Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG: 10 Cards That Can Block The Graveyard

Summary

• Royal Prison blocks all monster revival effects in the graveyard, stalling your opponent's strategy.
• Abyss Dweller stops all graveyard effects by banishing a material, disrupting key plays.
• Called By The Grave negates hand traps by banishing them, preventing activation in the next turn.

The graveyard is an incredible resource for the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG. With so many effects that can go live from within it, the graveyard becomes almost like a second hand for the player. Some cards banish themselves from the graveyard to pay for effects while others like to be sent there so they can be revived later.

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There are many different ways to use the graveyard to further your plays. So, naturally, there are also plenty of methods to block the graveyard. This can be done by stopping certain cards from working within it or preventing cards from reaching the graveyard in the first place. You can even stop cards from leaving the graveyard.

10 Royal Prison

No More Monster Revivals

Royal Prison is a classic Continuous Trap that puts a stop to all monster revival effects. It’s a simple effect that can stop your opponent from recycling monsters back and forth from the graveyard onto the field.

While this card is active, once a monster hits the graveyard, it’ll need to stay there until Royal Prison is removed from the field. Monster effects can still be activated, just as long as it doesn’t bring anything back. However, not having to see your opponent’s favorite monster crawling back is benefit enough.

9 Abyss Dweller

No More Graveyard Effects

Abyss Dweller is an XYZ monster that can be made using any level four monsters you have on the field. This makes it incredibly easy to get on your side of the field and start blocking the graveyard entirely.

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Just remove one material from it and your opponent won’t be able to activate any effects from the graveyard. This can stop anything that triggers when sent to the graveyard or any surprises your opponent may have wanted to spring on you. This block can be deadly for decks that rely on graveyard effects.

8 Called By The Grave

Defeating The Hand Traps

Called By The Grave is one of the best cards to deal with pesky hand traps. Since hand traps generally need to be sent to the graveyard or discarded in order to activate their effects, Called By The Grave can negate them by banishing them.

This card also stops that same hand trap from being activated for the next turn. This effect is also useful when you want to get rid of something your opponent has in the graveyard.

7 Artifact Lancea

Banishing Monsters

The graveyard is a two-way street. Cards can be sent to the graveyard, or they can come out the other end as they get dumped into the banish pile. Artifact Lancea can clog up the graveyard by blocking cards from getting banished.

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So while cards can still go in, they won’t be able to activate any effects that require them to banish themselves from the graveyard. It also stops monsters that use these banishes to Special Summon themselves. Suddenly, the graveyard becomes half as efficient.

6 Necrovalley

No Tampering With The Graveyard

Necrovalley is part of the Gravekeeper archetype of cards. However, it can also be used on its own to stop the graveyard from being utilized as a resource. Once a card hits the grave while this Field Spell is active, it can no longer leave.

This means those cards can’t be revived or banished for an effect. This also stops any effect that would move a card anywhere outside of the graveyard, including shuffling your deck, and you also can’t manipulate the types or attributes of cards within.

5 Ash Blossom And Joyous Spring

A Third Underutilzed Effect

While Ash Blossom and Joyous Spring is primarily used for stopping players from adding cards to their hand or Special Summoning from the deck, it also has a third option. This hand trap can also stop your opponent from sending a card from their deck to the graveyard.

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While not the first thing that pops to mind when Ashing your opponent, it can be useful for preventing setup that requires a specific name in the graveyard. It can also stop much stronger effects as long as just one of the effects mentioned on the card also dumps into the grave.

4 Ghost Belle And Haunted Mansion

Stopping Three Graveyard Effects

Interactions with the graveyard can be pretty diverse in what they do and how they do it. Ghost Belle and Haunted Mansion has many of them covered. This hand trap can stop three of the most useful graveyard interactions.

It can stop your opponent from banishing a monster from the graveyard, getting a card back, or using a revival Spell to bring a monster to their side of the field. Against a graveyard-centric deck, Ghost Belle can be the perfect interruption to stop the combos.

3 Dimension Shifter

Preventing Cards From Hitting The Graveyard

The best way to prevent the graveyard from becoming too powerful is to stop cards from ever reaching it in the first place. Dimension Shifter can be a troublesome card for decks that can’t play around it. Once activated, any card that would go to the graveyard gets banished instead.

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With this active, there won’t be any cards in the graveyard for your opponent to activate. Any names they might need in the graveyard to activate certain effects also won’t be an issue. There also won’t be any monster-reviving shenanigans that can help them reuse cards.

2 Soul Drain

Blocking Monster Effects

Soul Drain is the opposite of the popular floodgate, Skill Drain. Rather than negating monster effects on the field, it instead stops them from being activated from the graveyard. If those effects start a chain, that effect fizzles out instead.

In addition to blocking the graveyard, this Continuous Trap also stops any chain-starting effects from kicking off in the banish pile. All it costs to activate this floodgate is 1000 of your life points. The price is well worth it to cut off your opponent from one of their most valuable resources.

1 Zombie World

A Unique Way To Stop The Graveyard

While many cards try to outright stop the grave by negating effects, Zombie World does it in a roundabout way. While this Field Spell is active, everything on the field and in the graveyards becomes Zombie monsters.

Just changing the original types that monsters have has a major impact on how they are allowed to interact with your opponent’s deck. So, if your opponent needs a Pyro monster in the graveyard to activate a card effect, they won’t be able to do it since all they have is Zombie monsters now.

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