Zombie Deck

There are a few main concepts for a Zombie Deck. One focuses on swarming the field with Zombies, usually from the Graveyard, and the other is milling your opponent's deck out, star cards include Il Blud, Mezuki, Goblin Zombie, Plaguespreader Zombie, Pyramid Turtle and Zombie Master.

Strength and Weaknesses
Depending on the type of deck its strength can vary, but the overall power of a Zombie Deck remains one: its ability to quickly swarm the field with monsters (it is not uncommon to clog up one's entire Monster Cards zone in one turn) and gaining quite powerful draw power through Allure of Darkness and/or the new release from Stardust Overdrive, Shutendoji.

Excluding the Zombie Mill variant, however, a Zombie Deck has some weaknesses. The most notable weakness of the deck is its dependence from the Graveyard. While the extreme swarming capabilities of the deck can overcome the aforementioned lack of sheer power, cards like Macro Cosmos, Dimensional Fissure, D.D. Crow and nearly every other card that can remove monsters from the game or lock the Graveyard can effectively put a Zombie player to severe disadvantage, if not outright disrupt one's strategy and cause the loss of a duel. Burial from a Different Dimension and Imperial Iron Wall can help to partially solve the problem (though the latter makes Mezuki and Book of Life completely useless as well).

Another weakness is the fact that Zombies tend to have low ATK power for their levels, compared to other Types (Examples include Il Blud and Vampire Lord). This can severely hamper a Zombie Deck player if his/her opponent uses high DEF monsters to stall the game.

The March Banlist has crippled the deck even further by moving Mezuki back to Limited and keeping the ban for Card of Safe Return, which continues to take away a major draw force in zombie decks. However, with the release of the Zombie World deck, it provides for the player to gain field, grave, and swarming advantage over his opponent making Zombies an extremely powerful and effective type.

Zombie Burn Deck
The Zombie burn deck can be played different ways, Combinations like Malevolent Mech Goku-en or Zombie Mammoth used with Vengeful Servant, Creature swap and Dark Room Of Nightmare is Effective To do massive amounts of damage easily but cards like Book Of Moon, Magic Jammer and Solemn Judgment can stop these effects all too easily. In addition if you are facing a zombie deck or a deck with zombies in it the strategy wont work. So it's suggested to use Skull Flame, Burning Skull Head, Everliving Underworld Cannon, and Dark Room Of Nightmare. They might not do as much damage but they are more effective because there are less card effects to stop the combination, as well as the fact that Skull Flame is easily summoned using Call Of The Mummy or Pyramid Turtle. Additionally, Goblin Zombies could be used to put Burning Skull Head in your hand (where it is most effective). There's also an FTK in the Zombie burn deck which consists of the following cards: Dark Room of Nightmare, 2 Meteor of Destruction, Malevolent Mech-Goku En, Creature Swap, and Vengeful Servant. Your opponent will take exactly 8000 life points.

Monsters

 * Skull Conductor
 * Skull Flame
 * Supersonic Skull Flame
 * Burning Skull Head
 * Goblin Zombie
 * Pyramid Turtle
 * Shutendoji
 * Kasha
 * Il Blud
 * Zombie Master
 * Plaguespreader Zombie
 * Mezuki
 * Malevolent Mech-Goku En

Spells

 * Call of the Mummy
 * Everliving Underworld Cannon
 * Dark Room of Nightmare
 * Book of Life
 * Meteor of Destruction
 * Vengeful Servant
 * Creature Swap

Extra Deck

 * Revived King Ha Des
 * Stardust Dragon
 * Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier

ZombieSworn/Chaos Zombie Deck
With the new forbidden list from March 1st 2010 Chaos Sorcerer is now Limited, making this deck-type less effective.

