Wight

The Skull Servants, known as Wights 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". The archetype was originally created in response to the popular perception that Skull Servant was among the worst monster cards in the game. "Skull Servant" appears in several 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 'Wight', "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".

'Wights', for their 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 'Wight' 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 'Wight' monsters from the Removed from Play Zone back to either the Graveyard or summoning them onto the field in exchange for dropping itself into the Graveyard - especially helpful as it only requires being discarded and does not need to reach the Graveyard itself to work.

Getting Wights from the Deck
Wights are numerous in the Deck. With up to twelve cards, Removing them quickly and placing them in the Graveyard is key. Multiple ways have been made to remove them quickly.

Direct Deck to Graveyard

 * Armageddon Knight
 * Chain Destruction - Can send up to two Wights to the Graveyard, from any Summon. Even Special Summons from Zombie Master, One for One, Book of Life, or Graceful Revival. Particularly useful for The Lady in Wight because there are few ways to search it out of the Deck. Cannot be used on "King of the Skull Servants" if there is already more than two Wights in the Graveyard.
 * Dark Grepher
 * Elemental Hero Prisma - Only sends Skull Servant, but can send 1 every turn by revealing Flame Ghost or Zombie Warrior from your Extra Deck.]
 * Foolish Burial - Can send any one Wight to the Graveyard. Recommended is The Lady in Wight because it is particularly difficult to search.
 * Next to be Lost - A useful tip is to use this after one of your "Kings" has an attack brought against them. Another 1000 Attack may just be what you need.
 * Painful Choice (traditional) - A god-send for this deck, choose 5 'Wights' and let your opponent have it soon enough.

Indirect (Milling) Deck to Graveyard
Milling the cards from your Deck can be useful when you do not have enough ways to remove the Wights from your Deck alone. Caution should be used to prevent useful cards from being lost.


 * Advanced Ritual Art - Sends a Normal Monster to the Graveyard to summon a Ritual Monster. Relinquished can work well.
 * Fiend Comedian
 * Hidden Armory - Can be used to get Opti-Camouflage Armor
 * Jain, Lightsworn Paladin and other Lightsworns - Use sparingly, they hinder the effect of Veil of Darkness.
 * Magical Merchant - Use a high ratio of monsters to mill lots of cards at once.
 * Needlebug Nest - mills five cards from your Deck.
 * Veil of Darkness - Use a majority of DARK monsters to keep reusing its effect in the same Draw Phase.

Deck to Hand
By adding the Wights to your Hand, the cards can be discarded for card costs as well as allow you to easily use "Wightmare" to its fullest capacity.


 * Generation Shift
 * Goblin Zombie - Can add "Skull Servant", "King of the Skull Servants", and "Wightmare". Other options include Zombie Master or another Goblin Zombie.
 * Sangan - Can search for any Wight

Special Summons from Deck
Special Summoning from the Deck will allow Wights to be used for tributes and also be used as a defense shield. Can be used as a surprise if you have an Order to Charge or Order to Smash if you Special Summon "Skull Servant".


 * One for One - Also has a discard of one monster from the Hand. Easily can search out "King of the Skull Servants" with another 1000 Attack added.
 * Pyramid Turtle - Can search out "Skull Servant", "Wightmare" and "King of the Skull Servants".

Sending 'Wights' from the Hand to the Graveyard
With twelve copies of 'Wight' cards in your deck, some will inevitably find their way into your hand. These make ideal fodder for cards with discard costs, thereby letting you populate your Graveyard with 'Wights' while taking advantage of other cards' effects. Cards like "One for One" and "Zombie Master" will even let you discard a 'Wight' 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 'Wights', 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 it is discarded (even by the effect of "Veil of Darkness").

Some cards that are good for sending 'Wights' from your Hand to the Graveyard are:


 * Card Destruction
 * Dark Core
 * Dark Crusader - Sends DARK monsters from Hand to Graveyard to boost Attack.
 * Divine Wrath
 * Hand Destruction - Perfect to use when you have a few 'Wights' in your hand.
 * Lightning Vortex
 * Monster Reincarnation
 * One for One
 * Raigeki Break
 * Snipe Hunter
 * The Tricky
 * Zombie Master

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.


