Amanda LaPalme is running an explosive Dragon Deck that aims to send multiple copies of Red-Eyes Wyvern and Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon to her Graveyard with Future Fusion. When she does, she can Special Summon a bunch of Dragons in one turn, and overwhelm her opponent. But her opponent, Brandon Vicente, won’t make that strategy easy for LaPalme to execute. He’s running a Gravekeeper Deck that can use Necrovalley to prevent LaPalme from removing Wyverns from her Graveyard. If LaPalme isn’t able to activate the effect of her Wyverns, things may become tough for her, as she’s forced to Summon all of her Dragons from her hand.

LaPalme opened up with Magic Drain, Exploder Dragon, Mystical Space Typhoon, Dread Dragon, Gold Sarcophagus, and Masked Dragon. She activated Gold Sarcophagus to remove Future Fusion from her Deck so that she could reclaim it 2 turns later. Next, she Set Masked Dragon and Magic Drain, ending her turn.

Vicente activated Dark Hole and LaPalme flipped Magic Drain to try to negate and destroy it. But Vicente discarded a copy of Gravekeeper’s Stele from his hand to satisfy the effect of Magic Drain, and LaPalme’s face-down Masked Dragon was destroyed. Vicente Set 2 cards to his back row and Set a monster before ending his turn.

LaPalme drew Pot of Duality next turn and activated it, revealing Totem Dragon and 2 copies of Light and Darkness Dragon from the top of her Deck. She added the Light and Darkness Dragon to her hand and shuffled the other 2 cards back into her Deck. Next, she Summoned Exploder Dragon and attacked Vicente’s face-down monster, but Vicente flipped Dimensional Prison to remove the Dragon from the Duel. LaPalme passed without any cards on her field.

Vicente flipped his Gravekeeper’s Spy next turn and Special Summoned Gravekeeper’s Recruiter from his Deck in Attack Position thanks to the Spy’s effect. The Spy and Recruiter attacked LaPalme directly, and she dropped down to 5600 Life Points. Vicente Set a monster and ended his turn, still with no Necrovalley in play.

LaPalme drew Totem Dragon next turn. In her Standby Phase, she activated Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy Vicente’s face-down Bottomless Trap Hole, and then she added her removed-from-play Future Fusion to her hand. She activated it to send 2 copies of Red-Eyes Wyvern, 2 copies of Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon, and a Totem Dragon from her Deck to her Graveyard so that she’d be able to Summon Five-Headed Dragon in 2 turns. She immediately proceeded to her End Phase, where she removed both of her Wyverns from the Graveyard to Special Summon 2 copies of Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon in Attack Position.

Vicente Flipped another Gravekeeper’s Spy next turn and Special Summoned Gravekeeper’s Descendant from his Deck in Attack Position. He activated its effect and Tributed Gravekeeper’s Recruiter to destroy LaPalme’s Future Fusion. Vicente searched his Deck for a Gravekeeper’s Commandant with the effect of his Recruiter, and then Tributed both of his Spies with his Descendant’s effect to destroy LaPalme’s 2 Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragons. He pitched Gravekeeper’s Commandant from his hand next, to search his Deck for Necrovalley and activate it. He Set a monster and then attacked LaPalme directly with his 2000 ATK Descendant.

LaPalme drew Book of Moon next turn. She Special Summoned Totem Dragon from her Graveyard in her Standby Phase and Tributed it to Summon Light and Darkness Dragon, then used Light and Darkness Dragon to attack and destroy Vicente’s Descendant.

Vicente flipped Gravekeeper’s Spy next turn, and Light and Darkness Dragon negated its effect. Next, he Summoned Neo-Spacian Grand Mole and attacked Light and Darkness Dragon with it, but when he tried to use its effect, Light and Darkness Dragon negated the effect by dropping down to 1800 ATK. Light and Darkness Dragon took down the Grand Mole in battle. Vicente Set a card to his back row and ended his turn.

LaPalme drew Red-Eyes Wyvern next turn. She attacked and destroyed Vicente’s Gravekeeper’s Spy with Light and Darkness Dragon and then Set Totem Dragon.

Vicente drew a monster and Set it, with no other cards in his hand.

LaPalme drew Solemn Judgment next turn. She attacked Vicente’s face-down Gravekeeper’s Recruiter with Light and Darkness Dragon and took 200 points of damage. The Recruiter’s 2000 DEF was too high for her 1800 ATK Dragon to destroy. She ended her turn without Setting Solemn Judgment, fearing that her Light and Darkness Dragon would take it down when it’s destroyed.

Vicente drew a card and Set it to his back row.

