Duelists frequently look to Necrovalley as a strong counter to the Graveyard-dependent Decks being used in tournaments. Josiah Miller’s Gravekeeper’s Deck relies on Necrovalley as more than just a counter to his opponent’s cards – it’s also a 500 ATK and DEF boost for his Gravekeeper’s monsters and turns on the effects of his Gravekeeper’s Assailant and Royal Tribute. Miller is running a dedicated Gravekeeper’s Deck in today’s tournament, which includes a low monster count and a ton of Spell and Trap Cards for support. Check out his list:

Monsters:
3x Gravekeeper’s Spy
3x Gravekeeper’s Descendant
3x Gravekeeper’s Commandant
2x Gravekeeper’s Assailant
2x Gravekeeper’s Guard
1x Morphing Jar
1x Spirit Reaper

Spells:
3x Necrovalley
3x Royal Tribute
3x Book of Moon
3x Gravekeeper’s Stele
1x Mystical Space Typhoon
1x Brain Control

Traps:
2x Starlight Road
2x Bottomless Trap Hole
2x Dimensional Prison
1x Mirror Force
1x Torrential Tribute
1x Royal Oppression
1x Solemn Judgment
1x Divine Wrath

Like just about any Gravekeeper’s Deck, Miller is using 3 copies of Gravekeeper’s Spy to Special Summon his other Gravekeeper’s from his Deck. Those include Gravekeeper’s Descendant and Gravekeeper’s Assailant. He also uses Gravekeeper’s Commandant to search his Deck for Necrovalley, since it’s important to get onto the field in order for his Deck to function.

Necrovalley turns Miller’s weaker Gravekeeper’s into fierce attackers. Gravekeeper’s Assailant becomes a 2000 ATK monster that can change the battle position of any of his opponent’s monsters when it attacks, leaving it capable of taking out some of the most commonly played monsters in the game. Necrovalley also lets Miller use Royal Tribute to get rid of all monsters in both players’ hands. Most Decks this format typically have a high monster count of over 20 monsters. Since Miller is only using 15 monsters in his Deck, and 3 of them can be discarded from his hand to fetch a Spell Card from his Deck, Royal Tribute will rarely backfire, and could easily make a game impossible for his opponent to win. With such a low monster count, Miller can easily Set his entire hand too, which makes Morphing Jar a strong choice for him to play in his Deck. Miller’s 3 copies of Gravekeeper’s Stele can be used to retrieve his lost Gravekeeper’s, including the ones that are sent to the Graveyard by Royal Tribute and Morphing Jar.

With Gravekeeper’s Descendant in Miller’s Deck, he also has the ability to destroy his opponent’s on-field cards by Tributing off his excess Gravekeeper’s monsters, like a Spy that Special Summoned it from the Deck. Gravekeeper’s Guard gives him the opportunity to return monsters to his opponent’s hand, or return popular Synchro monsters like Blackwing Armor Master and Stardust Dragon back to the opponent’s Extra Deck.

In addition to standard Traps like Mirror Force, Bottomless Trap Hole, and Dimensional Prison, Miller is also using Royal Oppression and 2 copies of Starlight Road. Since Miller’s Deck only Special Summons monsters with the effects of Starlight Road and Gravekeeper’s Spy, Miller’s Royal Oppression will rarely work against him. He can wait for his Spy to flip in the Damage Step in order to prevent his opponent from negating the Special Summon of his Gravekeeper’s monster.

Miller uses Starlight Road to protect his swarms of strong monsters from game-changing cards like Lightning Vortex, Torrential Tribute, and Mirror Force, and protect his important Spells and Traps (including Necrovalley) from Heavy Storm. With Necrovalley protected, the boost to his monsters is secured and he shuts down key effects of his opponent.

Miller’s strategy of using Necrovalley to counter the most popular Decks and boost his monsters seems to be paying off. He was currently 3-0 in the tournament heading into round 4, and has a lot of confidence moving forward. Tomorrow, we’ll see if Gravekeeper’s have what it takes to make it to the Top 32 of the biggest SHONEN JUMP Championship ever.