
Gravekeeper gameplay guide
The Gravekeeper Monsters
Gravekeeper's Commandant is a free search card from Necrovalley, not a one-per-turn. It's a 4 star card so it can be used for rank 4 Xyz. Commandant is the number 1 choice to search from Necrovalley Throne or Gravekeeper's Destiny . Overall, a great card for the deck.
Ishizu Ishtar's Duel Links ace card is made very playable thanks to her Gravekeeper's Destiny ability. With Visionary , all of your monsters gain 1000 ATK, while your opponent's monsters lose 1000 ATK. Visionary itself also gains 200 ATK for each Gravekeeper monster in the graveyard.
Tribute only one Gravekeeper's monster instead of two to Summon, and can prevent being destroyed as long as you have a Gravekeeper's monster in your hand to discard.
I don't recommend playing this card unless a deck like Ghostrick comes back into the meta. The effect of destroying all face-down monsters isn't bad, and the 2000 ATK/DEF reduction can sometimes be game-changing, but this card is too resource-intensive, so it's not the best choice.
Recruiter is a good card to sacrifice for summoning, and is a valuable addition, especially since the Gravekeeper's Destiny ability provides an additional Gravekeeper's sacrifice summon in addition to the normal summon.
Recruiter can search Gravekeeper's Commandant to indirectly search Necrovalley . This card can search all Gravekeeper's monsters except Gravekeeper's Visionary , Gravekeeper's Spy , and Gravekeeper's Guard . Unfortunately, you need to control this card to activate the effect, so you can't discard it from your hand to activate the effect.
Descendant is a way to activate Gravekeeper's Recruiter and remove your opponent's monster. It cannot sacrifice itself, but can be revived by Gravekeeper's Headman . Its effect is not limited to once per turn, so you can use it as many times as you like. However, it is not recommended to play this card.
Cannonholder is an archetypal version of Cannon Soldier with 700 damage instead of 500. The reason this card is balanced is because it belongs in a slow deck like Gravekeeper's . Maybe you can find a way to OTK combo? I feel like if you try hard enough, someone can figure out how to OTK their opponent with this card. Unless you want to play this card as a unique OTK strategy, don't play this card.
Nobleman helps summon Gravekeeper's cards like Gravekeeper's Spy for free defense, Gravekeeper's Guard to return your opponent's important cards to the hand, or Gravekeeper's Ambusher to remove graveyard items in a deck that already has graveyard locked...? (I don't understand why Ambusher exists either.) Don't play this card.
Shaman is... a card you can play! She's a combination of Gravekeeper's Supernaturalist and Gravekeeper's Chief , gaining 200 DEF for each Gravekeeper's monster in the graveyard. She's also one of the few Field Spell-locking cards in the game, preventing your opponent from activating a Field Spell. This can negate some important Field cards, but doesn't negate field cards already on the field, so it's quite a 3... .
Shaman also requires sacrifice, so why play her when we can play Gravekeeper's Supernaturalist , a much easier card to summon. Don't play this card.
Ambusher is the only card in the archetype that can restore Necrovalley after it's destroyed, but if it's in the meta, Cosmic Cyclone can easily be played to counter it. Its effect only activates after being flipped, so it's not really that effective.
This card synergizes well with Book of Eclipse and Gravekeeper's Nobleman . Ambusher also returns cards from your opponent's graveyard to the deck. Honestly, I don't understand why you'd want to do that in a deck that focuses on locking down the entire graveyard. Like releasing prisoners from jail? Don't play this card.
Handtrap is an archetype! Prevents combat damage! But not worth taking up deck space! Cards you want to protect like Gravekeeper's Visionary already have self-protection effects. This card also cannot be searched by Necrovalley Throne or Gravekeeper's Destiny , and is a dead card if you draw it alone. Don't play this card.
Do these leaves belong to the Archetype???
Since most of these cards have pretty simple effects, I'll compare them to existing cards. If they have a use case, I'll mention it.
Gravekeeper's name with Pentestag -like effect . I don't know why Konami likes to add piercing effect to random archetypes, but this card is not worth playing in any Gravekeeper's deck . It is a level 4 monster, so it can be used to summon level 4 Xyz and be revived by Gravekeeper's Headman .
Guard is a Compulsory Evacuation Device version of the archetype, activated when flipped face up. It synergizes well with Gravekeeper's Nobleman . The setup and abilities of this card are not ideal in the current meta, but it can be used as a Tribute for Gravekeeper's Destiny . It is also a Level 4 monster, so it can be used to Xyz Summon Level 4 cards and be revived by Gravekeeper's Headman .
When the meta has many discard-based decks, this card could be a silver bullet, and is a 4-star monster called Gravekeeper's . As such, it can be discarded to trigger Gravekeeper's Destiny and revived by Gravekeeper's Headman . In fact, this card feels like it could be one of the evil sisters (like Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring ). Gravekeeper's Watcher & Hidden Temples , my favorite handtrap!
Cards that combine with NecroValley
When Assailant , a low ATK monster, declares an attack while Necrovalley is on the field, you can make your opponent's monster change battle position. It is a level 4 monster and is named Gravekeeper's , so it can be revived by Gravekeeper's Headman , but it is basically a useless card. Don't play this card.
