So, zombies! This is a powerful engine that focuses on bringing your zombies back to life from the graveyard, as you might imagine. The zombie engine dominated throughout 2009, earning it several hits on the March 2010 banlist, but even in this state it remains one of the strongest engines in the format.

Many key zombies are DARK attribute, leading to natural synergies with the DARK engine. This especially includes Plaguespreader Zombie, one of the most important parts of any zombie engine, and a key target for your raising the dead shenanigans. Speaking of!

Mezuki is a powerhouse. A decent body for a level 4, combined with an ability that can lead to insane explosiveness or sustainability, depending on what the situation calls for. Mezuki is limited, but as we’ll see below you still won’t have too much trouble accessing it. Between Mezuki banishing itself for its effect and Plaguespreader banishing itself after using its effect, the zombie engine has natural synergies with Burial from a Different Dimension and Return from the Different Dimension, which we initially covered as part of the Vayu Turbo package. I think you can begin to see just how intermingled all the various engines of Edison truly are.

Zombie Master is another good way to bring your boys back. Needing to discard for cost can also be a plus, letting you get cards like Mezuki or Plaguespreader into the grave quickly for big combos.

Pyramid Turtle and the semi-limited Goblin Zombie let you access your entire suite of dudes. None of your zombies has all that much DEF so both of them can grab any zombie you want from your deck. A powerful way to set up, and having the occasional level 4 body sticking around often comes in handy for big explosive Synchro Summon turns.

(also worth noting, Goblin Zombie’s effect which mills your opponent is really bad, and an unfortunate drawback on an otherwise very good card. When so many decks are already intentionally self-milling through the Graveyard engine you don’t wanna do their job for them!)

Book of life is occasionally tricky to set up, requiring a monster in your opponent’s Graveyard to activate. But it’s also very powerful, giving you yet another way to revive zombies alongside some targeted graveyard hate to disrupt your opponent’s strategy.

Finally, we have a pair of level 6 Synchro Monsters. Doomkaiser is theoretically niche, only working if your opponent is also playing zombies. But, given how prolific Plaguespreader Zombie is even outside of decks running the zombie engine Doomkaiser will come up surprisingly often. Ha Des is more straightforward, letting you disrupt a whole bunch of common cards that like to be destroyed by battle. Battle recruiters like Pyramid Turtle or Mystic Tomato, Flip Effect monsters like Ryko or Super-Nimble Mega Hamster, even cards like Vayu that wait in the graveyard for the perfect chance to strike. Ha Des can be nasty.

Next time, it’s a grab bag! Zombies, being a lean but powerful engine, combine with all sorts of dudes, some of which we’ll be seeing next. Get hype for “miscellaneous good cards that don’t fit anywhere else” day!