[Older Deck Support] - Gravekeeper's

[Tkk]

Hello and welcome yet again to another episode of Older Deck Support!! (*cheering and clapping*)

This time I wanted to take a look at Gravekeeper's. Unlike with Cloudians (my previous post), Gravekeeper's are almost good enough to see play. Most of this has to do with their unique field spell, Necrovalley, but almost all of them have some potential and/or have seen competitive play in the past. I want to bring that competitive play into a more modern frame of mind and also open up the door to strategies using neglected members of the archetype.

 

 

 

 

(*DISCLAIMER: I AM SORRY I WAS TOO LAZY TO DRAW SOMETHING*)

 

version 1 (monster)

If this card is in your hand or field (Quick Effect): You can tribute this card; negate the effects of \"Necrovalley\", until the end of this turn. If this card is in the GY and \"Necrovalley\" is on the field (Quick Effect): You can target 1 Field Spell; destroy it, also, after that, Special Summon this card. You can only use 1 \"Gravekeeper's Khopesh\" effect per turn, and only once that turn.

 

current (monster)

While this card is on the field and you control "Necrovalley", the activation and effects of "Gravekeeper's" monsters activated on your field cannot be negated.

 

version 1 (pendulum)

Each time your opponent takes damage from the effect of a \"Gravekeeper's\" monster, except \"Gravekeeper's Khopesh\", inflict 300 damage to your opponent.

 

current (pendulum)

You cannot Pendulum Summon monsters, except "Gravekeeper's" monsters. This effect cannot be negated. (Quick Effect): You can target 1 face-down Defense Position "Gravekeeper's" monster you control; change that target to face-up Attack or Defense Position. You can only use this effect of "Gravekeeper's Khopesh" once per turn.

 

 

 

 

current (monster)

If you control a \"Gravekeeper's\" monster, you can Special Summon this card (from your hand). When this card is Summoned: You can target 1 \"Necrovalley\" card in your GY; Set that target, but banish it during the End Phase of your next turn if it is still on the field. This effect is unaffected by \"Necrovalley\".

 

version 1 (pendulum)

While \"Necrovalley\" is on the field, the activation and effects of \"Gravekeeper's\" monsters activated on your field cannot be negated. During your End Phase: You can destroy this card, and if you do, add 1 \"Gravekeeper's\" monster, except \"Gravekeeper's Vizier\", from your Deck to your hand. You can only use this effect of \"Gravekeeper's Vizier\" once per turn.

 

current (pendulum)

You cannot Pendulum Summon monsters, except "Gravekeeper's" monsters. This effect cannot be negated. (Quick Effect): You can target 1 face-up Attack or Defense Position "Gravekeeper's" monster you control; change that target to face-down Defense Position. You can only use this effect of "Gravekeeper's Vizier" once per turn.

[The Old Charlelot]

Hey there,

 

While these cards seem like a good start, I do think they present some flaws that wouldn't be really useful for modern Gravekeeper Deck as they stand now: 

 

First and foremost, I do think that both of these Pendulum cards are too generic, meaning that since their scale are so adventagious, they could be used to Pendulum Summon almost any monsters with no costs or restrictions. That is not good in my opinion, since you would be opening the door for these cards to possibly be abused in the future. If expending the reach of the Gravekeepers was the intended goal, maybe simply restrict the Pendulum Cards to only be able to Special Summon Spellcaster-Type Monsters or something. Also, as of now, the Monster Effect of Kopesh has almost no chance of beign activated, seing that he will go to the Extra Deck when destroyed. That alone severy limits its usefulness. Futhermore, burning damage isn't really the main point of modern Gravekeeper Deck, making its Pendulum effect not that effective either.

 

Gravekeeper Vizier presents a lot more potential to be useful in a duel. My problem with the card is that its basically the textbook definition of a good card, and I guess thats okay from time to time, but Gravekeepers are such an old and interesting Deck that, this card seems to stick out as too generic for my taste.

 

 

Although I do think that Gravekeepers could use a little more support and having Pendulum Monsters in their arsenal would surely be beneficial (seing as Necrovalley can hinder their own strategies sometimes), I don't really see how those two particuliar card help the Archetype in a significant way. 

[Tkk]

Hey thanks for taking the time to reply.

So let's start with the burn damage one, since that's an effect I knew would garner some criticism. I wanted to try this out because there are 2 Gravekeeper's monster that are NOT currently played that I'd be curious to see if anything good could come from them. Those 2 are Cannonholder and Curse. In that capacity, Pendulum Summoning is perfect for both and this effect, I think, actually makes them viable. If not this alone, then certainly when combined with Dark Room of Nightmares. But I will reconsider if I think it's actually worth.

 

The concept behind Khopesh's effect is the frustration I felt of not being able to include many other archetypal engines in Gravekeeper's to help them because Necrovalley actually would hurt those cards also. Maybe that's a design flaw on my part, and I will think about that, but I really wanted my Shaddoll-Gravekeeper's deck to work better than it did :( (although I know that's not an excuse for bad design)

Vizier may be too generic. Not sure yet. It's just the number 1 problem I've found in Gravekeeper's is that they lack the ability to generate advantage like new decks can. They just get outvalued every single time. That's also why I thought Pendulum summoning would help. They have Throne now, but you can only use 1 of those per turn and you normally don't play a deck with that many Gravekeeper's monsters in it (much like Altergeist and its limited monster lineup)

Thanks again for the feedback. I'll ponder some changes for a bit.

[Tkk]

@@The Old Charlelot Okay I made some changes based on what you said. Although I wanted to see if incorporating burn damage could be a thing, Gravekeeper's need more card advantage to stay afloat, so I think this is a good compromise