Monsters

 * Armageddon Knight
 * Chaos Sorcerer
 * Dark Armed Dragon
 * Goblin Zombie
 * Gorz the Emissary of Darkness
 * Jain, Lightsworn Paladin
 * Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress
 * Mezuki
 * Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter
 * Malevolent Mech - Goku En
 * Paladin of the Cursed Dragon
 * Plaguespreader Zombie
 * Pyramid Turtle
 * Zombie Master
 * Il Blud

Spells

 * Allure of Darkness
 * Burial from a Different Dimension
 * Book of Life
 * Charge of the Light Brigade
 * Foolish Burial
 * Solar Recharge

Zombie Synchro Deck
This deck is based on getting Plaguespreader Zombie onto the field and then synchro summoning big synchro monsters fast by swarming the field with zombies, then recycling Plaguespreader Zombie to perform another Synchro Summon. Burial from a Different Dimension is recommended for this deck as it enables you to return Plaguespreader Zombie, Necro Gardna, Mezuki and anything else you might remove with Dark Armed Dragon or Allure of Darkness to your graveyard. To go along with Burial from a Different Dimension you can add Return from the Different Dimension to summon the same cards to your side of the field to attempt to push for game. Also with Return from the Different Dimension's effect, if you summon Plaguespreader Zombie and then synchro with something brought back such as Mezuki, they both return to the Graveyard so you can reuse thier effects. You can also add Doomkaiser Dragon/Assault Mode to the deck so that you could make a last-ditch effort to win the duel.

Armageddon Knight is also recomended for this deck because it allows to immediately send a monster such as Plaguespreader Zombie or Necro Gardna to your graveyard to use thier effects. Along with that you can also send Zombie Master to your Graveyard if you already have a Zombie Master in your hand so you can swarm the field with their effects next turn. If you run Necro Gardna in your deck along with Plaguespreader Zombie and Mezuki, Zombie Master's cost of discarding one monster will be a +1 seeing as these Monsters are most useful while in the Graveyard anyway. Il Blud can also be used in combination with Zombie Master to help swarm the field and or get Plaguespreader Zombie back on the field for multiple Synchro Summons in the same turn. Imperial Iron Wall can be used to stop Plaguespreader from being removed from play, thus making allowing the user to Synchro Summon as much as they want as long as they have monsters to send. The only problem with Imperial Iron Wall is that it stops cards like Book of Life and Mezuki from being used.

Monsters

 * Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind
 * Krebons
 * Dark Armed Dragon
 * Caius the Shadow Monarch
 * Mystic Tomato
 * Sangan
 * Goblin Zombie
 * Gorz the Emissary of Darkness
 * Mezuki
 * Plaguespreader Zombie
 * Pyramid Turtle
 * Spirit Reaper
 * Zombie Master
 * Armageddon Knight
 * Necro Gardna

Spells

 * Allure of Darkness
 * Book of Moon
 * Heavy Storm
 * Mystical Space Typhoon
 * Emergency Teleport
 * Lightning Vortex
 * My Body as a Shield
 * Gold Sarcophagus
 * Mind Control
 * Foolish Burial
 * Brain Control
 * Burial from a Different Dimension

Trap Cards:

 * Bottomless Trap Hole
 * Torrential Tribute
 * Mirror Force
 * Reckless Greed
 * Solemn Judgment
 * Dark Illusion
 * Trap Dustshoot

Diva Zombie Deck
This deck type is based around Synchro Summoning several Synchro Monsters in one turn and overwhelming your opponent with cards like Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier, which can create OTK situations. For example, say you have a face up Goblin Zombie on the field and you Normal Summon a Deep Sea Diva. You can then Special Summon another Deep Sea Diva from your deck, then perform a Synchro Summon with Goblin Zombie and Deep Sea Diva for a Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier. You search a Mezuki from your deck using Goblin Zombie's effect, then discard Mezuki and/or any number of cards to return card(s) on the field to the hand. You then remove Mezuki to Special Summon Goblin Zombie and perform a second LV 6 Synchro Summon, perhaps for a monster like Goyo Guardian. As an alternative, you could instead Normal Summon Deep Sea Diva and fetch another one while Goblin Zombie is on the field. From there, you could Synchro for a LV6 monster and retrieve a Zombie from the Deck for hand advantage, then tune Deep Sea Diva with your LV 6 monster for a LV 8 monster such as Stardust Dragon or Red Dragon Archfiend. Burial from a Different Dimension helps speed up this deck because it returns your Mezuki, Plaguespreader Zombie, and any monsters removed by Allure of Darkness to your Graveyard. Il Blud isn't really needed, as it's too slow overall, and the deck has sufficient capacity to revive monsters without it. Cards like Sangan, Mystic Tomato, and Pyramid Turtle can speed up searching for your Zombies. Caius the Shadow Monarch can get rid of stubborn cards, and by sacrificing Goblin Zombie for his summon, you can add a Zombie from the Deck to your hand. Spirit Reaper can stall for a few turns if you need time to set up for a big play. Tragoedia, Battle Fader and Gorz the Emissary of Darkness can serve as walls or beatsticks, possibly preventing OTKs.