 * Burial from a Different Dimension
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * Gravity Bind - Stops your opponent from attacking, but lets you still attack freely since most of your monsters will be level 3 or lower.
 * Mezuki - Helps to speed up the process of summoning a Wight Monster.
 * Necroface - get back Skulls who were removed from play by King of the Skull Servants's revival effect
 * 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.
 * Phantom of Chaos - You can remove a King or Lady in Wight and gain their effects for a turn, but this effect may be used only if in a desperate situation since Phantom of Chaos' own effect will make any damage you inflict with it to your opponent 0, rendering it's potential high attack useless. You can still use cards such as * Destruct Potion, * Altar for Tribute, or * Mystic Wok to gain life points. Ideally, it would be best to copy Lady in Wight and protect your level 3 zombies, i.e. King of the Servants, from spell and traps for a turn. With the addition of Wightmare to the deck, you can always use it's effect to return the removed from play card.
 * Plaguespreader Zombie - if it gets milled, just revive it with its own effect.
 * Sangan - search Snipe Hunter or Armageddon Knight.
 * The Dark Creator
 * Ultimate Offering - Lets you have extra summonings which is useful for Synchroing. It is also defensive in the way that you can use it during your opponents battle phase allowing you to set a skull or lady giving you protection and if destroyed powering up your king. Also for this reason it works well against decks that use Royal Oppression because it is not a Special Summon.
 * Soul Release - Can be used with Wightmare. You can not only remove from play key cards for your opponents graveyard but remove a King or a Lady to then be Special Summoned by Wightmare's effect. This tech card can disrupt your opponents strategy and give you the edge.
 * White Elephant's Gift - You can tribute Skull Servant to draw two cards. Skull servant can be search by Pyramid Turtle, Goblin Zombie, One for One, or Special Summoned from the grave by Zombie Master, Book of Life, or Monster Reborn.
 * Gold Sarcophagus - This card can be used to search out key cards like your Burial from a Different Dimension, Soul Release, or you can remove a king, lady, skull, or Wightmare to then use Wightmare's effect to Special Summon the king or lady to the field or power up an existing King on the field by returning a Skull Servant or Wightmare to the Graveyard.
 * Kasha - This monster can help to clear the field, and allow you to have the possibility of an OTK.
 * Formula Synchron engine. this consists of Treeborn Frog and Fishborg Blaster. Treeborn Frog is special summoned to the field and you can then discard a Skull Servant, the Lady, Wightmare, or the King to special summon Fishborg Blaster. Afterwards you can summon Formula Synchron to draw a card. not only do you fill your graveyard with wights but it gives you draw power and a chance to synchro for a stronger monster. Swap Frog helps start the engine and Pot of Avarice recycles your formulas to continue the engine.
 * Debris Dragon - Can be used with the Lady to nuke the field. An atlernate target can be Beast of the Pharaoh to blow up the feild and then use beast of the pharoh to special summon the king for the kill or damage.
 * Chaos Hunter - can prevent your opponent from removing your/ his cards form play. he is a 2500 beater that can be special summoned by discarding a card (any wight or mezuki, plague etc) when your opponent special summons monster.

