Now that we’ve covered an introduction to the important players in the theme, let’s talk about the core turbo engine that’s going to give this archetype the boost into the modern era it needs! As expected, this effect is unaffected by Necrovalley, so it serves as a great way to rebuild field presence for Link Summons when necessary. The second essential monster is Gravekeeper’s Headman, a monster that Special Summons a Level 4 Gravekeeper from your GY when it is summoned. This should be used as your main way of accessing Supernaturalist, especially early in the duel. Gravekeeper’s Spiritualist serves as the Fusion-enabler for the archetype, as it has an effect to Fusion Summon any Spellcaster Fusion using monsters from your hand or field while Necrovalley is on the field. Rounding out the essential archetype members for today’s article are two of the lower leveled Gravekeepers. While Temple cannot directly search out a new copy of Necrovalley if you need one, you can always choose to grab Gravekeeper’s Commandant instead, which can discard itself from the hand to search a copy of Necrovalley! Thus, you should always have access to your key field spell! Thus, it is a versatile searcher for the theme. The primary search target for this effect is normally Necrovalley Temple, a tutor for any Gravekeeper monster that can instead be used to immediately Normal Summon a Gravekeeper. Secondly, you can activate its ignition effect to get a delayed search of any ‘Necrovalley’ card or Gravekeeper’s monster during the End Phase. First, neither it nor Necrovalley can be destroyed by card effects while it is on the field. Gravekeeper’s Supernaturalist is an in-theme Fusion monster with two worthwhile effects. Take Spyral for example: they can’t use any SPYRAL MISSION effects in GY, they can’t summon back Quik-Fix, they can’t use Big Red, they can’t summon Sleeper… Thus, this immediately gives Gravekeeper a niche space to work in, especially since it can significantly inhibit what is arguably the top deck of the format rather easily.īesides their field spell, the Gravekeeper archetype have some awesome support cards and boss monsters. Since just about every competitive deck has some element of recovery or interaction with the GY, this can have a major effect in stopping the opponent from conducting any of their major plays. Necrovalley negates any effect that would move a card out of the GY, it prevents cards from being banished from the GY, and it negates any effect that changes types or attributes in the GY. The defining strength of the Gravekeeper archetype is its ability to influence the GY, represented best through its Field Spell Necrovalley. The Gravekeeper archetype debuted as the first to receive archetype support all the way back in Pharonic Guardian, and since then, the archetype has remained infamous for its control elements. Keeping the Graveyard as a Permanent Burial Ground: So please take that into account and provide feedback if you like this style – I’d be happy to do so again with another archetype if requested.
My goal when approaching this request via Discord was to take a modern approach to a well-analyzed strategy, trying to leverage its unique capabilities into a successful rogue option. With this article, I’m taking a unique approach to the deck, building them in a turbo fashion that only relies on Necrovalley as an additional disruption element rather than as the lynchpin for the strategy, reducing the over-reliance on a single field spell that has plagued the deck for years. Let’s bring the game’s original archetype up to speed for the modern game!īefore we dig into their tombs, let me give you a disclaimer up front – this is not just an article on bringing a standard control Gravekeeper deck to 2020 standards.