LaPalme drew another Totem Dragon next turn. She Normal Summoned Dread Dragon and Flip Summoned Totem Dragon. She Tuned Dread Dragon with Totem Dragon to Synchro Summon Armory Arm, then activated its effect to try to equip it to Light and Darkness Dragon in Chain Link 1. Vicente flipped Bottomless Trap Hole to try to remove the Armory Arm from the Duel in Chain Link 2, and LaPalme activated Book of Moon from her hand in Chain Link 3 to put the Light and Darkness Dragon face-down and reset its ATK! Next, LaPalme flipped her Dragon back up and attacked Vicente’s Recruiter, taking it down in battle and negating its effect with her Dragon. She Set Solemn Judgment in Main Phase 2 and ended her turn.

Vicente Set a card to his back row and passed.

LaPalme drew Gold Sarcophagus next turn. She Summoned Red-Eyes Wyvern and then attacked directly with Light and Darkness Dragon and Wyvern to drop Vicente down to 2200 Life Points.

Vicente activated Mystical Space Typhoon next turn to try to destroy LaPalme’s face-down Solemn Judgment, but Light and Darkness Dragon dropped down to 1800 ATK and negated it!

On her next turn, LaPalme ended the Duel with direct attacks from Light and Darkness Dragon and Red-Eyes Wyvern!

Amanda LaPalme wrests control of the Duel with some skilled use of Light and Darkness Dragon and uses it to secure victory in the first Duel! Brandon Vicente will be going first in Duel 2!

Vicente activated Necrovalley and Set 3 cards to his back row.

LaPalme opened up with Seven Tools of the Bandit, Magic Drain, Delta Flyer, Totem Dragon, Gold Sarcophagus, and Red-Eyes Wyvern. She Summoned the Wyvern to the field, but it was removed from the Duel by Vicente’s Bottomless Trap Hole. Next, she activated Gold Sarcophagus to remove Future Fusion from her Deck so that she’d be able to reclaim is 2 turns later. LaPalme Set Magic Drain and Seven Tools of the Bandit before ending her turn, and lost Magic Drain to Vicente’s Mystical Space Typhoon in her End Phase.

Vicente Summoned Gravekeeper’s Commandant and attacked directly for 2100 points of damage on his next turn. He Set a card to his back row and passed.

LaPalme drew Prime Material Dragon next turn. She Set Totem Dragon and passed.

Vicente activated Royal Tribute to force LaPalme to discard Delta Flyer and Prime Material Dragon from her hand on his next turn. He revealed Necrovalley from his own hand as part of Royal Tribute’s effect. Next, Vicente attacked and destroyed Totem Dragon with his Commandant.

LaPalme drew Light and Darkness Dragon next turn and then added Future Fusion to her hand thanks to the effect of Gold Sarcophagus. She activated Future Fusion to send 2 copies of Totem Dragon, 2 copies of Red-Eyes Wyvern, and a copy of Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon from her Deck to her Graveyard so that she could Summon Five-Headed Dragon 2 turns later. Next, she Tributed Totem Dragon for Light and Darkness Dragon, and when Vicente tried to negate the Summon with Solemn Warning, LaPalme flipped Seven Tools of the Bandit to negate it! Light and Darkness Dragon took down Gravekeeper’s Commandant in battle, and LaPalme ended her turn.

Vicente Set a card to his back row and passed.

LaPalme drew Dust Tornado and Set it. She attacked for 2800 points of damage with Light and Darkness Dragon to drop Vicente down to 2500 Life Points.

Vicente activated Dark Hole next turn, and Light and Darkness Dragon negated it by dropping down to 2300 ATK.

On her next turn, LaPalme Special Summoned Five-Headed Dragon in her Standby Phase, and after a direct attack, the Duel was over! Light and Darkness Dragon pinned down all of Vicente’s back rows, clearing the way for LaPalme’s victory!

Amanda LaPalme uses Future Fusion and Light and Darkness Dragon to clear the path to a 2-0 victory against Brandon Vicente’s Gravekeepers!

Here’s what our expert(s) had to say:

Erik Mishtar (Modern day pharaoh)

This Match demonstrates three big weaknesses of Gravekeeper Decks:

1.       Overdependence on Necrovalley.
2.       Overdependence on defensive Trap Cards.
3.       Low overall monster count.

Necrovalley doesn’t just stop the opponent from doing things with cards in the Graveyard, it also makes the Gravekeeper monsters relevant in battle. Without Necrovalley, every monster in the Deck other than Gravekeeper’s Spy gets run down easily, feeding into the second problem: extreme dependence on defensive Traps.

It only takes 1 successful attack for a Gravekeeper Deck to be put in a tough spot. LaPalme used Seven Tools of the Bandit to negate just one defensive Trap in Duel 2, and the wheels came right off of Vicente’s strategy.

In the end, the third flaw of the Gravekeeper Deck finished the job. Vicente couldn’t even draw a monster to put in front of Light and Darkness Dragon. When his Gravekeeper’s Recruiter effect was negated the odds turned against him drawing another monster before his Life Points ran out.

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