Heya everyone!!!  I’m back in the den with another article for ya!!

 

I was originally intending to write on my SJC Columbus experience, but I didn’t take very good notes and didn’t do so hot either, so I’m going to do something different today.

 

But, first of all, I received a handful of e-mails regarding my last article on the Six Samurai.  The deck I posted had only 39 cards in it.  When I copied the deck, I accidentally missed the final trap on the list.  So, while I do feel kind of stupid for making this mistake, it also shows that people are reading my articles, and reading them carefully at that.  I didn’t catch my mistake until you guys e-mailed me. Thanks!

 

Anyway, for today’s article I’m going to take a look at a deck that was submitted to me a few weeks ago.  I told the submitter, Hammbone, that it would be my next article, but my brain turned to mush and I forgot all about it.  After a quick reminder from Hammbone, I’m back on track.

 

The deck Hammbone sent me was a Gravekeeper deck.  I have been a long time fan of Keepers.  I managed to top8 a regional with them once, and I occasional play keepers at my local.  They just have something for almost any occasion.  For low attack or low defense monsters, they have Assailant.  For face-downs, they have Spear Soldier.  For Call of the Haunted, Premature, Pot of Avarice, and more, they have Necrovalley.  For Swarm, they have Spy, Chief, and Rite of Spirit.   The swarm is so good that recovering from a well timed Torrential Tribute and/or Mirror Force isn’t as hard as it might be with other decks.  And they have many many more tricks up their sleeves as well, though they aren’t played as often.  Despite having something for almost any occasion, Gravekeeper’s are a very tricky deck type to play.   Their reliance on Necrovalley is a problem, a problem that I know far too well.  This reliance is also why Keeper’s can never seem to claim a Tier One spot in the metagame.  They tend to fall just below it, like Tier 1.5.  Though, I have heard that Keeper’s are going to receive support in one of the upcoming sets, so we will see if they can break out of their current Tier.

 

I could talk on and on about the dynamics behind Gravekeeper’s, and I might touch on this a little later, but for now, it’s time to take a look at Hammbone’s deck.

 

Hammbone’s Gravekeeper Version 1.0

 

Monster(17)

Gravekeepers Chief

Jinzo

Guardian Sphinx

Gravekeepers Assailant x3

Gravekeepers Spy x3

Gravekeepers Spear Soldier x3

Exiled Force

Spirit Reaper

D.D. Warrior Lady

Mask of Darkness

Sangan

 

Spell(12)

Necrovalley x2

Terraforming x2

Pot of Avarice

Mystical Space Typhoon

Lightning Vortex

Brain Control

Snatch Steal

Reload x2

Heavy Storm

 

Trap(17)

Rite of Spirit x3

Sakuretsu Armor x2

Magic Cylinder

Magic Drain x2

Torrential Tribute

Call of The Haunted

Dust Tornado x2

Waboku x2

Mirror Force

Ring of Destruction

Ceasefire

 

I took a look at this and really didn’t know what to say at first, 46 cards, 17 were traps.  I almost didn’t want to fix it, as I knew I would end up dismantling half the deck.  I’m here to fix the deck, not make it something completely different.

 

Right off the top of my head, I would’ve tossed out:

Waboku, Torrential Tribute, Ceasefire, Reload, Guardian Sphinx, Mask of Darkness, Magic Cylinder, and maybe Call of the Haunted.  And that was first glance only.

 

But, lucky for me, when Hammbone reminded me that I was supposed to review his deck, he also sent me a revised list. And, I tell you it was revised HEAVILY!

 

Hammbone’s Gravekeeper Version 1.1

 

Tribute Monsters:5

GK Chief

mobius

3x Cyber Dragon

 

Non Tribute:13

3x GK Assailant

3x GK Spear Soldier

3x GK Spy

Sangan

Neo Spacian Grand Mole

Exiled Force

D.D. Warrior Lady

 

Spell:14

2x Necrovalley

2x terraforming

Magical Mallet

Brain Control

Heavy Storm

Snatch Steal

Mystical Space Typhoon

Shrink

Pot Of Avarice

Nobleman of Crossout

2x Smash Ground

 

Trap:8

3x Rite Of Spirit

2x Sakuretsu Armor

Torrential Tribute

Ring Of Destruction

Mirror Force

 

As you can see, he changed A LOT!  He even got it down to 40 cards.  That is excellent!

 

There are a few adjustments I would make, however. 

 

-1 Torrential Tribute:  More of a side deck choice here.  The deck is made to swarm. TT won’t help very often.

-1 Pot of Avarice: Conflicts with Necrovalley

-1 Magical Mallet: A good card, but more of a choice for an OTK deck.

-1 GK Chief: A nice card, but I think the deck has enough swarm

-1 Smashing Ground

 

+2 Solemn Judgment: Protecting Necrovalley is vital, and SJ can protect it as well as so much more.

+1 Shrink: When you aren’t drawing Valley, you’ll be happy to have a chance of drawing something to help out your Gravekeeper’s against big threats.

+1 Mobius the Frost Monarch: This deck has almost no problems dealing with monsters, it’s spells/traps that can give this deck trouble.

+1 Book of Moon: Counters Brain Control, Snatch Steal, Sakuretsu, Mirror Force, and let’s you re-use Spy’s effect.

 

Those are the only suggestions that I highly suggest.  Some other things that Hammbone could try could possibly be:

 

-1 Heavy Strom

+1 Giant Trunade

 

You’ll be much happier drawing into Giant Trunade when you have a Valley on the field, then if you were to draw Heavy Storm.

 

Another idea he could try is:

 

-1 D.D. Warrior Lady

-1 Exiled Force

+2 Mystic Tomato

 

Tomato can search for all the Keeper’s in the deck, plus it thins the deck increasing your chances of drawing Necrovalley.

 

Lastly, though Hammbone told me he doesn’t have a third one, is to add a third Necrovalley once he can get one, and toss out one Terraforming. 

 

So, that leaves us with:

 

Hammbone’s Gravekeeper’s Deck Version 1.2

 

Tribute Monsters:5

mobius x2

3x Cyber Dragon

 

Non Tribute:13

3x GK Assailant

3x GK Spear Soldier

3x GK Spy

Sangan

Neo Spacian Grand Mole

Exiled Force/Mystic Tomato

D.D. Warrior Lady/Mystic Tomato

 

Spell:13

2x Necrovalley

2x terraforming (Or one less Terraforming for one more Necrovalley)

Brain Control

Heavy Storm/Giant Trunade

Snatch Steal

Mystical Space Typhoon

Shrink x2

Nobleman of Crossout

Smashing Ground

Book of Moon

 

Trap:9

3x Rite Of Spirit

2x Sakuretsu Armor

Ring Of Destruction

Mirror Force

2 x Solemn Judgment

 

And there you have it.  That looks like a good Gravekeeper’s deck to me.  Gravekeeper’s are tricky, and definitely aren’t for the beginner player, but in the hands of a skilled one, this deck can be tough to beat.

 

I’d like to once again thank Hammbone for the submission of this deck.  I like to see people think outside the box and send me unique stuff.  I like to see e-mails with original ideas.  Keep them coming!  I obviously can’t write articles on everything, but I do what if I see something really interesting, I’ll give it a shot.  lonely_wolf93@yahoo.com or Lonely Wolf on Pojo’s Message Board.

 

Thanks again for reading!  Let me know if my deck has 39 cards in it again! LOL

 

From the den,

 

Lonely Wolf