This is the last part of my Gravekeeper series. This article will be covering the Control (non-Swarm) and Burn variants. Before I start, let me warn you that this two variants are difficult to construct and play effectively. If you are not up to the challenge, I suggest you stop right here instead of wasting your time. I’m trying to make this as short as possible and not repeat stuff already covered in part 2 of this series.

Gravekeeper Control
This variant revolves around Imperial Sacrifice to remove all the Monsters in your opponent’s hand and using pre-negators (hand disruptors such as Steadfast Guard) to further kill your opponent’s hand.

Bear in mind that Imperial Sacrifice will only work if Necrovalley is active. You will want to draw them on your first few turns and not otherwise. Try to include cards that enable you to draw (Sixth Sense, Metamol Pod etc.) or reshuffle your hands (Hand Obliteration, Reload etc.). When to activate Imperial Sacrifice is also very important. Always summon your Monster and if you have the means, return your opponent’s Monsters to his/her hand before activating it for best results.

I am not going to tell you what ratio to run but it is a better idea to run fewer Monsters than usual and more Spell/Traps. This will speed up your deck and prevent your Imperial Sacrifice from hurting yourself too much.

Card Selection: Run the staples.

The most important Gravekeeper in this variant would be Gravekeeper Guard. It has good defense and by returning your opponent’s Monster to his/her hand, it supports your Imperial Sacrifice and Dimensional Designator/Mind Crush as well. Gravekeeper Infiltrator as with other variants is useful for defense and speed. You can also include a couple of Spearman or Assassin for offence. GK Leader is not needed since you do not need to swarm.

For your tribute Monsters, I would suggest Ruler of the Underworld – Hades and/or Guardian Sphinx. The former is obvious for offensive control and the latter is useful to support your pre-negators. End of Anubis can also be considered, depending on your preferences. If your use Hades, Newt will be useful since it is also Demon sub-type. Sage – Keiroon (from FET) is also very good for extra S/T removal.

Recommended Spells:
-Steadfast Guard
-Confiscate
-Dimensional Designator
-Sealing Swords of Light
-Scapegoat
-Monster Removal Spells (I have suggested some before)

Recommended Traps:
-Sixth Sense
-Mind Crush
-Eight Magical Absorbers
-Dead Spirit Zoma
-Spell/Trap Removal (Sand Tornado/Thunder Break)
-Monster Removal (suggested before)

Most of the stuff are pretty self-explanatory. Since you’ll be running fewer Monsters then usual, it would be useful to include stuff like Scapegoat or Zoma as they are unaffected by Imperial Sacrifice. You can also use stuff that have the “bounce mechanism” (return Monsters to opponent’s hand) like Traveler’s Riddle or even Forced Ejection Machine.

Burn Variant
I’ll be honest here: I’m not an expert with Gravekeeper Burn. I am only covering this because this is a Gravekeeper series. LOL

Recommended Gravekeepers:
-Gravekeeper Cannonholder
-Gravekeeper Chanter
-Gravekeeper Infiltrator
-Gravekeeper Follower

Basics: Search for Cannonholder with Infiltrator. Play Last Will and fire off Infiltrator. Summon Chanter from Last Will and fire off again.

The good thing about Gravekeepers Burn is that with Necrovalley, your Gravekeepers are also capable of beating down on your opponent. You can use Spearman for the extra damage and offence.

Note: In the first article, I mentioned that Gravekeeper Follower is rather useless. BUT with the release of a new card Union Attack, Follower can actually be useful.

LE7-JP004
Union Attack
Magic - Normal
Choose 1 face-up monster on your field to activate. During this turn's Battle Phase, the attack of the selected monster is increase by the total attack point of all other monster on your field in face-up attack mode. All Battle Damage is decrease to 0, and only the selected monster can attack this turn.

As you can see, Follower can be boosted with Union Attack and still deal damage to your opponent. Props to Randolph Carter for this.

Other Recommended Cards:
-Last Will
-Cyber Pod
-Metamol Pod
-Death Meteor (from FET) or other burn cards
-Magic Cylinder
-Dead Spirit Zoma

You can also use Castle Gate for extra launching power. There are a lot of burn cards out there so use whatever suits you.