Cat and Owl are non- Gravekeeper's Flip monsters that search for Traps and field cards respectively. If Necrovalley is not on the field, the selected cards are placed on top of the deck, but if Necrovalley is present, the searched cards are added to the hand. Cat can be useful for searching for powerful Traps, while Owl can search for the Necrovalley field card. These Gravekeeper 's pets are also not played.
Handtraps
All of the following handtraps work quite well as core cards in the deck if needed. Lord of the Heavenly Prison and Nibiru, the Primal Being cannot be special summoned if you use Gravekeeper's Destiny . Who knows, Konami might one day improve this to allow Nibiru and Lord , as Gravekeeper's isn't a strong deck so it might get buffed
Spell/Trap
Necrovalley is a classic Yu-Gi-Oh! Graveyard Lock card. It disables banishment from the graveyard, so cards like Orcust Harp Horror cannot be activated. It also disables cards that move cards in the graveyard to another location, so cards like Lyrilusc - Beryl Canary and Pot of Avarice cannot be activated.
The Type and Attribute changes in the graveyard are quite specific, the only card that comes to mind right away is Zombie World . In Gravekeeper's deck, it increases ATK/DEF for all monsters by 500. This card is the heart and soul of Gravekeeper's , the best card in the deck. In normal Gravekeeper's decks, this card is a must-play.
Throne is a great searcher, allowing you to add a Gravekeeper's monster from your deck to your hand or provide an extra normal summon for Gravekeeper's , helping to build a stronger board. For decks that usually only normal summon -> activate effects, can special summon and end the turn, this card is a powerful addition.
It's a hard OPT card, so drawing multiple copies can cause a jam. Usage usually depends on the number of cards in the deck. I usually play two copies, but in a 30-card deck, three copies might be better.
Hidden Temples is an excellent floodgate card, limiting all special summons to Gravekeeper's , but only if you control Necrovalley and a Gravekeeper's monster . This card can be a burden for your opponent to remove, especially if they don't play a backrow break. I really like Hidden Temples .
Necrovalley Temple is a good anti -Mystical Space Typhoon card, allowing you to activate Necrovalley from your graveyard or hand on any turn. It also has a secondary effect that reduces your opponent's monster's ATK/DEF by 500, but only if you control a Gravekeeper's monster and Necrovalley . When the Temple is destroyed, you can set a Necrovalley Spell/Trap card from your deck to the field!
Extra Deck
Supernaturalist is a very interesting card. As of this writing, it is the only Gravekeeper's Extra Deck monster. It has three effects (WOW, VRAINS?! 3 Effects?!), so I'll break them down individually:
- Effect 1 : A bit boring, but can be useful. Supernaturalist gains ATK equal to the total level of the Fusion materials used to summon it, usually 600-700 ATK, making its ATK around 3100 when Necrovalley is on the field!
- Effect 2 : While Necrovalley is on the field, it cannot be destroyed by card effects, and the same goes for Field Spells. This synergizes well with Dark Hole , allowing us to play a surprise Dark Hole on turn three. It's also a good anti -Mystical Space Typhoon (which is superior to Necrovalley Temple ), but not as effective against Cosmic Cyclone (which unfortunately gets more play now because of Utopia . Damn, Utopia !).
- Effect 3 : Every Main Phase, you can choose to search for a free Gravekeeper's or Necrovalley card, which activates during the End Phase of the respective turn. This effect usually activates every turn, setting you up for the next turn, if there is a next turn (with the way the meta is going, maybe not...). But it also thins out the deck, which is always nice.
Since we only have one Extra Deck monster of the archetype, Mercenary Link cards are a good choice for the Extra Deck.
Since you can summon two level 4 monsters in some cases, these level 4 Xyz cards are meant to directly deal with specific threats. Number 70: Malevolent Sin and Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon are often used to deal with high ATK monsters, Tornado Dragon helps deal with heavy backrows or annoying Field/Trap continuous cards, and Abyss Dweller is for Graveyard-dependent Decks (which aren't needed much since they're negated by Necrovalley ). I usually go for just Number 70 or Dark Rebellion , sometimes both.
Skill
I will analyze each effect of this skill separately for easy understanding:
- Effect 1 : Locks you from normal or special summoning only Gravekeeper's monsters. Cannot special summon Nibiru, the Primal Being , or Lord of the Heavenly Prison .
- Effect 2 : Allows you to discard a Gravekeeper's monster from your hand to the graveyard to search for another Gravekeeper's monster, helping set up Gravekeeper's Headman or start a combo with Gravekeeper's Recruiter . The second part of this effect provides an additional Gravekeeper's Tribute Summon in addition to the normal summon/set, allowing for a free Gravekeeper's Chief or Gravekeeper's Visionary . The effect is great, but unfortunately can only be used once per battle.
- Effect 3 : If you control Gravekeeper's Visionary , your monsters gain 1000 ATK, and your opponent's monsters lose 1000 ATK. This is a great bonus to an already good skill, and can sometimes be the deciding factor between winning and losing.




















































































Bottom-Left
Bottom-Right






Top
Left


Right
Bottom



























Top-Right




