Monsters

 * Deep Sea Diva
 * Goblin Zombie
 * Mezuki
 * Mystic Tomato
 * Plaguespreader Zombie
 * Pyramid Turtle
 * Zombie Master
 * Spirit Reaper
 * Caius the Shadow Monarch
 * Tragoedia
 * Battle Fader
 * Gorz the Emissary of Darkness

Spells

 * Allure of Darkness
 * Heavy Storm
 * Mystical Space Typhoon
 * Giant Trunade
 * Lightning Vortex
 * My Body as a Shield
 * Gold Sarcophagus
 * Mind Control
 * Foolish Burial
 * Brain Control
 * Burial from a Different Dimension
 * Book of Life

Trap Cards:

 * Bottomless Trap Hole
 * Torrential Tribute
 * Mirror Force
 * Solemn Judgment
 * Trap Dustshoot
 * Dust Tornado

Extra deck

 * Revived King Ha Des
 * Ally of Justice Catastor
 * Magical Android
 * Doomkaiser Dragon
 * Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
 * Goyo Guardian
 * Stardust Dragon

Zombie World Deck
This deck type, as the name suggests, is based around the Field spell Zombie World. This deck is very versatile, as almost any of the Zombie staples can be splashed in. This deck can be brutally effective against many other decks, as Zombie World, as well as changing all your opponents monsters on the field and in the graveyard into Zombies, it also stops your opponent from tribute summoning anything other than a Zombie-type monster. This negatively affects many commonly used decks, such as Monarchs and Plants. Many cards are designed specifically to work with the field spell, such as Doomkaiser Dragon or Trap of the Imperial Tomb. These cards have very good effects, but are sometimes better to avoid, as they are useless without the field spell. Other cards indirectly have merit such as Getsu Fuhma or Marionette Mite or even Tutan Mask when used on your opponents to stop pesky spells or traps. This deck has many Zombie Staples such as Pyramid Turtle, Zombie Master, Goblin Zombie or even Plaguespreader Zombie if you want to Synchro Summon. The key player in this deck is without a doubt Il Blud. Not only can he revive your monsters, filling up your field to optimize the power of Kasha, bringing back useful effects, but he also presents the opportunity to use your opponents monsters against them, as long as Zombie World is on the field.

Monsters

 * Il Blud
 * Zombie Master
 * Pyramid Turtle
 * Goblin Zombie
 * Getsu Fuhma
 * Marionette Mite
 * Mezuki
 * Red-Eyes Zombie Dragon
 * Paladin of the Cursed Dragon
 * Spirit Reaper
 * Ryu Kokki
 * Shadowpriestess of Ohm
 * Armageddon Knight
 * Kasha
 * Dark Armed Dragon
 * Dark Grepher

Extra Deck

 * Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
 * Goyo Guardian
 * Stardust Dragon
 * Revived King Ha Des
 * Archfiend Zombie-Skull

Spells

 * Zombie World
 * Field Barrier
 * Book of Life
 * Terraforming

Zombie D.D/Beat down Deck
This deck is about using 2 Shutendoji and Necroface combined with Soul Absorption. The purpose of this deck is to remove from play as many cards as you can in order to give Necroface extreme power. You can recycle your deck, gain 500 life points for each card removed from play using Soul Absorption and remove an exaggerated ammount of cards removing from play Necroface using Shutendoji's effect. The bad thing about this deck is that you might probably deck out quickly because of the removing from play from the top of your deck and the draw power u get with Shutendoji. But remember you can still recycle your deck with Necroface's effect.

Monsters

 * Zombie Master
 * Pyramid Turtle
 * Mezuki
 * Il Blud
 * Goblin Zombie
 * Shutendoji
 * Necroface
 * Plaguespreader Zombie
 * Sangan
 * Kasha

Spells

 * Zombie World
 * Book of Life
 * Shrink
 * Creature Swap
 * Mind Control
 * Soul Absorption
 * Allure of Darkness