Looking back on the 3 YCS that have taken place this format, it's clear to see that the game has shifted from what cards are best for the event to what deck is the best. Before YCS Long Beach, Dino-Rabbit, Inzektor and Wind-Up was hyped up the wazzoo, so smart players began to recognize that Skill Drain is a viable answer to all 3. Eventually, Michael Balan won the event with Dark Worlds, a deck with an exceptional Rabbit Match-up, and also a deck that plays like no other - meaning a lot of side deck cards that people were running (such as Snowman Eater, Maxx "C" and Effect Veiler) are useless. As well Dark Worlds winning, Hero variants were one of the top played decks of the event, no surprise, as any deck that can summon big monsters under Skill Drain was bound to do well.
The novelty of Skill Drain wore off for YCS Dallas and Toulouse - players now expected it, so sided and played accordingly. However, something that I predicted ended up happening. Before the event I was certain that a deck like Chaos that could play under Skill Drain and still spam big monsters was going to do well, lo-and-behold, Chaos Dragons takes 1st and 2nd place at Toulouse and Dallas respectively. Not a lot of players were siding a great deal for the deck, and not a lot of players new how to play against these powerful Dragons that revolve around the Graveyard.
Which is why I think Gravekeepers are a deck to look out for. Against the Chaos Dragon deck, which is likely to have been copied numerous times, Necrovalley is a powerful card which stops their Chaos monsters from being summoned. Necrovalley is also effective against Inzektors, especially with the prevalence of Call of the Haunted-Centric builds. The high-defense of Gravekeeper's Spy under Necrovalley is an effective wall against the Evolzar Xyz monsters, as well as a seach-able out to Laggia in GK Guard. Going first against Wind-Ups, Necrovalley will shut off their Rat, and the two Effect Veilers prove effective when going second.
The deck clearly has well-rounded match-ups against everything. However, with any deck there are some issues - The abundance of Mystical Space Typhoon for one, due to the popularity of Skill Drain and Dark Worlds. However, after the success of Dragons, and the decline in the use of Fiendish Chain, MST could become a less widely-used card (unlikely however). Malefic Stardust Dragon is a suitable barrier against MST, stopping it from being destroyed, while boasting 2500 Attack points to deal with bigger monsters. Due to the inclusion of Stardust, and the aforementioned Effect Veiler, Royal Tribute is a much less potent card - you want your build to be as consistent as possible. Royal Tribute is also a detrimental card against Dark Worlds, triggering all of their effects.
I hope this article has been informative in helping you make decisions about what decks you want to play, and also what decks to look out for. Some of the lessons in this article can be applied to other decks - big monsters, shutting off the graveyard and being strong Game 1 are all important in this fast paced, diverse format where games can be decided in one turn.
