrovalley] must be on the Field to activate this effect. When this card attacks, you can change the mode of 1 of your opponent's face-up Monsters.

Remarks: The often underrated brother-in-arms of the Spearman. An in-built “Enemy Controller” effect is useful in switching a high attack foe to defense (aids Spearman’s trampling) or a low attack foe to attack position and cause massive damage itself. Very useful but take note that it’s effect only applies when Necrovalley is active.

The Black Cat That Brings Unhappiness
Dark/Beast/2/500/300
Reverse: Choose 1 Trap card from your deck and put it on top of your deck. If a [The Sleeping Valley of the Pharaoh - Necrovalley] is on the Field, you can put that Trap card into your hand.

Remarks: This is not useful at all as it has the liabilities of being a flip effect Monster and is only more useful when Necrovalley is active.

The Owl That Brings Happiness
Air/Bird/2/300/500
Reverse: Choose 1 Field Spell card from your deck and put it on top of your deck. If a [The Sleeping Valley of the Pharaoh - Necrovalley] is on the Field, you can put that Magic card into your hand.

Remarks: With Terraforming around, this is simply redundant.

Shabti’s Charm
Dark/Rock/1/100/100
Discard this card from your hand. Until the End Phase, Battle Damage done to your Monsters with [Gravekeeper] in their names is reduced to 0.

Remarks: A cross between Kuriboh and Emissary of Harmony (Waboku) for Gravekeepers. EoH (Waboku) is better than this and since I don’t recommend EoH (Waboku) at all, I’d say forget about this.

The Sleeping Valley of the Pharaoh – Necrovalley
Field Spell
While this card is on the Field, negate the effects of Spell, Trap or Effect Monsters that refer to the Graveyard, including those that remove cards from the game. Also, while this card is on the Field, increase the attack and defense strengths of all Monsters on the Field with [Gravekeeper] in their names by 500.

Remarks: The boost from this thing is what makes the Gravekeepers powerful. A 500 attack bonus is quite a lot and the locking of Graveyards hinders your opponent.

Terraforming
Normal Spell
Put 1 Field Spell card from your deck into your hand.

Remarks: Thins the deck and get that much needed Necrovalley. Bad top deck however.

Imperial Sacrifice (Royal Tribute)
Normal Spell
A [The Sleeping Valley of the Pharaoh - Necrovalley] must be on the Field to activate this effect. Each player discards all Monster cards in his or her hand.

Remarks: The early game “Atomic Bomb” as I would call it. You can summon your own Monsters before activating it, so if you get this with Necrovalley on your first turn, it can spell doom for the opponent by effectively killing his hand off Monsters. Combos with Dimensional Designator (D.D. Designator) as well to further cripple the opponent. A bad top deck and useless card late game.

Ritual of the Spirits
Normal Trap
Special Summon a Monster from your Cemetery with [Gravekeeper] in its name. This card's activation is not affected by [The Sleeping Valley of the Pharaoh - Necrovalley].

Remarks: Other decks (except Undeads and Normal Monster decks) only get to use two recursion cards but Gravekeepers get an additional bonus of 3 more! They can even work under Necrovalley. Recursion is always a good thing.

This marks the end of this article. Watch out for the next 2 articles in this series!! I'll give a little spoiler: I will discuss the Rush (Swarm) variant and the Hybrid variant in part 2, Control (non-Swarm) variant and Burn variant in part 3.