Monsters

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

Spells

 * Allure of Darkness - This card allows you to draw a card, and gives Wightmare a card to target.
 * Book of Life - King of the Skull Servants cannot revive itself unless it is destroyed by battle. This will help regain a King if an effect destroys it.
 * Burial from a Different Dimension - Returns removed from play Skull Servants back to the grave to be revived and to increase King of the Skull Servants' attack.
 * Card Destruction - Can instantly increase the number of servants in the grave
 * Creature Swap - Any Wight in Attack Mode ("King" will have 0 Attack), Goblin Zombie, Pyramid Turtle.
 * Foolish Burial - Allows you to send any of the Wights to the grave.
 * Hand Destruction - Perfect to use when you have a few 'Wights' in your hand.
 * Hidden Armory - Mill one and get an Opti-Camouflage Armor
 * Level Limit - Area B - This card can make it impossible for your opponent to attack, leaving you free to build up your attack strength.
 * Lightning Vortex - Send a Wight to the Graveyard for the cost.
 * Phalanx Pike - Use this on a Skull Servant after getting other Skulls in the Graveyard. With 2 Skull Servants, 3 Lady in Wight, and 3 Wightmare in the Graveyard, Skull Servant's attack is boosted by 7200.
 * One for One - You can both send a Wight to the graveyard and special summon a King of the Skull Servants
 * Opti-Camouflage Armor - Allows an equipped monster to attack directly, use on "King of the Skull Servants" to allow a possible Direct Attack kill.
 * Order to Charge - Tribute a "Skull Servant" to destroy an opponent's monster.
 * Pride of the Weak - "King of the Skull Servants" can allow almost a +2 per turn

Traps

 * Call of the Haunted
 * Chain Destruction - Allows you to send multiple Wights to the grave at once.
 * Dark Illusion - Works a little better than Tutan Mask
 * Dimensional Prison
 * Divine Wrath - Allows you to negate an effect and add a Skull Servant to your graveyard
 * Escape from the Dark Dimension - More or less a "Call of the Haunted" for Removed from Play monsters
 * Graceful Revival
 * Gravity Bind - Skull Servants are unaffected by this card's effect, giving you an advantage and some protection.
 * Next to be Lost
 * Raigeki Break
 * Return from the Different Dimension - Use this when there at least one King of the Skull Servants removed from play, and a few Wights in the graveyard, and you can make an OTK.
 * Tutan Mask
 * Ultimate Offering

Extra Deck

 * Archfiend Zombie-Skull - Plagurspreader + "The Lady in Wight" + one other Wight. Will protect your Zombies from being destroyed by card effects.
 * Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier - Ditch 'Wights' to clear the field and attack with "King of the Skull Servants" for a possible OTK.
 * Flame Ghost - Use Elemental Hero Prisma's effect and this card to send a "Skull Servant" from your deck to the Graveyard.
 * Zombie Warrior - See Flame Ghost above.
 * Doomkaiser Dragon
 * Revived King Ha Des
 * Stardust Dragon
 * Dark End Dragon
 * Goyo Guardian

Dark Dust Servants Deck
Use Dark Dust Spirit to destroy your Skull Servants and your opponent's monsters, take back King of the Skull Servants and make an OTK!!

Monsters

 * 'Wights'
 * King of the Skull Servants
 * Skull Servant
 * The Lady in Wight
 * Wightmare
 * Dark Dust Spirit
 * Level Eater - Use this card's effect on "Dark Dust Spirit" and each turn you may have another monster to tribute to get "Dark Dust Spirit" out. "Dark Dust Spirit" doesn't need to worry about the level loss because it goes back to the hand and is reset at the end of the turn. Can also be used to absorb an attack as a defence block.
 * Plaguespreader Zombie
 * Pyramid Turtle
 * Snipe Hunter
 * Soul-Absorbing Bone Tower
 * Zombie Master

Spells

 * Book of Life
 * Foolish Burial
 * Level Limit - Area B
 * Lightning Vortex
 * One for One
 * Triangle Power
 * Zombie World

Traps

 * Call of the Haunted
 * Dark Bribe
 * Magic Cylinder
 * Threatening Roar

Extra Deck

 * Ally of Justice Catastor - Perfect against non-DARK decks.
 * Archfiend Zombie-Skull - Although hard to get out, he will protect your Zombies from being destroyed by card effects.
 * Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier - Ditch Skulls and Lady in Wights to clear the field and attack with King for a possible otk.
 * Red Dragon Archfiend - Good ATK and DEF plus, destroy your opponent's protection.
 * Revived King Ha Des - negates effects of monsters destroyed by battle by zombie monsters.
 * Stardust Dragon - Protect your monsters from being destroyed once per turn.