Wight

The Skull Servants ("Wight" in Japan) are a series of Zombie-Type monsters, released in the OCG and TCG.

The most famous monster of the Skull Servants is "Skull Servant". "Skull Servant" appears in some card artworks.

Playing Style
Cards like Armageddon Knight and Veil of Darkness are used to populate the Graveyard with Skulls to increase the attack points of King of the Skull Servants. Zombie Master is also good for reviving King of the Skull Servants and/or The Lady in Wight to protect him, since the discard cost can be used to put yet another Skull, Mezuki, or Necro Gardna into the Graveyard. "Wightmare" can be used to get back removed-from-play cards by discarding himself, either into the graveyard for King of the Skull Servants or special summoning The Lady in Wight or King of the Skull Servants. The archetype has continued to receive support cards since the Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's era with the addition of numerous Spell and Trap cards that involve Level 2 or lower monsters, such as Graceful Revival and One for One.

Skull Servants, for there potentially high attack and love of the Graveyard, they can easily be added to various other Zombie Decks, using The Lady in Wight for shielding and protection, or as discard fodder for cards like Lightning Vortex or Divine Wrath.

Some Skull Servants monsters appears in Yu-Gi-Oh! and Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. This archetype appears too in some Video Games, as Yu-Gi-Oh! Dark Duel Stories, Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Tag Force, Yu-Gi-Oh! Nightmare Troubadour and more.

This deck's main strategy is to populate the Graveyard with Skull Servant, The Lady in Wight, Wightmare and King of the Skull Servants to summon a King of the Skull Servants with up to 11000 ATK. The advantages of this deck include its ability to produce extremely high-ATK monsters very quickly (which may not be affected by Spells or Traps if The Lady in Wight is in play), as well as its resilience in summoning said monsters repeatedly. A major weakness is its total reliance on the Graveyard. If Macro Cosmos or Dimensional Fissure is in play, it can easily ruin your ability to power up King of the Skull Servants, however this was partially solved thanks to Wightmare which is capable of returning Skull Servant monsters from removed from play back to either the graveyard or even summoning them back to the field in exchange for dropping itself into the grave-especially helpful as it only requires being discarded and does not need to reach the grave itself to work.

Sending Skulls from the Deck to the Graveyard
The most efficient way to accumulate Skulls in the Graveyard is by sending them there from the deck, since this reduces your chances of having them waste precious space in your hand. This can be done directly with effects that target the Skulls in your deck and send them to the Graveyard, or indirectly by milling cards from the top of the deck to the Graveyard. Skull Servant Decks typically utilize a combination of the two strategies. Those leaning toward general milling can also take advantage of other cards that benefit from heavy Graveyards, namely Chaos Necromancer, Mezuki, and Plaguespreader Zombie, among many others.

Some useful cards for sending Skulls from the deck to the Graveyard:

Direct Methods

 * Armageddon Knight
 * One for One - technically Special Summons a Skull from the deck, rather than putting it in the Graveyard, but it still takes one out of the deck.
 * Foolish Burial
 * Chain Destruction
 * Next to be Lost
 * Dark Grepher
 * Cheerful Coffin

Indirect (Milling) Methods

 * Veil of Darkness - use a majority of DARK monsters to keep reusing its effect in the same Draw Phase.
 * Magical Merchant - use a high ratio of monsters to mill lots of cards at once.
 * Fiend Comedian
 * Jain, Lightsworn Paladin and other Lightsworns - they hinder the effect of Veil of Darkness so use with caution.
 * Needlebug Nest

Sending Skulls from the Hand to the Graveyard
With twelve copies of Skull cards in your deck, one or two will inevitably find their way into your hand. These make ideal fodder for cards with discard costs, thereby letting you populate your Graveyard with Skulls while taking advantage of other cards' effects. Cards like One for One and Zombie Master will even let you discard a Skull from your hand to Special Summon one from your deck or Graveyard, respectively. It is a good idea to use other cards which benefit from being discarded or otherwise sent to Graveyard so that if you have to mill or discard them due to lack of Skulls, you can still benefit. Some such cards include Mezuki, Necro Gardna, Plaguespreader Zombie, and even Night Assailant, who will return a Magical Merchant to your hand when he is discarded (even by the effect of Veil of Darkness).

Some cards that are good for sending Skulls from your hand to the Graveyard are:


 * Card Destruction
 * Hand Destruction
 * Zombie Master
 * One for One
 * Lightning Vortex
 * Dark Core
 * The Tricky
 * Monster Reincarnation
 * Snipe Hunter

Other Helpful Strategies
The Skull Servant Deck uses lots of effects to mill, discard, and send Skulls from the deck to the Graveyard. Naturally, it is beneficial to have cards that take advantage of the Graveyard and/or protect it from the opponent's attempts to remove your Skulls. The following cards are generally good to include in Skull Servant Decks, which help them adapt to various opponents.


 * Opti-Camouflage Armor - lets King of the Skull Servants attack directly, even if The Lady in Wight is in play. This is because Opti-Camouflage Armor does not affect the monster card, but affects the rule that monsters cannot attack directly if the opponent controls a monster.
 * The Dark Creator
 * Burial from a Different Dimension
 * Mezuki
 * Destiny Hero - Dasher - mill through it with Veil of Darkness and then use it when you need it.
 * Gaap the Divine Soldier - forces all monsters into Attack Position. Or just mill through it with Veil of Darkness.
 * Plaguespreader Zombie - if it gets milled, just revive it with its own effect.
 * Caius the Shadow Monarch - sacrifice a Skull (ideally), The Tricky (easy because of his Special Summon effect), or anything else to Tribute Summon it, or mill right through it with Veil of Darkness.
 * Foolish Burial - send Skull Servant to the graveyard from your deck.
 * Necroface - get back Skulls who were removed from play by King of the Skull Servants's revival effect
 * Sangan - search Snipe Hunter or Armageddon Knight.
 * Gravity Bind - Stops your opponent from attacking, but lets you still attack freely since most of your monsters will be level 3 or lower.

Monsters

 * King of the Skull Servants
 * Skull Servant
 * The Lady in Wight
 * Wightmare
 * Spirit Reaper
 * Zombie Master
 * Pyramid Turtle
 * Goblin Zombie
 * Mezuki
 * Armageddon Knight
 * Dark Grepher

Spells

 * Level Limit - Area B
 * One for One
 * Pot of Avarice
 * Card Destruction
 * Monster Reincarnation
 * Lightning Vortex
 * Opti-Camouflage Armor
 * Book of Life
 * Hand Destruction
 * Burial from a Different Dimension
 * Allure of Darkness

Traps

 * Gravity Bind
 * Magic Cylinder
 * Mirror Force
 * Dimensional Prison
 * Return from the Different Dimension
 * Call of the Haunted